Psalm 9,2-3.5.8-9; Psalm 11,7. 4. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 9,2-3.5.8-9; Psalm 11,7 3717

4. Trinitatis  049

Ephraem the Syrian, Deacon, 378/79

9. Juli 2017 

1. O Jesus Christ, Thou Anointed One of God, hear our prayer and be our Shield, so that You protect us from all things earthly and spiritual.   Amen. (Gradual). 

2. For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright will behold His face. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your Name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before Your presence. You have rebuked the nations; You have made the wicked perish; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The Lord judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 

3. We can sum up the Nature of God with the first verse of today’s Introit: »For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright will behold His face.« Jesus applies this righteous Nature of God to us in His Beatitudes, saying: »Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the reign of heaven« (Matthew 5,8.10).  

4. The Introit then reminds us that righteousness does not infer that God will not punish those who are wrong. »O Lord, You have rebuked the nations; You have made the wicked perish; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The Lord judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness.« The Holy Scriptures are filled with accounts of God punishing sinners: Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden, Cain was sent away, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Babylon fell to God’s judgment and the Flood in Noah’s day.

5. The Psalmist assures us that: »The Lord’s anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime« (Psalm 30,5); »The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love« (Psalm 103,8). Abraham learned this several times throughout his life, most powerfully when God had told him to sacrifice his only Son, Isaac (Genesis 22,2). The Lord will provide (Genesis 22,14), for He provided a ram to take the place of Isaac (Genesis 22,13). Thousands of years later God the Father would send another son as a sacrifice, His Only Son, Jesus, who Himself is the Lamb of God whom God provided for the sin of the world (John 1,29). The Apostle Paul Proclaims: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, God condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us« (Romans 8,1.3-4). 

6. »The Lord is a Stronghold for the oppressed, a Stronghold in times of trouble.« This promise is seen in its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and Luther was inspired by Holy Scripture to write in his hymn: „A Mighty Fortress is our God …. He helps us free from every need. For us fights the Valiant One whom God Himself elected …. Jesus Christ it is … He hold the field forever“ (Luther 656,1.2). Luther pictures Jesus in this hymn as the lord of a castle who rides forth to the field of battle to engage the Devil; Jesus is a mightier lord and He has won a great victory over the Devil by dying and rising again. The Apostle John portrayed Jesus similarly in his Apocalypse: »I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one seated on him is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems. And the armies of heaven were following Him« (Revelation 19,11-12.14). Jesus is the Rider of this white horse who at the end of the Apocalypse leads His angelic host forth to capture and judge the beast, the false prophet and finally the ancient serpent and dragon, Satan himself (Revelation 19,20; 20,2). 

7. The trials and temptations we face as the people of God are temporary. Jesus promises to see us through to the end where all suffer ceases and all sin is removed in the blessed realm of heaven. Jesus has won the victory. He has declared us righteous. We receive this righteousness by faith.   Trust in Jesus and put all your cares upon Him for He will see you through it to the end.  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O God, whose Name alone is worthy of praise, give us peaceful days so that we may give thanks to You without fear of persecution.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.