Hebrew 10,35-36.39 4623
16. Trinitatis 63
Gerhard Sagredo, Bishop in Hungary, Apostle to Hungary, Martyr in Hungary, ✠ 1046
24. September 2023
1. ℣ Be merciful unto me, O Yahweh:
℟ For I cry unto Thee daily (Psalm 86,3).
O Yahweh, whose Name is renown among the Gentiles; give us leaders who will fear, love and trust Your Glory, so that under their governance we may be guarded and directed in righteousness, quietness and unity. Amen. (Psalm 102,15 Gradual).
2. »Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For: »Yet a little while, and the advent one will arrive and will not delay; but My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, then My soul has no pleasure in him.« [Habakkuk 2,3-4] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their lives.«
3. The theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to explain to Jewish Christians that the covenant received by Moses is now an old covenant that has been replaced by the new covenant established by Jesus. The covenant Yahweh made with Israel at Sinai has been completed and fulfilled in Christ. The apostle explains it this way: »Christ does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all« (Hebrews 10,9b-10). This is the confidence the apostle exhorts them to not throw away.
4. Tribulation, the cares of the world and our sinful flesh all tempt us to cast away Jesus Christ. How many churches and denominations have replaced Christ’s gospel with some thing else? Both the epistles to the Hebrews and Galatians are tackling the same issue: Hebrews is addressing Jewish Christians, and Galatians is addressing Gentile Christians. Both were tempted to add some thing to Christ. „To pervert the Gospel of Christ is to nullify the grace of God. Then Christ died to no purpose“ (Nagel, Galatians 1,1 1998 ¶ 5).
5. One of my seminary professors called it the “Christ clincher.“ What is it they tell you that you must be doing as evidence that Christ really works (Nagel ¶ 7). The Galatians were told: circumcision and the dietary laws are the evidence of the gospel; if you want to be certain of your salvation, then you have to have Christ, circumcision and eat the kosher foods. Paul would have none of that. He told the Galatians: all you need is Christ; circumcision and kosher foods do not make the gospel effective or more effective. Faith alone in Christ alone is the only Gospel.
6. Hebrews addresses a similar problem that Jewish Christians were struggling with: what do we do with Moses, the temple and the sacrificial system now that we have faith in Jesus? Do we still go to the temple and offer animal sacrifices? Do we celebrate the Jewish festivals? Do we still go to the synagogue? We have these two covenants now; how do we navigate between the two? The apostle tells them: the Sinai covenant prepared the way for Christ, who is superior to this covenant, and the Calvary covenant is superior to the Sinai and has fulfilled it. Christ sacrificed on the cross has completed the covenant. With His sacrifice, Jesus is greater than Moses (Hebrews 3), Jesus is the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4), Jesus’ covenant is a better covenant (Hebrews 8); the blood of Jesus has secured an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9,12).
7. Malachi, the penultimate Old Testament prophet, said the same 400 years earlier. The Old Testament worship would not continue after the Messiah arrives, for He brings a new covenant (Keil and Delitzsch 10.2,460.1). »But who can endure the day of His advent, and who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to Yahweh. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Yahweh as in the days of old and as in former years« (Malachi 3,2-4). But who, Malachi asks, can endure this glorious day? None can endure it by their own strength and power. Thus Elijah will be sent to prepare the people for this new covenant: he will call the people to repentance and exhort them to turn their hearts to Yahweh (Malachi 4,5-6). Jesus said John the Baptizer is this promised Elijah who fulfills what Malachi prophesied (Matthew 11,10-11).
8. This call to repentance is also a call to faith in Yahweh’s Messiah and Christ. The apostle tells the Hebrews that this faith enables one to endure the glorious day of Yahweh, for he quotes the Prophet Habakkuk: »My righteous one will live by faith« (Habakkuk 2,4). The Subject of this faith is Christ: we believe in Christ and are thus righteous. Therefore Paul proclaimed: »I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose« (Galatians 2,20-21). To hold steadfast to this Christ is to hold steadfast to the gospel.
9. „Faith plus obedience is not faith alone. It is not Christ alone. The apostle makes it clear that another gospel is not the gospel at all. And what is not the Gospel is then clearly recognizable as a law. And if that is how you want it with God, there is no bad news worse than that. There is Good News and there is bad news. Which is it for you?“ (Nagel ¶ 10).
10. We are not of those who are timid and destroyed, but we are of those who have faith and preserve our lives. This faith is in Christ alone who justifies us and makes us righteous. He did this at the cross and with His resurrection; we have been baptized into His death and resurrection; we have been washed clean and made holy. This is the gospel that is freely given, received and believed.
11. Jesus lives! Now is death
For me the entrance into life immortal.
What consolation in my final breath
He will my soul give eternal,
For in faith speaks my conscience:
»Lord, Thou art my confidence!«
(Jesus lebt, mit ihm auch ich elkg 458,6 2021 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert 1757).
This is most certainly true.
14. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
15. Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in heaven and earth is named, grant unto our friends, to all members of this household and to all the members of our different families that according to the riches of Thy glory we may be strengthened with might by Thy Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, length, depth, height and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen. (16. Trinitatis, 2. Vespers Collect. The Daily Office.)
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.
Keil, Carl Friedrich; Delitzsch, Franz. Commentary on the Old Testament. Copyright © 1975 Eerdmans.
Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House.
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