Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Numbers 21,4-7. Reminiscere

Numbers 21,4-7 1724

Reminiscere 26

Victorin and his 4 companions, Martyrs 484

Walpurga. Heidenheim, Francia (Mittelfranken) ✠ 777/9

Walter E. Keller, ✠ 2011

25. Februar 2024

1. ℣ Remember, O Yahweh, Thy mercies and Your merciful steadfast love:

℟ That are from the beginning (Psalm 25,6; 24,6 vul lxx).

O Jesus, enter into our souls and revive them. Let us always contemplate how much it cost You to redeem us. Let us always remember that You had to endure the most shameful death in order to free us from eternal death. Amen. (Pieper 129-30; English transl. 76).

2. »From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: „Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.“ Then Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people approached Moses and said: „We have sinned, for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that He take away the serpents from us.“ So Moses prayed for the people.«

3. »Throughout the pages of Holy Scripture there are times when God uses that which has afflicted us to also deliver us. In Numbers 21 God punished sinful Israel by sending venomous serpents among the people, and then told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. All who were bitten would be made well by looking at the bronze serpent. Centuries later idolatrous Israel was cast out of the Promised Land, but 70 years later God brought them back to the Promised Land. Still centuries later, as Adam and mankind were lead to sinful rebellion with a tree, the Second Adam, Jesus, arrived and redeemed mankind by a cross.

4. John Chrysostom famously preached on this to a church in Antioch. He proclaimed: „[155] Do you see the marvelous victory? Do you see the feet accomplished on the cross? And shall I tell you something even more marvelous? Learn the manner of the victory, and then you will be more astounded. For through the same means by which the devil conquered, Christ [160] in turn, prevailed, and, having taken the devil’s own weapons, he subdued them. And have you heard how? A virgin and wood and death were the symbols of our defeat. The virgin was Eve, for she had not yet known man. The wood was the tree, and death was [165] the punishment of Adam. But behold, once again, a virgin and wood and death: these were the symbols of defeat, and they became the symbols of victory. For in place of Eve is Mary, in place of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the wood of the cross, and in place of the death [170] of Adam is the death of Christ. Do you see that the devil is defeated through the same means by which he had conquered? By the tree, the devil subverted Adam, while by the cross, Christ vanquished the devil. As a tree had dispatched us into Hades, so a tree raised up those who had fallen [175] there. Again, while a tree hid the naked prisoner, so a tree exposed the naked victor lifted high for all to see. While the death of Adam condemned those who followed after him, the death of Christ raised up all who had preceded him. “Who will tell the mighty deeds of the [180] Lord” (Ps 105:2)? Out of death, we have been made immortals. These are the feats accomplished on the cross“ (Friel 12-13).

5. The Word of God is a 2-edged sword; it cuts deeply with the law as it calls people to confession of their sin and repentance of that sin, and it cuts just as deeply with the gospel as it pierces our sinful hubris. The law condemns and the gospel comforts. This is the heart and soul of the season of Lent. We reflect upon our lives with holy Scripture and see our sinfulness and lack of Christian discipline; we resolve to do better and ask the Holy Spirit to work in us and sanctify us. We likewise ponder the Scriptures, particularly Psalm 25,6 today, which tells us: »μνήςθητι των οικτιρμών σου κύριε και τα ελέη σου ότι από αιώνός είσιν. Remember Your merciful steadfast love, O Yahweh, that is from of old« (Psalm 24,6 lxx; 25,6).

6. The mighty deeds of Yahweh are His merciful steadfast love. He visits the iniquity upon the third and fourth generation upon those who hate Him, but shows merciful steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and His Word (Exodus 20,5-6). His grace and mercy are overflowing and abiding that is more abundant than is His anger and punishment that is brief and temporary.

7. Jesus explained to Nicodemus the Pharisee how the bronze serpent in the Sinai will soon be fulfilled by a new savior outside of Jerusalem: »As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life« »Et sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem in deserto, ita exaltari oportet Filium hominis: ut omnis qui credit in ipsum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam æternam« (John 3,14-15). Later when entertaining some Greek visitors, Jesus proclaimed: »When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself. Jesus said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die.« (John 12,32-33).

8. Behold the redemptive price for our sin Christ crucified on the cross. Behold, Christ Jesus set upon a cross, and everyone who is dying from sin, and that is every person, when you look upon Him, you will live! Christ crucified is the payment for sin, and this payment is given out to you each Lord’s Day in the preached Word, in your Baptism in God’s Triune Name, in the forgiving words of the Absolution and in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The bronze serpent in the wilderness only saved God’s people from one specific illness at a particular time in history. The crucified Christ outside Jerusalem saves people from every sin each and every day in the year, decade after decade, century after century, millennia after millennia.

9. God’s judgment has been satisfied in the crucified Christ, and He has vindicated us. Our sins are forgiven. The gates of heaven have been opened. Eternal life is now yours, and it is yours through Christ Jesus. I tell you the absolute truth, if you believe Christ’s word, then you will never see eternal death (John 8,51). God in Christ has provided for you, and He will daily provide for you. Christ is your Redeemer and your Ransom. He is the New Adam and the Lamb of God His Father. Christ is your Providence and your Prudence.

10. It was only because of us that You had to suffer,

You went to the cross and wore the crown of thorns.

Paying for our transgression

with Your life as substitution.

(Du schöner Lebensbaum elkg 429,1 2021 Dieter Trautwein, Vilmos Gyöngyösi 1974 nach dem ungar.).

This is most certainly true.

11. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

12. Let us pray. O God, who gavest Thy beloved Son, the holy One and just, the meek and lowly in heart, to be the pattern of our living, help us, who must be measured by His measure and compared with His beauty, both to long and to strive after His likeness that all men may know that we have been with Jesus; to the glory of Thy Name. Amen. (Reminiscere, Vespers Collect 2. 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.

Friel, Rev. David M. Chrysostom’s Homily on the Word Koimeterion and on the Cross: A Translation and Commentary. Vigiliae Christianae 76 (2022) 1–36. brill.com/vc

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Numbers 21,4-7. Reminiscere

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