Even from the First He Spares Us

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:1-7

God is wrapped in cloths. The King of kings is laid among the straw. Upon a manger bed rests the delicate newborn body of a boy child for whom a palace in the sky would not be good enough. Yet, He receives no jeweled crib or ermine coverlet. He receives no welcome at the inn. No reception is organized by the city of David which had a thousand years to prepare. Even in this place where His royal house was established, its greatest King is born in obscurity.

No crier announces the fulfillment of the ages. No imperial honor guard is marshaled to pay him tribute. No bells are rung, no festival declared. The most powerful head of state, the Roman Caesar, is unaware of the One before whom all emperors must cast their crowns. The Syrian governor, Quirinius, whose name would otherwise disappear from history were it not for the Christmas story, is oblivious to the birth of this child of the blood royal.

No courtesy or consideration is offered his mother. No accommodations are made. The baby Jesus, God Himself made human flesh and legitimate heir to the throne of Israel is afforded only a bed upon the fodder where ox and ass would come to eat.

Won't someone - anyone -- accord him at least some measure of importance? Won't someone more than livestock gaze upon this holy child? Where are the dignitaries? Where are the celebrities, the men and women of renown? Shouldn't the most prominent representative of church and state, of academia and industry, of the armed services and the arts line the roads to Bethlehem?

All this long way Joseph and Mary had traveled. In obedience to a civic order they had come from Nazareth in Galilee to the Judean city of Bethlehem. Two more insignificant subjects of Rome could not have been found, scraps of driftwood upon the tide of history.

And the boy to whom Mary gave birth, by the acclamation he does not receive, by the place of honor he is not afforded, by the fact He must rest his head, not on satin but on silage communicates two things.

The world is unworthy of Him.

And the vastness of God's grace is infinitely greater than we know.

Yes, he "was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." (John 1:10-11) What an ignominious people we are. What an embarrassment we are, and appallingly disgraceful toward Him. It seems we always can find the time to amuse ourselves, treat ourselves and indulge our personal proclivities. We afford ourselves a delicacy from time to time and even believe ourselves to deserve it especially at Christmas time.

We deserve nothing.

We are not worthy of the God who would empty Himself, humble himself, and condescend to have his first bed in a barn. Who are we that God Himself should bear these indignities and worse -- to carry our sin and be our suffering servant?

That God Himself would set aside every entitlement and dignity He is due and forfeit even his own birthright is incomprehensible to us. Jesus was born in the stable at Bethlehem with no illusions. God expected no welcome and demanded no courtesies because His whole thought was for you. God did not take on our human nature with the intent to receive anything except contempt, injury, sorrow, indignity, and ultimately death.

And it all began at Bethlehem.

Even the tender picture of the baby Jesus in the hay washed with soft starlight and surrounded by the mellow sounds of mooing or a mother's lullaby disguise the cold, hard facts.

Yet, even here God spares us. He gently takes us by His Word to the grotto at Bethehem. He tenderly reveals the humility of God the Son. He assuages our disregard of Him by even here letting those tiny shoulders of the baby Jesus bear the weight.

By rights, Luke 2, should open up on the impertinence of men who will not welcome their Lord and King. But instead we are treated with peace and concord. We hear again the wondrous story.

"The time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

When we consider all that was not done for Him, all that was denied Him, all that He deserved and we withheld, the only reproach in the account of his birth is that "there was no place for them in the inn."

From the very beginning God guides us with a light hand. The tiny palm of the infant Jesus touches us again this Christmas, and we are reminded not only of how unworthy we are but so much more of how vast and marvelous, how sweet and wonderful it is to have a Lord such as this.

Pure Grace Greeting

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Luke 1:26-33

Really, who is the favored one here?

It is Mary most certainly. But are any of her virtues chronicled? No. Is there any note taken by Gabriel of her qualities or worthiness? None.

Do we find in this account of Scripture something of her reputation or background, some record or reason she should be favored? Does the angel admire a particular feature or aptitude she displays? On all counts, no.

Yet, the holy angel congratulates her and calls her "favored one." So she is. Highly favored; yet not one word is spoken about her personal character or charm. Nowhere is it even slightly hinted that she has a winsome personality or possesses remarkable moral fiber or beauty. Whatever personality traits or individual aspects make up her persona, they are never mentioned at all.

There is no reason to believe Mary was anything but a sweet, honorable young virgin woman. Her responses reveal herself to be reverent, and her words are deeply respectful. But it is astonishing how "unremarkable" or "a-remarkable" Mary is, because the angel offers not a single remark to her credit except The Greeting.

The Greeting is pure grace. Nothing more is needed. It is not based in this woman's worthiness; it comes from God who would be conceived a man in her.

Mary is pronounced favored for Christ's sake. This greeting is her credit; the Word alone is the honor given.

Here, in the Greeting is the precise word which bears the hope of the world, the root of which is charis, "grace," the unmerited favor bestowed by God.

Here is a greeting fit for a queen, yet it is entirely undeserved. God confers a special gift upon Mary even though nothing whatever is said about her pedigree, achievements, class, or character to give reason for such a salutation. The entire reason is foreign to her, as foreign as virginity is to conception.

No wonder Mary was deeply puzzled and unsettled. "O favored one" is not an ordinary salute, and it was the greeting, not the bearer of it, which startled her. She was "troubled at the saying," not from doubt but from wonder. It was not the angel that bewildered her but having herself assigned such a wondrous greeting for which she had no qualifications.

Yet, this is the very heart and meaning of Christendom. Grace is not something in us, but Christ given to us.

Gabriel didn't go to Mary and recount a list of her credentials or read from her personnel file about citations she'd earned or her performance history. He didn't come to interview her or investigate whether she was gracious.

He came purely to announce a gift which the Holy Spirit would deliver. Mary would be, through God's grace and design, the mother of His Son according to the flesh. She would carry in her womb a truly human boy-child who would at the same time be eternal God. He would be at once the human heir of David's throne and eternal monarch of a kingdom without end. He would be the Savior of the world.

Mary is extraordinarily blessed because the favor is entirely given and on no account deserved. This is why she sought to discern what sort of greeting this could be. It could not be based on her importance since none is cited. But when Gabriel announced the Good News of the Christ, Mary knew and believed it was entirely of God's doing.

R.C.H. Lenski rightly observes, "Mary is a vessel to receive, not a fountain to dispense."

She is favored, not for being laudable or striking but because our magnificent God is the perfect Giver of the absolute Gift. He gave Mary her son and her Savior. By grace through faith we have also been given Mary's son as our Savior too.

Nothing is spoken of Mary's attributes, but the angel Gabriel speaks fluently of the Child who would be born to her.

The Child would be named Jesus, a name quite in contrast to the complimentary address given Mary. She is called "favored" while his name, Jesus, which means Savior, must necessarily involve disfavor, disgrace, dishonor, and shame. His name prefigures and promises his crucifixion.

His humility and suffering will be chronicled from Bethlehem's cradle to Calvary's cross. The angels will note His qualities and worth. History will record his achievement and the Gospel will tell the reason he would be broken so that we would be healed. The angel said, "He will be great." Just how great Mary herself would see as her own son would offer His life upon the cross for her sins and ours.

The sacrifice of His life would justify the angel's greeting, "O favored one. The Lord is with you," a greeting, by the way, not confined to Mary. The Lord says the same for you and me in the Gospel of John, 1:16, "From his fullness we have all received charis upon charis, grace upon grace."

Grown Up or Shook Down

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Galatians 2:1-10

St. Paul is a grown-up. We need more grown-ups. We need parents who are grown-ups in their homes and not mere buddies to their children. We need grown-ups serving as teachers who realize the education of children requires mature models of wisdom, learning, and conduct standing before them. We need grown-ups in government, not just people tinkering with their own glorified Junior Achievement projects.

But we especially need grown-ups in the church, both clergy and laity who are spiritually mature, theologically grounded in the apostolic doctrine, and who are genuine and eager in love for people. That kind of maturity can only come under the cross.

Being a grown-up requires humility. There must be among us the profound sense that no matter how much we learn, accomplish, or oversee, one is never greater than the Gospel of Christ. Only the living Word of God gives us footing. Surely God has sacrificed to bring us to the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus gave his blood, sweat, tears, and life so that we would have fellowship with God and with one another, but the Kingdom does not need anything we bring. A grown-up knows this. Paul was called by God to be an apostle in the Kingdom of Christ, but even he was not indispensable. And he knew it.

I understand I may sound contradictory is asserting the need of the church for grown-ups while in the same breath saying the Kingdom needs none of us. This is really not incongruous.

There is but one need –-- the need for Christ, the need for His mercy and merit, the need of a Savior. One who benefits from the Gift of Christ has every other necessity filled. Jesus is God, and when He was given to the world, all “need” disappeared from our vocabulary, for “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)

Here then is a definition of a grown-up (which has no reference to age, intellect, or experience). A Christian grown-up is the person who relies on Christ alone. Only in this sense does the church needs grown-ups. The church needs to be what she can only be --- unconditionally reliant on the Gospel of Christ. We are not secure or important because of anything we contribute. That’s just the point. The grown-up is the Christian going exactly the opposite way from some upwardly mobile management track or with attention to success.

Unlike the world --- and I must say, much of the church today --- Christian maturity isn't based upon one’s skill set, effectiveness, or how much one can bring in or do for the kingdom. It disclaims anything but the Gospel.

If Paul had thought he was crucial to the success of the church or indispensable to the church’s future, he would have relied on self-promotion, party support, or even pressure to prove himself paramount. But Paul’s only credential was the Gospel he proclaimed. Paul didn’t care a fig for the “influential” leading figures or the powerful. Not for one minute did he yield to the possibility that freedom in Christ needs to be protected or supplemented.

In Paul’s day there was a party of Judaizers who were ready to use what they believed to be any sophisticated strategy to show themselves wiser, smarter, more devoted, and more virtuous than Paul. Of course, as soon as you have to prove yourself a grown-up, you ain’t one.

But, hey, they looked good. They were all for Christianity moving the cause of God forward. They were all for correctness in the practice of this new faith. They called themselves Christians. They were zealous. They had status. They seemed influential. They honestly regarded themselves mature, seasoned, fit believers.

So, what was the problem? Because it wasn't just a little misunderstanding they had with Paul.

The sine qua non for the Judaizers, the indispensable, essential thing for them was a belief that the Gospel needs help. Paul’s “freedom” was all well and good, but it had to be protected and backed up by deeds of the Law. Jesus may have died for all, but all those for whom he died must now qualify for the benefit through legal circumcision.

It was a classic shake-down. And Paul would have none of it! Not one minuscule scrap of it. And not for one second!

Oh, those guys were slick. They had their style, their devices, their arguments, organization and expertise. Their proficiency was good, their sincerity genuine. And unless there had been a grown-up like Paul holding up the Gospel and its freedom from any contaminate, they would have steam-rolled the Christian faith.

Today, the Christian church is facing a masterful shake-down. Under the guise of employing Jesus’ name liberally and protesting how everything is for him and for his glory, the worms of legalism or protectionism continue to insinuate themselves into the church. In other words, it’s not enough to rely on the preaching of Christ crucified alone. That’s all great, but the message needs more polish. It needs to be packaged for more appeal. It can't hold its own without some modernization. The message of the Gospel needs help.

The means of grace are great as long as you remember the rules: not too much, not too long, not too deep, not too conservative, not too serious, not too traditional, not too absolute, and certainly not too Lutheran.

Commitment to apostolic doctrine, the Lutheran confessions, and historic practice are all fine and commendable, but they need the “protection” of contemporary thinking, trendy peripherals, and popular methods.

And this shake-down is being done, as it was with the Judaizers, in the name of God and supposedly for the interests and betterment of the people of God.

And Paul declares point blank, it “added nothing to me.” “We did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”

Paul was entrusted with the Gospel as were Peter, John, and James. Those guys were grown-ups. They knew the Treasure they were proclaiming. They embraced each other in the fellowship of the faith, stood their ground on the truth of the Gospel –-- and refused to be shaken down.

Take heart, Christians. The Gospel will not be squeezed. On the strength of Word and Sacrament alone we can stand against the flimflam.

Dumb Blessing

And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time." And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. Luke 1:18-23

Zechariah was not disciplined by being made deaf. He was struck dumb.

This was no accident. God's discipline was a purposeful, calculated blessing. You heard me: a blessing. God's discipline is always a blessing.

First, Zechariah was prevented from speaking any more foolish doubts about the Word of God. That's a blessing. He had opportunity now to think over God's promises and learn to trust them instead of sounding off about what seemed reasonable by his own thinking. That's a blessing. It also prevented any distracting explanation about the vision of Gabriel until God fulfilled what was promised.

Not a few times following miracles Jesus asked people not to talk about what they saw because spiritually weak people are liable to make something sensational of it and end up obstructing the primary work of Christ. (Luke 5:14; 8:56; Mark 8:30; 9:9,30; Mt. 16:20)

Even today you hear fuss when a well-meaning but immature person claims to see an image of Jesus in a potato chip. Newspapers are sure to report "the giddy" going on a pilgrimage to visit a crying statue someplace. Not only bizarre things but quite ordinary things can divert attention away from the centrality of the Gospel.

That's why Zechariah was made dumb, not deaf. He was “talking over” God, and that's not good.

God has speech, gracious speech. He is the Word of Life. For the hearing of the Gospel we are given ears. But if the wagging of our own tongues, ungrounded assumptions about spiritual things, profane human opinions and popular theories about God interfere with hearing the Lord's plain Word of promise, such tongues are better off silenced.

Zechariah had not been convinced by God's great glad news. He wanted further substantiation. He wanted something more persuasive. He got it. He got his own tongue handed him. But God spared his ears.

That's what's really happening here, isn't it? Zechariah's ears failed him and his own tongue got in the way. He was making his own conclusions and having his own reason and doubt trump the Word of God. Years later the apostle Thomas did quite the same thing, dismissing the power and integrity of God's Word and refusing to believe the Easter declaration (John 20:27).

At such times, going speechless is a wonderful blessing. Instead of being in love with our own voice, we are blessed when God situates us to hear what we really need to hear.

Often Jesus said, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Each of the seven letters to the church recorded in Revelation culminates with the urging, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

The blessing in Zechariah's silence was that God's great Word prevailed. Elizabeth would have a child despite her husband's voiced skepticism. The Good News will prove and retain its supreme character without Zechariah's help or approval.

In the same way today, the Gospel doesn't need the eloquence of anyone. The liturgy of the Word, the Sacraments, and the announcement of absolution need none of the special effects or theatrical help so irresistible to those who love to show off. Much of modern church stagecraft has its roots right back with Zechariah. It doesn't help. It obstructs.

The beauty of the Gospel defies improvement. God's promises, as implausible or foolish as some make them, ARE true and seamless. The Word and water of baptism DO wash away sin. The body and blood of Christ ARE present in, with, and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion. The tongue of the pastor who comforts the repentant sinner, "Your sins are forgiven in the Name of Christ," speaks an impregnable Word that will never be trumped even in heaven.

Neither Zechariah or any of us must ever think the Word of God requires outside approval, polish, scientific interpretation, consensus, or sweetening, It only needs to be spoken! Gabriel's tongue served one purpose: the delivery of the glad tidings. We don't see Gabriel adding his own personal touch or flair, do we? We don't observe John the Baptist making his ministry and preaching flashy and flamboyant. Christ Himself never ever gave his ministry the air of cabaret?

Even within the distinctive persons of God Himself there is no innovation or novelty to fine-tune the Gospel. Even God the Holy Spirit strictly refrains from giving the message His own personal touch, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." (John 16:13) That being so, we then certainly haven't a syllable or a single vowel to add.

No, the glorious Word of life carries the day. The truth of sins forgiven and peace bestowed through the cross of Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. The righteousness which comes as a pure gift received only through faith for the sake of Christ is flawless.

If losing his voice for a season striped Zechariah of his arguments against God's good news, I'd call that a blessing. If being struck dumb prepares one to rely on what God says instead of on human wisdom, then being dumb is a wonderful benefit.

God has much to say - and that's the real blessing.

Therefore, this Advent, let's heed Zephaniah's call, "Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near." (Zeph. 1:7)

Rejoice first that you have ears and that God blesses them with His Word. Then, and only then, may our tongues be loosed.

Batteries Not Included

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." Luke 1:11-17

"Batteries not included." Watch for this printed on the box of any electronic gizmo you might think of getting. A toy or tool may be terrific, but it serves no purpose if not powered.

What about sinners? Are we otherwise terrific people who simply lack the right spiritual power source?

No, the power in man is haywire right out of the box. The only power in fallen man is the power that kills. People are hazards. This is far worse than just a thing that doesn't work for lack of batteries.

Injuries, grievances, injustice, neglect, cruelty, and abuse are all inhuman monstrosities with the power that kills.

Hopes are killed when we refuse to apologize and repent. Ministry is "fried" by pessimism, criticism, and indifference. Families and friendships are electrocuted by those plugged into the values of the world. The operative word is "defective."

And the malfunction of humanity is not even the main problem.

The problem is the total malformation of man. The very nature and core of man is corrupt. The inability to function is but a warning bulb showing the whole system is infected. This is why our confession in the Divine Service begins with "I, a poor miserable sinner" before speaking of "sins."

But just how rueful are we over the sin in us? We read about wrongs every day in the paper and nearly yawn. A murder in Saginaw, a truancy from school, a terror outrage in Mumbai, a divorce in the neighborhood, a DUI incident, deer baiting, shoplifting, sass, and the finger. All these have the same moral equivalency. Yet, most of the time we are unmoved by them even though these are nothing compared to the rotten source from which come my sins and yours.

The voltage of sin is so deadly that the damage cannot be restrained. Against it we have no natural insulation. God help us. We are powerless to halt it. The hearts of fathers are turned against their children and the disobedient go wildly along the way of prejudice and excess. God saw the world before the birth of John and it was - bluntly said -- a people unprepared for the Lord.

There is no power in man for righteousness, no strength for good, and no capacity to love. Yet, how easy it is to dismiss this fact when human beings are so amazingly constructed. People are so fascinating and talented. Many are so learned, cultured, or accomplished that the hopelessness of our sin is soon put out of mind.

But don't be fooled by the box.

Good we are not, neither in whole nor in part.

There is no residual decency in fallen humanity no matter how one may be packaged. The idea that people are born a mixture of bad and good is a lie. Even the newest model of our human race, version 20.11, rolling off the line next month will be just as corrupt, just as morally misshapen, and just as dead in sin as we or our ancestors.

And just like every previous human being, each subsequent person is desperately in need of the Holy Spirit exactly like every other man, woman, and child conceived in this world.

But how about John in this regard? What about this son to be born to Zechariah and Elizabeth?

Could he, perhaps, be the "exception that proves the rule?" Is John perhaps the "exception" that demolishes the doctrine of original sin? Might we have here the one human being who tests the reign of sin?

The angel told Zechariah that his son "will be great before the Lord." Jesus later said of John, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist." (Matt. 11:11)

Even the pre-natal John leaped in Elizabeth's womb at the sound of the Virgin Mary's voice. (Luke 1:44) St. Luke states He was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. John is the closest thing to a miracle child. Even though the biological clock ceased to tick with Elizabeth, still John is conceived. His birth is astonishing. His whole life is consecrated. He follows the canons of a lifelong Nazirite abstaining from all wine and strong drink. He lives a ceremonial clean life, eating locusts and dressing in camel hair.

How can a man of such pristine credentials and saintliness not be called good? John could be the poster boy for all those who, while admitting themselves not perfect, insist they cannot be totally corrupt. After all, look at John. Isn't it possible that at least somewhere down deep inside us is a magneto with just enough current to generate a spiritually worthy life? If we can justify the possibility of that, then we retain at least a scrap of self-respect. Then, we confess our mistakes but not our sin. Then we may acknowledge ourselves imperfect though not entirely rotten to the core.

What was the greatness of John? Was it his spic and span life? Was it his discipline and abstinence? Was it the ascetic lifestyle and accomplishments, that he turned many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God? Was it his notoriety from birth or his popularity among the people? Was it his martyrdom?

No, it was the "spirit and power of Elijah" given to him. There was no innate goodness in John to make him heroic. He too was born of sinful parents. He inherited the same original sin as you and I have, and no one could have been more acutely aware of it. John, you see, above all others was the preacher of repentance. His great task was to preach stern contrition and repentance.

His greatness was precisely akin to the fact he was utterly unworthy even to untie the shoe laces of the coming Christ. His greatness was the testimony that I am nothing but Christ is everything. "[Christ] must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

John was filled with the Holy Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit was the force of life in John. Far from "plugging himself into God," it was the Spirit of the Lord who animated John. The Spirit came to him. The Lord gave him his name. The Lord gave John his life even in a womb that had been dead. It was the incarnate presence of the Lord Christ that caused John to leap, and it was the Holy Spirit who chose John and led John "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."

It is this same Holy Spirit who has absolved us of our sin, both original and actual, in Holy Baptism. In the sacrament, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, we are not merely given a set of batteries to enable us to function acceptably. And most certainly, baptism is nothing we do.

Baptism is God, the Holy Spirit, granting us the brand new life. He comes that we be more than just functionally Christian but indeed flesh and blood members of Christ Himself. The depth and power of the Spirit's work is not a mere shot in the arm or jump-start for our battery. It is the power of the cross and resurrection which trans-forms the baptized into people fully prepared, fully justified before God, and fully equipped for the coming of the Lord and eternal life.

I've Got Your Back

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. John 12:44-47

“I’ve got your back.” A brother soldier in the field or a solid friend in tough times who says, “I’ve got your back,” is priceless. It means you really have someone to count on, someone who’s not going to allow anything or anyone to take you down.

Of course, they don’t really mean just your back. The expression means they will have you covered even if it means their own life. I can't think of anything a friend could say with more meaning than this: I’ve got your back!

Recently a brother pastor told me how precious he regards the objectivity of the Gospel. I could not agree with him more. That is absolutely right. God has our back. When His Word is faithfully preached, God covers it. He doesn’t double-cross men who preach the Word. He has our back.

That’s why I’m so grateful to be a Lutheran. Our Lutheran doctrine has a ramrod spine. We are anchored in Scripture. We have the privilege and duty to repeat the objective doctrine of Christ articulated in the Apostle’s Creed, Augsburg Confession, the Small Catechism, and our other formal Lutheran Confessions.

This brother pastor and I went on to talk at length about the superlative blessing we have to preach a Word which is so stubborn and unrelenting that it remains utterly unchanged from eternity. The objectivity of Christ is perfect safety for preachers and those who hear them. God has our back. His Word doesn’t crack.

We could no sooner change the sun’s orbit or reconfigure the periodic table than ever see an alteration of God's Word. “For truly,” Jesus said, “I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

We’re talking solid bedrock here. We’re talking about the unassailable strength of God's Word against which carbon steel would look anorexic. God has your pastor’s back by giving him the objective Gospel to proclaim. Make sure you demand it every time he steps in the pulpit. God has this congregation covered by objective justification which is the core of our preaching and by the objective Sacraments, the center of our celebration.

When Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me,” he was making clear that despite humiliation, despite all the hostility and harassment from the manger to the cross, despite the darkness of sin and finality of death, God backed every word Jesus spoke and sanctioned every step he took even when it meant crucifixion.

Jesus was no renegade. He came into this world to be our Savior because that is exactly what His Father asked Him to do.

Think carefully. Did God have Jesus’ back when his parents fled with him to Egypt? Did God the Father have his back in Nazareth when Jesus was rejected and nearly stoned? Did God have his back when the injustice of a kangaroo court engineered Jesus’ death? No, God was protecting our flank. God had our back! That’s why He didn’t spare His Son –- to cover us. The Father turned His back on His own Son and unleashed His fury at all our sin which had been imputed to him.

Excruciating as it must have been for God to see His righteous and beloved son betrayed by avowed friends who swore to watch his back but didn’t, and then to witness his Son butchered by the very people He came to save; nevertheless, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were of one unanimous accord.

The Father not only concurred with what Jesus was doing; He wanted it that way. He prepared it. He chose His Son to be the sacrificial Lamb on whom he would spend his rage. The Father was not an indifferent observer. He was deliberate in respect to Jesus. Jesus came to wage the ultimate battle, but the Spirit and His Father didn’t sit on the sidelines.

Jesus trusted that His Father would have His back even if that wasn't to be. It was the ultimate confession of faith when Jesus said on facing his agony, “Thy will, not mine, be done.” It was no less than saying that even though I be rejected and penalized by God, even if he turns his back on me, I will yet trust Him. Jesus went to his death with objective intent.

Jesus came, not to judge the world, but to save it. And whoever believes that, must also believe in the One who stood behind it all. Jesus believed. Even as nails and lance did their worst, Jesus trusted that His Father would have His back, that God would cover this investment of Christ’s life.

And he has.

The objective truth is that the back of our Lord was laid upon a cross. God planned this so that we would not remain in darkness and death. God’s object all along has been to spare you, to cover you, and never to fail to have your back.

Yea; Right

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-13

Yea, right.

From what might be considered any sane perspective this extravagant kind of claim is absurd. Are we to believe that in the same breath which alludes to David’s death there is attached the promise of a never-ending coronet?

The king will die. David’s days are numbered. He will go the way of his father’s before him. Come on. Every succeeding generation faces the same.

Crowns and thrones will perish, kingdoms rise and wane.

Soon enough David will be out of it. He’ll be long gone. What can he do then? Can he patrol his kingdom from the grave or administer state affairs then? Can he counsel his distant descendants? Rule and authority expire once you’re gone to your crypt The cold, hard fact is not what might happen if you die. There’s no “if” about it. God's promise to David through the prophet Nathan is prefixed by the surety, “When you die…”

Presumably the best thing ever to happen to David would come after his death.

Yea, right.

The fantastic promises David is given here would be something to see if David could be around to see them come true. Then he could corroborate whether God is on the level. But God's ultimatum concerns a distant future beyond David’s time, entirely beyond David’s strength, and definitely beyond David’s control. David will have nothing to contribute. He may be a virile, procreative hunk today, but soon enough the sap runs dry if you know what I mean.

And he’s going to have an offspring from his own body after he’s dead?!

Yea, right.

That’s like saying a branch will come forth from a dead stump bearing fruit. That’s like saying a parched desert will become a spring of water. That’s like saying the eyes of a blind man will be opened or the ears of the deaf unstopped. That’s like saying the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. That’s like saying a young goat will sleep between the paws of a leopard or a toddler can safely play over the hole of a cobra without harm. (Isaiah 11:1, Psalm 107:35, Isaiah 35:5-6, Isaiah 11:6-8)

Such promises cut diametrically across every conclusion based on human reason, philosophy, or experience. There is no scarcity of folks who, to put it mildly, regard it insane.

One would have to rely on God's Word alone to think differently. One would have to trust that God is not only faithful but capable of the impossible. One would have to set aside all sovereignty of human reason, human biology, and highly reputed academic judgment. One would have to bank entirely on the immaculate character and pledged Word of God.

And God says …

Yea, right.

We are to simply to believe God’s plain word? At face value?

Yea, right.

The Lord says, “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Yea, right.

And God doesn’t blink. When David actually believes this unabashed promise, God doesn’t retreat. He means it. God doesn’t think His declaration lays it on a little thick. He says exactly what He intends to say and attaches His own name to it! Nowhere in this promise is there anything “conditional.” This truly is a massive, God-sized oath and undertaking.

Would you want anything less? Would you want the future to depend either on what you leave behind or can spawn once you’re dead? Do you want to gamble on your own machismo? Frankly, there are a lot of people who figure just that way. They’ll just handle whatever they must after they’re dead.

Yea, right.

So, God reduces to nothing our faculties and let’s the entire promise hang on His own triple utterance, “I will raise up your offspring … I will establish his kingdom, and … I will establish his throne forever.”

God speaks for two reasons. One is so David will have a binding security in which to believe. David may have wealth, regal weight, political gravitas, and all the apparatus with which a great man may surround himself. But he, like us, needs what only God can supply.

But secondly and most astonishingly, God speaks to obligate Himself. He makes Himself accountable. We have the documentation. The Word of God is not a shot in the dark that suckers like we Christians are to swallow without a lick of sense. The Word of God is, well, the Word of God! This Word formed the universe. And this Word is delivered to this universe in the flesh of David’s own Son through the Virgin Mary.

God says a man of David’s own seed will be sent by God to establish a kingdom never to end. It will not be any ordinary kingdom. It won't be formed by a conquering army or ruled by clout. It will not have boarders or bastions against other comparative rival kingdoms. It will be the Kingdom upon which God has placed His own Name. He encumbers Himself. He takes the whole load. He commits Himself. He bids of David nothing. It’s God's reputation on the line.

And when David responds, “You have said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” (Ps. 89:3-4), David is clearly confessing on the grounds of God's own promise …

Yea! Right!

And, oh, by the way -- what God foretold did take place, exactly as He said. David’s Son, Jesus, was born a child and yet a King. His kingdom has been established without David’s prayer or ours, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

Yea?

Yes!

Right?

Right!

E'en so, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come

Exquisitely Beautiful

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Isaiah 52:7-10

All he has to say is, “I have great news!” Even before the details are shared, the mere arrival of someone announcing good news is gladsome. We have a hunger for it, for really good news, because that which so often passes as news in our 24-7 information age isn't really good.

There may be interesting news. For example, NASA has reported that Voyager 1, launched 33 years ago, has now reached the edge of our solar system. Interesting.

There is alarming news in reports which reveal the magnitude of WikiLeaks sabotage. Such news is disturbing.

There is meaningless news such as the story about the end of Brett Favre’s streak as a starting quarterback. Boo-hoo.

There is funny news. My mother-in-law just got an I-Pad. In our family, that’s hilarious.

There is inside news which often is gossip or corruption – hardly good news.

But there is not a whole lot of truly good news. Yet, when genuinely good news is made known, it has transformative power. It will make the stupidest office boy look like a genius or even the tattooed lady Miss America. If you have good news and share it, you are the most beautiful person on earth.

The same is true of a church. The really beautiful church is not the newest, the most polished, or the comfiest. Handsome isn't through its architecture or the design of its program. The beauty is in the Gospel, in the kerugma, the proclamation of Jesus Christ and his mercies.

The Lord and Redeemer brings us peace because the chaos of our sin has been stilled. The price of our freedom from guilt and shame has been paid. The reign of death is broken. The threat of an ambush from the evil one is no more. Our nightmare of sin and disgrace is ended finally and forever.

I love how the Bible’s description of the harbinger of such good news is not a declarative sentence. The Gospel is not a wooden fact.

This is an exclamatory sentence! “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news!” It’s a song of acclamation because of the substance of that news! The good news of God's arrival as our advocate and defender is not some monochrome information. It is brilliant, heart-pounding, vibrant news emanating with joy. O, happy day! Our Savior has come!

The watchmen who have longed to see the morning can announce with singing, “Behold, the Lord has come to Zion. Our God has come to his people, and all the earth will see the Lord’s salvation.”

Oh, it’s a beautiful thing when someone arrives with good news. It is good news when a doctor can announce, “The fever is broken; the crisis is past!” It is great news when the authorities can broadcast, “The child has been found alive and well.” It is glorious news when lookouts cry, “The enemy is in wholesale retreat. The victory is won.”

But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is splendid beyond even these. The news about our redemption by God has been confirmed by the incarnation, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of God's own Son, Himself.

It isn't just good news for one sick patient, one desperate family, or one particular country. The Gospel of Christ is a global, macro-announcement which began with the racing, beautiful footsteps of the Lord to the waste places of Jerusalem, where the spiritually shamefaced, shattered, and scared are shown they need never fear again.

From there the song goes out. News about the Lord Jesus Christ and the comfort of his Gospel is heard across the mountaintops and to the ears of nations even at the far ends of the earth.

This glorious, wonderful, and life-giving news is preached relentlessly in beautiful churches where Christ’s Word and Sacraments are the crown jewels. The News is never about anything or anyone other than our Lord Jesus Christ. The exquisite News is that peace has been won through the sacrifice and salvation of God's Son for us. Sing for joy!

We have great news! Now, go share everywhere the particulars of this Gospel of our beautiful savior … and know you go with a light step because you have His beautiful feet.