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.
