From the final pages of Here We Stand (pgs. 186-188):
"It is the plain teaching of the New Testament that the true unity of the church is unity in the truth. And it is the painful experience of church history, particularly during the last century, that whenever attempts have been made to unite churches without inquiring about pure doctrines-that is, without establishing what truth is, and what error, in Christianity-unity has not been achieved; and, what is worse, the divisions have always been magnified.
"There is unity in the church when it has one Lord, the Christ who is really present in His Word and Sacrament. This unity can become manifest in the historical church, however, only when we agree in our profession of faith in this one Lord and in the one truth of the Gospel. The unity of the historical church is not achieved though conformity in rites and ceremonies, nor though identical orginization and life-patterns, nor even throiugh uniformity in theological thought-forms and opinions. Such unity is only achieved when, in the joyful assurance of our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are one in our understanding of what His saving Gospel is and one our understanding of what He gives us in His Sacraments. 'For the true unity of the church, it is enough,' the Augsburg Confession states. It is, indeed, enough. But it is also necessary...
"[The Lutheran Church] knows, too, that we cannot bring about unity by ceasing to take the search for truth seriously. For the prayer, 'that they may all be one,' is inseparably connected with the other petition, 'Sanctify them in the truth; Thy Word is truth.' So we pray with the Fathers of the Reformation, in the same hymn, 'Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word,' and 'Send peace and unity on earth.' The Lutheran Church has been bearing up under the reproaches of the world for the past four hundred years because it believes that it is the Lord who passes judgment, and that the existence of the church depends on His judgment alone."
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Proper 11 of Series B (Mark 6:30-44)
“And taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this morning comes from the Gospel lesson read a few moments ago from the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Mark. Dear friends in Christ, have you ever been hungry? We all know what it’s like to be craving our next meal, but I mean real hunger. The kind of hunger that comes from skipping meals out of necessity, the kind of hunger that comes from not knowing where the food you need is going to come from or how you will pay for it. We live in such abundance that for most of us, such hunger is something we experience only on television. Hunger makes people desperate; you know this even from the minor hunger you experience from day to day. It makes you irritable and short-tempered, and your cravings only increase until they are satisfied. For others, hunger leads to violence and crime. Those who are starving are moved to desperate measures to provide for themselves and their families. When you are hungry, nothing else really matters but providing your body with what it needs.
The crowd that followed Jesus was hungry. Not physical hunger, although that would soon become an issue, but spiritual hunger. They hungered for Jesus. You can see their desperation as they hounded Him, begging Jesus to provide for them. All our Lord wanted to do was take His disciples, exhausted from their missionary journey, on a quick vacation to rest and recharge, to pray and prepare for the exertions that lay ahead. “For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.” They needed a break, but the hungry crowd wouldn’t allow it. “Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.” The crowd is desperate; they are willing to run around the sea while Jesus sails across it. They want Him, for only He can satisfy their hunger, only He can provide what their leaders, their shepherds have failed to give.
“When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion upon them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Israel’s shepherds have failed them. They were to be fed on the rich bread of God’s Word, they were to feast on His grace and mercy, but Israel’s shepherds were too concerned for themselves to provide what God’s people needed. The reason the people are so desperately hungry is because they haven’t been properly fed; they have been spiritually starved by those who were to feed them, they have been neglected by those appointed by God to care for them. They are hungry, and in Jesus they finally see the One who can satisfy that hunger.
We, too, are a hungry people. Why else are there broken people all around us, desperately searching for fulfillment? Why else are alternative religions and spiritualties becoming more and more popular? Why else is pornography a flourishing, billion dollar industry? Why else are drug, alcohol, and gambling addictions so prevalent? Hunger drives people to do desperate things. Hunger leads us to do things that we wouldn’t do otherwise, but in desperation we are willing to try anything. Our hunger isn’t physical, it is spiritual; our souls are hungry. We hunger for love, for acceptance, for fulfillment, for forgiveness. We hunger for something to fill this void that we feel inside of us, something that will make us feel whole. In the world’s richest nation, a place where our physical needs are met to a degree not found anywhere else on our planet, we are starving.
Our shepherds, the shepherds of this world, know that we are hungry, they see the desperation on our faces, and they are ready to provide. You’ve seen their promises on TV, you’ve heard their messages loud and clear. Fulfillment comes through having the right friends and taking time to enjoy the pleasures that this world can offer. Fulfillment comes from that bottle of beer; that beautiful girl or handsome man. Fulfillment comes from being successful in anything, climbing over others to get to the top. Fulfillment comes from having enough money and enough toys to enjoy, from cars to houses to electronics. Your hunger can be filled if you live life for yourself. That is the message that this world offers, and you know that you have at times listened to these shepherds and sought the methods of the world to fill your own hunger. But these so-called ‘shepherds’ are doing more damage than good. They are teaching you to pour into that void in your heart the things of this world, and none of them can ever satisfy, none can ever bring an end to your hunger.
The solution to hunger comes not from this world of spiritual poverty, but from the One who entered this world to satisfy hungry people, to shepherd wandering sheep to green pastures. “When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion upon them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.” Jesus has compassion upon you; compassion, this beautiful word that we find throughout the Gospels to describe the pity, the mercy, the great love that Jesus has for His people, for you and me. The compassion of Jesus always moves Him to action, and here that action is teaching. He sets Himself up as the Shepherd of His people, replacing the foolish and negligent shepherds of this world. The teaching of Jesus provides guidance to the wandering, showing them where to find quiet pastures and cool waters. The teaching of Jesus shows the foolishness of the world’s shepherds, that what they give can never satisfy. For we are creatures of God, and our fulfillment can only come in Him. The early church father Augustine put it this way: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” You have a God-shaped hole in your heart, and try as you might, nothing else can fill it but Him.
You have this God-shaped hole because you have been separated from your Creator by the corruption of sin. Sin makes you hungry, then leads you to fill that hunger with that which doesn’t satisfy. The only way that our Shepherd could fill His hungry people was by ridding us of the source of our hunger, the sin that separated us from God. In compassion, that deep love and pity that He has for you and me, He did exactly that. Jesus shows forth His compassion in that He didn’t spare even His own life, but gave it up as the sacrifice for our sin. He fasted from Maundy Thursday through Good Friday, as He suffered the blows and insults of men to deliver hungry people from the source of their hunger. He thirsted on the cross as He shed His own blood for your sin. It was compassion that led Him there, that led Him to freely, willingly give up His own life into death for you. Your sin was upon His shoulders, and so when He suffered and died, enduring the punishment that your sin deserved, that sin, the source of your desperate hunger, was defeated, you were reconciled once again with your Creator.
The resurrection on Easter morning is the proof that God has accepted His sacrifice, that sin itself has been paid for. Now our Shepherd, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, goes forth to fill hungry hearts with Himself. Only He can fill our spiritual hunger, for only He has defeated the source of that hunger. His compassion motivated His death, and now His compassion motivates Him to satisfy the hungry with the only food that satisfies, Himself. This is food that no one can buy, that no one can provide for themselves; it must come from the One who has defeated sin on our behalf.
Jesus calls on us to sit at His table and receive His good gifts. “Then He commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.” The crowd of desperately hungry people is gathered into congregations, to receive this food together in community, as a family of believers. The Shepherd calls on them to sit on the green grass, to dwell on the green pastures beside the still waters. Then He provides the meal. “And taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.” He gives Himself to you and to me, using His messengers as His instruments. He gives Himself to us in His Word, in His precious forgiveness in the Absolution. But He also and especially fills hungry hearts with a meal, the meal of Himself, the Lord’s Supper. He takes bread, breaks it and says, “Take eat, this is my body.” He fills hungry hearts with His very own Body and Blood. Spiritual hunger is filled by physical food; His true Body and Blood, the price of our redemption, satisfies our desperately hungry hearts. What was true for the five thousand on the hillside is true of us today: “And they all ate and were satisfied.” The hungry are filled, they are satisfied, for they receive in abundance what they need. Jesus gives Himself in abundance to you to fill that void in your heart, to end your hunger for eternity.
It is no mistake that the Scriptures often describe the new heavens and the new earth as a banquet. There our hunger will be no more, it will be fully satisfied forever. You will dine with Jesus your Lord, the One who in compassion sought to end your hunger by defeating its source upon the cross. You will sit at that table with those you dine with today, along with all who have been filled by Christ in every age. That feast will never run out, for wherever Jesus serves the meal, there is abundance. “And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.” Have you ever wondered why there were leftovers? The disciples gathered up the broken pieces of bread and the leftover fish to feed the Church; the abundance of that day teaches us that Jesus has enough to feed you and me—on this day, and even forevermore. In the name of the one who fills the hungry, who defeats hunger itself, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
The crowd that followed Jesus was hungry. Not physical hunger, although that would soon become an issue, but spiritual hunger. They hungered for Jesus. You can see their desperation as they hounded Him, begging Jesus to provide for them. All our Lord wanted to do was take His disciples, exhausted from their missionary journey, on a quick vacation to rest and recharge, to pray and prepare for the exertions that lay ahead. “For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat.” They needed a break, but the hungry crowd wouldn’t allow it. “Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.” The crowd is desperate; they are willing to run around the sea while Jesus sails across it. They want Him, for only He can satisfy their hunger, only He can provide what their leaders, their shepherds have failed to give.
“When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion upon them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Israel’s shepherds have failed them. They were to be fed on the rich bread of God’s Word, they were to feast on His grace and mercy, but Israel’s shepherds were too concerned for themselves to provide what God’s people needed. The reason the people are so desperately hungry is because they haven’t been properly fed; they have been spiritually starved by those who were to feed them, they have been neglected by those appointed by God to care for them. They are hungry, and in Jesus they finally see the One who can satisfy that hunger.
We, too, are a hungry people. Why else are there broken people all around us, desperately searching for fulfillment? Why else are alternative religions and spiritualties becoming more and more popular? Why else is pornography a flourishing, billion dollar industry? Why else are drug, alcohol, and gambling addictions so prevalent? Hunger drives people to do desperate things. Hunger leads us to do things that we wouldn’t do otherwise, but in desperation we are willing to try anything. Our hunger isn’t physical, it is spiritual; our souls are hungry. We hunger for love, for acceptance, for fulfillment, for forgiveness. We hunger for something to fill this void that we feel inside of us, something that will make us feel whole. In the world’s richest nation, a place where our physical needs are met to a degree not found anywhere else on our planet, we are starving.
Our shepherds, the shepherds of this world, know that we are hungry, they see the desperation on our faces, and they are ready to provide. You’ve seen their promises on TV, you’ve heard their messages loud and clear. Fulfillment comes through having the right friends and taking time to enjoy the pleasures that this world can offer. Fulfillment comes from that bottle of beer; that beautiful girl or handsome man. Fulfillment comes from being successful in anything, climbing over others to get to the top. Fulfillment comes from having enough money and enough toys to enjoy, from cars to houses to electronics. Your hunger can be filled if you live life for yourself. That is the message that this world offers, and you know that you have at times listened to these shepherds and sought the methods of the world to fill your own hunger. But these so-called ‘shepherds’ are doing more damage than good. They are teaching you to pour into that void in your heart the things of this world, and none of them can ever satisfy, none can ever bring an end to your hunger.
The solution to hunger comes not from this world of spiritual poverty, but from the One who entered this world to satisfy hungry people, to shepherd wandering sheep to green pastures. “When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion upon them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.” Jesus has compassion upon you; compassion, this beautiful word that we find throughout the Gospels to describe the pity, the mercy, the great love that Jesus has for His people, for you and me. The compassion of Jesus always moves Him to action, and here that action is teaching. He sets Himself up as the Shepherd of His people, replacing the foolish and negligent shepherds of this world. The teaching of Jesus provides guidance to the wandering, showing them where to find quiet pastures and cool waters. The teaching of Jesus shows the foolishness of the world’s shepherds, that what they give can never satisfy. For we are creatures of God, and our fulfillment can only come in Him. The early church father Augustine put it this way: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” You have a God-shaped hole in your heart, and try as you might, nothing else can fill it but Him.
You have this God-shaped hole because you have been separated from your Creator by the corruption of sin. Sin makes you hungry, then leads you to fill that hunger with that which doesn’t satisfy. The only way that our Shepherd could fill His hungry people was by ridding us of the source of our hunger, the sin that separated us from God. In compassion, that deep love and pity that He has for you and me, He did exactly that. Jesus shows forth His compassion in that He didn’t spare even His own life, but gave it up as the sacrifice for our sin. He fasted from Maundy Thursday through Good Friday, as He suffered the blows and insults of men to deliver hungry people from the source of their hunger. He thirsted on the cross as He shed His own blood for your sin. It was compassion that led Him there, that led Him to freely, willingly give up His own life into death for you. Your sin was upon His shoulders, and so when He suffered and died, enduring the punishment that your sin deserved, that sin, the source of your desperate hunger, was defeated, you were reconciled once again with your Creator.
The resurrection on Easter morning is the proof that God has accepted His sacrifice, that sin itself has been paid for. Now our Shepherd, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, goes forth to fill hungry hearts with Himself. Only He can fill our spiritual hunger, for only He has defeated the source of that hunger. His compassion motivated His death, and now His compassion motivates Him to satisfy the hungry with the only food that satisfies, Himself. This is food that no one can buy, that no one can provide for themselves; it must come from the One who has defeated sin on our behalf.
Jesus calls on us to sit at His table and receive His good gifts. “Then He commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.” The crowd of desperately hungry people is gathered into congregations, to receive this food together in community, as a family of believers. The Shepherd calls on them to sit on the green grass, to dwell on the green pastures beside the still waters. Then He provides the meal. “And taking the five loaves and the two fish He looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.” He gives Himself to you and to me, using His messengers as His instruments. He gives Himself to us in His Word, in His precious forgiveness in the Absolution. But He also and especially fills hungry hearts with a meal, the meal of Himself, the Lord’s Supper. He takes bread, breaks it and says, “Take eat, this is my body.” He fills hungry hearts with His very own Body and Blood. Spiritual hunger is filled by physical food; His true Body and Blood, the price of our redemption, satisfies our desperately hungry hearts. What was true for the five thousand on the hillside is true of us today: “And they all ate and were satisfied.” The hungry are filled, they are satisfied, for they receive in abundance what they need. Jesus gives Himself in abundance to you to fill that void in your heart, to end your hunger for eternity.
It is no mistake that the Scriptures often describe the new heavens and the new earth as a banquet. There our hunger will be no more, it will be fully satisfied forever. You will dine with Jesus your Lord, the One who in compassion sought to end your hunger by defeating its source upon the cross. You will sit at that table with those you dine with today, along with all who have been filled by Christ in every age. That feast will never run out, for wherever Jesus serves the meal, there is abundance. “And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.” Have you ever wondered why there were leftovers? The disciples gathered up the broken pieces of bread and the leftover fish to feed the Church; the abundance of that day teaches us that Jesus has enough to feed you and me—on this day, and even forevermore. In the name of the one who fills the hungry, who defeats hunger itself, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Reflections on Thy Strong Word (verse 6)
The Light has shone in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The reign of darkness has ended, for sin has been paid for, and death itself destroyed through the death and resurrection of the Light of the world, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. In the new heavens and the new earth, there will be no more night, but there will also be no created light, as John was shown in the book of Revelation: “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” The Lamb of God, sacrificed for the sin of the world, is the Light that will shine for eternity, shining on all those redeemed by His blood. Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous, and those who are righteous will dwell in that Light forever.
“God the Father, light-creator, to Thee laud and honor be. To Thee, Light of Light begotten, praise be sung eternally. Holy Spirit, light-revealer, glory, glory be to Thee. Mortals, angels, now and ever praise the Holy Trinity!”
The Father created light by speaking; Thy strong Word cleaved the darkness. The Son is the Light; Thy strong Word shone the light on those dwelling in darkness. The Holy Spirit reveals the Light; Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous. The Trinity together gives us the gift of Light; at creation, in redemption, and in justification. The Word and the Light; together these powerful images describe the glorious working of the Holy Trinity in our salvation. The Word and the Light are the gifts of our Triune God, the God who loved us despite our rebellion, the God who acted in mercy to deliver us from our darkness. Mortals, angels, now and ever, praise the Holy Trinity!
“God the Father, light-creator, to Thee laud and honor be. To Thee, Light of Light begotten, praise be sung eternally. Holy Spirit, light-revealer, glory, glory be to Thee. Mortals, angels, now and ever praise the Holy Trinity!”
The Father created light by speaking; Thy strong Word cleaved the darkness. The Son is the Light; Thy strong Word shone the light on those dwelling in darkness. The Holy Spirit reveals the Light; Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous. The Trinity together gives us the gift of Light; at creation, in redemption, and in justification. The Word and the Light; together these powerful images describe the glorious working of the Holy Trinity in our salvation. The Word and the Light are the gifts of our Triune God, the God who loved us despite our rebellion, the God who acted in mercy to deliver us from our darkness. Mortals, angels, now and ever, praise the Holy Trinity!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Reflections on Thy Strong Word (verse 5)
The Word has given us all that we have. The Word has given us life itself, and this creation that we live in. When this world was plunged into darkness, the Word broke in with the light of salvation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ, and He hung upon the cross to pay the required price of our sin, then rose again to conquer the darkness of death. Now, even today, the Word comes to us to bespeak us righteous, to give us all that was won through the cross and empty tomb. For all that, as Martin Luther says in the Small Catechism, “it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”
“Give us lips to sing Thy glory, tongues Thy mercy to proclaim, throats that shout the hope that fills us, mouths to speak Thy holy name. Alleluia, alleluia! May the light which Thou dost send fill our songs with alleluias, alleluia without end!”
The Word has shone light into our darkened hearts; now that light shines forth from our hearts into the lives of others. Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous; it has been spoken into our ears, with the power to forgive our sins and make us righteous, now that Word goes out from our lips to those around us. God’s Word has power; it does what it says. When we speak words of forgiveness to a fellow sinner, when we tell them of the redemption of Jesus Christ, we have confidence that the Word will do its work, that the Word will make things happen. This is the life of a Christian; God does mighty things for us through His Word, and then we go forth singing His praises and proclaiming His salvation to those around us. Alleluias ring forth from those redeemed by the Word made flesh, alleluias that have no end!
“Give us lips to sing Thy glory, tongues Thy mercy to proclaim, throats that shout the hope that fills us, mouths to speak Thy holy name. Alleluia, alleluia! May the light which Thou dost send fill our songs with alleluias, alleluia without end!”
The Word has shone light into our darkened hearts; now that light shines forth from our hearts into the lives of others. Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous; it has been spoken into our ears, with the power to forgive our sins and make us righteous, now that Word goes out from our lips to those around us. God’s Word has power; it does what it says. When we speak words of forgiveness to a fellow sinner, when we tell them of the redemption of Jesus Christ, we have confidence that the Word will do its work, that the Word will make things happen. This is the life of a Christian; God does mighty things for us through His Word, and then we go forth singing His praises and proclaiming His salvation to those around us. Alleluias ring forth from those redeemed by the Word made flesh, alleluias that have no end!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Reflections on Thy Strong Word (verse 4)
On Good Friday, the Word made flesh hung upon the cross. The One through whom God created light itself, the One who brought light into this darkened world at His birth, was subjected to humiliation and shame, torture and death. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour on that Friday, the sun refused to shine, darkness covered the face of the earth. For those who sat in the darkness of that afternoon, there could only be one conclusion: the Light of the world had been snuffed out. But the reality was quite different. The Light had been killed, it was true, but not extinguished. Indeed, as John boldly declared in the opening chapter of his Gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Instead of the Light being extinguished, from the midst of the darkness the Light shone forth from the cross as the salvation of all. The darkness thought it had snuffed out the light and found itself overcome.
“From the cross Thy wisdom shining breaketh forth in conquering might; from the cross forever beameth all Thy bright redeeming light. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise to Thee who light dost send! Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia without end!”
The wisdom of God is the foolishness of man. Only God could bring Light in the midst of the darkness of that Friday, only God could bring salvation through the death of His Son. It is at the cross that the Light shines the brightest, for it is at the cross that the darkness is overcome. The Word became flesh to hang upon that cross bearing the sin of the entire world. Only that sacrifice could deliver those sitting in the darkness of death, only His death could bring life. The light that shines forth on Easter morning, the dawn of the first day of the week, simply reveals what had been hidden three days earlier; the Light of salvation is the light that shines from the cross.
“From the cross Thy wisdom shining breaketh forth in conquering might; from the cross forever beameth all Thy bright redeeming light. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise to Thee who light dost send! Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia without end!”
The wisdom of God is the foolishness of man. Only God could bring Light in the midst of the darkness of that Friday, only God could bring salvation through the death of His Son. It is at the cross that the Light shines the brightest, for it is at the cross that the darkness is overcome. The Word became flesh to hang upon that cross bearing the sin of the entire world. Only that sacrifice could deliver those sitting in the darkness of death, only His death could bring life. The light that shines forth on Easter morning, the dawn of the first day of the week, simply reveals what had been hidden three days earlier; the Light of salvation is the light that shines from the cross.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Reflections on Thy Strong Word (verse 3)
God’s Word
was active and powerful at creation, cleaving the darkness. God’s Word was active and powerful at the
dawn of the new creation, breaking the light of salvation into a world made
dark by sin and death. God’s Word is
active and powerful right now, bringing light into our darkened hearts,
breathing into those under the power of death God’s life-giving breath.
“Thy strong Word
bespeaks us righteous; bright with Thine own holiness, glorious now, we press
toward glory, and our lives our hopes confess.
Alleluia, alleluia! Praise to
Thee who light dost send! Alleluia,
alleluia! Alleluia without end!”
God’s Word is powerful, it is performative, it is different from any created Word. God’s Word does what it says. God speaks, and it happens. This Word goes forth into this world from the pages of the Scriptures, from the mouths of Christians in their day-to-day lives, and from the broken and sinful lips of pastors in chancels and pulpits throughout the world. God speaks His Word through these His instruments, and it happens. God’s Word does what it says. Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous. Through speaking, sinful, dead people are made righteous and holy, living members of God Himself. Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous; the Word declares that we are righteous through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we are righteous, for God’s Word does what it says. Thy strong Word has that power because it is the same Word that took flesh and suffered death for your salvation. The Word which accomplished salvation now applies salvation to you. The righteous are glorious even now; you shine with the Light that broke into this world of darkness, you shine with the Light that broke into the darkness of your heart. You cannot see the glory that you posses, but you have it, for God’s Word has declared it to you; the same Word that brought light in the darkness, the same Word that became flesh and bore your sin to the cross. We press toward the glory to be revealed with the assurance that it is already ours, now and for eternity.
Reflections on Thy Strong Word (verse 2)
The first important place in Scripture where the Word and the Light are joined together is Genesis chapter one, the creation of light through the speaking of God’s Word. The second is at the dawn of the new creation, John chapter one. There the evangelist declares, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” At the creation, the Word brought forth light in the midst of darkness, but when humanity plunged that perfect creation into sin and death, darkness intruded again. The Word was called upon once again to bring light, and the Word did its work, as John triumphantly declares: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
“Lo, on those who dwelt in darkness, dark as night and deep as death, broke the light of Thy salvation, breathed Thine own life-breathing breath. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise to Thee who light dost send! Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia without end!”
Darkness enveloped all creation, dark as night and deep as death. But on Christmas Eve, when all was still and dark, light broke into the darkness. Isaiah saw this dawn of light coming from afar, and he declared, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” The Light broke into the darkness, and as John declares, “The darkness has not overcome it.” The Light came into this world to bring forth a new creation, to destroy the darkness of sin and death. God speaks, and it happens. The Word goes forth from the throne of God and becomes man, bringing light, bringing breath, just as at the beginning. The breath of God made Adam a living being; now the Word, the Light, breathes into those in darkness, those living in the shadow of death, and brings life and light.
“Lo, on those who dwelt in darkness, dark as night and deep as death, broke the light of Thy salvation, breathed Thine own life-breathing breath. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise to Thee who light dost send! Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia without end!”
Darkness enveloped all creation, dark as night and deep as death. But on Christmas Eve, when all was still and dark, light broke into the darkness. Isaiah saw this dawn of light coming from afar, and he declared, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” The Light broke into the darkness, and as John declares, “The darkness has not overcome it.” The Light came into this world to bring forth a new creation, to destroy the darkness of sin and death. God speaks, and it happens. The Word goes forth from the throne of God and becomes man, bringing light, bringing breath, just as at the beginning. The breath of God made Adam a living being; now the Word, the Light, breathes into those in darkness, those living in the shadow of death, and brings life and light.
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