Sought and Found

Texts:  Isaiah 49:1-7; Matthew 2:1-12

THERE'S A HYMN IN THE 1933 Presbyterian hymnal that goes like this:

I sought the Lord, 
            and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek Him, 
            seeking me;
It was not I that found, 
            O Saviour true;
No, I was found of Thee.

These words came to mind as I was studying our passage in Matthew chapter 2, and considering what the Holy Spirit wanted me to bring to you from it on this Feast of the Epiphany.

This story of the Wise Men visiting the Child Jesus is an old, familiar one, but the wonderful thing about God's holy Word is that He always has more to bring to us even out of the passages we know and love best.  We can see in these verses how Jesus is the high King of heaven whom the great ones of the earth worship and adore.  They show us how God begins to include the Gentiles in the kingdom of His Christ.  They move us to glory in the light of God's revelation, and to mourn over the blindness of His ancient covenant people, the Jews.  But this year I was struck by the theme of seeking and finding.

It runs all through our Matthew passage.  The strange men from the East come seeking the Child who is born King of the Jews.  Herod seeks to know where the Christ is to be born, and the priests and teachers of the Law find the answer in the book of the prophet Micah.  Herod seeks to know exactly when the star appeared, and commands the Magi to search carefully for the Child.  The Magi continue their search and at last find the Child Jesus and present Him with the gifts they have brought.  They then return to their own country by another route, leaving Herod without the information he wanted to find.

For the Wise Men in particular, the whole journey is an effort of seeking and finding. And we're used to regarding them in that way. Occasionally by the side of the road somebody will put up a signboard that says

                   Wise Men Still Seek Him

And everyone one knows exactly which wise men it's talking about, and Who it was they sought. But what I want us to ask ourselves today is, "Why?"  I mean, why did they go looking for Jesus?  How did they know they should?  Why on earth should a group of Gentile astrologers-- of all people!-- be interested in the infant King of the Jews?  Why should they be watching for His star-- and how is it possible they even knew this new heavenly body was His star?  And once they saw it, and why should they take the trouble to go hundreds of miles from what is now Iraq to pay Him homage?  Let's not take their journey for granted!  After all, what did the King of the Jews have to do with them?  There was no earthly reason these powerful and influential pagan men should have taken all that effort to seek and find the Messiah of Israel who was born in a barn, but they did.  Why?

We can find part of our answer in the course of human history.  Chaldea, where the order of the Magi flourished, was the heart of the old Babylonian empire, where the Jews had been taken in exile six hundred years before.  Even at the start of the 1st century Jews lived in those regions, and they had planted there a strong tradition of their Scriptures and of the knowledge of the God of Israel.  And so we see that these Wise Men, who were dedicated to seeking out ancient truth, came to know the tradition of the great King of the Jews who was to come.

But it didn't follow that this information would be personally  significant for them.  Humanly-speaking, there really was no reason why these Gentiles should search out the Child Jesus and be so full of joy when they found Him.  Let's understand this: It really wasn't their idea, it was God's.  It wasn't as if the Wise Men one day decided to go find the Incarnate God because it'd be the wise thing to do; they sought Him because God Himself in His purpose and wisdom from all eternity from had decided that's what they would do.  The Magi sought Christ because Christ, as the everlasting Son of God, first sought and found them.

Please keep in mind that we're speaking figuratively. The all-knowing, all wise God doesn't have to "seek" for any of us, because we're always present to Him and He knows exactly where we are at every moment.  But as He works in the hearts of His elect to bring us to Himself, the language of seeking and finding is a very appropriate.

The Wise Men needed God to seek them out before they could seek Him.  And the same goes for every last one of us.  Why?  Because naturally we are lost, wandering, and alone, without God and without hope in the world.  Because as Isaiah says in chapter 9, naturally we are people walking in darkness.  Because as St. Paul says in Ephesians, naturally we are dead in trespasses and sins.  We need God to seek us out by His grace, to find us, enlighten us, and make us alive.  We talk about "making a decision for Christ," and it feels like that's what we do.  But none of us can do any such thing unless God first has made a decision for us.  Look at the chief priests and the teachers of the law in our Matthew reading.  They knew God's Word backwards and forwards.  They didn't have to do any special research to tell Herod where the Christ Child was to be born-- they could quote Micah 5:2 from memory.  But their minds were darkened.  It meant nothing to them that this prophecy was possibly being fulfilled right then, five miles down the road in Bethlehem.  Why did God not choose to break through their darkness and unbelief?  It hasn't been given to us to know that.  But it is given to us, to you and to me, to know that the fact that you and I can be here worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ is a wonderful gift we could never deserve, a gift of pure grace.  God our Creator and Redeemer has sought us and found us, and He will never lose us from this day.

How do we know this?  How can we trust that God's grace will always find what it seeks?  Turn to our reading in Isaiah 49.  Here we see the Servant of the Lord taking up His commission.  He somehow is identified with God's people Israel, but He isn't the nation, because part of His task will be to redeem and restore the tribes of Jacob.  This Servant is the Israel that Israel could never be, the Messiah, the perfect and holy Son of God.  He is, as verse 3 puts it, God's servant Israel, in whom the Lord will display His splendor.  And though it seems as if the task He is given is impossible (for the sinful human heart is harder than any rock), still what is due Him for all His labor "is in the Lord's hand, and [His] reward is with [His] God."  Do you know what that reward is?  It's you who believe in Him and all His faithful saints, whom the Father has given the Son.  The success of Christ in saving us is certain, for God the Father Himself has promised to reward His Son by giving Him all those He has chosen for salvation.

God prepared His Son perfectly for His mission of salvation-- He was like a polished arrow in the quiver of God, and once He was set to the bowstring He would never fail to hit the mark God intended.  Verse 2 says the Lord "concealed me in his quiver," and for long centuries God's plan for salvation was hidden from human knowledge.  Who would have thought that the Saviour would be God Himself come to earth as a helpless Child?  Who could have conceived that the Lord of life would die on a cross to atone our sins?  But that's exactly what He did, and we could never see it or look for it or accept it if God did not reveal it to us.  His grace had to seek us out, so we could believe the good news of Jesus Christ and seek the One who had already found us.

It would have made sense if this wonderful salvation had only applied to the Jews.  Truly, when God sent His Servant the Messiah, it was first and foremost His purpose to redeem the chosen remnant of His ancient people.  Jesus was "formed in the womb," verse 5 says, "to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to Himself."  As Christ said during His ministry, He was sent to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  But hear what the Lord says to my Lord:

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

A light to the Gentiles, the Christ would be!  And even as a tiny Child our Lord Jesus was fulfilling that prophecy, as His Holy Spirit sought out those Gentiles from the East, Wise Men, nobles, princes of their people.  God found them and enlightened them and drew them to His Son.  And so these words of the prophet began to be fulfilled:

"Kings will see you and rise up,
    princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

And the Magi were only the beginning.  We sitting here are Gentiles who have been given the light of Christ, because of the faithfulness of the Lord.  We are chosen in Him, God's beloved Son, Child of Mary, the true Israel and God's holy Servant, in whom the Lord displays His splendor.  In Christ the light of God is revealed to those who were in darkness.  In Christ the grace of God seeks and finds those who would never think of looking for Him.

And He invites us to His Table.  As we eat the bread and drink the cup we do so in remembrance of Jesus Christ who for us died and rose again.  But remember that in this sacrament God Himself does something for us.  Here at this Table God seeks to give us Christ and all His benefits: His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His assurance, His grace-- all the overwhelming riches of Jesus our Lord, more precious than any gold, frankincense, or myrrh.  Receive Him here by faith. Like the Magi, bow before Him with gratitude and great joy. What you seek is here, for God Himself has first sought you, and what He seeks, He finds.

Heaven's True Gate

 Texts:    Genesis 28:10-17; John 1:43-51

    WITHIN EVERY HUMAN BEING rises the question, "How do I get to heaven?"  "Heaven" means different things to different people.  For one man, "heaven" might mean eternal unity with the Uncreated Source of all majesty and bliss.  For another, "heaven" could mean having a belly full of good food for now and the foreseeable future.  Some say heaven is a state we enter after this physical life is over; others say it'll come about on this earth when social justice and equal prosperity are granted to all.

    But one thing is common: when we human creatures ask the question, "How do I get to heaven?" we mean, "What do I have to do to get there?"  What good work must I perform, what god must I appease, what pleasure must I give up, what plan must I follow, what cause must I join, what gate must I locate and go through, what ladder must I climb, what must I do to get to heaven?

    But our readings from Holy Scripture turn this common human assumption on its head.  The whole of Scripture teaches us that the principle of us getting into heaven by our own efforts is junk, like a bad GPS that'll send us down a dead-end road.  No, the key to heaven is found in Jesus' statement in John 1:51: "I tell you the truth, you shall see the heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

    But how do we use this key?  What is Jesus talking about?

    Jesus is talking about the ladder or stairway seen in a dream by the patriarch Jacob in ancient times, as we read in our passage from Genesis.  As we look at that passage and then link it to what is happening in our reading from St. John, let's ask ourselves: Is it our job to get ourselves into heaven, or does the effort and initiative all belong to God?

    In Genesis chapter 28 Jacob son of Isaac is headed to his uncle Laban's in Haran, in Syria.  Officially he's leaving Canaan to find himself a bride among his cousins there.  The real reason is that he's pulled a low-down, sneaky trick and cheated his older twin brother Esau out of the family birthright.  After a day's journey he camps out under the stars, using a stone for a pillow.  And there Jacob has a dream.  Not just any dream, but a true dream, a vision, actually, given to him directly from the Lord, the God of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. 

    In his dream, Jacob saw a great stairway or ladder with its foot rested on the earth near where he lay.  Its head reached up to heaven.  On this stairway the angels of God were going up and down, pursuing their business between heaven and earth. 

    The Bible tells us in various places about the business of angels.  In the Gospel of Luke and elsewhere they are God's messengers, bringing His commands to His people.  They're ministering spirits, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, appointed to serve those who will inherit salvation.  St. Paul writing to the Galatians tells us that angels assisted some way when God gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.  In Revelation we read  how angels will be God's agents in carrying out His judgment on the sinful earth.  And always and at all times, the angels of God praise Him and give Him glory.  By their activity we see the Lord God's activity and involvement in this world, never ceasing, continually going to and fro, carrying out His plans for creation.

    Jacob saw all this in his dream, but he saw more.  Above the stairway or ladder--above it, notice, not merely at the top of it-- Jacob could perceive a Being that he knew was the Lord God Almighty.  But Jacob doesn't recognize the Lord by His appearance, any more than we do.  He knew Him by His word.  The Lord said, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac."  The Lord repeats to Jacob the covenant promises He made and confirmed to Abraham.  But now the Lord grants and applies the covenant promises to him, Jacob.  Jacob, the deceiver, the cheater, the sneak.  The one who deserved nothing from God's hand but judgment and could do nothing to earn His favor.  He wasn't even Isaac's firstborn son!  Out of the Lord's free grace it is Jacob and his descendants who will inherit the land.  His descendants will be like the dust of the earth.  It is through him that all the peoples on earth shall be blessed. 

    Jacob awakes, and he knows he has dreamed true.  He has seen the Lord Almighty standing in heaven above the top of the ladder of the angels.  But now he says, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it."  The Lord is in heaven, and He is here on the earth below.  He is present with us whether we're searching for Him or not, even when we're totally unaware of His presence.

    Jacob is now awake in more ways than one.  His eyes have been opened.  God has chosen to reveal Himself to him, and he exclaims, "How awesome is this place!"

    It's really too bad that the word "awesome" is so worn out by slang use these days.  What word can we use to express the combination of fear, joy, wonder, and reverence that surely flooded through Jacob at that time?  He says, "This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."  Right there in that barren, lonely place, near a village too small even to have a caravan stop, that was the house where God was to be worshipped.  That was the gate through which the Lord had come down and called an unworthy man like Jacob into covenant life with Him.

    The life of the covenant is central to the revelation Jacob receives at Bethel.  Over the years and centuries since then, God revealed to His prophets that the covenant blessings would be focussed in and brought to reality by the Anointed One, the Christ.  The hope and cry of God's people was that soon the King, the Son of David, would come.  He would reclaim the land; He'd grant life and hope to the descendants of Jacob; He'd be the One through whom all nations would be blessed.

    And in God's good time, John the Baptist appeared, preaching that people should repent for the time of the Messiah was soon.  So be baptised!  Get ready!  Finally, one day, Jesus from Nazareth came to be baptised.   The time had come!  John recognized Him and declared,  "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!"  He tells two of his disciples, Andrew and probably Philip, that Jesus is the One Israel has been waiting for.  Immediately they approach Jesus to spend time with Him to find out more about Him.  We see in John 1:41 that they are convinced that John has spoken truly, for Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus, saying, "We have found the Messiah!"

    All this takes place in Judea, east of Jerusalem on the other side of the Jordan River.  The next day, as we pick up our Gospel reading, Jesus has decided to go back to Galilee.  Before He goes, He extends a special invitation to Philip to be His permanent disciple:  "Follow Me!" Jesus commands.

    Why does Jesus call Philip in particular?  Maybe because of what Philip does next.  In his excitement, he seeks out a friend of his, a man named Nathanael.  Before he leaves for the north he wants Nathanael to hear the good news.  "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one the prophets wrote about!"

    Imagine Nathanael's wonder and hope when he heard this!  Most likely he, too, was a disciple of John, not on the scene when Jesus was baptised, but now how joyful he would be at hearing this good news!

    And how disappointed he must have felt when Philip told him the Messiah was from Nazareth.

    Nazareth?  That hick town?  That barren place half-overrun with Gentiles?  What good could come out of Nazareth?  He's like Jacob outside of Bethel, aware only of the stones and the hardness of the ground.  Nathanael may be looking for the Messiah, but certainly not there.

    But Philip isn't deterred.  "Come and see!" he says.

    When Jesus sees Nathanael coming, He exclaims, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false!"

    What a reversal!  Deceitful Jacob was the original Israelite, you might say.  But God was forging a new Israel, a true Israel, who would deal openly and without guile.  And such a one was this Nathanael.

    This stranger from Nazareth has him pegged.  It's possible Nathanael prided himself on his honesty and straightforwardness.  In a land and a time when it was safer to play things close to the vest, this quality was unusual, and he's amazed that Jesus recognizes it in him before He can actually look him in the face.  "How do you know me?" he asks.

    "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

    We've all heard of so-called clairvoyants and psychics who claim to be able to see from afar.  But Nathanael knows that the true ability to see into men's hearts, the real far-seeing where the spirit of a man can go with another and see what he is doing belongs only to a great prophet of God, like Elisha in ancient times.  So Nathanael draws his immediate and forthright conclusion: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel."

    Could he have said such a thing unless God had revealed it to him?  Not at all, no more than Peter later on could confess Jesus as Lord on his own initiative.  It is God's revelation and doing.  Nathanael recognises the presence of God in that place; that is, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and he does so because the Lord God has granted it. 

    Jesus accepts Nathanael's perception of Him, but He knows very well that the man's eyes aren't fully opened as yet.  Nathanael, as well as Philip, Simon Peter, and Andrew, still has a limited grasp of Jesus' identity as the Messiah, the Son of God and the King of Israel.  Angels were called sons of God; kings were referred to as sons of God; prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed ones: how could a Man born of woman, let alone a Man from Nazareth, be the Son of God in the most literal and fundamental way?

    But this is what Jesus promises to reveal Himself to be.  He tells Nathanael and the others that "you," plural, "will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."  They will come to realize that it is by Him that the angels pursue their ministry of command, comfort, and judgment.  Jesus and Jesus alone will show Himself to be Immanuel, God with us, exalted in the heavens yet present with us on earth.  He will be revealed as the one Mediator between heaven and earth and heaven's true gate.

    Human beings of all religions and no religion at all are eager to make it into some kind of heaven.  But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reveals by His word that heaven is where He is, where He rules and reigns in His glory amidst angels and archangels.  It is a state that He offers to us through Jesus Christ, not one that we can earn.  It is all God's doing, offered to us through His sovereign grace in Christ Jesus.  He gives us even the faith to see and believe and the will to persevere.

    But the desire to exert our human will and effort dies hard. Even as Christians, we don't fully understand that it all depends on God.  Think of the song "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder."  It's in this hymnal.  But we aren't called upon to climb Jacob's ladder, at least not by our good works and service, for Christ Himself has come down to us.  And despite what it says in the Led Zeppelin song, no one can buy the stairway to heaven.  No, the gift of God in Jesus Christ is given to us freely.  He paid our admission to the presence of God by His death on the cross and brought us to the life of heaven by His resurrection. 

      Hear what St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans.  He is quoting Moses: 

    "Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down)  "or ‘Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:  That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

    The Lord God is present in Jesus Christ, and there are many in this world who are not aware of it. But to you it is given to know and to see who He is and what He has done for you.  Receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ your Lord, and worship Him and serve Him in loving gratitude.  For He is the eternal house where we meet and enjoy God, He is the true gathe of heaven.

How Did You Get Here?

 Texts:    Ephesians 3:1-19; Matthew 2:1-12

    YOU KNOW HOW IT goes.  You can't find something, you're looking all over the house for it, you find it at last, and it's in some out-of-the-way place you never could have imagined.  And you think, "How did that get here?" 
    Or maybe you're not looking for whatever it is at all.  But you come across it, where you never expected it to be.  Same reaction: "How did that come to be here?"  Well, it's a mystery.  You shake your head and move on.

    Sometimes it's people who turn up in expected places.  You think a friend is at the other end of the country, or tied up doing something else, but here they are at some event you're attending.  You're happy to see them, but still it's a bit of a shock.  How did they get there?  Again, it's a mystery. 

    But sometimes somebody shows up like that, all unexpectedly, and you feel they shouldn't be there at all.  By all rights, they're intruding.  They don't belong.  It's still a mystery how they dared to come, but the question "How did you get here?" takes on a whole different tone.  It becomes a challenge and even a threat. 

    That's how Herod and "all Jerusalem" felt about the Wise Men when they showed up at Herod's palace one fine day in the reign of Caesar Augustus.  Magi they were: philosophers, sages, advisors to kings, come all the way from Persia with their pack animals and all their entourage, inquiring "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  We have seen His star at its rising and we have come to worship Him."  Imagine the shock of it!  Foreigners!  Uncircumcised Gentiles!  Come all that way, to ask such a question!  O Magi, how did you get here?  And with such an intention!?  No wonder, as Matthew puts it in chapter 2 of his gospel, "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him."

    To Herod and the officials in Jerusalem, Jewish or Roman, the Magi weren't expected and they weren't wanted.  The political situation was unsettled enough  without strangers talking about rival kings being born in the province of Judea.  You've heard what sort of tyrant Herod the Great was.  Several of his sons and one or two of his wives he'd already put to death because he thought they were conspiring to take over his throne.  His youngest surviving son was about sixteen at the time and Herod wasn't in the way of producing any more rivals-- I mean, heirs.  Now he has to deal with these Magi and their shocking news.  "Looking for the one born King of the Jews, indeed!  You intruding foreigners, how did you get here!?"

    And what business did the Wise Men have with the long-awaited King of the Jews at all?  The priests and scribes in Jerusalem, Herod himself, knew the Magi weren't seeking any ordinary newborn heir to a human throne.  This was no routine diplomatic mission.  No, they understood totally that the Wise Men had come to pay homage to the great everlasting King who was to come, the Messiah, the Anointed One promised by God's prophets since days of old.  But how could it be that these foreign, alien, uncircumcised strangers should be the first ones to show up and announce His birth?  And why should they want to worship Him?  The Christ belonged to the Jews!  How then did these easterners get here?

    What a shock that would have been for all Jerusalem!  In many places in the Psalms and the writings of the prophets, it is written that the time would come when Gentiles would bow down and worship the God of Israel.  But the general Jewish interpretation was that they'd worship Him by force, out of compulsion, thrown down on their faces before Israel's promised King, the way a war captive would be.  But now these strangers-- uncircumcised Gentiles!-- have arrived willingly, eagerly, come hundreds of miles across the desert to worship and adore Israel's Messiah. It was an intolerable mystery.  No wonder the whole city was thrown into confusion!  Men of the East, how did you get here?

     But there they were.  And we know the rest of the story, how the Wise Men heard the word of the prophet Micah and learned that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea.  How with joy they saw the star rest over the house where Mary, Joseph, and the young Child Jesus-- no longer an infant, but a fine Boy one or two years of age-- were now living in that town.  How they entered and bowed before Him and offered Him kingly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

    Christian brothers and sisters, let's not take their presence with the Baby Jesus for granted.  Because it's still a valid question, how did they get there?  Because the Jewish authorities to a great extent were right.  The promised Christ was to be the King and Ruler of God's chosen people Israel.  As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, to the Jews belong "the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.  Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!"  By traditional rights, Jesus belonged to the Jews! How could any Gentile foreigner have a share in Him and His blessings?  First and foremost, as Jesus said Himself, Christ was born for the Jews.  Yet here are the Gentile Wise Men, in at the front of the line.  "O Magi, how did you get here?"  But as we ask that question about the Wise Men, let's also ask it about ourselves.

    For here we are, on this first Sunday after Christmas, gathered together to celebrate,  worship, and adore Jesus who is born King of the Jews.  Here we are, Gentiles, likely without a drop of Jewish blood in our veins, bowing the knee before Him who is the Messiah and God of Israel.  In wonder and joy, let us inquire, "How did we get here?"

    It's a mystery, but it's a mystery that's been revealed.  For hear what St. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3 about the mystery of Christ that God had revealed to him.  He writes:

    This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

How did we get here?  We got here through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that the Man Jesus was God in human flesh.  That He died for our sins and was raised on the third day for our justification.  That through faith in Him we can have eternal life with God.  As Paul writes in Ephesians 2, it is Christ who has made peace between Jew and Gentile; it is His shed blood that has broken down the dividing wall between us and made it possible for us, too, to belong to God's chosen people and share in all the blessings of His covenant with them.

    Paul writes in Ephesians 3:5 that this mystery of grace had not been made known to men in previous generations.  Up to the time of Jesus' earthly life, death, and resurrection, no one could even have imagined that Gentiles could have any part in the Messiah who was to come.  The mystery was kept hidden in God, as Paul says in verse 9.  Only in God's good time would it be revealed. 

    And God began to reveal it by bringing the Wise Men to worship the Child Jesus Christ.  They didn't arrive in Bethlehem out of their own human initiative or ingenuity; it was God's work from first to last.  The credit and the glory all goes to God the Father, who gave the Magi the knowledge of the expected King, who gave them the yearning to find Him, who raised up the star to lead them out of their faraway homes, who brought them at last to bow the knee in the humble home of their Saviour and Lord, the young King of the Jews.

    And it is solely God and His power that brings us to the feet of Jesus to worship Him as our Saviour and receive the blessings of His love.  For in all justice we don't belong there in His presence, any more than the Magi did.  It's not just that we're Gentiles, it's that all of us, ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles, are unworthy sinners.  We had no share in the blessings of heaven!  How did you get here, how did I, when we were rebels against the God and King of the universe and deserved only His wrath?

    Brothers and sisters, it is grace alone that has brought us here, and that grace comes to us by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen.  We read in Matthew how the authorities of Jerusalem were astonished at the arrival of the Wise Men.  Here in Ephesians we see that our inclusion in God's people is a sign and a testimony to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.  By the grace of God you and I are included in the Church of Jesus Christ, and the very fact that we are here, worshipping Him and enjoying His life and His gifts, that very fact makes known to angels and archangels the wonderful and manifold wisdom of God.  Did you know that your salvation causes the angels to rejoice and give praise to God?  Who could have thought it?  How could it have been possible?  We who were foreigners and outcasts from the people of God, now share in the unsearchable riches of Christ!

    From all eternity, God made it His purpose and goal to bring a people to Himself, not identified by any human bloodline, but by the blood of His only-begotten Son.  He accomplished that purpose through the holy life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  Now, as Paul says in verse 12, in Christ and through faith in Him we--even we!-- can approach God with freedom and confidence.  How did we get here, how did you, how did I?  We got here through God's grace shown to us in Christ Jesus our Lord!  We belong here, we are His, and no sufferings and discouragements we experience on this earth can change that fact.

    Never, ever, let us take our position in Christ, our membership in His Church, for granted!  Paul yearns that our brothers and sisters at Ephesus might understand the wonder of what God the Holy Spirit had done in them and for them.  By the same Holy Spirit, his yearning and prayer is for us as well.  Now, at the beginning of this new year, may you be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being, that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith.  May we, in our deepest thoughts, wills, motivations, and desires know fully that Christ is ours and we are His.  He is our beloved King and Lord, not because we decided to love Him, but because He first loved us and brought us to His side.  We are rooted and established in His love, as it is written in verse 17, and there can be nothing more wonderful than for us to have the power, with all the saints,

    [T]o grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

    How did you get here to the feet of Christ, to worship Him and call Him King and Lord?  It's no longer a mystery!  You got here by the grace of God, through His eternal purpose, by His love shown to you in the salvation won for you in Jesus' death and resurrection.  He has bought you, He has brought you, and you are His.  With the apostles and prophets, with the Wise Men, with ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles and all He has called to belong to him by faith, let us worship Him with our lives, our lips, and our love, ascribing to Him all honor and glory:

        Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.

Brought from Afar

Texts: Ephesians 2:11-18; Matthew 2:1-12

THE CHRISTMAS SEASON ISN'T COMPLETE, is it, without the Three Kings finding their way to worship the Baby of Bethlehem. We read in Matthew chapter 2 how the Gentile wise men arrived to worship the newborn King of the Jews. How they came from the east-- probably Persia, 800 to 900 miles away, how they followed the star, how they caused a great hubhub in King Herod's court with their request for directions, and how they hurried on to Bethlehem. We read of their great joy in seeing the star rest over the house where Jesus was now living with Mary His mother and Joseph His foster father. In our mind's eye we watched as they bowed down and paid Him homage as Lord and King and presented Him their gifts. We sighed with approval and gratitude when they heeded the warning of the dream and did not go back to report to Herod, but returned to their own country another way.

It's impressive what the Wise Men did. It took a lot of work and they overcame a lot of obstacles. In sermons in pulpits all over the world we're exhorted to be like them. "Wise men [and women] still seek Him," we're told, and we should go to any lengths to seek out Jesus, too.

Humanly-speaking, that's true . . . but it leaves out whose really doing the impressive work in our Matthew 2 passage. That is, it leaves out the role of God. Without the work and will of the Lord Most High, the Wise Men would have remained in Persia and never offered their allegiance and honor to Jesus, the King of the Jews. It is God who revealed to them that a great King of the Jews would be born. It was God who impressed on them that that birth would have worldwide consequences. It was God who hung the miraculous star in the heavens to guide them, and God who directed them to follow it. It was God who gave the prophecies in His word so the Wise Men could be directed to Bethlehem, and it was God who caused these great men to bow the knee to a peasant Child in a humble dwelling. Without the work of God, none of this would have happened. It was the work and will of God that brought the Magi from afar. It was the work and will of God that included the alien and alienated Gentiles in the kingdom of the Messiah of Israel. And it is the work and will of God that brings us from afar and includes us in the kingdom of Christ as well.

For what does Paul the Apostle say in Ephesians, chapter 2? By the Holy Spirit he writes:

So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth . . . remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Brothers and sisters, this is talking about us! True, most of us were born into families who have been Christians for years. But most of us, I reckon, were not born of families with Jewish blood. Remember, there was a time when God's covenant promises were only for Israel. Only the Jews received the blessings of being His people. That excluded us who were of Gentile heritage. God Himself set the boundary of the ceremonial law between Jew and Gentile, to preserve His chosen people until Jesus the Messiah would appear. There couldn't help but be a dividing wall of hostility between us. The Jews hated the Gentiles because they were unclean and did not know the Lord. The Gentiles hated the Jews because they considered Jews to be strange and narrowminded and just plain weird for rejecting idols and worshipping an invisible God.

But now Jesus Christ has appeared in the world, and it is not our doing, it is the work of God. We Gentiles have been granted the epiphany that Israel's God is our God, as He is God over all the earth. The Jews have been granted the epiphany that the covenants of promise are now open to the uncircumcised. God accomplished this by the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ the dividing wall is broken down and we are one in Him, and one with His church in all times and places. In Jesus we Christians are one new humanity. He has brought us from afar and become our peace.

But it wasn't just Jews and Gentiles that were far from one another in the sight of God. We were also far from God. See what Paul says in verse 16. Both groups needed to be reconciled to God. Israel belonged to God but too often were far from Him in their hearts. Our Gentile ancestors did not know God and were far from Him in both heart and physical distance.

Note this: God did not need to be reconciled to us! God has never offended against us, but we by our sin repeatedly have offended against Him. And then we blame God for the consequences of our own sin and the consequences of the sins of others, starting with Adam and Eve and their disobedience in the garden. Our rebellion alienated us from God and put us far away from Him. As Ephesians 1:5 says, we were dead in our trespasses. Even those of us who were raised in families with godly parents were born into this deadly condition. All of us-- all of us-- deserve nothing but God's wrath until God has mercy on us and sends Jesus Christ to find us and reconcile us to Himself. Israel was helpless and enslaved until God called them out of Egypt and brought them nearer. This was part of God's great plan of salvation, so at the right time the Christ might be revealed. And now Jesus has come and shed His blood for our sins, so we aren't at war with God any more. As it says in verse 17, Jesus has come and proclaimed peace with God to us Gentile-born who were far off, and peace to His Jewish children who were near.

Think of it-- together in Christ we all have access to the Father in heaven-- the great Creator God who made us and loves us--though the one Spirit He has put in our hearts! No longer are we strangers and aliens, but together with the Wise Men, God has brought us from afar. He Himself has made us fellow-citizens with the saints, and members of His own household. If you make and keep one resolution for this new year, promise that you will study to know and appreciate how amazing that is! And what a wonderful gift God has given you! You are a citizen of His divine kingdom! You are a temple for His worship, His very dwelling place! You have been brought from afar and made a child of the only, true, and living God!

And please, make another promise to God and yourself: That you will remember how far away you used to be and in His power be His instrument to bring others near as well.

Because it's a sad thing: Even though Jesus two thousand years ago died on the cross to break down barriers and wipe out distances, we in His churches too often erect new barriers and imagine new distances to keep ourselves separate from people who are different from us. I've noticed there isn't a problem, usually, with sending missionaries to evangelize people "over there" in Africa or the Far East or other places far away. The problem is the barriers we erect between our congregations and those who are physically close to us, who are our neighbors and even our friends, but who are distant culturally or economically or religiously. What I mean is this: Suppose you're talking to someone, either a chance stranger or someone you know, and this church and its ministry come up. And you learn that they don't attend church anywhere. And it crosses your mind to ask him or her to come here the following Sunday. But you look at the person's clothes and think, "No, they're too shabby or too well-dressed to fit in here." Or you think, "They're Jewish-- or Muslim-- or Mormon-- or totally secular-- or whatever-- They're got their own thing going, they wouldn't be comfortable with us and we wouldn't be comfortable with them." So you don't give the invitation. Believe me, I know. I've been guilty of the same. The only thing that should stop us from inviting someone who needs Christ to worship with us is the certainty that he will not hear the Gospel preached from this pulpit. We should never keep silent out of discomfort and fear. Jesus Christ has broken down the barriers between one human being and another. No, not so we can run around celebrating our "diversity" as if being different were a virtue in itself. But so He could make us one in Him. And it is the privilege and glory of us who are already in His Church that He uses us-- our words, our service, our loving extended hand-- to bring the alienated and the lost from afar to enjoy His peace. Even if that alienated and lost one dwells in your very household.

The habits and ways of this fallen world put obstacle after obstacle in the way of the Wise Men as they came from the East to worship the Christ Child. The habits and ways of this fallen world put obstacles in our way before we came to Him. But God had mercy on us, as He had mercy on the Wise Men. He sent His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ into the world to die and rise again for our sakes. He sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts to convince us that this is true. Jesus came to us when we could never come to Him and He has brought us near by the shedding of His blood; He has made people of every race, tribe, language, and culture one body in His flesh.

This morning, the Lord's Table is spread before us. Here is Christ's epiphany to us, our God appearing to us through the elements of bread and wine. As you partake of this holy sacrament, receive the peace and reconciliation of Jesus in your hearts, as surely as you receive the elements in your mouth. Be reconciled to one another, as surely as God has reconciled you to Himself. Draw near to Him in gratitude and joy. Jesus your Lord has brought you from afar: this is His glorious work and His gracious will. Amen.

Distances Spanned, Walls Broken Down

Texts: Matthew 2:1-11; Ephesians 2:11-22

YOU’RE PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH the Motown song, "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough." How does it go?

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from gettin’ to you, babe.

Maybe you’ve also heard the joke where the lover who’s sworn all this winds up by saying, "And I’ll be over tonight, baby, if there’s no game on TV."

You certainly can’t charge the Wise Men in our Matthew passage with insincerity. They didn’t let any mountain, valley, river, or desert keep them from getting to Bethlehem to worship at the feet of Jesus, the infant King of the Jews. Over a thousand miles over rough terrain they travelled, from the land of Persia which was outside the bounds of the Roman empire. Think of the trials and hardships of such a journey! Even if we assume that the Magi were pretty well off, there would have been great heat by day and frigid cold by night, with road conditions bad or uncertain. They would have been in constant danger from accidents or bandits. Then once they got to Judea, they had to trust themselves to the wicked King Herod to find out where the Christ Child could be found. Their pilgrimage to Bethlehem was no Caribbean cruise, but the Wise Men let nothing stop them from making it.

And think of the psychological barriers! There you are, one of the Magi of the East. You may not be a king yourself, but you certainly are the advisor to royalty. You’re most likely a follower of Zoroaster, you worship Ahura Mazda, the Uncreated Wisdom, and you search the stars for signs of your god’s working in the cosmos. You devote your life to wisdom and scholarship. And life is good. You’re respected, you’re honored, the people look up to you and kings compensate you well. It would take a lot for you to entertain the idea that the Divine Wisdom would speak in the sacred writings of a despised, broken, and exiled people like the Jews. It would be even more of a stretch to believe that the Uncreated One would send a special emissary from heaven to be born as one of that despised, broken, and occupied people and to understand that the new star you’ve seen heralds this very child. And how much bigger a barrier would it be for you to accept that you, yes, you, one of the noble Magi, should and must get together with some of your fellow-Magi friends and travel all those hundreds of miles to kneel and do homage before that newborn King of the Jews.

But the Wise Men did it, even though their god Ahura Mazda was only a smeared and indistinct picture of the God of Israel who alone made heaven and earth. They went, and we see that they were not only willing to go, they were eager to overcome the obstacles and make that journey. When they saw that the star had stopped over the place where Jesus was, Matthew tells us, they were overjoyed!

What the Wise Men accomplished is certainly impressive. They didn’t let anything keep them from getting to Jesus; and as a sign I pass on Route 68 on the way to Industry puts it, "Wise men still seek Him." It’d make sense for me to say, Be like the Wise Men and don’t let anything in this world get in the way of your coming to Jesus Christ and devoting your life to Him forever!

It would make sense, but I’m not going to do that. At least, not yet. I’m not going to cheerlead you into imitating the Wise Men, because it puts the picture totally the wrong way around. Yes, Someone did come a long way when the Wise Men brought their devotion and gifts to the infant Lord of lords, but He came an infinitely longer way and overcame unthinkably more barriers than the Magi did.

That Someone is Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God. You think the Wise Men came a long distance? Jesus Christ came all the way from the bosom of God the Father Almighty! He was the eternal Son of God! He was the uncreated Word of infinite Wisdom! As the Apostle John writes, "The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." As we read in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, "By him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." Think of how far He had to go, consider everything He had to give up to become flesh for our sakes, what it meant for Him to confine Himself in a human body that got cold and hungry and thirsty, to make Himself become a kicking, mewling, helpless infant totally dependent for His welfare on an inexperienced teenaged mother and a righteous but equally inexperienced young carpenter!

Then, consider the journey of our Lord’s life and ministry. Think of the inconceivable distance He spanned when He died on the Cross to reconcile sinners like you and me to His Father God! Would you make such a journey? Would I? Left to ourselves, we wouldn’t want to. And even if we could want to do it, we couldn’t. Only Jesus Christ the Son of God and Son of Man could span that terrible distance between sinful, rebellious humanity and the holy heart of God. Only He who came down from heaven and became incarnate of the Virgin Mary could overcome the barriers between us and our righteous Creator. And only He who was born to be the King of the Jews could break down the walls between us who were born Gentiles and His chosen people Israel.

And that’s what our Lord did. For long ages of history we non-Jews were, as the Apostle puts it in our Ephesians reading, "separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." No purely human determination could overcome that hopeless gap. "But now--" says St. Paul-- "But now, in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." Brought near! The far distance spanned! Not by human effort or good intentions or "following Jesus as my Good Example," but, "by the blood of Christ"!

And notice that verb "brought." We’d like to think we could get to God ourselves if only someone would show us the way. But no. God Himself had to come to us in Jesus Christ and bring us.

And when He did, He became our Peace.

To make war you need at least two sides coming against each other, and here in Ephesians 2 those two sides are the Jews vs. everyone else. Israel was chosen by God for a special relationship with Him; everyone else was not. Israel had received God’s covenant promises of a victorious redeeming Messiah; everyone else had not. Israel had been privileged to hear the sure word of the Lord in Moses and the Prophets; everyone else had not. No wonder the Jews became proud and hostile against "those Gentile nations." No wonder they put up barriers against Gentile inclusion.

And let’s face it: We read in the Scriptures that sometimes it was God’s own will that the Jews should keep themselves walled off, as it were, from the Gentiles. In fact, when Israel and Judah got too friendly with the nations, that was when the Lord had to punish them with famine, sword, and exile. There certainly was a wall of separation between Jew and Gentile and for a long time it was entirely necessary. The wall that God erected was the Law, by which we mean the Ten Commandments and all the rules and ordinances given to show God’s people how to obey them and what sacrifices to offer when they could not obey. The sign of circumcision was given to the Jews to show that they possessed this great gift and responsibility, that they were distinct from all the other nations who hadn’t received their covenant and their call.

But then Jesus Christ came all that way from heaven and was born as a human being, like one of us yet without sin. Verse 5 says He abolished in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. Not by throwing the law out and declaring that God doesn’t care what we do or what sort of beings we are. No, Jesus abolished the barrier of the law by keeping it perfectly Himself, in unbroken obedience to God. In His supreme act of obedience, our Saviour died on the cross to bridge the gulf of separation between God and man. And when He did, the barrier came down! The Jews had the Law, but couldn’t keep it. We Gentiles didn’t have the Law of Moses, we didn’t have the covenant relationship with God that came with it, but we couldn’t even keep the law God wrote on our hearts as human beings made in His image. But now in Christ God is satisfied, the barrier is down and both groups, Jew and Gentile, are reconciled to God through the cross. Peace, Christ preaches: "Peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near." Peace with one another, yes, but primarily, peace with our formerly-distant God. "For through [Christ]," Paul writes, "we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."

In other words, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit we can come to the One who has first come to us. The Wise Men who traversed field and fountain, moor and mountain could come worship the infant Lord because God Almighty first approached them and brought them to acknowledge the kingship of His Son. They are a kind of first fruits of the Gentiles. They showed the people of their day that the blessings of God were not restricted to Israel, and those blessings aren’t restricted today.

The irony, of course, is that it’s now the Jews who are alienated and outside. Now it’s we Gentile believers who are tempted to be proud and think there’s something special about us that caused God to come to us in Jesus Christ and make us His own. If that’s what we believe, we’re still far off indeed. We are brought near not by anything we merited, but by the blood of Christ alone. Tragically, it is that very blood of His death that builds a wall our Jewish neighbors can’t get over and spread a gap they can’t transcend. It is offensive to them that the Messiah should die.

But remember, until God Almighty spans the distance and tears down the wall, none of us want a suffering Savior. None of us want to accept that it took the blood of the sinless Son of God to pay the terrible debt for our sin and turn aside the wrath of God that we deserved. But in His love and mercy, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sends His grace to open the way for us to come to Him. He came in His grace to you, Christian man, Christian woman, to shine the light of the Gospel in your heart and bring you the joy of your salvation. He continues to come to you, overcoming your fears, reassuring you of His love, and bringing you more and more to be like His beloved Son Jesus.

This good news is for everyone, Jew and Gentile alike. Let us plead the Holy Spirit to come upon all who don’t yet believe, that He might bring them to Jesus Christ. Let us serve Him as ministers of reconciliation, speaking gladly of our Lord who has put to death the hostility between Jew and Gentile and between all of us and God.

On the high mountain of Calvary Jesus demonstrated His love for us; through the lowness of the valley of the shadow of death He passed for our sakes; in the wide river of His blood He plunges us in baptism so we can live. Nothing can keep Christ the Word made flesh from getting to us whom He has chosen. The Wise Men are proof of His power, and here, set before us on this Table, is proof that is more powerful still. By the signs and under the seals of bread and wine, Jesus gives us His body and blood. His holy sacrifice broke down the barriers, bridged the gulp between us and God, and purchased our peace. Come near in faith; take, eat, and receive His blessings, for by His Spirit in this Supper, Jesus Christ has already come near to you.

God's Ancient Promise, Ever New

Texts: Zechariah 8:12-23; Galatians 3:6-9, 15-22; Matthew 2:1-12

OUR GOSPEL READING FROM St. Matthew declares, "Magi [or wise men] from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.'"

How many times have we heard them ask that question in this reading at this time of year? If we're long-time church-goers, probably every year of our lives. It's early January, it must be time for the Wise Men to show up looking for the infant King of the Jews! It doesn't surprise us, does it? I mean, we know who that King of the Jews was and is! He's Jesus the Christ, the Son of God! Of course any sensible person, any man-- or woman-- who claims to be wise would come to seek and worship Him!

But we've read the end of the story. We know Who the Babe of Bethlehem turned out to be. The Magi and Herod and the rest of them are still in the middle of Jesus' story; at its beginning, in fact. We can't assume they knew what we know about Him. They couldn't assume what we take for granted.

And maybe if we saw things from their point of view, we, too, would be filled with new wonder, eagerness, and fear, and come to worship our Lord Jesus with fresh hearts and open eyes.

So I ask you, why on earth would the Magi have come all that way, over a thousand miles, to seek and worship the newborn King of the Jews? Who were the Jews in the days of Caesar Augustus, anyway? They were a harried, scattered, barely-tolerated people. Their ancestral land was divided and occupied and ruled by Herod, a puppet king installed by Caesar in Rome. The last king of the royal line of David had died over 500 years before. The Hasmonean kings and queens, the ones descended from Judah the Maccabee and his brothers, that dynasty had lasted only a hundred years. And the last of them, Mariamne daughter of Alexandros, had married Herod himself and he'd had her executed twenty-five years before. Besides, the Maccabees were from the tribe of Levi, not the tribe of Judah like David. They really weren't qualified to sit on the throne of Israel according to God's promise to David. And Herod himself, he wasn't Jewish at all! His father was an Edomite and his mother was a Nabatean Arab. He professed the Jewish religion-- sort of-- but he was only "King of the Jews" because Caesar Augustus had declared him to be. He was king over the Jews, but he wasn't a king from or of the Jews! To talk of a true "king of the Jews" in those days was practically meaningless!

But there the Magi were in Jerusalem, asking after such a king. But they were supposed to be so wise! They were of the great tribe of the Magi! They were the hereditary priests and royal astrologers of the magnificent land of Persia! Actually, why would these Magi, these high officials, these esteemed advisors to kings and princes, bother with anything Jewish at all?

And why should they come now, for this birth? Some scholars believe that the Magi came according to the ordinary international custom of that time. They say that "to worship" only means "to do political homage." But that wouldn't make sense even from an earthly point of view! Kings and nobles paid worship only to rulers they acknowledged as their overlords. The Persians were a proud people who had repulsed the Roman army twice in the previous sixty years. Their nobles weren't about to bow down to the infant King of a miserable conquered people! And suppose they'd intended to do honor to an infant son of Herod, the "official" king of the Jews. Does that really make sense? Herod was always having children! History tells us he had many sons by many wives; yes, and he put many of them to death. If the Magi had wanted to come congratulate old Herod on his newborn offspring, they would've been travelling from Persia to Judea and back again over and over and over.

No, something else was happening here, something the Magi knew and that Herod refused to see. Clearly, back in Persia the wise men had come to know of a promised King of the Jews, who wouldn't be just another earthly king. This knowledge first came to their people when the Medes and the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire in 538 BC. When they took over the Persians found this peculiar people the Jews living dispersed in the Babylonian lands. The Jews refused to assimilate and take up the gods and the practices of the peoples around them. They kept talking about how the Most High God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, had personally called their ancestor Abraham and promised to make him the progenitor of the greatest nation on earth. They claimed to be God's chosen people and that His eternal purposes would be worked out through them. The Jews clung to their holy writings, where it said that the Most High had promised that a King would come to sit on the throne of his father David, and his reign would have no end. These writings said that God would be especially active and present with this Davidic king, not the way kings and emperors always claimed to be sons of the gods, but truly and actually. And these scriptures said that this promised king would come as a blessing and light to the non-Jewish nations, to share the blessings of the Most High with them all, if they would come in humility and worship and willingness to serve Him according to His will.

The Wise Men weren't wise merely by training or by tribe. They were wise because they believed what had been revealed to them of God's promises to His people Israel. They were looking forward to the birth of this one, particular, special, promised King of the Jews. As it says in the book of the prophet Zechariah, they were ready day by day to come up to Jerusalem to take firm hold of that One Jew by the hem of His swaddling bands and go with Him to entreat and seek the Lord Almighty, for they knew that God would be with Him indeed. So when they saw the star of our Lord Jesus Christ at its rising, they rejoiced, packed up their gifts, saddled their camels, and quickly as they could, they came.

They didn't expect to find Christ the newborn king in Herod's palace in Jerusalem-- you'll notice in the gospel text, Matthew doesn't say they asked Herod first off; no, it was Herod who called the Magi to come to him. They came to Jerusalem for information and directions only. If the Magi failed in wisdom at any one point, it's that plainly they thought that Herod and his court and all Jerusalem would be as glad as they were to hear that God's King of kings had been born! For if they as Gentiles were overjoyed, how much more should God's people Israel have rejoiced!

But they arrived, and nobody in Jerusalem had heard of the birth of the promised King. They weren't even expecting Him. Herod had to convene a special council of the chief priests and teachers of the law to tell him where the prophets said the Christ was to be born. And in the end, Herod didn't care about God's ancient promises. He only cared about his own present kingdom and power.

We know how the story unfolds. The Magi find the Christ child at the house in Bethlehem where He is now living with Mary His mother and Joseph His foster-father. They bow down to Him and give Him gifts, and receive the blessing of God's promises fulfilled. They are not fooled by Jesus' humble circumstances, for just as Simeon had told Mary in the temple, the Magi recognise that this Child is indeed the promised One, the One born to be "a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of God's people Israel."

And we know how Herod tried to trick the Magi into operating as his spies to reveal exactly where the newborn King could be found. John Calvin suggests that the Holy Spirit darkened Herod's mind, so he wouldn't think of sending one of his own men to Bethlehem with the Magi to come back with the information he wanted. Perhaps. Or maybe Herod was afraid that anyone he sent would betray him and pledge loyalty to this newborn King! However it was, God warned the Magi in a dream not to return to Herod and they went back to their eastern land another way.

Matthew doesn't tell us what they said or did when they arrived back home. But by the Holy Spirit the Evangelist tells us what we need to know, that God keeps His ancient promises. Thousands of years before, God called Abraham and promised that all nations would be blessed through him. And in the visit and worship and joy of the Magi, we see the firstfruits of God's fulfilment of His promise. Jesus Christ the King of the Jews was born for them, as much as He was born for His people Israel.

And Jesus Christ was born for us, for you and me. He was and is the glorious fulfilment of all God's promises to father Abraham. The Apostle Paul wants us particularly to be aware of how that fulfillment comes. Many early Jewish Christians, many early Gentile Christians, even, like the members of the church in Galatia, thought the Gentiles laid hold of the promised blessings by becoming Jews. They thought that in order for Christ to be our King, we all had to bind ourselves first by the Law of Moses and keep it perfectly!

We're rather the opposite. Our culture tells us that God will bless us if we're pretty nice and think the baby Jesus in the manger is really, really, adorable.

But no! No to both those false ideas! As Paul writes in the letter to the Galatians, God gave the promise of universal blessing to Abraham, and Abraham "Believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Righteousness is necessary to please God. And that righteousness comes not by obedience to the Law of Moses or to the law of niceness, but by faith. And this faith is not a mere feeling, it is a God-given trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. This is how God always intended to justify everyone, Jew and Gentile alike: the Wise Men from the east and you and me besides.

God's promise to Abraham was, "All nations will be blessed through you." He gave it to "Abraham and his seed." St. Paul is urgent to make us understand the implications of that. In Galatians 3:16 he says, "The Scripture does not say, ‘and to seeds,' meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ."

So ultimately, the promise of being a blessing to all nations is made to Jesus Christ. And the benefits of this promise come to us through Jesus Christ! He and He alone is the bringer of the blessing of God to all nations, including you and me and everyone who believes. Jesus has blessed us by His perfect obedient life and His faithful death on the cross. He fulfilled the Law of Moses for us, so that no longer are we prisoners of sin, locked away from the eternal life and love and acceptance of Almighty God. If through faith we have bowed before Jesus Christ, He is our Lord and King and He shares with us all the glorious inheritance that is His as the Son of God.

This was God's intention from of old. It was His intention when He made His promises to Abraham, it was His intention when He inspired the prophecies of Zechariah, it was His intention when by the rising of a star He drew the Wise Men from the east, to seek and worship the infant King of the Jews.

It was the wisest thing the Magi ever did, travelling all that way to worship the infant King of the Jews. And if we are wise we won't let anything stop us from bowing down and worshipping Him, too. That Child grew up to be our crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ. He is our King, sitting in power at the right hand of the Father. And He calls you and me and all people of all nations to know Him by faith and receive the peace and eternal life with God that He alone can give. This is God's ancient promise of blessing. It is good even to this present day, it will be good forever. Accept it and be joyful, for the promise is for you.

Entrusted with God's Work

Texts: Titus 1:6-9; Matthew 4:12-23

THIS MORNING RIGHT AFTER THE sermon, we’ll be doing something Presbyterian churches all over the country are doing this month: We’ll be installing church officers. It’s something we even take for granted: it’s January, it must be ordination and installation time. I don’t know how it is with you, but in some churches, it’s just a matter of business, something to get over with so we can get on to the important stuff like the Scriptures, the hymns, and the prayers.

The fact is, though, that installing church officers is part of the foundation of the Christian Church. It’s part of a process instituted by Jesus Christ Himself. So we should never take it for granted or think it’s not important.

In fact, installing church leaders fits right in with this season of Epiphany. You’ll remember that "epiphany" means to "reveal [something or someone] to [someone]." Epiphany is the time when we celebrate how God revealed His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to the world. Every year at this time, the lectionary includes a reading on Jesus calling the disciples to come and follow Him. Jesus reveals Himself to the world in the calling of His disciples-- and He continues to reveal Himself to the world through church officers and church helpers of every kind in every denomination.

Our passage from St. Matthew tells us that after Herod put John the Baptist in prison, Jesus left Judea-- the region around Jerusalem-- and returned up north to Galilee. And He began to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!"

But what did Jesus mean by "the kingdom of heaven"?

The "kingdom of heaven" is the same as the "kingdom of God" spoken of by St. Mark and St. Luke. Either way, it describes the way things are when God Himself rules and reigns personally-- intimately-- in the hearts of women and men. It’s got nothing to do with geography and borders, it’s got very little to do with forms of government. The kingdom of heaven is God judging the injustice, unrighteousness, and shabbiness of human hearts on earth and changing them to reflect the obedience, goodness, and splendor of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is God’s doing, not ours. The coming of the kingdom of heaven requires us all to repent, to turn around and stop doing things our way and start doing them God’s way. The kingdom of heaven is a way of life that God brings, and He brings it by the God-Man Jesus Christ.

But God in His mercy ordained that His Son would have other men, and yes, women, to help Him bring in the reality of His kingdom. And so we see Jesus one day, walking beside the Sea of Galilee. He sees two brothers, the fishermen Simon and Andrew, casting their net into the sea. "Come, follow me!" Jesus cries out to them, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Shortly after that, Jesus calls the brothers James and John in the same way: "Come with me, and I’ll make you fishers of men!"

We say Jesus was calling Peter and Andrew, James and John to be His disciples. And so He was. "Disciple" means a student, or learner, and these men and their colleagues would learn a whole new world of things from Jesus in the next three years. But He didn’t call them just to learn. He was recruiting them to be His agents in the great change His life and death and resurrection would bring into this fallen world. Jesus was calling them to help Him bring people into the kingdom of heaven. He was binding them to Himself to entrust them with the great work of God.

I used to think that only Jesus had disciples. But no, we read in the Gospels and in history that John the Baptist had disciples and the Pharisees had disciples and all kinds of rabbis wandering up and down the length and breadth of Judea and Galilee had disciples. And the usual way it worked was-- Well, say a catalog for a local community college has just come in the mail. You look over the adult education classes, and you see something you’re interested in. Pottery-making or 19th century Victorian novels or how to use the Internet. And you ask around, and you find out that the teacher of that course is really good. So you sign up and for a few weeks you go to the community college and you benefit from the new knowledge and information.

That’s how it usually was with rabbis and disciples in Jesus’ time. A man might want to learn more about the Scriptures, so in the slow periods in the fishing business or maybe in the time between harvest and spring planting, he’d go join up with some famous rabbi and learn from him for a few weeks or months. Then when it was the busy time again with the fishing or the farm, he’d tell his rabbi thanks and goodbye and go back to his ordinary work. That’s how it was: the disciple chose the rabbi, and the disciple was with the rabbi only part time. What’s more, the typical disciple was there to learn from the rabbi, but he didn’t intend to leave everything behind and start a new profession. He just wanted to improve his knowledge of the Scriptures, maybe deepen his relationship with the Lord his God.

So you can appreciate how radical it was for Jesus to show up by the Sea of Galilee, right in the middle of fishing season, and command Peter and Andrew, and James and John to leave their professions, their families, everything they had and come follow Him. It’d be like that community college teacher knocking at your door and saying, "I’ve come to teach you astronomy, and I’m not taking No for an answer!"

And what if that community college teacher said, "I intend to make you an astronomer like me, and you’ll never go back to farming or business or your retirement hobbies again!"?

That teacher would have to be pretty compelling to get away with that-- compelling like our Lord Jesus. We read in the gospel of John that Peter and Andrew and James and John had met Jesus before: John the Baptist introduced them to Him after He was baptised in the Jordan River. And they returned to Galilee with Jesus. But they then they went back to their fishing-- until this day. Matthew says that when Jesus summoned them, they immediately dropped their nets and followed Him.

Did they realize what they were getting into? They'd soon discover Jesus wasn't like the other rabbis; He wasn't even like John the Baptist. Jesus was calling them to become His disciples not for a few weeks, not for a season, but forever. Being a follower of Jesus meant becoming a fisher of men to bring people into the kingdom of heaven. Being His disciple-- that wouldn’t be just a form of spiritual enrichment: from now on, that would become who they were.

Was this call just for those fisherman a long time ago? No, Jesus lays that eternal call on every last one of us who bears the name of Christian. But He particularly lays it on those who are called by the voice of His Church to be ordained Church officers.

As a Christian, but especially as an elder or a deacon, it is Jesus who calls you; He calls you for His purpose; and He calls you for life. Even while you labor at your weekday job, even while you enjoy your retirement, Christ has made you a servant of God, an apostle called to bring people into the kingdom of heaven.

In St. Paul’s letter to Titus, we see what an elder or overseer is supposed to be like. Whatever we do, we mustn’t read this as a list of human qualifications, as if it said, "If a man has his household in order, if he’s good-tempered and honest, and godly, righteous, and sober, he’s got the right stuff-- make him a deacon or an elder." Or, "If a woman is hospitable, upright, holy, and disciplined, make her a deacon or elder." That makes it sound as if church office is something someone deserves, like it’s a reward for good behaviour. No, what Paul is saying is, "Pastor Titus, look for people who have evidence of Jesus Christ already working in their lives. Look for people who are already following our Lord in their behaviour and conduct, whether it’s at home or in the community, in public or in private." Jesus could look straight into people’s hearts and know what they were when He called them. We have to go by the evidence of the Holy Spirit working in a person’s life when we the Church call them to ordination.

Those signs of the Holy Spirit are essential, because being an elder or a deacon is not all about budgets and plans and activities. It’s about making the local church a living model of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

We often forget that as church officers. I’ve sat in a lot of Session and Deacons’ meetings when you’d think our only job was to keep track of money. And I’ve sat on a lot of Nominating Committees where somebody will say, "Oh, let’s get ole Whatsisname to be an elder. He never shows up to church, but he’s good at fixing roofs. He can go on the building committee!"

Money is important in church life, and so are buildings and activities and plans. But they aren’t the goal Jesus has in mind when He calls you by the Church to be an elder or deacon. As St. Paul writes to Titus, elders and overseers of the church are entrusted with God’s work. And what is God’s work? God’s work is exhibiting His Son Jesus Christ to the world as the one and only way for human beings to escape the just punishment for their sins and to enter into the peace that comes though Christ alone. God’s work is instituting His kingship here on earth, and making sure everyone knows that He is King. God’s work is defeating the power of Satan in people’s lives and bringing them out of bondage to enjoy the glorious liberty of the children of God.

So you, deacons and elders, you are responsible for making sure the people of this congregation are taught and discipled with the good news of the kingdom of heaven. You are ordained to equip the people of this church to take that good news into the wider world, by word of mouth and by deeds of love and mercy. You officers have been commissioned through the Holy Spirit to encourage others with the trustworthy message of Christ crucified for our sins and risen again for our new life. You have been set apart to defend that gospel and to give a gracious but confident answer to anyone who tries to deny it.

Most of all, you are called by Christ to display Christ in all you are and say and do.

Scary, isn’t it? It’s a tall order. The best of us find it hard to be blameless. Some of you may have experienced the tragedy of a divorce. Everyone knows what it’s like to have children who sometimes refuse to obey. We’re all tempted at times to be over-bearing and quick-tempered. We may not be greedy for dishonest gain, but there may have been times when we almost wished we could get away with something not quite honest. We’re not always fondest of what is good or all that upright, holy, and disciplined. If we have to have a lock on all those virtues to be called and ordained church officers, we may as well all resign!

But that would be forgetting Who it is that calls you. It’s Jesus who calls you. It’s Jesus who puts His Spirit upon you. It’s Jesus who forgives you your weaknesses and enables you to stand approved in His presence. It’s Jesus who entrusts you with the good news of the kingdom of heaven, and it’s Jesus who brings in that kingdom, sealed and guaranteed with His own blood.

When Jesus calls you to be a leader in His church, you don’t choose Him, He chooses you. When Jesus calls you to be a leader in His church, it isn’t just a segment of your life, it’s a sign and symbol of who you are in Him. When Jesus calls you to be a leader in His church, it’s not just for the time you’re actively sitting on Session or on the Board of Deacons, it’s for the rest of your life.

And you know, that goes for all of us who are called by Christ’s name, whether you are ordained or not, whether you have a special church job or not. Our Lord Jesus Christ has extended to us the benefits of His cross to all of you, to set you apart and make precious to Him. Jesus Christ has chosen you all to be His disciples; you have not chosen Him. He calls you all to forsake the evil and ambitions of this world and to live for Him instead. And for all of you, whatever your role in the church may be, His claim on you is forever.

So I charge you, all members of this congregation: Serve your neighbor in His name. Be His faithful disciples, learning more and more of Him and from Him. For the more you learn of Jesus Christ, the more you will love Him and the more you can show unbelievers what the kingdom of heaven is like in this world.

And you, deacons and elders, you have been ordained and installed to help this congregation heading always towards that goal. And so I charge you, by the new covenant made in His blood, keep faith with Jesus who called you. Hold firmly to the trustworthy message of new life in Christ as it has been handed down to you by faithful apostles and teachers. Follow your Master Jesus Christ in your ministry, teaching the good news of the kingdom and ministering to the sick and hurting and lost of this church and in the world.

And most of all, I charge you to carry out your calling in the power of Jesus Christ and not in your own. You have been entrusted with God’s work. Remember always, it is God’s work. He is the King of the kingdom, and He-- and it-- can never fail.

The Voice of the Lord

Texts: Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE to hear the voice of the Lord?

I mean, actually physically hear the voice of God?

How would we feel? Thrilled? Privileged? Would we be pleased with ourselves because, hey, the Lord God Almighty is speaking to me!

Would hearing the voice of God with our ears be a comforting and comfortable thing? Would it assure us that we are loved and cared for by Him?

Or, rather would it not make us cower down in awestruck fear, overwhelmed by God’s glory? Would it not convict us of our puniness and our sin?

That’s how it was with the Children of Israel when they heard the voice of the Lord at Mount Sinai, after Moses had brought them out of Egypt. The voice of the Lord in their ears was too much for them! They begged Moses to ask the Lord not to speak to them audibly any more. "You talk to the Lord, Moses," they cried. "We can’t bear it!"

The psalm used in our Call to Worship, Psalm 29, is about the awe-inducing effect of the almighty voice of the Lord. And even here, it’s not the direct voice of God, it’s the voice of God as He expresses Himself through wind and thunder, through tempest and earthquake. It’s a wonderful thing to experience from a safe distance, but you wouldn’t want the full brunt of it bearing down on you.

When I was in college in Kansas, during wild thunderstorms people in my dorm would go out on the front porch and cheer God. A really bright flash of lightning would streak down, and be followed by a stupendous clap of thunder, and we’d yell, "Yeaaa, God!!"

I don’t know how many of us were sincerely giving praise and who was just being flippant. But I’d wager that if that lightning had hit us, or if that roaring wind had collapsed that concrete porch roof on our heads, we wouldn’t be going, "Yeaaa, God!" anymore. We’d be too overwhelmed to say anything at all.

And that’s what it’s like when it’s merely the voice of God speaking through Nature! How much more awesome, how much more unbearable would be the voice of God hitting our ears in its unshielded self!

We imagine it would be wonderful to hear the direct, unmediated voice of Almighty God, because we forget how utterly high and majestic He is compared to us.

It’s not just that we are created beings and He is the everlasting Godhead who dwells in inexpressible light and glory. Adam was a created being, and he communed with the Lord God in the garden of Eden as friend to friend.

No, the thing that would make the unshielded, audible voice of God unbearable to us is the fact that we are rebellious and sinful created beings. The unmediated voice of the Lord would remind us painfully of that fact, as it reminded the Israelites in the desert. It would remind us that we have broken His law and betrayed His trust. The naked voice of God speaks judgement on all our little schemes for getting in good with Him and climbing up to heaven on our little four-foot step-ladders. Actually hearing the voice of almighty God would not be a pleasant thing. It would be a terrifying and devastating thing indeed.

But our Lord God does love us, in spite of our sins. He cares for us and wants to reconcile us to Himself. So from of old He spoke to certain chosen individuals, to patriarchs like Abraham and poets like David and prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. I would dearly love to know what that was like, whether they heard the Lord’s voice with their ears, or in visions, or only in their hearts. However it was, He made them able to bear it, so they could bring His message of repentance and love to His people.

But somehow, His people, most of them anyway, were deaf to what the prophets had to say. Their life, their hope, their entire purpose for being was bound up in the Word of God, in what the Almighty Lord spoke to them. But when He spoke to them by the prophets, His people wouldn’t listen, and when He spoke to them directly, they couldn’t listen.

But praise His name! His prophets kept on listening, and we have the record of what some of them heard. And so in the 42nd chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, we read what the Lord said about the Servant of His who is to come.

This Servant, says the Lord, will carry the Lord God’s message of justice to the nations. He will bring the peoples of the world into the Lord’s covenant. His service-- or, we could say, His ministry (for the word "ministry" means "service") will mean light to the Gentiles, sight to the blind, and freedom for the captives-- captives of oppression and tyranny or captives to sin. All these gracious things the Servant will do.

Now here is a sad thing: Our Jewish cousins generally interpret this passage to refer to the Jewish nation. The work of this Servant of the Lord, the rabbis say, has to do with the good influence the Jews will have in the world. And it’s true, the Jews have had great and glorious influence in this present world, in all sorts of ways.

The trouble is, this Isaiah passage can’t possibly be talking about a mere mortal, or any group of mere mortals. The Lord says the Servant will "bring forth justice" and "establish justice on the earth." How can any man, however noble, do that? It’s hard enough for even the best of judges to judge with total righteousness in even individual cases. Only God Himself can establish justice over the entire earth!

And the Lord says the islands-- that is, the remotest parts of the world-- will put their hope in the Servant’s law. Is this some system of laws generated by a man or a nation? No, for even the best system of human laws, even the U.S. Constitution itself, for example, falls far short of the perfect law of God! But the law of the Servant isn’t the law of any man, it’s the law of God. If the Servant had made it up for Himself, the Lord would not praise Him for establishing it. But He not only commends Him for it, He declares that the Servant will do this in the power of God’s Spirit.

And, says the Lord, His Servant will be a covenant for the people. The passage doesn’t say, "You will administer or draw up or deliver My covenant for the people"; no, the Servant will be that covenant Himself. All the good promises and protections of belonging to God and being His people will be wrapped up in the Servant. All the pledges of God will be Yes and Amen in Him. No mere man can claim that!

Only God can do all these things. Only God can claim this glory. The Lord Himself says it in verse 8:

I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.

No sinful, fallen human being could do all these things and gain all this praise. Only the Lord God Almighty is capable of carrying out these tasks. Only the Lord God Almighty Himself can be His own perfect Servant, the Chosen One, the One on whom His Spirit rests.

But if the Servant is somehow God Himself, don’t we still have the same problem? How can we hear this message of justice and hope and liberation? For as Psalm 29 says, the voice of the Lord shakes the desert, the voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare!

This is how we will hear it: We will hear it softly and tenderly; earnestly, pleadingly. In verse 2 of our Isaiah passage the Lord says,

He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.

The Servant of the Lord would be the Lord Himself coming to us with the voice of love and forgiveness. He would not come as a conqueror, nor as an angry overlord marching into a rebellious city to claim his rights. No,

A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

He would support and encourage what is good; He would have mercy on our weakness. He would speak so we could hear Him; His voice would be pitched so we could respond.

It would be wonderful to hear the voice of the Lord like that. But it seems too much to hope for.

But it isn’t too much to hope for. The Servant of the Lord, the hope of the nations who was and is God Himself, has come to us, and His name is Jesus the Christ. Our passage in Isaiah introduces Him and His ministry seven hundred years before He would appear, and our gospel reading from St. Matthew introduces Him as He begins His ministry on this earth.

As Jesus our Lord comes to be baptised, we see Him coming in humility. We see Him entering into our weakness and sympathizing with our frailty. John the Baptist says, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" He’s right, humanly-speaking, to say this. For John’s baptism was a sign of repentance from sin, and our Lord Jesus had no sin to repent. But Jesus is the Servant of the Lord who has been called in righteousness, and He submits to baptism to fulfill all righteousness. His very willingness to share the sign and symbol of our sin-- though He never sinned Himself-- declares His good news that we can share the reality of righteousness in Him. The baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of new life and repentance that don’t depend on our efforts, but on the liberating, eye-opening, covenant-making mercy of God.

Jesus was baptised for us in the Jordan River, and as He came up out of the water, heaven was opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. As the prophet Isaiah said,

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him.

And a voice from heaven is heard: it is the voice of the Lord God Almighty, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well-pleased." The unshielded voice of God was heard by the ears of man: heard by John the Baptist and his disciples standing around, and they were not overwhelmed, they were not judged, they were not destroyed!

How could this be?

It could happen because here at the Jordan the voice of God gave testimony to Him who was and is and will always be the voice of God on earth. From now on and forever more, the Man Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, is the Voice of God speaking to humankind. From now on, what God does for mankind He will do through Christ. The voice of God at the Jordan River testifies that this one Man, this Galilean, is the Servant of the Lord who will not make a clamour in the streets, who will not rant and scream to lord it over others, but who will be the Son of Man, preaching the Good News of new life in Him, the humble King of Glory who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

If you want to hear the direct voice of God, look to Jesus Christ. Look to His obedient life. Put your utter trust in His sacrificial death. Hear Him call you to share in His glorious resurrection.

Accept no counterfeits. Whatever voice does not glorify Jesus Christ, whatever voice is an enemy to His cross, whatever voice would tell you there are other ways to find divine justice, liberation, and light--that is not the voice of God. Jesus Christ is how God speaks to us. Jesus is the Voice of God to us, recorded in His holy Word, testified to in our hearts by His Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the voice of God to us now, just as much as He was to those who heard Him preach and teach in Galilee and Judea long ago. In fact, He is more so, for now He has ascended into heaven and can minister to His people in every time and place. For as the prophet says,

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope.

This is our Saviour. This is our Lord. He calls you to trust in Him, to trust what He did for you at His cross where the voice of His blood spoke forgiveness and covering for your sins. He calls you to let Him open your eyes, that you might see your sins for the filthy things they are-- and then see them taken away, totally removed, by the power of His sacrifice. His voice is calling you out of the prison of your prejudices, your limitations, your ungodly fears and your agonizing memories. He speaks to free you from the deep dungeon of your brokenness, to bring you into the wideness of His marvellous wholeness and light.

Will you hear His voice today? You may say, I was baptised as an infant; I’ve known Jesus all my life. If that is your thought, yes, praise Him for that grace. But we who have known Jesus all our lives need to hear the voice of the Lord just as much as the one who has never heard or responded to it at all. We need to hear His Word daily to support us, to uphold us, to help us persevere until the day we are made perfect in Him. We need the testimony of His Spirit confirming His truth to us. With open ears and willing hearts, let us hear and follow our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Voice of the Lord: He calls us to repentance, He gives us hope, and He invites us to share His justice, His liberation, and His light.