God Gives His Word

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Advent is a season of preparation. For much of society, it is simply a pre-Christmas; it gives an excuse to put up the tree, spend gobs of money, and go to parties. A preponderance of the talk, thought, and advertising this time of year is devoted to giving gifts. You must find the perfect gift for everyone on your list. You must determine the best place to buy said gift. You must beat the rush, the crowds, and your own budget to get the best deal. And you expect everyone else to do the same for you.

But this Advent, we will take some time to meditate upon the Gifts that God gives to us. This season, filled with thoughts of gifts and presents and shopping and wrapping, let us take some time to think about the things given to us by the best gift-giver in the universe. For what do you have that was not first given to you by the Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible?

This evening, let us consider the great gift that God has given us in His Word. What differentiates Christianity from every other religion and philosophical system in the world? The objective, historical character of the Faith is what makes us different. It is absolutely, vitally, irreducibly essential to the Christian Faith that the Word of God be true and historical. Why? Because you live in history. And because your life depends on the historical facts of the Creation, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And how do you know all these things? Because the Lord who did and does such signs and wonders has caused His Word to be recorded, that you may know, and knowing you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing you may have life in His Name.

How do you know that the Word is true? The Word is true because the God who speaks it is true. The Word is true because the events it brings to pass actually do happen. The Word is true because the Word of the Lord does what He says. When He says, “let there be light,” light happens. When He says, “your sins are forgiven,” your sins really are forgiven.

Thus, it is of great importance that you listen, mark, and heed to the Word of the Lord, as He commands: “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.” Take care to keep your soul carefully guarded in the Word of the Lord, lest you forget what the Lord has done for you.

Of course, this is all-too-easy to do. The Lord continually spoke to His people through Moses and the Prophets, and yet they were only too eager to forget what He had done for them. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to speak with the Lord, they built the golden calf and worshiped it. When they became hungry, they grumbled against God and wished to be back in Egypt around the pots of meat. When they were thirsty, they murmured against the Lord and His servant. And every time – and in between times – the Lord answered their pleas and provided for them, continually reminding them that even though they were wandering in the wilderness for forty years, they did not lack for anything.

The remembrance of the Lord is not grounded in simply a nostalgia for good feelings, or a wistful look back at halcyon days, but is a recounting of the mighty deeds He has done for His people, from Creation throughout history until now. Guard this in your hearts diligently.

Hearken to the Word of the Lord, that you may learn righteousness. For this is why the Lord calls His people by His eternal Word. He issued the command to Moses: “Gather the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.” The Lord speaks His Word to you, that you may learn to fear Him, and fearing Him, that you may live.

This is good, because fear of God is something that you need to learn. The natural disposition of man, corrupted by the Fall into sin, is neither to fear God nor give Him glory. Your sinful heart is at enmity with God. You do not fear Him; rather, you despise Him and His Law, you revile Him and His Word, and you forget Him and His works.

Consequently, your sinful heart would lead you to do whatever seems right in your own eyes. Who will know if you take more than one sample cup at the grocery store? Who will know what you do on the internet in the privacy of your own home? Who will care whether you fudge on your taxes? Who will care whether you keep your eyes to yourself?

When things are going well in your life, you can thank yourself and your own hard work. That is the American way – pull yourself up by your bootstraps, “God helps those who help themselves”, and all that business. You have no one to thank but yourself, because no one helped you; you just worked hard and earned your way.

But when the going gets rough, then you complain against anyone you can. Public policy is falling apart – blame those other guys who control, or used to control, the legislature. Society is becoming demoralized – blame those sloppy permissive parents. The Church is slipping from the favored position in our culture – blame those horrid Muslims, or maybe those lazy no-good pastors. Your health is struggling – blame the junk-food manufacturers and McDonald's. You battle against sin – blame it on the devil, and on God for making you this way.

But you must fear the Lord, sooner or later. Either you learn to fear Him now, when you can temper that fear with the knowledge of His mercy, or you learn to fear Him at the Last Judgment, when there is no mercy to be had for those who have not feared Him. There will be a judgment, and your life and deeds will be reckoned before the Judge of heaven and earth. And would you rather have your deeds reckoned in the balance, or His works for you?

This is why the Lord warns you, “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.” Luther teaches you that “God threatens to punish all those who break these commandments; therefore we should fear His wrath and not do anything against it.” This is what it means to fear the Lord. Not just “respect” – real, true fear of the Holy One of Israel who has the power to wipe you out of existence with a blink of His eye.

But this is not the proper work of God. God is love, as St. John tells us, and His joy and delight is not to destroy the wicked, but to have mercy upon the repentant sinner. His delight is to dwell with those who will do His statutes and rules, who will live in His commandments. Furthermore, He delights in such a man so much that He has made you to be as He desires. He has not simply flung His Word down out of heaven in a book, for you to revere and worship in some sort of peculiar bibliolatry. Rather, He has sent His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, to become flesh and blood and to bear the sins of the world. The Word is made flesh to redeem your flesh, to die the death due for your sin, and to raise you to new life in body and soul with Him.

That judgment of which you should be rightly afraid, that has been executed already upon Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God once slain for sinners. So long as you are covered with Christ, you need not fear the judgment, for the verdict is sealed.

You already dwell in the favor of the Lord, in the light of His face, which He makes to shine upon you with His grace and mercy. You already dwell in the land which He has promised to make you inhabit. The Law, burning with fire to the heart of heaven, is wrapped in clouds and thick darkness, and set afar off from you, with the Lamb as the sacrifice for your sins standing between you and the wrath of God. Where the children of Israel saw no form, but only heard the voice of God from the cloud, you see the Lord of Hosts high and lifted up. Your God has a face, and a body and blood. And He approaches you, not in a pillar of fire or cloud, but in the flesh of a man, which is given for you to eat and drink. He approaches you in the Word, which is spoken into your ears to lodge faith in your hearts, that hearing you may believe, and believing you may have life everlasting.

This is the Gift that God gives: His Word. In giving His Word to you, God is not simply giving you a divine biography or a how-to guide. He gives to you Himself wrapped in His Word. He reveals to you His wondrous works in all creation. He reveals to you His glorious self-offering for you and for the forgiveness of your sins. He reveals to you His disposition of love, grace, and mercy for you and for the whole of creation. He gives you His Word because this is how He gives you Himself.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.