Proverbs 9:10, Genesis 3:4-5, John 10:10, Psalm 34:8

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So you’ve been really trying to live out what God wants you to do because you know He is God and you are not. He’s in charge. He’s the boss, so you should do what He says, and if you don’t, after all, He has the ability to have there be consequences.

There’s value to that.

Or maybe you’ve been trying to do what God wants because you believe in Jesus. You’re a Christian, and you want to live a life of thanks. You know you’re supposed to show your thanks to God, and so you try to do what God wants you to do.

There’s value to that.

But what is missing in both of those?

Something is missing.

See, when you and I were brought to faith in Christ, we were set right with God. Jesus died for your sins and mine, rose again to set you right with God. But that also means that you have a restored relationship with God, and that now makes a difference for how we live and how we think about how we relate to God. If you go back to the scene where Adam and Eve turn away from God, when they are standing there at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, an opportunity to trust God, which actually is how they would gain true wisdom, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, (Proverbs 9:10) and wisdom has to do with really living well. If they were to trust God, it would be an opportunity to really grow in life and in living and all these things. But when the serpent appeared before them, the serpent pushed and said, “Hey, did God really mean this to be a good thing?” Or let me read it to give you the exact statement.

The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die. In fact, God knows that the day you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

In other words, God is holding out on you. He’s not good. You can’t trust Him. If you really want life, if you really want goodness, you have to do it your own way, and that’s what broke everything. So now, as someone who has been brought to faith in Christ, who has this relationship restored, part of the restoration is now I get to trust that God is good. That God isn’t holding out on me. And so then obedience isn’t just that I should obey because He’s God. I certainly should. And obedience isn’t just, okay, He could have consequences for that. Absolutely, he is God, there are. And obedience isn’t even just I’m supposed to say thank you.

The heart of this restored relationship means now that I believe and know that God is good, that He created me, that He designed life, that even when I turned away from Him and went towards death, Jesus has now restored life to me, and I get to receive life from God again.

It’s like Jesus said in John 10:10,

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

He is the source of life. He is the source of goodness, and we now get to begin to trust that. Now, does that mean that when we obey, everything is going to go smoothly? Of course not. We live in a broken world. Does that mean that God’s going to just prosper you with all kinds of great things through obedience? No. But as we live out our lives of faith, we do get to begin to taste life as it was meant to be, where we do walk and trust our Lord. It’s like Psalm 34:8 says,

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is everyone who takes refuge in Him.” (Psalm 34:8)

We get to trust that He designed life, He has given us life again, and that there will someday be a point where we get to experience life in all of its fullness, the way it was meant to be, the way it was designed to be, where we live life from our God who has given us everything good, because He is good.

That’s why we obey.

Genesis 6:6, Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 53:3, Romans 8:28-29

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That really difficult situation, that really tough thing in your life, is God happy that happened? Did he want that to happen? Now, at first you might say, well, of course God didn’t want that to happen. But I find the more that I talk with people who go through challenging times, I find that there are things that sometimes we say that make it feel like God wanted that bad thing to happen, or that God is happy that it did. And part of why then we struggle is because it seems like, well, why was God so cruel? Why did God want that to happen?

And here’s the thing sometimes people will say, they’ll say, okay, this happened because God wanted to do this, or this happened because God wanted to do that. And there becomes this sense of, okay, God wanted this to happen because of, you know, XYZ thing. He wanted to teach me or to grow me. And sometimes people will talk about God being in charge or God working all things for good. And so therefore something bad happens, well, God must have wanted that.

But Scripture is very clear. There are many things that happen in this world that God isn’t happy about, that are not things that God wanted or wants. For instance, if you look at Genesis chapter six. So this is where the chapter leads up to the flood. We’re told that

The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with sorrow. (Genesis 6:6)

When he saw the violence in this world, he was filled with sadness. This didn’t please God, this didn’t make God happy that there was all this violence. There are things that are happening, that were happening, in the world that God was very sad about. Or Ezekiel chapter 33, the verse first part of verse 11, the Lord says,

As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from their way and live. (Ezekiel 33:11)

God doesn’t want the wicked to die. And so when the wicked do, that’s actually something God is sad about. Or first Timothy 2, 3 to 4.

This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

God wants everyone to be saved. And so when there are some who do not believe in him, that’s not what God wants. That doesn’t make God happy. And so when you are going through something and you’re like, oh, that was hard. That was tough. You don’t need to see God as well, okay, but God wanted that bad thing to happen. Actually, Scripture describes God as coming close to us and often actually mourning with us. Psalm 34:18 it says,

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
He saves those whose spirits have been crushed. (Psalm 34:18)

And Isaiah 53, that beautiful chapter that paints this prophetic picture, what a Savior would be, describes the Messiah as one who

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man who knew grief,
who was well acquainted with suffering. (Isaiah 53:3)

See, your God actually meets you in those difficult things, and he mourns with you. He has sadness with you, God, when he sees the sin and brokenness of this world, he mourns that and he grieves that. And that’s actually what motivated him to carry out his plan to set things right. That motivated God the Son to become the man, Jesus. To die in this world. To take on himself our sin, our shame, our suffering, our sadness, our death. But then to come out the other side, to give us hope the other side of it. To give us the hope of his return that day where all things are set right and every tear is wiped away from our eyes, from the eyes of those who have faith in him.

Our God meets us, and he gives us hope the other side of our grief. So then how do we think about the challenging things in our life? Well, first of all, know that God meets you there and he grieves with you. And does God use these things? Yes, absolutely. See, something can be both something that is bad, that is sad. And yet God works something good out of it. And the good that God works, God wants that. He doesn’t necessarily like or is happy about the bad, but he uses it even for his good. That’s what Romans 8:28 is about.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28-29)

He does come alongside and use even those bad things, those things that he mourns with us about. He will even use those things for our good.

Genesis 1:24-25, 2 Samuel 22:6

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Genesis chapter one, verses 24 and 25.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24-25)

That reference to things that God made that creep along the ground. I think that includes spiders, because spiders live on the ground, not in water, they were most likely created on the sixth day instead of on day five. But spiders. Spiders are amazing creatures. Lots of people don’t like them. Lots of people are afraid of them. But still! How does a spider know that if he or she will string six, eight, ten strands from one branch to another with a midpoint where they all cross in the center, and then if he begins to work his way out. How does he know that essentially forms a net, a web in which he can catch insects, flies and mosquitoes? Well, God’s just designed him to to do those things, maybe even to know those things.

And if you’re afraid of spiders, really, imagine what a fly or a mosquito would feel how they feel about spider webs. I mean, they get caught there in the web. Spider wraps them up and saves them for later to eat them for lunch. So they’d be, I think, much more afraid of spider webs than we are of spiders.

King David talks about something like that. Second Samuel, chapter 22.

the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me. (2 Samuel 22:6)

David’s talking about a time when he was being chased, pursued by Saul, like a fly or a mosquito, trying to avoid being caught in the net. The cords of Sheol. Sheol is another word for the grave. Cords and snares like a spider’s web. David was desperately trying to escape from them, and he did. The Lord God watched over him, delivered him safely. But later on in his life, the cords of the grave they did entangle David. David eventually was caught in that web of the grave of Sheol. David was mortal. David’s life came to an end, and we’re told that he closed his eyes and he slept with his fathers.

And that same is true of all of us. All of us, one day the cords of Sheol, the grave, the snares of death, one day they’re going to entangle us. And, well, what next? Well, what’s next is answered by Jesus. Jesus himself was caught in that web of death. Now he willingly gave himself over to it. But the cords of Sheol, the grave, the snares of death, they even wrapped Jesus himself up, and he was laid to rest in a grave as well.

But as you know very well, I pray you know, he rose. Three days later, he rose from the dead, breaking free of those bonds, that web, breaking free of the grave. And he’s promised that he’s just the first. He the first fruits of those that will rise. So even though those cords of death entangle us, even though eventually our strength runs out, and one day we’ll close our eyes in that sleep like David did, even like Jesus did. Because of Jesus and what he’s done for us, one day our eyes will open again. We will burst free of those bonds, that web, the grave, and we will be with him safe and sound, forever in heaven. That’s a promise, a promise that is true because Christ himself is risen.

I pray that’s a comfort to you, especially when you look at your life like a fly or a mosquito might look at a spider’s web and worry about being caught and entangled in it. You won’t be lost forever because of your Savior, Jesus Christ. So thank God for him and what he’s done.

Genesis 1:20-22, John 14:3-6

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Genesis chapter one, verses 20 through 22

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” (Genesis 1:20-22)

Hi there, I’m Pastor Tony Pittenger. I’m a pastor out at Bethany Lutheran Church in Port Orchard, Washington. One of the neat things living out in the Pacific Northwest is the salmon run. It’s the time of the year, usually summer, starts in Alaska in the summer, but for us, it’s really fall when the salmon returned to their streams to spawn. That is, to either lay eggs or fertilized eggs for the next generation. It is an amazing thing.

Nowadays we’ve got phones in our pockets, or we’ve got something on our wrist that tracks our steps. How many steps do you do in a day? Set goals like maybe 10,000 steps. So I started doing some digging. Salmon travel, swim, an average of 18 miles a day, and during the spawning season they can double that 34 miles a day. What’s amazing about them, though, is that they return from swimming miles and miles, thousands of miles in their lifetime. They return to the very same stream where they hatched as an egg. Even they find the very same spot within about a foot or two. They go back right there to lay a new generation of eggs, or to fertilize that new generation.

Absolutely amazing. Do you know where you were born? Do you know what hospital you were born in? Do you know what room of the hospital you were born in? How do the salmon do it? Some of them travel all the way to Montana. I mean, they travel past Washington and Oregon, through Idaho, all the way into Montana to spawn. How do they do it? Well, God’s created them to do just that. For some reason, in his divine wisdom, he has them returning those thousands of miles to the place where they were born.

Jesus was talking to his disciples once in John chapter 14. He says,

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:3-6)

So if you can’t imagine finding your way back up a stream to the very same spot, or if you don’t even know exactly which hospital or which hospital room you were born in, how could we possibly know how to get to heaven? We’ve never even been there. Well, Jesus assures Thomas, he assures the rest of us that he knows the way, that he is, the way through him, through what he’s done for us, his life, his death, his resurrection. That’s the way. That’s how we will one day find ourselves at home, at that place prepared for us, prepared for you. We’ll find ourselves there because of our Savior and what he’s done for us. And for that, we not only marvel like we marvel at the salmon and their spawning and their return to their home. But for that promise of our home in heaven, we give thanks to God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

12 men, 12 men with personalities, passions, ambitions, flaws. Too often we see them cast in black and white, stilted figures, stoic faces. We are going to cast them in color, as the scriptures do, sense the fire in their bellies, squirm at their competition, relate to their outbursts, ask their questions as they’re caught up in the most momentous events in human history the ministry of Jesus from Nazareth, the Son of God.

First, why 12? We all use numbers in ways that signify more than the numerical value. 5:00 isn’t just a time. It’s signals the end of the workday. 13 stripes on the American flag signal the 13 original colonies. 50 stars, the 50 states. The biblical importance of the number 12 starts with the 12 sons of Jacob in the Book of Genesis. It actually connects to the earliest chapters of Genesis. Genesis in many ways a structured as a search for the people of God through which God will save the world.

In Genesis three, Adam and Eve fall into sin, fall to the deception of Satan, the tempter. You were in Adam and Eve, born into this death grip of the serpent. When God addresses Satan in his curse to him, however, he gives a promise to humanity, to you. God said,

I will put hostility between you, [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head and you will crush his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

This seed to come from Eve is Christ. After the flood, God identifies Abraham as the one through whom the Savior would be born, and he systematically eliminates branches of Abraham’s family, going son after son down the line as the bearer of the promise. Not that other branches wouldn’t be saved, but that through this line the Savior would come into the flesh, and this promise of God would be preserved for all nations. But reaching Jacob’s 12 sons, it’s not one of them chosen, but all 12. They lay the foundation of this people of God. They become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Importantly, it’s not because of their faithfulness or deserving nature. It’s because of God’s gracious choosing. Now, in the time of Caesar Augustus and King Herod, the Savior has still not come. But lo and behold, in the city of David, Bethlehem, from the line of David, from the line of Judah, one of Jacob’s sons is born Jesus, who is Christ the Lord.

Jesus had many people follow him during his ministry, but he gathers 12 close disciples. This is not insignificant. Jesus is saying, here is the continuation of Israel, those with faith in me. Here is the true people of God, you who descend in your faith from these 12 spiritual brothers. These men would go on to lead the church to such a great extent in this symbolism, that when Judas would betray Jesus and bring about his passion and death for our sins, the 11 would gather after Judas committed suicide and choose another to round out the grouping of the 12.

You are part of the 12, you who hold on to Jesus in faith, trusting in him. You who are undeserving on your own but made through Christ, true children of God, and true people who can bear his name.

Finally, in the book of Revelation, there is a group whose symbolic number is based on 12. Who is the great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language who are crying out. Salvation comes from our God and from the lamb. Salvation does come from this lamb, indeed slain for our sins and raised to rule over us forever by grace now and in heaven. And you who follow him by faith are heirs of the inheritance of the faithful 12.

Genesis 1:14-16, Psalm 147:4, Psalm 8:3-4

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Genesis chapter one, verse 14

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. (Genesis 1:14-16)

I’m Pastor Pittenger from Bethany Lutheran Church out in Port Orchard, Washington. And I want to talk to you a little bit about those stars. Nowadays scientists, astronomers, they estimate, it’s an estimate because they can’t count, that there are about one septillion stars in the universe. That’s so number one with 24 zeros after it.

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

So that’s a septillion. Whole lot of stars out there. And stars have been important throughout the history of God’s creation, we use them to navigate both on land and at sea. Because of the stars, people were able to sail over the horizon and find their way to where they’re going or find their way back home. But man, one with 24 zeros after it, we can’t even count that high. We can only estimate that high.

Let me share something else with you. Here’s something I think equally or even more amazing. Psalm 147, verse four, speaking about God. Praise the Lord. The psalm begins, but verse four,

He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names. (Psalm 147:4)

We can’t even count that high. And yet God has got names for all of them, which is absolutely amazing. And but why should we really care about all this? Now flip over to Psalm eight. Psalm eight, verse three.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

When you go outside and look up at the stars, and you see how many there are. And if you look up in a book and find out how big they are. Well, who am I? What am I that God should care about me? I am so small. I am so insignificant. Add my sin to that equation. I’m so unworthy of God’s attention, let alone anything good from him.

Well, the answer to that is found in that phrase the Son of Man. That’s reference to Jesus. Hebrews chapter two makes it clear that Psalm eight is talking about Jesus, who was made, as it says, a little lower than the angels, who that is, who humbled himself. God. God the Son became one of us. He didn’t become a star to save the stars from eventual decay and running out of fuel. He didn’t become a bird to save the birds. He didn’t become an angel to save the angels. But he became man, the Son of Man in order to save us.

So next time you’re outside on a nice, clear night and you look up at those stars, marvel at how many of them there actually are or may be. And when you consider yourself in comparison to them and the seeming insignificance that you might feel. Remember the Son of Man has come to save you. God, who numbers the stars, even names those stars, knows your name. And he’s even given you a new name. A name, the name Christian. You’re named after his son, in whom we have eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, redemption.

Genesis 24:1-6,9

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The patriarch Abraham was very concerned about the influences on his son Isaac. And you should be very concerned about the influences on your children, too. We read from Genesis chapter 24.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. (Genesis 24:1-6,9)

Abraham is very concerned about who his son marries, and you should be too.

Our culture prioritizes youth in all kinds of ways. We appreciate youth style, youth culture, youth music. But that’s not a given in all cultures, and definitely not in the past. Yes, there is a certain youthfulness and optimism and freshness that older people can benefit from, but by far the weight is generally on what is old and what is established and what is proven. And that past tradition is embodied in elders. People who are older, who have gone through the experiences of youth and are able to help those who are younger, learn to control their passions, learn to temper some of that optimism with a realism that will make them truly effective people in the world.

The Fourth Commandment tells children to honor their father and mother that it may go well for them. Kids, this is a call for you to respect your parents, to take their counsel, even when it doesn’t totally make sense to you as a good counsel born out of love. That will be for your ultimate and long term good. Parents, this is a call for you, like Abraham, to step into that role in a way that our culture would not necessarily encourage you to do. Abraham is very meticulous about who his son marries. This doesn’t just apply to who our children marry. But of course, marriage is one of these most important decisions that will have one of the greatest impacts on their lives.

So Abraham says to his servant, who is going to go source a wife for his son, don’t take a wife from the Canaanites among whom I live. Not only do they have a different culture, but that culture is rooted in worship of false gods, and I don’t want my son going astray spiritually. Instead, go to this place which we know from the rest of scripture was Harran, where some of Abraham’s extended family lived. Go get a wife from there. But he’s also very clear. Don’t let Isaac come with. Because God had promised to Abraham’s branch of the family that not only would Abraham have descendants which would be fulfilled through Isaac, but that he would take possession of this land of Canaan. And the people in the land were for the purpose of providing a blessing to all nations.

This is a promise of Jesus, who would be born almost 2000 years later, yet from this earthly human line. Isaac’s life had a purpose that went far beyond himself and his own wishes and desires. For Abraham, there was no other option. This was the promise of a Savior by which Abraham would make it to heaven. This was the Savior who would sacrifice himself for Abraham’s sins, who in the future had already as certainly provided the righteousness that Abraham needed as God had promised it. Abraham knew this was a case of spiritual life and death, not just for himself, but for the world.

Your children are not going to be in the line of physical descent of the Savior. However, they are going to be the ones to carry the same Savior through whom alone we have peace with God, forgiveness of our sins, and heaven ahead of us. They will be the ones to bring it into the coming generation. They will be the ones to bear it into the future. Be meticulous about who they marry.

There’s the old cliché about the father sitting on the porch, maybe cleaning his shotgun as his daughter brings her first boyfriend home. Kind of a blunt form of intimidation, saying, if you don’t treat my daughter well, watch out. But maybe we need a little bit more of that. Maybe we need parents to be more hands on where the culture tells you to fulfill yourselves, we Christian parents should say, fulfill the purpose and plan of God. Which is a much greater purpose than you could ever come up with on your own. And for your Christian children, they should be inviting their spouse to participate in that purpose with them. Now, this goes far beyond marriage to your children’s friends, the music they listen to, the movies they watch, the social media they engage with. And this shouldn’t be done to stifle them, but instead to support them and help them lean in to the great purpose God has for their lives.

Genesis 1:2

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God has built a training into how life works into every moment of your day. This occurred to me recently, and it occurred while I was studying the Holy Spirit, and that the word that is translated spirit in the Old Testament in the original language is this word ruach. Hebrew is a really fun language. You get to clear your throat all the time. Ruach. You say it with me, Ruach. And it’s a word that literally means spirit or means breath or wind. And so you have this beautiful picture in Genesis one of the Spirit, the ruach of God, the breath of God, hovering, and actually that word too describes like a bird hovers. So here we get this beautiful already an image of the Holy Spirit right there, over the waters. And the breath of God as it’s breathed out is what’s there kind of stirring things up and getting creation started.

So as I was thinking about the breath of God, I realized, what do we have to do each moment of our lives? We have to breathe in.

We won’t live if we don’t breathe in this breath that comes from outside of us. If you hold your breath and try to do it yourself, you don’t get very far. We can’t manufacture breath in and of ourselves. Our very existence is dependent on breathing in something from outside of us. God’s training us every moment that we have to receive life from him. Isn’t it foolish, then, that we have this idea, this tendency to try to do it on our own? But that’s what sin is. Sin is trying to do life to live your own way instead of God’s way, acting like we’re God, not him. That’s what happened with Adam and Eve in the garden. That’s what we do again and again today. I’m going to live life my way. But really, that’s just holding our breath. And while it might work for a bit, it only gets us so far. Doing life for our own way, living like we’re God, it’s a path towards not just sin, but also death and eternity separated from God.

But we have a loving God who has made a way for us to breathe in life again. Jesus came, lived, and died and rose again. He has taken away your sin, your guilt, your shame, everything that separated you from God. He defeated death itself to give you life again. And now the Holy Spirit, the Ruach of God, has breathed new life into you. Spiritual life, the ability to believe in God again, to have life from him again. And he’s even built into our daily life as Christians a new way for us to really practice and exercise this. When you take the Lord’s Supper, the bread and the wine with it, you get the body and blood of Christ. What do you have? The life of God. You are taking it into yourself again.

So today, breathe in. Breathe out.

Think about your breathing. Not too hard, that’s when breathing gets weird. Is when we think too hard about our breathing. But just think about the fact that every moment you have to take in something from outside of yourself. And that’s something, is the life that God has given you. And God today has given you new life through the death and resurrection of His Son, and by the work of the Spirit. So breathe in this life that comes from God, today.

Genesis 22

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In the early 1800s, there was an evangelist by the name of Müller who ran a network of orphanages in England, and it’s estimated that over 10,000 children came and went through those doors. So you can imagine how much food it would take to feed all those hungry mouths. But one day, one of his cooks came to him with some unfortunate news, and he said, we have nothing to give these kids. We have no food. Should we send them away?

And Müller’s response was quite interesting. He said, no, don’t send them away. In fact, get them ready for the meal, set them down, prepare the table and we shall pray and give thanks to God for the meal he is about to provide. It wasn’t long after when the front doors of the orphanage burst open and a baker came through with trays and trays and trays of bread, and he said, God came to me in a dream last night alerting me that you guys would need food today. Soon after that, the door burst open again and a milkman came in and he said, my milk cart just broke down. Can you drink this milk before it spoils? You see, the Lord himself certainly provided for Müller and those orphans on that day.

This reminds me of one of my favorite passages in Genesis. (Genesis 22) It’s the account of where Abraham is commanded to give a sacrifice upon the mountain, but with a little twist, because he’s commanded to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. So as they go up the mountain, Isaac notices. He goes, dad, where? Where’s the animal? For the sacrifice? And Abraham, in a very Müller way, responds. The Lord himself will provide the sacrifice.

See, we examine this text in the Lenten season because it’s so clearly foreshadows the coming sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. You see, in Abraham’s case, God commanded a sacrifice. But in my case, and in your case, our sin, your sin demands a sacrifice. Your sin must be punished. Even that secret sin that you’re so ashamed of, it must be punished.

But instead of God placing you upon the altar to sacrifice you, to punish you for the sins that you committed. The Lord himself provides the sacrifice. Yes, the Lord himself provides the Holy Lamb of God caught in the thicket of the crown of thorns, who goes uncomplaining forth and crawls up upon the altar of the Lord’s own, providing where his blood is shed to atone for my sin. The sins of Abraham and Isaac, and you as well. Your sins are forgiven.

So this Lenten season, we cling to the words of Abraham. The Lord himself will provide the sacrifice. Yes, the Lord himself provides the lamb for your sacrifice. He forgives your sin. The Lord himself does it, and the Lord himself is preparing for you a heavenly home where there is no more hunger. There’s no more sorrow, no pain, no suffering. And where the Lord himself will wipe every tear from your eye.

So may we go forth, not only in this Lenten season, but always in the boldness and the thanksgiving for the sacrifice and the provision the Lord is about to give you. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who provides himself as the sacrifice guard and keep your hearts and minds in true faith and obedience to him. Amen.

Genesis 3:15

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Have you ever heard of the protoevangelium? A big word, right? What does it mean? Well, it means the first gospel. Maybe wonder, well, what’s that? Well, that phrase or that word really refers to the verse recorded in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, following the fall into sin. Where God says this as he’s addressing Satan, but in Adam and Eve’s hearing he says,

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

Now skeptics have said, well, basically all God is doing is he’s foretelling, in the immortal words of Indiana Jones, “Snakes? I hate snakes.” He’s foretelling that human beings are forever going to hate snakes because of the fallen to sin. Doesn’t seem very profound, especially when we know that Adam and Eve broke the world by their sin and brought upon themselves death and destruction. Really? That’s all God’s saying now you’re going to hate snakes? No, there has to be something more.

So what does that passage mean? I will put enmity between you and the woman. God is talking about hatred and hostility between Satan and Eve. But then, as he goes on to talk about those that are Satan’s seed, or his offspring and Eve’s offspring, those that are children of darkness, as Satan is of darkness, and those that are children of light as Eve, trusting in God as their Savior, that there’s going to be conflict, there’s going to be hostility, animosity between these two. But God goes on. And what does he say? He talks about not just a collection of seeds, but he talks about a singular seed of the woman who will crush Satan’s head and Satan will crush his heel.

What’s that talking about? Now, if you’ve ever walked in the woods, maybe you can imagine yourself doing so and all of a sudden being bit by a snake in the ankle. And let’s say you’ve discovered the poisonous snake. Are you going to die? Well, you very well could if you do nothing about it, but you probably have some options. Maybe you can try to suck out the poison. Maybe you can try to find an antidote, quick. And if need be, you could cut off your leg, I guess if you had to.

But imagine if you’re walking in the woods in a tree branch, a tree limb, fell on your head and crushed it. I mean, you’re done. There is no coming back from that, right?

Well, God is foretelling here is he’s talking about something so great in which a singular seed of the woman, and that’s an interesting way to refer to this woman’s progeny, her seed, her singular seed is going to crush Satan’s head. He’s going to crush his power once and for all. We would say this really refers to Jesus’ death on the cross. You see, when Jesus died on the cross, it was as if Satan had crushed or had struck his heel. It seemed as if he had delivered a death blow to Jesus. But Jesus willingly went to the cross because he knew what actually was taking place. He knew by offering his innocent life on the cross for sinners like you and me, offering his life the life of God as a sacrifice, he could do away with Satan’s power once and for all.

You see, the only thing that Satan really can hold over our head is our sin. And Satan says, you deserve wrath. You deserve judgment for the things that you have done. What did Christ do? He said, I will pay. He suffered your hell, your punishment for your sin on the cross. To take away Satan’s power once and for all. And if that wasn’t enough, he [Jesus] didn’t stay dead. He also rose again to life from the dead, showing his power even over death itself.

You know, this protoevangelium, the first preaching of the gospel in the Bible, really sets the stage for the entire book. That, in fact, is what the Bible is all about. It’s a story about God carrying out his plan of salvation, in which he sends the seed of the woman who comes to crush the serpent’s power and head once and for all. We see it ultimately fulfilled in the one referred to as the Messiah in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the New Testament, in the person of Jesus Christ, as we see clearly, that’s who the Messiah is. He is the anointed One, Christ who has come to crush Satan’s power once and for all, so we can have hope of life forever. Amen.

[This devotion is part of our series on The Apostles’ Creed, you can find all the videos in there series on our Apostles’ Creed Page. The devotions will be added as they are posted.]

Genesis 11:1-8

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I believe in the Holy Christian Church. This statement of faith in the Apostle’s Creed is a wonderful comfort. It assures us that throughout time, from the very beginning, from the very first promise of the gospel given to Adam and Eve. There’s only really been one true church, one saving faith in the very one Savior that we have, Jesus Christ our Lord. And that same faith unites all of us together into one church.

Oftentimes, people come to me with the question, wouldn’t Christianity be better off if we were all just one church? If we put aside all these different divisions and petty arguments and all joined into one giant mega-church? I mean, just imagine all the work we would be able to do. Imagine the pooling of resources and manpower and how much we would be able to get done if we all just join together. And though that makes sense from a worldly human point of view. When we have a problem, what do we do? We throw a lot of resources at it, and that’s going to solve the problem, right?

Well, the part of the Bible I like to take people to is Genesis chapter 11. There’s this fascinating account of life after the flood, where all the peoples of the world have come together and are working together. They’re living in peace. They’re living in harmony. They say, come, let us build a tower that reaches up to the heavens. And God looks down at this vision of tranquility and people working together in harmony. And you know what God says? He says, if as one people with one language, they all work together, nothing will be impossible for them. Isn’t that interesting? Nothing will be impossible for them. And what does God do next? He goes down and he confuses the languages which cause the people to scatter, to fracture, divide into different nations, and ever since then, we’ve been separated. We’ve been divided.

Why does God look down at this cohesive human organization and say that is not good? Well, through your life, you’ve probably experienced that sometimes the larger mass of people that you all have living and working in close proximity together, doesn’t it seem like evil increases exponentially? Or why is it that the bigger the organization, the more cold and impersonal it can be towards people? Or the more power an organization has, the faster and faster it can become corrupt?

That’s what the sinful human nature does when you have a big group of people all working together. The human assumption is always that bigger is better. But when we look at Scripture, we have to argue that. Since when has God ever needed bigger to accomplish his will or his purposes? Look at little frightened Gideon with his 300 water lapping men. Look at David, who overthrows Goliath or Jesus. One man, the God man who throws down the powers of sin, death, and hell. Look at his small band of frightened apostles and how he uses that group of people to spread Christianity across the globe. God does not need our wealth. God does not need our manpower to accomplish his purposes. What he wants, is faith and faith, even the size of a mustard seed, can move mountains.

No. When it comes to the Holy Christian Church, we’re assured by God that there is one head of the church. It is not a human organization. It is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. And in the body, the church. It has many different members, and these members shouldn’t say to the other, I don’t need you. And they also shouldn’t say we should all be an eye. For where would the sense of hearing be?

See, God wants us to recognize that every church and every church body has its unique function in the body of Christ. And what I like to tell people, do you know what the Lutherans are? We’re the kidneys. We don’t have to be big to do our job. It’s not a glorious job, but someone has to filter out the toxins. Someone has to make sure that God’s Word is taught in its truth and purity. Someone has to make sure that the law and the gospel are clearly proclaimed. God wants each of us to focus on our unique task in the kingdom, and to do that task exceptionally well. Our task is proclaiming the gospel. We do our job well and let the Holy Spirit worry about the rest. Let Jesus be the head over his church, the body.

Amen.

[This devotion is part of our series on The Apostles’ Creed, you can find all the videos in there series on our Apostles’ Creed Page. The devotions will be added as they are posted.]

Micah 5:2, Zechariah 9:9, Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12-13, Psalm 22, Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14

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I believe Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. What are the odds of this seemingly simple Bible prophecy coming true? Well, to talk about the odds, I imagine most of you are probably familiar with the lottery. Do you know what your odds are of winning the lottery? It’s 1 in 300,000,000. That number is expressed as three times ten to the eighth power. Eight is the number of zeroes that comes after the three.

If you want to visualize this number three times ten to the eighth power. Picture a football stadium. And if you were to fill that football stadium with golf balls, you would have about 300 million golf balls. So imagine marking one golf ball, dropping it in there, stirring them all up, and three times ten to the eighth power would be your odds of picking exactly that golf ball out of that stadium.

A mathematician by the name of Peter Stoner wanted to know the odds of biblical prophecy coming true. And so he and a team of mathematicians, together with some anthropologists based on population numbers from what we know about ancient civilization, wanted to calculate the odds of just eight biblical prophecies coming true. So they picked some things, like being born in the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), riding into Jerusalem on a colt (Zechariah 9:9), being betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9) for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13), and being crucified (Psalm 22). They came up with one times ten to the 17th power, were the odds of those eight biblical prophecies coming true.

Let’s visualize that number one times ten to the 17th power. So we actually have to leave the football stadium behind to visualize this number. And we have to go to the state of Texas, the entire state of Texas, 268,000mi². We’re going to cover the state of Texas with golf balls 37ft deep. Take one golf ball, put a mark on it, drop it in and mix them all up, and one time ten to the 17th power your odds of picking that golf ball up. That’s just eight biblical prophecies.

So Peter Stoner and his team wanted to know, what does 16 biblical prophecies look like? The number is one times ten to the 45th power. To visualize this number, we have to leave the planet Earth behind. Go to the center of our solar system and start building a planet with golf balls. If you were to have enough golf balls to have 45 zeros in the number, you would have a planet with a radius that is 2.7 billion miles long in every direction. Your planet of golf balls would have swallowed up the sun, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and have gone just past the orbit of the planet Neptune. Mark one golf ball, drop it in, mix it up. And one times ten to the 45th power is your odds of drawing exactly that golf ball out.

What if we triple it? What if it’s just 48 biblical prophecies coming true. What are the odds of that? Well, the odds are one times ten to the 157th power. That is a number so big that if you were to use golf balls, you would fill the known universe with golf balls and then some. There are over 400 prophecies directly connected to Jesus, and many of which were already fulfilled in his life on earth.

But of all the amazing prophecies that come together in the life of Jesus, the most profound is just one. In Genesis three, when God says that the seed of a woman would come and crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). In Isaiah, when he would promise that the Virgin will give birth to a child and will give him the name Emmanuel, which means God with us (Isaiah 7:14). Just what are the odds of the infinite God who fills the whole universe, coming down to be born of a virgin, getting nailed to a cross and by his foot being struck on the cross that he would crush the serpent’s head. What are the odds of that? Amen.