LESSON: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-56

I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. Psalm 118:17

How does it come to pass that one does not see death or taste it when Abraham and all the prophets died, who certainly had the Word of God, as the Jews also maintained? Here we must pay close attention to what Christ actually says and note that He makes a distinction between death in the ordinary common sense and not seeing death or tasting death.

We must all pass through death and die. But a Christian does not taste death or see death, that is, he does not feel death. He is not terrified in the face of death. He enters it quietly and softly, as though he is falling asleep and not dying at all. But the godless man must feel death and be terrified by it eternally.

To taste death means to experience the power and might or the bitterness of death and, indeed, eternal death and hell. God’s Word makes this distinction. The Christian knows this, and it helps him in the hour of death. He does not see heat. He sees nothing but life and Christ in the Word, and so he does not feel death. But the godless man does not have this Word; he has no life, but sheer death. So, he feels death, and eventually this is also the bitterness of eternal death.

With the believer it is all so very different. He knows the Word of Christ: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25,26).

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PRAYER: Be with us, dear Lord Jesus, especially in the hour of our death, that, firmly relying on Your promises, we may not taste death but pass through death into life eternal, as You have assured us. Amen.

LESSON: JOHN 17:1-5

“Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” John 8:51

Jesus really spoils things for His enemies when He not only offers a good and stout defense of His doctrine but ascribes such might to it that it holds full sway over the devil, death, and sin, imparting eternal life and preserving men therein.

See here how divine wisdom and human reason come into conflict! How can any man comprehend that a word spoken physically from a human mouth can save from death eternally?

But away with blindness! We want to deal with this beautiful passage. He speaks here not concerning the word of the Law but concerning the word of the Gospel, which is a discourse concerning Christ who died for our sins. God did not want to impart Christ to the world in any other way but by including Him in His Word and thus spreading Him out and setting Him forth. Otherwise, Christ would have remained completely isolated by Himself and would never have become known. And thus, He would have died for Himself alone.

Because the Word portrays Christ for us, it portrays for us Him who conquered sin, death, and the devil. Hence, anyone who grasps and holds the Word, grasps and holds Christ, and through the Word he also becomes freed from death eternally. Thus, it is a Word of life. It is true that he who keeps this Word will never see death eternally.

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PRAYER: Thanks and praise be to You, O God, for the riches of Your grace and mercy revealed to us in Your holy Gospel, culminating in the assurance of eternal life and salvation in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: ROMANS 12:14-21

“I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he will be the judge.” John 8:50

Why does Jesus not say in John 8:49, “I honor my Father and you dishonor Him”? He says, “You dishonor me.”

In a veiled manner, He indicates that His Father’s honor and His own honor are identical, one and the same thing, just as He is one God together with His Father. At the same time, however, He wants to remind us that if our ministry in praise of God is to obtain its due honor, it must also suffer shame.

We should also keep this in mind in our dealings with rulers and priests. When they question our lives, we will put up with it and repay them with love for hate and good for evil; but when they attack our doctrine, they are attacking God’s honor.

Here there must be a limit to love and patience. We must not remain silent but say, “I honor my Father, and so you dishonor me. It does not matter much that you dishonor me, for I am not seeking my own honor. But at the same time take warning! There is one who is seeking my honor and judging it. The Father will demand it from you and not leave you unpunished. He does not only seek His honor, but mine as well, for He has declared, ‘Those who honor me I will honor’ (1 Samuel 2:30).”

This is our consolation, so we can be quite joyful. Even though all the world casts shame on us and dishonors us, we are certain that God requires our honor and will punish, judge, and avenge. O that we would only believe it and wait upon Him! He is certainly coming!

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PRAYER: You have assured us, both by much instruction and many examples, O Lord, that You will adequately defend the honor of Your Word and those who proclaim it. Fill our hearts with courage and confidence so that we never lost heart, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: JOHN 8:45

“Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.” John 8:45

It is true that no pastor’s life is ever so good that it is without sin before God. And so, it is enough if he is blameless in the eyes of his people. But his doctrine must be so good and pure that it stands up not only before men but also before God.

A godly preacher may well find himself in a position to ask his hearers, “Who from among you is going to find fault with me? From among you, I say, my fellow human beings! But before God I am a sinner.”

Moses does the same thing when he claims that he had not taken anything from them or harmed any one of them (Numbers 16:15).

Samuel, Jeremiah, and Hezekiah could also appeal to their blameless lives before the people to stop the mouths of slanderers.

Christ does not speak about His doctrine here. He does not say, “Who among you can fault my doctrine.” He says, “because I tell the truth.”

One must be sure that one’s doctrine is the truth and right before God and must not be concerned only how it is regarded by men.

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PRAYER: Grant us at all times such conviction of faith, heavenly Father, that we never have the slightest doubt that the whole truth of salvation has been revealed to us in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: JOHN 8:46-59

“Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” John 8:46

This Gospel teaches us how hardened sinners become even more furious when one instructs them and encourages them in a friendly manner. Christ here asks them in a really friendly manner to supply a reason why they do not believe in Him when they are in no position at all to find fault either with His life or His doctrine.

His life is quite blameless. He can boldly confront the Jews with the challenge, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” His doctrine, too, is irreproachable, for He says, “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” Christ is one whose walk of life squared in every way with what He taught.

Every preacher should always be quite confident about two factors. In the first place, he should lead a blameless life so that he may always have a courageous approach to his work and that he may not provide anyone with an easy excuse to blaspheme his doctrine. Secondly, his doctrine must also be blameless so that he never misleads anyone who follows him.

In both respects, then, he will be doing what is right. With his good life, he will be gaining the advantage over his enemies, who are more concerned with his life than his doctrine and may despise his doctrine because of his life. With his doctrine, he is serving his friends, who are more concerned with his doctrine than with his life and will put up with his life for the sake of his doctrine.

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PRAYER: Provide Your Church with faithful pastors, O God, who practice what they preach and whose proclamation is always sure and certain, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

LESSON: JOHN 7:14-24

“If I cast out demons by Be-elzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?” Luke 11:19

Jesus certainly confronts His enemies here with a telling and crushing question when He asks them, “If I cast out demons by Be-elzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?” He means to ask them, “Is it not rabid hatred to condemn in me what you praise in your own children? When your children do something, it is from God; but because I do a thing, it must be from the devil.” That is how the world must react to Christ. What Christ does is of the devil; if someone else did it, it would be right.

This is also the reasoning of the tyrants and enemies of the Gospel today. They condemn in us what they praise in themselves, and they confess it and teach it. This is how they must act, so that the judgment passed on them is publicly approved, namely, that their condemnation is correct. The “sons” who cast out devils, whom Christ mentions here, were, I believe, exorcists who functioned among the people. God bestowed many spiritual gifts on His people from of old. He calls them their “sons” as though He meant them to understand, “I am God’s son and yet I must belong to the devil; but those who are your ‘sons’ born from you do the same as I do but must not be regarded as belonging to the devil.”

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PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You suffered scorn, mockery, contempt, and blasphemy for us, and men turned a deaf ear to Your testimony and proclamation. In all this we know, O Lord, that You have set a pattern for us to follow in Your name. Amen.

LESSON: ROMANS 6:1-11

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:25

The meaning of Jesus is that he who clings to the Word will not feel or see death, even in the midst of death, as He also declares later on: “He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, for I am the life” (John 11:25).

Here we see what a wonderful thing the Christian faith really is, for it already saves us from death eternally and brings it to pass that we never die. The death and dying of a Christian is just like that of an unbeliever externally, but inwardly there is as much difference here as the difference between heaven and earth. For the Christian sleeps in death and passes through it to life, but the unbeliever passes from life to experience death eternally.

We also see this from the way in which some shake in terror, are full of doubt and even despair, and completely lose all reason and sense in the throes of death.

This is why Scripture also calls death a sleep. For just as the one who falls asleep does not really know what is happening to him and recovers consciousness quite suddenly in the morning when he wakes up, so we, too, will arise on the last day without any knowledge how we died and passed through death.

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PRAYER: Lord Jesus, draw us ever closer to You in true and living faith so that we firmly believe that, whether we live or die, we are Yours and the heirs of eternal life and blessedness with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

LESSON: PSALM 36

Thy steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Thy faithfulness to the clouds. Psalm 36:5

God’s power and might is in the very bread we eat. He is present in this bread and nourishes us through it and under it, but in an invisible manner. We think that it is the bread that does it all! But where no bread is available, He nourishes men without bread by His Word alone. He acts here also as He acts under the bread, invisibly. The bread is His “fellow worker,” as Paul says, “We are fellow workers for God” (1 Corinthians 3:9).

Through and under our external office of the ministry, He gives His grace inwardly—that grace which He could actually give without our office and does give without it. But while the office is there, one should not despise it or tempt God.

So also He nourishes us through bread externally, but inwardly He alone gives the growth and digestion which the bread cannot give. In short, all creatures are God’s masks and mummers, whom He wants to work along with Him and help Him to accomplish all sorts of things, which He could certainly accomplish without their co-operation and also does accomplish without them.

This is what He has ordained so that we should learn to cling to His pure Word alone. If there is bread, do not put all your confidence in it; if there is no bread, there are still no grounds for despair. Use the bread when it is available and do without it when it is not available.

But at all times we should be certain that we are nourished by the Word of God, whether bread is available or not. With this faith, one conquers greed, bodily indulgence, and temporal concern for our nourishment.

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PRAYER: Keep us ever alert, heavenly Father, to the fact that we continually need the blessing of Your Word in all that we do in our daily lives, even in our eating and drinking, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.