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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
When you think of an angel, what does the angel look like in your mind? Like an androgynous figure with wings? For a variety of reasons, some reasons better than others, down through the ages, Christian art variously in some cases has and in other cases has not depicted angels as genderless and with wings. But, faithful theologians generally are clear both that, when angels appear on earth, they appear not as women but as men (for example, Mark 16:5), and that, while the heavenly creatures known as cherubim and seraphim do have wings, angels do not have wings (for example, von Rad, TDNT, 1:80). Angels certainly do not need wings in order to fly, if angels fly at all. A passage in the book of Daniel (Daniel 9:21) is sometimes translated as saying that the angel Gabriel came to Daniel “in swift flight” (ESV), but that expression may be better translated as saying that Daniel himself was “extremely wearied” (NASB). And, today’s First Reading from Revelation refers to an angel “flying” overhead, but even that statement need not necessarily be understood literally of the angel’s flying but is sometimes understood symbolically either of the angel’s being from heaven (Burgdorf, 56) or of the angel’s rapidly spreading the Gospel (Poellot, pp.185-185, citing Barnes, ad loc Revelation 14:6).
That those two verses from the revelation of Jesus Christ to His apostle St. John (Revelation 1:1) are appointed for the First Reading on Reformation Day, the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s publicizing his 95 theses against the preachers of indulgences, reflects a long-standing interpretation of that vision, by which interpretation the angel with an eternal Gospel to proclaim is, in fact, none other than Martin Luther. Apparently already when Luther was alive, and especially after he was dead, some interpreters did not simply apply the vision to Luther but said it directly and singularly referred to him; similarly, other interpreters understood the next two angels who appeared to St. John as also referring to Luther, and still other interpreters understood only the third angel as referring to Luther (see Melius, CPR 32:4, p.34; Poellot, 185).
Minutes ago when I asked you, did the angel whom you pictured in your mind look like Martin Luther? When you heard the First Reading earlier in the Divine Service, were you thinking about him? Or, does the whole idea that Luther and the Reformation could have been prophesied in Holy Scripture seem to you and to me too silly or too strange or too parochial (Melius, CPR 32:4, p.35)? Maybe we under-appreciate how bad things were at the time of the Reformation and so how bad things might still be now if not for the Reformation—even worse than record inflation, political gridlock, and an all-out-nuclear World War III, the eternal Gospel that was to be proclaimed was in fact obscured. Maybe we under-appreciate how God works in history by way of ordinary people and means, people such as Luther and means such as his sometimes ill-tempered writing. Maybe we under‑appreciate the eternal Gospel, especially the Good News about God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, and maybe we under-appreciate the Gospel because maybe we under‑appreciate our own un‑righteousness. As we heard in the Epistle Reading (Romans 3:19‑28), all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God: all, including Martin Luther, you, and me; every mouth is stopped; the whole world is held accountable to God. As we heard in the First Reading, the hour of God’s judgment in some sense has come, and, on account of our sinful nature and all of our actual sin, we would be condemned in that judgment to temporal death and eternal damnation, if not for God’s calling and so enabling us to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to stop sinning. When we so repent, then God forgives us.
When I was a Ph-D student, I was asked to review and subsequently did review for the journal German Quarterly a then‑new book about Germany’s reception of Martin Luther during a period of time in the twentieth century titled Martin Luther, German Savior. Of course, even if Martin Luther is referred to by the angel in today’s First Reading, Martin Luther is not a “savior” the way that Jesus Christ is the Savior. As true God in human flesh, Jesus made, as the First Reading put it, heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. But, as the immediate and broader context around today’s First Reading makes clear, Jesus not only creates, but He also redeems. Out of God’s great love, mercy, and grace, Jesus died on the cross for all people, in our place. He is the Lamb Who was slain but Who also was resurrected; by His blood He ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9, 12); our salvation comes from Him (Revelation 7:10). As we heard in the Epistle Reading, God put Christ Jesus forward as a propitiation—a sacrifice that satisfies God’s righteous wrath against our sin—He put Christ Jesus forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. And, as we heard in the Gospel Reading (John 8:31-36), if the Son sets us free from our slavery to sin, then we are free indeed. With repentance and faith, we receive God’s forgiveness in the ways that God gives for us to receive that forgiveness, and so we rightly, as the First Reading called us to, fear God, give Him glory, and worship Him.
Through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther and others at the time of the Reformation and since, God restored the reading and preaching of His Word in Divine Services freed from corrupt additions to the historic Christian liturgy. Similarly, Holy Baptism received in faith is understood as God’s forgiving all sin by water and the Word. Private confession no longer tortures but serves consciences by leading to individual Holy Absolution, forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. And, the Sacrament of the Altar is given to the faithful in both kinds, both the bread that is Christ’s Body and the wine that is Christ’s blood, and the faithful are taught that the Mass is not their work of sacrifice that merits God’s forgiveness but Christ’s free gift to them of the forgiveness that He won for all people on the cross.
As we heard in the First Reading, the eternal Gospel is to be “proclaimed” to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. In the First Reading, the angel, the Gospel, and the “proclaiming” are all closely related by a common root Greek word meaning “messenger”. Yet, the Greek verb translated “proclaimed” is not the usual word for “preaching” but a Greek word that I like to distinguish by translating “evangelize”, as we have discussed when we have seen that word a number of times in our Midweek Bible Study of the book of Acts. God’s divine messengers and His human messengers publicly preach and teach His Gospel, but all of us live out that Gospel. We have roles to play in the “evangelization”, instructing about salvation, of those whom God places around us in our lives: family, friends, classmates, coworkers. We are prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us, and we do so with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when we are slandered, those who revile our good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:15). When we fail in that and in any other regard, with daily repentance and faith, we live in both the forgiveness of sins that we receive from God and the forgiveness of sins that we in turn extend to one another.
Reflecting on the First Reading, this morning we have considered “The angel with an eternal Gospel”. Certainly, we do not have to agree with the interpretation that the vision directly and singularly refers to Luther, though I would think that Luther might have liked to fly places quickly in contrast to all that slower travel by horse or on foot! Whether or not the First Reading does directly and singularly refer to Luther, the First Reading nevertheless still includes Luther, for example, by referring to all of the Gospel messengers of the New Testament if not also the Old Testament age (Poellot p.185). We can and do thank God for restoring through Luther and others God’s Gospel and so also His Church. So, we join with that Church of all times and places in saying, To Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever (Revelation 5:13)!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +