The Word gives the power to believe

Posted on April 24, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Easter 1 – Quasimodogeniti

1 John 5:4-10  +  John 20:19-31

As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty…If Christ is not risen, then your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, then we are the most pitiable of all men.

“Pitiable” sort of summarizes the state of the Eleven apostles on Easter Sunday afternoon. They had heard from the women about the empty tomb. Some of them had seen it with their own eyes. John, we’re told, believed when he saw it. But the rest—no, that strained credulity too far. They were pitiable, huddled together in that upper room in fear of the Jews. If they could manage to get Jesus killed, famous as He was, powerful as He was, what hope did they have? No, they had no time to think about this supposed resurrection of Jesus. They were too busy worrying, too busy being afraid of the Jews, afraid of earthly trouble and danger. Afraid of death. Those same fears plague our entire race. And there’s another fear, too, that should plague our race, but most people don’t give it any thought anymore. People should be afraid of the devil, and afraid of the God who has the power to destroy both body and soul in hell, especially if Christ is not risen, because then there is no hope for sinners. You are still in your sins, Paul says.

But Jesus the Christ is risen from the dead. And He showed Himself openly to His disciples for the first time on that Easter Sunday evening, in the upper room where they were hiding. When they saw Him alive after being crucified, dead, and buried, they believed in Him again, and they rejoiced.

And they had good reason to rejoice. Peace be with you, Jesus said to them. They surely didn’t have time, right at that moment, to contemplate all that that greeting entails. But we can! They had stumbled on Maundy Thursday night. They had kept stumbling through the weekend and were stumbling still by not believing the women’s report. They were sinners and lawbreakers and men who did not deserve to sit at the table with Jesus in His heavenly kingdom. But He spoke peace to them.

He spoke it to you just this morning, too, through the one whom He has sent. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. As the Father had sent Jesus, so He sent His apostles. And the Christian Church founded upon those apostles has been sending men ever since, in the name of Jesus, to speak the Word of Jesus, to speak the peace of Jesus. Peace with God. Peace, and not war. Peace in the forgiveness of sins which He won for all people on the cross and which He now pronounces upon all who repent and believe in Him.

Only He pronounces it through His Holy Spirit, that is, through the ministry of the Word. As my Father has sent me, so I also send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. With the authority of Jesus, ministers who have been called by God, through the Church, actually forgive sins to the penitent. How do you know that a minister’s forgiveness is God’s forgiveness? Because Jesus said so.

This is, by the way, why ordination is so important—that public rite by which a man is set apart for the office of the ministry. It serves as a public testimony by the Church that the man who is being installed as a pastor has the authority that Christ gave to His apostles. It’s the Church’s testimony that this man’s forgiveness (pronounced in God’s name and according to God’s command) is God’s forgiveness, and his retaining of sins is God’s retaining. And you are to believe it, just as firmly as you believe that Christ is risen from the dead. Because the same apostles who were witnesses of Christ’s resurrection are witnesses of His Word granting this authority to the Church.

But what if someone will not believe the Word recorded by the Apostles and pronounced by the minister?

Well, Thomas wouldn’t believe, either—wouldn’t believe until he saw, until he touched the body of Jesus with his hands. If he couldn’t do that, then the resurrection of Jesus wouldn’t be real, in his mind. It would just be a fable, a tall tale, the wishful thinking of pitiable men.

But then Jesus appeared again, a week later, and allowed Thomas to see Him and to touch Him. And then He spoke powerful words, Spirit-filled words, words that are able to cut through all the unbelief of man: Do not be unbelieving any longer, but believing. And then, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.

How is it possible? If it took a visible, tangible proof for even the apostles to believe, how can anyone possibly believe in the risen Christ without seeing—believe that He did truly rise from the dead, that He is the Christ, the Son of God, that He truly made atonement for all our sins and now truly forgives all who look to Him in faith through the mouth of a humble preacher?

It’s very simple. St. John tells us plainly: These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, by believing, you may have life in his name.

But it’s just writing. It’s just a book, this “Bible thing.” And people will tell you, it’s just like any other book, a work of fiction, not dependable, not reliable, and certainly not true. In fact, what is truth?, as Pilate famously asked. But you know better. You know that the Scriptures of the prophets and apostles are true, that is, they agree with reality. And how do you know that? Because these words have power. Divine power. The Spirit’s power, the Father’s drawing, pushing, prodding, coaxing you to do what otherwise would be impossible, to believe in that Man who lived so long ago, who lived and died, and who was witnessed as risen from the dead, that Man whom you have never met in person, but whose word and reputation are so convincing that millions have believed, based only on the things that were written by John and the other apostles and prophets, and preached by their successors, and passed on by countless Christians, parents to children, children to parents, friends to friends, strangers to strangers, and so on and on and on.

Believe in that Man. Put all your hope in that Man. Because one day you will see Him, too, just as Thomas did. All men will see Him. And all who have believed, all who have been born of God, who have already been victorious over the world by faith, will sit down with that Man, Jesus Christ, at a feast that will never end. Amen.

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Faith founded on Scripture

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Week of Easter

Acts 10:34-41  +  Luke 24:13-35

The account you heard this evening about the disciples on the road to Emmaus is the reason why we reviewed all those Old Testament prophecies last week. It’s important to know the events of Holy Week. In fact, it’s vital for us to know them. But it’s just as important to know the Word of God that prophesied those events ahead of time. Because that’s how the Holy Spirit works faith in a person’s heart, not by seeing the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, but by hearing the Spirit-inspired words pointing to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus. Faith has to be founded on Holy Scripture.

Who were the two disciples walking toward Emmaus? One is called Cleopas. They weren’t among the Twelve apostles, but they were obviously disciples of Jesus. They had witnessed all the events of Holy Week, and then their hopes that Jesus might be the Christ were dashed when He died. Even the reports of the women and of the empty tomb weren’t enough to give them hope.

Why did Jesus not allow them to recognize Him as He walked with them? Why did He “restrain their eyes”? Because the kind of faith they would need for the rest of their life doesn’t come from seeing. It comes from hearing.

And so Jesus walked through the Old Testament with them, making the connections between prophecy and fulfillment, even as we did last week. Using the Holy Scriptures, Jesus swept out the debris in their hearts, the debris of misinterpretation that plagued the people of Israel, the notions that the Christ would appear glorious at His coming, that He would restore an earthly kingdom to Israel, that He would take up the throne of His kingdom without suffering, without dying, and without rising from the dead. As they walked, they began to see the truth, that the Christ had to come and suffer for sin, that He was to be like the Passover lamb, and like all the Old Testament sacrifices, shedding His innocent blood in order to keep safe all who believe in Him. He had to be lifted up on a cross, like the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert, so that all who look to Him in faith are saved from the serpent’s venom. He had to be like the tabernacle and the temple, God’s dwelling place on earth. And the temple of His body had to be destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

The hearts of those two disciples burned within them as they listened to the Word of God that Jesus spoke, and only then, after their faith was kindled by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Scriptures, only then did Jesus reveal Himself to them and allow them to recognize Him. He didn’t first show them visible proof of His resurrection. He first led them to faith through the Word. Then He allowed them to see.

And so it is with us, too. We haven’t seen Jesus. But He has sent His Gospel out into the world, and His Holy Spirit has caused our hearts to burn as He shows us that all of Scripture, in fact, all of history was pointing to the cross and to the empty tomb of the Christ. That’s the message that brought us to faith, and it’s the same message and the same preaching of Law and Gospel that will bring others to faith. No programs, no activities, no youth groups, no amount of fun and entertainment will bring a single soul to trust in Jesus for salvation. Only the Scriptures. Only the Word of God. Only the preaching that centers on Christ, and on Him crucified. And risen! In accordance with the Holy Scriptures.

And if the Scriptures were telling the truth about the Christ’s death and resurrection, then you can be sure they are also telling the truth about Christ reigning at the right hand of the Father, and about His constant care for His Holy Christian Church and for every single baptized believer.

So even though you don’t see Jesus, listen to the Scriptures! Listen to the Word of God! And your faith will grow! And then, if you know someone who doesn’t know the risen Lord Jesus, don’t try to convince them with arguments and proofs. Use the Scriptures. It’s the Holy Spirit’s only tool for bringing people to faith. And if we come to know Christ through the Scriptures, then He will surely abide with us here on earth by His Spirit, until we see Him in person, with our own eyes, when He comes again. Amen.

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Prophecies fulfilled, Easter Sunday

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Easter Sunday

1 Corinthians 5:6-8  +  Mark 16:1-8

Just as Good Friday was a unique day in the history of the world, so today is also unique. Easter Sunday marks the first permanent defeat of death, when a Man who died actually rose from the dead, not to live out the rest of His earthly life only to die again, but to live forever, with a glorified body, no longer subject to death, making Him truly the Lord of life and the Ruler over death.

And, as with Christ’s suffering, death, burial, and descent into hell, this day was also prophesied ahead of time in Holy Scripture, as we just said in the Nicene Creed, “He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.” Spend a moment with me reviewing some of those prophecies and let your hearts burn within you as did the hearts of Jesus’ disciples as He led them to see the connection between prophecy and fulfillment.

The prophecy of Christ’s resurrection most cited by the apostles after His resurrection was from Psalm 16: I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in hell, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. King David wasn’t writing about himself, as the apostles pointed out, because David’s tomb was still in Jerusalem, where his body still lay, thoroughly corrupted and decayed. No, he was writing about his greater Son, his Offspring, the Christ, whose body would not be left by God to rot in a tomb.

Another prophecy from Psalm 22: I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted One; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. We saw on Good Friday how this Psalm painted the picture of Christ’s crucifixion and death. But even after His suffering and death, Christ, the afflicted One, would be heard and helped by His Father. Yes, the Father let His Son be afflicted and die for our sins, but there would still be help for Him, because He wouldn’t remain dead.

Isaiah 53: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief. If he makes his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD will prosper in his hand. From the labor of his soul, he will see and be satisfied. By knowledge of him my righteous servant will justify many; for he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul to death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Yes, Christ was numbered with the transgressors. He was crucified right alongside two criminals. He made His soul an offering for the sins of the world. But then, after the Christ gives up His life, Isaiah says that He will see His offspring. God will prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After bearing their iniquities, after suffering and dying for the sins of mankind, the Christ would live again to continue to do the Lord’s will, to spread the Gospel. To build His Church, against which the gates of hell will not prevail. None of that could He do if He were to remain dead.

The simple prophecy about the Christ from Psalm 110 also proves that He had to rise from the dead. The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! How could the Son of David rule in the midst of His enemies if He remained dead, having been put to death by His enemies? How could He reign at the Father’s right hand? How could His enemies be made His footstool if their Good Friday victory hadn’t been erased by Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday?

Or there’s the prophecy from Isaiah 49:6:  Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” If God’s Servant had remained dead, if the light of life had been snuffed out for good, then the Christ couldn’t be a Light to the Gentiles, couldn’t be the Lord’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Only by rising from the dead could He continue to shine His light throughout the world in the preaching of the Gospel to bring both Jews and Gentiles into His Holy Christian Church.

But if we want to see that the Scriptures always foretold the resurrection of the Christ, there’s really no need to go any farther than the first book of the Bible. In Genesis 3:15, God says to the devil: I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. The Seed of the woman, that special offspring of Eve and of Mary would have His heel bruised or stricken by the devil. He would suffer. He would even die. But the only way for the Christ to bruise or crush the serpent’s head—to destroy the devil’s power over the sinful human race—is by not remaining dead.

And so the Easter morning story unfolds, with the faithful, believing women, our dear sisters in the faith, making their way early in the morning to Jesus’ tomb, near the hill of Calvary, where He was crucified. They go, not expecting to find Him alive, but to find Him dead, because they don’t yet understand the prophecies. But they arrive to find the stone rolled away from the entrance, and an angel sitting where Jesus’ body had been. He’s the first to announce the good news: Do not be afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen; he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him.

And then the angel reminds them of what may be the greatest prophecy of all: Go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you. How many times had Jesus’ told His disciples that He would rise from the dead on the third day? But, they thought, surely no one, not even Jesus, could do such a thing, could raise Himself from the dead. He must be speaking in riddles. He must mean something else.

No, He said what He meant, and He did what He said. Christ, our Passover, has been slain. But He took up His life again.

Now, what does that mean for you?

For the unbeliever, it means you won’t get away with your sin forever. Because, just as the Scriptures prophesied the death and resurrection of the Christ, so they also prophesy a day of judgment on which Jesus Himself will judge those who despised His Word and His sacrifice. But the good news is, there is still time! There is still today to repent of your sins and put your hope in this divine Man who died and rose again. It’s the very reason He came, that sinners should have a Substitute who would pay for their sins with His death, so that they can now have their sins forgiven by God and live forever by trusting in Him.

For the believer, you know what Christ’s resurrection means. It means He is a mighty Savior, a worthy Redeemer, worthy of your trust, worthy of your obedience. Our Lord Jesus is called the firstborn from among the dead and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. He was the first to conquer death, but He won’t be the last. For all who believe in Him will also rise again to eternal life. Sickness? Disease? Death? What are they? They have no power, not really, not anymore. Hardship? Persecution? Injustice? These are only temporary things. You have a living Savior who now reigns at the Father’s right hand on your behalf, for your benefit. He has made you part of His body through Holy Baptism and faith. He has marked you as His own. And He will come for each believer, when it is time, first to guard the soul as the body sleeps in the grave, and then to raise the body, too. And then the great prophecy of Job will be fulfilled, not only for him, but for every believer: For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Christ is arisen! He is risen indeed! A blessed and happy Easter to all of you, in the name of the living Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Prophecies fulfilled, Holy Saturday

Posted on April 16, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Vigil of Easter

Christ is arisen! We begin our celebration of His resurrection already tonight, which is already the beginning of the third day, according to Jewish reckoning. But there is one more prophecy about the Christ that we should consider before jumping all the way into the joy of the resurrection tomorrow morning. It’s that somewhat obscure prophecy that’s referenced so briefly in our Apostles’ Creed. He descended into hell.

The Old Testament prophecies about this are few. Only two, as far as I can tell. First, from Psalm 16: For You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. The apostles cite that verse several times with regard to the Christ’s resurrection, the fact that His body would not see decay, because He would rise from the dead. But if His soul—that is, His whole self, according to Hebrew meaning—was not left in hell, then He must have descended there first. So the Christ would descend to hell before rising from hell and death.

Then there’s a verse from Hosea 13: I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Hell, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.

Tonight, let’s let Martin Luther guide us briefly through this wondrous prophecy and article of faith. We hear portions of his sermon on Christ’s descent into hell:

Before Christ rose and ascended into heaven, while He still lay in the grave, He also descended to hell, in order that He might also deliver us out from there who should have lain captive therein. It was for this same reason that He also had gone into death and was laid in the grave, that He might bring His own out from there. But I do not want to treat this article in a lofty or detailed manner—how it was done, or what it means to go to hell. No, I want to stay with the simplest understanding, as one would describe it to children.

This is also how one finds it often depicted in murals, how He descended with a choir cape and with a banner in His hand. He comes before hell and strikes down and slays the devil with the banner. He storms hell and brings out His own (not as if the souls of the believers were in hell, waiting to be brought out, but in that hell before had a claim on all people, and now it no longer has any claim on those who believe in Jesus).

For such a picture demonstrates well the power and the benefit of this article. This is why the article exists and is preached and believed, to show how Christ has destroyed the power of hell and has taken away from the devil all his might. If I grasp that, I have the proper knowledge and understanding of it and shouldn’t investigate or speculate further how it happened or is possible.

We should very simply bind our hearts and thoughts to the word of the Creed, which says: “I believe in the Lord Christ, the Son of God, who…descended to hell.” That is, I believe that Christ, who is God and man in one person, went to hell, but did not remain there. As Psalm 16 says of Him: “You will not abandon My soul to hell nor allow Your Holy One to see decay.”

Christ went as a conquering hero and personally broke into hell and bound the devil. Whether the banners, gates, door, and chains are made of wood, iron, or of nothing at all, it doesn’t matter at all, as long as I grasp that which is demonstrated through this picture, what I should believe about Christ, that neither hell nor devil can take me or harm me or any who believe in Him…For although hell remains hell, per se, and holds the unbelievers prisoner—as also death, sin, and all misfortune hold them, too—so that they must remain and perish therein; and although it still terrifies and threatens us, too, according to the flesh and the outer man, nevertheless, all of that is, by faith, destroyed and torn apart, so that it can no longer harm us at all. Now all the devils must run away and flee, even as death and its venom and the whole of hell with its fire must be put out before Him, so that no Christian has to be afraid of it anymore.

But our Lord Christ has not left it at that, that He died and descended to hell, (for that would not yet have helped us in the end), but He also left death and hell again, brought life back again and opened heaven wide and thus publicly demonstrated His victory and triumph over death, the devil, and hell, that He, according to this article, rose again from the dead on the third day. For by rising from the dead, He has become a mighty Lord over death and everything that has the power of death or that serves death, so that it can no longer consume or hold Him. Sin can no longer fall upon Him or drive Him to death. The devil can no longer bring a complaint against Him, nor can the world or any creature trouble Him or harm Him.

This boast now belongs to the Lord Christ alone. But He did not do it for Himself; He did it for us poor, miserable people who otherwise would have had to be eternal captives of death and the devil. For prior to this, He, for His own part, certainly did not have to die or go to hell. But since He clothed Himself in our flesh and blood and took up all our sin, punishment, and misfortune, He also had to help us out of these things by coming back to life and becoming a Lord of death, in order that we, too, might also finally come out of death and all misfortune in Him and through Him.

Here a strong faith is needed, which holds this article up powerfully and writes this saying upon the heart in large letters, “Christ is arisen,” making this phrase as large as heaven and earth, so that faith sees, hears, thinks, and knows nothing else but this article, as if nothing else were written in the whole creation. As St. Paul writes to the Romans: “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who will condemn? It is Christ who has died, yes, much more, who has risen from the dead.”

Let us hold to this truth and dwell upon it daily, for all our wisdom, salvation, and blessedness depend on it. To that end, may God help us through His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is blessed forever. Amen.

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Prophecies fulfilled, Good Friday

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Good Friday

Today is like no other day in history. On this one day, not quite 2,000 years ago, an innocent Man—the only truly innocent, sinless Man in history, a Man, who was also God our Creator—suffered, died, and was buried. That makes this day unique. But it’s unique also in another way. No other day in history has been described ahead of time with as much detail and with as much accuracy as Good Friday, as, one by one, the prophecies about the coming Christ were fulfilled in the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus. Let’s take a moment to consider just a few of them.

Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away, but he did not open his mouth. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, makes this verse’s meaning a little clearer: “In His humiliation, justice was removed from Him.” We saw that last night before the Sanhedrin. We saw it today before Pontius Pilate. No justice for Jesus, only humiliation and unjust condemnation. As Peter wrote, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. You and I were the unjust. But the Just One allowed Himself to be condemned so that sinners like Barabbas, sinners like you and I, could go free.

Meanwhile, we’re told about Judas’ remorse and his returning of the 30 pieces of silver, which he threw into the house of the Lord, and with which the priests then purchased the potter’s field. Zechariah 11: So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter. “That princely price they set on Me.” It’s all the life of Jesus was worth to Judas. It’s worth even less than that to many. How much is His life worth to you? What would your words and actions reveal? I’ll tell you. They would reveal that many things in this life have been worth more to you than Jesus, worth more to you than your God. So repent and, unlike Judas, turn to the Lord Jesus for forgiveness. And then mean the words of the last stanza of the hymn you just sang: Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a tribute far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Psalm 22: For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. An incredibly vivid depiction of a crucifixion before crucifixion even existed. Even the soldiers’ dividing Jesus’ garments among themselves was prophesied 1,000 years before it happened as the Holy Spirit painted the picture for us through the words of the Prophet-King David. The cross was always in God’s view, and now He wants it always to be in view for us, too, that we may know the price of our redemption and the love of God who willingly paid that price for us.

Also Psalm 22: All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He  trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” Even the mockery the Christ would receive at the foot of the cross was prophesied by King David. The sentiment of the religious leaders then is like the sentiment of so many still today. If you trust in God, nothing bad is supposed to happen to you. If God truly delights in you, then He will save you from all earthly harm, and from shame and disgrace. If He doesn’t, then He must not delight in you, or He must not be a good God, or He must not exist. But looks can be so deceiving. It often looks like God has abandoned His own. But in truth, Jesus was never so pleasing to His Father as when He bore the sins of the world and received the punishment for them. Doing the will of God often comes with great pain. But in the end, it will always be worth it.

Also Psalm 22: My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws…And they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. The final moments of the cross are depicted in the Psalm. He’s almost done, and He knows it. But He has to complete the picture drawn by the Holy Spirit through King David, so He asks for a drink, because He has a loud shout yet to make, declaring the great “It is finished!” that declares His atoning work complete. All the suffering needed to earn mankind’s salvation had been suffered. No further payment for sins can possibly be made.

Also Psalm 22: For He was cut off from the land of the living. The Scriptures prophesied ahead of time the death of the Christ. It shouldn’t have surprised anyone, and yet it surprised nearly everyone, except for old Simeon who held that same Jesus in his arms some 33 years earlier and warned Mary about this day: Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, too. And so our Savior died, having fulfilled every last prophecy. But there were still prophecies to be fulfilled. Even though the soldiers had been ordered to break the legs of the three men being crucified to help them die faster, before the sun set, they came to Jesus and found Him already dead. So, not having the faintest idea they were fulfilling the Scriptures, they chose not to break His legs, but to pierce His side instead, fulfilling the words of Moses in Exodus 12: None of his bones shall be broken, making the connection between the Christ and the Passover Lamb; and also the words of Zechariah in chapter 12, They will look on the One whom they have pierced.

Then Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus acquired Jesus’ body, and Joseph, a rich man, laid Jesus in his own, newly hewn tomb, so that Isaiah’s prophecy could be fulfilled: And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death.

The reason for it all, for all the suffering and for the death of the Christ, was also prophesied in Holy Scripture. Isaiah spelled in out for us in chapter 53: But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. The wounds we had earned for our transgressions were all endured by Jesus during those six hours He spent on the cross. The peace with God that He earned is now offered to us freely, through faith. The healing we all needed was earned for us by Jesus, who gave up His own health and comfort and offered His body to the stripes and scourges and blows that we deserved for our sins.

Now, through faith and Holy Baptism, you have been united with the death of Christ, buried with Him through Baptism into death, that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, you, too, should walk in a new life. And if a person has never been baptized and has never learned the great significance of this day, then now is the time, time to repent, time to trust, so that each and every one of you can say with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Yes, all of history was leading up to this Good Friday, as shown by the Old Testament prophecies. And now the Lord God has led you here to hear this Gospel again, the Gospel of Christ crucified, to call you again to repentance and faith in Him, and to assure you that, if the Father did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all the things we need, both for this life and for the next? Amen.

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