Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "A Christian Victory" for Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "A Christian Victory" for Tuesday, 23 December 2014

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life ... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.[Romans 8:37-38a, 39b]

Pastor Tommy Ramey of Victory Chapel Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, can remember how eight-year-old Christian Jose-Lopez spoke of how much he loved Thanksgiving. Indeed, the night before Lopez was struck by a car while walking home from church, the pastor and the boy had spoken of that special holiday.
As I said, Lopez was hit by a car. He died in the hospital two days later.
The church paid for the boy's funeral and, one of his friends, a little girl named Brooklyn Fowler, placed a Christmas tree on the lad's new grave. This she did because she had heard Lopez speaking of his eagerness to decorate his own tree. The tree was put on the grave on Sunday, the day of the funeral.
By Monday afternoon, someone had stolen it.
Five-hundred years ago, Luther wrote, "Take they our life, goods fame, child and wife, let these all be gone, they yet have nothing won, the kingdom ours remaineth." Two-thousand years ago, St. Paul said, "neither death nor life ... will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
My friends, this sinful world has managed to take Lopez's life, his Christmas, his church, even the small tree left on his grave, by a friend. These things are all gone. But even so, Christian Jose-Lopez has not lost.
He has won.
Because of Jesus Christ, God's Son, who was born in Bethlehem, this boy is a victor.
As has been true for so many saints who have gone before him, Christian celebrates this week's festival in heaven. Forgiven of his sins by the crucified and risen Redeemer, Christian has gone home to be with his Lord.
* This week, and forever, he offers up an unending thanksgiving for the Lord's gracious gift of eternal life.
* This week, and forever, he is privileged to see the beauties of heaven and the countenance of his Savior.
* This week, and forever, he can sing unending hymns of praise to the Lord for His gracious gift of salvation.
In short, Christian is, like us, a victor who will always be in the hands and presence of his loving Lord Jesus.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, there are times in our lives when we must say an earthly goodbye to family and friends. Send Your Holy Spirit upon us so that we may look past death and grave. Let us see the victory that is ours through the Babe of Bethlehem, the Christ of the cross, the Savior of the empty tomb. This we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,


Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour^®
Lutheran Hour Ministries

Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Esther 9:1-4 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s order came into effect. This was the very day that the enemies of the Jews had planned to overpower them, but the tables were now turned: the Jews overpowered those who hated them! The Jews had gathered in the cities throughout King Xerxes’ provinces to lay hands on those who were seeking their ruin. Not one man was able to stand up against them—fear made cowards of them all. What’s more, all the government officials, satraps, governors—everyone who worked for the king—actually helped the Jews because of Mordecai; they were afraid of him. Mordecai by now was a power in the palace. As Mordecai became more and more powerful, his reputation had grown in all the provinces.
5-9 So the Jews finished off all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering them right and left, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. In the palace complex of Susa the Jews massacred five hundred men. They also killed the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the archenemy of the Jews:
Parshandatha Dalphon
Aspatha Poratha
Adalia Aridatha
Parmashta Arisai
Aridai Vaizatha
10-12 But they took no plunder. That day, when it was all over, the number of those killed in the palace complex was given to the king. The king told Queen Esther, “In the palace complex alone here in Susa the Jews have killed five hundred men, plus Haman’s ten sons. Think of the killing that must have been done in the rest of the provinces! What else do you want? Name it and it’s yours. Your wish is my command.”
13 “If it please the king,” Queen Esther responded, “give the Jews of Susa permission to extend the terms of the order another day. And have the bodies of Haman’s ten sons hanged in public display on the gallows.”
14 The king commanded it: The order was extended; the bodies of Haman’s ten sons were publicly hanged.
15 The Jews in Susa went at it again. On the fourteenth day of Adar they killed another three hundred men in Susa. But again they took no plunder.
16-19 Meanwhile in the rest of the king’s provinces, the Jews had organized and defended themselves, freeing themselves from oppression. On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, they killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them but did not take any plunder. The next day, the fourteenth, they took it easy and celebrated with much food and laughter. But in Susa, since the Jews had banded together on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days, they made the fifteenth their holiday for laughing and feasting. (This accounts for why Jews living out in the country in the rural villages remember the fourteenth day of Adar for celebration, their day for parties and the exchange of gifts.)
20-22 Mordecai wrote all this down and sent copies to all the Jews in all King Xerxes’ provinces, regardless of distance, calling for an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar as the occasion when Jews got relief from their enemies, the month in which their sorrow turned to joy, mourning somersaulted into a holiday for parties and fun and laughter, the sending and receiving of presents and of giving gifts to the poor.
23 And they did it. What started then became a tradition, continuing the practice of what Mordecai had written to them.
24-26 Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the archenemy of all Jews, had schemed to destroy all Jews. He had cast the pur (the lot) to throw them into a panic and destroy them. But when Queen Esther intervened with the king, he gave written orders that the evil scheme that Haman had worked out should boomerang back on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows. That’s why these days are called “Purim,” from the word pur or “lot.”
26-28 Therefore, because of everything written in this letter and because of all that they had been through, the Jews agreed to continue. It became a tradition for them, their children, and all future converts to remember these two days every year on the specified dates set down in the letter. These days are to be remembered and kept by every single generation, every last family, every province and city. These days of Purim must never be neglected among the Jews; the memory of them must never die out among their descendants.
29-32 Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, backed Mordecai the Jew, using her full queenly authority in this second Purim letter to endorse and ratify what he wrote. Calming and reassuring letters went out to all the Jews throughout the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom to fix these days of Purim their assigned place on the calendar, dates set by Mordecai the Jew—what they had agreed to for themselves and their descendants regarding their fasting and mourning. Esther’s word confirmed the tradition of Purim and was written in the book.
10:1-2 King Xerxes imposed taxes from one end of his empire to the other. For the rest of it, King Xerxes’ extensive accomplishments, along with a detailed account of the brilliance of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, that’s all written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia.
3 Mordecai the Jew ranked second in command to King Xerxes. He was popular among the Jews and greatly respected by them. He worked hard for the good of his people; he cared for the peace and prosperity of his race.
Revelation 14: A Perfect Offering
1-2 I saw—it took my breath away!—the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, 144,000 standing there with him, his Name and the Name of his Father inscribed on their foreheads. And I heard a voice out of Heaven, the sound like a cataract, like the crash of thunder.
2-5 And then I heard music, harp music and the harpists singing a new song before the Throne and the Four Animals and the Elders. Only the 144,000 could learn to sing the song. They were bought from earth, lived without compromise, virgin-fresh before God. Wherever the Lamb went, they followed. They were bought from humankind, firstfruits of the harvest for God and the Lamb. Not a false word in their mouths. A perfect offering.
Voices from Heaven
6-7 I saw another Angel soaring in Middle-Heaven. He had an Eternal Message to preach to all who were still on earth, every nation and tribe, every tongue and people. He preached in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory! His hour of judgment has come! Worship the Maker of Heaven and earth, salt sea and fresh water!”
8 A second Angel followed, calling out, “Ruined, ruined, Great Babylon ruined! She made all the nations drunk on the wine of her whoring!”
9-11 A third Angel followed, shouting, warning, “If anyone worships the Beast and its image and takes the mark on forehead or hand, that person will drink the wine of God’s wrath, prepared unmixed in his chalice of anger, and suffer torment from fire and brimstone in the presence of Holy Angels, in the presence of the Lamb. Smoke from their torment will rise age after age. No respite for those who worship the Beast and its image, who take the mark of its name.”
12 Meanwhile, the saints stand passionately patient, keeping God’s commands, staying faithful to Jesus.
13 I heard a voice out of Heaven, “Write this: Blessed are those who die in the Master from now on; how blessed to die that way!”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “and blessed rest from their hard, hard work. None of what they’ve done is wasted; God blesses them for it all in the end.”
Harvest Time
14-16 I looked up, I caught my breath!—a white cloud and one like the Son of Man sitting on it. He wore a gold crown and held a sharp sickle. Another Angel came out of the Temple, shouting to the Cloud-Enthroned, “Swing your sickle and reap. It’s harvest time. Earth’s harvest is ripe for reaping.” The Cloud-Enthroned gave a mighty sweep of his sickle, began harvesting earth in a stroke.
17-18 Then another Angel came out of the Temple in Heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. Yet another Angel, the one in charge of tending the fire, came from the Altar. He thundered to the Angel who held the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle. Harvest earth’s vineyard. The grapes are bursting with ripeness.”
19-20 The Angel swung his sickle, harvested earth’s vintage, and heaved it into the winepress, the giant winepress of God’s wrath. The winepress was outside the City. As the vintage was trodden, blood poured from the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle, a river of blood for two hundred miles.
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