Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "No Mystery Here" for Saturday, July 15, 2017
Hebrews 4:12-13 - For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Those of you who have read the Daily Devotions for a while know my father was a blacksmith. What you don't know is that many years ago he forged a sword for me. The work, done in his free time, took him the better part of a year. When he presented it to me, he said, "This is a job which was so complex, I will never do it again."
It was a promise he kept.
Maybe my father's sword is what made me look at a mystery sword on display in the British Library.
The sword, found in an English river in 1825, has been dubbed the River Witham sword. What is known about the 38-inch steel blade is this: the sword dates from the 13th century and was probably owned by a wealthy individual or knight.
The things not known about the sword are a list far more impressive.
For example, no one knows how the sword got into the river; nor does anyone know who owned it. The most intriguing unknown is the inscription which is inlaid in gold wire along one of the sword's edges. The letters read, "+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+". Some have suggested the letters have a Christian meaning since they begin and end with a cross, and others have tried to decipher what they see as Latin abbreviations.
The bottom line is this: the British Library is asking the world's help in deciphering the lettering on the two-edged sword. I pass on its challenge to you. Who knows? Maybe we have a great problem-solving, Latin-knowing, abbreviation-expanding expert among our readership.
Reading about the mysteries of the River Witham sword, I was put in mind of our text above, the words from Hebrews, which refer to God's Word as a two-edged sword.
Over the years, countless sermons, both meaningful and profound, have been preached on that text.
While space limitations in a Daily Devotion can never allow for a full-fledged exposition of these verses, we can point out one thing: God's living, active Word dispels our secrets and sheds light on our malevolent mysteries.
Most of us try to give others the impression that we are fine, good, upstanding individuals. Our very worst sins we try to keep hidden from those around us lest anyone think badly of us. Our Hebrews passage says God's Word exposes all our transgressions to the divine Judge. It is a frightening fact.
Thankfully, in the chapter and passages which follow, the Lord clearly tells us that we have a High Priest in Jesus. Unlike all other high priests, Jesus has sacrificed Himself to pay for those sins and allow those who are brought to faith to be forgiven when they stand before their Judge.
In short, there are no unknown, indecipherable mysteries here. Scripture clearly tells us our sins condemn, while our Redeemer saves.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, for still loving us in spite of our sins, we give thanks. May we live in thanks to the Savior who has dispelled the darkness and brought us into His light. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written by Neal Colgrass for Newser on August 12, 2015. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written. Please click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Amos 7:1 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts as the late crop was starting to come up, the late crop after the hay had been cut to pay the king’s tribute. 2 While they were finishing up eating all the vegetation in the land, I said,
“Adonai Elohim, forgive — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
3 So Adonai changed his mind about this. “It won’t happen,” Adonai said.
4 Next Adonai Elohim showed me this: Adonai Elohim was summoning a blazing fire to consume the great abyss, and it would have devoured the land too. 5 But I said,
“Adonai Elohim, stop — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
6 Adonai changed his mind about it. “This too won’t happen,” said Adonai Elohim.
7 Then he showed me this: Adonai was standing by a wall made with a plumbline, and he had a plumbline in his hand. 8 Adonai asked me, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumbline.” Then Adonai said,
“I am going to put a plumbline in
among my people Isra’el;
I will never again overlook their offenses.
9 The high places of Yitz’chak will be desolate,
Isra’el’s sanctuaries will be destroyed,
and I will attack the house
of Yarov‘am with the sword.”
10 Then Amatzyah the priest of Beit-El sent this message to Yarov‘am king of Isra’el, “‘Amos is conspiring against you there among the people of Isra’el, and the land can’t bear all that he’s saying. 11 For ‘Amos says: ‘Yarov‘am will die by the sword, and Isra’el will be led away from their land into exile.’” 12 Amatzyah also said to ‘Amos, “Go away, seer! Go back to the land of Y’hudah! Earn your living there; and prophesy there; 13 but don’t prophesy any more at Beit-El; for this is the king’s sanctuary, a royal temple.”
14 ‘Amos gave this answer to Amatzyah: “I am not trained as a prophet, and I’m not one of the guild prophets — I own sheep and grow figs. 15 But Adonai took me away from following the flock, and Adonai said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Isra’el.’ 16 So now, hear what Adonai says: ‘You say, “Don’t prophesy against Isra’el, don’t lecture the people of Yitz’chak.”’ 17 Therefore Adonai says this:
‘Your wife will become a whore in the city,
your sons and daughters will die by the sword,
your land will be parcelled out with a measuring line,
you yourself will die in an unclean land,
and Isra’el will certainly be exiled from their land.’”
8 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: there in front of me was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A basket of summer [Amos 8:2 Hebrew: kayitz] fruit.” Then Adonai said to me,
“The end [Amos 8:2 Hebrew: ketz] has come for my people,
I will never again overlook their offenses.
3 When that time comes, the songs in the temple
will be wailings,” says Adonai Elohim.
“There will be many dead bodies;
everywhere silence will reign.”
4 Listen, you who swallow the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
5 You say, “When will Rosh-Hodesh be over,
so we can market our grain?
and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?”
You measure the grain in a small eifah,
but the silver in heavy shekels,
fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,
6 buying the needy for money
and the poor for a pair of shoes,
and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!”
7 Adonai swears by Ya‘akov’s pride,
“I will forget none of their deeds, ever.
8 Won’t the land tremble for this,
and everyone mourn, who lives in the land?
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
be in turmoil and subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
9 “When that time comes,” says Adonai Elohim,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning
and all your songs into wailing;
I will make you all put sackcloth around your waists
and shave your heads bald in grief.
I will make it like mourning for an only son
and its end like a bitter day.
11 “The time is coming,” says Adonai Elohim,
“when I will send famine over the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of Adonai.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and from north to east, running back and forth,
seeking the word of Adonai;
but they will not find it.
13 When that time comes, young women and men
will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron,
who say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’
and, ‘As the way of Be’er-Sheva lives’ —
they will fall and never get up again.”
9:1 I saw Adonai standing beside the altar, and he said,
“Strike the tops of the columns until the thresholds shake!
Smash them to pieces on the heads of all the people!
Those who remain I will kill with the sword;
not one of them will succeed in fleeing,
not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sh’ol,
my hand will haul them out;
if they climb up to heaven,
I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Karmel,
I will search them out and capture them there;
If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will order the serpent to bite them there.
4 If their enemies herd them into exile,
I will order the sword to kill them there.
I will fix my gaze on them
for harm and not for good.”
5 For Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
is the one who can melt the earth with his touch,
and make all who live on it mourn.
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
and then subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
6 He builds his upper rooms in heaven
and establishes his sky-vault over the earth.
He summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the earth.
Adonai is his name.
7 “People of Isra’el, are you any different
from the Ethiopians to me?” asks Adonai.
“True, I brought Isra’el up from Egypt,
but I also brought the P’lishtim from Kaftor,
and Aram from Kir.
8 Look, the eyes of Adonai Elohim
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth,
yet I will not completely destroy
the house of Ya‘akov,” says Adonai.
9 “For when I give the order,
I will shake the house of Isra’el,
there among all the Goyim,
as one shakes with a sieve,
letting no grain fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
who say, ‘Disaster will never overtake us
or confront us,’ will die by the sword.
11 “When that day comes, I will raise up
the fallen sukkah of David.
I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as it used to be,
12 so that Isra’el can possess
what is left of Edom
and of all the nations bearing my name,”
says Adonai, who is doing this.
13 “The days will come,” says Adonai,
“when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the one treading grapes the one sowing seed.
Sweet wine will drip down the mountains,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Isra’el;
they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities;
they will plant vineyards and drink their wine,
cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their own soil,
no more to be uprooted
from their land, which I gave them,”
says Adonai your God.
Galatians 2:12 Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar-Nabba; and I took with me Titus. 2 I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles — but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.
3 But they didn’t force my Gentile companion Titus to undergo b’rit-milah. 4 Indeed, the question came up only because some men who pretended to be brothers had been sneaked in — they came in surreptitiously to spy out the freedom we have in the Messiah Yeshua, so that they might enslave us. 5 Not even for a minute did we give in to them, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you.
6 Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders — what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances — these leaders added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised; 8 since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles. 9 So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya‘akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised. 10 Their only request was that we should remember the poor — which very thing I have spared no pains to do.
11 Furthermore, when Kefa came to Antioch, I opposed him publicly, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 For prior to the arrival of certain people from [the community headed by] Ya‘akov, he had been eating with the Gentile believers; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of the faction who favored circumcising Gentile believers. 13 And the other Jewish believers became hypocrites along with him, so that even Bar-Nabba was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, keeping in line with the truth of the Good News, I said to Kefa, right in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Goy and not like a Jew, why are you forcing the Goyim to live like Jews? 15 We are Jews by birth, not so-called ‘Goyishe sinners’; 16 even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua’s trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah’s trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous.[Galatians 2:16 Psalm 143:2]
17 But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by God through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid! 18 Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor. 19 For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God. 20 When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me. 21 I do not reject God’s gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah’s death was pointless.
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CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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The The Lutheran Hour Ministries in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States for Thursday, 13 July 2017 "Two Familiar Voices to Take Over the Airwaves on The Lutheran Hour
In celebration of Lutheran Hour Ministries’ 100th anniversary, LHM is excited to announce that the weekly broadcast of The Lutheran Hour will feature Rev. Dr. Kenneth R. Klaus and Rev. Dr. Dale A. Meyer beginning Nov. 5, 2017.
The regular appearances of the two distinguished speakers are part of a transition plan being implemented following current Speaker Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz’s recent acceptance of a call to serve as executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty. Seltz’s last broadcast will be recorded in Wittenberg and aired Reformation weekend, Oct. 29.
“In a year where we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lutheran Hour Ministries, we are extremely pleased to honor the legacy of The Lutheran Hour program by announcing that these two popular speakers have agreed to assist us while we search for the next individual who will share the Good News of Jesus Christ over the airwaves,” says LHM President & CEO Kurt Buchholz. “Generations of people in our listening audience have been blessed to learn from and be strengthened in the faith by Dr. Klaus and Dr. Meyer. We look forward to their continued role in this important ministry that remains a critical part of LHM’s focus on media outreach.”
Klaus retired from the full-time speaker role in 2010 and has been recording one sermon a month for The Lutheran Hour and writing many of LHM’s Daily Devotions. Meyer served as speaker from 1989 through 2001 (as well as host of LHM’s On Main Street weekly television program) and currently serves as president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
The Lutheran Hour airs on nearly 1,800 stations throughout North America and reaches more than one million listeners each week. The weekly broadcast can also be heard anytime online at lutheranhour.org or through a mobile app for iPhones and Android devices.
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
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