I AM: The God Who Kills and Makes Alive
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The text for today is our Old
Testament lesson, Deuteronomy 32:36-39, which has already been read.
Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Moses is speaking to the
Israelites. They are about to enter the
Promised Land, while it is time for him to climb Mount Nebo
and die. These are his last words to the
people that he has led as a called servant of the Lord for these many years. It has been a long, hard journey. No sooner were the Israelites safe from Egypt than they
built a golden calf and elected to call it their god. The Lord mercifully spared them that day, but
other apostasy would follow. For their disobedience,
they were rewarded with forty extra years in the desert.
Now they are finally to enter the
Promised Land, and Moses preaches the Word of the Lord one last time and sings
his final song. He prophesies, in part,
a terrible future. Eventually, the
people of Israel
will completely forsake the Lord and His Word.
They will reject the Lord who has brought them out of Egypt, the God
who promises a Savior, and they will turn to worshiping other gods instead.
The identities of these gods may not
be known to them yet, but they will become household names. There will be Baal, the Canaanite god of
nature, a pillar of stone set on the tops of hills. There will be his consort, Ashteroth, the
mother goddess of nature—a tall wooden pole planted into the ground. There will be Molech, that abominable metal
sculpture whose worship involves human sacrifice of the firstborn into
fire. There will be Dagon, golden calves,
and many more. The people will be
faithless, turning from the One and Only I AM, the God of Life and Healing, to
idols of stone, wood, and metal, of death, doom, and destruction.
What will the Lord do? Moses declares: “For the Lord will vindicate
His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power
is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. Then He will say: ‘Where are their gods, the
rock in which they took refuge, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank
the wine of their drink offering? Let
them rise and help you; let them be your protection.’”
If the people wish to call upon
these other gods for their help and deliverance, the Lord will obligingly step
aside. If they wish to offer their
sacrifices to hunks of rock, curry the favor of chunks of wood, or bow down to
images of metal, the Lord will allow them to go about their foolishness. The Lord is a loving Father. He offers all of His benefits to His people. But He does not force His salvation upon
them. That is not His style.
So the Lord will step aside—but not
forever, for He is faithful. If the
people trust in chiseled rocks for protection, they will be victimized when the
rocks do not protect them. If they rely
on carved wood for help, they will be made helpless. If they seek life and salvation from molded
metal, it is only a matter of time until they are face-to-face with death and
destruction. Rocks, wood, and metal
can’t save—they have no life, and therefore cannot give life.
So God will step aside—but only
until the people see how worthless their false gods are. And when they see that they—both gods and the
people—are powerless, the Lord will be there.
When their power is gone, the Lord will declare: “See now that I, even
I, am He, and there is no god besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and
I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand.”
When the people are finally
convinced that their false gods are dead and helpless the Lord will be
there. He will remind them that He is
alive and powerful—that He is able to heal and give life. And He will declare that He is faithful. Although they have forsaken Him, He remains
and promises salvation to all who repent and trust in Him. Thus the Lord God declares: “I kill and I
make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My
hand.”
This is God’s effective Word that
carries across the centuries. There is
an inescapable price to be paid for sin, and those wages are death. God utters the promise, and therefore the
vindication will take place. But whom
will He wound and whom will He heal? Whom
will He kill so that His people might be alive?
In truth, as the donkey plods
forward, it is not just Israel
in trouble. All have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God. All are
helpless in their sin, their power gone, and none remaining. Therefore, Jesus arrives to be the perfect
sacrifice for sin. The sinless Lamb of
God enters Jerusalem
on the first day of Holy Week to bear the burden of man’s iniquity and to die
with it on the cross. He rides into Jerusalem, and He rides
on in majesty, and He rides on in lowly pomp to die.
You have heard this day of the
Passion of our Lord. You have heard of
the trials before Herod and Pilate, the conspiracy of the Pharisees and the
shouts of the hateful crowd. You have
heard of the crown of thorns jammed upon His head, the beatings by Herod’s
soldiers, the scourging of Pilate’s. You
have witnessed in words the staggering journey to Calvary
as the cross is shouldered and borne.
You have heard of the crucifixion and the ridicule by those in
attendance. Standing around are clergy,
soldiers, and citizens, Jews and Gentiles—a sampling of sinful mankind. And certainly—beyond the shadow of a
doubt—sinful man shows how much he deserves God’s judgment on Calvary. Not only has he turned to false gods and
doctrines, but he puts the true Son of God to death.
On Calvary
that day, God’s declaration still echoes from Deuteronomy: “I kill and I make
alive; I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of My
hand.” God warns of the danger of
rejecting Him, but His warning falls on deaf ears. Except for the ears of One. The Son of God knows the score, and that is
why He submits to this degrading treatment and death. The judgment of God is inescapable—it must
fall on someone, and therefore the Son of God wills that it falls upon
Him. The Lord’s killing and making
alive, His wounding and healing, crisscross at Calvary. God’s effective words of wounding and death
strike His own Son. Christ is wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace is upon
Him. And by His stripes we are healed.
Behold the compassion of God at the
cross. For us and for our salvation, He
wounds and kills His own Son for our sin.
He wounds and kills Him, so that He might heal us and make us alive. This is the Great Exchange. This is why even as the Son is wounded and
dying He speaks words of healing and life: “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.”
The words are spoken, but fall on
deaf ears in Jerusalem
this Holy Week. Except for the ears of one—an
outsider, at that. The Roman centurion
recognizes the Christ and declares, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” It is not Jesus who should have died for sin;
there are plenty of unrighteous people around that day who should have. And the same could be said for the one
standing at this pulpit and those sitting in the pews here today. But the Son of God who knew no sin, made
Himself to be sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
God’s effective, powerful Word resounds
throughout the ages, and it remains true and at work even now: “I kill and I
make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My
hand.” For the sake of Christ, God heals
and makes alive. He has wounded and
killed His Son for you. He does not
desire your death, but gives to you life and healing for the sake of Jesus.
Of course, for those who reject His
Law and the Gospel of Christ’s sacrifice, death and judgment await. But God is merciful and steadfast. He does not desire the death of anyone. He has given His Son for everyone! So, as with the Israelites of old, the Lord
is faithful and seeks to get their attention.
His modus operandi is the same as with those Israelites in the Old
Testament. He allows them to worship
their false gods until those gods are exposed as false. And when they are wounded and powerless, He
stands ready to deliver them from their sin.
A god is whatever we place our trust
in. As primitive as it seems, there are
still many gods of stone, wood, and metal.
We’ve just given them a modern spin.
Looking for contentment and satisfaction, people worship homes, cars,
and things. Searching for security, gods
are made of careers, 401k plans, and investments. Looking for happiness (or at least a brief
diversion from pain and suffering) people turn to alcohol, drugs, gambling, or
pornography. People even make other people
into idols, believing that the meaning of their life depends on another
person. How unfair to take another mere
mortal and expect him or her to be a god or goddess!
The greatest—and the original—false
god is self—the great I, the one and only ME.
It is really our narcissistic worship of self that leads us back to the
worship of other false gods rather than the one true God. In our arrogance, we determine that we know
what and how to worship better than God does.
It is the philosophy of the day to
live for self, make up one’s own religion, pursue pleasure, and avoid
suffering. These are popular idols; but
they cannot save. No matter how nice the
house, car, or thing, it has no life and can’t give life. No matter how great the job or the portfolio,
it can’t avert death or hear prayers. No
matter how much momentary happiness that substance or activity promises, it
only leads to depression and self-loathing.
No matter how wonderful the person, they have sinful, mortal flesh. As for the self, you are already well aware
that you cannot save you. Otherwise, you
would not be here this day.
Such false gods persist and
constantly tempt. And, afflicted by your
own sinful nature, you will be constantly tempted. But such false gods have a way of falling
apart, of self-destructing, of disappointing.
Should you lean on such a god, it is quite likely that you will be
brought low. If you are brought low,
there is one thing to do: Repent and give thanks to God for His enduring
mercy.
The Lord has compassion upon you, as
He always has upon His people. To save
you from eternal death, He trips up the false gods now before you die believing
in them. He brings you low now so that
He might show to you the folly of your sin, the weakness of your false
gods. God allows some wounding now so
that you might see the path to destruction, be turned from it; all so that He
can heal you and make you alive for the sake of Christ.
God has wounded and killed His Son
on the cross for you. Worship of false
gods is to throw that Sacrifice in the Lord’s face. It’s to say, “Thanks, but no thanks for
Jesus. I want to follow something else
instead.” The sin is grave, but God is
faithful; therefore, in His mercy, He exposes the powerlessness of what is
false so that He might save you with what is true—Christ crucified for your
sins.
Therefore, when crashes occur, when
you are brought low, it is a time for self-examination. It may well be that you have begun to lean on
a false god, and the true God has pulled it out from under you to set your
sight back on His Son. This is true for
you, and this is true for others.
You will, at times, encounter people
who have placed their faith in what cannot save. It may be obvious to all, except them, that
what they are doing is destructive to themselves and perhaps others. It is painful to witness, and that pain is a
cross that you are left to bear. What
shall you do? Certainly, tell them. It would be quite unloving if you saw someone
ready to walk out blindfolded onto a street full of speeding cars and you
didn’t warn them, wouldn’t it? By all
means, try to warn them. Perhaps they
will listen and you will have saved a brother.
But even as you warn them, there is
something more important that you can do: Pray for them, and trust that the
Lord is faithfully at work, contending for their souls. Realize that such a one may need to be
brought very low, to lose nearly everything before they turn around. Why?
Because when their power is gone and their gods have disappointed them,
they will see their powerlessness and the treachery of their idols. It is then, when robbed of all false comfort,
they may well be ready to be showered with the true comfort of the forgiveness
of sins.
That comfort and that forgiveness is
true. True for them and true for
you. The Lord has compassion upon you,
killing and wounding His Son in your place.
He is now your refuge. He is now
your rock. By grace, He heals you and
makes you alive. And there is no one who
can snatch you out of His hand.
You have been baptized into Christ’s
death and resurrection. Through daily
contrition and repentance, you put to death your sinful old Adam that the new
man might rise to live in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness forever. In the Lord’s Supper, you receive Christ’s
very body and blood to strengthen and preserve you in body and soul unto
eternal life. Through His called servant,
you hear the Word of God—the Law that kills and wounds, the Gospel that heals
and brings life. In each of each of
these means of grace, the Lord God delivers forgiveness, life, and
salvation. Indeed, for the sake of
Christ’s perfect, life, suffering, and death, “You are forgiven for all of your
sins.”
In the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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