Tribe of Judah, Descendant of David - March 13, 2019 - Lent Midweek 2 - Texts: Genesis 49:10, Isaiah 9:7

Again today we have two texts. Our first text is from Genesis chapter forty-nine: “10The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:10). Our second text is from Isaiah chapter nine: “7Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:7). These are our texts.
 

Just a reminder as we get started that this year during the Lenten Season and through to Easter Sunrise and Easter morning we are looking at some of the prophecies of the Old Testament which have their fulfillment in the New Testament in the person and work of Jesus. Last week we began with the very first promise of a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ, that promise given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and reiterated to Abraham as the family line through which the Savior would be born. Today we move ahead and look at another reiteration of the promise of a Savior and another narrowing of the line of promise being the line of Judah.
 

As we were reminded at Christmas as we celebrated Jesus birth; He was born in Bethlehem, the hometown of David and He was born from the line of Judah. As our text states, God’s promise was that the throne, not yet given, would be from the line of Judah. As we heard earlier in our first text, “10The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:10). From the line of Judah was born David who became King of Israel. While David ruled over an earthly kingdom the promise of the Savior was looking, not to some future earthly ruler and king, but to one who would rule in heaven for eternity.
 

When the promised land was divided and settled, the town of Bethlehem was a part of the inheritance of the fourth born of Jacob, renamed Israel, that Judah received. At the time of Jesus’ birth the ruler of the land, Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken and that everyone should return to their hometown to register. This order is what brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem so that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and born from the line of Judah, the royal line of Judah.
 

In order to be the Savior the one born must fulfill all the prophecies including the prophecy of birth place and line of descent, thus it was important that Jesus was born from the line of King David and that He was born in the city of David, Bethlehem.
 

So, we know that Jesus is true God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave up the glory that was His in heaven. Jesus was born as a true human, being born of the human woman, the Virgin Mary. Jesus also gave up use of His Divine powers so that He did not always nor fully use His Divine powers. And although He was born from the kingly line of Judah, by the time of His birth it must not have meant very much that Jesus was born of royal blood.
 

And although Jesus was born of royal blood and probably had a claim to the throne, He did not rule on earth nor did He seek an earthly kingdom. You might remember that the Romans were in power at the time and the Israelite's were reestablishing themselves since the last exile. Also, we know that Jesus came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom.
 

While some in Israel were seeking an earthly king and Savior, one who would over throw the Romans and set up Israel as a self governing people, Isaiah points out the eternal nature of this rule as we heard in our second text, “7Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:7). Jesus ultimate rule was and is His heavenly kingdom.
 

From man’s view, as we just said, many in Israel were looking for an earthly Savior and an earthly kingdom. Many in Israel saw the many times Israel was disciplined by God, they repented and God sent an earthly Savior to overthrow whoever God had used to discipline them for their apostasy and disobedience.
 

For many in Israel they continually looked for the glory days of King David and King Solomon. We might imagine that the glory days of Israel were the days of peace, following all the wars of David which solidified their country in the promised land and the days of peace under Solomon before the kingdom was divided. And so many continued seeking a social/political savior.
 

When Jesus was born, as He became more and more popular, as He truly showed Himself to be God in flesh, still many in Israel rejected Him because He did not, nor was He seeking to be an earthly king. Jesus proclaimed a spiritual salvation, not a social/political salvation.
 

Thus, many in Israel rejected Jesus because they were not looking for a spiritual Savior. The spiritual nature of many in Israel was an order of following rules and regulations, especially those rules and regulations as prescribed by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Too many were simply focused on this world and their rule, power and authority in this world.
 

There are many even today who reject Jesus as spiritual Savior and continue to seek Him as an earthly King. There are those who deny the spiritual and eternal nature of the covenant God made in Eden, reiterated to Abraham, and reiterated and narrowed through Judah.
 

What was given in Eden and reiterated was God’s promise, thus to better understand what God promised and is giving one needs to look at His word and promise from His view. Remember, back in Eden, Adam and Eve sinned and their sin brought the beginning of physical death and if not for the promise of a Savior it would have brought eternal spiritual death. The price for sin was set by God so that the day Adam and Eve disobeyed, the price was death. So God stepped in and His initial promise was for a spiritual Savior.
 

When God called Abraham He narrowed down the family line through which He would fulfill His promise and He added earthly promises with conditions and earthly promises that pointed to the ultimate spiritual fulfillment. In other words, some promises, such as the land and wealth were conditioned on the faithfulness of the people. But, as we know their history, they were not faithful and so they lost those earthly promises. The earthly promises and their loss, however did not affect God’s heavenly, spiritual promises, because God always keeps His Word. And His spiritual promises had no conditions attached as they were promises of grace and mercy.
 

Jesus was God, perfect and holy and He had to be God to be perfect and holy. Jesus was born as a human and He had to be a human in order to be able to substitute and trade His life for ours. Jesus lived a perfect life, the perfect life demanded of Adam and Eve and of all Israel, the perfect life that if they had lived would have meant earthly promises being fulfilled. Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place in order to fulfill God’s demand on us. And so we see that Jesus’ birth and life were never intended simply for earthly reasons.
 

Jesus’ perfect birth, perfect life, perfect suffering, perfect death and perfect resurrection brought forgiveness of sins to us and with forgiveness is life and salvation. What we could not and cannot do, what the whole nation of Israel could not and cannot do, Jesus did, for us, in our place, as our substitute.
 

Jesus fulfilled God’s promises, all of God’s promises, all the prophecies concerning the Savior and has brought us salvation through forgiveness and continues to pour out on us all His good gifts and blessings, faith, life and salvation. Although there are many in our world today who continue to think of Jesus in terms of being some type of social/political savior or being a physical bread king savior, we know that Jesus is our true spiritual Savior. Jesus lived, suffered, died and rose paying the price for sin, earning salvation for us which He freely gives to us and today He gives us the gifts and blessings He has to give through the means He has given to give to us, His means of grace; Holy Baptism, His Holy Word, Confession and Absolution and His Holy Supper.
 

As we continue on in this Lenten season we are reminded that Jesus is who He says He is, the One God promised to save us, to earn, pay for and give us forgiveness. Yes, we are reminded of our part in these events, that it was for us and because of our sin that Jesus did what He did, that God promised and fulfilled His Word. And we are reminded of God’s great love for us, so much that He gave His life for us so that we have forgiveness, life and salvation. And so we rejoice and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

A Response to the Lord - March 10, 2019 - First Sunday in Lent - Text: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Are you a good Christian? Perhaps that is a strange question for your pastor to ask, but it may be a question you have heard or even asked about someone else. When Jesus was approached by the man who said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  (Mark, 10:17). He answered that no one is good except God. Are we ready to admit that we are not as good of a Christian as we might be or as we might think ourselves to be? Or, are we so ingrained by the thoughts and ways of the world that we would be insulted at the very question?
 

Our text for this morning, addressed to the Children of Israel, speaks of “the ritual offering of firstfuits [which] reminded the individual worshiper that the Promised Land is God’s gracious gift and is to be received with joyful thanksgiving.” God’s Word reminds the Children of Israel that in Egypt they were slaves and they had no land they could call their own. God’s Word reminds Israel and us that nothing that we think we own is truly ours, but the true and rightful owner of all is the one who created all, the Lord God Himself. This morning I want to talk about the ways of the world, the way of the Lord, the greatest gifts and our response of faith.
 

The way of the world is an egocentric way or an anthropocentric way. I am sure we understand the term “ego” in that we know of some people who have a bigger ego or thought of themselves than others. So, “egocentric” means one who is centered on their own thoughts of themself. The term “anthropocentric” may be a new term. The word “anthro” means man or human and again the word “centric” means to center on, so “anthropocentric” means to center one’s thoughts on humanity and especially on humanity as the end all of this world. So, the way of the world is that there is no one to look out for you except yourself. There is no one to take care of you except yourself. So, as we are taught growing up, you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
 

We are also taught that there is nothing free in life, that you have to earn your own way. As a matter of fact, we are taught that if something is presented as being free we need to watch out because there are certainly strings attached, in other words, you will eventually pay for something that is presented as being free. Another “cliche” tells us that if something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
 

And so we are raised to understand that we each need to work to make a living for ourselves. With that as our understanding, then when we do work, we believe that we have earned whatever it is that we worked for and we deserve it. This is what we are taught, either overtly or subtly, that we are the one’s who take care and look out for ourselves as no one else will. But how does this understanding compare to the way of the Lord?
 

The way of the Lord is this, first and foremost, God gives. God is the one who created this world in which we live. God is the prime mover. God created all things out of nothing. Certainly it does not take a rocket scientist to see that the complexity of this world did not bring itself into being and into order apart from a designer and creator. “Does not nature itself teach you that there is a God?” So, first and foremost, God gives. God gives to each of us life, our own life and He gives us our life at our conception. We did not choose to be conceived, nor did we choose to be born. God gave us our life and it was a life that began at conception. At conception we had all the necessary DNA, all the necessary genetic information and coding that was need. The only thing added after conception was food, nutrition and we grew into the human being we are today.
 

God gives life and God gives gifts, talents and abilities. Some people have special athletic abilities, others music abilities, others good people skills, others the ability to understand electricity, electronics, carpentry, food, textiles, and the like. Some people understand math, science, biology, even languages better than others. God gives us each gifts, talents and abilities in order to use.
 

God also gives us each a vocation and vocations in which to serve others and in serving others we are serving the Lord. Very often we work in more than one vocation. Perhaps we are at the same time a son, a father, a brother, an uncle as well as a welder or a mechanic or a surgeon, or any other vocation. Maybe we are a daughter, a mother, an aunt, a race car driver, a banker or any other vocation. God has given us the gifts, talents and abilities we need to serve others.
 

And as we use the gifts, talents and abilities God has given us in our vocation, we also earn money which is a means of barter so that through this means of barter God gives clothing and shelter, meat and drink, house and home. Have you ever thought about how God gives us a loaf of bread and what and who all are involved in a loaf of bread? The short list might include the farmer, the bread maker, the package maker, the shipper, and the grocer. The longer list might include the one who grinds the grain, the one who provides the salt as well as the one who mines the salt, the one who provides and makes the plastic wrapper, the one who provides the yeast, the one who provides the gasoline for the delivery truck and the list could go on and on. God provides all of these people as well as all the gifts, talents and abilities to do these jobs in order to provide just a loaf of bread.
 

God has given us the world in which we live. He gives us life. He gives us gifts, talents and abilities. He gives us a vocation, but even more, He gives us the greatest gifts we need. The greatest gift God gives is new life, even eternal life, through Holy Baptism. Yes, God uses plain, simple, ordinary water, connected to His Word, in particular to His name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to give faith and forgiveness of sins, the greatest gifts we need. Although we might wonder and even ask, how can God do such great things, especially with such an ordinary means, our answer is that He is God and He can do whatever He wants.
 

God gives life and new life through Holy Baptism. Daily God gives forgiveness of sins especially through confession and absolution. When we confess our sins, when we admit our sins, God is faithful and just and He gives us forgiveness, earned and paid for by Jesus.
 

God gives faith and forgiveness. God gives strengthening of faith through His Word and through His Holy Supper, the Lord’s Supper. Here again, through the ordinary means of bread and wine, connected with God’s Word, God does and gives amazing things, because He is God and because He can do amazing things even though ordinary means.
 

Our greatest need is forgiveness of sins, because without forgiveness we would be left with our sins and we would be eternally condemned, but with forgiveness is life and salvation. And so God gives us forgiveness of sins which He gives through the life, death and resurrection of His Son. Jesus came, not simply to die, but live for us, to live in perfection for us because we cannot. After living in perfection, after fulfilling all God’s laws and promises completely, Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and paid the price, suffered the eternal death penalty for our sins on the cross and He died. But death and the grave had no hold over Him, as on the third day He rose victorious over sin, death and the power of the devil.
 

God gives and He also works in us and gives us our response of faith which is what our text for this morning is really all about, our response of faith. Our response of faith is to recognize that the Lord gives, God gives first, God gives us all that we need, and God gives without our earning or deserving. As a matter of fact, if we actually look at what we have earned or what we do deserve, we would realize that what we have earned and what we do deserve, because of our sin, is eternal spiritual death and judgement. We have not earned, nor do we deserve all the good gifts and blessing our Lord so graciously gives to us. And we recognize and acknowledge God’s good gifts and blessing by returning a portion of what is truly His, back to Him.
 

We return to the Lord, from what He has first given to us, only as we recognize that it all comes from the Lord in the first place. Which means that the opposite is also true, that is that as we fail to return a portion to the Lord this failure is because we fail to recognize and acknowledge that it first comes from Him and then we fall back into our being and following the ways of the world, being egocentric and anthropocentric, looking to ourselves as if we have done something on our own..
 

To put this into a human analogy or illustration, we might be reminded that when someone gives us a gift, perhaps someone has giving us a French Silk Chocolate pie, our response, recognizing that this is a gift given to us from the gift giver, we have learned to invite the gift giver to have a piece of pie with us. Unfortunately, this is not an instinctive characteristic of our human nature, but because we are conceived and born in sin, recognizing a gift and the gift giver, saying “Thank you,” is something we have to learn. How often did we have to be told, as we were growing up, when we were given a gift, “What do you say?”, “Thank you.” Thanks be to God that as the Greatest Gift Giver, He is also the greatest Teacher and as He gives us the gifts He has to give so He stirs and moves in us to recognize Him as the gift giver and to return a portion to Him. In other words, we only respond as we are moved by the Lord to respond. Here as usual then, we know we get it right when we point not to ourselves, but to Jesus.
 

And so when we are moved by the Lord to respond we return in thanksgiving. Remember, God does not want a grumbling giver, God wants a cheerful giver. But even more, God does not want anything from you, except first and foremost He wants you. God knows that if He has you, He has all of you. And if He has all of you, you will respond, as He moves you to respond.
 

God gives and we are given to. God does and we are done to. God is the prime mover. It all begins and ends with the Lord. God gives us the world. God gives us life. God gives us new life, even eternal life. God gives us faith and forgiveness of sins. God stirs in us a response of faith. And we, being so moved by God, we return joyously. What else can we do?
 

As we begin another Lenten season, the season of preparing our hearts and minds for Maundy Thursday and the giving of the Lord’s Supper, for Good Friday commemorating our Lord’s death, for us, because of us, in our place and for our celebrating of His resurrection it is good to remember that it is God who is running the show. It is God who is the prime mover, who gives and does first. It is God who loves us so much that all He does He does out of His great love for us. It is God who gives us life, faith and forgiveness and stirs in us our response of faith.
 

So, first fruits, tithes and offerings are not charity, as if God needs our charity. First fruits, tithes and offerings are a response of faith, a returning to the Lord in a show of gratitude and faith for what He has first given to us, because there is nothing that we have, nothing physical or spiritual, that did not in one way or another first come from the Lord. And so, our Lord gives us the great privilege to honor Him, to give Him glory, by recognizing Him as the great Gift Giver. And as we recognize Him as the great Gift Giver and return a portion to Him, that is our way of saying, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The First Promise - March 6, 2019 - Ash Wednesday - Text: Genesis 3:15, 18:18

Our texts for this evening are Genesis 3:15 and 18:18: 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15). 18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:18). These are our texts.
 

This year during the Lenten Season and through to Easter Sunrise and Easter morning we will be looking at some of the prophecies of the Old Testament which have their fulfillment in the New Testament in the person and work of Jesus. We will follow somewhat in chronological order from the first promise of a Savior to the narrowing of the line of fulfillment, through to His birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection.
 

Before we get to our task of prophecies and fulfillment let us take a moment to talk about Lent, the Lenten season and what Lent is all about. Lent has nothing to do with that stuff in your dryer, that is l-i-n-t. Lent, l-e-n-t is a time, a season of preparation. Much like Advent is the time, the season we use to prepare to celebrate the advent, the beginning of Jesus’ time on earth, namely His birth, Lent is a time to prepare to celebrate the events at the end of Jesus’ time on earth.
 

The season of Lent is a time to prepare for Jesus’ suffering. We are reminded, especially during Holy week, the time between Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and Easter Sunday of the trials and tribulations Jesus faced. Lent is a time to prepare for our being given the Lord’s Supper out of Jesus’ Passover celebration with His apostles. And it is a time to prepare for Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross on Good Friday. Ultimately, however it is a time to prepare to celebrate His resurrection.
 

The season of Lent is also a time to take the time to look at ourselves, our lives, and our part in putting Jesus on the cross. Indeed, while the history of the Old and New Testament might point us to think that it was the Scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the Romans who put Jesus to death, the truth of the matter and the facts are that it was for us and because of our sin that Jesus died on the cross. We put Jesus through His suffering and death.
 

Getting to our Lenten theme, the prophecies and fulfillment of the prophecies, the first promise to send a Savior and deliver all people from the sin of Adam and Eve was given in the garden of Eden. God created a perfect world and placed His perfect humans, Adam and Eve in the perfect garden He created for them. Because God had given them everything and in order to give them a way to respond to all He had given God gave them only one command, to not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God’s command was that if they disobeyed, the penalty would be death, that is they would begin dying a physical bodily death and, unless redeemed they would ultimately die an eternal spiritual death.
 

Of course we know the history. Eve and Adam did disobey God’s command. They did eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God confronted them with their disobedience and sin.  And God’s just judgement was just as He said. Their sin brought on the curse of death, physical and eternal spiritual death. And their sin brought a curse on the whole earth as well.
 

However, God did not leave Adam and Eve to suffer. Because of His great love for His creation He immediately stepped in and promised of a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ, a redeemer, One who would take the punishment for their sin. And of this promised Savior God also promised He would be the Savior of all people.
 

God’s promise was that He would send a Savior. From our first reading we hear God’s promise, “15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The promise of God in Hebrew is that of a Messiah. In Greek it is the promise of a Christ. Thus, this promise was truly the beginning of the Christian Church, those who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior. Remember, this first promise was made to Adam and Eve who contained in their DNA all nations, Jew and Gentile alike.
 

As history progressed from Genesis, God eventually reiterated His promise and renewed and narrowed the line of fulfillment of His promise. Out of all the people in the world, God chose Abraham to be the person through whom, through his family God would send the Savior. Notice it was God who chose Abraham, not the other way around. God chose Abraham and promised that he would “become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:18). Notice, all nations would be blessed, would be saved through the One Descendent of Abraham, namely through the Savior.
 

God’s promise to Abraham also carried an earthly promise, but the earthly promise had conditions which were never met. The earthly conditions of Abraham’s family being a great nation, have a land and the like would be fulfilled if they were faithful to God’s commands. Of course we know that they were not faithful as the history of the children of Abraham relates how they continually disobeying God and fell into idolatry. Yet, and I believe it is because God knew the nature of the people, the earthly conditions pointed to an ultimate heavenly fulfillment.
 

God’s promise to Abraham, which was His promise to Adam and Eve and to all people was first and foremost a heavenly promise that was without conditions. God’s promise was a Savior who would take care of the sin of Adam and Eve and all people and that promise was met and fulfilled by Jesus.
 

God’s earthly promise to Abraham and His offspring pointed to heaven. The great nation, the land, the great promises given to Abraham all pointed to the fulfillment of a heavenly kingdom in which our Savior, Jesus would rule in the kingdom of heaven for eternity.
 

God’s heavenly promise pointed to Jesus. Jesus was true God born in human flesh making Him true man, truly human. Remember the price for sin was set at death, human death, death to the one who sinned. In order for Jesus to be our substitute, for Him to trade His life for ours, He had to be truly human and He was as He was conceived by the human woman, Mary.
 

As you hear me say continually, we get it right when we point to Jesus. The Old Testament points us to Jesus, the One who would be born to live for us, take our sins, suffer and die for us. The New Testament points us to Jesus, the one born in Bethlehem, the one in the temple at the age of twelve, the one baptized into the office of Holy Ministry, even though He was without sin.
 

Our calendar year, B.C. and A.D., even B.C.E. and C.E. point us to Jesus. We count time from the years before Christ up to zero and the from Christ to today, in the year of our Lord. Even counting the years as before the common era and common era do not change the fact that the zero date is in reference to the date on which we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
 

As we can see, Jesus is the center of all time and history. We get it right when we point to Jesus. We could point to ourselves as we tend to do, we could look inside ourselves which is what we are encouraged to do, especially by books and movies which want us to find our hope in our inner being, but what do we find when we look inside ourselves? We find that we are sinners with no hope. Thus, we are pointed to look outside our selves, to look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We look to Jesus who does all and gives all.
 

Lent focuses us on Jesus and His great forgiving, life-giving love for us. As we remember that God is omniscient, all knowing, that He knew all that would happen even before He began creation, He knew He would have to send His Son, God in flesh to suffer and die and yet, He created us anyway. What great love God has for us.
 

As we begin this Lenten season we take the time to prepare. We take the time to look at our lives, not in despair, but in contemplation of our sin and God’s great love for us. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. Jesus love and forgiveness moves us to repent so that we might hear the greatest words we can ever hear, that is that our sins have been forgiven. And we know that with forgiveness is life and salvation. As we move through this Lenten Season, as we hear and rehear God’s promises and know that they have been fulfilled in Christ, may we be strengthened in our faith and better able, when asked, to give an answer for the hope, the certainty of eternal life in heaven with Jesus, because of His great love for us. And may we rejoice and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Moses Died - March 3, 2019 - The Transfiguration of Our Lord/Last Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Deuteronomy 34:1-12

I want to begin this morning with a bit of Church Calendar instruction, for those of you who do not know how our Church Calendar is put together. Although today is the Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany, because next Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent, today is the day we celebrate as Transfiguration Sunday. The way our Church Year Calendar works is that we make adjustments in our Sundays during Epiphany and the number of Sundays in the Pentecost seasons. So, depending on the date of Easter which is set as the first Sunday after the first ful moon that falls on or after March 21, the vernal equinox, that day which marks the beginning of Spring, the Epiphany season is set according to how many Sundays are needed. And so, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany is the Sunday of Transfiguration and the following Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and next Sunday then is the First Sunday in Lent. All in all, this trek through the Church year continually reminds me that our time on this earth is short, is fast and fleeting and so we need to make sure our eternal life is in order, because we will not get a second chance.
 

So, today is Transfiguration Sunday and the day we commemorate Jesus’ appearance with Moses and Elijah on the mountain before His disciples. To help us get to this appearing, we move to our text from the Old Testament reading. Our text from the Old Testament reading this morning is the account of the death of Moses. We begin at verse one, “1Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, 6and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended” (v. 1-8). Another bit of review is in order this morning and this time a bit of review of the history of the children of Israel, so that we will understand what is happening. You might remember that as Moses lead the children of Israel through the desert, they encountered many struggles, temptations and obstacles along the way and more often than not they failed in these encounters. At one point Moses was instructed to speak to a rock and instead He sinned by striking the rock. Sticking up for Moses, we might be reminded that although this time he had been instructed to speak to the rock there was an earlier occasion when the Lord instructed him to strike a rock. Yet, the fact of the matter is that Moses disobeyed God and his disobedience kept him from entering the promised land.
 

Our God is a merciful God, but at the same time He is a just God. God shows His justice in His judgement on Moses, that is that he was not allowed to enter the promised land. Perhaps there are times when we do not understand God’s justice and we too believe Him to be unfair with us. Perhaps it is at these times that we might ask the questions of what is just and fair, and especially, what is just and fair from a standing of perfection?
 

In God’s defense, although His justice allowed for the physical death of Moses, before he died, God allowed Moses to view the promised land. So, we do see God’s mercy as well and ultimately we see God’s mercy in that by God’s grace, through faith in the coming Messiah, Moses was taken to heaven for eternity.
 

Now, make sure we hear all of our text, that is that Moses suffered the temporal judgement of sin in that he died on the mountain and the Lord buried him there. Yet, just as when we die and our soul is separated from our bodies and our bodies are buried, so our souls will also ascend to be with the Lord and await a reuniting with our bodies made perfect on the final day of Judgement.
 

But we are not done yet. Our text moves us to show that the children of Israel were not left on their own, but now Joshua takes the lead. We pick up at verse nine, “9And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” (v. 9-12). Joshua had been Moses’ prodigy and as you might recall from a few weeks ago, one of his greatest defenders. And now it is his turn to lead these, God’s people.
 

The important part of this text, however, is not that Joshua took over, but that we are reminded that Moses was the greatest prophet who knew the Lord face to face. Very often the children of Israel referred to Moses as the great prophet or the greatest prophet or simply, the prophet. Moses is the one who wrote down and gave the people the Law in the Ten Commandments. So he was also known as the great Law giver. Please keep this in mind, the giving of the commandments, especially in context with the transfiguration, we will come back to this a little later.
 

And as for Joshua, he continued in the power and might of the Lord. The Lord never left His people, the children of Israel, alone and helpless. He continually did for them even when they continually refused and rejected Him.
 

Now, let us tie this in to today, to transfiguration Sunday. In our Gospel reading for this morning we read that Jesus was transfigured with Moses and Elijah. Jesus was changed so that His disciples were allowed to get a glimpse of Him in His heavenly glory. Now, let me tax your memory this morning. Remember that Elijah did not die, nor was he buried. Elijah was bodily assumed into heaven, taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. And remember that Elijah was known to be the greatest prophet in Israel. During the Passover Seder, at one point in the meal the door is opened in order to see if Elijah will enter. It was believe that before the Messiah would come that Elijah would return. You might also remember, as we continue to tax your memory this morning, that Jesus tells us that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
 

As for this man, Moses, as we just read and as is in our text from the Old Testament reading for this morning, he died and was buried by God and we would imagine God assumed his body as well so that he might be there with Elijah and Jesus.
 

Today is Transfiguration Sunday which marks the end of our Epiphany season and the beginning of our season of Lent which means that this marks the beginning of Jesus’ journey to the cross, which is why Jesus came into this world in the first place.
 

Transfiguration also marks Jesus’ accomplishing the fulfilling of the law and the prophets. Moses, the great law giver, conferred with Jesus to make sure that He had fulfilled all of God’s laws perfectly, which we know He did. Jesus was born the sinless, holy, perfect Son of God, having been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never sinned and He kept all of God’s laws perfectly, for us, in our place because we cannot. And Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies, all of God’s promises, especially all those prophecies and promises concerning the coming of a Messiah.  Having accomplished the keeping of the laws and prophecies of the Lord, Jesus was ready to do what He came to earth to do, to take our sins upon Himself, to suffer and die and rise again.
 

So, what does this mean? Like Moses, we are conceived and born in sin. Like Moses we too are sinners and we will suffer the temporal judgement for our sins, that is we will suffer physical death, at least if God has not come before the time of our passing. At our death our bodies will be buried and our souls will separate and be with Jesus as we await the resurrection of our bodies on the last day.
 

Also, like Moses, God has given us forgiveness in Jesus. Remember, Moses did not choose God, God chose Moses. Moses did not live as he wished, but he lived as God directed him, or at least he attempted to live as God directed him. We do not choose God, He has chosen us. God has chosen us, He has given us life, at conception, new life through Holy Baptism and His Word, forgiveness of sins through confession and absolution, through His Holy Supper and His Word and He strengthens and keeps us in faith through that same Word and Sacrament. And He calls us to live lives of faith, to live lives as His priests, as living sacrifices to His glory. And when we mess up, when we err, God grants us forgiveness.
 

The bottom line is that by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, which He gives to us, we have eternal life! For us there will be a physical, bodily resurrection, in which we our bodies will be rejoined with our souls in perfection. Interestingly enough, as you listened to our Gospel reading for this morning and the account of the transfiguration, did you notice that Peter did not have to ask who these two men with Jesus were? He knew that it was Moses and Elijah. Peter had never seen these men. Moses had died years earlier and Elijah had been bodily assumed years early, yet, Peter knows who they are. This gives us a glimpse of the perfection of heaven, that is that we will not need name tags in heaven, for we will perfectly know all the saints.
 

This morning we see, first hand, God’s justice and his mercy. God is God and as God we would certainly expect Him to be just, to be fair, to be mete, right and salutary. If God says something, we would expect that He would abide by His Word and He does. At the same time, God is gracious and merciful. And we see His greatest grace and mercy in this that although we have separated ourselves from Him, and although we continue to separate ourselves by our sin, He has given His life and the life of His Son to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself. He has redeemed us, lost and condemned children, not with gold or silver, but with His Holy Precious blood and His innocent suffering and death, because of His great love for us, His dear children. As we begin the season of lent, once again, and as we, once again, begin our trek to the cross, my prayer is that we might take the time to contemplate our part in Jesus’ death and at the same time rejoice in His great love for us, so much that He gave His life for ours. So, that, when our last hour on this earth comes to being, either at the Lord’s return, or at our passing and death, we may join with all the saints in heaven and give praise and glory to His Holy Name. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.