NT 10. The Wise Men from the East Mt 2:1–12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah, after Joseph and Mary had returned from Jerusalem to Bethlehem with their child, the wise men from the East came to worship the newborn King of the Jews. The East from which these men came was probably the land of Babylonia, the homeland of Balaam, where Judah had been taken into captivity, and where many Jews still lived at that time. The wise men or Magi of Babylonia formed the caste of scholars and were particularly interested in astronomy. The wise men, of whom we are reporting here, had already heard of the hope of Israel in their place and also heard that the Gentiles would have a share in the kingdom of the Messiah of Israel. While they were searching and investigating in the sky, a wonderful star suddenly appeared, which showed them that Israel’s hope had now been fulfilled and that the star of Jacob, of which Balaam had spoken, had risen. God had placed this star in the sky for them and also revealed its meaning to them. So they set out to do their part to pay homage to the King and Savior of the Jews and Gentiles. God had put this in their hearts. That is the beginning of faith, that a poor sinful person becomes aware of Jesus, longs for salvation in Christ, seeks Christ, comes to Christ. Such longing for Christ, the salvation of the world, is a work of God in the hearts of men.

The wise men first sought Christ in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish land. But they did not find what they were looking for there and were bitterly disappointed. At that time, King Herod, an Edomite by birth and a pagan in spirit, resided in Jerusalem. He had only outwardly adopted the Jewish religion out of love for the Jews. He was frightened when he heard the news of the birth of Christ. He feared that this King Christ could push him from the throne. He did not know that Christ’s kingdom was not of this world. Because he was afraid of him, he immediately became angry and hostile towards the child Jesus. He feigned friendship, pretending that he too would come and worship the child if the wise men had found it and told him about it. But in his heart he had already decided to kill the child. That is why he was so anxious to find out the time when the star had appeared. The entire population of Jerusalem, who shared the king’s views, was frightened along with Herod. Herod called the high priests, that is, the heads of the 24 priestly classes, and the scribes to consult to find out where Christ would be born. These spiritual leaders of Israel had an external knowledge of the Scriptures, but the content of the Scriptures, the Christ of whom the Scriptures testified, left them cold. They also felt no desire or inclination to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Christ came unto his own, but his own did not receive him. Christ is not received well in this world. The powerful, wise, learned of this world, even those who have the appearance and name of virtue and piety, are enemies of Christ. They love darkness more than light. And often the hostility to Christ stems from a secret fear of the Son of God and his judgment. There are also hypocrites everywhere, like Herod, who speak sweet and beautiful words about the child Jesus, but hate Christ in the depths of their hearts.

But the wise men did find one thing in Jerusalem: the word of prophecy. They heard from the mouth of the scribes the word of Micah about Bethlehem Ephratha, where Christ, the prince of Israel, was to be born (Mic 5:1). Micah had said of Bethlehem Ephratha: “You are little among the thousands—that is, the clans—of Judah.” Bethlehem, the city of David, had become so small that its population barely contained one family. It says: “You are by no means least among the princes—that is, heads of families—of Judah.” The great son of David, whose origin is from eternity, brings honor to little Bethlehem. Micah’s prophecy thus directed the wise men to Bethlehem, where they were to find Christ. Yes, it is the Scripture that points to Christ and leads to Christ.

The wise men were not put off by the bad example that Jerusalem gave them, but continued on and, guided by the friendly star, came to Bethlehem and there found the one they were looking for. They fell down and worshipped the child as their Lord and God, gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. And then, with peace and joy in their hearts, they returned home to their country without turning back to Herod. These are the first fruits of the Gentiles. This is a wonderful example of faith. Anyone who has the right faith does not allow himself to be challenged by the fact that this Christ is contradicted everywhere. His heart is set straight on Christ. He bows in reverence before Christ, the Son of God. He serves his Lord and King with joy. He also willingly brings his gifts and sacrifices to promote the kingdom of Christ.

Forward - New Testament

“The Biblical History of the New Testament,” which the undersigned hereby presents to the public, is on the whole written in the same way as his “Biblical History of the Old Testament.” It is a reproduction of the Biblical account as it is presented in the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, in which the necessary explanation of language and facts is interwoven. Only this explanation is somewhat more detailed here. This is already due to the character of the New Testament historical narrative, which is short and concise in comparison to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit accommodated Himself to the peculiarities of the people of Israel, who were still children under their guardians at that time, and related what God did to the pious fathers and their descendants in a very childlike, simple and laborious manner. In the New Testament, on the other hand, the great things that happened in the fullness of time, what God did in Christ, are also handed down to the Church of the New Covenant in clear, simple, but at the same time concise and pithy language. When dealing with the history of the Old Testament, it was therefore often appropriate to briefly summarize the main points of the narrative and to highlight them, whereas with the history of the New Testament, actual exegesis, unfolding of the rich biblical text, was indicated. Here, too, the various reports of the various Gospels had to be brought together into a unified report. Furthermore, many longer and shorter speeches by the Lord and the Apostles, which require special explanation, are woven into the narrative of the New Testament history books. Of course, no detailed commentary on the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles will be offered here, but about the same level of exegesis as one finds in other writings of the same content, for example in Hofmann’s New Testament History and its popular adaptations.

The biblical narrative of the New Testament, like that of the Old Testament, is composed of individual stories, but the course and progress of the story is clearly evident. The undersigned has sought to do justice to both: on the one hand to highlight what each individual section offers on its own, and on the other hand to place each individual story in the context of the whole and thus to present the course of the New Testament story.

The title of each individual chapter is accompanied by only one passage from Scripture, namely the one which relates the story in question either exclusively or in the most detail. However, the parallels in parentheses have been used to the same extent. This resulted in a concise harmony of the Gospels, in which, of course, not all the different possibilities of reconciling the various Gospel reports could be discussed.

Usually, a presentation of New Testament history is preceded by a long introduction, in which the political situation of the Jewish state and the Roman Empire at the time of Christ, the religious and moral constitution of Israel at that time, the customs and traditions of the Jews, the various parties, Pharisees, Sadducees, etc., the character and significance of Jesus’ miracles, the teaching method, the Lord’s parables, and similar more general data are discussed. But then one has to anticipate a lot, and the course of the historical narrative is disrupted. So it seemed more advisable to link what is to be noted about such things to the historical text itself. The text offers enough clues for this.

Throughout, we have followed the chronological order in connecting the larger and smaller sections. Of course, this presents some difficulties as far as the life of Jesus is concerned. The four evangelists, first of all the first three, the so-called Synoptics often present the same deeds and words of the Lord in the most varied contexts. As is well known, modern theologians immediately label these differences as real differences and contradictions, and assume that one or other evangelist was wrong about the time in which he placed this or that event. We are certain that the sacred historians, who spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit, made no error or oversight whatsoever with regard to time, place, or external circumstances. The apparent contradictions disappear when the text is examined closely. Above all, it should be noted that the conjunctions, time particles, or other time designations used in the Gospels, by means of which the individual stories are linked together, are of a different kind and nature. Some are quite general and indicate only a loose connection, others, on the other hand, mark a very specific sequence of times. When, for example, a story is introduced with an “and” or “but” or “at that time,” Τότε, or with the remark “at that time,” this does not always mean that it immediately followed what was previously reported, and the possibility is not even excluded that this story preceded the one previously told. Even if it says “afterwards,” Μετὰ ταῦτα, other events may well have occurred in the middle of the events connected in this way. If, on the other hand, we read: “on this day” or “on the same day” or “when Jesus said that” and the like, the chronological sequence is precisely determined. Where such precise, definite or even indefinite time particles are missing, it must be decided from the context of the story whether a temporal connection between the events in question is indicated in the text or not. It is a generally recognized fact that each of the three Synoptics in his narrative, in addition to a chronological order (which was relevant for determining the major periods of Jesus’ life and activity), also observed a factual order and arranged the individual stories according to a specific plan. To discover which plan or principle of arrangement underlies the individual Gospels, was not our task here. We have simply taken the historical material as it is presented in the four Gospels and arranged the individual parts according to the chronological clues contained in the text itself. Where no such clues are found, it is of course left to the interpreter to arrange the events according to his own discretion, according to the impression gained from the Gospel account. In our report we have only spoken apodictically about the chronological sequence where there was a basis for it in the text.

Two special dates should be mentioned in advance. The Sermon on the Mount has often been placed at the beginning of Jesus’ Galilean ministry, while the parables which Jesus delivered to the people on the shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee, such as the parable of the Sower, have been placed at a later time. But each of these two longer sermons of the Lord belongs to a larger group of events which are linked to one another in the biblical account by very precise chronological determinations, and thus followed one another chronologically. One group includes the following stories: the healing of a possessed man, which gave the Pharisees cause to blaspheme, the parables of the Lord, the calming of the storm at sea, the healing of the two possessed men in the land of the Gadarenes, the healing of the man with dropsy, the calling of Matthew, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood and the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter, the healing of two blind men, Jesus’ sermon in Nazareth. The other group: the calling of the twelve apostles, the Sermon on the Mount, the healing of an outcast, the healing of the sick servant of the captain of Capernaum, the resurrection of the young man from Nain, the mission of John the Baptist. Now the calling and conversion of the tax collector Levi or Matthew evidently occurred earlier than the calling of the twelve disciples. Therefore, the whole of the first series of events mentioned falls into an earlier time than the second.

We do not understand the middle part of the Gospel of Luke (9:51—18:30) as many modern exegetes do, as a second review of Jesus’ Galilean activity, nor as a collection of sayings with which the evangelist expresses his intention announced in 1:1–4 but rather, with Meyer and most of the older commentators, as a travel report and place the deeds and sayings of the Lord reported here in the last period of his prophetic activity, when he traveled through the border region of Galilee and Samaria and the East Jordan. We have given the reasons for this assumption on page 175 (#84). However, in this section Luke has also added here and there a factum or dictum of Jesus from the Galilean period and inserted it into a context appropriate to its content (for example, Lk 11:14-36, 12:1-12, 22–34).

Finally, it should be noted that the application to the present Christian generation, to the present circumstances and conditions, woven into the present historical presentation is not an accident, but only appropriate to the rule of interpretation established by the Scripture itself (Ro 15:4; 1 Cor 10:16; 2 Tim 3:16). An interpretation which merely stops at the past and completely ignores the fact that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” does not correspond to the intention of the Holy Spirit. What the Scripture reports about Jesus’ life, suffering, death, resurrection, and the first Christian church is intended that Christians of all times can correctly recognize what they have in their Christ and what the Christian Church is all about.

—G. Stöckhardt

NT 123. The Lord’s prophecy of the Last Judgment. Mt. 25:31-46.

The Lord now completes his prophecy of his return. He begins again: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.” On that day Christ will appear in his full divine glory. His divine glory and majesty, which in the days of his flesh was hidden by the form of a servant, will then be revealed to all the world. And he will then sit on the throne of his glory, on his royal throne. It is the King who is coming, and he is coming to establish the kingdom of his honor and glory. The throne of Christ the King is here initially thought of as a judgment seat. He now wants to glorify himself through judgment and justice. It is the Son of Man who sits on the throne, on the judgment seat. God has given the Son power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man (Jn 5:27). The Son of Man, who walked in humility on earth, who redeemed people through suffering and death, is also the Judge of the world. And now all nations will be gathered before him. The holy angels will gather the elect from the four winds (Mt 24:31) and will also gather all offenders and evildoers (Mt 13:41). Even the generations that have previously sunk into the grave will not be missing. All who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come out of the graves (Jn 5:28,29).

The first act of judgment is separation. The judge will separate those who are gathered before him from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep are those who willingly followed Christ, the Shepherd, who listened to the Shepherd’s voice—the believers. The goats, on the other hand, are those who were stubborn, who rebelled against the Shepherd, who were not obedient to the Gospel, that is, the unbelievers, the hypocrites among the Christians, the apostates, “together with the crowd of the godless world” (Luther) who despised, blasphemed, and persecuted the Gospel. The believers and unbelievers, who are now still mixed together, will then be separated from one another forever. And the Lord will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. On the right hand of the King is the place of honor. The disciples of the Lord will then be honored when their Lord appears in glory. The Lord, as soon as he is revealed, will make it clear that these are his own, his sheep, and that he is well disposed towards his own, that the others, on the other hand, have no part in him and can expect nothing good from him.

The separation is followed by the Judgment. Both those on the right and those on the left receive their judgment. The judgment, which has already been pronounced on those who believe and those who don’t and is written in their hearts and consciences, is then confirmed and proclaimed before the whole world. It is a long conversation that the judge has with those on the right and those on the left. The Lord is speaking to us humans here in a truly human way about the great things that are to happen on that day. “Christ makes a long excuse both for those who have done and not done those works, etc., which will all happen in an instant; for then the hearts of all people will be open to all creatures, and, as is preached here, so everything will be accomplished there” (Luther).

First, the king turns to those on his right. He welcomes them in the name of his Father, greets them as those blessed by his Father, and opens to them the gates of the heavenly kingdom, which has been prepared for them from the beginning of the world, which the Father has granted them out of pure grace even before the foundation of the world. And now he supplies evidence for his sentence by pointing to the works they did while they were alive. He mentions in particular works of mercy. The righteous fed the hungry, gave the thirsty drink and—what requires even more self-denial—sheltered the homeless and brought them into their homes. They clothed the naked, took care of the most depraved people, visited the sick, entered the places of sickness and misery that people usually avoid, sought out prisoners who are excluded from human society and spoke to them with love. Such works the Lord praises and extols on the last day. Not that the righteous have earned heaven by such works. No, the kingdom has been prepared for them by the Father from the beginning of the world, before they have done anything good. The Lord testifies to them that they have served Him with such seemingly small services that they have performed for their lowly brothers. “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” So they have shown with these works how they stand with the Lord. And so on that day the Lord proves their faith through their works, that they belong to him, that they are his sheep. With the obvious fruit of faith the judge justifies his verdict before the whole world. For the court is a public affair. The Lord only remembers the good works of the righteous and the faithful. Of course they have also done many things in their lives that they would rather not have done. But what they have done wrong is over with this life. They have forgiveness of sins through faith. And what God has forgiven, he does not take back from them on that day; it is forgiven and forgotten for all eternity.

The King will speak and act quite differently with those on the left. To them he will say: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” He will banish them, pronounce the curse on them, and send them into the eternal fire. This is actually prepared for the devil and his angels, who who have seduced people, not the people to whom God wanted to send a Savior. But those on the left have rejected the Savior and have not obeyed the Gospel of Christ. And so they themselves are the cause of their own damnation. And now the Lord appeals to works here too and shows from their evil works their evil nature, their unbelief. Among the evil works of the godless, the most serious is what they have done to the humble brothers of Christ, the poor Christians. And how terrified will the hypocrites among the Christians, who have only the appearance of godliness but deny its power, be on that day when they realize how heavy the scales are that they have neglected mercy. The serious, powerful words which Christ addresses to those on the left are an emphatic warning for all who are already reading or hearing them in the Gospel, a warning for the godless who are sowing the seeds of destruction here, for the hypocrites who bear no fruit all their lives, but also for the Christians who still have the lazy, stupid flesh in them, that they should pay attention and not forget love and lose faith with love.

“And they will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Thus the fate of the pious and the wicked is sealed for eternity. Whoever wants to escape eternal punishment and partake of eternal life should therefore consider in this time, on this side of the day of judgment, what will lead to his peace.

NT 122. The Parable of the Ten Virgins Mt. 25:1–13

The Lord had seriously admonished his disciples to watch and prepare for his coming. He reinforced this admonition with a parable. The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. The wedding, at which the virgins want to solemnly receive the bridegroom, is not here imagined in the bridegroom’s house, as was customary, but in the bride’s house. The image is fitting. Christ is the bridegroom, who will one day come down from heaven to his bride, to his congregation, to unite with her. The virgins here represent the bride. They are an image of Christ’s church on earth. Five of the virgins were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones only took their lamps, but did not take any oil with them except the oil burning in their lamps, and thus did not take care that their lamps did not go out. The wise ones, on the other hand, took oil with them in their vessels along with their lamps. The burning lamps are a picture of faith. The oil is, as often in Scripture, a picture of the Holy Spirit, who nourishes and maintains faith through the Word. The wise virgins are the true Christians who are concerned that their faith will endure to the end and who therefore diligently listen to, learn, and meditate on God’s Word. The foolish virgins are lazy Christians who are satisfied that they have come to the knowledge of the truth and then become sluggish and lazy in God’s Word, and whose faith gradually dies out. It is wise to think ahead of time about how one will stand before the Lord on the day of his return. And it is unpardonable foolishness to completely lose sight of your future fate.

The bridegroom tarried for a while. But when at midnight the cry went up: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming,” the maidens who had fallen asleep all got up and trimmed their lamps. The wise ones were ready to receive the bridegroom, their lamps were burning brightly, they had just enough oil with them, and they then went with him to the wedding. The foolish ones, on the other hand, were afraid and anxious, for their lamps were extinguished and they lacked oil. They asked their companions to give them some of their oil, but they replied: “Not so, lest there not be enough for both us and you.” And when they went to buy oil from the merchants and returned, the door to the wedding hall was locked. They cried out: “Lord, Lord, open to us!” But he said: “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Christ, the bridegroom, waits a while with his last day and makes his people wait. However, what St. Peter writes applies here: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to turn to repentance” (2 Pt 3:9). But when the Lord appears one day, the believers will receive him with joy, their light of faith will burn brightly, and they will then enter with him into the joys of his kingdom. The others, however, who have perhaps kept the appearance of Christianity until now, but whose faith has died out, will then fall into fear and despair. They realize with horror that they have wasted their time and that it is now too late to make up for what they have missed. Nor can others stand in for them with their faith on the day of judgment. Everyone must believe for themselves. They will find the door closed. The time of grace has passed. And Christ will testify to them that he does not know them, that they are not among his own. The bond that first bound them to him is broken. No, not those who have believed for a time, but only those who persevere in their faith to the end will be saved.

The evangelist Matthew adds a parable about servants to whom their master has entrusted his property to manage, and from whom he then demands an accounting in due course (Mt 25:14–30). This corresponds in every respect to the other parable the Lord told to his disciples on the way from Jericho to Jerusalem (Lk 19:11–27). Only that here, large sums—hundredweights or talents—are mentioned, there, pounds or denarii, which makes no difference in meaning. And Matthew does not mention the rebellious citizens. Presumably on that Tuesday evening, when the Lord once again seriously admonished his disciples to be vigilant and properly prepared when announcing his future, he once again made this admonition clearer with the image of the master and his servants.

NT 121. The Prophecy of the Lord concerning the End of Jerusalem and the End of the World Mt. 24

That Tuesday in passion week, which marked the end of his public teaching, had been a very busy and arduous day for Jesus. In the evening of the same day he and his disciples went out of the city again, up the Mount of Olives, towards Bethany, where he spent the night. Then his disciples showed him the temple buildings and said: “What a structure this is!” The temple in Jerusalem, which Herod had had rebuilt, was considered one of the wonders of the world. It rested on a foundation of white marble stones and was richly decorated with gold. Jesus assured that not a stone of this proud building would remain on another. Jerusalem, which had refused to hear the voice of the Son of God until the very end and was now preparing to crucify the King of Zion, was soon to fulfill its destiny. When Jesus sat down on the Mount of Olives, several of his disciples, namely the two pairs of brothers Peter and Andrew, John and James, asked him when this would happen and what the sign of his coming and the end of the world would be. In their minds they linked the end of Jerusalem with the end of the world. And in the writings of the prophets, as in the prophecy of the Lord (Mt. 16:27,28), the destruction of Jerusalem is seen as the beginning and prelude to the Last Judgment. Then, in the year a.d. 70, the wrath of God had “finally” come upon the Jews (1 Thess. 2:16). Now, as the Lord answers his disciples’ question in detail, he repeats and confirms many things that he had already announced to them on other occasions.

First, Jesus gives the general signs that point to the end of the world. Before the end, great plagues and terrors, war, rebellion, pestilence, famine, earthquakes, will afflict the inhabitants of the earth. But especially the disciples of Christ will experience great tribulation and persecution. They will be brought before the courts of the Jews, before the judgment seat of pagan kings. They will be stoned and killed. They will be hated by everyone. However, when they are called to account for their faith, they should not be afraid. God will give them a mouth and wisdom. The Holy Spirit will give them what to say (Mk 13:11; Lk 21:14,15). In the coming days many false Christs, many false prophets will appear and offer themselves as saviors to the world and will deceive many. Injustice will prevail on earth. Many who bear the name of Christ will grow cold in their love and abandon their faith. But only those who persevere to the end will be saved. In addition to these terrible signs, the Lord also mentions a pleasant sign of the last days. The gospel of the kingdom is to be preached throughout the world. Only when the word of salvation has been proclaimed to all the peoples of the earth will the end come. We sing: “The signs by which, discerning, We’d know of Thy returning—Have been so oft appearing, Thine advent must be nearing.” War and great terrors that cover the whole world, oppression of the true Church of God, much false teaching and error, increase in godlessness, great apostasy from the gospel within Christendom, the conquest of the gospel in the heathen world—these are fundamental features in the history of the world and the church ever since the days of Christ. These are still signs of the times for us today. From this we should conclude that the end is near.

But the Lord also points to a special double sign of the last time. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, until the full number of the elect—chosen out of the peoples of the world—are gathered together. That is, until the end of days (Lk 21:24). And in the holy place will be set up the abomination of desolation, of which the prophet Daniel spoke, especially in the 11th chapter of his prophecy. Then, when Jerusalem is seen besieged by armies (Luke 21:20), but especially when that abomination of desolation is seen, those who are in the land of Judea should flee to the mountains, where there are safe places of refuge. No one who is on the way should turn back to fetch anything from their house. Those who experience that time should pray to God that their flight does not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. In winter, flight is difficult, and on the Sabbath only short distances were permitted. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing at that time, for they cannot flee quickly. These are all figurative speech, similar to Lk 17:31. The meaning here is that at that time there will be such great tribulation that everyone who escapes it will be blessed. Especially when the second sign appears, there will be such tribulations as have never existed since the beginning of creation (Mk 13:19). If the Lord had not shortened those days for the sake of the elect, no human being would be saved. Lying prophets will also perform signs and wonders at that time, satanic forces will be at work to seduce even the elect into error if possible. This twofold prophecy of the Lord has also been fulfilled. Old Jerusalem, the city of the Jews, where God’s sanctuary once stood, now lies in ruins. The Jewish land has been given into the hands of the heathen. The Jewish people walk around like a living curse among the nations of the earth. The abomination of desolation has been set up in a holy place. What is written in Daniel 11 points (as our Lutheran confession, the Apology, shows in more detail) to the Antichrist and the kingdom of the Antichrist. And the Antichrist has appeared and become manifest. The Roman papacy has laid waste the temple of God, the Church of God, abolished the true divine service, set up all kinds of idolatry and otherwise filled the Church with many abominations and scandals, and he also confirmed his doctrine and lies with lying signs and wonders. What a tribulation it was that came upon Jerusalem in the year 70! The siege and destruction of Jerusalem was the bloodiest spectacle the world had ever seen. But the tribulation of the anti-Christian era weighs much more heavily. The Pope was and is the cruelest tyrant and murderer on earth. He has shed more Christian blood than the kings of the heathens.

And then, after giving the signs of his coming, Jesus says another word about his coming and the end of the world itself. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the last day will dawn. So only cross and tribulation—no blissful state of the church, no thousand-year reign—will precede the day of the Lord. When the day dawns, the sun and moon will lose their brightness, the stars will fall from heaven, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, the sea and the waves will roar terribly. The world will tremble, shake, and be thrown out of joint. For the end of the world is at hand. Then fear will come upon the earth, and many will faint from fear and expectation of what is to come (Lk 21:25,26). And then will they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And all the tribes of the earth will howl when they see the Judge whose salvation they have despised. But the believers will lift up their heads with joy and confidence, because their redemption draws near (Luke 21:28). The Lord will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, which will penetrate even to the graves, and they will gather the elect from the four winds, to go with the Lord into everlasting joy.

The Lord puts a seal on this prophecy. He swears: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The Lord will surely come and put an end to the world and take his own to himself. Only the day and hour of his coming are hidden from men. No one knows about this, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son, but only the Father (Mk 13:32). The Son of God who became man, in his lowly state according to his human nature, renounced this knowledge. He did this for the sake of men, so that they would be even less likely to search and inquire about the day and hour. But when we see the signs of which Jesus spoke here, we should certainly conclude that the day is near, just as one rightly concludes from the budding of the fig tree that summer is near. Jesus also adds that this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. By this he probably means the same thing that he said earlier, in Mt. 16:27–28, when he testified that many of his contemporaries would experience the beginning of the end, the wrathful judgment that would come upon Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem appears on the one hand as a sign of the last day, and on the other hand as the beginning of the final judgment.

Finally, Jesus addresses some serious words of warning to his disciples. As he has already shown them, people will live safely and carefree before the last day and will only seek earthly things, as in the time before the Flood. Therefore, Christians should be careful that their hearts are not burdened with eating and drinking and worries about food (Lk 21:34). They should be very alert so that day does not come upon them unexpectedly, and should prepare themselves properly for the coming of Christ, that they may be found worthy to stand before the Son of Man. Here again the Lord reminds us of the difference between the good and faithful servant, whom his master, when he comes will place over all his possessions, and the evil, worthless servant, whom his master will cut to pieces.

Forward - Old Testament

The following brief interpretation of the Old Testament historical books is the result of morning devotions held by the author at Concordia Seminary and could also be of some assistance to Christians who are not theologians in their daily Bible reading. Perhaps someone who has to teach Christian children biblical history and Bible reading will find that the same points highlighted here are those which deserve special attention in the lesson.

Biblical history and every major section of it is a finely structured whole and is made up of many individual parts, of individual stories. Accordingly, the historical analysis presented here is divided into many individual sections. The biblical text itself forms the basis of the analysis in each section, and it is enough to indicate the place where it can be found in the Scripture. In the interpretation, the author’s purpose and aim was to present the main features of the relevant story in brief outline, while maintaining its connection with the whole, to weave into the exposition what seemed necessary to explain individual facts and expressions, and then to apply the story to the reader, to our time and circumstances. For everything that has been written is for our instruction, admonition, warning, consolation and edification, and everything that has happened before has happened as an example for us (2 Tim. 3:16, 1 Cor. 10:6). Finally, he endeavors to emphasize only those teachings and salutary thoughts which arise from the biblical text itself and from the parallel passages in the Old and New Testaments, which are what the Holy Spirit really has in mind, and to leave out random and arbitrary applications.

May all interpretation of Scripture have only one effect: to introduce Christians to the Scripture itself, so that they read it diligently, think about it carefully, and meditate on it, and derive much blessing from it!

G. Stöckhardt

134. The Destruction of Korah's Band - Numbers 16:15–35

God himself now pronounced judgment on the affair between Moses and Aaron, the divinely appointed leaders of the people on one side, and the rebellious band of Korah on the other. The glory of the Lord appeared before the tabernacle of the congregation. Moses and Aaron came forward, as did Korah, Dathan and Abiram and the 250 men who followed them. Each came with a censer and incense. The Lord wanted to show who was really his priest and had the right to burn incense to him, whether that was Aaron or Korah the Levite and his followers. The whole community also gathered before the tabernacle of the congregation, which had taken Korah’s side. First, Moses and Aaron prayed to God on behalf of the community that he would not destroy them because of one rebel. Then they exhorted the whole community to get away from the tents of these ungodly people and to separate themselves from them, and the community obeyed them. And so it is God’s will for Christians that they separate themselves from such godless people, from false teachers and prophets. St. Paul writes: “But I urge you, brethren, to watch out for those who cause divisions and stumbling blocks, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and to turn away from them” (Rom. 16:17).

Now Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who had blasphemed the Lord by blaspheming Moses and Aaron, were cut off from the earth in the sight of all the people. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their families. They went down alive into hell with everything they had. And fire from heaven devoured the 250 men who had appeared before the Lord with incense. Truly, God will not leave unpunished those who blaspheme the Office and the correct teaching He has ordained, who thus blaspheme the Lord himself. Such rebels are often judged and branded by God in time. But they will certainly receive their judgment on that Day and receive their reward in hell.

133. Korah’s Rebellion — Numbers 15:32–16:14

First, there is a report of a Sabbath desecrator who gathered wood on the Sabbath and was stoned by God’s express command. God is zealous for his law. In New Testament terms, this means that those who openly despise the divine Word should be excluded from the Christian congregation. He who despises the Word corrupts and condemns himself.

We also hear here of the rebellion of Korah’s band. Korah, the Levite, along with Dathan and Abiram and a following of 250 prominent men, murmured and rebelled against Moses and Aaron, the leaders of the people appointed by God. They scoffed at their office and how they carried it out: “Fine job you’ve done bringing us into a land flowing with milk and honey!” But Israel itself had forfeited its inheritance through its unbelief. They accused Moses and Aaron of killing the people in the desert, while it was the Lord who had pronounced this judgment on Israel. They accused them of wanting to rule over the people, while they themselves really desired the priesthood and rule for themselves.

As it was the case in the days of the Old Testament, so it is still today in the New Testament church. False apostles disputed the office that Christ’s apostles had received from the Lord. In Christian congregations, false teachers and other proud spirits appear now and again, setting themselves up as leaders, who oppose the preaching office ordained by God and mock it. When honest preachers reprove sin according to God’s Word and carry out their office according to God’s will, they call it strict, tyrannical, power-hungry, and proud. But they are really only seeking their own benefit and their own prestige. And such loose spirits always find followers.