God's Word for You (Thursday, Sep 9, 2010)
A Daily Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith
John 16:16-18
16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” 17 Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.” (NIV)
Even a little child who is a Christian knows what Jesus meant by these things. But at the time, his disciples didn’t understand. They knew that there was some underlying meaning, but what could it be? Was Jesus going to go off and raise an army and return to overthrow Pilate and Caesar? Or was Jesus going to depart like Elijah and then return? Or was this the terrible End of everything? Was Jesus going to die (that at least seemed likely) and then, as it so often said in the prophets, after “a little while,” Judgment Day would arrive? Was the world itself going to end? Doubt troubled them; Jesus’ words confused them.
In the prophets, two “comings” or advents of the Messiah are mentioned, which confused the Jews and the disciples alike. From their Old Testament perspective, the two advents appeared to be close together, since the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah so often mentioned them in the same context. When Isaiah said, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6), he was talking about the first Advent, that we call Christmas. But in the next verse he also said, “He will reign on David’s throne…from that time on and forever,” which refers both to Christ’s proclamation of the gospel and eternity following Judgment Day (Isaiah 9:7b).
Later, the Apostle Peter would warn that there will always be those who are skeptical and who doubt. “They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised?’” (2 Peter 3:4). But Jesus will return on the Last Day, whether it will be ten minutes from now or ten thousand years. We set down roots as if it’s ten thousand years away, but we proclaim the gospel with urgency as if we already see the clouds starting to split apart.
Set your sins aside and repent! You will stand before the Lord Jesus soon, and he holds out forgiveness, pardon and peace.
Something Extra:
Ecclesiastes 10:4
4 If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post;
calmness can lay great errors to rest. (NIV)
This verse is one of the few places of the Bible where rhyme almost plays a role in the poetry. The two words that catch our attention are the words “anger” (Hebrew ruah רוּחַ) and “rest” (nuah נוּחַ). In Israel’s history, the people were often urged to remain in place (“your post,” with all its military overtones, is an excellent translation of the word maqom. We might also use a word like “station”). Joseph did not flee from the yoke of slavery to Potiphar (only from the immoral advances of Potiphar’s wife), or from the chains of prison, and God was with him. Israel remained in Egypt for four hundred years before God commanded them to leave. David did not rebel against king Saul even when the king tried to kill him. And when the Babylonians came to take Judah into captivity, God told Jeremiah to tell the people to go willingly into their captivity. Although going to Babylon might seem like “leaving your post,” they were going where their new rulers told them to go—it was their new post, until God said otherwise.
From Solomon’s perspective, a soldier who made a mistake or broke a rule would only compound his fault if he left his post or failed in his duty. So we must never think that when we sin, another sin will somehow make things better. That’s one of the devil’s favorite traps. Once inside the “sin and more sin” scenario, things will only get worse and worse still until we are led by God to repentance and given God’s forgiveness. But “more sin” will never bring on forgiveness. We need to stay at our posts of faith, confess our sins, and know that only God forgives. But that forgiveness doesn’t need any sauce. All by itself it’s full, it’s complete, and it’s forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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