The Resurrection of Jesus

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared (Luke 24:1). 

Matthew tells us that all Jesus’ disciples who had accompanied him to the Garden of Gethsemane deserted him and fled upon his arrest. We don’t know what they were up to during the time between Jesus’ arrest in the garden and the time when they first received word of Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday morning. We only know that by Sunday morning they had all gathered together again. We are told only that Peter followed Jesus and the arrest party at a distance, monitoring the proceedings in the High Priest’s house as surreptitiously as possible from the courtyard. After Peter is reminded by the crowing of a rooster that Our Lord had said Peter would deny him, we are given no more account of Peter until Sunday morning. Mark gives us a detail unique to his Gospel account; that a young man, dressed in nothing but a linen cloth, followed Jesus to the Garden as well. Mark writes, “And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked” (Mark 14:51-52). Some commentators believe that this “young man” was Mark himself, though there is nothing in the text to support or refute this view. His departure from the scene of Jesus’ arrest, however, indicates the urgency of the situation and the haste with which Jesus’ friends abandoned him. The young man was so frightened and desperate to save himself that he ran away naked, leaving Jesus to his fate (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). 

Evidently, however, a group of Jesus’ friends and disciples did gather some distance away to watch Jesus die. This group included John, Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee[1]. Joseph of Arimathea may have also been among the band of on-lookers as well. It was he who went to Pontius Pilate and requested Jesus’ body. Scripture tells us that Pilate was shocked to hear from Joseph of Arimathea that Jesus was already dead[2]. Joseph took the body of Jesus and laid him in the tomb while the two Marys – Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” – watched. They would have to come back the next day to carry out the burial customs of anointing the Jesus’ body as the Sabbath would begin shortly. It is here that Luke continues the story, on Sunday morning, with the same two Marys bringing the required supply of spices to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. 

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb (Luke 24:2), 

Tombs were often cut into the rock of the hillside. Their entrances would have been blocked by a large, disk-shaped stone, rolled into a channel cut in the ground in front of the tomb. This stone disk would have been several feet in diameter, and would have required several men to move (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). This was certainly in the thoughts of the women as they made their way to the tomb with their supplies[3]. When they arrive, however, they are greeted with an earthquake, at least one angel, and some very frightened guards. Matthew writes that there was an earthquake as an angel rolled the stone away from the grave’s entrance[4]. The guards posted at the tomb were frightened so badly that they fainted – they “became like dead men”[5]. 

but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:3-7). 

This is the heart of Easter, the climax of the story of mankind’s redemption. Jesus’ tomb was empty. He rose from the dead and left the grave. Immanuel, God with us, who had looked to his enemies so defeated on the cross the previous Friday afternoon had, in reality, defeated sin, death, and the devil. The grave could not hold him. St. Paul tells us that this fact is of supreme importance. He writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve[6].” 

Without Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, we have nothing more than the tragic story of the murder of a Jewish teacher and philosopher who crossed the leaders of the religious establishment, and paid the ultimate price for his challenge to their authority. We have no forgiveness of sins, if we have no risen Jesus. St. Paul understood this as well. He continues in his first letter to the Corinthians, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied[7].” 

To the dismay of Satan, however, Jesus’ tomb is empty. C.F.W. Walther put it this way, in his famous Easter hymn: “O, where is your sting, death? We fear you no more; Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden’s door. For all our transgressions His blood does atone; Redeemed and forgiven, we now are His own[8]” (The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 2006). 

A common objection to the resurrection story made by many non-Christians is that Jesus’ body was simply stolen by Jesus’ followers so that it would look like he rose from the dead. This is, in fact, said by Matthew to be the case[9]. He writes that the Roman guards reported to the Chief Priests what had happened. The Chief Priests, in turn, told the guards to circulate the story that Jesus’ disciples stole his body while they slept on duty. Matthew says that the guards were paid a tidy sum and assured that the Chief Priests would smooth everything over with Pilate, should he ever get wind of their story. 

The story that someone removed Jesus’ body from the tomb, though, just doesn’t make sense to me. If the disciples took his body, they would all have known that the Gospel they were proclaiming was no Gospel at all. Being disappointed that Jesus was just another false messiah, the story goes, they were reluctant to undergo the public humiliation, ridicule, and persecution that was surely coming their way, so they stole Jesus’ body and claimed he rose from the dead, thus saving face. One might put some stock in that, if it were not for what happened to the disciples of Jesus next. 

All of the Apostles, with the exception of John, were martyred for their faith. That is, they went to their death rather than deny their risen Lord and Savior Jesus. If all they faced was ridicule and derision, I might give this thesis of the resurrection-deniers some more thought. The Apostles and other first generation disciples of Christ, however, faced not only ridicule, but death, and that in some of the most gruesome ways imaginable by man. I have not met the person who was willing to die for that which he knew to be a lie. Men have been willing to die for ideas in which they believed but only later found out were false; I have never heard of anyone who willingly submit to a horribly painful and humiliating death rather than renounce a belief or idea that they knew for a fact to be false. The apostles and early followers of Jesus were beheaded, crucified, stoned, burned alive, and fed to wild animals for the entertainment of bloodthirsty crowds, all because they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus. They stood steadfast in their faith because they knew it to be true first hand. 

And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them (Luke 24:8-11). 

The women who went to the tomb, discovered it empty, and heard the first proclamation of the resurrection from the angels there went joyfully to inform the Apostles. The Apostles, however, were still mourning Jesus' death. The angels had reminded the women about how Jesus told them all beforehand how he would die for the sin of mankind at the hands of sinful men and rise again. At this Gospel proclamation their faith blossomed forth. when they told the men that Jesus had risen, their minds could not yet grasp it. They considered the women's account an "idle tale". After all, they were only lowly women. Their testimony was not even valid in a court of law. This is another reason that seems to lend more credibility to the Gospel story. If the Gospel writers wanted to make up a story, surely they would not have scripted it so as to have women discover the empty tomb. Their testimony would be considered unreliable in First century Israel (Packer & Tenney, 1980). Furthermore, the Gospel writers do not paint the Apostles in a particularly flattering light, especially in the resurrection accounts. They are disbelieving and even mock the women, being mired firmly in their mistaken belief that Jesus was a political messiah struggling to establish an earthly kingdom. 

Why would God choose to use these women, who were so despised by the culture in which they lived, to deliver the news of the resurrection to the Apostles? Surely he would choose some person more worthy and esteemed in the eyes of the world to carry such news, in order to make it more credible to the world. To the contrary, God was mocking the unbelieving world and its governing authorities, which subscribed to such nonsense as the inferiority of women. In using these women as the vehicles for bringing the news of Jesus’ resurrection to the Apostles, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”[10]

But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened (Luke 24:12). 

Peter reacts in his typical brash and impulsive fashion. Earlier in the garden of Gethsemane, when the temple guard came to arrest Jesus, Peter impulsively, and a little clumsily, attempted to stand and fight, cutting off the high priest's servant's ear with his sword[11]. He was going to meet force with force it seems, but Jesus stopped and rebuked him. He, like the others, did not understand that Jesus' kingdom was not of this world[12]. Peter, along with all the rest of the Apostles, felt defeated and were afraid of their religious/political adversaries who had murdered their leader. But when Peter heard the women's story, he reacted by running to the tomb to see what was going on for himself. John records that he also went with Peter. John says that he ran ahead of Peter, but only looked into the tomb upon his arrival, apparently too awestruck at what he found to enter[13]. Peter was the one who actually entered the empty tomb first. He saw the linen cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus' corpse, and the cloth that had been on Jesus head, folded neatly. This was no case of grave robbery. Why would grave robbers strip the corpse and take the time to fold the linen cloths they left behind? We know that the Apostles didn’t have Jesus’ body. Surely, if the Pharisees had taken Jesus’ corpse away, they would have produced it and put it on display when the Apostles began preaching that Jesus rose from the dead. 

After Peter went inside the tomb, John then also entered. John writes that he saw and believed[14]. They may not yet have understood but, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, faith was kindled in them they believed. During the following 40 days Jesus would show himself alive to his disciples, and equip them for their mission of spreading the Good News of Jesus' atonement for man's sin to the world. 

Jesus’ resurrection proves that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that the things he taught were true. The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was accepted by God the Father for the reconciliation of the world (Luther, 1991). The resurrection of Jesus is proof of this. Because of our sins we deserve nothing but God’s wrath, displeasure, death, and eternal damnation. Christ, by his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, redeemed mankind on the cross. His victory was confirmed by his resurrection from the dead, and we receive the forgiveness Christ won on the cross by faith in Him. Christ’s resurrection is the basis for the new life that Christians begin to experience now, and will receive fully on the Last Day (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). Because Jesus lives, we who believe in him will live also[15]. 

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Works Cited 

Engelbrecht, E. A., Deterding, P. E., Ehlke, R. C., Joersz, J. C., Love, M. W., Mueller, S. P., et al. (Eds.). (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House. 

Luther, M. (1991). Kleine Katechismus, English. (C. P. House, Trans.) Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House. 

Packer, J. I., & Tenney, M. C. (Eds.). (1980). Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible. Nashville, TN, USA: Thomas Nelson Publishers. 

The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. (2006). Lutheran Service Book. St. Louis : Concordia Publishing House. 

End Notes

[1] Matthew 27:55-56 

[2] Mark 15:44 

[3] Mark 16:3 

[4] Matthew 28:2 

[5] Matthew 28:3 

[6] 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 

[7] 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 

[8] "He’s Risen, He’s Risen", LSB 480, Text: C.F.W. Walther, 1811-87, abr.; tr Anna M. Meyer, 1867-1941, alt. 

[9] Matthew 28:11-15 

[10] 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 

[11] Matthew 26:51; John 18:10 

[12] John 18:36 

[13] John 20:3-4 

[14] John 20:8 

[15] John 11:25-26; 14:19

The Birth of Jesus - God With Us

The Nativity - Lucas Cranach the Elder

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them" (Luke 2:1-7).

 

These first several verses from the second chapter of Luke's gospel are my favorite of the Christmas season. These verses always wound up being my part in the Christmas Eve Sunday School program. It's a good thing, too, that I always seemed to get more or less the same verses every year. I wasn't then, nor am I now, one who could memorize things easily. I was always quite nervous right up through the time all of us Sunday school kids were marched up to the front of the church. I didn't like speaking in public, and it was all I could do to not flub my part. 

 

In fact, I never really liked the Children's Program when I was a child with a part to memorize. I remember spending what felt like endless hours in the sanctuary going over, and over, and over again just exactly where to stand and how to hold the microphone when we were lined up in front of the church. It was excruciatingly boring to sit in the pews waiting for our turn to line up, and nearly impossible to pay attention to anything that happened in the front after our group had finished speaking and sat back down. And, to cap it all off, when we had finished running through the entire program, we'd have to line up in the fellowship hall to march in again for another go-around. Not my idea of a good way to spend three hours, and I always enjoyed church-stuff.

 

When I look back on those times, being many years removed from them, I was a little surprised to see that two of my absolute most favorite things about Christmas come as a part of the Christmas Eve Children's Program (at least at Immanuel - Hodgkins): singing Silent Night in German by candle light, and hearing the first seven verses of Luke chapter two.

 

I didn't even realize that I still had them memorized until I started teaching at a Lutheran school and had to prepare a Christmas program myself. Then, as I looked deeper into those words which my childhood pastor and Sunday school teachers had inscribed into my brain, I became profoundly thankful that The Lord had allowed me to grow up in the way in which He did. By requiring us to memorize those gospel verses our Sunday school teachers were giving us the gift that we celebrate on Christmas - the gift of Immanuel, "God, with us".

 

Faith comes through hearing, and hearing comes through the word of Christ we are told in Holy Scripture. By having us children memorize the words of the gospel, our teachers put those faith-creating words into us. The author of Hebrews tells us that, in these last days, God has spoken to us by his Son. It is through Jesus, his Son - the Word made flesh - that God deals with mankind. He does not wish to deal with us in any other way than through his word and sacraments, which are God's word and promise coupled with a physical element of water, bread, or wine.

 

By the means of those words of the gospel the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts according to his good and gracious will. I am particularly thankful for the words of Scripture I was taught to memorize. Through the years since Sunday School God has continued to teach me and grow my faith through them.

 

The words recorded by Luke in the beginning of chapter two of his gospel may seem like the standard introductory passage. In television specials about the life of Jesus it usually takes up no more than a few moments of the opening credits to visually portray what Luke has written. His words, however, express something more important than just the desperate attempt to find shelter for Mary in the crowded village of Bethlehem.

 

Luke's words, "In those days," tell us that the events he relates have taken place in the midst of human history. They do not happen in his imagination, once upon a time, as though this is merely some fairy tale. The story of Jesus is a story that can be pinpointed in time. It happened "in those days", when Caesar Augustus issued his decree. Furthermore, the events of the gospel did not take place in some mythical kingdom far, far away. They happened in a real location to which one can point on a map, and even visit, if one was so inclined. Quirinius was (or was about to become) the governor of Syria. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, the city of David. It was there, at that definite time and place that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

 

This is in contrast to other so-called mystery religions that flourished in the Middle East in the first and second centuries, and to the heretical off-shoots of Christianity that so intrigue people today, forming the basis of such popular entertainment as "The DaVinci Code". These religions were clearly built on fantastic stories written in the manner of the pagan myths of antiquity and meant to be taken as allegory.

 

For example, Mithra, god of the Roman Mithraic mysteries, is depicted as being born from a rock. He is shown as emerging from a rock, already in his youth, with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. He is nude, is wearing a Phrygian cap and is holding his legs together. An example from heretical Christianity is a resurrection account of Jesus from the non-canonical gospel of St. Peter which features a gigantic talking cross.

 

Jesus' birth account recorded in Holy Scripture, by contrast, is set against the backdrop of real people and places. There is, of course, debate as to exactly when Luke meant. But it is clear that he was being as precise as he possibly could be in establishing the foundation for his gospel account. While there might be some confusion as to which Quirinius Luke is referring, or which governing office he held, or which census (provincial or empire-wide) is meant, archeology has clarified and upheld Luke's Gospel consistently, and there is no reason to think it will do otherwise in the future. Luke's stated purpose for writing was to compile an orderly account of those things which he followed closely, namely the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Though many today would like to count Christianity simply as the mystery religion that won out in popularity and influence in the Roman Empire, it is clear to those who read its scriptures and study its history that Christianity is not merely a Mithra-clone. At the birth of Jesus we witness the God who created the universe clothing himself in human flesh and stepping into human history with the specific goal of being the sacrifice to atone for the sin of mankind in order to reconcile man to God.

 

In fact, that is what Jesus' name means. Jesus comes from the Jewish name "Yeshua", which is translated, "The Lord [YHWH] saves." Matthew records that, when the angel of The Lord appeared to Joseph to explain just who Mary was carrying in her womb and what he was to be named, this was in fulfilment of what the prophet Isaiah had written, "Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel." Immanuel means, "God, with us." To put it another way, the LORD God [YHWH] who saves, is with us.

Mankind needed a savior because he, and all creation along with him, was infected with the disease of sin. Since Adam and Eve's first sin, when they disobeyed God's command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, sin entered creation. All people born since then are born suffering from this disease of sin. We are all born without true fear or trust in God. We are all born with the inclination toward sin, to commit actual sinful acts, and away from God. There is nothing we can do to rescue ourselves from this dreadful condition, or reconcile ourselves to God. The disease is terminal. This is why the Lord himself had to save us. This salvation he effected by taking on human flesh, being born under the law, living a sinless life, going to the cross to suffer and die as punishment for mankind's sinfulness, and rising from the dead three days later as the conqueror of sin, death and Satan.

 

After his death and resurrection, before ascending into heaven to be seated at God the Father's right hand, Jesus promised that he would be with us to the very end of the age. He is our brother, as the Lutheran Confessions declare, "and we are flesh of his flesh and bone of His bone. He has instituted His holy Supper for the certain assurance and confirmation of this, so that He will be with us, and dwell, work, and be effective in us also according to that nature from which He has flesh and blood" (FC SD VIII 79).

Jesus came to dwell among us and be the sacrifice to atone for the guilt of our sin on that first Christmas about which Luke writes. He came to us at a specific time, in a specific place. He is no fairy story, but the central focus of all of human history. He comes to us and remains with us in his holy word, preached and read, and in his holy sacraments, properly administered. What good news for fallen, sinful humanity. May it bring great joy to all who hear it. For unto us is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Rend the Heavens and Come Down...

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! (Isaiah 64: 1-2)

When I read this passage of scripture, I was immediately put in mind of a quote from a movie called The Prophecy. In one scene, the character Thomas Daggett makes the following statement: “Did you ever notice how in the Bible, when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel?” Now, one could write an entire paper describing the theological inaccuracies of the movie The Prophecy. That is not something which I wish to undertake at this time. Mr. Daggett’s skewed analysis of scripture aside for a moment; I did have a similar feeling to his upon reading these words of Isaiah. With his description of the coming of the Lord, with the rending of the heavens, and the quaking of the mountains, and fire kindling brushwood, and fire causing waters to boil, I wondered to myself in a moment of candor, “would I really want to see the coming of the Lord?” It sounds terrifying.

You see, the thing that really bothered me was what Isaiah writes in verse six of chapter 64:

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all strayed like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities (Isaiah 64:6-7 ).

Isaiah says that we have all become like one who is unclean. That “we” means all people, including myself. In this chapter Isaiah longs for the coming of the Lord so that he can make his name known to his adversaries, and so that the nations, “might tremble at your presence!” Holy Scripture tells us, however, that we are by our very nature the Lord’s adversaries.[1] Our sinful nature separates us from God.[2] More than that, Scripture teaches that there is nothing that we can do on our own to remedy this condition. Would it not be we who were terrified by the rending of the Heavens when the Lord comes? Would it not be we who tremble at his presence?

The psalmist writes, “I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”[3] This state of sinfulness from birth, which we commonly refer to as original sin, is the total corruption of our human nature, which we have inherited from Adam through our parents. Original sin has brought guilt and condemnation to all people.[4] It has left mankind without true fear and love of God.[5] We are spiritually bind and dead creatures; the enemies of God.[6] Because of this total corruption of our human nature, we are incapable of pleasing God and we are also disinclined to even try to do so.[7] Consequently, original sin manifests itself as the commission of actual sins.[8] St. Paul describes these sins in general terms in his letter to the Galatians:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like (Galatians 5:19).

Recently I had a conversation with a friend about the nature of sin. It didn’t start out that way, though. What we were actually talking about was the depravity of human nature; what makes one person able to live with themselves after committing some heinous act while another would torn apart by guilt. My theory was that, since God has built into us a conscience whose voice we can always hear, the less we listen to it, the less we will actually be able to hear it. At some point, if we ignore that voice long enough, we will grow deaf to it completely. After that point, such a person would be a cold-blooded psychopath; that person would have completely indulged the desires of their flesh. My friend wasn’t completely sure that he understood what I was saying.

He couldn’t understand how someone could steal something from another person and still sleep at night. Stealing, in his eyes, was one of the worst things one person could do to another. On the other hand, it was a trivial matter to him for someone to have sex with many women while that person was in a long-term relationship with, but not married to, another woman. He explained, “It isn’t adultery for a man to have sex with other women in that situation. Not if he’s not married.” When I explained to him that yes, this indeed was adultery, he was at first indignant. I then explained to him what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount concerning adultery[9], and he acquiesced. After a moment’s reflection, he said, “If that’s the case, we’re all in trouble.”

You see, the God who declared stealing sinful, also declared adultery sinful. He is also the one who defined what is stealing and what is adultery, and he wrote those definitions on our hearts. Therefore, if we break one of his commandments, we are guilty of breaking them all. We don’t get to pick and choose our own individual morality. The fact that we all recognize the existence of our own conscience proves that to us, even though we may not like to admit it, and particularly when we seek to justify our actions that go against it. There is an absolute morality. God is the one who has set that bar. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, all of mankind has been unable to measure up to that bar. My friend said more than he knew; left in that state we are all, most definitely, in trouble.

Christians, however, do not have to fear the Judgment Day. If it were up to us to make our sinfulness right, the Day of the Lord would most certainly be a terrifying thing. The Lord has told us in Holy Scripture, that no one is righteous, not even one. He has told us that our righteousness, our good works, no matter how wonderful they may seem to us, are nothing but filth. To stand in front of the judgment seat of Christ on the Last Day, clothed in the works of our own righteousness would be the same as if one arrived for his audience with the Queen of England clothed in the rags of a homeless person off the street.

God knew this. He knew this ahead of time, and he accounted for it. God resolved before the foundation of the world that those whom he would save, he would save by his grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.[10] In the fullness of his time, the Father sent the Son, true God, begotten from all eternity, to come to earth to his people. He did not come, however, rending the heavens, as Isaiah here describes. He came in humble fashion as a man, having set aside his divine power and glory, and was born to a virgin in a stable by God’s mysterious power. At the right time He would be born of a virgin – true man also, yet born without the stain sin. He came down from heaven, Immanuel – which means “God, with us” – and he lived a perfect life doing what we could not do, keeping God’s moral law. And, again at the appointed time, he gave up his life for all of mankind, as a sacrifice to atone for our sins; three days later he exhibited his power over sin, death, and Satan by once again taking up his life and rising from the dead. This is the Messiah of whom the prophets spoke and for whom the faithful Jews were waiting. This was the first coming of Immanuel, “God, with us.” Though this first coming did not resemble Isaiah’s dream of an exhibition of God’s power and glory in order to subdue all of God’s enemies, he did, nevertheless, subdue them. Shortly before going to his sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus declared, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”[11]

Since Jesus made atonement for all the sins of all mankind, that means that he is now responsible for them. When we stand before the judgment seat on the Last Day, Jesus will take responsibility for the lives of those who profess his name. Christians don’t need to fear their own death, or the Judgment Day – the day when Jesus will come with glory and “rending the heavens”, because He has already won the victory. “On the Last Day,” Martin Luther writes in his explanation of the third article of the Apostle’s Creed, “He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.”

I can’t say that I look forward with joy to The Day of the Lord, at least in one sense, because my finite human mind cannot grasp the concept of God “rending the heavens,” and the unknown details of this cause me apprehension. I do not, however, fear its coming because Jesus has promised me that my sins are forgiven and that he will give me eternal life. Again, in the words of Luther:

He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.


End Notes

[1] Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:3


[2] 1 Corinthians 2:14


[3] Psalm 51:5


[4] Romans 5:19


[5] Genesis 8:21


[6] Ephesians 2:1


[7] Romans 8:7


[8] Matthew 7:17


[9] Matthew 5:27-28


[10] Matthew 13:34-35; Ephesians 1: 4-6


[11] John 12:31

Pastor Otten's Installation at Immanuel



Participants in the installation gather in front of Immanuel's altar.
Center R: Rev. Walter Otten. Center L: Rev. Dan Gilbert

The Congregation of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hodgkins, IL installed it's first new pastor in 35 years on, Sunday, December 4. There were over 100 people in attendance; many other pastors participated in the installation service, including The Rev. Dan Gilbert, president of the Northern Illinois District of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, who conducted the installation.

The Rev. Walter D. Otten was called to serve as pastor of Immanuel in June 2011. Prior to accepting the call to shepherd the flock at Immanuel, Pastor Otten has had a long and distinguished career serving Our Lord in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

Pastor Otten served his vicarage at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Monticello, Indiana. His first call was to serve as the pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Delhi, Ontario, Canada in 1959. While in Canada, Pastor Otten served as the district pastoral adviser for the Ontario District Walther League.

In 1962 Pastor Otten was called to serve St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Brookfield, IL. He served at St. Paul's from 1962 - 2005. After retiring from St. Paul's in 2005, Pastor Otten has served at Good Shepherd/Our Redeemer as guest preacher and visitation pastor.

In 1965 Pastor Otten married Ruth Reinkin. The Lord has blessed their union with five children: Hans, Erik, Kurt, Elise, and Rolf. The Ottens are also the proud grandparents of eleven grandchildren.

The congregation of Immanuel is excited to welcome Pastor and Mrs. Otten into their family, and is thankful to God that He has provided them with a Shepherd to feed them with God's Word and Sacraments as they begin their next 100 years of proclaiming Christ's Gospel in Hodgkins.

P.S. - Many thanks to all of the clergy who participated in the rite of installation. I regret that I did not get all your names to post in the caption of the photo. I will remedy that as soon as possible.

100th Anniversary Weekend at Immanuel

We had a wonderful time celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hodgkins, Illinois this weekend. Rev. Dr. Wallace Schulz of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation preached at the Centennial Jubilee Vespers Service on Sunday, October 2, 2011. Dr. Schulz's stirring sermon reminded those in attendance that all of mankind is infected with the deadly disease of Sin, and that the only treatment for this illness is where God’s people are gathered around Word and Sacrament. This is a message all people are in desperate need of hearing, and Dr. Schulz delivered it with power and authority. We praise the Lord that he was able to be with us to share the Gospel on this special occasion.

Following the Jubilee service there was a banquet at Park Place of Countryside. The food was good and the band, Upscale, was fantastic. The church also raffled off a television set, an Amazon Kindle, digital camera, an iPod nano, as well as gift certificates from Salerno Pincente Ristorante and Buck’s Pit Stop.



Pastor Adam Dietrich near the organ before the service.





Ken Howes at the organ.



Caitlyn at a different organ.



Acolyte lighting the candles at the beginning of the service.



Pastor Dietrich and Rev. Dr. Schulz chat before the procession.

Matt Struve rings the bell.

Rev. Dr. Schulz preaches Law and Gospel.

At the banquet.

Thoughts of organizing a congregation at Hodgkins, Illinois, were entertained as far back as the 1880s. At that time there were several Lutheran families living in what would later be the village of Hodgkins who were members of the Lutheran churches of LaGrange and Willow Springs, Illinois. A local merchant named John Witsan organized a Sunday school in Hodgkins about this same time. The development of the Sunday school amplified, for the Lutheran families, the inconvenience of sending their children to the Lutheran day schools and Sunday schools in LaGrange and Willow Springs, and thoughts of a stand-alone congregation in Hodgkins began to materialize. Two representatives from the Lutheran churches in LaGrange and Willow Springs, Reinhardt Leu and Henry Bloedorn, approached Rev. Alex Ullrich of LaGrange with the proposition of establishing a Lutheran congregation in Hodgkins.

A conference was held after this meeting with Rev. Herman Meyer of Willow Springs. Rev. Meyer was strongly in favor of the movement and immediately set about to conduct the first Lutheran worship services in Hodgkins, in the old Village Hall in the spring of 1911. On Sunday, April 23, 1911, twenty-six men gathered together in the same hall, along with Rev. Ullrich and Rev. Meyer, and formally organized Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hodgkins, Illinois. The newly formed congregation adopted a constitution and called Rev. Meyer as it's pastor. Rev. Ullrich was called as the assistant pastor.

Services, Sunday school, and Bible studies, continued to be held at the Hodgkins Village Hall. In later years it was also used for a Saturday Bible school conducted by Rev. Ullrich. An opportunity arose for the congregation in 1911 to purchase the old Lutheran school house building from St. John's, LaGrange. The building was disassembled, transferred to the building site in Hodgkins on Kimball Avenue, and reassembled. All the work was completed by members of the two congregations. In the Fall of 1911, the cornerstone was laid. On March 10, 1912, Immanuel was dedicated.

Rev. Ullrich became the sole pastor at Immanuel after Rev. Meyer was called to Bellewood, Illinois. Rev. Ullrich, who was also the president of the Northern Illinois District of the LCMS, as well as pastor at St. John's, LaGrange, served Immanuel until October 1930. At that time Rev. H. C. Seitz, who was the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Western Springs, accepted the call to Immanuel.

Originally Immanuel numbered 26 voters and 106 souls. In 1937 (the congregation's 25th anniversary), the congregation numbered 150 souls, 110 communicants, and 123 voters, with a Sunday school of 43 children, and four teachers.

In 1951 the Kimball Avenue property was sold and a new church was built at the present Kane Avenue location. The following is an entry from the "Village of Hodgkins - 100 Years of Progress" historical booklet on Immanuel.

The Immanuel Lutheran church on Kimball Avenue as originally the schoolhouse of St. John's Lutheran Church, LaGrange, Illinois. Reinhardt Leu was general contractor and the men of the congregation worked with him. The schoolhouse was dismantled in LaGrange and brought to Hodgkins. the men built the church and added a steeple and a room at the rear to be used for German School. Reinhardt Leu climed [sic] to the top of the steeple and attached a cross to it. The first minister of the church was Rev. Alex Ullrich. The church remained in use until 1951. It was then sold to the Eisermans who later demolished it. At this time, a new church was built on Kane Avenue on two lots. One of these lots was donated by Otto Hopp. Dedication of the new church as in 1953.

As of 2006, Immanuel reported having 152 baptized members, and 122 confirmed members. Rev. Adam A. Dietrich has been the interim pastor since 1976. Rev. Walter D. Otten, formerly of St. Paul's Brookfield, IL, has accepted a call from Immanuel and will be installed on December 4, 2011.