Has your God been able to rescue you?
- Order of Service: Divine Service II (CWS, p28)
- Lessons: Daniel 6:10-12, 16-23, Galatians 5:1-6, Matthew 10:16-23
- Hymns: 201, 550, 203
In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
A king says, “Your God will deliver you!” And then the light goes out as the stone rolls into place. The seals of the king and his nobles mark it as unopenable. And an old man begins to pray:
Adonai row-ee, lo echsar…. Gam key ay-laik begay stal-ma-vet, Lo e-rah ra key atah im-ma-di shiv-te-ka oo-mish-a-ne-te-ka hay-mah ye-na-cha-mo-ni.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want….
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; they rod and they staff they comfort me.
And the LORD shut the mouths of the lions. This tasty treat, this 80-year-old civil servant sits through the night, unmolested, untouched, uncorrupted. The foul stench of death surrounds him, but does not touch him. Because the LORD will not allow it.
He will not allow faithfulness to Him to go unrewarded and unsaved. He will not leave unmarked a testimony to the fact that He is the Lord and there is no other God. It’s Him or nothing. It’s Him or hell. Not this king, this Darius, with the hubris to legislate prayers to himself. Not these jealous sychophantic lackeys willing to prostitute themselves to whatever deity might grant them one more days’ worth of power. Not Tammuz or Marduk or Baal or Asherah or Zoroaster or whatever pagan perversion rules as deity du jour.
An emperor says, “One day more.” And then the room clears. And a young, terrified monk begins to pray:
Deus noster refugium et virtus adiutor in tribulationibus quae invenerunt nos nimis….Non moriar sed vivam…
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble…. I will not die but live.
And again, the LORD shuts the mouths of the lions. Princes, popes, and cardinals want to devour this young monk, this Luther.
They want to tear him to shreds, crush his bones, drink his blood, because he dared to stand upon the Word of God and not the words of popes and councils. They want to gnash their teeth and cover their ears, because he dared to proclaim salvation through faith in Christ – alone! Not in works, not in indulgences, not in prayers to saints and angels and virgin mothers.
And he dared to proclaim it again, “Here I stand! On the Word! On Christ! On God!” And again, God will not allow faithfulness to Him to go unrewarded and unsaved. He will not leave unmarked a testimony to the fact that He is the Lord and there is no other God. It’s Him or nothing. It’s Him or hell. Not this pope, this Leo, legislating everything under the sun. Not these jealous, sycophantic lackeys willing to prostitute themselves to popes and cardinals or whatever might grant them one more tract of land, one more shred of power. Not Mary, or Christopher, or John Paul or whatever pagan perversion rules as deity du jour.
And another tasty treat comes out of a lions’ den uneaten.
A governor says, “Take your guard. Seal the tomb.” And the soldiers come. The seal of the governor marks the tomb as unopenable. And two sad friends don’t pray. They just talk about what’s happened.
Without realizing that the lions had been tricked out of yet another meal. Once more, God shut the mouths of the lions. Chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Satan himself sought to devour this young man, this teacher, this Jesus. And this time they did tear Him to shreds. They surrounded Him with the stink of death. And it didn’t leave Him untouched. They molested Him. They corrupted Him. They killed Him. Because He dared to proclaim, “I am God. Believe in Me. Live in Me. Be free with me! Stand firm with me! And no one else!” He prayed by open windows and testified to questioning kings, “I am he.” And they said, Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, “I am the Son of God’ (Matt. 27:43). It seems that pagan King Darius had more faith than these sons of Abraham.
But once more, God did not allow faithfulness to Him to go unrewarded and unsaved. He did not leave unmarked this testimony to the fact that He is the Lord and there is no other God. It’s Him or nothing. It’s Him or hell. Not these priests, legislating how many steps constitute Sabbath-day work. Not those jealous, sycophantic scribal lackeys piling on false charges and new ways to sin to burden down the people and increase their power. Not any other deity du jour.
Daniel stood on His trust in the Lord and His Word. Luther stood on His trust in the Lord and His Word. Jesus stood by His own power because He is the Lord, He is the Word. He shut the lion’s mouth and spared Daniel. He shut the mouths of the lions seeking to devour Luther. Because He’s the one who shut the mouth of the lion once and for all by jamming Himself into the lion’s mouth – as your sin for you! He stood firm to the end and was saved. So that now you can stand firm. On Him, or on nothing. On Him, or in hell.
So stand. Stand with the God of Daniel and Luther: God the Deliverer. Pray to Him, just as you always have. Sing in the face of the lions. And wait eagerly. We are sheep among wolves, Daniels among lions. But the end is near. The heaven for which we hope. The heaven which Christ’s death won. In the darkness of the den, Christ erases our fears and comforts us through whatever moments remain. In the bright light of question and accusation, Christ whispers in our ears, “I am here. I am your Shield. You will live even though you die.”
In the morning, a sleepless king ran to the execution chamber, broke the seals, rolled away the stone, and prayed, “Has your God been able to rescue you?” After a harrowing escape, a Luther kidnapped by noble protectors, looked at his new surroundings and wondered, “Has my God been able to rescue me?” After the longest weekend in the history of the world, a group of men and women stared into a hole once blocked by stone and heard the angels ask, “Has your God been able to rescue you?” And you know the answer. No matter who asks it. No matter when they ask it. No matter why they ask it. No matter where they ask it. No matter how they ask it. You know. With all your heart it’s, “YES!” Amen.
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