A gain, my article is really a sermon. I’ve added the readings for this Sunday as they would occur in the service. If you want to skip the Scripture passages, which I do not recommend, just scroll down — the sermon has been placed below the passages, where all sermons belong.
The Readings
The Psalm (note about Psalms)
Psalm 46: God Is Our Fortress (Deus noster refugium)
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth[1] A Song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present[2] help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Notes:
[1] 46:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 46:1 Or well proved
The Old Testament Reading
Jeremiah 31:31-34
The New Covenant
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of
Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on
the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their
husband, declares the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the
Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their
hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his
brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more.”
The Epistle
Romans 3:19-28
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who
are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the
whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of
the law no human being[1] will be
justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of
sin.
The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart
from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to
it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for
all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified
by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to
be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness,
because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that
he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in
Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what
kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of
the law.
Note:
[1] 3:20 Greek flesh
The Holy Gospel
John 8:31-36
The Truth Will Set You Free
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide
in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We
are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How
is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who
commits sin is a slave[1] to sin. 35 The
slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Note:
[1] 8:34 Greek bondservant; also verse 35
Sermon: The God of Jacob is our Fortress
Whether he was going to his trial at Worms to face the wrath of Charles V, or holed up in the Castle at Wartburg having been declared an outlaw, or writing in the cool of his garden at home makes little difference. There are various times in the story of his life when the penning of this song would seem to make more sense to us but it is all speculation. God gives insight to his saints according to his good pleasure. One thing is sure: God gives insight to Luther as he captures the essence of the Psalm and what it means to place hope in the God of Jacob. When we sing it, pay attention to the words of the man we credit with rediscovering the Gospel. For Luther, the mountains - the See of Rome - a monolith of seeming religious truth which had stood for centuries, had crumbled into the midst of the sea of world politics. The sea roared and foamed to devour him.
It isn’t a strain for Luther to see Christ in this Psalm, and it shouldn’t be hard for us either. God is our refuge and strength. Our refuge in that He hides us. As God’s people in the Old Testament rejoiced in the victory won for them by God as the Ark of the Covenant preceded them in battle, hiding behind its protection, we hide in Him from our enemies: sin, death and the Devil. He is our strength – the one who stands in our place and takes on all comers. Because He is present with us in every trouble, we have nothing to fear. The one who made the foundations of the earth can handle a great, leveling earthquake. The one who divided the waters from the land can take on a roiling flood.
Yet, this sure defense doesn’t mean that suffering won’t happen. Ask Luther. Read about his loss of children, freedom, sleep, health, friends, vocation and home. Yet he sings a Psalm that would have been equally hard to sing when those who sang it were in Babylon or under the thumb of Rome. It is in the face of great calamity that this song is sung by God’s people; in the midst of great upheaval – the seeming end of all things – the undoing of creation itself. It is in the midst of pain and suffering that God’s faithful people have held on to this hope.
The River of Life
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.
the holy habitation of the Most High.
If you go to the modern city of Jerusalem and check – there is no river there – nor has there ever been one, for that matter. Yet the Psalmist claims it as a present reality. There was a river in Eden, flowing out of that garden into the rest of the world and providing its life. Here, in this river, we see a combining of the Primeval Garden and the City of God in one image. The life-giving water – a gift from God establishing the happiness of His city-garden – is a source of refreshment for those within its walls and those without, if they would drink it. In the Prophet Ezekiel’s vision, it is a river flowing from the temple, the holy habitation of the Most High, a river too great to cross, lined on either side with fruit trees; its waters reaching the Dead Sea and making its “salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live!” (Ezekiel 47:9) As we look forward through the eyes of St. John, we also see the fulfillment of all things when God brings down a new and perfect city from Heaven;
“And I did not see a temple in the city; for the Lord God Almighty is its temple – even the Lamb…and the angel showed me a river of the water of life bright as crystal going forth out of the throne of God – even the Lamb. (Revelation 21:22; 22:2 – my translation)
The Lamb is the source of that rich storehouse of mercy – water flows from the side of His temple – His body – on the throne of the cross – living water for all who ask – water, like that promised by the God of Jacob to the woman who spoke with Him at Jacob’s well – water to end all thirst.
In the midst of the violent sea, Luther sees with the Psalmist a river that makes glad the city of God. A river flowing from God, with God Who is the Lamb dwelling within that city forever. We have a sure anchor in the midst of a sea of chaos - we are the holy habitation of the most high for Christ the Lamb has placed His Spirit upon us in the river of our baptism. From our Old Testament Lesson, Jeremiah tells us that the Lord has made a new covenant with us, writing it on our hearts. In this holy city, we all know Him and he forgives our “iniquity and remembers our sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) We are the city of God. We will not be moved!
The Sea of Nations
All the nations will gather their forces against the city of God. They will come against it again and again with greater and greater ferocity. Make no mistake – it will happen. It has happened. In Luther’s day, who would have thought that an Augustinian monk, a few German princes and some students and peasants could withstand the onslaught of mighty Rome? The Gospel prevailed. In our day, we see the growing hostility to the Gospel – even within our own denomination. This is truly a battle we cannot win ourselves. Yet…
God will help His city when morning dawns.
This brings to mind the Lord’s victory over Pharaoh as Moses stretched his hand over the sea, that the waters would flow back over the Egyptians. At daybreak, the sea went back into place. (Exodus 14) God turns the dawn of defeat for God’s people into the dawn of victory. He destroyed the enemy with the roaring, foaming water that was stayed for the people of God.
The nations rage, the cities totter
The raging of the nations is brought together with the primeval sea of chaos in the first part of the Psalm. God’s thunderous voice sounds and he sends lightning down from His cloudy chariot. He champions God’s people as he contends with the enemy, melting the earth with each strike on the field of battle (Psalm 97:4-5).
Our Trusty Shield: Rescued from God by God
But how is it that we are spared from God’s wrath? How is it that we have been turned from enemies of God to friends? Are we not rebels? Do we not deserve the same treatment with those who would side against the One who would save them? How is God just in making us into His city and dwelling within us? It is with the greater light of the New Testament that we learn the way in which our sin has been hidden and our freedom in the city of God secured. St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans,
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
A propitiation – the word used here is the name of the cover of the ark (hilasterion) and is a reference to the ultimate sacrifice in the Old Testament for the sins of the people at the festival of Yom Kippur. The cover was where the Glory of the Lord appeared and where the Priest sprinkled the blood of the atonement sacrifice, the blood of a male lamb, for the people. For this reason, it is called the Mercy Seat and Paul sees this as a title for Jesus. God put Him forward as the Mercy Seat;
“[Jesus] is at one and the same time the offering and the priest. He gave his life into death; He shed His own blood in the stead of sinful men, who were worthy of death. With His holy precious blood He appeared before God Himself. He is our Mediator at the highest throne. He pleaded His blood before God and once and for all atoned for the sins and the guilt of the whole world. He turned God’s wrath into pleasure. Marked and covered with His own blood, He stands as the New Testament Kapporeth [Mercy Seat] between sinful men, the transgressors, and the great, holy God and covers all our sins, guilt, shame and weakness before God, so that He no longer reckons them to our account. Therefore men are completely and forever free from their sins, rid of all their transgressions and impurities. That is what propitiation in His blood includes.”
. . . Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:23-25; 27-28).
It is by this faith in the Son of God that we are no longer slaves to the law of works. St John records Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the Son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ”
The hope of this Psalm springs from the presence of God with His people, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. ” The word here, “with us” is the same word that the angel Gabriel gives to Mary for the baby growing within her; “and you shall call his name Emanuel meaning God with us. ” For he is the fulfillment of Israel’s hope – He is the God of Jacob. Jacob was a usurper and a heel-grabber (that’s what his name means). Esau was the firstborn and Jacob stole the blessing from his older brother by taking on his identity. There was nothing deserving in Jacob that God should give him the name Israel. Yet, God hides Jacob’s sin with a new name - a covering far superior to the one Jacob chose for himself. That new name is stripped away here. The old name is used to remind the singers who lived under the old covenant and the new that there is nothing in us of which to boast. There is nothing in us that merits the Champion who comes to fight for us. He does it of his own good pleasure.
The God of Jacob is our Fortress
Here we see Jacob in his sin and weakness enfolded and hidden in his God – a fortress that provides living water to him and to us as we take refuge in Jesus from all that surrounds us.
Jesus has made a new covenant with us in His blood. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world – no shaking of those foundations can move Him. He is the Son of God who has set you free from slavery to the law of sin and death. He is the cover of the ark sprinkled with his own blood and placed between us and the law; between us and our sin. He is the ultimate high priest who enters a temple not made with human hands to offer perfect sacrifice. He is the temple of the New Jerusalem out of whom flows rivers of living water making glad the city of God
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
The Writer
Steve Byrnes is a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Capistrano Beach California. He is a graduate of Christ College Irvine (now home to Concordia University), majoring in English Literature, and Westminster Seminary in Escondido, where he took a Master of Arts in Biblical studies. Steve lives in Mission Viejo.
Select Bibliography
Stöckhardt, George. “Objective Justification,” Translated by Erwin W. Koehlinger.
Potpourri - Book I. (Fort Wayne, Indiana: Concordia Theological Seminary Press, n.d.), pp. 44-48.