GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 76:7-9
7 You are to be feared, and only you.
When you are angry,
who can stand before you?
This is echoed in Revelation 6:12-17, and both passages talk about judgment day. When God’s patience comes to an end, he will rise up and end everything. When the story is foretold in Revelation 6, it is terrifying, with the rich and the powerful calling out to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us! Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:16).
We should pay close attention to the phrase at the end of the first line: “and only you.” In Hebrew, this is presented by doubling the pronoun “you,” atah: “You are feared, you (alone).” Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Since the devil is a mere prisoner in hell and not its master, we realize that it is God who destroys (punishes continually) both soul and body in hell. Notice that the NIV and other translations capitalize “the One” in the Matthew passage, a testimony that they also understand that the verse is speaking about God. Yet having said that, Jesus went on to say, “Don’t be afraid” (Matt. 10:31) because God cares for us even more than the sparrows, and “not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father” (10:29). Asaph preaches the same gospel comfort in verses 8-9:
8 From heaven you pronounced judgment.
The earth feared and grew quiet
9 when you, O God, rose up to judge
and to save all the lowly of the earth. Selah (Interlude)
In the same act, God rose up to judge and to save. This is, as my sons sang in their High School Easter Concert last night, the “Christus Paradox,” that by a single act Jesus suffered the penalty for our sin and redeemed us from the power of the devil. He undertook the judgment of God on all mankind. That judgment, spoken by God in the Garden was: “You shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The devil’s lie (“You will not surely die,” Gen. 3:4) is proven a lie by the refrain of every genealogy:
“Adam lived 930 years, and then he died” (Gen. 5:5),
“Seth lived 912 years, and then he died” (Gen. 5:8),
“Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died” (Gen. 5:11),
“… and then he died” (Gen. 5:14),
“… and then he died” (Gen. 5:20).
And on and on.
But Paul proclaims: “As in Adam all die; so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22). All of us burdened by sin, lowly, terrified by the prospect of hell, are rescued by Christ, who gave his own life to save ours. Then rose from the dead as proof that we will rise, too, body and soul, and live with him forever in heaven. Put your faith in Jesus and be content. Your sins are forgiven. You are at peace with God.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota