During one of the daily readings from this past week we heard about the plagues that God sent upon Egypt as part of freeing the people of Israel from their slavery and bringing them into the Promised Land. I imagine that it surprises you just as it surprises me every time how stubborn Pharaoh was. Even after his magicians told him that they were, in fact, trying to go toe-to-toe with God, Pharaoh refused to repent and submit to the Word of God. And because of his hardness of heart, Pharaoh allowed the destruction of Egypt and the death of the firstborn of every household in the nation. In the same way, some of the people who saw Jesus free the mute man of the demon stubbornly refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ and Christ warned them that to reject Him was to side with the demons. We might shake our heads at Pharaoh and the people who said that Jesus was working with the devil, wondering “How could you possibly not understand that those were God’s works?” But consider how often we see the works of God and dismiss them because they aren’t the works that we want. Consider how our Lord tells us “Take, drink; this cup is the new testament in My Blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do as often as you drink in remembrance of Me” and we think there are better things, more important things that we could be doing than receiving what He gives. We must recognize the works of God and receive them in faith, or we will chase after others and find ourselves host to seven demons worse than the one which was driven out at our Baptism. Let us rejoice because the kingdom of God has come upon us to drive out doubt and fear, guilt and shame and to fill us with peace and joy and strength to stand against the devil and his demons. I look forward to seeing you this coming Lord’s Day.
Pastor Ulmer