Festival of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession
Posted on June 25, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 16:16-17 (NKJV)
16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.
Devotion
“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.”
In Hebrew, there is a little curl on the upper right corner of the first letter of the alphabet, a “tilde” or “tittle.” It is like the dot on an “i” or the cross on a “t”. Not even that much of the Law will fail. If God said it, He meant for us to understand it, and believe it; all of it!
Plainly, it isn’t easy for heaven and earth to pass away. That doesn’t happen every day! But it would be even harder for part of God’s Word to pass away. His Truth is non-negotiable. Against the “why can’t we all just agree on a few things and get along?” attitude of our age, we must insist that everything God has revealed really matters.
Today we celebrate the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession in A.D. 1530. The word “confession” actually means to say (“fess”) together with (“con”). In our Augsburg Confession we “say with” the Scriptures that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, completely apart from our own works or the works of other people. On this article especially, the Church stands or falls. God grant that we “say together” with Scripture, into the ears of all who will hear it, the whole saving truth of the Holy Christian Faith.
Prayer: Almighty God, who, through the preaching of Thy servants, the blessed Reformers, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine forth, grant, we beseech Thee, that, knowing its saving power, we may faithfully guard and defend it against all enemies, and joyfully proclaim it, to the salvation of souls and the glory of Thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
