Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Saturday after the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: Hebrews 12:18-29 (NKJV)
 
12:18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)
 
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
 
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
 
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
 
Devotion
 
“For our God is a consuming fire.”
 
The God of Mount Sinai was a God who shook the mountain, a God who set the mountain on fire, a God who was a consuming fire. He was a God who consumed anything that was not supposed to be on that mountain at that time. However, the same God who is to be feared is also the God of grace (undeserved pardon).
 
The Scriptures tell us about the work of our God, the Triune God. His alien work is wrath because of our sin. But His proper work is grace, undeserved pardon that forgives our sin. His work is revealed to us in the Law and the Gospel.
 
He loves us so much, but He is also rightfully jealous. He does not want us even thinking about worshiping any other god, for our God is a consuming fire. His wrath can consume us. But thanks be to God that His love consumes us in the Gospel of forgiveness, wrought by the obedience of His Son. He saves us for eternal life with Him, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God, for He is our consuming fire, refining us and leading us into the cool waters and quiet pastures of eternity by His Spirit working true faith in us.
 
Prayer: Almighty God, we beseech Thee, show Thy mercy unto Thy humble servants, that we who put no trust in our own merits may not be dealt with after the severity of Thy judgment, but according to Thy mercy, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who livest and reignest with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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