LD 19: Comfort in My King’s Return

Within this Lord’s Day, we shift from the already to the not yet.  The movement from HC #50 to #52 takes the reader from what Christ has fully accomplished to what He has promised yet to do.  On this Lord’s Day our comfort comes in Christ’s promised return.  The two final phrases pertaining to Jesus in the Apostles Creed highlight this Lord’s Day:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.  From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

Like the saints of the Old Testament and those in the intertestamental periods who awaited Christ’s first incarnation, we too wait eagerly for Christ’s second coming.  For now, Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  This is not seat of rest from weariness.  It is taking a seat in satisfaction of what one has accomplished.  Christ’s position at the right hand of God is not only a display of power and rule but of completion.  The work Christ has wrought for our salvation is done; we now wait for our King to bring us home to enjoy the glory of that salvation righteously merited in our stead.

Consistent with the major theme of the Catechism, we find the word comfort again in question #52.  My comfort comes in the King’s return, because with, “…me and all his chosen ones he will take along with him into the joy and the glory of heaven.”  Heaven has been earned and my comfort resides in the King of Heaven who will bring me there as surely as He seats there even now.  In the meantime, He will keep me safe from my enemies and bless me with all the spiritual blessings of the heavenly realms.  I can also find comfort in the past because Jesus is, “the very One who has already stood trial in my place before God and so has removed the whole curse from me.”

To sum up Lord’s Day 19 then, we can say that our comfort is twofold.  First, Christ has removed our guilt and paid our punishment in the cross.  And finally, Christ reigns in the very place He will bring us home to for all eternity… heaven.  Jesus has borne our curse and earned for us perfect righteousness.  Hell is paid and removed, while heaven is earned and granted.  This is why my comfort resides in Christ alone both now and for all eternity, so I eagerly wait for my King’s return.

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Lord’s Day 19
Q & A 50
Q. Why the next words: “and is seated at the right hand of God”?
A. Christ ascended to heaven, there to show that he is head of his church, and that the Father rules all things through him.

Q & A 51
Q. How does this glory of Christ our head benefit us?
A. First, through his Holy Spirit he pours out his gifts from heaven upon us his members. Second, by his power he defends us and keeps us safe from all enemies.

Q & A 52
Q. How does Christ’s return “to judge the living and the dead” comfort you?
A. In all my distress and persecution I turn my eyes to the heavens and confidently await as judge the very One who has already stood trial in my place before God and so has removed the whole curse from me. All his enemies and mine he will condemn to everlasting punishment: but me and all his chosen ones he will take along with him into the joy and the glory of heaven.

LD 18: Comfort in the Ascension

It definitely has been a while since I last blogged.  It’s not because I didn’t want to, so it’s good to be back.  Though hopefully, one day I’ll complete all the Lord’s Days (LD 12-LD 17) I missed since I took my break from posting here.  For now, I’ll continue coinciding the HC’s Lord’s Day with their respective Sunday.  So here we go…

The immediate context of Lord’s Day 18 is the section regarding Christ and our deliverance in the Apostles Creed.  Specifically LD 18 focuses in on the ascension of Christ and how that benefits us who believe in Him.  HC #26 states the Creed in full and notice the extra discussion dedicated to Jesus (bolded mine):

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.  From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

So Christ was born, died on a cross, rose again, and has ascended.  Why is this important?  The HC has much encouragement to offer us regarding Christ’s ascension.

My greatest comfort in life and in death is that I belong both body and soul to my Savior.  The ascension of Christ gives flesh to this comfort.  Christ’s ascension gives me an ever-present hope of a glorious future; in other words, the ascension of Christ is hope-worthy because his ascension will be mine as well.  HC #29 describes this further:

First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father.
There is no one in heaven or on earth that I want to plead my cause, except Christ.  Why?  When Christ pleads my cause, He’s is presenting Himself in my stead.  He is not presenting my personal works.  Neither is He presenting His good works combined with my (so-called) good works.  No, He is presenting Himself.  He is presenting His perfect righteousness as my righteousness.  He is presenting His meritorious obedience to the Father as my obedience to the Father.  His garbs were washed white as snow by His precious crimson blood, and He now clothes me with those precious robes.  The Father sees Christ’s royal clothes and not my filthy rags.  Ultimately, the Father sees me the way He sees Christ.  There is no one else I want pleading my cause save Jesus.  The Father loves the Son and is perfectly pleased with Him.  Christ presents me as His and so, the Father loves me and is perfectly pleased with me in Christ.

Second, we have our own flesh in heaven—a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven.
Christ’s death was our death.  Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection.  So too is His ascension.  He is pleading our cause in heaven because that is where He is taking us.  My comfort in this life is that my next life is eternity with Him.  There is nothing more comforting than Him taking me not only to heaven and all its glory, but that Christ is taking me home to Himself and His radiant glory.

HC #29 challenges me to long for heaven, not because it’s heaven, but to long for Christ who reigns in heaven.

Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit’s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.
Christ had to ascend so that the Comforter might apply all Christ’s benefits to me.  As soon as Christ’s obedience to the Father was perfectly completed, the Holy Spirit was to be sent.  Jesus had to leave so we could receive the deposit guaranteeing our salvation–the Holy Spirit.  A reward of Christ’s obedience was the gift of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  The beauty of the Spirit is that He drives us to Christ and molds us into His image.  All the benefits of Christ’s meritorious work are applied to us by the Spirit.

My prayer is that the Spirit would drive my focus heavenward and give me the desire to embrace Christ in all His fullness.

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Lord’s Day 18
Q & A 46
Q. What do you mean by saying, “He ascended to heaven”?
A. That Christ, while his disciples watched, was lifted up from the earth to heaven and will be there for our good until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.

Q & A 47
Q. But isn’t Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us?
A. Christ is truly human and truly God. In his human nature Christ is not now on earth; but in his divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit he is not absent from us for a moment.

Q & A 48
Q. If his humanity is not present wherever his divinity is, then aren’t the two natures of Christ separated from each other?
A. Certainly not. Since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere, it is evident that Christ’s divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity he has taken on, but at the same time his divinity is in and remains personally united to his humanity.

Q & A 49
Q. How does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us?
A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father. Second, we have our own flesh in heaven—a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven. Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee. By the Spirit’s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.

LD 11: Comfort in the Saving Name

It’s all in the name, and this is often the case with biblical names.  When Mary was found to be with the child, an angel of the Lord spoke very clearly to Mary about the child of her womb.  She was to give him a very specific name, a name that would prophetically summarize the nature of Christ’s earthly ministry of obedience to the Father for the sake of the salvation of His people.  The Father sent the Son by the power of the Spirit to be the Savior of God’s people.

That name is “Jesus”.  This is the basic background of the meaning of the name that Jesus bears.  His name is the Greek form of the Hebrew name of Joshua, which means the LORD saves.  Jesus came to save and his name was to mark that accomplished reality.

After the many biblical figures perceived to be the savior seed of the women (as noted in Seth’s line of Matthew 1) who were ultimately unworthy to save, Matthew emphatically presents Jesus as the Savior who is the promised Seed of the Woman.  Matthew 1:21 says,

“21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

At this point in Mathew’s Gospel, Jesus has yet to make his bodily appearance, but already he is the noted victor and the pinnacle of Scripture’s entire message. The Father has ordained that the Spirit pronounce the name of Jesus on a baby yet to be born.  I find it encouraging that the omniscience of the Father is so intricately tied to the perfect and perpetual obedience of the Son with the giving of this saving name “Jesus.”  Behind the name of Jesus is:

• the Father sending the Son
• the Son obeying the Father
• the Spirit pronouncing victory and applying the Son’s work to God’s people

When we call upon the name of Jesus in faith, we are asking for the very salvation which he has secured for his people.  Jesus is that Savior and there is everlasting comfort in his name.

Thankfully, Jesus is my Savior.

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Part II: Deliverance: God the Son
Lord’s Day 11
Q & A 29
Q. Why is the Son of God called “Jesus,” meaning “savior”?
A. Because he saves us from our sins.  Salvation cannot be found in anyone else; it is futile to look for any salvation elsewhere.

Q & A 30
Q. Do those who look for their salvation and security in saints, in themselves, or elsewhere really believe in the only savior Jesus?
A. No.  Although they boast of being his, by their deeds they deny the only savior and deliverer, Jesus.  Either Jesus is not a perfect savior, or those who in true faith accept this savior have in him all they need for their salvation.

LD 10: Patience. Thankfulness. Confidence.

This Lord’s Day set of questions finds its beauty in its lucidity.  HC #27 states that all things come to us by his Fatherly hand, which is already comforting in and of itself.  Yet, I love how HC #28 elaborates on the Father’s caring hand with these three words…

Patience.  Thankfulness.  Confidence.

These are the blessings from God’s creation and providence.  In this post I simply want to supply biblical passages which reflect these three words.

Patience.
Scripture never promises freedom from adversity and suffering in this life, but in the Father’s care, we can be patient in the Lord.  In our sufferings we can be patient because the end result for those in Christ is hope… the biblical notion of hope that is rooted in the work of Christ, a hope that is as sure as the breath you are now breathing:

3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Thankfulness.
Because the Father’s care is always good, thankfulness is a fitting disposition and response in every season.  I pray for this response, to know His comfort in all circumstances, always:

18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

Confidence.
Our confidence comes in the wonderful promise that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  These are some of the most encouraging words in all the Bible:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:35-39)

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Lord’s Day 10
Q & A 27
Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand.

Q & A 28
Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from his love.  All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

LD 9: My God and Father

We now step into the Apostles’ Creed which begins with the first person of the Trinity, namely the Father.  Lord’s Day 9 can be summarized in saying that God is not only able, He is willing.

Able.
None can match what God is able to do.  This is one of the many aspects that makes God so distinct from His creation.  Perhaps more than anything that highlights the Creator/creature distinction is creation itself.  Repeatedly the Scriptures praise God for his good work of creation which is reason alone to glorify God.  What makes creations so supernatural and amazing is that God spoke creation into existence by the power of His Word.  God created everything out of absolutely nothing.  This is called creation ex nihilo.  As a created being, man had no hand in any of this.  We constantly “create” stuff using things; we are dependent on things in order to make.  This is how the creature functions.  God created every single thing we see (as well as that which we can’t see) by the breath of His powerful Word.  This is how the Creator functions.

This reminds me of when God finally responds to Job.  He tells Job to stand up like a man and getting ready to hear His questions.  Questions to which Job cannot give answer, simply (but profoundly) because he is not God.  These penetrating questions are saturated with the theme of God’s work of creation:

1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand. (Job 38:1-4)

The interrogation goes on for many verses and Job is quiet.  He cannot answer because he is not God.  Creation is such a colossal display of God’s divine power.  Surely creation is reason enough to glorify God and leave no man without excuse to honor Him:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)

Willing.
Yet not only is God completely powerful and able to do that which glorifies Himself, He also desires to do good work for His creation.  That he is so willing is what makes God my personal God.  This is exactly what makes God so loving.  From eternity it was God’s willingness to send the Son into creation, time, and sin as the Creator to also become Redeemer through perfect obedience.  John 3:16 speaks so clearly to this.

Comfort comes into the picture when God’s ability and willingness converge in His providential care of His people.  There are strong elements of HC #1 in today’s HC #26.  The overlap of themes centers upon the comfort we have in God’s providence over our bodies and souls.  This is so wonderfully written at the end of the answer:

I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world.  He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

I’ve never really been any good at the reflective thing.  Never.  So I’ll keep this short.  My dad has always had my best intentions in mind.  Thankfully, it’s something I don’t doubt, so it’s easy to write and share.  Yet how much more true is this of my heavenly Father?  (It’s infinitely more true!)  The HC calls Him almighty, as well as faithful; almighty because He is omnipotent, and faithful because He cannot deny Himself in any way.  My Father in Heaven is faithful to Himself in His benevolence, and there is no greater act of love that He has given me than to willingly send His Son to live and die for me so I can spend all of eternity with Him.  If my Father has taken care of my greatest need, then He will take care of what my body/soul needs daily.  There is nothing more comforting.

No matter what life brings, I know my family and church will be cared for.  I can sleep peacefully at night… every night.  God’s providence brought Christ to this world to live and die for me in order to redeem me.  I am His and there is nothing more comforting than to know that His Fatherly care for me will continue all the days of my life.  I love His providence.

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Part II: Deliverance: God the Father
Lord’s Day 9

Q & A 26
Q. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ his Son.  I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world.  He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

LD 8: Comfort in the Trinity

So how do I tackle this one?  One word not found in the Bible but saturates the pages of Scripture can be used to summarize Lord’s Day 8.  That word is Trinity.  So how can I structure this post to adequately explain one of Christianity’s most essential doctrines and one of her greatest mysteries?

Simply put, I can’t.  Yet, I should and must.  Any Christian should and must be able to give a basic description of who and what the Trinity is, even though a truly all-encompassing definition can’t be given.  Then why must I?  Because the Triune God is who my God truly is and it would be a contradiction to any discussion of faith in that God, both in terms of my personal faith and the object of my personal faith.

The contradiction comes in a common definition of faith.  Faith is knowledge, assent, and trust in an object who is worthy of that knowledge assent, and trust.  Essential to having saving faith is being able to give a basic understanding of why God is worthy to be believed in; this is the knowledge aspect of faith.  Once I have a proper understanding of who God is (ontological) and what He has done (economic) and I assent to His being and doing, I can then rest in Him and place my trust in Him.  Notice the phrase in Him, because what trumps my personal faith is the object of my faith.  The Triune God is worthy to be known, worthy to be assented, and ultimately, worthy to be trusted.

So who is the Triune God?  And what are His works?

The Trinity is:

One God in Three Persons.

• There is One God.
• The Father is God.  The Son is God.  The Holy Spirit is God.
• Each person of the Trinity is equal in power and in glory.

The Trinity’s works are:

• The Father in Creation
• The Son in Deliverance
• The Holy Spirit in Sanctification

This is how the Heidelberg Catechism looks at the Apostles’ Creed’s three-part structure in HC #24.  I find awe in who the Trinity is (HC #25) and comfort in what He does (HC #25).  Interestingly, creation, deliverance, and sanctification can be correlated to guilt, grace, and gratitude respectively.  The Trinity is a comfort to me because the works of the Trinity are a summary of Scripture.  God is the author of His Word and His Word is saturated with our Triune God’s works.

In creation God commanded the law which Adam transgressed ushering in our guilt.  In deliverance God made salvation possible by the Father sending the Second Adam who perfectly obeyed the law ushering in our needed grace.  In sanctification God continues to apply the blessings of the redemption He has secured through the ongoing work of the Spirit for our response in gratitude to Him.  The Word of God speaks to this.

Ultimately, the doctrine of the Trinity is comforting to me because it speaks to my new name.  I’ve been renamed with a name that will last for all eternity.  With my baptism I was baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  As eternal as God is is as far-reaching as my name in Him will be.  So says Matthew 28:19-20:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is my comfort rooted in the Trinity and it takes me back to HC #1:

That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. (HC #!)

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Lord’s Day 8

Q & A 24
Q. How are these articles divided?
A. Into three parts:
God the Father and our creation;
God the Son and our deliverance;
God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Q & A 25
Q. Since there is but one God, why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
A. Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word: these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God.

LD 7: True Faith is the Assurance of Salvation in Christ

The HC’s teaching on true faith comes after the discussion of the person and work of Christ.  Christ in His person is both fully God and fully man.  Christ and His work is essentially the gospel message.  When we believe in the gospel, we believe in the work of the person of Christ.  True faith looks to this fact and nothing else.  Those who lived before the coming of Christ believed in the initial promise of Genesis 3:15 that (1) He would come in history and (2) fulfill what He promised in history.  Those of us who live after His coming believe that the promise was fulfilled in history.

Christianity is a historical religion.  Take our history away, and you take our faith away.  Christianity is not a religion that finds assurance in the deeds we have done.  We don’t get our confidence, conviction, and assurance from the fruit of our faith, namely our good works done in faith to honor God.  Not even that brings assurance.

Our assurance of salvation comes from the conviction that what the Word of God says is true.  To summarize the main message of the Bible is to clearly express the gospel message.  That message is a historical account of the person and work of Christ.  This is why faith comes after a discussion of who Jesus is and what He has done.  Faith looks to Christ and finds assurance in Him.  HC #21 says that true faith is, “…is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ.”  Assurance is created in us by the Holy Spirit and earned for us by Christ.  Assurance comes from a knowledge and conviction of the gospel message by our union in Him and participation in all the blessings that follow.

Because our sins our constantly repeated, the gospel needs to be heard repeatedly and continuously as a reminder of our salvation found in Jesus.  This is why confessing the Apostles’ Creed in faith (along with the Nicene Creed) is one of the greatest blessings of the Christian life.  It leads us right back to the Triune gospel work of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This gospel we must believe and confess all the days of our lives.

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Lord’s Day 7
Q & A 20
Q. Are all saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam?
A. No.  Only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his blessings.

Q & A 21
Q. What is true faith?
A. True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his Word is true; it is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.

Q & A 22
Q. What then must a Christian believe?
A. Everything God promises us in the gospel. That gospel is summarized for us in the articles of our Christian faith—a creed beyond doubt, and confessed throughout the world.

Q & A 23
Q. What are these articles?
A. I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

LD 6: The Protoevangelium

Keeping it short today, because I’m sick.  Nausea and a fever aren’t condusive to sane writing.

I covered much of Lord’s Day 6 last week and ended with this statement, which combines LD5 to LD6:

Because our righteous Savior is 100% Man and 100% God, He alone is worthy to be our Mediator who is both willing and able to bear the punishment of our sins and earn for us heaven’s righteousness.

So I want to quickly write about HC# 19 and its instruction on the redemptive historical unveiling of the gospel.  The gospel is first told in seed form in Genesis 3:15.  Coming just after the Fall, God is pronouncing judgment to the serpent:

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
(Genesis 3:14-15)

Tension will always exist between God’s line of people and the serpent’s line.  That tension will be characterized by “enmity” and should not surprise us even to this day.  What should bother us is if there isn’t any tension living as His child in this world.

The enmity of Genesis 3:15 became most pronounced at the cross.  There the Father poured out His wrath on the Son exacting the eternal death that we should have suffered.  Satan thought his “strike of the heel” was a victorious blow.  It was.  By Satan’s apparent victory God was able to secure a people for Himself.  It was God’s victory, not Satan’s.  Christ the Victor “crushed the serpent’s head.”  That is the gospel conveyed to us in the midst of perhaps the darkest chapter in Scripture.  That is the protoevangelium, the first gospel message.  Good is good.

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Lord’s Day 6
Q & A 16
Q. Why must he be truly human and truly righteous?
A. God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin; but a sinner could never pay for others.

Q & A 17
Q. Why must he also be true God?
A. So that, by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God’s anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Q & A 18
Q. And who is this mediator—true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous?
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God.

Q & A 19
Q. How do you come to know this?
A. The holy gospel tells me. God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, he fulfilled it through his own dear Son.

LD 5: The Person of Christ = 100% God and 100% Man

Because our righteous Savior is 100% Man and 100% God, He alone is worthy to be our Mediator.

That’s my summary of LD 5; now it’s time to explain it more.

Lord’s Day 5 is central to the gospel of Christ because it describes the person of Christ.  The gospel is the good news of what Christ has done in history.  So here, we must first look at Christ’s being and then His doing.  Regarding Christ, it’s absolutely fundamental that we understand both His person and His work.  In these set of questions we look specifically at the person of Christ.

First, I want to highlight the clarity taught in HC #12 concerning the need for 100% justice.  Inherent in our creation is the relationship that all humans have with their Creator.  We were created for His glory; all our actions are in some way directed towards Him; this is true speaking both positively and negatively.  Unfortunately here in LD 5, the attention is on the negative; it’s on our sins.  When Adam fell in sin, the Creator-creature distinction became that much more pronounced.  Our total depravity ushered in a chasm of infinite, eternal quality in relation to our Creator’s perfect holiness.  Furthermore, the consequence of our sin is infinite, eternal punishment.  It is to this grave predicament which HC #12 addresses.

As I’ve written before, God is a just God and his justice must be perfectly satisfied because He is perfect and cannot deny His perfections.  Justice and truth are at the forefront here.  Not one single sin can be left unpunished; all sins must be dealt with justly.  The truth of God’s Word leaves us with this choice: either we pay the eternal punishment of sin ourselves or someone pays that punishment for us.  Either way each and every sin will be punished.  The question is: who will pay that punishment?

God requires that his justice be satisfied.  Therefore the claims of his justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or another. (HC #12)

Perhaps the thought might trickle in that I’ll just make sure to live the best life possible.  I’ll make sure to have my good deeds outweigh every failure and wrongdoing I’ve ever committed, so that by the time my life ends, my life’s resume will allow me an eternal pass from punishment.  But the HC stops me dead in my tracks:

Actually, we increase our guilt every day. (HC #13)

The desire to rest on my own good works sets me straight on the path towards me personally paying for the very sins I’m trying to cover up with good works in the first place.  If I try to offer up my good works, I have to also offer up my sinful thoughts, words, and deeds.  It must be the totality of my life.  On top of that, the Bible is clear that even my apparent good works are tainted through and through with sin.  In the end, I have nothing to offer God except sin and consequently to personally bear the punishment of my own sins.

Thankfully though, Lord’s Day 5 begins the shift from guilt to grace, from law to gospel, and it starts with the person of Christ.  Here is a combined answer of HC #14-15:

To begin with, God will not punish another creature for what a human is guilty of.  Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal anger against sin and release others from it. We need a mediator, who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

Here’s a simple explanation:

• Who sins?  People.  Humans must pay for the sins which men have committed.  Those paying the punishment of sins must be men… He who pays must be 100% man.
• What are the requirements of heaven?  Perfect righteousness.  Nothing less is acceptable to a perfectly righteous and holy God.  The standard is 100% perfect righteousness.  He who enters heaven must be 100% righteous.
• What are the consequences of sin?  Death.  Death comes to those who sin, but more specifically it’s eternal death.

Enter the Mediator
God’s Word presents Jesus as the only Mediator able to fit these requirements.  When we look at the person of Christ, we see that He’s is presented as 100% Man and 100% God.  How this can be is only understood by God Himself, but inability to comprehend the person of Christ doesn’t hinder its truth.

Jesus must be 100% man because man sinned.  It should be noted that Jesus never sinned, so in that way, was more human than we’ll ever be in this life.  We were created to live without sin for God’s glory.  Jesus wasn’t created (He already was) but He did live completely without sin entirely for His Father’s glory.  As a man, He died for man’s sin.

Jesus must be 100% God to appease the offended party.  Jesus came to this world as the incarnate Son of God.  He had to be God because the full collection of man’s sins are directed at God.  God is the offended party.  God, being an eternal God, must punish sins eternally.  Only an eternal Being can pay for an eternal punish and still conquer the pangs of sin’s death.  Jesus is the only One who can pay the eternal punishment of sin, because He is an eternal Being.

So Lord’s Day 5 begins my summary sentence and Lord’s Day 6 will complete the added description…

Because our righteous Savior is 100% Man and 100% God, He alone is worthy to be our Mediator who is both willing and able to bear the punishment of our sins and earn for us heaven’s righteousness.

***************

Lord’s Day 5

Q & A 12
Q. According to God’s righteous judgment we deserve punishment both in this world and forever after: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God’s favor?
A. God requires that his justice be satisfied.  Therefore the claims of his justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or another.

Q & A 13
Q. Can we pay this debt ourselves?
A. Certainly not.  Actually, we increase our guilt every day.

Q & A 14
Q. Can another creature—any at all—pay this debt for us?
A. No.  To begin with, God will not punish another creature for what a human is guilty of.  Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal anger against sin and release others from it.

Q & A 15
Q. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?
A. One who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

LD 0: Heidelberg Catechism Introduction for 2011

Thankfully, I’ve already made my way through the catechism’s concluding section on the Lord’s Prayer, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now it’s on to the rest of the catechism where I should have begun from the outset (I couldn’t wait to properly start in January so I just had to pick it up mid year in September 2010).  Well…

• If you’re rusty on your Christian doctrine, then stick with me each week.  If at the very least stop by just to read the Heidelberg Catechism for a refresher; trust me, that alone will be worth a weekly glance.
• If you’re new to Reformed Theology, then my brief surveys of the Heidelberg Catechism’s Lord’s Days will give you a good primer on what I’m convinced is the most biblically faithful theological system.
• If you’re new to Christianity, then you’ll get a firmer grip on what the Christian gospel is.  I can’t give you anything better in this life than a clearer picture of the gospel.

Hopefully it’ll be worth your time.  Now on to an overview of the HC:

Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude

Guilt, Grace and Gratitude (or Law, Gospel, and Sanctification) sum up the Heidelberg Catechism. This is also the cycle the Christian will repeatedly experience all the days of his life until he goes home where he will experience eternal Glory. This threefold partition of the HC takes you through the entire calendar year. HC#2 structures the remainder of the catechism for us:

2. How many things are necessary for you to know, that in this comfort you may live and die happily?

Three things: the first, how great my sin and misery is; the second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery; the third, how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption.

So here’s the catechism’s self-determined outline:

• Lord’s Days 2-4 (#3-11) concern our Guilt before God
• Lord’s Days 5-31 (#12-85) concern our Grace from God
• Lord’s Days 32-52 (#86-129) concern our Gratitude towards God

The HC is tidy and clear, perfect for reflection and instruction. This is why the catechism has been front and center at my site; perhaps a more appropriate tagline over the present “deacons likewise must be…” should be “gratitude through reflection and instruction.” My goal is to serve as a deacon out of the overflow of the Spirit’s work in me through His Word. A Deacon’s Life was always meant to be both reflective and instructional.

If guilt, grace, and gratitude, don’t tug at your heart, then how about looking a little deeper into outline of the HC? Broken up another way, here are the major sections:

FIRST PART OF MAN’S MISERY

SECOND PART OF MAN’S REDEMPTION

• THE APOSTLES’ CREED
• OF GOD THE FATHER
• OF GOD THE SON
• OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
• THE SACRAMENTS
• OF HOLY BAPTISM
• OF THE HOLY SUPPER

THIRD PART OF THANKFULNESS

• THE LAW OF GOD (TEN COMMANDMENTS)
• PRAYER (LORD’S PRAYER)

I get excited at how far reaching the HC is. Wouldn’t you like to have a firmer grasp on all these topics (like the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer)? All of this never gets old to me; I read it over and over and over again. Many desire to memorize all the questions and answers, but few actually do. Unfortunately, I’m a part of the many, but I hope to change that one day and be a part of the few. Still, this is pretty much my passion, even if I’m awful at memorization.

I would challenge you to take a good look at the HC for 2011 (actually every year for that matter!). For this reason, I recommend Kevin DeYoung’s The Good News We Almost Forgot. It’s basic and brief, so it won’t be too much to handle.

Here’s the author’s dedication:

To Ian, Jacob, Elsie, and Paul,

Daddy loves you more than you know.

I hope you grow up to like the Heidelberg Catechism half as much as I do.

Nice little coincidence that Jacob and Paul are members of his family. You have no idea how much I wish this upon my family too! Join me this year.