Tag: Divine Service

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: A Parable in Leviticus

Jesus often spoke in parables. Our Lord uses everyday illustrations such as sheep (Luke 15:1–7), sons (Luke 15:11–32), and coins (Luke 15:8–10) to paint pictures of God’s kingdom. Through these parables, Jesus proclaimed the good news that God goes to great lengths to seek after the lost, forgotten, poor, and dead to resurrect them. 

This Gospel “good news” however, the proclamation of Christ crucified for us, did not originate in the New Testament gospels. In Genesis 3:15 the first Gospel promise was spoken and has been proclaimed since. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. He is the center of the parables, the One who goes to great lengths, even going into death, to seek after the lost.

In Leviticus, in the tabernacle, we see another parabolic illustration of the lengths Jesus goes to to seek after the lost.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. The lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before the Lord must be tended continually” (Leviticus 24:1–4).

Housed in the tabernacle was a lamp which never ceased burning. Even in the evening, when the black veil of darkness covered the earth, a light proceeded to pierce the darkness shining in the Lord’s dwelling place.

In his commentary on the book of Leviticus, John Kleinig writes of this light, “It was the light that came from God’s presence and proclaimed that presence with his people in the menacing darkness of the night. More precisely, it was the light of his presence that shone on his people with his grace and blessing… Like the whole outer tent and its rituals, they were parabolic for the present age and lasted until the coming of the Messiah. They prefigured the work of Jesus with his establishment of the new way into the heavenly sanctuary by means of the holy things.”

The lamp served more than just a practical purpose, illuminating the surrounding space in the tabernacle. This lamp prophesied of the One who would come into our darkness. The One who would go to such great lengths to rescue us that He, Himself would enlighten our darkness.

This means too, then, that when we do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things we leave our Light, the only light who is Jesus. But, on the cross, Jesus was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus even went into the darkness of death to seek and save us.

This ever-burning lamp reveals Jesus, the Light of the world (John 1:5), whose saving light has burst into our sin-eclipsed souls to bring us out of the darkness and into His Light (Colossians 1:13), the Light no darkness can overcome.

All this is given to us in baptism, where the Trinity bespeaks us righteous. Therefore, as the hymnist Martin Franzmann writes, “Thy Strong Word bespeaks us righteous; bright with Thine own holiness” (LSB 578). We are made righteous through water and the Word. Through baptism we are connected to Christ, and filled with His light. The liturgy of our baptism even points to this reality, “Receive this burning light to show that you have received Christ who is the Light of the world” (LSB 271).

Thus, in the Divine Service, the Lord dwells with us in Word and Sacrament. Like the candle which never ceased providing light, so our God never ceases from His work for us. Likewise, in the Small Catechism, Martin Luther writes,”The Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified, and kept me in the true faith.” As the priests continually tended to the lamps, so our Lord continually tends to us in the Divine Service to dispel the shadows of doubt and unbelief, and to extinguish our sin with the light of His absolution.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: The Gospel of Leviticus

Seven miles they walked with Him. And, in that journey, the incarnate Word of God opened their eyes to the One of whom the Law and the prophets spoke. The Key of David unlocked the Scriptures and proclaimed to them the Gospel—using the Old Testament.

Martin Luther once wrote, “The Gospel is not Christ.” Norman Nagel continues, “The Gospel is the proclamation of Christ. The proclamation of Christ is the proclamation of the cross, the proclamation of the cross for you.” And, on that road to Emmaus, the risen Christ proclaimed this Gospel to His beloved disciples.

As they traveled through the Scriptures, the Law and the prophets gave witness to how Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection overcame sin, death, and hell for them. Books such as Leviticus pointed to the atoning work the Lamb of God would accomplish for them. And, for you and me.

So, why do we still read from both the Old and New Testament every week? Because it’s all about Jesus! (Luke 24:27) The Old Testament is filled with the promise of our Savior. Jesus is first promised to us in Genesis 3:15. That promise of redemption is repeated throughout the Scriptures and fulfilled in Christ.

In the Divine Service Jesus is working through His Word delivered to our ears to give us the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is working in the reading of the Word to create and sustain faith in Christ. Jesus is giving Himself to us here in the Gospel.

Jesus said that the entire Scriptures speak of Himself (Luke 24:27), which means Leviticus also proclaims the work of Christ for us. The Gospel Leviticus proclaims is the good news of Christ’s redemptive work for our justificaiton and sanctififcaiton.

John Kleinig writes, “Leviticus proclaims the same Gospel that is enacted in the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament, the same Gospel that the church is to proclaim to the world until the close of human history. This book, then is most relevant to the life of the church because it proclaims the Gospel of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Leviticus is not an outdated, irrelevant book in the Bible. The Word of God is at work bearing witness and proclaiming the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus is our Great High Priest who removes our sin with His own blood and sacrifice in our place (Hebrews 9:11–14). Jesus’ work on the cross is the peace, guilt, and sin offering—one time for all time (Hebrews 9:25–26).

We may not be walking on the road to Emmaus with Jesus, but Jesus is still at work and present in the Divine Service with His gifts. He is still the Key of David which unlocks our minds to the beautiful Gospel. He has made us His own through His priestly and sacrificial work on the cross given to us richly and continually through Word and Sacrament.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: The Hidden Glory of God

17 Rembrandt The Three Crosses (second state) 1653 Drypoint and burin printed on vellum, 381 x 438 mm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Rembrandt's romance with drypoint in the 1650s and 1660s is one of the important milestones in the history of printmaking. His inventiveness in this medium led to the creation of compositions that offered more complex visual information and variety of drama than previously had been imagined, and whereas earlier intaglio prints had been translucent and in general rather bodiless, Rembrandt's had a structure and richness of surface that approximate many of his great oil paintings. Moreover, they are illumined by an expressive power that never fails to pierce to the heart of things, whether the subject be, as it is here, a momentous scene from Scripture or the simplest study of still life. ....Web Gallery Of Art

Look around when you enter the sanctuary of your church. What catches your eye? If you were to walk with one of the saints from the Old Testament and go to the divine service in the tabernacle with them, you may have more in common with them than you think.

As you enter the tabernacle one element stands apart. The bronze altar lit up daily with consuming fire. The glory of the Lord came to the people through this altar. On this altar their iniquities went up in smoke. Their sins were burned up. On this altar, the priest made atonement for the transgressions of Israel.

In Leviticus, the Lord instructs the priests through Moses to bring several offerings to this altar.

“Moses said: ‘ This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you. Then Moses said to Aaron: “Approach the altar and perform the ritual for your sin offering and your burnt ofering: make atonement for yourself and for the people. Then perform the ritual for the offering of the people; make atonement for them — just as the Lord has commanded” (Leviticus 9: 6–7)

The Lord commanded these offerings be brought by the people and He commanded the priest to offer these up on the altar, not for the sake of Himself, but for the forgiveness and reconciliation of His people to Himself. The Lord promised that the sins His people committed against Him would be wiped away, destroyed, forgiven.

The sins of Israel would be atoned for and the glory of the Lord would appear to them. This was the center and focus of the Old Testament divine service—and the center and focus of the divine service today.

The Apostle Paul writes, “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17). As we come into the sanctuary of our churches, we may not see an altar lit with flames to which we bring beast and grain offerings. But, the divine service remains the same. It is through the sacrifice, the offering of atonement in which we are saved from the penalty of our sins, granted peace, and through which the glory of the Lord appears to us.

On the altar of the cross atonement has been made for our sins, just as the Lord first promised (Genesis 3:15). In Jesus’ death our sins are also dead in their power over us. The glory of God is hidden and revealed to us in Christ. He is the fulfillment of the Law and prophets, including Leviticus!

The holy Lamb undaunted came
To God’s own altar lit with flame;
While weeping angels hid their eyes,
This Priest became a sacrifice. (LSB 624)

The center of Leviticus is Christ, our Priest, crucified for us on the altar of the cross. John Kleinig writes about the divine service, “God had instituted the divine service in ancient Israel so that he could manifest his glory to his people on earth and bless them…In the new covenant, God’s glory is hidden in the humanity of Jesus and revealed to the saints through God’s Word.”

In the divine service we praise God in the Gloria in Excelsis for revealing His glory, His saving work for us in Christ, to us. In the absolution, in baptism, in the Lord’s Supper the atoning work of our Great High Priest is revealed to us. The glory of God dwells among us. Our Lord meets to forgive, sanctify, and bless us. Glory to God in the highest!

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: Our Ascended High Priest

Jesus is ascended, He is ascended indeed. We proclaim the ascension of Christ when confessing the creed. But, why did Jesus ascend into heaven? What does Jesus’ ascension mean for us?

In His ascension, Jesus continues His work for us and among us. Jesus, having finished His redemptive work for us, ascended to the Father’s right hand to be our advocate (1 John 2:1–2). He is our great and ascended High Priest (Hebrews 8:1).

We read in Leviticus that the vocation of a priest was to serve as an advocate, an intercessor, between God and the people of Israel. However, this priesthood was incomplete (Hebrews 7:11). The priesthood of Aaron was tainted with sinners. The priest could only bring offerings and intercede for others after they themselves had been cleaned from their transgressions. Even the office of the High Priest was incomplete as he changed with each passing generation.

Albrecht Peters describes Jesus’ work for us in the ascension when he writes, “He has pressed on into the heavenly sanctuary, as the eternal high priest, bearing the sacrifice of His entire life that is all-sufficient.” The Levitical priesthood was inadequate to complete the work they were given. But, Jesus, our great High Priest, finishes the work. He intercedes for us not with the sacrifices of animals or grain but with Himself. He Himself is the peace offering, the sin offering, the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement . He finishes everything in the Law and the prophets with His finished work on the cross (Luke 24:25–27). Now, as our ascended High Priest, He is our defence, our absolution, and peace with our Heavenly Father.

In the Divine Service, Jesus continues to serve us through His priestly work on our behalf. John Kleinig, in his commentary on the book of Hebrews, speaks of Jesus’ being our liturgical minister. Kleinig writes, “As their liturgical minister, [Jesus] brings God’s sanctifying gifts to the people in the Divine Service, so that through him they can present their offerings as sacrifices to God.”

Jesus, our High Priest, washes us from the sin which has made us unclean through the waters of Holy Baptism. He forgives our sins and grants us peace with God through His holy meal in His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus sanctifies us through the gifts in the Divine Service and gives us salvation by giving us Himself. As Jesus ascended into heaven He became our eternal advocate. Unlike the Levitical priests, He will never be replaced. He is our eternal High Priest.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: Amen

If you want to read about the good news of Jesus’ work for you, where do you turn? Your first thought may be to open to one of the Gospel accounts. Maybe you page to one of Paul’s epistles. In all these you will certainly find the wonderful proclamation of Christ who lived, died, and lives again for you. But, would your first choice be a book in the Old Testament? Would you turn to Leviticus?

The same Lord who comes to us in Word and sacrament today is the same Lord who came to His people in the Old Testament. The work of Christ for us is clearly shown in the Gospels and proclaimed in the epistles. In the Old Testament, the Gospel is proclaimed as a shadow of what would come in the incarnation.

The Apostle Paul writes,

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”(Romans 3:32–22).

Leviticus bears witness to Christ our great High Priest, our atonement, our sanctification, our holiness. Leviticus is not a handbook of how to earn favor with God through mere sacrificial works and outward acts. Author Chad Bird describes it this way, “The tabernacle of the Old Testament was not a slaughterhouse to satisfy the bloodthirst of an angry diety. It was the Father’s house, where his children came to be redeemed by the death of a substitute.”

Levitical sacrifices had no strength apart from the Word of God and faith. No benefit existed apart from the Holy Spirit worked faith which listen and received the gifts of God. The Apology to the Augsburg Confession states, “Faith is the divine service that receives the benefits offered by God.”

We receive and confess this divine service, which God works in us, as we hear the promise of the forgivness of sins in the absolution and respond with one word, “Amen.” This single word is a gift. Faith receives the benefits of absolution and clings to the promise that Christ lived, died, and rose for me, for the forgiveness of my sins.

In the Small Catechism Martin Luther writes, “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.”

Faith is a gift from our gracious God which receives and holds onto His promised mercy. Faith listens to and firmly believes in God’s Word. Faith sets its eyes and ears on Christ. Jonathan Grothe describes faith in this way, “Faith itself has no strength at all, but it is the channel through which flows all the strength of God himself. Our faith, like Abraham’s ‘comes from what is heard’ and lives by holding to that heard and heeded Word of God.”

Leviticus is all about the work of Jesus for you.It is the liturgy, the divine service of the Old Testament. The same faith the Holy Spirit created in the saints of the Old Testament He creates in us. In God gifted faith, they looked forward to the ultimate Day of Atonement, the ultimate Lamb of God who would take away their sins. In the Divine Service we too look to Christ, the Lamb of God, who has atoned for our sins on Calvary. We can only say, “Amen” through the faith God gifts us. And, with ears of God-given faith, we hear the absolution in the divine service and exclaim, “Amen!”

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: Absolution in the Wilderness

Leviticus. It’s a messy book. Open up to Leviticus and you’ll find pages bleeding with words of bloody sacrifices. Goats, bulls, and rams all give their lives for the sins of Israel.

Leviticus drips with the blood of beasts. But, why is this particular book in the Bible filled with so many sacrifices and so much blood? The writer to the Hebrews states, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). In other words, sin must be accounted for, a price must be paid to atone for sin. Forgiveness cannot be dispensed without a blood sacrifice. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Sinners cannot commune with a holy God. So, in His gracious mercy, the Lord provided a way in which to cover and cleanse Israel of their sins. In Leviticus chapter sixteen we read about the Day of Atonement, the day the Lord appointed for the whole of Israel to be absolved of their sin every year.

“For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins” (Leviticus 16:30).

There were two important elements specific to this Day of Atonement. On this day of sacrifice, two goats were to be selected. One of these goats was to be a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. The other would be brought alive to Aaron, the High Priest. The High Priest then confessed all the transgressions of Israel, placing them on the head of this goat. Now, bearing the full weight of the iniquities of Israel, the goat would be cast into the wilderness where it would die along with sins of the people. Instead of Israel paying the pentalty for their own sin, a substitute was given to them.

Leviticus is not filled with laws, commands, and ordinances so much as it is filled with promises. Israel is passive on the Day of Atonement. Their sin is taken from them and placed on the shoulders of another. God, Himself, cleanses them of their iniquities and provides a way to graciously be with and bless His people.

Martin Luther once remarked, “Wherever you cut the Bible open, it bleeds Christ.” Here, in Leviticus chapter sixteen, the Scriptures point to the blood of a greater substitute.

The hymn, In the Shattered Bliss of Eden, points us to that greater substitute when we sing,

“What these sacrifices promised
From a God who sought to bless,
Came at last — a second Adam —
Priest and King of righteousness:
Son of God, incarnate Savior,
Son of Man, both Christ and Lord,
Who in naked shame would offer
On the cross His blood outpoured.” (LSB 572, 3)

Just like Israel, we do not answer for our own sin. We do not clean ourselves and atone for our own sin, we cannot. Jesus, as our Great High Priest, cleanses us of our sins through the sacrifice of Himself once and for all (Romans 6:10). He took up the full weight of all our transgressions and iniquities. Our confession fell on Him as He traveled into the wilderness of Calvary to be a sin offering in our place.

As we enter into the divine service, we confess our sins to our High Priest confident that His blood now covers and absolves us of our guilt. He has answered for our sins on the altar of the cross.

The Lord commanded that the gift of absolution through the Day of Atonement be delivered to His people. After His resurrection, Jesus sends His Apostles out to deliver the gifts He won for you and me on the cross. Jesus sends out His disciples to be priests absolving the sins of the penitent.

 “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20: 21–23).

Pastor Norman Nagel describes the working of our Great High Priest when he says, “He is the One who, by the marks of Calvary on Him, is the One who has answered for our sins and therefore is the One who can give the forgiving words to the apostles to speak. And His words are alive with the Spirit to bestow the gifts that they bring, here, the forgiveness of sins in Holy Absolution.” Leviticus, just like the divine service, is all about the Gospel gifts.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: Baptized

“And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing that the LORD has commanded to be done.” And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water” (Leviticus 8:5–6).

Leviticus is filled with God’s commands for his people. In the book of Leviticus you will find countless restrictions and requirements for sacrifices and offerings. However, as author Chad Bird writes,“The tabernacle of the Old Testament was not a slaughterhouse to satisfy the bloodthirst of an angry deity. It was the Father’s house, where his children came to be redeemed by the death of a substitute.”

In Leviticus chapter eight, the Lord commands that the priests be washed with water as part of their consecration or being set apart. “And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing that the LORD has commanded to be done.” And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water” (Leviticus 8:5–6).

What is that all about? All of Scripture points to Christ (Luke 24:27). Therefore, this too points to what God in Christ has done for us.

The priests, just as the rest of Israel, were sinners. What set them apart for service and to approach God with intercession, prayers, offerings, and sacrifices was not their own doing, but the Lord’s. Their sin needed to be atoned for. They needed to be cleansed, washed of their transgressions. Therefore, the Lord commanded the consecration, the setting apart of the priests for service to Himself.

The writer to the Hebrews speaks of a washing with water as well. In fact, some settings of the divine service make reference to these words during confession and absolution! “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).”

The water which the writer to the Hebrews speaks of is the waters of our baptism. The Lord Himself has commanded it. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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” (Matthew 28:18–19).

Just as the priests were set apart through a sacrifice and washing with water, we too are set apart through Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself for our sins. His washing of water and the Word, which comes to us in Holy Baptism, consecrates us.

Our sin is paid in full by Jesus’ death on calvary. Our transgressions are washed away as baptismal water covers us. We are baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are set apart as God’s children to intercede for one another, offer prayers and approach our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.

The divine service continues the work God first began in us through baptism. Norman Nagel writes, “When the Lord puts his name on something, he marks it as his own…Where God locates his name, there he is bound to be. He cannot evacuate his name. What and whom he puts his name on are his.”

We enter into the divine service in the Name of the Triune God whom we worship. He is the God who has made and claimed us as His own in the waters of baptism. He washed away our sin, setting us apart by placing His Name upon us. As we enter into worship, we remember what the Lord has done for us.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: The Liturgy of Leviticus

Leviticus can be intimidating. Chances are, if you’ve tried to read through the Bible beginning with Genesis and ending in Revelation, you’ve noticed something different already in the third book, Leviticus. It’s not quite like the two previous books of Moses.

Genesis and Exodus are narrative in nature. They are history books filled with the stories of creation; the flood, God’s promises to Abraham and his decendents, the story of Israel and of Joseph, and, one the most well-known accounts, Israel’s rescue from their slavery to the Egyptian nation.

Leviticus, however, is different. It’s a book filled with commands, laws, and instructions. Leviticus makes distinctions between what is clean and unclean, holy and vile.

However, despite all the commands, laws, and instructions, Leviticus is not a guideline on how to please God. The book is not a how-to manual on how to work up enough holiness or how to secure religious cleanliness by following a set of laws.

Leviticus is about one thing. The same thing all of Scripture points to: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Leviticus points to Christ through God’s divine service to his people.

Leviticus is the giving of the divine service. Since Leviticus is all about God’s divine service, it is all about the gifts Jesus brings to his people. The focus is not on the verbs of the people; what they bring to the table through their offerings and sacrifice. Leviticus has it’s focus on what God, through Christ, has done and freely gives. We do not bring sacrifices to please God, rather, the Lord pours out himself to us through the means of Word and sacrament.

Leviticus is an illustration of the work of Christ as our great High Priest. The hymn, In the Shattered Bliss of Eden by Stephen Starke beautifully ties the sacrifices we find in Leviticus with their fulfillment in Christ. “What these sacrifices promised from a God who sought to bless, Came at last a second Adam priest and King of Righteousness.” 

The divine service today gives the same gifts Israel received through the liturgy appointed in Leviticus. The Lord gathers his people to forgive their sins, and crown them with the eternal life Jesus brings through Word and sacrament.

Categories
Catechesis

The Divine Service: Benediction

The scorching heat and sand of the desert wasteland became more bearable than staying with Sarai, her mistress, whom she fled. As she found respite in a spring of water, the Lord found her. And He talked with her. An afflicted and distressed runaway servant sits in the wilderness conversing with God.

After their exchange, Hagar overflows with praise to the God whom she has now seen. In her exaltation she does not choose to acclaim Him as the God who is merciful, faithful, just, or compassionate—though she could have. Hagar chooses the verb “seeing” to extol God — He is the God who sees.

At the close of the Divine Service we join with Hagar in her praise and exalt the God who has seen us. The Lord has turned His face toward us and sees us. The Lord has seen us in our affliction by sin, death, and the Devil. He has seen and does not turn His face away from us, but rather turns it towards us in Christ.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” — Numbers 6:22–27

As the Divine Service concludes, we recieve the benediction and are dismissed with the Lord’s Name upon us. The Lord who has seen us will be with us. He will not turn His back on us, but will continue to be gracious to us and look on us not as sinners, but as Baptized children.

We leave in the same way we began, by the Lord putting His Name on us. Norman Nagel expresses the significance of this when he writes, “When the Lord puts his name on something, he marks it as his own…Where his name is located, he is committed by that name to see to its good. Such good the benediction draws out of his name and bestows.”

The Lord is the God who sees me, who Baptized me and made me His own. He is the God who forgives, who blesses and sanctifies. He is the God who sees sinners and does not turn away. The Lord is the God who sees and provides, who feeds His children at His table that He might wash away their sins and draw them to Himself again and again.