10.7.2012 LUTHER XI - PROPHETS, OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT

human reason regards the prophetic books as unimportant, finding in them little of value. this is especially true of mr. smart-aleck, who knows the holy scriptures by heart and has them at his fingertips. out of the great wealth of his spirit, he concludes that the prophecies are only vain and idle babble. a consequence of this is that we no longer have a clear view of the lives and works of the prophets, paying attention only to their words and histories. this should not surprise us, since in our day God's word is despised, even though daily the signs and events of the coming of Christ's kingdom are set clearly before our eyes. how much more would that be the case if the history and acts of God were to cease! in similar fashion the children of israel despised God and His word, even though they had before their eyes the heavenly bread, the fiery pillar and the bright cloud and even the priesthood and kingdom, etc.

'therfore we christians should not be such shameful, tiresome and thankless smart-alecks, but read and use the prophets with earnestness and profit. for the first thing they do, through their witness, is to proclaim the kingdom of Christ, in which we now live and in which all those who have believed in Christ have lived and will continue to live to the end of the world.

'it is a powerful comfort and a comforting power for us that we have such strong and ancient witnesses for our christian life. through them we find confident certainty that through our christian faith we stand in a right relationship to God, in contrast to all impure, false and human holiness and sectarian movements. the latter often appear important and have many followers, while the christian faith, on the other hand, brings with it the cross, so that there are but few who accept it. a weak heart could easily be offended by this and fall into serious temptation, as is the case with many in our time by reason of the turks, the papists and other sectarian groups, which give us great offense.

'here the prophets come to our aid. even peter has testified (I pet. 1.11-12) that the prophets were not serving themselves in the things which were revealed to them, but us. it was us, he says, that they were serving. they have so served us through their prophesying that everyone who would live in Christ's kingdom can know that he must first suffer many things before he comes to glory and that he must govern his life by this fact. in this way we can be sure of two things:
first, that the great glory of Christ's kingdom is certainly ours and will come;
and also, that first we must experience
cross, shame, misery, contempt, and every kind of suffering for Christ's sake.
may we therefore not be overcome by impatience, unbelief, or skepticism concerning the future glory, which is to be so great that even the angels desire to see it.

'in addition, the prophets reveal to us many wonderful examples of men who have experienced the meaning of the first commandment. they picture this so masterfully, through word and example, that we might be powerfully moved to the fear of God and to faith, as well as to remain steadfast therein. for beside their prophecy of Christ's kingdom, they have nothing other than strong illustrations of the way in which God enforces His first commandment with strength and severity. thus to read and hear the prophets is nothing else but to read and hear how God threatens the godless, who are self-assured and proud and if threatening is not enough He comes upon them with punishments, pestilence, famine, war, until they are all destroyed. in this way He demonstrates the threat of the first commandment. but He comforts those who fear God, when they find themselves in every kind of need, and comes to them with help and counsel, through all kinds of wonders and signs, against the power of the devil and the world. thus He also demonstrates the comfort of the first commandment.

'by such sermons and illustrations our beloved prophets serve us richly, in order that we should not be offended when we see the pride and self assurance with which the godless despise God's word and note how they pay no attention to His threats, as though God were a weakling. for in the prophets we see that, finally, it has never gone well with one who despised God's threatenings, even though he was the mightiest  of emperors and kings or the holiest and most scholarly of men under the sun. on the other hand, we also see that no one is ever forsaken who has dared to entrust himself to the comforts and promises of God, even though he be the most miserable sinner and poverty stricken beggar who has ever lived upon earth, yes, even if he be a murdered abel or a swallowed jonah. in this way the prophets prove that God abides by His first commandment, that he is a gracious Father to the poor and believing, and that no one is too insignificant or despised of Him but also on the other hand, that He is an angry judge of the godless and the proud and that no one is too great, too mighty, too wise, too holy for Him, even though he be emperor, pope, turk, or the devil himself...