| Before beginning this month’s article, I would like to make a correction to last month’s article. I received some feedback that I had misrepresented Roman Catholic doctrine when I said that they worshipped the saints, and that I had equated veneration and worship. Both of those comments are correct. They were unintended errors that I would like to quickly correct now. The Roman Catholic Church does not worship the saints. The main issue Lutherans have with Roman Catholic teaching on the saints is the issue of praying to the saints. Roman Catholics believe that we should pray to the saints because they are in heaven as part of the “great cloud of witnesses,” and as such, praying to them isn’t any different than asking a living saint to pray for you. As Lutherans, we are wary of the idea of praying to them. There is no clear command in Scripture telling us to pray to the saints, nor is there a clear promise that the saints pray for us specifically or intercede for us specifically. The closest we get to either of those things is in Revelation 5:8, where it says that “…the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” I think this verse, at most, allows for an understanding that the saints pray for the Church in general. I do not see where it could say that the saints pray for, or intercede for, specific people here on Earth. Rather, the Scripture clearly tells us to pray to Jesus, and that He hears us as part of His work as Mediator and High Priest for us (John 14:13-14, 1 John 5:13-15, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, Hebrews 4:15-16). That is the issue I should have highlighted, rather than quickly, and wrongly, stating that the Roman Catholic Church worshipped the saints. I would also like to add that “veneration” and “worship” are different words with different definitions, despite having some overlap between them. I should not have equated them to mean the same thing. I apologize if these errors caused any offense. I repent of them, and will seek to be more diligent in my writing moving forward!
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
These verses are taken from the Gospel of Matthew (1:21-23), and they quote Isaiah 7:14, God’s promise of Immanuel. We hear these words often around this time of year, but do you ever pause to think about what they mean? Have you ever paused to think about what that name “Immanuel” means? Matthew tells us that it means “God with us.” Those three little words have massive implications.
God is the Creator of the universe, the One who was, and is, and is to come, the Almighty Father. He has no beginning or end. All things owe their existence to Him. And He tells the prophet Isaiah that one day, He will be with His people as a son, born of a virgin. He will not remain far away in heaven, but be with us. He will be near to us, not far from us. In one sense, that is terrifying to know. If He’s close to us, that means His holiness, goodness, and justice are all near to us sinners. That’s not good news. Those in the Old Testament who got close to God (Moses and Isaiah being the most famous examples), reacted with fear and trembling. They clearly saw how holy God was, and how sinful they were in comparison. God’s holiness cannot coexist with sin, so they feared they would be consumed by God. If God were to come to us in His full glory, we would, indeed, be consumed by it. As I said, not good news!
But God comes to us in a way that allows us to be saved, not consumed. He comes to us covered in Jesus, His glory hidden behind the flesh of His Son. That’s how God being with us is wonderful news. Rather than abandon us in our sin and rebellion, God came down from heaven to be with us in Jesus. He came down to us as a baby boy in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, the fulfillment of God’s promise to Isaiah. He came down to us to save us from our sins, bring us back to Himself, and be with us for eternity. He promised to come to us in Jesus, Immanuel, because He loves us. It was His love and mercy that drove Him to show us grace and save us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Even now, approximately 2000 years later, God, in Jesus, is still with us today. He is with us by means of His Holy Spirit in us, given to us when we first believed. Jesus is with us in His Word and Sacraments. Though He has ascended into heaven, He is present with us every time we hear His Word, and every time we receive His body and blood in Communion. Jesus promises to continue being with us in this way until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), which is the day of His return. On that day, He will finally be with us bodily. We will see Him face to face rather than hidden behind His Word and Sacrament. We will rise from the dead if we have died before His return, and we will all be together as God’s people with Jesus in the new creation. God will be with us as He was with Adam and Eve in the garden.
Immanuel is a wonderfully rich name. It reveals to us that God has come down to us in history to save us, that He is with us today in His Word and Sacrament, and that He will be with us forever in the new creation. This Advent, like every Advent, we look forward to our Immanuel’s coming at Christmas, and His coming return. May we take this time to reflect on, and repent of, the sin that first separated us from God, and may we also take time to live in faith and hope of Immanuel’s coming to be with us, for His coming means our salvation.
In Christ, Pastor Michael Onstad
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