Archived Sermon

This is the Sermon for the Second Wednesday in Advent in the 2013 Church Year -- December 12, 2012 at

Shaped by the Cross Lutheran Church
Laurie, Missouri

But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, 0 Jacob, And He who formed you, 0 Israel, “Do not fear. for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Sermon for the Second Wednesday in Advent 12/12/12

The names of God reveal a great deal about Him. We certainly do not get everything we know about God from His names – except in the sense that the entire Bible is His name – but we can clearly see what is central and important to Him. To fill in all the details, however, requires something more than just the words we use as names. Our text tonight gives us that “something more.̓ It amplifies and expands on the name which God gives us Himself tonight. Our name for the week is, I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior

The name of God tonight reveals God as the covenant God of Israel. He uses the name He gave to Moses – a name which means I Am Who I Am. In that name there is a caution about false doctrine and an encouragement about knowing God in all that He teaches us. I am who I am – I am not who you may think I am. I am not what you will make of Me. I am who I am. Get that part wrong, and you are not speaking about me at all.

We hear the very same message from 2 John 1:9, Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. You can talk about something called “God” all day long without talking about the reality. You can even sound impressive and convincing and all religious! God is who He is, and no one and nothing else. You must know God to actually speak about him, or speak to Him, or believe in Him. He is the Lord - Yahweh or Jehovah (as the King James Version puts it).

The Lord is your God. Notice that He did not simply say that He was the Lord God – He said He was Yahweh Eloheka, the Lord YOUR God. He is in relationship with us. He is the God we have known and studied. He is the God who has made all of the wonderful promises of prophecy to us and he is the One who has chosen us.

The context of the verses contain further words of God about Himself. He wants us to remember that He is the Creator. He made us, and all that exists. He has a right to claim us and a right to command us. But that isn’t how He wants us to think of Him. Sure, He tells us that He created us, but only so that we will understand who He is and what the word “God” means. We can praise and thank Him for being our Creator, but His claim on us is not by mere right of creation.

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. He does not claim us in this passage by right of creation, but by the grace of redemption. His claim in redemption is the claim of rescue, not ownership. He does own us, but He announces our redemption to comfort us. “Do not fear,” He says. From every fear and every evil, I have redeemed you.

We know what that means when we look back from our modern perspective. It means Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us from all sin and from the power of the Devil. He paid the price of our sins Himself, so that we could be forgiven, and our sins would not require our blood to pay for them. Because of Jesus and His death on the cross for us, sin no longer has the power to curse us. Death no longer means hell and punishment for those who believe, but it is the door to everlasting life! Sickness, though still painful and sometimes fatal, is no longer to be feared for how it may end, for even death is no longer to be feared by those whom God has redeemed.

I have called you by name; you are Mine! This is no generic redemption, poured out on the masses in such a way as we may doubt that we are included. He has called us by name! Our names were spoken in Baptism, and He called us by the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. He did not simply die for all men – if we can even call such a gift of love “simply dying”, but He died for each man and each woman and each child among us. He died for you, and claimed you by name. He proudly proclaims His relationship to us and our belonging to Him. You are Mine!

This relationship with God as our Creator, and our Redeemer, and our Savior, is a relationship of love and trust and one which rightly ends all fear. This relationship is not just for “the sweet bye-and-bye”. It is for right now. When you pass through the waters. I will be with you. God isn’t speaking in these words about the waters of Baptism – for those waters are where He has already called us to be His own. The waters spoken of here are the waters of the troubles in this life. He means to tell us that He is with us in every thing, and in every trial, and in every trouble.

Note, however, that He is not keeping us from the trials and troubles. He did not say, “You will never know the waters.” He said, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. He is with us in every need and at every moment. We have nothing to fear.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. He will not keep us from the dangers and the troubles of life – He will keep us through them and preserve us. The waters will not overflow us! The flames will not burn us. We will not even be scorched.

He demonstrated the truth of this in His interaction with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah – Daniel’s three friends who were thrown into the fiery furnace. You probably know them by their Babylonians names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Because of their trust in God, though the fires were hot enough to kill the guards that threw them into the flames, these three were not touched. Their clothing was not scorched. They did not even smell of smoke wen they emerged from the furnace.

But what if they had died? As the Children of God, they would have gone to God’s eternal salvation. But they did not die, so that God could demonstrate His power to save those who trust in Him. They did not die so that we could see that even when we walk through fire, as we must as His children sometimes, we will not be scorched, nor will the flames burn us.

We are in the care of God so we have no need to fear. He further identifies Himself as the Holy One of Israel. He will always deal with us in holiness. It will always be right. God will not sin nor make a mistake. He will not fail us. He is Holy and He is our Savior. Our sins have been taken away. We have been redeemed and set free from the need to fear anything, for God is with us. The evils of this world are the consequences of sin. We have been set free from the curse of sin, so the consequences of sin cannot finally hurt us. They arise around us. They burn like fire! But they cannot harm us.

God is with us. The Lord, the covenant God of Israel is with us. He who planned so carefully to save us from our sins and answer His own justice on our behalf is with us. Of course, now we know His name is Jesus, but back in the day with Isaiah, God had not given them that name yet. The Holy One, who is holy for us and in our place, is with us. He is our Savior. And we have nothing to fear when we trust God.

Our name of Advent for this week is the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.