when Moses saw the fiery bush 2c.
Gethan at Wittenberg in the parish church, on Easter Tuesday, afternoon, April 3, 1526.*)
1. since you, dear friends, have heard enough of the two days from the New and Old Testaments, how our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and what he accomplished with his resurrection, namely, that he crushed the head of the serpent, the devil, redeemed from the curse, and as a righteous God and man brought rich blessings upon all men, that they might have righteousness, forgiveness of sin, life and blessedness, conquest of death, hell and the devil, that they might have
We may say with a believing heart: Christ's death and resurrection is my righteousness, by which I am made righteous, as St. Paul says to the Romans in chapter 4, v. 25: "Christ was given for our sins and raised for our righteousness," but since we are still celebrating the joyful Easter feast today, let us take before us from St. Moses, as written in his other book in chapter 3, this text, which reads thus:
*This time determination results with certainty from the affiliation of this sermon with the two sermons on Genesis 3 and 22, which we have included in this volume Col. 650 and 662, because the first paragraph of this sermon gives a short recapitulation of what Luther had spoken about on Easter Monday. In addition, in Poach's index in the Zwickau Rathsschulbibliothek, the date we set for this sermon is given, the content of which is labeled thus: ,Lauras ^uidus rosurrsotio "i^rukio:it:0. Finally, the date is also confirmed by ji 14 of this sermon. The proof where this sermon was first printed is found in this volume Eol. 650.
Moses was tending the sheep of Iethro his brother-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he drove the sheep into the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a fiery flame out of the bush, and he saw that the bush burned with fire, and yet was not consumed. And he said: I will go and see this vision, why the bush does not burn. And when the LORD saw that he went to see, God called unto him out of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he answered, Here am I. And he said, Come not near, put off thy shoes from off thy feet: for the place where thou art standing is a holy land. And he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses covered his face, because he feared to look upon God.
This is the text from Moses. Now, dear friends, these words of St. Moses were drawn by the Fathers of the Church to the tender, pure, chaste, immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ. As they also sang in the Church: Rubum, quem viderat Moses, that it should mean the virginity of Mary. Just as the bush burns and is not consumed, so also the Mother of Christ gave birth to her dear Son, without the spoiling of her virginity.
Although it is a good opinion or interpretation (for we must let this article be true and remain true, that Mary was a pure virgin before the birth, in the birth, and after the birth, and remains a pure virgin forever), this opinion or interpretation is too weak here, and does not hold the sting, because the Holy Spirit wants to model something higher. For there are the clear and bright words: I am the God of your father, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which words cannot be applied to Mary. For Mary is not God, therefore she cannot be the bush, but God Himself is the bush, which burns and is not consumed, remains wholly and delicately green in the midst of the fire.
(4) Therefore we cannot do better than this, because we abide by the words of Christ, that Moses wrote of him; as he then said
Joh. 5, 46. says: "If you believed Mosi, then 1) you also believed me, because he wrote about me." For it is Christ alone to whom Moses and all prophets point [Matth. 11, 13. Apost. 10, 43.]. Therefore this fiery and burning bush is a figure of Christ, what kind of person he will be, and how he shall have two natures in one person, and how he shall suffer, die and rise again from death. This is what we should look for here, what Moses teaches, and what we should also believe and learn if we want to be saved otherwise.
Now, the first piece. What kind of person should Christ be, and what kind of two natures should he have in one person? There we hear it in the text: "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is one nature, that he is eternal, almighty God, like the Father and the Holy Spirit, of the same nature, substance and essence, but a different person than the Father and the Holy Spirit. As the prophet Micah (who lived 760 years before the birth of Christ) also teaches, when he says Cap. 5, 1: "And you Bethlehem Ephrata, who are small compared to the thousands in Judah, out of you shall come the one who is Lord in Israel." Yes, what kind of a HErr is it? Thus saith the prophet, "Which goeth forth from the beginning and from everlasting."
(6) Then the prophet clearly describes that Christ has another exit than at Bethlehem, namely, from the fatherly heart of God, before all creatures were and had their beginning. For before all creatures were and were created, nothing was but God. This Son, who is to come forth in Bethlehem, that is, to be born, says Micah, was from eternity before all creatures had their beginning; so the Son in Bethlehem must be the eternal, almighty God. Now this is the first, divine nature that Christ has, that he is true, eternal and almighty God, like the Father and the Holy Spirit, who spoke with Moses out of the burning bush; as was said yesterday 2) enough.
7. the other nature is human nature, that he is a fine, green, lovely bush,
1) Erlanger: gläubet.
2) In the second sermon on Easter Monday, Col. 662 ff.
as Isaiah also calls it [Cap. 11, 1], a fine, lovely, green rod or fresh branch from the old trunk or root of Jesse. As the Lord Christ himself is called, when he was led to death, when he says [Luc. 23, 31.] to the women who weep over him, "If this be done in green wood, what shall be done in dry?" For Christ alone is the green wood or the green bush, that is, a right, pure, holy man. But all men, no man excepted, are conceived in sins, are born, and are unto death, and are eternally damned: therefore are they dry wood, or sticks, which serve for fire only, and nowhere else.
But the conception of Christ is pure and holy. For there the Holy Spirit comes and works from the pure drops of blood of the pure Virgin Mary, so that God or God's Son becomes a true, right man; therefore his birth is also pure and holy. For where the conception is pure and holy, the birth is also pure and holy. For this reason he alone is the green bush, for in him no sin has been found, as all men otherwise have. Now this is the other nature that man has, that he is truly man, as I am, but without all sin.
(9) These are the two natures that are in this one person of Christ, that he is true God and man at the same time, and the two natures are so united with each other that none can be separated from the other, but [they] must remain together. Just as body and soul are united in one person, and there is only one person and one human being, so also here, in the person of Christ, the divine and human natures, that is, God and man, must remain together in one person, undivided. This is a high doctrine, of which no Jew, Turk or the Pope knows nothing, only Moses and the prophets, and the Christians. And now this is said of the person and both natures, that Christ is more real, true, eternal, almighty God and man, than the dear green bush or little tree, pure, lovely, without all blemishes and sin.
10 But now we will hear how the Lord Christ is to fare. Moses tells us how the bush burns and is not consumed.
however much and mightily the flames burn around. There now means Christ's suffering and resurrection; for "to burn" in the Scripture means to suffer. So now this God, who is a green bush, that is, a right, pure, true man, born of the virgin, shall suffer and die.
This is also the cause of his incarnation. For if God had not become man, He could not suffer or die. For "God is a spirit" [John 4:24] that cannot suffer or die. But if God is to suffer and die, He must become man. But because God becomes man, he suffers and dies in this person of Christ, who is both God and man, and God does not remain apart from this person of Christ, as some heretics and enthusiasts separate and separate the Godhead from humanity, and say that the humanity of Christ alone suffered and redeemed us; this is false. For mankind alone has suffered, since the divine nature cannot suffer or die, but has not only redeemed us, but also the Godhead, that is, the Son of God, as St. Paul says to the Romans in the eighth chapter, v. 32, "that God also did not spare His only Son, but gave Him up for us all.
(12) Therefore not only Mary's Son, according to mankind, as the papists and some enthusiasts deceive, redeemed us, died for us and was crucified, but the whole Christ, who is God and man, redeemed us, and was crucified, died and rose again according to the flesh; in the first epistle of Peter in the third chapter, v. 18. For the wounds which they inflicted on Christ's hands and feet, they did not inflict on Mary's Son alone, but on the Son of God, or God Himself; neither did they crucify and martyre the flesh of the Son of Man alone, but the Son of God and God Himself were murdered and strangled, for God and Man are One Person. Therefore, the GOt crucified and died became man; not the separated GOt, but the united GOt with humanity; not according to the Godhead, but according to the human nature He assumed. As St. Paul also says [1 Cor. 2, 8]: Dominum gloriae crucifixerunt.
For of the separate God, it is both false that Christ is God and that God died. Both, I say, are false. For God is not man; therefore he cannot die. Therefore, we say and speak it of God, who is both God and man in One Person, as of Jesus Christ; just as the dear Fathers, as MaxentiuS and Fulgentius, say: Nos dicimus Deum natum, passum, crucifixum, mortuum, propter unitatem et conjunctionem duarum naturarum in Christo. But this cannot be understood or heard by our papists and enthusiasts.
14 Therefore they divide and separate the person of Christ. But this need not be. For we honor and worship not only the bad, mere humanity in Christ, as the heretics blame us, but the Godhead and humanity, that is, God and man at the same time, as the right Creator of heaven and earth, united in one person. As the Concilium of Ephesus, 1095 years ago against the heretic Nestorium, also concludes and states: Propter assumentem veneror assumptum, et propter invisibilem adoro visibilem. This is quite learned and said.
15 The ancient teacher of the Church, John Damascenus, says: "Caro secundum sui naturam non est adorabilis; adoratur autem in incarnato Dei verbo, non propter se ipsam, sed propter conjunctum ipsi secundum hypostasin Deum verbum. Et non dicimus, quod carnem adoramus nudam, sed carnem Dei, id est, incarnatum Deum. This is truly a beautiful, mighty saying, which we should well keep and remember at this perilous time. For the two natures in Christ want to be unseparated and undivided. However, our nerien Sacramentirer can not direct themselves into this, but we Christians must teach and learn it. For that would have been a bad redemption, indeed, no redemption at all, which would have saved us against sin, death, the devil and
1) "1095" put by us instead of "1115" in the editions. 1) The Concil at Ephesus took place in the year 431. Since this sermon was preached on Easter Tuesday 1526, "1095" must be read. The copyist has made the number LIOXV out of MXOV. Exactly the same oversight (110 [OX] instead of 90 sXO]) is found twice in the old edition of Walch on the last page of the 9th volume, where we had to make the same change.
Hell would not have protected much, if only the man Christ, and not at the same time God, or God's Son, had been united in this person, crucified and died. We will say more about this another time, with God's help, and these days are not very busy.
(16) What is this, that the bush is not consumed or burned up, but grows green in the midst of the fire and remains whole? This is it: though Christ die and suffer, he shall not abide in death, but shall rise again, and be green, and come to life. Why is this? Because he is not a bad man, but truly God. If he had been a bad man, as we are, he would have been much too weak for death and the devil; but because he is God, and God is life [John 1:4], life 2) cannot die according to its eternal divine nature. For even though it dies in the flesh, it cannot remain in death. For life must remain life; as also the church sings: Vita in ligno moritur. Therefore this God, who is man, must rise again from death, become green and alive, so that he may bring forgiveness of sin, righteousness, life and blessedness to all who believe in him. This means then: Infernus ex morsu despoliatur, hell has bared its teeth at this Christ, who is life, and has lost its power over it.
17 For the Christ is most beautifully restored in the midst of suffering, and enters into his glory, as he himself says [Luc. 24:26], that is, he rises from death, becomes Lord of heaven, earth and hell, so that all creatures in heaven, hell and earth must lie under his feet and be subject to him, and be recognized as one Lord [Phil. 2:9, 10].
18) Now this is the right figure or meaning of this burning bush that Moses sees, that the God who is Abraham's, Isaac's and Jacob's God shall become man, suffer, die and rise from death, and bring righteousness, forgiveness of sins, life and blessedness to all believers, as Christianity sang: "So holy is the day that no man can fill it with praise, alone...".
2) Thus taken over by us from the old edition of Walch. Erlanger: and life can.
the holy Son of God, who broke hell and bound the wicked devil in it, so that the Lord redeemed Christendom, which was God Himself, Kyrieleis". There is the whole fruit of Christ's resurrection, as that he broke hell, bound the devil, and took away his power, and redeemed his dear Christianity. But who was it? God, God Himself, or God's Son. This is delicious, lovely, comforting and well-sung, if only we would consider it.
(19) But how is Moshe now? As he wants to go and see how this bush burns and is not consumed, God says to Moses, "Do not come near, remove your shoes, for the place where you are standing is a holy land. What will become of it? Is God so great in the land, and in the shoes? Is not one place as holy as another? What do the shoes do to it? Yes, the bad place of the land or the shoes do not do it; but this is what God wants, that where the teaching goes and is preached that God became man, died and rose again, there is the holy land, and the Christian church, and the true chosen people, where God is and dwells, as Christ says John 14:23. Moses must close the eyes that Adam opened too wide in paradise, take off the old Adam and the old shoes and take them off, close the eyes of reason and open the eyes of the heart.
This doctrine of Jesus Christ must be grasped by faith through the Word alone, for it is too high for the old Adam and human reason, and God has placed it in the Word alone, where it can be grasped, and not otherwise. Therefore the Jews, the Turks and the Pope, because they let go of the word of Christ and look elsewhere, and speculate and speak of Christ according to human reason, they go further and further from Christ, and become fools about it, blaspheming and mocking the dear Lord Christ. This is what happens when one lets go of the word of this man.
21 Therefore we must look to the word alone and say, "Here is my simple article of faith: I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord, who was born, suffered, died, was buried, and is like unto God.
who is risen from the dead. I did not invent this, but God wrote and preached it to me through the Holy Spirit. I want to dwell on it, because I hear how God, or God's Son, became man, died and rose again. If I cannot understand or comprehend it, I will not believe it.
22) But how it happened that God died, and yet is not God the Father, or God the Holy Spirit, but God the Son, the other Person in the Godhead, who died and rose again, and yet are not three Gods, but One Almighty God, but three distinct Persons in the eternal, omnipotent Divine Being, let us save this until that life, when we shall see it face to face in the mirror of the holy Trinity or Godhead. Here, however, we want to believe and trust in the word in a bad, right and simple way; we cannot take it any further.
(23) Moses had to take off his shoes, the old Adam or man, and cover his eyes or face, and through the Word alone, with firm faith and trust, look at and grasp this Christ, His suffering, death and resurrection, with the eyes of the heart. If we do this, as Moses did, we will also come to God. For without this God, who died and rose again, no man, no matter how holy, how pious, or how full of good works he may be, will fear, shun, or dare to come to God.
(24) For God the Father cannot suffer anyone to go or come to Him, unless He brings with Him His beloved Son Christ. Just as the Son himself, John speaks in the fourteenth chapter, v. 6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me, Me, Me." Here all saints and all their merits are completely excluded, that nothing is valid before the Father, except Christ.
(25) Therefore the Jews, the Turks and the Pope are damned, who despise this Son of God with His suffering, death and resurrection, and intend to come to God by another way than through the dead saints, damned indulgences, masses of souls, lousy monk's caps and plates, and other fictitious humanities.
works that God has not commanded or commanded. For through this Son and His word alone shall one seek and find Him. But blessed are they all for ever, who in the beloved Son of God, who justified us by his death and resurrection (as Moses and the prophets did), with steadfast faith in his word, persevere and abide in the heart.
26 Joseph in Egypt, as it is written in the first book of Moses at the one and fortieth chapter, was also a figure of Christ. For Joseph was sold by his own brothers, then lied to by the harlot, Potiphar's wife, when he would not follow her, so that he was thrown into prison. After that, when Joseph has been in prison for a long time, God comes and brings him to such honors that he must become lord and prince over all Egypt.
(27) So it was with Christ our Lord, who was also sold by his brethren, that is, by the flesh and blood of Abraham, the Jews. After that, since he does not want to fornicate with the Jewish synagogue and help to confirm and praise their ungodly, devilish teachings in Jerusalem, they become angry, capture and kill him, and think that it is now all over with him. But before three days are up, God brings him to such honors that he is rewarded by the
The one who enters into his glory after death, rises from death, becomes a Lord over heaven, earth, hell, and all creatures; all of which must be under his feet, and recognize and consider him a Lord.
(28) With this we will have concluded the joyful, lovely Easter feast. But pray with all your heart that God, the Father of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Spirit, will keep us all in such faith and knowledge. If he does not, then it is lost with us. Even if we cry out daily with our mouths: I believe, believe, it is still only a whisper. For St. Paul says in the other epistle to the Thessalonians in the third chapter, v. 2: "Faith is not for everyone. Therefore let us cry out with the father of the possessed man [Marc. 9, 24]: "O dear Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief"; and let us say with the dear apostles from the bottom of our hearts [Luc. 17, 5]: "O Lord, strengthen our faith." If we do this, God will strengthen, increase and give it to us; otherwise not.
(29) Then we, as the dear children of God, must and should obediently live by the ten commandments of God, so that people may see our good works and praise our Father in heaven, as Christ says in Matthew, chapter 5, v. 16, amen.