DAY OF NATIONAL PENITENCE
Text: 1 Chronicles 21:9-14
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us! O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us! O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant us Thy peace! Amen.
Fellow sinners and fellow redeemed brethren in the Lord.
The bloody scourge of war has already raged in our country for three whole years, and still there is no prospect of peace. Like a cancerous ulcer the war spread farther and farther; it threatens to infect even those states which up to now have enjoyed peace, and watet their dry fields with the blood of men Instead of rain from heaven. What a horrible state of affairs!
True, we have experienced little of the terrors and misery of war. Whilst other states and even our own State of Missouri has been an arena of all the misery and horror which a civil war ever had in its wake, we in our city can still live in rest under the protection of the law. Even our sons have not yet been torn from our side in order to seize the bloody sword; those of us who have been to war, have gone of their own choice and from personal inclination. Whilst others either mourn for father, spouse, sons, brothers who have fallen a sacrifice of war upon the battlefield or with tears have seen them return sickly or crippled, we can say, looking upon the members of our families: Lord, here are we whom you have given us; we have lost none. Whilst others go to rest every evening with the fear and worry of being roused in the dark of night by the sound of a mob of robbers and murderers, we can go peacefully to bed in the sweet hope of seeing the light of day after an undisturbed, refreshing sleep. Whilst others see their fields destroyed, their homes reduced to ashes, their possessions stolen, or driven from house and home and wander about homelessly prepared
to be attacked the next moment or be treacherously killed by a bullet from ambush, we still dwell in houses of peace under the shield of set civil ordinances. Whilst others are robbed of their churches and ministers and are no longer able to assemble with their brethren in the house of God in order to hear the only comfort for the present distress and together cry to the Lord for help and deliverance, we, on the other hand, can assemble whenever we wish in order to hear the Word of the Lord and let our petitions be made known to God in prayer with thanksgiving. Whilst others upon the arena of war far from their loved ones amid the severest privations are led against blazing cannons, or as prisoners of war, robbed of their freedom, languish in dismal prisons without comfort, or writhe in hospitals upon beds of pain, we here enjoy the amenities of an undisturbed family life. Whilst others are in circumstances where they amid great anguish of conscience do not know what they should do, we here with a clear conscience can simply follow the Word of the Lord: "Let every soul be subject to the higher power."
For all this we can never thank God enough; but all this can only too easily and only the more bring us death and ruin. The greater our peace amid war, our prosperity amid universal misery, the more easily we can completely forget that by this goodness God wants to lead us to repentance. The more in these times God prefers us to millions of others of our fellow citizens, and the more he has taken us under his protection, the greater is the temptation that in Pharisaical pride we exalt ourselves over those who are severely visited, that we ascribe our preservation to our worthiness and finally must hear the fearful word of the Lord: "Suppose ye that they were sinners above all others because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Lk 13:2.3. And my hearers, what is most important, the further away the scourge of war is, the closer lies the danger that we do not think of the fact that God who swings this scourge is angry at our sins also; in short, that this war is the most terrible chastisement of God.
So it is this which I today on our national day of penitence consider my holy duty to show you from the Word of the Lord. That I may do this without fear or favor in the power of the Lord, let us first call upon him in a believing and silent Lord's Prayer.
The text. 1 Chronicles 21:9-14.
After David had always returned the victor from his many wars, he at Satan's suggestion took a census. Before men this seemed something very excusable, yes, praiseworthy. But before God who saw into David's heart, this census was a great abomination. David arranged this because his heart had begun to exalt itself, because he wanted to be reflected in the greatness of his kingdom, because he began to consider flesh for his arm and depart from the Lord in his heart. So what happened? God who alone had given David the victory, burned with anger at this proud, idolatrous deed, and even though David already had humbled himself again before God and implored him for grace, God proposed three chastisements from which he was to pick one: Three years' famine, three months' war, or a three days' destructive pestilence. What did David choose? Although he was a hero accustomed to war and victory, he did not chose war but the famine or pestilence because he gave as his reason: " Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man." V.13. Therefore, even a David viewed war as the greatest of all God's temporal punishments. Upon the basis of this story permit me to answer the question:
WHY WAR IS THE GREATEST OF ALL OF GOD'S TEMPORAL PUNISHMENTS?
I answer:
1. Because It Is Not Carried Out By God Directly But Indirectly Through Men, and
2. Because Of All It The Least Serves As A Means For Repentance. Rather Serves Only To Harden Most.
1.
David himself gives the reason why he chose famine or pestilence as the temporal punishment of his sins rather than war, when he says: " I am in a great strait; let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of men." V.13. David means to say: Oh, how afraid I am to choose the punishment for my sins! Misery is brought by famine, misery by war, misery by pestilence upon my land and people. Yet if it must be chosen, may the Lord spare me from war with men, may he himself smite with the rod of famine or pestilence; I do not want to fall into the hands of men but into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great.
The first reason why war is the greatest of God's temporal disasters is because this chastisement is executed by God not directly but indirectly through men.
It is true that even famine and pestilence are fearful calamities. With horror we read even today the heart-rending descriptions of those times when the skies were like brass for years at a time, and the earth like iron, and men and cattle died of hunger and thirst, or those times when, e.g., the black death held a triumphal procession across all Europe, turned all dwellings into houses of death, and the entire country into a huge cemetery. Though these great, natural, universal calamities are terrible, the believer still had the sweet comfort: We are only in the hands of the Lord. His mercy is great. His wrath endureth but a moment and in his favor is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. In the midst of wrath he remembers mercy. He soon repents of the punishment.
It is entirely different with the calamity of war. At another time we saw that even war is not a calamity which men can bring upon a land and people without God's will but at all times a chastisement of the great angry God himself; however, when God inflicts war, he does not punish directly; God deals like an angry father who, because his wicked son deserves to be cruelly beaten, gives the rod to crude servants to execute the punishment; then God surrenders men into the hands of men; then God, the Merciful, as it were, turns his eyes away and lets unmerciful men decide the measure of the punishment. Woe to a people and a country over which the wrathful God let war spread, especially a civil war! Then God has given up the cruel rod and, because he wants to strike without mercy, gives it into the hands of wild human rage. That is enough to make war the greatest of God's temporal chastisements.
And tell me, my friends, has not all this been confirmed a thousandfold by our present civil war? Why has the bloody sword not been returned to its sheath? Why does it still devour thousands, yes, hundreds of thousands? Why has murder and pillage not yet ended? Why does the golden word peace not sound in our land? The only reason is that in his wrath God by this war has given us into the hands of men.
Is it not well-known that there are wicked people in our country who do not want peace? who want the war to continue? Some want the war to continue
in order to attain certain party goals. Though the country may fall to pieces, if they attain their goals, their greatest wish will be fulfilled. Others want the war to continue in order to vent their vengeance. Though the country may go to pieces, if they have been able to dip their sword in the blood of all their foes, their heart is satisfied. Yes, still others, it is terrible to say it, want to the war to continue because of filthy lucre. They want to reduce hundreds of thousands to poverty in order that they themselves might become rich; they wants hundreds of thousands to leave their homes naked so that they can wear satin and silk; they want hundreds of thousands to become homeless, so that they can build themselves stately mansions; again and again they want to see hundreds of thousands amid pain breathe their last upon the battlefields, so that they can live all their days in glory and joy. To such human monsters, to such wild animal in human form the counsel of peace constitutes betrayal and the cries of misery ascending to heaven of those who are swimming in their blood, the robbed, and the dispossessed, of the countless widows and orphans is sweet music to their greedy, avaricious, hell-kindled hearts.
See, that is the way it goes when God through war surrenders man into the hands of men. Then the merciful God withdraws himself further away and allows those fallen from him to do as they like and mutilate each other without mercy.
And alas! Would that at least all Christians, at least all of you, my dear Christian friends, would earnestly desire peace! But, may God in heaven hear this lament, even Christians are now so bewitched that even they not only do not dare to speak an earnest word in behalf of peace before men but not even before God. True, almost every Sunday most of you have joined in singing: "Grant us Thy peace, most graciously, O God, our Lord, in these our times;" I would also gladly believe that all of you have often cried to God in the quiet of your chamber: Oh God, grant peace, make an end to this bloody war. But I appeal to your conscience and ask: Have you prayed? Have you made no conditions for peace to God? Have you prescribed no way and manner in which he should grant peace? What is your prayer for peace when you immediately want to bind God's hand and prescribe to him how he is to make peace? Such a prayer for peace is nothing but tempting, yes, mocking God. Whilst God's Word says of the children of the world: "Ye have not, because ye ask not," Jas 4:2, on the other hand, the very same Word says to many Christians: "Ye ask, and receive not, because
ye ask amiss." Jas 4:3.
Come them, you Christians, have mercy upon our poor, bleeding fatherland. Pray God first of all to take your party spirit from your heart and erase every feeling for vengeance from your soul, and then earnestly beseech God: "Graciously grant us peace." Do not prescribe a thing to God, let it up to him, his righteousness, goodness, and wisdom to establish the conditions of peace.
Thus you show that you are true children of peace who are not called to curse but to bless, not to cry to God for bloody punishment but for grace and forbearance. Thus you will inherit the blessed promise: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." And God will finally hear your prayer, take this war out of the hands of unmerciful men and into his own merciful hands, bring to a wonderful close, and the bow of peace will vault over our land again.
II.
My friends, war is the greatest of all of God's temporal chastisements because of all it is the worst means for repentance; on the contrary, it serves only to harden most people. Permit me to speak to you of this.
I repeat, it is true: Famine, hunger, pestilence, and other far-reaching contagious diseases are also God's scourges and chastisements upon an apostate nation, but they are the most merciful of all. They set the person free from the world, show him his nothingness, humble him, remind him that man is completely in God's hand, therefore, lead to God, teach him to think of death, the judgment, and eternity, and to prepare himself for them. True, there are also during such times wicked people who even under such gracious divine scourges only curse, rage, and storm against God; but by and large their results are always wholesome, awakening one to repentance. This we experienced ourselves, when fifteen years ago cholera visited also our city of St. Louis and demanded its sacrifice in almost every home. Indeed there were mockers even then who said: Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we are dead! but on the whole, our city was the picture of humility, and what a hunger for God's Word showed itself in our congregation! what ardent brotherly love! what contempt of the world and its vanity! what a living faith! what readiness to die! and how many who before were weak in their Christianity joyfully departed into eternity as true heroes of the faith!
On the other hand, how entirely different the results of war! Read the history of any war and you will find that if it was not merely a defensive war against invasion, it always was not only the ruin of all civil prosperity and law, but also the extinction of all civil decency and Christian virtues, a school for all sins, a source of every spiritual ruin, a pestilence to souls, a time when the wicked's example takes control, a festival of joy for every devil, a rich harvest for hell. Thus two hundred years ago the Thirty Years' War was the basis of the decline of our German Lutheran Church from which it has never recovered until finally in the last century the death-blow was dealt through the Seven Years' War.
And our present war, perhaps, shows better results? True, days of prayer are diligently ordered, and they are kept. Yet where is the repentance? Does not the entire world say that pride, luxurious living, deceit and thievery, pleasure-madness, the latest in clothing styles, security, unchastity, and the like were never as great as now? Is it not as though with the outbreak of this war all the unclean spirits of hell were let loose to traverse the country and conquer hearts?
Other chastisements of God lead to God and teach us to fear him and trust in him alone; our war, however, visibly leads people from God, drives a way all fear of God, and teaches us to trust men and human might. Other chastisements tear us from from the world and its vanities and make us hungry and thirsty for the comfort of religion, God's Word, and the Church; our war chains men to the world, submerges their hearts completely in worldly things, and causes them to forget God, religion, God's Word, and the Church. Other chastisements unite men in love; our war, however, often fills the hearts even of Christians with mutual party hatred, with thirst for vengeance, yes, with the most horrible thirst for blood, and turns hearts in which the gentle Jesus should live into a murderer's den, where joyfully is heard that the foe wallows in his blood, and as that bloody tyrant Nero wish that all enemies would have only one neck in order to be able to kill them with one blow.
Other chastisements lead men to be fair toward one another; our war, however, so poisons hearts that they fly in the face of all fairness, want to let their enemy experience no fairness, condemn all, throw all into one class, and commit the most disgraceful injustice against the foe under the guise of ardent patriotism, and defend, yes, extol other things. Other chastisements make a person truthful; our war kills truthfulness and horror over lies and deceit; even though the nation sees that it is continually lied to and deceived by
fabricated reports, it swallows each new lie with absolute voracity, just as long as it is favorable, and woe to him who casts doubts upon the sweet lie! Not to mention the countless instances of false oaths which now are sworn and because of which the entire country and nation stinks to heaven and calls down God's curse and wrath upon itself.
Other chastisements bow the person down and make him humble and unassuming; our war, on the other hand, makes them proud, self-righteous, and boastful; in this war we have been turned completely into that Pharisee who alone wants to be righteous and considers the Publican his foe, and says with that hypocrite: I thank you that I am not as other people are. Other chastisements which come upon the world drive Christians together and separate them more from the godless world; our war, on the other hand, has separated Christians and in its place has under the cover of politics united them with the children of the world even more intimately. Yes, it has gone so far that now Christians daily receive their wisdom from the godless newspapers of sly, political opportunists who forget God, who despise all sworn treaties, and who trample under foot all the laws of God and man. It is terrible to say it, but all such newspapers have even become the Gospel of many Christians upon which they swear, and he who has a different opinion is as far as they are concerned a political heretic, a traitor.
Oh, how Satan must rejoice that in this war not only thousands are almost daily suddenly snatched into eternity, most of them without having repented, in the midst of their sins, but that this war has turned our entire nation into such fearful moral rottenness that not even a hundred years will suffice to remove the spiritual poison which has entered into all hearts!
Oh you, who want to be Christians, I adjure you to open your eyes and do not close them again to the inexpressible spiritual corruption which has descended upon our poor nation with this war. Wake up once for all from your sleep and impartially judge where according to God's Word you stand. Do not view this war any longer as does the world and its blind leaders of the blind; rather, perceive in it God's fearful but well-deserved punishment. See that also in our country the strong and zealous God is now visiting the sins of the fathers upon the sinful children to the third and fourth generation and that our war is not so much a temporal but a spiritual punishment, a punishment with blindness, hardness, and obduracy.
Therefore, no armies, be they ever so great, nor cannons be they ever so fearful spewing forth death and destruction, nor ever so clever counsel, nor the greatest perseverance, nor the bravest and most gifted generals are of any avail; in this situation nothing helps but that we first fall upon our knees, upon our face, and repent in dust and ashes, confess our sins and the sins of our nation to God with a broken heart, and cry to God for free grace and mercy for the sake of the innocent blood of Jesus Christ which he shed on the cross for our deeply fallen American nation.
Woe to us if we want to be Christians and also expect help from man without honest repentance and conversion; this misery will steadily increase and all the blood innocently shed in this war and every soul which was killed and lost in this war will cry against us to God for vengeance and all this blood will someday be demanded of our hands.
But you, you Christians who are concerned about the temporal and above all the spiritual welfare of our fatherland, who with David would rather choose famine and pestilence than war, who would rather fall into God's hands than the hands of men, who, therefore, humble yourselves before God and confess your sins and the sins of our nation to God with a broken heart, who cry for grace for the
whole land and for peace without any conditions because the Lord is visiting all of you, be confident and fearless. No matter what happens, the Lord is on your side. If you are going through darkness, you are nevertheless going toward the light; if you are going through tribulation and distress, you are nevertheless going toward glory; though you may go through death, you are nevertheless going toward eternal life.
Though all things fall, though all things break,
The Lord will not his own forsake. Amen.
SOLI DEI GLORIA
Finished this 30th.
My thanks to my Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ for granting me strength and wisdom to finish this task.
May you who read and study these pages find the treasure which I have found.