Pastor, I Have a Question March, 2005

A. We should always remember that God’s original plan for us did not include death at all. It was only because of sinful disobedience that God’s condemnation came upon mankind and the whole universe. “When you eat of it [the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden], you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). But we should also remember that God’s intent with death wasn’t only a matter of punishment or consequences for sin. Just recall the extraordinary measures God took to keep Adam and Eve from living forever in sin: “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). We can see that death was as much an “escape hatch” from sin as it was a punishment for sin.

Since the time of Adam and Eve, God’s Word has revealed some other important reasons behind God’s permission for disasters to occur. When we see natural and man-made disasters taking place with increasing frequency, we can be sure that the end of the world and judgment day are getting closer (although “closer” is certainly a relative term!) After talking about wars and rumors of wars, and natural disasters like famine and earthquakes, Jesus went on to say: “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29-30). Being reminded that Jesus is returning for us should actually be an encouragement for the Christian.

Later, in the same chapter of Matthew, Jesus also reminded His listeners about the importance of remaining alert and “awake” in our Christian faith. “Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:33-35). Since Jesus’ words and promises never fail, we don’t have to worry about judgment day. But since living in repentant faith is the only way to be blessed following judgment day, we will want to guard and nourish our faith through regular use of Word and Sacrament… and all the more so because “you know that it is near.”

We must be careful of assigning false motives to God. Some people in Jesus’ time had actually done this when the Romans killed some Jewish worshipers and when a tower collapsed and killed eighteen people. They assumed that those who were killed must have committed some horrible sin to “deserve” such an awful death. But when we remember that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:29), then we know that God doesn’t really need to step directly into history solely to punish anyone’s sin. All sin has already been punished at the cross when Jesus died in our place. But sin has skewed and corrupted our whole world. Now evil exists and bad things occur. Both believers and unbelievers will experience such trouble in about equal proportion just because evil is already there, and no one can escape it except by being delivered to eternal life in heaven through faith in Christ.

Send your questions to: Pastor Paul Zager, P.O. Box 181, Twin Lakes, MI 49457.

Paul Zager is pastor of Holton Lutheran Church in Holton, Michigan and a member of the ELS Doctrine Committee.