[AI translation] My Christian Brothers and Sisters!
It is often very difficult to find the right Word for Sunday and to group the thoughts of the congregation around it. It is easier when there is someone who comes to the pastor during the week with a serious spiritual problem and needs an answer to a question. In such cases, the subject and the text of the sermon are also given voluntarily in most cases, because what is a problem for one person can be a problem for many other people.
But sometimes, even often, we miss the people who come to us interested in spiritual questions. Not because not all people have spiritual problems, but because most people are reluctant to deal with them. They are happy to be left in peace, if possible, and so they are reluctant to talk about it. It is physically and healthily uncomfortable, they think, to deal with things that are too serious. This is true, because if one gets absorbed in researching one's psychological problems, one can easily end up with sleepless nights. But I believe that a sleepless night is better than an eternity of sleep. He who puts his body before his soul, who would give up his rest for nothing, can indeed do no better than to avoid all spiritual excitement and anxiety. Every man is free to set his alarm, if he will not be roused from sleep. But do not be surprised if you miss your train...
In view of my absence from the congregation in recent weeks, I have not been able to hear the personal questions and individual problems of some members of our congregation. So I have chosen a word from the Scriptures as the basis for God's message today which may be of universal interest, because the problem to which it relates is universal and general. The prophet Isaiah wrote this verse: "For the mountains shall pass away, and the hills shall be shaken; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and my covenant of peace shall not be broken, saith thy merciful Lord." (Isa 54:10)
How wonderfully beautiful this Word is! It is so beautiful because it comes directly from the mouth of God, crystal clear, transparent, free from all human artifice. You can see that it is not man, but God who has put it into words. It is a true divine revelation. Not human words about God, but the words of the living God Himself. There is no pulpit style, no theological style, no poetry, this is the Word spoken by God Himself, word for word, as we hear it.
I feel, my Christian brothers and sisters, that this Word is what we all need. We all know very well, especially nowadays, the feeling that the ground beneath us begins to shake, like a sinking ship: mountains are moving away, rocks that we thought were solid are swaying, we feel very insecure, and whether we like it or not, we know that we cannot live without the word grace. The longer we live, the more we have lived on this earth, the clearer it becomes that we are dependent on a merciful God, even if we dare not admit it to ourselves.
"For the mountains shall pass away, and the hills shall be shaken: but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be broken, saith thy merciful Lord." (Isa 54:10) How much comfort there is in this Word! But it is not sentimental, sentimental comfort. There is little truth in sentimental consolation. Sentimental consolation denies the danger, and persuades the sufferer that he is free from pain. In reality, however, the wound hurts and burns just as much as before. Our basic prayer does not comfort us in this way, but tells us very plainly that our affliction may be so great that it may even overwhelm us; our cross may be so heavy that we may even crumble under it; the ground may shake beneath us, and we may lose all our individual security - but in the midst of all this world disaster, two things will certainly remain for us, and these two things will keep us: God's grace and His wonderful faithfulness.
We often meet people whose lives are nothing but the ruins of beautifully built castles. People who have been destroyed by the storms of time, who have suffered great misfortunes, who have lost their possessions, who have buried their dearest loved ones, who have lost all their treasures on this earth, who have only a few graves in a cemetery. Oh, how many a time a man is sued by God, and says: God has taken everything away from me, and has utterly forsaken me, I can no longer approach him, I can no longer believe in him!
We blame God in vain, for He has never promised to favour us and ours in earthly things. He has never promised to make all our works prosper, to keep us from every peril, to spare us from every calamity. The grace of God is not a protection, the grace of God is not some earthly state of enjoyment. As long as we live here on this earth, we are bound to the earth, that is, we are under the law of transience and mortality. As long as we live here on this earth, we are moving on volcanic ground. At any moment, the earth beneath us can shake and pull the ground out from under us. Not to this, then, but to something quite different, the Divine consolation refers - it says: let everything around us crackle and crackle, and let this whole universe be destroyed, one thing remains for you: my mercy shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be broken!
So God will always be merciful to his people in all circumstances. There is no condition that can alter this grace. It is a covenant of God which he will keep and fulfil in all circumstances. God goes so far in faithfulness that if a man were to do the same, we would say that he does not count on his human dignity. In such a way, almost demeaning divine dignity, God was faithful to His once chosen people Israel. Anyone who has ever read carefully through the Old Testament must have been amazed to see and observe with what infinite patience God bore all the evils of His people. The people of Israel fell again and again, chasing after strange gods, sacrificing on every high altar of Baal, and bowing before the pillar of Ashtarta in every field. One almost has the impression that God has chosen the most unfaithful people in the world and made a covenant with them only to show the infinite faithfulness and patience of God to the world. Finally, God did not fail to give a final testimony of his faithfulness: it was to this unfaithful, debauched people that he entrusted his only begotten Son. Even then, when He was crucified, God prepared from the cross on which His holy Son hung the remedy for the mortal sickness of mankind. That God should send His holy Son, even after all trials, to save His people, was a very great thing! That God did not sweep mankind off the face of the earth in a second flood after His holy Son was crucified was an even greater thing. But that God should have taken from the crucifixion and resurrection of His Son, who was slain, the serum which saved the murderers from the inexcusable consequences of their deeds, is beyond all human comprehension!
Behold, this is grace. After this, perhaps this Word has greater weight for us: though the mountains be removed, though the hills be shaken, my grace shall not depart from thee. This grace stands rock-solid, but even this is not a good analogy, for a rock can crack and fall into the abyss. We can trust ourselves to this grace without end.
Our founding hymn continues: the covenant of my peace shall not be shaken. God has a different understanding of the covenant than man. The eternal God makes only a one-sided and everlasting covenant. We humans feel that we are released from the obligation of the covenant if the other side breaks the covenant. It is otherwise with God: His given word stands in all circumstances. It remains even if the other party - i.e. man - tramples on and breaks the covenant.
How good that we know this, because when we open this book, our Bible, it is nothing less than God's testament. It is a testament that is intimately related to us. The value of this testament, then, depends on whether it is accepted by God as binding, whether it can be invoked in certain circumstances, or whether it is conditional and whether it can be revoked. 'My covenant of peace shall not be broken,' says God. All God's Word is a deed, and a deed cannot be undone. In this Word of God there is no 'if', no 'but', no 'would have', but what is written here is in reality an irrevocable fact: which means that whatever happens in this world, God's grace is always ready for those who desire it. There is no plea for mercy that goes unanswered; God never rejects the one who invokes and clings to His oath of faithfulness. No more sleepless and hopeless nights, no more despair for him who has a part in this testament. On this grace may be built without end.
Let us also note that this word "grace" is from the dictionary of princes and kings. To gain the king's favour, to be received into the king's favour, is more than a protection - it is the enjoyment of the most expensive royal goods. In the great of this world, one can easily become disgraced. A little change of wind, and woe to him who has fallen from the king's favour. With Him, it can never happen. With him there is no fickleness of temper. His mercy and covenant are everlasting.
Behold, so great is the grace of God. Oh, how terrible it is that we have worn out this grave and rich concept. When we hear this word, it must first strike us in the soul, "Woe is me, for I am a sinful, miserable, and helpless man! Grace means that God has judged me and yet saved me from condemnation. Judgment and acquittal - that is the content of divine grace. It is this grace that our text says is ready for all of us.
None of you can be sure that the ground will not shake under your feet, that a stormy tempest will not pass over your head and sweep away all that you have built up with great effort - but of one thing we who have been here today can be sure: God's grace is completely independent of our external condition. It does not falter, even if everything around us is shaken. God's grace is wonderfully able to turn the bitterness of life into happiness and the darkness into light.
Happy is the man who can sing with a peaceful, serene spirit over the ruins of his life:
"...Our hearts therefore shall not fear,
"If the whole earth were shaken,
And the mountains to the sea
"If the sea were to fall in the midst of the sea."
(Psalm 46:1)
Amen.
Date: 27 August 1938.