March 3, 2025

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Daily Lectionary: Job 34:10-33; John 11:17-37

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

What is the First Commandment? You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

Sometimes, a well-meaning person will teach that fear here means respect. We should respect God, well and true, but trust means respect. Fear means fear. 

When Israel sinned against God in the wilderness, they had very good reasons to be afraid. They sinned, and God sent a plague. They sinned, and God sent poisonous snakes. They sinned, God opened up the ground, and the earth swallowed them whole. It is a fearful thing to stand before God in your sin. 

God worked these terrifying deeds through Moses. And even though, in our reading today, Moses is now dead, the Lord is still the one to be feared, even as they enter into the promised rest. 

Likewise, we need to fear the Lord in our sin. We need to know God gets angry when we hurt the people He loves. Even when that person is yourself. If He didn’t get angry, then that would show that He didn’t care. So fear is an appropriate response when we start thinking that maybe our sin is okay after all.

But how far does that fear go? If God is angry over sin, how can I possibly stand before Him when I have sinned? But remember the whole explanation of the First Commandment. We fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We fear because of our sin. We trust because Our Lord has poured out all His anger on someone else. 

The entire fiery wrath of God is poured out upon Jesus at the cross. The greatest deed of terror in all history. Everything that should have gone to you and me has instead fallen upon Christ. And He willingly went there for the forgiveness of all our sins. Remember, if God is not angry, He does not care. But if His anger falls upon us, then we are lost. God shows His great care for us by both His anger and His self-sacrifice. He gave up all to save you from your sin. We are able to love Him because of His great love for us given first. And given at His cross. 

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

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