April 9 - Wednesday of the 5th Week of Lent

04/08/25 • 5 min

(Dn.3:14-20,91-92,95; Dn.3:52-56; Jn.8:31-42) “The truth will set you free.” Sin binds. Like the cords with which “the strongest men in [Nebuchadnezzar’s] army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” sin fetters our souls and casts us “into the white-hot furnace.” “Everyone who lives in sin is the slave of sin.” But for those like these three faithful servants who “will not... worship the golden statue that [the king of this world] set up,” there is freedom. For the Lord who is “praiseworthy and exalted above all forever,” who sits “on the throne of [His] kingdom... in the firmament of heaven,” “can save us from the white-hot furnace and from [the king’s] hands.” For those who “yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God,” sin holds no sway. And so we find them “unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire,” the angel of God at their side. God sits on His “throne upon the cherubim,” but He “look[s] into the depths.” And so He sends His Son to walk among us and set us free from slavery to sin. As Jesus says, “I come forth from God, and am here.” Here is the Son; here is the true reflection of the Father. Here, indeed, is Truth itself, by whom we are all set free. How Jesus strove to bring the truth to “those Jews who believed in Him” but struggled in their acceptance. But the Lord does not pull punches; He does not gloss over the truth, however harsh it may seem. He tells them plainly, “You are trying to kill me,” and so they do the works of Satan – and so do they sin. In their pride they deny their sin, and the envious plots in their hearts: “Our father is Abraham,” they argue, and not the evil one. “We are no illegitimate breed!” But the truth is that they are, and though it mean His death, Jesus must deliver this truth unto them... for it is all that will set them free. How little it seems the truth is brought to the people today, and so, how few it seems are set free. As sin goes merrily along, the devil sits laughing... But God is still God, and the Son is still the Son, and all who give themselves to Him and not the idols of this earth will still find themselves set free. Brothers and sisters, “if the Son frees you, you will really be free.” Confront your own sin, and entrust all to Him. ******* O LORD, from your throne on high you send your Son to rescue us from the fires of sin; let us love His words and put faith in Him and you. YHWH, you alone are God, exalted above all on your glorious throne. This is truth. And so, you alone should we worship with heart, mind, and soul. You alone we should praise. In you alone we should trust – you alone should be our Father. But how easily we lie and become children of the father of lies; how readily we harden our hearts against your Word, against your truth, LORD, bowing down before the golden statue and going so far as to kill the One who bears your truth to us. Jesus would convict us of our sins. He would reveal to us the truth of our fallen nature that we might be saved, that we might be set free from the sin that binds us and casts us into the white-hot furnace. But our pride will not be broken, and so, trapped within it we remain. O LORD, let us show the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Let us trust our very lives into your hands. Even in this furnace let us praise your Name, and your Son will come to us to set us free.

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April 8 - Tuesday of the 5th Week of Lent

(Nm.21:4-9; Ps.102:2-3,16-21; Jn.8:21-30) “From heaven He beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.” As the Lord has said to the Pharisees: “You belong to what is below; I belong to what is above.” And truly, how could we come to where He is unless He reached down to lead us there? The Israelites show just how much they are of this world below when they reject the food of the heavens in utter bitterness: “We are disgusted with this wretched food!” they say of the manna the Lord has provided. And punishment comes to them in the form of a serpent for their cursing the hand of God. And the Pharisees are the same. They have the living bread from heaven standing before them, teaching them, yet they cannot grasp what He says and with mockery ask, “Who are you, then?” when He tells them, “I AM.” And so they too “will surely die in their sins” for their rejection of the great I AM. But yet there is hope. For the Israelites, Moses “make[s] a serpent and mount[s] it on a pole,” and those who gaze upon it are healed from the serpent’s deadly bite. And, of course, Jesus Himself will mount the wood of the cross and be fixed there – and the Pharisees and we who gaze upon our sins (which, as with the serpents, have caused this punishment), we who see what we have done and repent thereof, shall be healed, restored, forgiven. “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will come to realize that I AM,” says the Lord. And now we look up at Him who has died for us and pray He will take us where He has gone, that our cry will come to Him, that He will regard “the prayer of the destitute” and lift us up to heaven with Him as we share in His cross. ******* O LORD, you have answered our prayers; let us be released from death by looking upon your crucified Son. YHWH, we are doomed to die; apart from you there is no life, and we have separated ourselves from you by our sin, by our complaining against your goodness toward us. How can one come to your presence on high if he desires but the world below, where is but dust and death? May we hear the call of your Son, who by His Cross would lead us to your kingdom. Jesus will die. On the Cross He will be lifted up, crucified by sinful hearts. But His death means only life for us, for He is Life itself, O LORD, He is one with you; and that life is more powerful than the imposter death, which fades to nothing before His glory. Your Son cannot but be raised on high, dear LORD, for He is one with you and dwells ever in surpassing light, to which He would draw all souls. May we indeed recognize He is the great I AM and come to life with Him, separated far from our sin and the poison it brings. Hear our prayer and save us.