THE LORD HAS TRIUMPHED GLORIOUSLY.
M: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Cong: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name + of Jesus.
One of the criticisms lodged against
Christianity is that our God is bloodthirsty and violent. He destroyed the world in the Flood. He ordered the slaughter of the Canaanite
nations. He commanded that Israel stone
its adulterers, psychics, and false prophets.
The argument concludes, “If that is what your God is like, then I want
no part of him!”
The events at
the Red Sea reinforce that image. Not
only did the Lord violently slay the Egyptian army, the Israelites sang rousing
songs of praise about it. Then Moses and the
people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing
to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has
thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:1).
It was a massacre. The Egyptian army was wiped out. Israel sustained no fatalities or even
wounds. There is no need to apologize
for the Lord. Our Lord is a bloodthirsty
God, and he violently slays his enemies.
But if you want to be saved, then it has to be this way. The Lord has triumphed gloriously; his victory
is absolute and undisputed.
This
all came about because God is fiercely loyalty to his promises. God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
that salvation would come through them.
God promised to give their descendants the Promised Land and to preserve
them until the Savior came. The
Egyptians had other plans. Israel was
cheap labor. They were to build the
glory of Pharaoh and Egypt. After the
Passover slaughter of their firstborn, the Egyptians begged the Israelites to leave. But then they had a change of heart. So, Pharaoh ordered the greatest army on
earth to pursue the Israelites.
The Egyptians were not going to ask
politely for Israel's return or to negotiate a labor contract. They were not going to play nice. “The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will
overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy
them’” (Exodus 15:9). This was a
bloodthirsty enemy, devoted to acts of violence, oppression, and murder. Whoever was not slaughtered by Egyptian
swords would be captives of the Egyptian empire and assumed into Egyptian
culture. It would not just be the loss
of a nation, but the end of God's promise.
But the Lord is fiercely loyal to his Messianic
promise. To attack the promise is to attack
the Lord. So, the Lord acted decisively and
destroyed those who threatened his promise.
“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen
officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The
floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power,
your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy” (Exodus 15:4-6). The Lord has triumphed gloriously. He has defended his promise. He has preserved the salvation of
mankind. If you want to be saved, this
is the way it has to be.
Our songs today are even more robust than
what the Israelites sang. Easter is the
celebration after a bloody, violent battle.
In this battle, it was winner take all, leaving no survivors. Either life wins, or death wins. Our songs ring out because Jesus came out
alive. Indeed, it was a massacre. If you want to be saved, then it has to be this
way. The Lord has triumphed gloriously;
his victory is absolute and undisputed.
If there
is joy in having a bloodthirsty, violent God, it is because you recognize your
enemies for what they are. Every one of
us is tormented and terrorized by sin, death, and the devil. Sin is not polite. It wounds your conscience, scars you with shame
and regret, and condemns you. Death does
not negotiate with you. It takes regardless
of your age, your health, or your importance.
The devil does not play nice, and he never will. He entices you to seize what you want no
matter what God says about it. Then he
accuses you and buries you with guilt over the very things he convinced you to
do. These are bloodthirsty, violent, and
murderous enemies who drag their captives down to hell for everlasting torment. They boast, “I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, … my hand shall destroy them’” (Exodus 15:9).
If you want to be rescued from your
enemies and delivered from their deadly grip, then they must be slain, never to
rise again. So, for us fights the
Valiant One whom God himself elected.
God took on our flesh in order to deliver our flesh from sin, death, and
the devil. This man, Jesus, single-handedly
faced the enemy to deliver you out of your captivity to your enemies. The enemies drew blood and inflicted wounds
on Jesus. Your bloodthirsty God poured
out his blood and willingly threw himself into death for you. He let Satan do his worst, and Satan
delivered the death blow to Jesus.
But now, Jesus is risen! By his resurrection, Jesus has left sin for
dead. Death is a corpse. Jesus crushed the Serpent’s head, and a dead
serpent is no threat. It was a bloody,
violent, and deadly battle, but Jesus lives as the victor. Your enemies have been massacred. The clash of the battlefield has been replaced
with songs of joy and praise and victory.
The Lord has triumphed gloriously; his victory is absolute and
undisputed.
The Lord Jesus makes this victory yours through
baptism. The enemies of Israel were
drowned in the waters of the Red Sea, so also your enemies were drowned in the
waters of baptism. For, this is what the
Lord says: “Do you not know
that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3,4). Baptism connects you to Jesus who has freed from your enemies.
Your enemies are dead—violently and definitively slain by the Lord. He lives and reigns for you, and you shall
now live and reign forever with him.
For, the Lord has triumphed gloriously.
Therefore, we sing our hymns of praise with gusto and gratitude. We do not apologize for our Lord's bloody battle or the violent slaughter of our enemies. This is how God has saved us completely. The Lord has triumphed gloriously; his victory is absolute and undisputed.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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