You Can't Stop the Word of God
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Sacred Scripture or by evident reason – since I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for it is evident that they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against my conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me.”
These were the words spoken 500 years ago, on April 18, 1521 - by a lowly German monk before the heavy-hitters of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V himself. Martin Luther walked away from that imperial assembly in Worms, Germany, but he did so branded a notorious outlaw, a heretic, guilty of high treason.
The emperor signed a warrant for his arrest: anyone who would help turn Luther in would be compensated. Anyone who would protect him or speak well of him would be punished.
For the next year, Luther was forced to lay low, locked up in the Wartburg Castle - fearing for his life.
King Hezekiah knew the feeling.
Feeling Not So Big
Hezekiah was the king of Judah in 701 B.C., a time when the most powerful Empire in the Middle East – the Assyrian Empire – was sweeping throughout the region, subjugating and destroying any nation in its path.
Put yourself in his sandals.
Your Northern neighbor, the Kingdom of Israel, had already been defeated. And now Assyria was headed your way. One by one, the surrounding cities fall under Assyrian control. And now Assyria’s king, Sennacherib, set’s his sights on the heart of your kingdom – the capital city and your home – Jerusalem.
You have nowhere to run.
You’re locked up, too, “like a caged bird” surrounded by Assyrian battlements and fortresses.
You’re hopelessly outnumbered, and the enemy is closing in.
And if the city wasn’t restless enough, Sennacherib sends word to Jerusalem to taunt and terrify them even further:
“Who are you relying on, that you – nation of Judah – rebel against me, Sennacherib, the King of Assyria? Is it the LORD your God? Where were the gods of every other nation Assyria has conquered? Their gods made promises, too. How helpful were they when we invaded their lands? Do not let the god you depend on deceive you. His words are empty: they are pointless, and powerless to save you.”
We know exactly what it’s like to be externally besieged with these kind of questions.
But sometimes, but battle starts internally - waging within our hearts.
Is God Not So Big?
Every Sunday, we are reminded of the loving, saving, gracious promises our God makes us in His Word; but when we feel uncertain, when problems invade our routine, when our lives start to fall apart, when we are tired, guilt-ridden, afraid, weak, and weary, when things are far beyond our ability to carry or control, we start to wonder: Will God really keep his Word? Can God really keep his Word?
I think one reason these questions sometimes gives us pause is because we project who we are onto God.
In psychology, projection is when one incorrectly imposes “internal realities (what you think and feel)” onto “external realities (what’s actually real or true).” This phenomenon is clearly demonstrated through the most famous projection test to date, otherwise known as the Rorschach test.
The Rorschach test works like this: the psychiatrist shows the patient a series of ambiguous inkblot paintings. The patient studies the pictures and states what he or she sees. There really is no right or wrong answer, but the answers the patient provides paint a picture what is going on inside his or her mind. The patient must project the self onto the uncertainty of the image in order to make sense of it.
Maybe you feel like your life is just one big, frustratingly painful Rorschach test.
You see all this “bad” and “unpleasant” stuff happening in your life and the lives around you and you can’t make sense of it. So, we project – we impose our thoughts and ways onto God.
When things don’t go according to our plan, we say, “God, wouldn’t things be so much better if things happened my way instead?” When challenges and hardships come, we say, “God, how is this fair? I’ve faithfully served you my entire life, and this is how you repay me?”
When illness and tragedy assault the routine of our everyday lives, we wonder “What good could possibly come from this? Would a God who loves me really allow this to happen? Could this really be part of any plan for my spiritual well-being? For my eternal good?”
We challenge the why behind what God does – because we feel our thoughts on goodness, fairness, justice, and control are better. We think our ways are more beneficial. And the further convinced we are of this, the more often we find ourselves highlighting the ways our Christian faith inconveniences us, the times we’ve been cornered by ridicule and even persecuted because of our faith.
We may start to wonder, “Is it really worth it? Are the thoughts and ways of God really that much better than that of the world?”
But that’s not the only way we project ourselves onto God.
We tally up the towering obstacles we daily face, all the challenges that prove our thoughts and our ways are insufficient. Yet, we’re often reluctant to give it over to God in prayer. And when we do turn to God, we wonder if he can even fix it – if he really is a Mighty Fortress.
When we are besieged with worry and stress about financial problems, when the bills keep piling up, we wonder, does God really provide? As you sit on a hospital bed, you ask, can God really restore my broken body? Has God really conquered death?
When we struggle to forgive ourselves for the sins of our past, we wonder, can God even forgive me then? Instead of letting God be big, we project ourselves – our inability, our weakness – onto him and – thus – make him small.
Your God is Way Bigger Than You
As he watched the Assyrian Empire drawing closer to Jerusalem, Hezekiah felt small, too.
So God, through the Prophet Isaiah, gave Hezekiah big words of comfort and promise – assuring Hezekiah that the LORD would fight for Judah – and Assyria would never enter the city.
And God, through the Prophet Isaiah, has words of comfort for you, too. Our God, in Isaiah 55:8-9, reminds us that there is purpose in everything he does.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Find comfort in how big your God is.
Our knowledge is limited, but God knows all things!
Our perspective is rooted in the now – but God is timeless!
You and I can only see what is in front of us. God sees all things! He’s present in all places!
And where you and I are slow to forgive, he’s ready to forgive.
We deserved eternal punishment for our sinfulness; yet God, in his grace and mercy, won salvation for us by sending His Son! All our sins are forgiven! Believe it! Your all-knowing, all-present, all-loving God is always working all things for your eternal good! There is power in that promise! God’s big promises keep rolling out in 55:10-11,
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
When God speaks, there is not only purpose, but there is power!
Your God is Way Bigger For You
This is the God who spoke to total nothingness and brought the world and everything in it into being, the same God who breathed life into inanimate clay and made man – the same God who spoke those words of gospel promise only moments after man fell into sin; that same God who carefully advanced all of history to fulfill that promise, so when the time had fully come, God sent his Son.
Jesus, the Word Incarnate, with a word, calmed the storms.
With a word, he drove out demons, healed the sick and restored the lame.
With a word, Jesus spoke life to a dead man.
This same Jesus lived a perfect life and died in our place, the same Jesus who took all our sin and carried it to the cross; and as he died, he shouted words of life to the world, “It is finished!” – your sins are freely, and fully forgiven! You have a right relationship with God forever!
That same God rose from the dead – just as he promised! And that same God will return to bring all those who believe in him home – to heaven.
Not because of who you are or what you’ve done – but because our God is a gracious God who saves!
No One Can’t Stop the Word of God
As Luther hid in the Wartburg Castle, he began one of his most important tasks: translating the Bible from Latin – the exclusive religious language of the Catholic Church – into the language of everyday people. Because of the Reformation, God’s powerful words of gospel comfort and promise can be held in the hands and hearts of people all over the world in their language.
The Edict of Worms in 1521 couldn’t stop the Word of God.
The threats of popes and councils couldn’t stop the return to the biblical teaching of by grace alone, by faith alone, and by Scripture alone.
Emperor Charles V couldn’t stop the Word of God. And neither could the armies of Assyria. They never did enter Jerusalem. The Angel of the LORD went into the camp of the Assyrians and 185,000 of them died. And Sennacherib tucked tail and ran home.
Because God keeps his promises.
Because there is power in God’s Word.
You see, it wasn’t Luther’s words that ultimately reformed the Christian church. If anyone thought otherwise, Luther would say, “I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends...the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”
That same Word that was preached to you, the same Word of God spoken at your Baptism, the same Word the Holy Spirit used to create faith in your heart and give you new life! And like a tree planted besides streams of living water, God plants you by his Word so you will grow and stand firm in your faith when challenges come.
God is no Rorschach inkblot test. If you want to know who your God is, go to his Word to hear his voice.
And when your God speaks, when he makes you promises, believe it. Because your God speaks with power and purpose.