Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

I found out too late to make a profit that the Deacon who taught my Jr. Catechism class was giving some of my classmates money to learn their catechism memory work. The Ten Commandments do not seem to be as desirable to us as sweets or money, but today’s psalm tells us that the law of the LORD is “more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). We shouldn’t need to be bribed to learn our catechism, or tempted by sweets at coffee socials in order to come to church.

 

Perhaps it is somewhat due to our Lutheran distinction between Law and Gospel, that we think one of them is good and the other is bad. Gospel means “good news,” so then must the Law be “bad news?” In the chief way in which it interacts with us the Law condemns us for our sins. The Ten Commandments show us what we do wrong and the good that we fail to do and what we deserve as punishment. It is because of the Law of God that we begin our Divine Service confessing, “I a poor miserable sinner confess to You all my sins and iniquities” (Lutheran Service Book, 184).

 

The condemnation of God’s holy Law is inescapable. Our catechism definitions follow the instruction of Jesus who has taught us that the Fifth Commandment is not just about the outward act of murder, but also condemns us for the hatred in our heart and the hateful words on our tongue (Matthew 5:21-22). It is very hard to swallow, not at all like honey, it would seem. It impoverishes us by imposing upon us a penalty we could never pay, not at all like having our pockets lined with gold, according to our way of thinking.

 

But God’s holy Law has more than one effect. There is a sweetness to it, and a preciousness that makes it more valuable than gold, priceless even. The holy Law of God is what teaches us to live as God’s holy children. It shows us what is pleasing to our heavenly Father, for which He is pleased to shower us with blessings in this life. Remember that first commandment that comes with a promise? “Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD Your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).

 

As a remedy to the condemnation of God’s Law we have His holy Gospel, the good news that there is forgiveness and new life for us through our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 6). But it is again the holy Law of God that guides and directs us in the new life we have to live as God’s forgiven children. So, without the Law of God we would not know of our sins or our need for God’s grace in Jesus Christ, and we would not know how to live as His holy people under His grace and blessing. Therefore the Law of God should be no less desirable to us than the Gospel. The entire Word of God is priceless and sweet, a delight to all who would live in blessing now and in the light of God’s presence forever.

 

In order to extol the Word of God for us, today’s psalm uses a double depth of metaphor. The first few verses of the psalm seem to be extolling the wonder of God’s creation, specifically the sun. We have heard a lot about the wonders of the sun lately. We have experienced its heat and the length of the days that it has provided for us at this time of year. We have also had a recent eclipse where we briefly experienced what it was like to have the light of the sun entirely blocked out. It was eerie, even if only for a minute or two. And we have been able to experience the wonders of the sun even at night with the aurora borealis (the northern lights) becoming visible to us on a couple of occasions. Even though seen at night, these light effects are caused by the radiation emitted from the sun when it shoots out large solar flares. The sun is a wondrous part of God’s creation, declaring His glory and proclaiming His handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

 

The wonder of the sun and what it provides for life on this planet is part of the natural knowledge of God. It cannot be fully explained without admitting that there is a god who created it and sustains its action in this comprehensive role, providing light, heat, energy for plants, emotional stability, and lots of other things of which we are probably unaware. The sun, the moon, and the stars, reveal this natural knowledge of God by which everyone should confess that there is a God who is reliable and faithful, as well as powerful, creative, and gracious. Day by day the sun rises upon the righteous and the sinful alike, bestowing its blessings upon those who do not deserve them.

 

In order to express the grandeur and grace of God evident in the sun, our Psalm speaks a couple of similes. The first one states that the sun “comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber” (19:5). Every day the sun rises like a arising on his wedding day. He has a list of tasks and he does them all with a smile on his face and joy in his heart. The knowledge of the love of his bride fuels and gives energy to him as he sets out to accomplish all that needs to be done. He shines his joy upon the earth projecting beauty upon all he sees, and so bringing blessings upon all with whom he has contact. And he fulfills the purpose for which he rose this day and came out, fully satisfied as he sees the evening approach and knows that he is headed again to his home to be refreshed in the warm embrace of his beloved.

 

The second simile states that sun “like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (19:5-6). This could be a comparison to an athlete who is filled with the anticipation of competition, pleased to be able to exercise the power and skill that he has been given. Or, perhaps it refers more specifically to a warrior who charges out to the battle, executing his orders for king and country, in order to give glory to the divine Ruler and to protect the people of the kingdom. Nothing will impede his mission and nothing can hide from the justice he will deliver.

 

Certainly, the sun seems to do such things, accomplishing the purpose for which God created it and set it in the heavens. It gives Him glory and serves the people whom He loves. But if the poet only goes so far, then the rest of the psalm is about something else, not the sun any longer. For in verse 7 the topic clearly becomes the law of the LORD, the Torah, His holy Word. There is a progression from the natural knowledge of God evident in the heavens and all of creation, to the revealed knowledge of God, telling us things we can only learn as He tells us in His Word.

 

The heavens have whetted our appetite for the Word of God dripping its sweetness like honey. The Word of God reveals a sun in the heavens, the sun of righteous, the Son of God, who came as light into the world in order that we may see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. You can’t learn this from creation, and so the days at the lake and the nights under the stars have their limit. It is in the Word of God that we gaze upon Jesus, who is the clearest and fullest expression of faithfulness and grace (John 1:1-18).

 

In the Word of God Jesus Christ is revealed to be the bridegroom who has cleansed and adorned the Church to be His bride (Ephesians 5). He has washed her in the water of Baptism, purified her of all sins through His suffering and death upon the cross. As He has risen again from the darkness of death, He has a new life to share with His bride, a resurrected life lived under the grace of God and yet in the bounds of the law of God (Romans 6).

 

You see, this Jesus, as He Himself put it, “did not come to abolish the law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). While Jesus is the Gospel. He is also the Law. He is the entire Word of God in human flesh. He not only died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins, but He is also the One who continues to preach to us about how our sanctified lives are to be lived. He is the One who is coming to judge the living and the dead.

 

We are not to love the Gospel and hate the Law, for both are Christ. He speaks both. He is enfleshed as both. To know Him is to have the knowledge of God. Both the natural revelation of God in creation and the revealed knowledge of God in the Scriptures point you to Him. The Scriptures do it all the more clearly and directly.

 

They speak of Jesus Christ, not only as the bridegroom of the Church, but also as the stronger man who comes out to rescue His people. He charges forth with brilliance like the sun and moves steadfastly along His course to the end, to victory. He will not stop until He has achieved it wholly and completely. He frees us from sin, death, and the devil.

 

He came into the world like the rising of the sun, ran His course until He could declare from the cross that “It is finished” (John 19:30), and was set in the earth to reveal the darkness of death. But as the sun rises again, so He came forth from the tomb and the light of Easter morn revealed that grave was open and empty. His faithfulness to forgive and cleanse us will continue as long as the sun in the heavens runs its course, until He comes again like a bridegroom to take us to Himself and the great wedding feast that will have no end.

 

The double depth of the metaphors in the psalm tell us that the sun is like a bridegroom or a strong warrior, because the sun is like Christ. He has come to shine the light of God’s Word upon you, both the revered Law and the beloved Gospel. He does not abolish one in favour of the other, but continues to preach both to you. For you have no idea of the depth of your sins which need the forgiveness that He speaks; and nothing will be hidden from the heat of God’s judgment on the last day. Yet the grace of God that shines in Jesus will also cleanse you from your hidden faults (Psalm 19:12).

 

It is everything that Jesus has to say that makes the Word of God as desirable as gold or as delectable as honey. He warns us of the warriors might to conquer sin, reminds us of the rewards given to the valiant in battle with temptation, shows us how the bridegroom cleanses and adorns his bride, forgiving sins hidden and known. It is the Word of God that reveals to you that the wonders of creation give glory to God by revealing something about His Son. You cannot fully apprehend the wonder apart from hearing His Word and receiving His grace.

 

 

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).