Part 9
_I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead._
1. When our Lord ascended into heaven and His disciples were looking after Him as He was taken up before their eyes, higher and higher, two men stood by them in white apparel, two angels, who said: _"This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."_ Acts 1,11. We confess therefore that our Lord _will come again,_ that He will come again in like manner as His apostles saw Him taken up into heaven. He will come _visibly._ All men on earth will see our Lord coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21,27. He will not come again in deep humility and poverty, as He came when He was born in Bethlehem, but with great power and glory. _"The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels."_ Matt. 16,27. All men will see Him as the almighty King surrounded by His heavenly hosts. Every one will then have to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and every one will have to bow to Him. _Our Lord will come again visibly and in great glory._
2. When the Lord comes in His glory, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the earth and all the works therein shall be burned up. 2 Pet. 3,10. _The Last Day, the end of this world, will then have come._ On this Last Day our Lord will come to _"judge the quick and the dead."_ Christ has been ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. Acts 10,42. He will judge the _quick,_ that is, those who are still living when He comes. He will judge the dead. On that day all the dead will rise again and will be brought before the Lord to be judged by Him.
3. Christ Himself has given us a beautiful description of His Judgment. (Read the whole passage, Matt. 25,31-46.) He tells us: _"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations."_ Matt. 25,31.32. Christ is the Judge of all nations, of all men. _"We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in His body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."_ 2 Cor. 5,10. No one, be He ever so mighty, rich, or learned, can escape His Judgment.
4. How will Christ judge? He says: _"And He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left."_ Matt. 25,32.33. The _sheep are those who truly believe in Christ, their Savior,_ and in Him have forgiveness of their sins. _The goats are those who in this life rejected Christ and His grace._ To His sheep He will say: _"Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."_ V. 34. On the goats He will pronounce this judgment: _"Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."_ V. 41. And then the Lord will prove to all men that His judgment is a righteous one by the good works of the believers and the evil deeds of His enemies.--This judgment is final and will never be altered. His enemies _"shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."_ Matt. 25,46.
5. _When will this great Day of Judgment, the day of our Lord, come?_ This we do not know. Our Lord says: _"Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."_ Mark 13,32. We should not try to find out the exact day of the coming of our Lord. But God has in His Word revealed two important things about this day. He tells us that His day will come _suddenly, when nobody expects it. "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."_ 2 Pet. 3,10. _"Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh."_ Matt. 25,13.--We also know that this day will come _soon. "The end of all things is at hand."_ 1 Pet. 4,7. We may and should expect the Lord _daily_ and be prepared to receive Him. There are many signs which announce the coming of Christ. Matt. 24,14-31; Luke 21,25-36.
6. _"This is most certainly true."_ With these words we conclude also our Second Article. From God's Word we know that all we have learned in the Second Article is most certainly true. Therefore we believe and confess it.
REMEMBER:--
1. _On the Last Day our Lord will come again visibly and in great glory to judge the quick and the dead, all men. You, too, must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ._
2. _On this day He will cast away the wicked and unbelievers into everlasting punishment. The righteous He will receive into His everlasting kingdom. Believe in Christ, and you will be saved._
3. _We know neither day nor hour of His coming, but we know that His day will come unexpectedly and soon. Watch always and be prepared to receive your Lord._
MEMORIZE:--
_He is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead._ Acts 10,42.
_The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night._ 2 Pet. 3,10.
_The end of all things is at hand._ 1 Pet. 4,7.
_We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad._ 2 Cor. 5,10.
QUESTIONS.
1. How did the apostles learn of the coming of their Lord at His ascension? 2. How will the Lord come again, according to the words of the angels? 3. Who will see our Lord in His second coming? 4. What is the difference between His first and His second coming? 5. On what day will the Lord come again? 6. What is the purpose of His coming? 7. Who are the quick? 8. How can the Lord judge the dead? 9. Whom, therefore, will Christ judge? 10. How will Christ judge? 11. Who are His sheep? 12. Who are the goats? 13. What will Christ say to His sheep on that day? 14. What judgment will He pronounce on His enemies? 15. When will the last day, the Day of Judgment, come? 16. What has God revealed to us concerning this day? 17. When, therefore, should we expect our Lord and prepare for His coming?
LESSON 29.
The Second Article.
REVIEW LESSON.
1. We confess in the Second Article that Christ, the God-man, is our Lord. In order to become our Lord, He had to redeem and purchase us from the cruel masters to whom we belonged, from all our sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. To purchase us He had to pay a price, a very high price--His holy, precious blood, His life. To purchase us He of His own free will gave up His life; He died on the cross. Christ was dead and buried. Do we now believe in a dead and buried Lord and Savior? What happened after His death, when He was still in His grave? Where did He go after having been quickened by the Spirit? What was His purpose in entering the habitation of Satan and his evil spirits? Christ showed Himself to be the Victor over Satan and hell. For whose benefit did He win this victory? From whose power are we free?
2. What happened on the third day after the death of our Lord? Christ rose from the dead. What does that mean? Christ came forth from His sepulcher. Who brought this glad message to the women? How did the Lord convince His disciples that He was living? Even who could not deny His resurrection? What makes us sure that Christ rose from the dead? What do we therefore gladly confess? (Job 19,25.)--With what body did Christ come forth from His grave? How can we prove that it was the same body that was laid in the grave? But how was Christ's body after His resurrection? His body, indeed, was glorified. What does this mean?-- The resurrection of our Lord is of great importance for us. It is full of comfort and consolation. If Christ would still be dead and lying in the grave, how could He be our Savior and King, and how would it be possible for Him to help us? Our faith in Him would be vain; indeed, we would be of all men most miserable. What does the Apostle Paul say about this? (1 Cor. 15,17-19.) But Christ is risen indeed. What great comfort for us! Whom has He conquered? Who alone is able to conquer this powerful enemy? What, therefore, must our Lord be? Christ rose after He had given His life a ransom for our sins. What, therefore, does the resurrection of our Lord prove concerning our sins? Christ is risen and lives forever. What comfort does this give us for our whole life? What comfort does it give us in the hour of death?
3. How long did our Lord remain with His disciples after His resurrection? Why did He repeatedly show Himself to them? What happened on the fortieth day? Where did His ascension take place? What promise did the Lord give His apostles just before His ascension? Why were they to be endued with the power of the Holy Ghost? In what manner did the ascension of our Lord take place?--Christ ascended into heaven as the triumphant Victor over all His enemies. His enemies are our enemies. What does His ascension prove concerning our enemies? For whose sake, therefore, did Christ ascend into heaven?--Christ ascended into heaven. Heaven is His Father's house. Why did our Lord go to His Father's house for us? He has prepared a place for us in heaven. He has opened the gates of heaven for us. What does our Lord say John 12,26? Where will our Savior lead us, His disciples, too? Christ, our Treasure, is in heaven; what, therefore, shall be there also?
4. Christ ascended into heaven, and He now sits at the right hand of God in the glory of His Father. How does our Catechism explain this? Though Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, He is always with us, His disciples. In what manner is He with us? What must we use, read, hear, and think about in order that our Lord may be with us? What promise did He give us, John 14,18? The Lord sitting at the right hand of God reigns over us; what does this mean? Of what does Christ's resurrection, ascension, and the sitting at the right hand of God make us certain?
5. When our Lord ascended into heaven, two angels stood by the disciples. They told them that Christ would come again in like manner as they had seen Him taken up into His glory. What do we learn from these words about the coming of our Lord? Who will see Him when He returns? What is the difference between the first and the second coming of Christ? Our Lord will come again with power and glory. What will all men have to confess on that day, even His enemies? Who will escort the Lord when He returns in His glory?--What is the purpose of His coming? Whom will the Lord judge? What judgment will He pronounce on His sheep? How do we become His sheep? Who, therefore, will stand before the Son of Man on Judgment Day? What terrible sentence will His enemies hear? Our Lord tells us that after the Judgment His enemies will go away into everlasting punishment, but His sheep into everlasting life. How, therefore, is this Judgment?--Who alone knows the day and hour of the second coming of Christ? What should we therefore never try to do? What, however, does Scripture tell us concerning the Last Day? When, therefore, should we expect His coming and prepare for it? What does our Lord Himself say to us, Matt. 25,13? Believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Mary's Son, Who from heaven above came down And leads us to heaven's throne; By whose blood and death are we Rescued from all misery.
LESSON 30.
The Third Article: Of Sanctification.
The Holy Ghost. The Triune God.
Which is the beginning of the Third Article?
_I believe in the Holy Ghost._
1. According to the Second Article we believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, that is, we do not only know that it is true what God's Word says about Christ and His work for us, but _we put all our confidence, all our trust, in Him as our Savior_ who has redeemed us. That is the true, saving faith. This saving faith is not our own work. _It is the work of God the Holy Ghost._ Without Him and the work which He performs in us no man would come to Jesus and believe in Him. The Holy Ghost alone can and does bring to Christ those that believe in Him. About the Holy Ghost and the work which He performs in us we learn in the _Third Article of our Christian Creed._
2. _"I believe in the Holy Ghost,"_ these are the first words of the Third Article. We _believe_ in the Holy Ghost, thus we confess. To believe in some one means, as we have learned, _to put one's whole confidence and trust in him._ Now, God tells us in the First Commandment that we should fear and love Him above all things _and trust in Him alone. In God only_ we should believe. And therefore we believe in the Holy Ghost, because He is the true God. _In saying that we believe in the Holy Ghost, we confess that He is the one true God, that He is our God, God as truly as the Father and Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord._ The apostle says: _"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God, dwelleth in you?"_ 1 Cor. 3,16. Because the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, dwells in us, we are _God's_ temple. The Holy Ghost therefore is the true God.--Remember what you learned in the history of creation. There we read: _"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."_ Gen. 1,2. The work of creation is ascribed to the Spirit of God, to the Holy Ghost. Creation is the work of God. _Therefore the Holy Ghost must be God._
3. _We believe in the Father, and we believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, and we believe in the Holy Ghost._ There are _three distinct persons_ in whom we believe. There are three persons whom we confess to be our God--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And we confess this according to Scripture. Christ, our Lord, commands us to baptize in the name of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Matt. 28,19. Let me remind you of the _baptism of our Lord._ There the three divine Persons revealed themselves. _God the Son,_ our Lord Jesus Christ, stood in the river Jordan, being baptized by John. _God the Father_ revealed Himself in a voice from heaven, saying: _"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."_ And the heavens opened, and the _Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost,_ like a dove, descended upon our Lord. _There are three distinct divine Persons in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost._
4. We confess that the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. _There are not three gods, however, but only one God. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord, our God, is one Lord."_ Deut. 6,4. The one and only true God has revealed Himself in three distinct divine Persons. _Our God, the one true God, besides whom there is no other God in heaven and earth, is God the Father, God the Son, and God, the Holy Ghost, three divine Persons, but one God._ Because God has revealed Himself in three divine Persons, we say: _God is the Triune God, the Holy Trinity._--How it is possible that there are three distinct divine Persons, but only one God, we do not _understand;_ but in accordance with the Word of God we _believe_ in the Triune God, in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who has created us, redeemed us, and sanctifies us, or makes us holy. In Him we believe, Him we praise and adore as our God.
5. The Holy Ghost is the true God, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Third Person is called the Holy Ghost because _He Himself is perfectly holy,_ even as the Father and the Son. He is without sin. _"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory."_ Is. 6,3. Three times God is called holy, because there are three divine Persons in God.--But the Holy Ghost is called holy also _because He makes us sinners holy._ That is His work, making us holy, who by nature are unholy and sinful. He makes us holy by bringing us to Christ, our Savior, by kindling faith in Him in our hearts. This work of the Holy Ghost we call _sanctification._
REMEMBER:--
1. _The Holy Ghost is true God together with the Father and the Son. Therefore we confess that we believe in Him._
2. _The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. According to Scripture we confess three distinct divine Persons in God._
3. _There are not three gods, however, but only one true and eternal God, who has revealed Himself in three Persons._
4. _The one true God, our God, is the Triune God, the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost._
MEMORIZE:--
_Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?_ 1 Cor. 3,16.
_Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost._ Matt. 28,19.
_Hear, O Israel: the Lord, our God, is one Lord._ Deut. 6,4.
_Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory._ Is. 6,3.
QUESTIONS.
1. Of whom does the Third Article treat? 2. In whom do we believe? 3. What does it mean to believe in some one? 4. In whom alone should we believe? 5. What do we therefore confess when we say that we believe in the Holy Ghost? 6. How do we prove from 1 Cor. 3,16 that the Holy Ghost is true God? 7. What divine work is ascribed in Scripture to the Holy Ghost? 8. What, therefore, must the Holy Ghost be? 9. How many divine persons do we confess in the Three Articles of our Christian Faith? 10. How are they called? 11. In whose name are we baptized? 12. How did the three divine persons reveal themselves at the baptism of our Lord? 13. How many gods are there? 14. In how many persons did the one true God reveal Himself? 15. Who, therefore, is the one true God? 16. How do we call God because He has revealed Himself in three distinct persons? 17. Which person of the Holy Trinity is the Holy Ghost? 18. Why is He called holy? 19. What is His work? 20. By what other name is this work of the Holy Spirit known?
LESSON 31.
The Third Article.
Without The Holy Ghost I Cannot Believe In Jesus Or Come To Him.
Which is the Third Article?
_I believe in the Holy Ghost._
What does this mean?
_I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him._
1. We confess that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him. Whoever would be saved must believe in Jesus Christ and so come to Him _"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."_ Acts 16,31. Christ, our Lord, it is true, has done everything that was necessary for our salvation. He redeemed us, He paid the penalty for all our sins, by His sufferings and death He gained for us the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins. He has done everything that we might be His own and live under Him as our Lord. All things are made ready for our salvation.
2. _The only thing that we need do now is to come to Christ and accept from Him all He has gained for us._ Take an example. You are in great want and distress. A rich and charitably inclined man offers you a sum of money sufficient to help you out of your trouble. The money is yours, for the rich man has given it to you. If you take it, your want will be at an end. But suppose you do not take it. Perhaps you do not believe that the rich man really means what he says, or you do not want to accept it from him, or, if you have taken it, you are not making use of it. The help has then been offered to you in vain. Your sad condition remains as it was. So it is with what Christ, our Savior, has merited for us. He has gained full salvation for us, and He offers it to us in His Word. If we do not accept it, His work is in vain as far as we are concerned; we remain in our sins.
3. How do we accept what Christ has gained for us? _By believing in Him as our Savior._ He believes in Christ who from his whole heart confesses: I know from the Word of God that Christ is _my_ Lord, that He has redeemed me from all _my_ sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. I know from the Word of God that _I_ am Christ's own, His child, that He is really _my_ Lord. For His sake all _my_ sins are forgiven. Through His suffering and death _I_ am free from death and damnation and have everlasting life. _What Christ has done He has done for me, a lost and condemned sinner._ In Him is my only hope. By faith we come to Christ. Faith is, as it were, the _hand_ with which we take everything that Christ has gained for us.
4. Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved, that is the only way to heaven and everlasting life. But we confess that _we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, or come to Him._ Alas! also this is most certainly true. We are lost and condemned sinners. The Scriptures tell us that all men are by nature _blind_ in these things. We do not understand the glorious message that in Christ alone is our salvation. We always try to save ourselves by our good works. If we are told about this salvation, we think it _foolishness._ "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto Him." 1 Cor. 2,14.--We have not the _strength_ to come to Jesus, our Savior. We are _dead_ in the sight of God. _"Ye were dead in trespasses and sins."_ Eph. 2,1. A dead person cannot do anything to bring himself to life again. Lazarus could not raise himself from the grave. So we cannot do anything to raise ourselves from our death in sins. _"No man can say that Jesus is the Lord_ [that is, believe in Him] _but by the Holy Ghost."_ 1 Cor. 12,3. And even if we could, we would not come to Jesus and believe in Him. We are by nature God's enemies. We do not want to be saved by Him. We cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, or come to Him. _As far as we are concerned, we are lost._
5. But God has had pity on us. He sent His Holy Ghost. The _Holy Ghost_ does what we cannot do. He brings us to Christ, He works in us true faith. True faith is God's work in us, the work of the Holy Ghost, _His work alone._ Not our works, but His _grace alone_ moves Him to do this work. _"By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast."_ Eph. 2,8.9.
REMEMBER:--
1. _Christ has done everything for my salvation. All now depends upon my coming to Jesus, my Lord and Savior._
2. _I come to Jesus by believing in Him. True faith in Christ is not my own work. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, or come to Him._
3. _Saving faith in Christ is the work of the Holy Ghost alone. Not my works or my merits, but only His grace has moved Him to bring me to Christ and save me._
MEMORIZE:--
_The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto Him._ 1 Cor. 2,14.
_Ye were dead in trespasses and sins._ Eph. 2,1.
_No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost._ 1 Cor. 12,3.
_By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast._
QUESTIONS.