The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 34

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34

The Lutheran Pioneer.

(For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.)
The Close of the Commandments.

What does God say of all these Commandments ?

He says thus: I the Lord thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me, and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and
keep my Commandments.

What does this mean?

God threatens to punish all that transgress |

these Commandments. Therefore we should
Jear His wrath, and not act contrary to them.
But He promises grace and every blessing to
all that keep these Commandments. Therefore

God here, then, threatens to punish those who
do iniquity,, those who transgress His Com-
|mandments. And how does God punish the
transgressors of His Commandments? ‘With
His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and
| eternal damnation.’’ No sooner had our first
parents transgressed God’s command than the
punishment followed. God’s wrath and dis-
pleasure showed itself at once, and the curse of
| temporal and eternal death at once fell upon
|them. And so it is with all sinners.
But does it not seem strange that God should

| say that He will visit the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth

generation of them that hate Him? Is it pos-
sible that God should be unjust? Why shall

we should also love and trust in Him, and will-| children suffer for the sins of their parents,

ingly do according to His Commandments.
“IT am the
Lord thy God,’’
thus the divine
Lawgiver says
at the beginning
of the Ten Com-
mandments. In
the so-called
close of the
Commandments
God makes use
of these same
words concern-
ing Himself,
adding, how-
ever, that He is
a jealous God.
This word ‘‘jeal-
ous’”’ in our day
has a somewhat
evil taste, a jeal-
ous person, as
we use theterm,
being one who
is always sus-
picionus of being displaced by a rival in the
love of another. But at the time the Bible
was translated into the English language,
the word ‘‘jealous’’ meant what the word
*tZealous’’ to-day means; namely, to be filled
with ardor and zeal. A zealous person is one
who does his duty. Now God says of Him-
self that He is a jealous, that is, a zealous
God. He will surely do His duty. He has
given His Commandments to us, and He will
now see to it that they be kept, or else that
the transgressors be punished. As He Him-
self declares, He will visit ‘‘the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate Him.”
He will visit iniquity. This word*‘visit’’ the
Bible uses in a twofold sense. When Jesus,
for example, says Luke 19 that the people of
Jerusalem knew not the time of their yisita-
tion, He means to say that they recognized
Not the grace and blessings which God poured
Uponthem. Butin the close of the Command-
ments the word ‘‘visit’’ can only mean that
God will punish the sinner because of his sins.

Missionary Lankenau with Pupils of St. Paul’s School at New Orleans.

did not commit? Do not be too hasty, but
mark well that the Lord adds, ‘‘Of them that
hate me.’? That means: Those children that
follow in the footsteps of their wicked parents
shall bear not only the punishment for their
own sins, but also for the sins of their parents.
The children of bad parents are usually bad
also, and if the Lord punishes them such punish-
ment can only be just. But if a good child
suffers because of its evil parents’ sins, then
such suffering of a pious child is not to be re-
garded as a punishment. The poverty of the
good children of a spendthrift is not a curse;
the frail body of the pious child of a volup-
tuary is but the chastening of a loving God.
These children will learn by their own experi-
ence that these scourgings work together for
their own good, they draw them away from the
world and unite them more closely with God.

This threat of God that He will punish sin
should induce us to fear His wrath and not
act contrary to His Commandments. Let us
remember that He who threatens to punish
sin does not threaten in vain. ‘'Vengeance is

| mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.’’ Let us
ponder upon the fate of the people before the
flood, of wicked Sodom, and of the impenitent
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and not forget that
the same God liveth still. Above all should
| parents think over this threat of the Lord. For
|if they are bad it is probable that their chil-
{dren will follow in their footsteps, and thus
they by their evildoing will bring down upon
their offspring a double curse. O that parents
would never lose sight of the fact that they
by their sins do not only harm themselves, but
may also bring woe upon their children and
| children’s children!

But if God’s zeal causes Him to visit iniquity
upon the transgressors of His Law, it likewise
prompts Him to promise grace and every bless-

| why bear the punishment for sins which they | ing to all that keep His Commandments. ‘This

do, and _ thou
shalt live,’’ such
are the words
of Jesus to the
Pharisee. And
this promise of
the Lord will be
kept. God’s
pleasure, grace,
and eternal life
is the reward
God grants for
the fulfillment
of His Com-
mandments.
Surely there is
the greatest in-
ducement to
love and trust
in God and will-
ingly do accord-
ing to His Com-
mandments!
The Lord’s zeal
induces Him to
hold out the greatest rewards to those who
obey His Law. He will show mercy unto
thousands of them that love Him and keep
His Commandments. He is so anxious to have
us do what is right that He promises to re-
ward us for only doing what is our duty! But
alas! we cannot do our duty, we cannot fear,
love, and trust in God above all things, we
cannot fulfill His Commandments. Not the
promise but the threat of dire punishment is
therefore for us. God’s Law has no promise
of grace and blessing for us sinners — only
the curse and damnation. Woe unto us, then,
if we know nothing of the grace which is in
Christ Jesus; woe unto us if the Holy Ghost
does not teach us to say to Him who is the
end of the Law:
Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill Thy Law’s demands:
Could my zeal no respite know, *
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone:
Thou must save, and Thou alone!

F. J. L.