All Eyes on Jesus - The Stronger Man

Third Sunday in Lent, Oculi                  
March 20, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
All Eyes on Jesus, the Stronger Man

   All eyes on Jesus.  The 3^rd Sunday in Lent is “Oculi Sunday,” a name that comes from the first line of the Introit in Latin, Oculi mei semper ad Dominum.  My eyes are ever toward the LORD.   All eyes on Jesus. 

   And it’s no wonder all eyes are on Jesus: He casts out a demon and restores a man's ability to speak.  

   As Jesus is greater than Moses, so the finger of God revealed in His ministry is greater than what Pharaoh’s eyes saw.  For through Moses and Aaron the finger of God struck with plagues of swarming gnats and flies, seeking in vain to break the hardened heart of Pharoah, the strong man of Egypt.  

   

Again for Moses, on Mount Sinai the finger of God wrote the Torah, the Law for Israel, on stone tablets.  But Jesus reveals the finger of God in a miracle of mercy, freeing a soul from the power of a demon, and loosing his tongue to give thanks to God through Jesus of Nazareth.  Plagues and Laws from God through Moses.  Grace and the Truth of the Gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ.  Yes indeed, all eyes on Jesus, the Christ of God.   

    All eyes on Jesus.  But not all eyes see Jesus with wonder and joy.  In what must be one of the worst examples ever of foolish talk and crude joking, some in the crowd respond to the Lord’s marvelous demonstration of power and mercy with snide comments.  A ridiculous accusation that Jesus casts out demons by the power of Beelzebul, which was a popular name for the Devil.  This leads to what was for Abraham Lincoln one of his most famous quotes, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  Lincoln was referring to the Union of these United States at the time of the Civil War.  Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Satan.  If, explains Jesus, He is casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the Lord of the Flies, well then Satan has division in his ranks, and his kingdom would soon fall.  A house divided cannot stand.      

    Which of course was exactly the case.  You see, in the end, Jesus uses Satan’s hatred, of God and man, against the accuser, in order to destroy his kingdom.  Strategically it was a terrible idea for Satan to drive sinners to kill Jesus, because Christ’s death is the undoing of Satan’s power.  Satan can only use the Law of God to hold our sins over us and keep us enslaved in his palace as long as the requirements of the Law have not been fulfilled.  This work of perfectly fulfilling the Law is what Jesus completes on the Cross, and by His sabbath rest in the tomb.  Satan loses His kingdom by driving the Jews and Romans to kill Jesus. 

    But Satan couldn’t help himself.  In the wilderness, Satan tried to turn Jesus from His path, as if he knows the danger to himself.  But now, the temptation for Satan to drive sinners to kill the Son of God is too great.  Satan strikes the Son of God, and is himself undone.  The literal finger of God, along with the rest of Mary’s Son, hangs dead on a Cross, and so opens the way of Life to humanity.  God’s ways are definitely not our ways.  

    All eyes on Jesus.  And your ears too.  Because the King of Heaven, now come down to earth, wants to make sure you know what’s going on.  So Jesus continues to teach about cosmic politics:  When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 

    A strong man.  Did we think we were done with strong man politics?  This has certainly been the dream for a certain class of politicians and pundits.  For the last 50 years, in both America and Europe, many have maintained and clung stubbornly to the idea that we modern, enlightened westerners have, somehow, evolved past strong man politics.   

    But Vladimir Putin had other ideas.  Bullies prey on those who cannot or will not defend themselves.  And so the Western World once again must learn a bitter lesson, while Ukrainians watch their country burn, and many suffer and die. 

    Putin may have miscalculated.  He certainly appears to have overestimated the effectiveness of his own army.  But he was not wrong to believe that strong man politics continue.  Our world is a chaotic mess, and mustering the international chutzpah to stand up to a bully is hard.  Especially when that bully has weapons of mass destruction with which to threaten the world.  

     It has always been so.  With or without modern weaponry, self-appointed strong men have always tested boundaries, forcing societies which value peace and freedom to stand up and defend themselves.  It has always been so, and sadly, it will continue to be so.  Strong men and evil actors will look for an inch and take a mile, probing weakness and testing the resolve of those who seek peace.  It will continue to be so until that glorious day when the trumpet sounds, and Christ returns to collect His spoil, the prize of His victory over the Devil.  That spoil, that prize, is you.  The spoil that Jesus breaks in and takes from Satan is sinners, sinners like you, and me. 

    All eyes on Jesus.  As we have already discussed, the Stronger Man overcomes the strong man, taking his armor and dividing his spoil.  Which is to say, Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and especially of those who believe in Him.  After the Cross and Resurrection, no one needs to remain under Satan’s power, for Christ died, once for all.  But this glorious, holy freedom comes only when we sinners are brought to confess our lost, sinful condition, give up hope that we can save ourselves, and instead trust that Jesus’ apparent defeat is in truth our great victory.  That despite what we deserve, in Christ Jesus we are forgiven, and so declared holy and righteous before God.  And we are.  You are. 

    All eyes on Jesus.  Our number one task as long as we remain Christ’s people here on earth is to 
celebrate and make known the Stronger Man’s victory, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and encourage others to see Him too.  It bears repeating:  Satan has no power to accuse and hold sinners in his wretched kingdom, because Jesus has fulfilled the Law in our place, in everyone’s place.  The perfect life of love, the selfless death of sacrifice, the victorious resurrection and ascension to glory, all these marvelous works of our Lord mean that there is forgiveness to spare for every sin, and for every sinner, forgiveness which the Spirit daily and richly distributes through Word, Water, Wheat and Wine. 

    All eyes on Jesus.  Because there is no middle ground, no neutral parties in this conflict.  Nobody gets to sit out this war on the sidelines.  As Jesus says:  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.  The battle between that ancient lying serpent and the finger of God cannot be a spectator sport; every human being has an eternal stake in the outcome.  Either you are with the Stronger Man, Jesus, for your blessing, or you are with the strong but evil one, Satan.  Either you are filled, freed and led by the Holy Spirit of Christ, or you are deceived and led by demonic powers, that flatter and please and cajole you with earthly pleasures and human reason, hoping to distract you long enough so that you die without hearing and believing the Truth.  As in physics, so also in spiritual matters: vacuums always get filled.  So when life in this world, and our own sin leave us empty, we need to fill up, again and again, regularly for all our lives, on the gifts of the Spirit delivered in Word and Sacrament.  

    All eyes on Jesus, the Stronger Man.  As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!"  But Jesus said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

    Keeping our eyes on Jesus can be unpleasant, even frightening.  So we sinner-saints, we Christians sometimes tend to focus on peripherals.  Because Jesus’ teaching and practice are hard!  Sin is out. Love for the unlovable is in. Pretense and hypocrisy are out.  Pride in myself and my goodness are out.  Confessing my sins, and sacrificing for the good of the brother or sister, or for the congregation, this is the Way we are called to walk.  Jesus even promises suffering in this life for the faithful.  The fact is that uncut, 180-proof Jesus can be hard to take.   

    All eyes on Jesus.  This woman in the crowd is not wrong, just focused on the wrong person.  She correctly observes that Mary, Jesus’ mother, had walked in an amazing series of Good Works, which God had prepared in advance for her.  Mary conceived and nurtured in her womb the Son of the Most High.  She fed from her own body the Creator of the Universe.  She washed and protected and taught and loved the Child who would grow up to be the Stronger Man, God in the flesh, the Savior of sinners.  Indeed Mary is most blessed among all women. 

    And yet, we are not to try to find the finger of God in Mary.  She is not to be worshiped, or prayed to, or emphasized too much.  Rather she is to be emulated.  For she heard the Word of God and kept it.  She believed the promises and prophecies of the angel Gabriel and the prophet Simeon.  She told others to listen to her Son, and do whatever what He tells you.  She patiently kept her eyes fixed on Jesus, her Child, watching and waiting, I assume with motherly dread, for the day when the sword Simeon prophesied would pierce her own soul. 

    That soul-piercing sword was the Cross.  Mary’s unique suffering was to see her beloved Child sacrifice Himself for the salvation of this sinful world.  And yet Mary kept the Word of God.  Or better to say the Word kept her.  She clung by God’s grace to the promises, even when her eyes saw things too painful for words.  And yet in that vision is Mary’s life, and the life of the world.    

       All eyes on Jesus, the Stronger Man.  We do not know what might happen in Ukraine, in our nation or beyond.  There are many dangers all around.  Bullies will continue to bully.  But we who trust in Jesus have no real reason to worry.  Whether we suffer or succeed, mourn or rejoice, we know that we have already won, because the Stronger Man has claimed us as His reward.   All eyes on Jesus, Amen.   

Under His Wings - A Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent

First Sunday in Lent
March 6^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Under His Wings
Psalm 91 and Matthew 4:1-11

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, 
   who abide in His shadow for life,
Say to the Lord: 'My refuge, 
   my Rock in whom I trust!'
'And He will raise you up on eagle's wings, 
     bear you on the breath of dawn,
 Make you to shine like the sun, 
     and hold you in the palm of His hand.'
For to His angels He’s given a command, 
    to guard you in all of your ways,
Upon their hands they will bear you up, 
   lest you dash your foot against a stone.

      “On Eagles’ Wings.” This beautiful hymn repeats promises found in Psalm 91, fantastic promises of angelic protection, of direct divine protection, from all sorts of evils.  As the world moves on from the crisis of Covid-19 to the crisis of the invasion of Ukraine by Putin, we are aware that life is full of dangers: accidents, violent people, job loss, dangerous weather, war.  These dangers come from outside of us.  We also face disease, doubt, depression, addiction, loneliness, fear; dangers arising from within.  We long to be protected from all these dangers, and to know that our loved ones are protected.  And God makes just such a promise.  So we love this hymn. 

    We love it, and yet we struggle to believe it is true for us.  Because bad things still happen to us, even though we confess the Name of Jesus.  Are you tempted to doubt the promises God makes to you in Psalm 91? 

      satan tries to use the words of Psalm 91 to tempt Jesus.  Taking Jesus up to the top of the temple, satan says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.' ".  What does it mean that the devil tempts the Christ to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple?  satan wants Jesus to force the Father to send angels to catch Him.  he wants the man Jesus to put God to the test, to see if God’s Word is true, if His promises made in Psalm 91 hold up. 

     satan is confused, or perhaps is ignoring, the Two Natures of Christ.  Even though the evil one says, “If you are the Son of God,” this temptation is really aimed at the man Jesus.  

    The promises of Psalm 91 are made by the LORD God, to mankind, to humanity.  Jesus is a man, and so this promise is also for him, no?  But Jesus is not only a man.  He is also God, the LORD Himself, entered into human flesh. 

 Equally as the Father or the Spirit did, Jesus made the promise of Psalm 91.  The promises of God are the promises of Jesus.  Jesus is the hen who gathers the people of God under His wings to protect them.  Jesus is the source of our hopes, the font from which flows the mercy of God.  Only as a man would Jesus Christ need the protection of God’s angels.  As Almighty God, He needs protection from no one; He is the Protector.   

      Of course, satan’s temptation of Jesus the man is also false, based on a lie, based on the twisting of God’s Word, as are all of the devil’s temptations.  For Jesus to swan dive off the top of the temple would also have been a failure as a man, an attempt to impress the devil by proving the ability to control God.  You see, the promises of Psalm 91 are for the man who dwells with God, who loves God and trusts in Him alone.  The promise is this “if you fall, if you are attacked, like by satan, God will rescue you.”  Someone who is seeking the devil’s approval has by definition rejected the promise of God.  Nor does Psalm 91 promise that if you willfully try to hurt yourself, God will protect you.  Although often enough the LORD does protect us, even when we seek to hurt ourselves.  Still, to willfully put your life at risk to show the devil who’s in charge is utterly foolish.  It is certainly not the behavior of one who dwells in the shadow of the LORD.  God in Psalm 91 promises protection to the faithful, not to rebels.    

    Jesus was never going to give in to satan’s temptation, like Adam and Eve did.  Jesus is God. Jesus created the angels, including satan and the rest who rebelled and fell away.  Jesus is LORD.  So He naturally dismisses Satan’s temptation to act like a sinful man.  Jesus rejects the temptation to serve Himself, for He came not to be served, but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many. 

   And here we find the real goal of satan’s temptations: trying to get Jesus to serve Himself and avoid the Cross.
None of this was ever going to happen.  No way, no how, no contest.  Be gone, satan.   

    The fact that Jesus is God, Holy and Perfect, means He could not give in to temptation.  And, for the man Jesus, this made enduring the temptation much worse.  His divine power to resist all temptation does not minimize what the man Jesus went through; rather it increases His temptation, immeasurably.  The God Man Jesus could, and would, face far more temptation than we can even comprehend, precisely because He would never give in to sin.  All the way to the Cross, Jesus, knowing what was coming, had to face the constant temptation to give up, to turn from His path.   He was constantly tempted to serve Himself.     

    Jesus’ temptation was far worse than we can imagine.  Because in the end, the ordeal Jesus was being tempted to avoid was suffering the entire wrath of God against all human sin.   

    We cannot imagine very far down the road of ever-increasing temptations, because we give in so easily.  I pray that you and I resist temptations.  We ought to, for how can we who died to sin through our Baptisms, how can we who have received the Name of God, how can we who confess Jesus as LORD, then turn around and live in sin?  We ought to resist, and we do.  We try, but not very successfully.  Now and again we resist sin bravely, God be praised.  We may even, over time, more or less successfully set aside gross sins that once plagued us.  With discipline and support, alcoholics and drug addicts can avoid the chemicals which attract them.  The violent can resist lashing out at people in anger.  Adulterers can learn to be faithful to the spouse God has given them.  But still, when we are tired, or confused, or angry, or embarrassed, whenever our human weaknesses show up in our lives, we are easy marks for all too many temptations.  Even if we refrain from the outward acts, in our hearts and minds we fall so often.    

    Indeed, this is why, even though resisting temptation is important, resistance to sin is not the heart of Christian living.  Repentance is.  Returning to Christ, again and again, confessing our failures and seeking forgiveness, this is the heart of Christian living.     

   Confess your sins daily, like Jesus Himself teaches us to do, right there in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer.  And Jesus will take your sins from you and give you Himself, again, for another day, another hour.  God will forgive and restore you as often as it takes to lift you up, forever. 

    Why?  Why does God forgive us, again and again?  Why did Jesus fast forty days and forty nights, and then face satan’s temptations, in our place?  Why did Christ go all the way to the Cross, never straying from the path His Father set for Him?  Why did He do all that He did, even though in return, we do so little for Him? 

    Well, it’s not because God is just, although He is.  We see divine justice fulfilled in the fact that Jesus suffered for the sins of the whole world, paying the price, once for all, so that divine justice is served, perfectly, completely, eternally.  Justice had to be fulfilled, and it was.  But it was not the driving cause of Jesus’ faithfulness.

    Nor did Jesus do what He did because God is all powerful, although He is.  Indeed, we see the almighty power of God in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and in His Ascension on high.  We see Christ’s almighty power in the continued endurance and growth of His Church, despite all that the devil, the world and our own sinfulness do to defeat her.  The more you know the about persecution of Christians around the world, the more you follow current events, the more you deal honestly with your own sin, the clearer it becomes that only God’s almighty power could keep the Church alive in a world like ours. 

   But neither God’s power nor His justice is the cause of Jesus’ actions.  No, Jesus, indeed God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, does what He does to win and deliver salvation to us, simply because God is love.  The love that flows, and has flowed forever between Father, Son and Spirit, the love that is God has overflowed, for us.  To give us life.  God loves His people, the crown of His creation, loving us in spite of the sad fact that we are fallen, sinful, runaway children.  And the way that God loves humanity is Jesus, the Sinners’ Friend.  

   This is our good confession, that the God-man Jesus Christ was tempted, without ever giving in to sin.  He suffered, without turning back.  He died, not just a physical death, but also a spiritual death, enduring the hell we deserve, in order to save you and me and the whole world.  Jesus denied all temptations, in order to gather you under His wings, the wings of His Cross, where all your sins were carried away, where your death was defeated, and where your new and eternal life was won.  And, dwelling in the shadow of God’s forgiving love, you will then share that love and forgiveness with others.  Indeed, it is only when you rest in God’s great work for you that you can do truly good works for others.        

    This is the promise of Psalm 91 for you.  Danger and enemies and disease and all sorts of bad things will attack you in this life.  But the consequences of sin which ruin this world have no ultimate power over you, for you live in Christ.  God’s promise to raise you up stands.  Indeed, it is already fulfilled, in Jesus, who has risen to all glory, for you.  Because He has defeated temptation, you will defeat temptation.  Because He has died in your place, your death has no power to separate you from God.  Because He has risen to the right hand of glory, He will send His angels, to carry you to Himself.  

    Stay under Jesus’ wings.  Come to His Table; dine with Him.  Stay under God’s wings, by staying close to His promises, to His Word of Grace, which has made you a believer, and which keeps your faith alive in this world full of temptations and sin.  Jesus gives you strength for living, He lifts you up, daily, and eternally, by the forgiveness of all your sins, Amen.

Ears that See Clearly - A Sermon for Quinquagesima

Quinquagesima – The Sunday 50 Days before the Resurrection
February 27^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Ears that See Clearly
 

     Lord save us from our lying eyes and wandering hearts. 

     There is a bit of irony in being a church of the “Missouri Synod,” a Christian church from the “Show Me” state.  Missouri, the one state with the nerve to make a motto out of the faithless attitude that certainly predominates in each of these United States: “I’ll believe it when I see it.” 

     Now, maintaining the attitude that “I’ll believe it when I see it.” isn’t a bad approach for earthly life.  In fact it’s pretty wise.  We idealize the contract done by handshake and the faithfulness of a good man or a good woman.  But come on, you know that doesn’t always turn out so well.  There are good and bad reasons that America is the most lawyered up and prone-to-sue-each-other place in the world.  Truly we should celebrate when people make promises and keep them.  Because it isn’t so common. So, by negative experience we learn to say: “Show me.” We decide we will believe something only when we see it.  This is certainly a depressingly low view of our fellow man, but it leads to less disappointments, and fewer times getting shafted by a trickster. 

     The real problem with ‘seeing is believing’ is that it doesn’t work in our relationship with God.  God tried that, first with Israel, when they were in Egypt, and again in the wilderness.  There were 10 visible plagues which freed them from slavery.  The miraculous escape through water at the Red Sea, immediately followed by the destruction of the chariots of the enemy.  God Himself was present to protect and guide them, in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  Daily bread from heaven each morning.  Water from the Rock.  God made His presence and care for Israel more than visible in the wilderness.  And yet the children of Jacob were faithless, again and again. 

     Jesus also showed God’s presence and mercy with visible miracles.  Which attracted a lot of attention, and large crowds. 

But the people, and the Pharisees, and even the Disciples believed the wrong things.  Each one in turn saw what they wanted, or what they feared in Jesus.  They were incapable of seeing God and taking Him at His Word. 

     The crowds coveted a bread king, who would keep their bellies full.  The Jewish zealots saw a military leader with wonderful powers, who would throw out the Romans and establish a Jewish heaven on earth.  The Pharisees, the religious leaders, saw a rival, a threat to their privilege, and to their belief system, which was built on their own goodness. 

    The 12 disciples seem to have run the gamut in their vision of Jesus.  In every case, instead seeing what Jesus did and taking Him at His Word, instead of His miracles and teaching engendering a living faith of the heart, a humble and confident trust in a loving and just God, almost everyone saw something different.  And wanted something more.  Our eyes always want more, more of what we think we need.  We rejoice when God meets our expectations.  But then after the miracle has passed and life has returned to normal, in two seconds we refuse to believe and follow God.   

     Jesus laid out God’s plan to the Twelve in clear terms: "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be finished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after whipping him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."   No fancy words here, and good news at the end.  The Cross was coming, but Jesus would rise victorious from the dead!  But the 12 Disciples can’t see it. 

    St. Luke cuts them some slack, “This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”  Perhaps, in order to keep them with Jesus all the way to the Cross, so they could be God’s eyewitnesses, perhaps for this reason, this saying was hidden from them.  But not believing God’s plan of salvation is really our default position.  God’s plan seems crazy, we say, and very unpleasant.  We need more evidence. Show me.  I won’t believe it until I see it. 

    Jesus had displayed such power and wisdom.  He was so wonderful.  So, the way of the Cross always seemed impossible to the Disciples’ eyes.  Impossible to our natural eyes as well, because we would never think to make such a sacrifice.  Impossible to our eyes, and also repugnant to our wandering hearts, which don’t want to confess the truth, the humbling truth that the requirement to save the likes of us was the death of the Holy One of God.   

     Be careful, dear friends.  “Seeing is believing” may be a wise plan for earthly life, but in relation to God, “I’ll believe it when I see it” will lead us to hell.  Because our eyes lie and our hearts wander.  What we need are ears that see, and hearts that believe the promises of God, despite what we see with our eyes, despite everything in our being that screams against what the Lord has said.  We need ears that see clearly, like the blind man on the side of the road. 

     Our blind friend couldn’t see what Jesus was doing.  He couldn’t easily drop everything and travel to see this miracle worker from Galilee.  Our blind friend could only hear.  He could only listen to the reports about Jesus, and ponder.  And by God’s grace, he believed.  Which actually makes sense, because faith, true trust of the heart, comes by hearing.  While being a blind beggar is certainly not the American dream, our blind friend was blessed, truly blessed by God, despite his struggles.  Because he had ears that saw clearly. 

     What did our blind friend believe, exactly, that day outside Jericho?  Did he have any understanding of the coming Cross?  That’s hard to say.  He clearly believed that Jesus was a holy man, the Messiah, the Anointed Son of David, sent from the Father to rescue God’s people.  He believed Jesus would save him, believing strongly enough to cry out, to ignore the rebukes of the crowd, and cry out ever louder, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”  And Jesus did have mercy. 

     And He has mercy for you as well.  Not just mercy to relieve the struggles of this life, although these are important, and God does care about your day to day.  Your Jesus rescues you from many problems. 

 

And when in God’s wisdom removing your current burden is not the plan, well, then He has mercy to strengthen you to endure the struggles of this life in faithful patience.  All the while looking forward to the day when you will see God face to face, and live in His perfect mercy and blessing, forever and ever. 

     We live in a “show me” world.  God grant us ears that see and hearts that believe the unlikely and unpopular story of God’s grace and love to sinners, revealed in the death, and Resurrection, of Jesus. 

     Our blind friend, his sight restored, joined the followers of Jesus, just in time to witness the first Holy Week, just in time to see with his own eyes the climax of God’s plan of salvation.  Did he follow Jesus from Jericho to Jerusalem?   Did he witness the Son of David dragging His own Cross to Golgotha?  Scripture does not say.  But where else would you be if Jesus had just restored your sight? 

     Jesus, eight days after His glorious Resurrection, declared to Thomas, and to you: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”  All those who trust in the Son of David are blessed by God the Holy Spirit with the true faith that comes by hearing, the faith that despairs of our goodness, the faith of the heart that trusts not in what our eyes see, nor in our feeble attempts to prove our worth.  No, instead true faith clings solely to the One who died, and rose again, in order to give sinners life.  

     One day, by faith in Jesus, we will see God in His glory, face to face.  Then our forward-looking faith and hope will pass away, for we will have arrived.  In God’s presence, will bask in His love, seeing His glory with our own eyes, forever and ever.  In the meantime, we stick to the Word.  We fill our ears with the lifegiving and powerful Word that makes us see the Truth.  This Truth of Christ, which creates new hearts in us, hearts that rejoice to proclaim the unbelievable plan of God to save the world, the plan that Jesus has finished, for you. 

     See clearly with your ears, and rest in His promises, the promises of Jesus, the Son of David, and the Son of God, your Savior and Lord, Amen.