Lent 1—Invocavit
Dear friends in Christ. We have come today to the first Sunday in that holy and penitential season of Lent. Lent has a two-fold emphasis. One is that we look inward at ourselves—all the more and harder at our own lives and the sin we so easily fall into, that we recognize anew and sorrow over our sin and then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, strive to root out that sin and live a life freer of sin. The other emphasis on Lent is that we look outward, away from ourselves and toward Jesus, our Savior from sin. In Lent, we focus our attention on Jesus and all He had to endure and suffer to bring about for us the forgiveness of our sins.
How differently God works than we work! Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Precisely here in Jesus’ weakness, suffering and death is His victory—His victory for us over our spiritual enemies of sin, death, devil and hell. And like we see in today’s Gospel, precisely as Jesus is weak and tempted, He is victorious; He overcame the temptations for us; for us He endured the devil and all his temptations and gave to God the perfect obedience He demands of us but that we cannot give Him. Today’s Gospel reading gives us the keynote of the Lenten season—Jesus’ victory for us!
The holy writer is absolutely clear [Hb. 4.14-15]: Jesus the Son of God…was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus gave Himself completely in every way to help us from our sin, death and damnation. Jesus is not only the Victor but He is sinless—and precisely because He is sinless He is the Victor. But it goes beyond that: not only did Jesus conquer the devil and all his temptations, but through His conquering Jesus knows the depths and woes of our struggle; and by fully experiencing our trials and temptations He can and does give us sympathy and love in our trials and temptations.
Although today’s Gospel gives us one account of Jesus’ battle and victory over the devil, it is by no means the only one and it is by no means a surprise because the OT is full of prophecies of Jesus’ victory over the devil. One example is our text—one verse from St. Isaiah: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. As we examine our text today, we will see that Jesus is the sword of God who destroyed the devil. Reflecting on this verse we today, throughout Lent and beyond can take great comfort and sing with Luther in the hymn: For us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected.
Again notice, this prophecy begins with that phrase that points us forward to the time of the long-promised Messiah, Jesus Christ: In that day. In that day, that is, in the day of Jesus and the NT Church, God is acting mightily to rescue and save the world from its sin and the devil. Although our English translations have a fuller translation: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will punish, it literally reads in the original: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will visit. “Visit” That’s a word that’s often used in Scripture to point to a time in which God specifically acts/ enters human history to act—in grace for His dear Christians and in wrath on His enemies. The Lord God will visit. And one of those times, and really the time that God visits, is in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. St. Zacharias, the father of St. John the Baptizer, picks up on this as led by the Holy Spirit after John’s birth and after St. Mary and the unborn Jesus had been in his house, he says [Lk. 1.68]: Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people. What? How? God visited His people—there in the womb of the Blessed Virgin was God Himself, God in the flesh. That’s what the Holy Spirit revealed to St. Zacharias. And so certain is he of God finishing the work He came to do in His visit that St. Zacharias speaks of it in past tense/ a completed act: He has visited and redeemed His people. In the eyes of faith St. Zacharias sees and confesses the victory of Jesus over our spiritual enemies.
How does St. Isaiah prophesy this in our text? In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will [visit]… Here the Savior, the Messiah is described as a sword. And what do you use a sword for? For battle! To fight! To protect! What an apt description of Jesus’ work, like we see in today’s Gospel. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Jesus didn’t go out there for a picnic or tea. It was a battle for the salvation of the world. If Jesus had sinned, just even once—not just this time but ever—He could not have been the Savior and we would be eternally lost and condemned. Jesus’ entire earthly life was a battle against the devil and his allies, against our spiritual enemies and for us and for our salvation. What a glorious word of prophecy: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will [visit].
Notice how Jesus is described/ what kind of sword He is: a hard and great and strong sword. And why shouldn’t Jesus be described as the best possible sword? He is, after all, the true God. He is the God-man. With Jesus, this hard and great and strong sword, how could He not succeed? Not only, as man, was Jesus conceived without the stain and weakness of sin, but as God Jesus is incapable/ unable to sin. As soon as Jesus comes on the scene, the outcome of the battle is assured; God will be victorious—for us and for our salvation. He’s that hard and great and strong sword.
A hard sword is not easily broken. In fact, other swords can even break on it. As a hard sword it can continue on in the battle; it endures in the battle as continues to strike and smite the enemy and can do so without let up until the enemy is finally vanquished. A hard sword is relentless in battle and even though it is in constant use it doesn’t lose its shape and what’s most important, it doesn’t become dull and lose its edge, its sharpness.
Not only is it a hard sword but it is also a great sword that God uses—that sword being Jesus, the incarnate God. Jesus is mighty, powerful and sufficient to slay/ destroy His enemies. Again, why? Because He is true God. All that the devil could use and throw at Him couldn’t stop Him. Jesus is that great sword; nothing is higher and greater than Him. How could the devil gain the victory over Him?
And as a strong sword in God’s hand, Jesus would not fail. His would be a sure and unfailing punishment that He would mete out on the devil to destroy the devil and all his works and ways. Because Jesus is that hard and great and strong sword, does that mean it wasn’t a battle for Him? Absolutely not! It was a real battle for Him. In today’s Gospel we see Him facing temptations greater than we could ever imagine. And what do we read at the end? Angels came and served Him. So great was the ordeal that the holy angels had to come to Him, but yet Jesus was victorious!
That’s the image St. Isaiah paints with the opening words of today’s text: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will [visit]. And that’s the theme of Lent—Jesus’ victory for us! That’s our comfort when we fail and sin—Jesus fought the battle for us and won! We have the forgiveness of sin, our sins cannot condemn us; we are reconciled to God and rescued out of the devil’s kingdom; heaven is opened to us and hell is shut to us. Because Jesus fought and won the battle for us, we can be certain of it. Jesus gives us His victory.
St. Isaiah continues in our text: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Who/ what is this Leviathan that Jesus, the sword of God will visit and punish and slay? Leviathan also is mentioned in other parts of the Old Testament and basically refers to/ is an image of a sea monster. Documents from ancient Mesopotamia that also refer to Leviathan have been found. There it seems to be a mythical serpent like creature with seven heads. Like in the past we would talk about the Russian/ Soviet “bear” to refer to our Cold War adversary, so here, St. Isaiah is using a descriptive figure of speech to refer to enemies. Here very specifically Leviathan is an image for the devil, as Leviathan is referred to as the fleeing serpent and as the twisting serpent, because the devil, as a serpent, brought sin into the world. And to call the devil, Leviathan the fleeing serpent, is a perfect description because what did the devil do? He crept near Adam and Eve with the false promise of what he would give them and when he lied and promised them impossible things—to be like God—he stole what they had and fled as a thief. And now we see him creeping near Jesus to try the exact same thing and to try to get Jesus to sin. But He couldn’t/ didn’t! Instead, Jesus, the sword of the Lord, came and visited him with punishment. He endured for us all and the worst that the devil could throw at Him. And Jesus never once sinned. And now each time the devil tries to accuse us of sin, Jesus gives us His perfect holiness and keeping of the Law. The Law that we sin against cannot condemn us—Jesus kept it for us.
The devil is then called Leviathan the twisting serpent. Here the image seems to be of a coiled snake. Perhaps we think of a constrictor, a snake that wraps itself around its prey and squeezes it to death; then the image is of the mighty coils crushing all they enfold. Here you can see that the devil gets people in his clutches and doesn’t let them go but kills them spiritually. Or a snake in a coil could be an image of a snake ready to strike. In both cases, by squeezing or striking the serpent kills its victim. Again, a perfect image of what the devil does to people.
And then St. Isaiah’s final description of the devil: the dragon that is in the sea. The sea was in those days something mysterious and dangerous; it was far removed from people’s rule and power. And here, an apt description of the devil. He is powerful; we cannot control him. But we dare not live in abject fear of him and do his bidding. Why not? In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Jesus, the Lord’s hard and great and strong sword, came and destroyed the devil. St. John puts it this way [1 John 3.8]: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil, that is, punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and…slay the dragon that is in the sea. Jesus conquered the devil and his entire host. That’s what today’s Gospel proclaims and our text prophesies. Precisely by His suffering—already here with His temptation —and culminating with His suffering and death on the cross Jesus crushed the head of the hellish serpent, destroyed all his works and took away his power. Through faith in Jesus, His victory is our victory. Now we enjoy the fruits of Jesus’ victory as we enjoy the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and the certainty of heaven. Jesus already now gives us these blessings in His word, in holy absolution, at our Baptism and in Holy Communion. We are certain and sure of Jesus’ victory as in the Blessed Sacrament we eat the very flesh that crushed the devil underfoot and drink the holy blood poured out for our forgiveness. Jesus’ victory shows itself more and more in our lives as strengthened by Him in word and Sacrament, we live lives of faith and good works; and Jesus’ victory over the devil for us will be enjoyed in its entirety come the last day when all His enemies are under his feet and we are with Him soul and body in heaven.
What a glorious prophecy: In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Jesus has won the battle—for us! INJ Amen.