Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION
I just finished reading a book about the tragic story of a Nantucket whaling vessel called the Essex, the experiences on which Herman Melville based Moby Dick. In 1820 the Essex was rammed and sunk by an 85 foot sperm whale. The crew was forced to take to their boats in a desperate three month journey to the mainland. The story is a fascinating and gruesome tale of the struggle for survival.
The Christian Church is often portrayed as a ship. Believers in Christ are making what is often a perilous journey across the stormy seas of this life to the distant shores of that better country, that heavenly country. The journey is difficult for many reasons. There is the fact that we are sinners, who bring a boatload of problems upon ourselves. There is the surrounding world which scoffs at our beliefs and tempts us to abandon ship. And there is Satan, rushing headlong at the church, attacking it again and again with his many lies. Truly it is a struggle for spiritual and eternal survival.
Although the ship is beset by constant turmoil, we have a captain who will navigate us safely home. He is the Captain of our Salvation, the very one who already made full and final payment for all sin with His death. He is the One Who defeated the monster of death, Who crushed Satan beneath His feet, and Who lives, never to die again. He is Jesus, and He will never let His ship sink. He is our Perfect Savior, Who sustains our faith and hope through Word and Sacrament. It can't be long, dear Christ believer, before we see those beautiful shores, and safely land where "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
"Jesus, Savior, pilot me Over life's tempestuous sea!" Amen.
