"Soon and Never"

​Midweek 4 – 2024                                                           LSB #’s 423, 439:1, 13-15; 430:1, 4; 877
Text – Psalm 41:5
 
SOON & NEVER
 
 
David prayed in Psalm 41, “My enemies say of me in malice, ‘When will he die, & his name perish?’”    King David had plenty of enemies, which is why he wrote those words.  After he was anointed by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13), but before he finally attained the throne, David spent a long time being hunted by King Saul, who jealously made himself David’s enemy (1 Samuel 19).  
After David reached the throne, he was obliged to continue the war against Israel’s generational enemy, the Philistines.  (2 Samuel 21:15–22)   There was also David’s son Absalom, who staged a coup to remove his father from the throne.  (2 Samuel 15)   These are examples of the enemies who maliciously said of David, “When will he die, & his name perish?”
Given the opportunity, David could have provided good & faithful answers to both of those questions: “When will he die?” fumed his enemies.  David could have rightly answered, “Whenever the Lord God desires it.  Maybe sooner, maybe later, but not a moment before I receive from the Lord every day written for me in His book.” 
The next question gets a one-word answer: “When will his name perish?”   David could say, “Never.  My name shall not perish.”   Yahweh Himself promised to preserve & protect David’s name & memory forever.  God chose David according to His own good pleasure, saying to the prophet Samuel, “You shall anoint for Me him whom I declare to you.”  (1 Samuel 16:3)
Later, the same God swore His eternal oath to David: “I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth...  I will raise up your offspring after you... & I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever...  Your house & your kingdom shall be made sure forever before Me.  (2 Samuel 7:9, 12, 13, 16) 
“My enemies say of me in malice, ‘When will he die, & his name perish?’”  Soon, &
never sounds almost glib, so confident was David in the word & promise of God.  As he prayed to the Lord in another place, “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life” (Psalm 119:50) & again, “Your promise is well tried, & Your servant loves it.”  (119:140) David also declared to all who would listen, “The word of the Lord proves true.”  (Psalm 18:30) 
The Son of God spoke through David in Psalm 41, saying, “My enemies say of Me in malice, ‘When will He die, & His name perish?’”  David’s words in the psalms are actually the words of Jesus because all the psalms were written about Him who is our Lord: they “bear witness about Me,” said Jesus.  (John 5:39) 
Like His father David, Jesus also had – & still has – plenty of enemies.  Our Lord’s most famous is “that ancient serpent, who is the deceiver of the whole world.”  Death is an enemy of Christ, but He destroyed its power with His own death.  
Jesus accumulated many enemies during the days of His humiliation; men who feared His incarnation, hated His preaching, could not abide His authority & conspired to see Him die.  Like His father David before Him, our Lord Jesus could likewise give good & faithful answers to the questions posed by His enemies:
To their question, “When will he die?”  Jesus could rightly answer His enemies, “I shall die at exactly the right time; not a moment before & not a moment after that time decreed from eternity by My Father in heaven!  You may rest assured, My enemy, that I shall indeed die.  The Son of Man must ‘suffer many things... & be killed, & on the third day be raised.’  (Matthew 16:21)
But you, O enemy, you shall not take My life from Me.  I voluntarily lay it down & have authority to take it up again!  “This charge I have received from My Father,” (John 10:18) & not from an enemy!  “You would have no authority over Me at all unless it had been given you from above.”  (John 19:11)   Nonetheless, I shall indeed soon die. 
As to the question asked in spite, “When will his name perish?” our Lord’s answer is the same as David’s: Never.  After His entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus prayed, “‘Father, glorify Your name.’  Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, & I will glorify it again.’”  (John 12:28)   Jesus is the name of God, & His name is glorious! 
The heavenly Father glorified His own,  eternal, imperishable name  when He placed that name upon Jesus of Nazareth, the child ‘conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,’ of whom the angel said, He “will be called holy – the Son of God.”  (Luke 1:35) 
The heavenly Father glorified His name when His Son was lifted up for the sins of the world, drawing all people to Himself.  (John 12:32) 
The eternal name of God was glorified in the resurrection of our Lord, when God “highly exalted Him & bestowed on Him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9), “far above all rule & authority & power & dominion, & above every name that is named.”  (Ephesians 1:21) 
“My enemies say [of Jesus] in malice, ‘When will He die, & His name perish?’”  Soon & inevitably never, says the Lord.  In the days of His humiliation, Jesus’ answers to His enemies’ questions were firm & unshakable, as were David’s answers before Him, so confident was the Christ in His Father’s love. 
Like it or not, you also have plenty of enemies; the Small Catechism names them in the 3rd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “The devil, the world, & our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come.”  
You might have accumulated other enemies for yourself – enemies that you can name personally.  Whomever your additional enemies might be, they all fit squarely into that group of three.  Perhaps you have never had anyone directly say to you, “I wish you were dead; I wish your memory would disappear,” but if your child is on social media, he or she probably has heard at least that much, if not more.  In the same way that Psalm 41 speaks of David & of your Christ, it speaks of you.  It speaks about you because it speaks about Jesus, & you have been eternally united to Him in Baptism.  
Because of your baptismal connection to Jesus, & because of your participation in your father David’s confident faith, you are able to give the same confident & even glib answer to your enemies as both David & Jesus confidently gave before you: “When will he or she die?”  
You can answer by saying, “Soon enough – but not a moment too soon or a moment too late.  My Lord’s ‘eyes saw my unformed substance; in [His] book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me.’  (Psalm 139:16)   Like the stars are in heaven, so are my days on earth: ‘Not one is missing.’”  (Isaiah 40:26)  
You, O enemy, can worry & fret about my death if you wish!  I shall not!  My Lord Jesus has promised:
“Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds!  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?”  (Luke 12:24–26) 
Your enemies say of you in malice, “When will your name perish?”  Your answer is “Never.”   Said the Lord, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  (Luke 10:20)   “You shall be delivered …along with everyone whose name was written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”  (see Daniel 12:1; Revelation 13:8) 
You are already part of “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.”  (Hebrews 12:23)    You shall not be forgotten, & the memory of you shall never cease.  Through your Baptism into Christ, the Lord of hosts has engraved you on the palms of His hands.  (Isaiah 49:16)   Your life & your name shall always be before Him.  Your enemies shall be the ones who come to nothing.  Amen. 
 
 
O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken that such sharp sentence should be spoken?   Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession, what dark transgression?      But worthless is my sacrifice, I own it;  yet, Lord,  for love’s sake Thou wilt not disown it;  Thou wilt accept my gift in Thy great meekness  nor shame my weakness.       And when, dear Lord, before Thy throne in heaven to me the crown of joy at last is given, where sweetest hymns Thy saints forever raise Thee, I, too, shall praise Thee.  Amen.  LSB 439:1, 14-15.