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The following reading from the CONCORDIA edition of the Book of Concord is for the LSB series ABC First Reading, Revelation 14:6-7 for the Reformation Sunday, October 31, 2010. It is from Large Catechism, Part I, pages 396-397. We often forget that fear includes both dread and also respect and trust. Click here for the reading formatted for the back of a standard CPH bulletin. Pastor Doug May
There is included in God's words both an angry, threatening word and a friendly promise. He will horribly and terribly punish all who despise and transgress His commandments. Also, He declares how richly He will reward and bless those who hold them in high value and gladly live according to them. So God demands that all our works proceed from a heart that fears and regards God alone. From such fear the heart avoids everything that is contrary to His will, lest it should move Him to wrath. And, on the other hand, the heart also trusts in Him alone and from love for Him does all He wants. For He speaks to us as friendly as a father and offers us all grace and every good. "You shall have no other gods before Me" [Exodus 20:3], in its simplest meaning states nothing other than this demand: You shall fear, love, and trust in Me as your only true God. For where there is a heart set in this way before God, that heart has fulfilled all the commandments. On the other hand, whoever fears and loves anything else in heaven and upon earth will keep neither this nor any of the commandments. All the Scriptures have taught these two things: fear God and trust in Him. The prophet David does this throughout the Psalms, as when he says "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love" [Psalm 147:11]. He is saying, "The Lord takes pleasure in those who have no other gods." (paragraphs 322-325)
These are excerpts from the Book of Concord.
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