#66- The World has a Different Kingdom, God Dwelling in Word and Sacrament

“Thus since the Lord Christ said here, ‘He who has my commandments and keeps them, him will I love and manifest myself to him’ [John 14:21], Judas says: Are we to be the only ones? Is it to be such a meager revelation and manifestation? Will it not be manifest to the whole world, including the Jews and the Gentiles? What is it going to be? Are we to be the only ones to inherit you, and the Gentiles know nothing? This false Jewish delusion was in the apostles and that is why this Gospel here describes the kingdom of the Lord Christ and paints a far different picture of it for the disciples. It is if he were saying: No, the world has a different kingdom, my dear Judas; that’s why I say: If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and I will be with him along with my Father and the Holy Spirit and make our home with him. This home is God’s dwelling, as Jerusalem was called the dwelling of God, which he himself chose as his own: Here is my hearth, my house and dwelling [Isa. 31:9]; just as today the churches are called God’s dwellings on account of the Word and sacraments. Here I think that Christ is pronouncing a severe judgment, here he is prophesying and forgetting the dwelling of Jerusalem, of which all the prophets said: Here will I dwell forever. This dwelling the Lord Christ pulls down and erects and builds a new dwelling, a new Jerusalem, not made of stones and wood, but rather: If a man loves me and keeps my Word, there shall be my castle, my chamber, my dwelling” (Luther’s Works, v. 51, p. 304).