What is the consolation which the Holy Spirit brings? “He shall testify of me.” says the Lord; that is: The devil will surely terrify and the world will persecute and kill the Christians, but the Holy Spirit will be present with His testimony to arouse faith and to encourage the wavering heart, making it firm in Christ. The Comforter will indeed not bring us thousands of dollars in our distress, as perhaps the world would do, but He will cheer us with the Gospel and the word of promise, so that we can exclaim: Let them take all, family and home, our goods and our honor, yea, even our life, yet we will not despond, for we have a Helper above, Christ Jesus our Lord, who for us became man, and died and arose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven in our behalf, as we daily confess in our Creed. Why then should we fear? The Son of God, our Lord, who went into death for us, cannot be our enemy, but will defend and aid us under all circumstances. If He thus loves us, then surely have we no cause whatever to fear or to mistrust Him. This consolation we find in the words of Christ: “He shall testify of me,” for outside of this testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Christ there is no sure and abiding consolation. The words “of me” ought therefore to be written in large letters and well remembered. They teach us that the Holy Spirit, when He comes to console, preaches no other doctrine, not the law, nor anything else but Christ, since it is impossible to comfort the troubled hearts except by preaching Christ’s death and resurrection. It is certain that the urging of the law, of good works and an unblemished life, brings no consolation; it only makes men
diffident and full of fear; for without Christ God appears terrible, full of wrath and ready to punish. The preaching of Christ alone conveys true consolation, which beyond all doubt makes glad the hearts and cheers them in all sorrow. (Luther’s House Postil, Sunday after Ascension, Volume 2, p. 581-582)

When the Psalmist says: “Thou hast ascended on high,” he expresses but the same truth which Christ Himself declares before Pilate, as we have seen above, namely: “My kingdom is not of this world.” We ought therefore as Christians to raise our hearts and thoughts on high, and seek first of all with diligence and great anxiety this spiritual kingdom; yea, although the field of our labor is on earth, where we have our vocation, our family, our cares for the support of our temporal existence and the government of the State, and the like, yet we ought ever to fulfill first this duty, to seek the kingdom of heaven. Do we do it? The greater portion of mankind is so absorbed, with soul and body, in the transactions of this life, that but little attention, or none at all, is given to the fact that Christ ascended on high. The Holy Ghost therefore earnestly desires to dispel this groveling spirit, and to teach us the truth that Christ did not remain on earth, but that He ascended on high, and that consequently we, even while we dwell in the body here below, should ascend to Him in our thoughts and mind, nor permit the cares of this world to burden our hearts.

Thus ought the Christians to distribute their powers. The body and the old Adam, as we have stated, may indeed be busied with the temporal work of every day life, but the heart should be engaged in seeking after the treasures of heaven, as St. Paul exhorts, Col. 3: “Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Luther’s House Postil, Ascension Day, Volume 2, p. 571)

All that is necessary for such prayer is for the heart to exclaim: Father in heaven, I know Thou lovest me because I love Thy dear Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, wherefore I come with my requests to Thee in confidence and assurance, not indeed because I am good or righteous, but because I know that for the sake of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Thou wilt accept of me and give me all that I need. In His name I now appear before Thee and pray, fully convinced that Thou wilt not consider my unworthiness, but wilt graciously hear my prayer. It would be a serious mistake for the Christian to refrain from prayer until he could deem himself worthy and fit for it. The devil frequently troubled me with thoughts such as these: I am not now ready to pray; I ought first to attend to this or that and afterwards perform my prayer undisturbed. If we indulge such thoughts which hinder and prevent prayer, we will always find something new in the way, and in the end will be entirely prayerless. The devil with his cunning tricks constantly endeavors to keep us away from prayer. We must therefore be prepared to meet his opposition in this regard; and when troubles come we should know that now is the proper time for prayer. If we are not worthy to pray, God will make us so. He loves us for Christ’s sake, and not on account of our own worthiness or righteousness, for we have none. This we fully believe. Christ, in the words of our text, would urge us on to prayer, that we might not be like those prayerless, wicked people who, as they declare, eat and drink with much relish, though they have not prayed for a week. If we are Christians, or desire to be such, we must shun such brutish conduct. Let us, at least, pray in the morning when we arise from sleep, at the table, and again in the evening when we go to bed, saying: “Our Father who art in heaven,” etc. (Luther’s House Postil, Fifth Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 558-559).

The Lord would teach us in the words of our Gospel, as He did His disciples then, never to forget prayer in the hour of distress. To encourage them to this He adds the comforting declaration: “And I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” It is true, Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us, as the apostle Paul says. Therefore we know that His intercession for us, both on the occasion of the last supper and afterwards upon the cross, has been effective and will continue to be so until the end of time. But you need not my intercession in your behalf, says Christ, for you yourselves have access to the Father with your prayers, and ought not to doubt that they are heard, for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me. Yet from this it does not follow that the intercession of Christ is not of importance and full of comfort unto us, but simply this is meant, that we should have assurance respecting our own prayers because we love Christ. It is God’s will, and we ought ever to know and remember it, that they who love Christ and trust in Him are beloved of the Father and will be heard by Him. It is therefore evident that the godless Papists lie when they direct us to trust in the intercession of the saints.

This exhortation and invitation to prayer by the Lord Himself is consolatory beyond measure. Our Lord and Savior Christ made it possible for us, by His death and, departure from this world to the Father, to have free access unto God, whether we be in church or at home, in the cellar or in the kitchen, in the field or in the workshop; yea, if we are Christians and love Christ, we can under all circumstances of life come with our prayer unto our heavenly Father and pour out our hearts before Him. (Luther’s House Postil, Fifth Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 558).

The Lord explains still further what the Holy Ghost would accomplish, what He would bring and teach us: “He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Indeed a great task, so vast that its execution seems impossible. Not merely one school, or one village, or one city, or even several of them, but the whole world shall come under the influence and reproof of the Holy Spirit. It must in truth be a mighty power which can accomplish such a task, and it must be sure of the necessary support. To the world belong all the descendants of Adam, emperors, kings and princes. All these are included among the number of those whom the Holy Ghost, through the preaching of the apostles and other ministers, is to reprove and admonish. He tells them: Ye are all sinners; not one of you is just or wise, whether you live in Jerusalem or in Rome, whether you are of high or low degree; you must all learn true wisdom of me, or not one of you will be saved. If you despise my teachings, you shall all go to hell, just as you are, with your entire baggage of self-righteousness, of holiness and good works. Thus, says Christ to His disciples, will the Holy Spirit execute His office of reproving the whole world through you, the poor and despised preachers of the Gospel.

This reproof, however, is no idle sound, but dread reality. Christ says: “He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” What now, if there is in the world no righteousness, no judgment, nothing but sin – what shall become of us? Hence the reproof of the Holy Ghost is for the world a terrible shock; we hear that we are the devil’s own, with all our good works, and that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless the Holy Ghost removes our sins, makes us righteous, and frees us from judgment. Many passages in the Scriptures are of similar import. Thus St. Paul says: “God has concluded all under sin;” and again: “We were by nature children of wrath.” Christ also says: “Unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” With such words and declarations the Holy Ghost reproves the world of sin. (Luther’s House Postil, Fourth Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 546-547)

For the purpose of comprehending this consolation the better, we will now speak in general of crosses and sorrows. Our reason assumes that God, if He cared for us and loved us, would ward off all evil from us, whereas now troubles and miseries crowd in upon us from every side; hence the conclusion is that God has either forgotten us, or else He has become our enemy and cares no longer for us; for surely if it were otherwise He would deliver us from our grief and distress. But such thoughts are wicked, and since they are very apt to arise, we must guard against them by applying the Word in true faith, and by following its precepts and not our own thoughts. If we judge our experiences in daily life aside from the light which the Word of God casts upon them, we shall inevitably become victims of error. What says the Word in this connection? Not even a single hair shall fall from our head against the will of God. If we accept this declaration in earnest faith, we will conclude that neither the devil nor the world, no matter how powerful they are, can harm the Christian in the least, if it is not God’s will that they should do so. Christ makes this plain in the parable of the sparrows; these are really useless birds, which do more injury than good, and yet not one of them shall fall to the ground and perish unless it be the will of the Father in heaven, Matt. 10.  Now, if we have any confidence whatever in the words of Jesus, we must conclude from this that God will certainly concern Himself much rather for men than for many sparrows; He therefore will guard them well and will not permit the devil and the world to harm a single one of His Christians against His will. If troubles do come, we infer that God has first given His consent; for against His knowledge they could not arise. Let us well remember this truth, so that we do not think, when evils surround us, that we are forsaken of God; for He has not forgotten where we are, nor is He ignorant of our condition, though He permits sorrows to invest us.  (Luther’s House Postil, Third Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 537)

To our faith the fact is presented that Christ is the Shepherd, the only one who lays down His life for His sheep. No human being, no saint, no angel could accomplish the great work of redeeming fallen man, whom the devil, through the sin committed in paradise, had hurled into death; Christ alone could be this Redeemer through His death. This was this Shepherd’s proper work, which no one else can imitate, as little as any other of His works done for our salvation can be equaled. No one can therefore appropriate to himself the words which Christ here uses: “I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” With these words He would teach us to trust in Him, to regard the sufferings of all the saints as naught when compared with His sufferings in our behalf. Moses, the prophets and the apostles were eminent men, true and watchful shepherds and rulers among the people of God; they taught and preached aright what it behooved men to believe and to do; they also suffered much on that account, the most of them even dying the martyr’s death; yet notwithstanding all this they can in no wise be compared with Christ. He is the Only Begotten of the Father, the Lord of glory, the true and only Shepherd over all, who from the foundation of the world spake through the patriarchs and the prophets, and in the fullness of time became man, revealing His Father’s will. He indeed “laid down His life for the sheep,” for all who believe in Him, who trust in Him in life and in death, assured that in Him there is redemption from the power of the devil who held the whole human race in the bondage of sin and death. He also established an everlasting Church throughout the world, and keeps it through His Word, continually increasing her boundaries, that His name may be hallowed and worshiped and confessed. To this end He gave unto the Church His Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who protects her by power divine against the wrath, fury and murderous assaults of the devil and his servants. And though very many lose their life as martyrs of their faith and confession now, yet will they, in the great day of resurrection, be brought by Him into life eternal with all the elect, where there is inexpressible joy and happiness unalloyed; and this to the utter confusion and everlasting shame of His enemies and theirs. (Luther’s House Postil, Second Sunday after Easter, Volume 2, p. 526-527)

These are most precious words, by which Christ invests the disciples with the office of preaching, making arrangements for the application of the glorious results of His sufferings and resurrection. For if this great occurrence had not been preached in its various bearings, if it had remained a mere historical event, it would have been of no avail for us. This we learn from the condition of the Papists. They are acquainted with the event and its record as well as we, but they do not preach it as Christ directs; hence their mere historical knowledge of it benefits them no more than if it were the story of Dietrich of Bern, which one hears and learns; they have simply the recollection of the occurrence. It is therefore absolutely necessary to make a proper use of the narrative of Christ’s sufferings and resurrection. How to do this we learn from the words of the Lord Himself when He says: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” And how the Father sent Christ was described long ago by the prophet Isaiah in the 61. chapter, where it reads: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” With such instructions Christ was sent, and now declares that in no other way will He send His disciples. He entrusts to them the office of preaching, that it may remain in force even to the end of time, and He orders them to preach just as He preached while in the flesh. This command then, and this mission to preach, has reference only to the doctrine to be taught; the disciples are instructed to preach no other doctrine than that which Christ Himself proclaimed.  (Luther’s House Postil, First Sunday after Easter John 20:19-31, Volume 2, p. 515)

This glorious victory we celebrate today. Above all we must firmly believe that in Christ there was a contest between God and the devil, between righteousness and sin, between life and death, between that which is good and that which is evil, between purity and all manner of corruption, and that the triumph was on the side of God. This scene we ought to cherish fondly and earnestly, and often to contemplate. In the former scene of suffering and death we witnessed our sin, our sentence of condemnation and death resting heavily upon Christ, making Him a distressed, pitiable Man; now, on Easter, we have the other scene unalloyed with sin; no curse, no frown, no death is visible; it is all life, mercy, happiness and righteousness in Christ. This picture can and should cheer our hearts. We should regard it with no other feeling but that today God brings us also to life with Christ. We should firmly believe that as we see no sin nor death nor condemnation in Christ, so God will also, for Christ’s sake, consider us free from these if we faithfully rely upon His Son and depend upon His resurrection. Such a blessing we derive from faith. The day will come, however, when faith shall be lost in sight and full fruition.

Nevertheless, while we are here on earth sin, death, disgrace and reproach, and all kinds of wants and infirmities remain with us, and we must patiently bear them. These all relate, however, only to the flesh; for in our faith we are already happy. As Christ arose from the dead, and has a life eternal, free from sin and death, so have we these treasures in faith. And as surely as the devil could not prevail against Christ, but had to flee, so surely will he also flee from the Christian who believes. In the end our body will also be perfected, so that neither sin nor death can have power over it. For the present we are as weak and sinful as other people, only that we strive to shun open and gross sins. It is true, Christians may also, now and then, be guilty of these, but they remain not in them; they flee them again through earnest repentance, and obtain through faith forgiveness of all their sins. (Luther’s House Postil, First Easter Sermon, The Power and the Benefit of the Resurrection of Christ Matthew 28:1-10, Volume 2, p. 492-493)

In the strength of this faith the early Christians composed and sang in Latin and German so charmingly and truly: “Christ is arisen from the grave’s dark prison. So let our song exulting rise.” {LW 124} And again: “The Lamb the sheep has ransomed; Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciling sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.” {LW 10} Whoever composed these old hymns must certainly have had a proper and Christian conception of the great event, else he could not have depicted so skillfully the scene when death assaulted life, and when the devil madly rushed against it. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ permitted Himself to be slain; yet death was much mistaken in his aim; for the life in this Person whom he attacked was eternal. Death was not aware of this, that an eternal and divine power was enclosed in the mortal body, and was vanquished in the tilt; he attacked Him who cannot die, though He did die on the cross. For as surely as the human nature in Christ was dead, His divine nature was incapable of death, though it was so concealed in Him during His passion and death, as our old teachers represent it, that it manifested itself in no wise, and this for the very purpose that Christ might die. Death did all that he could do; but since the Lord, according to His divine nature, is life itself, He could not remain dead, but freed Himself from death and ail his auxiliaries, vanquished sin and Satan, and now rules in a new life, exempt from all disturbance of sin, the devil, and death. This is indeed a strange, perplexing declaration: Christ, though He died, still liveth, and by His dying despoiled death of all his power. Reason cannot comprehend this; it is a matter of faith. But to us it is a source of great comfort to know and to believe that death has lost his reign, and that we owe this, praise be to God, to that One whom death attacks and overcomes as he does all mortals, but whom he cannot hold; for, in the struggle ensuing, death himself perishes and is swallowed up, while Christ, who had died, lives and reigns forever. (Luther’s House Postil, First Easter Sermon, The Power and the Benefit of the Resurrection of Christ Matthew 28:1-10, Volume 2, p. 490-491)