Pastor Tom Johnson, March 6, 2022
Today I want to steal back the Scripture the devil wants to rob from Jesus and rob from us. The first two lies he hurls at Jesus are met with Jesus quoting Scripture. The third and final lie is the devil quoting Scripture. He puts Jesus on top of the Temple and tells Jesus to take a swan dive. “If you are the Son of God,” he says, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you, and on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” He quotes Psalm 91. The deceiver attacks one of Scripture’s most celebrated promises: God will send angels to rescue his people from harm. He will bear us up—he will snatch us out of trouble so that we will not even stub our toes on the danger that surrounds us.
The first time this image of God airlifting his people out of impending doom is, you guessed it, the Exodus. God instructs Moses to remember their deliverance from the Egyptian chariots, arrows, swords, and deadly attack. “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine.” God parted the Red Sea and the Israelites walked on dry land. Then the flood of water was released upon the army threatening to kill them and the Egyptian army was miraculously drowned. God says, “It was I who sent my eagles to airlift you out of that impending doom. I sent them to swoop down and bring you safely to myself.”
In Isaiah chapter 40, the prophet preaches this text and image of God’s salvation:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. …He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isa 40:28-31).
In Psalm 91 Moses gives a song so we can sing and celebrate our deliverance from evil: “Because you have made the LORD your refuge, and the Most High your habitation, there shall no evil happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
God’s saves the Israelites from evil Pharaoh. He delivers them from the 10 plagues in Egypt, bears them up, and brings them safely into the land God promised them.
We are tempted in the same way. It may be the devil who makes us question how secure we are in the Lord. It may be our own doubts that want to undermine our trust. It may be the terror around us that makes us want to flee, fight, or freeze. We are tempted to recklessly take matters into our own hands. Or we are tempted to despair and lose faith in light of the palpable evil that surrounds us. God knows our weakness. He knows how the tragic things that happen around us can make us feel abandoned, helpless, and hopeless. He promises that his guardian angels surround us.
The devil tempts Jesus to put God to the test. Jesus shows us that God’s promises are not some magic formula—hocus-pocus—and God will get you out of every bind. No, this is God’s promise that he will not let anything happen to us outside of his divine will and plan for us—that we are never outside his watchful eyes. God does not want us to despair or lose faith either when it appears that there is no way out of the trouble we are in. Our psalm reminds us that when we are in the shadow of the valley of death, we are in the shadow of God’s wings. We “dwell in the shelter of the Most High” and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” So God delivers his people of old from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and Pharaoh’s deadly pursuit of them. God bears them up on eagles wings as they are airlifted out of their captivity, through deadly waters, and brought safely to the other side. God sends his angels down to airlift Lazarus out of poverty and death to eternal life in heaven. Jesus spreads his wings like a hen gathering her chicks as he spreads his arms out on the Cross in forgiveness. He assures the criminal crucified next to him that today God will bear them both up to paradise. It’s why in Luther’s catechism, he instructs us to pray morning and evening, “Let your holy angel be with us that the evil foe may have no power over us.” And why we surrender ourselves body and soul into the care of almighty God who sends his angels to deliver us in his time. Many ground soldiers refer to the fighter jets, bombers, and tank-busting airforce as “angels on our shoulders” because they not only watch over them but also can watch out and deal with the enemy.
Last year, I was very lucky—ok, blessed to be able to take pictures of a bald eagle and her juvenile companion. We were on a high cliff above the Susquehanna river. I was talking to someone about their dog when I saw them in the corner of my eye. I did not have my camera out and ready. So I scrambled to get my camera ready. I have never seen a bald eagle fly so closely before—I was actually looking slightly down because of how high above the river we were. Eagles seem to move miraculously and effortlessly through the air unlike other birds who have to flap their wings frequently and often will zig zag and bounce through the air. Eagles soar. They look like fighter jets moving swiftly and smoothly. Eagles have been engineered to have what looks like a menacing brow—it’s why they look kind of angry because of the thick ridge above each eye. It blocks out the sun so that eagles can have a cleaner view of what is far below them. Once they see a fish near the surface of the waters, they transform. They fold their wings back from a soaring glider into an aerodynamic dive bomber. Their prey never sees them coming. They swoop down and—without landing—grab their meal with their sharp talons and sail away. God answers our prayers to lead us not into temptation but to deliver us from evil. He invites us to trust that he sends out the angels like eagles, soaring above us, with superior vision, watching patiently for the appointed time, who have an appetite—not for us—but for perfectly doing God’s will—trusting that, at God’s appointed time, he will send his angels to bear us up to eternal salvation.
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