THE THIRD WEEK IN ADVENT - MONDAY

LESSON: PSALM 85

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Isaiah 61:1,2

What does Jesus mean when He says, “The poor have good news preaches to them”? Is not the good news also proclaimed to the rich and the whole world? How can the Gospel be regarded as something so important and as a great blessing when there are so many who are hostile to it?

Here we must know what the Gospel is, or we cannot understand this passage. We must diligently observe that from the beginning God has sent two words or forms of proclamation to the world – the Law and the Gospel. These two forms of proclamation you must recognize and separate. I tell you that hitherto, with the exception of the Scriptures, no book has ever been written, not even by a saint, in which these two forms of proclamation have been correctly divided. And yet this is such a basic issue.

SL. XI.80,18
AE 75,140

PRAYER: Grant us your Holy Spirit, O Lord, the Spirit of truth and understanding, that we may correctly understand your Word, correctly separating Law from Gospel, and never being confused in our faith. Amen.