Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Scott Adle, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 25.“The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; [...] There I will meet with you.” This is what the Garden of Eden looked like. Far from old-school IKEA directions, Exodus 25 actually describes in detail the physical location where God became physically manifest in the heart of the Israelite camp. Contributions and construction were not legalistically compelled, but freely given as a gracious picture of heaven—of Jesus Christ Himself. He is the true temple who makes the church the true Israel. Before Him, even angels bow and hide their faces.

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 24. “They saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone[...]; they beheld God, and ate and drank.” Exodus 24 is one of the most blessed and mysterious chapters of the Bible. And it drips with grace—not legalism. God graciously sends Moses down the mountain to reveal His truth not to the elite but to the whole people, and then He graciously invites Aaron, his sons, and the clan representatives to feast with Him on the mountain. Here the Spirit foreshadows for us ☧’s transfiguration, the Sacrament of the Altar, and even our own resurrection on the Last Day.

Rev. Mark Birkholz, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 23. If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.” All the talk of oxen and donkeys in Exodus 23 sounds ancient, but the ideas here are timeless: God wants us to help even the people who want to do us harm, ultimately pointing to Christ’s sacrifice for those who hated Him. God’s sermon on the Commandments here connects theft & slander to God’s name, as well as coveting to the Sabbath. Finally the sermon concludes where it began, in God’s gospel promise to love and care for us—the land, the animals, and His whole creation.

Rev. Delwyn Campbell, domestic missionary and pastor of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church & Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gary, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 22. Learn more about Pastor Campbell and how to support his work at lcms.org/campbell.“It is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.” God protects the most vulnerable through His good laws in Exodus 22. There is no oppression of the patriarchy here; God is foremost concerned about taking care of women and the poor—even animals. These clarifications of “You shall not steal” show God’s rejection of our sinful tendency to objectify: How can we objectify that which Christ has purchased with His own blood?

Rev. Kevin Parviz, pastor of Congregation Chai v'Shalom in St. Louis, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 74. “You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams.” O God, you slew one sea dragon. Now please slay the other! Psalm 74 looks out with confidence amidst the ruins, connecting the destruction of the Temple back to the Exodus and to creation itself. As we preside over the ruins of Christ’s death on the Cross in the Eucharist, we are confident that the ultimate dragon will be slain

Rev. Lucas Witt, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Baltimore, Maryland, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 21.“He shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.” Exodus 21 by no means endorses slavery. God rather patiently approaches us where we are at, and His law restrains and curbs the callousness of the human heart. Throughout the chapter, God shows that His love and His gift of family trump our human institutions, even as we are transformed by Christ’s exodus that lets us “go out” from slavery to sin, death, and evil.

Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 20.“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Exodus 20 shows that the “Ten Commandments” are all about relationship and God’s grace. They are not simply law, but also gospel, as this very first of the “Ten Words” shows. There is certainly fear, but it’s a healthy fear that includes reverence, trust, and obedience. Without faith and without faithful teachers, we always go astray with God’s commandments, but with them, we experience the universal mediation of the greater Moses, the Lord Jesus who intercedes for all mankind on the heavenly Mount Zion.

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Irvine, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 19.“On the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around.” Israel finally arrives at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19. After months of wandering, why does God make them wait longer before receiving the Ten Commandments? And why even when the people are consecrated as a “kingdom of priests,” only Aaron goes with Moses up the mountain? This all foreshadows how “the Ten Words” begin as gospel, meant not as a burden but as rest. Moses & Aaron intercede like Christ, whose intercession is manifest in the Divine Service today.

Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Irvine, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 18.“What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you.” Exodus 18 is more than just leadership advice; God saves Moses here through his family. Free from Pharaoh, Moses tetered dangerously on the edge of becoming a new Pharaoh, arrogantly self-sufficient and self-glorifying. As Moses delegates, He testifies to the body of Christ, who is the true king and the true brother to His baptized people.

Rev. Dan Eddy, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Beloit, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 17.“Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out.” Another water plague is reversed in Exodus 17, demonstrating both God’s supreme power and as well as His infinite mercy, leading His Israelite flock like a shepherd. When Israel goes out to fight the Amalekites, Joshua and Moses falter, showing that it is really “the staff of God” which wins the battle. Just like the uplifted staff, the cross of God wins the battle for all who are in Christ the Good Shepherd.