Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Nabil Nour, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hartford, South Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study the second half of Psalm 78.“The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. [...] They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.” Wealth, power, land—the tribes of Joseph had it all. Ephraim in particular was shown so much grace, but Psalm 78 shows how Ephraim, blessed as firstborn in Egypt, tragically fell away as he forgot God’s Exodus. When idolatry twists the archer’s bow, we hurt ourselves and the people closest to us. By God’s grace, there is forgiveness for Joseph in Christ, as renewed faith constantly looks back and looks forward to God’s salvation.We need your support to stay on the air. Give now at kfuo.org/sharathon.

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study the first half of Psalm 78.“He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. He gave their crops to the destroying locust.” The opposite of forgetting is hearing, according to Psalm 78. The reason why we fail to obey God is because we do not have His salvation before our eyes and ears. Many Israelites were like Pharaoh, refusing to look at God’s faith-producing salvation in the Word and the signs. Even with swarms of quail for food, Israel forgot how they were spared from swarms of flies, frogs, and locusts. Faith constantly tunes in with its eyes and ears to the crossing of the Sea and the cross of Christ.

“In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.” Ravenous locusts and destructive hail were still fresh memories in Exodus 16, so the message was loud and clear when God worked these two anti-plagues to provide meat and bread for his people. God also used the dew-like and honey-flavored bread to patiently teach His children about the Sabbath, even before He instituted it. He gave them a foretaste of the feast to come in the “land flowing with milk and honey,” just as Christ’s body and blood let us participate in the resurrection of the world to come.

Rev. Benjamin Ball, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 15.“At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.” The people see the glory of Yahweh and immediately burst into song in Exodus 15. They sing as one voice, God’s firstborn rescued from Egypt. Yet the language signals something bigger here, the very defeat of universal evil and primordial chaos. Like Israel, our praises join the praise of Christ, the true firstborn rescued from death as He triumphed over pharaonic Satan. This Sabbath rest is already ours, and yet it also awaits us in the Canaan of the resurrection.

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 14.“See the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.” With the drowning of Pharaoh’s army in the sea, Exodus 14 ties together all the major themes of the book: Yahweh judges the Egyptian gods so that Egypt would know Him, and Yahweh saves His people so that Israel would see and put their faith in Him. Even as the darkness and the waters hearken back to Genesis 1, the language points ahead to Christ, lifted up in death, resurrection, and ascension that the whole world would see Him and know God.

Rev. David Andrus, pastor of Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in St. Louis and Not-Alone.net Ministries, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 13.“When in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.’” Exodus 13 seems like no time for theology class, in the middle of the wilderness with Pharaoh about to pursue in the next chapter. Yet here God’s people are doing just as Moses originally asked: They are holding “a feast to the LORD” in the wilderness. Three rituals are tied together, looking back to Egypt and pointing ahead to Christ: God puts forward a substitute, He passes over us in mercy, and He makes us holy.

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired LCMS pastor in Frohna, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 12."There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead." The human death that began in the hailstorm has reached its climax in Exodus 12, striking the head of the Egyptian pantheon. All was encoded onto the details of the ritual of Passover, whose name also means Christmas and Easter. Christ was the ultimate Passover lamb, whose blood protects the house of faith.

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 11.“Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here.” Exodus 11 leaves us with a dramatic cliffhanger: Moses announces the most severe plague yet—the death of the firstborn—and storms out of Pharaoh’s palace in anger. But didn’t Pharaoh forbid Moses from coming back to the palace? What’s the point of this announcement? God speaks law and gospel through His servant and through His wonders, calling Egypt to repentance and forgiveness, even as He calls us today through His Word and Christ.

Rev. David Fleming, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 10.“Tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land.” The plagues of Exodus 10 ominously resemble the end of a decreation countdown. Yet even when the locusts are driven “into the Red Sea” with foreboding, Pharaoh grows more defiant. As sin’s clutches refuse to let go, they destroy God’s good gifts in self-fulfilled prophecy. While darkness and corruption desperately clutched their power, God worked life from death in Christ’s cross.

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 110.“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Was King David also a priest? Psalm 110 seems to speak about David, describing how he anticipated the re-unification of prophet, priest, and king under God. God spoke to the angels about His plans for David before humanity was even created. Yet on another level, this psalm—the most quoted in the New Testament—makes sense coming from David, pointing to Jesus the Messiah. As one both resurrected and ascended, He has defeated even death and the devil.