God's Finger Brings Us His Kingdom

Third Sunday in Lent

February 28, 2016

Luke 11:20

God's Finger Brings Us His Kingdom

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

There are lots of fingers in Sacred Scripture. When God rescued the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt through a series of overwhelming disasters, for example, a plague of gnats, He used His finger.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.’” They did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt.

The magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Exodus 8:16-19)

Even the devil-worshiping magicians of Egypt could see the writing on the wall: God was going to war against them and they were going to lose.

Another loser who refused to see the writing on the wall was Belshazzar, a king of Babylon, the nation that God sent to destroy the Hebrew homeland. Belshazzar thought he was an amazing man of history, powerful and fun. He held a huge party with his fellow Babylonians to celebrate their greatness and mock the God of Israel.

When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together. (Daniel 5:2-6)

This wall-writing finger was the finger of God and He famously wrote: MENE, MENE TEKEL PARSIN. God had judged Belshazzar and he was found wanting. He lacked trust in the true God. So he was going to die and his kingdom would be given to another.

There are more fingers of God in the Bible. The Lord God wrote the Ten Commandments with His holy finger (Exodus 31), the sky and the heavens were created with His finger (Psalm 8), and in the Gospels Jesus used His fingers to heal the ears of a deaf man (Mark 7) and Jesus spoke of using God's finger to cast out demons.

But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Luke 11:20)

What is the Finger of God? There are two things worth mentioning. First of all, God is spirit and has no body, so His finger creating the heavens is a picture. We make things with our fingers and hands, so God speaks to us in word pictures to which we can relate. Secondly, God's Son took on human flesh and fingers, too. And so God does have fingers and used them as He did at the beginning—to create good things for His people and to repair what we have damaged.

So what is God's finger? It is His divine power that He uses in mercy to help us. From creating the sky to driving out demons, His finger establishes His kingdom into this world and in our hearts. The Catechism explains:

God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

In order to bring us His Holy Spirit, God sends away evil spirits. He does this when the fingers of His pastors put water onto evil heads and speak His promise to make them good. And from the day of our Baptism, God's fingers keeps coming to us through His Scripture and Sacrament. He tells us that we are forgiven; He gives us His body and blood for our forgiveness. Through His promise, we live in a united house and kingdom.

On the other hand, the kingdoms and houses of the world are falling apart. Homes are divided; husbands and wives are divided; families are broken. Nations are divided and tearing themselves to pieces, fighting over the scraps of this world. It is heartbreaking to see their division, subtly urged on by the crazy, yet popular, logic of the Devil and his minions.

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. (Luke 11:15-16)

The world hated Jesus and lied about Him and tried to attack His motives and His authority. But Jesus simply pointed out how foolish their lies were. Others, who had just seen a miracle, wanted another one. They would never be satisfied. They belong to the kingdom of Beelzebul, the lord of the flies, the Devil.

But our kingdom is ruled by Christ, the One who has destroyed the Devil's reign. We ask for no outward sign or miracle as unbelievers demand, because our King and Judge has pointed His finger at us, and instead of condemning us to hell, He says, “That one! Yes, that one! I have paid her guilt. She is forgiven. She is mine!”

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21