Thy Strong Word From Kfuo Radio

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.

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.

Rev. Chris Matthis, pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 9. “All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died.” An epidemic strikes in Exodus 9. As the plagues intensify, the first deaths come. But if all the livestock died in the epidemic, why are they later described in the plagues of boils and hail? This misunderstanding disappears under close reading. God gradually intensifies the plagues so as to make Pharaoh dig in his heels, isolating him from his subjects. God thus opens the door for some of the Egyptians to turn and know Him, just as Christ isolated Satan that the Gentiles might come to know His Father.

Rev. Christopher Maronde,  pastor of St. John Bingen/Decatur, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 8. “I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.” Frogs, gnats, and flies! The transition in Exodus 8 however shows that there are different sets of plagues, each with different meanings. In this second set, the focus is on the ruination of Egypt as opposed to the peace of Goshen. Peace out of ruin, life out of death—these foreshadow Christ’s resurrection and the life of the world to come.

Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, IL, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 7. “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel.” Aaron’s staff becomes a snake, and when his staff strikes the Nile, it turns to blood. The true confrontation begins in Exodus 7, as God provokes Pharaoh’s proud anger. God’s purpose is twofold: to break Pharaoh’s will and secure the release of His people, and to publicly reveal His glory to all Egypt. Egypt is judged rightly, but the purpose is repentance and salvation, just as it was later in the destruction of Jerusalem, when Christ was revealed as the true Temple for all people, even for Egypt.

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor and co-host of Wrestling with the Basics on KFUO Radio, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Exodus 6. “I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?” When Moses doubts himself, Exodus 6 responds with a genealogy. While Moses might not have been the best speaker, it was never about his ability; it’s about God’s promise. The genealogy shows the divine plan going from Levi to Moses & Aaron and then down to Phinehas, who helped capture Canaan. The priesthood is about the covenant of “I WILL BE.” God’s grace isn’t for the sake of rebellion, but rather for the inclusion of all people through Christ, who submitted to the authorities even as He loved God—and us—more than Himself.