October 15, 2021
Jesus said, “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them.” Mark 13:9
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever. Psalm 30:11-12
The council now demanded that Luther appear before them without further regard to the protests and threats of Aleander (see October 13 devo). An imperial messenger was sent to retrieve Martin, to the great distress of his friends who understood the prejudice and enmity against him. Three close friends determined to accompany him. His youthful co-laborer, Melanchthon, also begged to go but was not allowed. Crowds whose hearts had been touched by the Gospel wept as they bade him farewell. Luther responded, “Pray not for me but for the Word of God…Christ will give me His Spirit to overcome these ministers of error.” And he said to Melanchthon, “If I do not return, and my enemies put me to death, continue to teach, and stand fast in the truth. Labor in my stead. If you survive, my death will be of little consequence.”
Along the fourteen-day journey from Wittenberg to Worms, in various towns a gloomy foreboding oppressed the people who had come to appreciate Luther’s efforts on behalf of Biblical truth. One man showed Luther a portrait of an Italian reformer who had been martyred. The news had spread that Luther’s writings had been roundly condemned at Worms, for the emperor Charles V had ordered all the people to turn them in to the magistrates to be burned. Even the imperial messenger transporting Luther had grown to respect and appreciate him. He feared for Luther’s safety and asked him if he still wished to go forward. Luther’s answer: “Although interdicted in every city, I shall go on.” The imperial messenger brings to mind the accounts of Roman centurions whose very limited exposure to truth had much power to work in their hearts. We cannot imagine how their lives came to bear upon the growth of God’s kingdom! (See Matthew 8:5-10; 27:54, Mark 15:39, Luke 23:47)
Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3