Following Christ through the World to the Cross

Standing Strong in Babylon​​

Finkenwalde

Remembrance Sunday [Totensonntag]

November 24, 1935

By November 1935, the process of Gleichschaltung—the Nazi term for the coordination of German civic, education, cultural, and political institutions with Nazi ideology—was virtually complete. The Nuremberg racial laws had been enacted in September 1935. Although there were calls from within the Confessing Church urging it to protest—including Bonhoeffer and his seminarians, who demonstrated at the September 1935 Steglitz Synod—the church leadership refused to take a public stand on the antisemitic legislation. For its part, the Nazi regime had lost interest in the Protestant church struggle, viewing it as an internal church matter; state authorities moved only against the radical members of the Confessing Church who publicly or politically opposed what was going on. All this meant that the pressures were mounting on the radical wing of the Confessing Church to which Bonhoeffer belonged, particularly on his seminarians. The leadership of the German Protestant Church ranged from German Christians to “neutral” leaders who simply wanted to avoid conflicts with the Nazi state and had made their peace with the German Christians. Consistory officials in Berlin began to meet with the leadership bodies of the Confessing Church to find a way to work together and erase any remaining divisions, and the radical wing of the Confessing Church was pushed to the margins. Many who had originally stood with Bonhoeffer began to make their peace with the Consistory in Berlin, which was offering “legalization” to the Confessing Church seminarians if they agreed to take their theological examination under the German Christian–led examination committees. Bonhoeffer bitterly opposed this, but it was a tempting offer of financial and job security for the Finkenwalde seminarians. The seminarians who studied under Bonhoeffer were caught in“legalization.” In addition to teaching his seminarians, that fall Bonhoeffer gave the series of lectures in Berlin that he incorporated into his book Discipleship. All these events were the subtext for this sermon on Remembrance Sunday, in which he urges them to look past the worldly successes and power of “Babylon” and stay faithful to the gospel. Unusually for Bonhoeffer’s sermons, there are direct references to the National Socialists, the threat of violence, and even martyrdom. “Who among us knows whether we can stand strong?” he asks. “Lord, teach your church-community to die through your gospel, give us the strength to endure.” • • • Revelation 14:6–13: Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation and tribe and language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, “Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.” • • • “Then I saw”—the curtain tears, and John is allowed to see what for our eyes is covered by a thick veil—the world after death. This much is immediately clear: This world is anything but dead; indeed, it is quite alive, full of action, visions, words, torments, and bliss—the world after death is actually life to the highest degree. It is not “nothing” that awaits us when we close our eyes, not some process of being extinguished; instead, we enter into unimagined activity. Let us not offer ourselves false comfort by insisting that soon it will all be over; instead, we must recognize that, quite the contrary, soon it will all begin, soon things will become quite serious and quite critical for us. This text wants to help us prepare for that step into the next world. How do Christians, how does the church-community of Christ learn to die? That is the question to which this text offers an answer. This text proclaims a threefold message of joy to us from that world as consolation on this Remembrance Sunday and as an aid to our own dying. “Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim. . . .” Where such visions are granted, where the angels of God are seen, we are no longer in our own world; there heaven itself, the new world, has been opened up. This angel flies through heaven with the eternal gospel. This belongs in midheaven just as it belongs in midearth—the eternal gospel. This is a great comfort for all believers—the gospel will abide—it is an eternal gospel—our gospel, the same gospel we hear and preach Sunday after Sunday—the same gospel we have with us in our Bibles, the same gospel we read each morning and each evening, the same gospel that gave our own lives a new turn the first time we really understood it—mocked and attacked here and dragged through the muck, and yet loved in seclusion and secrecy and confessed by believers and martyrs of all ages, by countless hearts—the gospel remains eternally—we need neither fear nor worry on that account—even if it may appear that the gospel is in demise today—what do ten years or even more matter, which we may experience and oversee?—the gospel is eternal and will abide in spite of it all. It abides as the one and only true proclamation of God over all the world. And though there may be thousands of religions and views and opinions and worldviews in the world, and though they may be the most beautiful of worldviews, and though they may well stir and move the human heart—they all collapse when confronted by death; they fall to pieces because they are not true—only the gospel remains. And before the end comes it will have been proclaimed to all nations, peoples, and languages over all the earth—though here it may seem that there are many paths, there only one will count, for all the people in the world: the gospel.And its language is so simple that anyone can understand it: “Fear God and give God glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” That is the first commandment, the entire gospel. “Fear God”—instead of all the things you normally fear—do not fear the coming day; do not fear other people; do not fear violence and power, not even if they can rob you of life and possessions; do not fear the great of the world; do not even fear you yourselves; do not fear even sin—you will die of all such fear—you are free of such fear; it does not exist for you—but fear God, and only God; for God has power over all powers of this world—it is God whom all the world must fear—God has power to give us life or ruin—everything else is merely a game—God alone is serious, completely serious—fear God’s seriousness—and “give him glory.” God seeks this glory as the Creator of the world, as our Creator; God seeks it as the Reconciler, as the one who in Christ made peace between God and human beings; God seeks it as the Redeemer, who at the end will set us free from all our sin and all our burdens—give God this glory in his holy gospel—“for the hour of his judgment has come.” What will God ask about on that day of judgment toward which we are moving? About God’s eternal gospel: Did you hear and believe the gospel? God will not ask—whether we were Germans or Jews, whether we were National Socialists, or even whether we belonged to the Confessing Church—or whether we were great and influential and successful, whether we have a life’s work that can be presented, whether other people respected us, or whether we were small and unimportant and unsuccessful and unappreciated. God will one day ask all human beings whether they believe they can prove themselves before the gospel—and the gospel alone will be our judge. It is the gospel that will separate souls in eternity. Because we know this and yet see how the gospel is ignored among us—both in the world and in the church—we become frightened. Let us remember these things regarding John’s first vision—an eternal gospel—the eternal proclamation to all peoples, eternal judgment on all human beings—an eternal gospel—that is the only abiding consolation for the community of believers, a message of joy for all who must yet die. “Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’” That is what John saw—but he also saw that Babylon was still great, powerful, and bursting with strength—that Babylon was still standing there, invincible in the world, and that all people were trembling before it, falling to their knees—Babylon, the enemy of God—the city that never stops building its tower up into heaven—Babylon, which on its own power defies Christ, the crucified Lord, which intoxicates people with its glittering and tempting vices, as a prostitute intoxicates her lovers with heavy wine—which befuddles and confuses and courts people with all sorts of splendor and godless grandeur—Babylon, which human beings love, around which they flock, into whose nets they senselessly stumble—Babylon, which demands nothing of its subjects except blind love and intoxication, which it also abundantly and extravagantly showers on them, things the human heart and its wild desire lust after—who would dare say that this Babylon is not eternal?—it will take a bad fall—woe to it!—how anxiously the Christian community—which neither can nor wants to be a citizen of this city, a community that must dwell and suffer on the periphery, outside this city—how anxiously must it be watching that city, how fervently must it be interceding in prayer, how often must it have yearned in prayer for its fall!—Who is Babylon—was it Rome? Where is it today? Even today we still do not dare say—not out of fear of human beings! Instead the church-community simply does not yet know—though it does see terrible things and disclosures approaching—and now—a voice from heaven, the message of joy for the community of believers—“fallen is Babylon the great . . .”—everything has already been completed, God has already passed judgment, Babylon already does not even exist—Babylon cannot endure—because it cannot endure before God. Hence: do not fear Babylon, it has no power over you—it has already been judged—it is all merely dust and smoke and ruins—do not take it so deadly seriously anymore, do not let your hatred and zealousness consume you, for it is all so temporary, so temporary—it is not even important anymore—other things, however, are indeed important—remain firm in faith, hold fast to Christ, do not be touched by Babylon, remain sober, and do let fear overwhelm you—listen to God’s voice, the Almighty, who says: fallen is Babylon the great. That alone is important—that alone leads to life—those who fall prey to Babylon, however, also fall prey to death and judgment—Fallen is Babylon, rejoice, O community of believers! That is the second message of joy to the church-community that must yet enter into death. Verse 9. “Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, ‘Those who worship the beast. . . .’” The beast is the lord of Babylon, the human being of vice, of arrogance and violence—and that is what is so terrible here—it is not enough for this beast that people serve it; it also wants them to mark themselves on their foreheads and hands—to show that they belong to the beast with both their heads and deeds—the beast wants believers!—just as Christians mark themselves with the sign of the cross, so also does the beast want all those who belong to it to be marked with the sign of blasphemy—and they worship the beast and say: Who is greater and more powerful than this beast? who can withstand this beast? who is more splendid and more divine—and they all worship it, all those whose names are not written in the book of life, whose names are neither elected nor pleasing before God and the Christ, whose names are a blasphemy against God. Verses 10–11: “they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath. . . .” God’s wrath is a burning, unmixed wine, which affects a person’s very marrow. Unspeakably horrifying things are now mentioned—one can add nothing here—how is such a message to be a basis of joy for us?—“and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb”—in their suffering they will have to see the Christ, whom they blasphemed—“the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever”—“There is no rest day or night”—in view of such statements, let us become not loud but rather quite still, looking into ourselves and saying: God, be merciful with me, a sinner, and grant us all your salvation! God, to you alone glory is due. You alone are righteous. You alone have given us rest from our enemies. God, you alone are our comfort and our joy! No, God’s terrible judgment on the world should not prompt us to break out in triumphant sectarian rejoicing—instead, we should pray: God, give patience to your saints amid all our impatience, grant obedience to your church-community that it may keep your commandment of love—amid all our disobedience, grant us faith in Jesus—amid all lack of faith. And when you then come and appear to us and demand that we stand before you, then say to us as well—here is the patience of the saints, here are those who keep God’s commandments and faith in Jesus—God, all of it is your grace. Can we now comprehend that in view of God’s judgments here, in view of this temptation to fall into hatred and impatience and unbelief—that it is a grace to die today—to be taken away—for who among us knows whether we can stand strong? Who among us knows whether we would pass the final test at that hour—hence—“Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord”—“blessed are the dead”—we have to understand this—not out of fatigue or lack of desire, but out of the fear of not keeping faith and amid the joy of having kept faith—“blessed are the dead”—“from now on”—from the time when the power of Babylon and of the beast become so enormous—but not all the dead are blessed—only those “who die in the Lord”—those who at the proper time learned how to die, those who kept faith, those who held fast to Jesus even into that final hour whether amid the sufferings of public martyrdom or of the martyrdom of a quiet solitude of enduring life—the promised blessedness of death, of resurrection, is granted only to the church-community of Jesus Christ—that promise belongs to that community—and whoever else lays claim to it will fall into God’s hands. “Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord . . . ,” die in Christ—may it be granted to us that we not be weak in our final hour—that we die as those who confess Christ. Whether old or young, whether quickly or after long suffering, whether seized and coerced by the lord of Babylon, or whether quietly and gently, may our final word be: Christ, that is our prayer today—“‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘. . . follow them,’” and then we will have rest from our work, that is, from the tribulations and sufferings and temptations amid which we stand today, no more fear of becoming weak, no fear of sin or of the power of Babylon, then we will have rest because we will recognize and see Christ as the Lord—“for their deeds follow them”—They do not prepare our path to Christ, faith does that—but they follow, the deeds performed in God, in Christ, the deeds for which God prepared us from the beginning of the world; we do not know them here, for they are concealed; they are the works about which the left hand does not know when the right hand performs them—but because they belong to us, they will be with us as the eternal gift of God. Lord, teach your church-community to die through your gospel, give us the strength to endure until you call—for we so want to view your eternal gospel! Amen.