“The next day [John the Baptizer] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29). On this Reformation Day, we recall Martin Luther and his 95 Theses, which he nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. Why did Luther do that? Over the preceding centuries, myriad abuses and an unbiblical concoction of indulgences, pilgrimages, and the worship of relics and saints had crept into the medieval Church, causing it to lose its focus on Jesus Christ. By calling out the Church’s various errors in 95 “discussion points,” Luther was challenging the Church to repent of its errors and refocus on the center of the historic Christian faith: Jesus Christ and the Good News of salvation by faith in Him alone. In a Reformation Day Divine Service held in Tel Aviv on October 31st, our friend Maria Sadlovsky sang for the first time in Hebrew the Agnus Dei, the very words that John the Baptizer exclaimed in Greek after our Lord and Savior had risen out of the River Jordan after His baptism. Maria is the Swedish-born wife of Rev. Sahar Sadlovsky, who was recently ordained in Sweden. This will be the first time he will lead a Divine Service in his church, with the historic Lutheran liturgy beautifully and elegantly translated into Hebrew. Click here or on the image to hear Maria. You might be able to pick out a few words in this recording: “seh ha-Elohim” (“Lamb of God”) and “ha-nose et chattat ha-olam” (“who takes away the sin of the world”). As he shared with me, the Divine Services there will uniquely synthesize elements of the temple and synagogue worship at the time of Jesus, combined with historic Lutheran liturgy, in which Christ gives the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation to all. This Reformation Day—whether in Tel Aviv or wherever we may be—let us remain focused on Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, because only *He* has taken away the sin of the world.
The Tiews in Germany 