Stoeckhardt's Advent Sermons book: "a greater grace yet to come" (another BTL book)

      There were many books published by the Old German Missouri Synod, and the books by Prof. George Stoeckhardt were highly regarded, as were those of Walther and Pieper. Although the following offering may be a little late for this Advent season, yet I am presenting an English translation of Stoeckhardt's Adventspredigten, or Advent Sermons, published in 1887, the same year that C. F. W. Walther passed away. This was a time for comfort for the people, and this book filled that need nicely. Stoeckhardt was known for his deep familiarity with Holy Scripture, and that gift was on full display in this book of sermons.

      To provide motivation to read from this book, or at least to read one of the 28 individual sermons, I present a few

Notable Quotes:

iv: "Superficial listeners and readers may become weary of the apparent monotony that confronts them in the prophecy… Souls eager for salvation, on the other hand, rejoice…"

1: "But the word of prophecy gave them enough light and knowledge that they could believe and be saved through faith in the promised Savior."

1: "during Advent, we follow in the footsteps of the fathers, as it were, preparing ourselves for Christmas by contemplating the promises that were given to them and awaiting the fulfillment of which the Christmas message tells us."

2: "We can wait and hope all the more confidently because the first Advent is behind us".

4: "Now, through the later promises, through the gospel of Christ, that first gospel from paradise has become much clearer and more evident to us."

9: "In defiance of Satan, Eve named her firstborn Cain, saying: 'I have the man, the Lord.'" [Gen. 4:1, LED Bible]

54: On 2 Sam. 7:18-19, which is mistranslated by virtually all popular English Bibles: 

"David also recognized the will of God and, after Nathan had finished speaking, remained before the face of God, humbly giving glory to his grace and saying, 'Who am I, Lord, Lord, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?' 2 Sam 7:18. But Nathan spoke to David in the name of God of a greater grace yet to come. He said, 'And the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. Now when thy days are fulfilled, that thou shouldest sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall come from thy body, and I will confirm his kingdom unto him. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. And I will be his father, and he shall be my son.' At this great word of promise bowed King David to the ground, so that he continued to speak to God, saying, 'You have paid too little attention to this, O LORD, O LORD, but have spoken to your servant's house of things yet to come. This is the way of a man who is the LORD God.' 2 Sam. 7:19 (LED)" [See this blog post]

The last sentence above is stripped of its glory by today's English Bibles by taking Christ out of it. But Luther's Bible had it right, and Stoeckhardt makes great use of it, bringing Christ back into 2 Sam. 7:19.

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      In this book, the quoted Bible verses are largely a product of the DeepL Translator of Luther's German Bible. In some cases it will be preferred over today's popular English Bibles, especially where they have used rationalist translations. — If the machine translation seems to be in error, compare with the original text by going to the Google Books copy here. The translated pages are from the same page as in the original German book. Now I present a slightly enhanced English machine translation of Stoeckhardt's Advent Sermons. Interpretation of the Most Important Prophecies of the Old Testament:

The above file, with no highlighting, is available to download here; PDF here.

On this day of Christmas Eve, let us look to the Word to which King David bowed ("at this great word of promise bowed King David to the ground"), the Word of promise fulfilled… on Christmas Day.