Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Isaiah 39:1-41:16 Ephesians 1:1-23 Proverbs 23:25-28

“The Gospel is Public”

“When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
[Matthew 10:23]

It is impossible to keep the Gospel from anyone. No power in heaven or on earth can do this, for it is a public teaching that moves about freely under the heavens and is bound to no one place. It is true, of course, that the rulers may suppress the Gospel in cities or places where the Gospel is, or where there are preachers, but you can leave these cities or places and follow the Gospel to some other place. It is not necessary, for the Gospel’s sake, for you to occupy any special place or city. Do not permit any man to take it from you. Thus the two things, suffering and not suffering, turn out to be one. The Gospel needs no physical place to dwell; it will and must dwell in hearts.