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Advent 4 Vespers: The Lord Has Done Great Things For Us
Advent Vespers 4
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Luke 1:39-55
December 22, 2021
The Lord Has Done Great Things For us
Jesu juva!
1.
A voice crying in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord.
John the Baptist, locusts and wild honey in his mouth, crying: The axe is at the root of the trees!
The angel Gabriel visiting a virgin named Mary, telling her, You will conceive and bear a son, and call His name Jesus.
And now the young mother goes to visit her cousin. When she says: “Peace” or “Joy” to Elizabeth, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy. And Elizabeth cries out with a loud voice: How am I so blessed, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?
How blessed Adam and Eve were, that the Lord visited them in the afternoon or evening, and forgave their sins, promising the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent!
And the people of Israel were blessed when the Lord visited them in Egypt and delivered them from slavery, and went with them in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud and fire. And He lived among them in a tent. He remained with them, even though they were sinful and provoked Him.
But none of those visits of the Lord compared with the one Elizabeth received. To her the Lord came not in a human form, or in fire or smoke, or in a tent. He came to her in flesh and blood, a human like her, carried in the body of her cousin.
Throughout the Old Testament people doubted the Lord’s coming. Gideon complained that he had heard all that the Lord did for Israel in the days of Moses, but He seemed to have forgotten all about them in his day.
We have also thought this way, and it is a foolish way to think. The Lord was always coming. And in the fullness of time He came so near to us that everyone was shocked. He came so near that He became a human being, an infant carried by His mother.
And if He has come as near to us as that, He cannot now forget us and leave us alone. He is coming to complete His work and bring us even nearer, into the glory of His Father. And He comes near to each one of us in this life and does great things for us, just as He did to Elizabeth and Mary. He visits us in His own flesh and blood, with might to save us.
But why do we not perceive Him? Why often does it seem we are all alone in life, with our fears, with our sins, and our boredom?
Partly because our attitude is different than Elizabeth’s and Mary’s. Hear what Elizabeth says: Whence is it that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
She doesn’t say, “This is Mary, my young cousin. I am older and much more wise than she is. I am the wife of a priest. She is a fourteen year old girl.” She says: this little girl is the mother of my Lord. I don’t understand how that could be, but I am not going to be prideful and look upon her lowliness. I am going to see the Lord who comes to me in her womb.
Not only this, but Elizabeth says, “Why should the mother of my Lord come to me?” Not only does she acknowledge Mary as the mother of God, she says, “I am not worthy to have my Lord or her mother come to me.”
That is the truth. We don’t deserve to have the Lord visit us, except in wrath and judgment. But He comes to us as our brother, joining His unspeakable greatness and glory to our flesh and blood. And then He is pleased to come to us in the mouth of a sinful preacher, in bread and wine, in water.
And because He comes so near to us, so often, we forget to say, “Who am I, that my Lord should come to me?”
The other reason we do not recognize the Lord’s coming to do great things for us is that we doubt His Word. Elizabeth says, I am not worthy to be visited by my Lord and His mother. I am not worthy to be visited by the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head, and the woman, the new Eve who bears Him. And if Mary had thought about it, she could also have said, “Who am I, that I should be the mother of the Lord?”
But she did not say that. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me according to your word.”
Elizabeth says to her: Blessed is she who believed there would be a completion of the things spoken to her by the Lord. Mary is a daughter of Abraham. The Lord told her He would do a great thing to her. He would become a man and save the human race by entering her womb and becoming a man.
Mary did not go back and forth thinking that this could not be possible, that He must have meant someone else. She said, Let it be according to the Lord’s Word.
The Lord Jesus says, ‘I am with you always to the end of the age.” He says, “This is my body, which is for you.” He says that all who are baptized into Him have put Him on. We should not waver or doubt or let ourselves be depressed and believe that the Lord Jesus is far away from us. We should rouse ourselves to follow Mary’s example and cling to His Word. The Lord says He is coming soon, but also that He visits us now and does great things for us, just as He visited Adam and Eve in their need, and Israel in slavery, and Mary and Elizabeth in their low estate.
It is true that we do not deserve to have Him visit us. But this is the kind of Lord we have. Precisely because we are low, needy, and undeserving, He comes to us so that we may leap with joy and magnify His goodness.
2.
The Lord has come. John the Baptist, still in the womb, leaps for joy at His hidden presence. And Mary sings her famous song, the Magnificat, which is the song of the Church, every evening.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
Because He has looked on the humiliation of His handmaiden,
For behold, from now on all generations will call me happy.
For the mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name.
What great things did the Lord do for Mary?
He made Mary the mother of God. The child that she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit while still a virgin was called and is God. God the Son joined to Himself a human nature so that there is no part of His divinity that is separate from His human nature. All of the fullness of God was in her womb.
God gives many gifts to human beings. Some people He makes smart. Some He makes beautiful. Others He makes great leaders.
To Mary He gave a much greater gift. He did not make her a genius or a fashion model or the Empress of the Roman Empire. He gave her the gift of carrying the Son of God in her womb, bearing Him, nursing Him, teaching Him, and caring for Him during His life and His death.
This gift came with great pain, because she had to see Her Son that she carried in her womb, carry the sins of the world and the death of all men.
The great honor God gave her came with great pain. But as He always does, He did not honor Mary for herself alone. She was honored in that she was given a work of service to perform for others. Her service was not only to care for her Son, but to bear a Son who would save all people.
3.
But the Lord did not only do great things for Mary. He has done great things for us and continues to do them.
And His mercy is to generation after generation of those fearing Him. He has done might with His arm. He has scattered the arrogant in the thoughts of their hearts. He has pulled down rulers from their thrones and exalted the humble.
She does not say that the Lord is going to do this when the child in her womb gets older. He has already done it.
His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him. The Lord does not forsake any of those who fear Him, who believe in Him, hear His word, and keep His commandments. He showed mercy even to fallen Adam and Eve; He showed mercy to Jacob’s descendants in Egypt; He showed mercy to the believers in Israel. He showed mercy to Mary and Elizabeth and the faithful ones in Israel who were waiting for consolation.
The same Lord shows mercy to those who fear Him in this generation, and does great things to us.
What great things does He do to us?
He has already shown His great might. In His omnipotent power He joined the Godhead to flesh and blood like ours. In His might He caused the virgin to conceive so that you and I would have a new birth. Our old conception in sin is covered by this pure and holy conception of Jesus.
When Jesus was conceived in the virgin’s womb, the Lord fulfilled all His promises going back to Adam and Eve.
You and I were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were wretched, living under the curse of the fall, with our shame and condemnation. We were born in sin, to work in futility and to give birth in pain, and then to return to the dust from which we were taken. This is why St. Paul says about the burial of our bodies: “It is sown in dishonor.” (1 Cor. 15:43) We grow old and die and when we are buried we return to dust. This is the dishonor and shame we bear because of sin. We live a little while, and then the wind blows over us, and our place remembers us no more.
But now God, the living God, the Creator, has entered the virgin’s womb. He has entered our flesh and blood. And He has lifted up the wretched and lowly, those doomed to die.
He is conceived without the stain of sin. New, clean, righteous, pure, holy.
His conception is for you. It stands for you before God. And if you believe it, then you are new and clean. You are born anew before God. His birth and His life and death are all yours before God.
The Lord has done great things for you. He has given you a new life and exalted you, and this old life of dishonor, sin and death, He has replaced.
And this is what He comes into this Church to visit you with and give you. His holy and spotless body and His cleansing blood. God’s pledge that the life of Mary’s Son is yours.
Who are we that our Lord should visit us? Yet He does. The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
Advent 4, 2022. Knowing And Confessing the New Man
Rorate Coeli, The Fourth Sunday in Advent
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. John 1:19-28
December 19, 2021
Knowing and Confessing the New Man
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
Once upon a time, a pastor was preaching a series of sermons through the book of Exodus. Not a Lutheran pastor, but a non-denominational pastor.
One of his sermons had to do with God’s word to Moses from the burning bush: I have come down to deliver them…and to bring them up…into a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3:8).
In that church the practice was to have bread and grape juice or wine every Sunday in remembrance of the death of Jesus. But this Sunday the pastor said they would do something different. Instead of bread or wine in the cup, there would be milk and honey. And as the members of the church took their bread and dipped it into the milk and honey, they could remember how Jesus has promised to bring us into our good inheritance in the Kingdom of His Father, where we will live forever.
Now if you approach this ritual instituted by the pastor by human reason alone, it might not seem like such a bad thing. To the people in the church, it was very moving. It made them think about heaven and it made them feel comforted.
But if you look at this practice of the pastor through God’s Word, you realize he committed a very grave sin against Christ, although he might not have known what he was doing. The Lord’s Supper that he set aside that Sunday was not instituted by a mere man, but by God in our flesh and blood, Jesus Christ. And He did it so that we might not just have a thing that we do to remember that He died for us. In the supper He give us His true body and blood, given and shed for us on the cross to redeem us. And with His body and blood He gives us not a symbol of heaven, but a foretaste of the good inheritance that is ours in heaven. Because when we eat and drink His body and blood in faith in His promise, we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
So the appropriate question for someone to have asked this pastor would have been, “By what authority are you instituting this new ritual of eating bread, milk, and honey, and setting aside the institution of Christ?” And the answer would have been—by his own authority.
But the reality is this is already being done in every church that denies that Jesus’ true body and blood are present in the bread and wine, as He says. When they deny this, they turn His supper into a pantomime where we remember Jesus using symbols, instead of what He instituted, where He gives us His saving body and blood. It’s true that many of these churches do it in ignorance, without realizing what they are doing, but they still do it. They create a ritual of their own, apart from God’s institution, by their own authority.
The reason for talking to you about this this morning is that this is just what the Pharisees who come to John are asking about his baptism. They want to know: who are you to say that all Israel needs to be immersed or washed for the forgiveness of sins? Are you Elijah, whom the prophet Malachi said would come before the Messiah? Are you the prophet like Moses that the Lord said He would raise up?
And if you are none of these people, by what authority do you institute this baptism?
John’s answer is simple. My baptism is with water, just water. But in your midst is One who is so great I am not worthy to untie His sandal. And you do not know who He is.
John’s baptism and his whole ministry is to point out that great One who is in their midst, whom they do not know.
2.
Why do the Jews send these priests and Levites out to John to find out who he is in the first place? Do they want to hear John’s message, repent of their sins, be baptized, believe in the One who is in their midst?
No. Do they ask John any questions that would lead you to think that is what they are after? No. They just want to know who John says he is. They want to know John’s credentials, not his message.
The reason they want to know is that all the people think John is a prophet. Great crowds are going out to be baptized by John. John is starting to look like he has more influence and authority than the leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem.
So they send these messengers to find out who John says he is. If John is too big for them to stop, maybe they can hire him, and harness his influence for themselves.
But the evangelist says that John didn’t fall for it. When the Jews sent priests and Levites…to ask him, “Who are you?” [John] confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” (John 1:20)
This is a strange kind of confession. In the Bible and in Christianity, there are two types of confession. The first is confession of sins, when you acknowledge your sins to God. The other is confession of faith. It is to acknowledge God, like we do when we confess the Nicene Creed. But when we confess the faith in this way, we usually say, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, in the Holy Spirit.”
Not: “I am not the Christ.”
But to confess the true God is to deny yourself. To believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is not merely to acknowledge that He exists, but to say, “He is my God and Savior.” And if you confess that with your lips, then you will also be tested to see whether it is not only the faith of your lips but also your heart.
That’s why Peter, after confessing Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, was later asked by a servant girl in the courtyard of the high priest if Peter had been with Jesus. Peter was willing to confess Jesus as God’s Son. But when Jesus was about to be crucified he was not willing to confess Him. Peter denied Him, because otherwise Peter would have had to deny himself. He would likely have had to die with Jesus on the cross as a blasphemer. And later in life Peter did just that.
In our Gospel reading, John denies himself. He says, “I am not the Christ.” He also denies being the prophet and Elijah. It would have been easy for him to claim to be somebody. Then he might have had the leaders of the Jews on his side, but he would have been denying Jesus.
Instead John only points to Jesus. Later people stop paying attention to him and go to Jesus, and he tells his disciples that this makes him happy. He must increase but I must decrease. (John 3:30) After that John is finally arrested and put to death. John denies himself and confesses Jesus.
On the other hand, the leaders in Jerusalem are not willing to deny themselves. It doesn’t even cross their minds, apparently, that they would listen to John’s message. As a result, they remain ignorant of the great One who is in their midst whose sandals John is not worthy to untie. They can’t see or recognize Him because they are too busy confessing themselves, seeking themselves, trying to keep their places in this world.
That is the way you and I are in the flesh too. If you are a Christian like Peter, you believe that Jesus is the Christ and you confess Him. But your flesh is weak even though your spirit is willing. Your flesh is tempted to deny Jesus in order to avoid confessing Him by suffering with Him, by losing your life with Him.
The first commandment is: You shall have no other gods. This means: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. It means that we should not only confess the Triune God with our lips. We should be more afraid of Him than what man can do to us, than what people say about us. We should trust Him even though He slay us, even though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the depths of the sea. We should love Him more than we love our lives, more than our husband or wife, children, possessions.
But our old self, our old man, does not. It is self-seeking, and moves us to deny the Triune God and seek ourselves, so that we do not know the One John proclaimed, who is in our midst.
3.
You were taught to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and …to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph. 4:22-24)
So says St. Paul in Ephesians 4. It sounds so good and simple. If only I could just put off this old, self-seeking self! And not be like Peter, but be like John!
But John is pointing out the “new self” to us. What Paul actually says, literally, is not “new self” but “new man.” John the Baptist came baptizing with water not only to forgive sins, but to reveal the “new man.” The Mighty One, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, and give us a new self.
John tells the Pharisees this Mighty One is already standing among them. They do not recognize Him, but He is in the midst of them.
He is already in our midst too.
We are not worthy to untie His shoes or touch His feet because He is the eternal God who made us and gave us everything we have. Our lives, our wife and children, house and home, good name. But this Mighty God has come near to serve us. He has become a man in order to make the whole human race new.
He comes to be the man who fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things. He loves God His Father more than His own life, and He gives it up for us. Where we have been Peter or the leaders in Jerusalem, seeking ourselves, and denying God, His blood makes atonement. When Peter fell, what enabled him to rise again? That Jesus was the new man. Jesus brought Peter’s old nature to an end in His death, and raised him up a new creation, forgiven of his sins, righteous before God. Believing this, even though Peter continued to struggle with his old self, Peter came around and confessed Jesus as he should have done on the night he was betrayed. He faltered and did not die with Jesus on Calvary. But years later he did die with Jesus at Rome.
Jesus is the new man who always does the Father’s will. He loves the Father above all things. And He is your new self.
When John baptized Him, He was revealed to Israel. The Spirit descended on Him and remained. The Father declared Him His beloved Son. Jesus was baptized for the forgiveness of sins. That means He took on your old self, your old man, with its sins. He brought your old self, your old man to the cross and put it out of the way.
When He was baptized, the Son of God was baptized into your guilt. But you were baptized into Him and received the Holy Spirit. You became a new man and received a new self. Your new self is Jesus and His perfect obedience to the Father. That is what stands before God. That is who you are daily rising up to become as you repent of your sins and believe in Him.
John said that He was not worthy to touch Jesus’ feet, and this is true. Yet Jesus washes the feet of His saints. Having given you the washing of new birth in Baptism, He washes your feet by absolving you. Then He brings you with Him into the presence of His Father, feeding you His body and His blood.
He is in the midst of you, just as He stood in the midst of Israel at John’s Baptism. Just as He was hidden in Israel in Mary’s womb, and then in the manger.
He has taken your old self off of you and put it on Himself. He was nailed to the cross with your old self. In Baptism He gave you a new self. You are in Him. This is where the strength comes from to deny yourself and confess Him.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
Wednesday of Advent 3. Luke 1:26-38 Nothing Will Be Impossible With God
Wednesday of Advent 3
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Luke 1:26-38
December 15, 2021
Nothing Will Be Impossible With God
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
1.
We have been hearing how the Lord’s way must be prepared.
Centuries before Jesus came, Isaiah prophesied that a voice would cry in the wilderness to prepare the Lord’s way. Mountains would have to be torn down and chasms filled in. The Lord would come to His world, but a great work would be necessary for people to be ready to receive Him.
Then we heard how John the Baptist came preaching repentance, proclaiming God’s axe laid to the root of every tree that did not produce good fruit. He preached that One was already in their midst with a winnowing fork in His hand, to gather in His wheat, His elect, and to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Tonight we hear how the Lord came into the world. He did not come with fire and majesty and fierce judgment, but invisibly into a virgin’s womb. He was in the world, but no one even knew He came, except Mary, and soon enough Joseph, as he saw her belly swell with the child.
All along He had been proclaiming that He would come in this way, but hardly anyone was ready. Yet in just such a way He comes to you in this life—unseen, invisible. No one can prove it. But He comes and does the seemingly impossible thing. He gives you God’s grace and favor, where the axe of God’s judgment had been laid at your roots. For nothing will be impossible with God.
2.
Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you. But Mary was disturbed at this word and cast around in her mind about what sort of greeting this might be.
It seems strange that Mary would be disturbed at this word. The angel says, “Hail! Greetings!” But the literal meaning of the word is “Rejoice!” He tells her to be joyful and calls her the favored one, tells her “The Lord is with you.” But Mary is disturbed at this word that is nothing but grace; she starts trying to peek beneath the words of the angel to see what is really hiding under them.
Don’t people do this all the time? True enough, people frequently don’t pay attention to the words of the Gospel. Our flesh doesn’t take them seriously. But sometimes we do hear them and then say, “What do you mean, ‘The Lord has favored me?’”
And (N)the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, (O)“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are (P)all his wonderful deeds (Q)that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6:12-13)
Mary debates, “What does he mean, the Lord is with me? What does he mean, God has favored me? How can that be? Why is the Lord with me? What did I do wrong?”
It’s one thing to confess your sins and unworthiness, but it is something else to doubt and dispute the Lord’s Word. Remember how Moses argued with God about how he wasn’t the right man for the job, he couldn’t speak well, and so on.
13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses…
3.
But isn’t that what you do? The Lord doesn’t just say to Mary: The Lord is with you. You are highly favored. He says it to you.
The Lord is with you also. We say it in the Divine Service. Jesus Christ the Lord is in the midst of His congregation. He is with us in the Sacrament of His body and blood. He is with us in the Baptismal font, and in the Word. He dwells within the bodies of believers.
But before this He was with us in Mary’s womb. Just as you were conceived in the womb and were corrupted by sin from the moment you were conceived. So the Lord God was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary. He was with you in flesh and blood, in being conceived as a human being. And from the moment He was conceived, He was with you. He was coming to cover the corruption of your conception and birth and give you a new birth.
So you are highly favored. Mary was the favored one because the Lord chose her to bear Him, to raise Him. He chose to take up flesh in her womb. But the flesh, the humanity He took up, was not for her alone. It wasn’t just to honor her. It was to glorify you. It was to make you righteous before God.
He not only favored you by becoming flesh for you and your redemption. He favored you by sending you the message of His incarnation.
The angel told Mary, You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call His name Jesus. And He will reign as King over the house of Jacob forever, and His dominion will have no end.
The King Mary is going to give birth to will reign forever. He reigns by accomplishing righteousness for human beings by His birth and death, and by giving this righteousness to us in the Gospel. And He gives it to you now. And this blessed Kingdom where He declares you righteous will never end. He lives forever to declare you righteous.
4.
When Mary hears this message, she stops debating and doubting and simply asks the question: How? I have not known a man. That makes it a biological impossibility for me to bear a child.
It is not a biological impossibility for you to be favored by God. It is a legal impossibility.
God is just. He does not play favorites. He does not clear the guilty or punish the innocent. The soul that sins shall die, He says in Ezekiel. How then can you, a sinner, be favored by God?
How can I have God’s favor when I constantly stumble and fall? Intellectually you probably have an answer for this. So do I.
The seminary professor who taught us Greek told us a story about his young son, under ten years old, who was attending the big Lutheran school in Fort Wayne. He asked his young son what he learned in school that day. His young son said he learned about the fourth commandment. “We should love and honor our parents because God gave them to us as gifts to teach us. So you, Dad, are in the place of God. When you give me a command, it’s like God has given me a command for my good.”
Then the professor said, later in the night he said, “All right, it’s time for bed.” And his young son threw a fit, threw himself on the ground, crying and yelling, “How come you always get to decide?”
He understood the fourth commandment well enough, but understanding didn’t kill his sinful nature. So you and I may understand how we can be favored by God when we are sinners. But in the test, it does not feel true. It still looks impossible. It goes against reason and sense.
Nevertheless, God’s word to Mary and His word to you is true. “You have found favor with God.” How can it be true? Because the just God sent His son to be with you in the womb. To satisfy God’s just demand that sinners be punished by being punished in your place. To satisfy God’s demand that you be righteous by fulfilling the righteous demands of God’s Law in your place.
This Lamb is Christ, the soul’s great friend,
The Lamb of God, our Savior.
Whom God the Father chose to send,
To gain for us His favor.
5.
Mary asked, “How can I bear a child, since I do not know a man?” Gabriel answered: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the Holy One who will be born will be called the Son of God.
At the very moment Gabriel spoke this word of God, it came to pass. Just as God’s Word at creation did what it said and brought forth light, so as God’s word came out from the angel’s mouth, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the son of God was conceived in her womb.
He was in the world, but no one saw it. No one could feel or sense it. Only Mary knew it, by faith.
Just so it is with you. The Lord comes to you. Silently and invisibly. But audibly. He comes in the Word that declares Him to you.
This baby that was conceived in Mary’s womb is the Lord your righteousness. He is the covering of your sinful nature. He is your recreation and rebirth. He is the certainty that you will stand before God and be righteous and dwell in His Kingdom that has no end.
This baby that was conceived in Mary’s womb is the one who gives you the Father’s favor. Who makes it so that you can boast with Abraham and Moses that you please God, that you are the chosen of the Lord. You can be certain of that, because the Lord in Mary’s womb who shares your human nature grows up to die, even though He has no sin of His own. He does not leave you alone in your sin. The Lord is with you. He is with you in the shame and the awful destruction it has wrought you and He does not leave you alone with it. He passes through the torrents of destruction with it and brings you into freedom and life.
Nothing will be impossible with God. The impossible is what He has always done. From the very beginning, when the first man and woman sinned, they could see no way out. The Lord’s word was clear—in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. But they did not die. They heard the Lord proclaim that the woman’s seed would bruise the serpent’s head instead.
And Abraham heard the impossible word that his offspring would bless all the families of the earth. But his wife’s womb was dead, and his body was as good as dead.
And you and I are dead in our trespasses and sins. But nothing will be impossible with God.
The Lord’s word comes and declares that the Son of God is with you. He has won God’s favor for you and carried your sins. And just as the word of the angel caused Mary to conceive, so the word of the Lord tonight brings Jesus Christ to you, and with Him God’s favor and eternal life.
6.
Mary said, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord. May it be to me according to your word.”
So we say. Let the Lord’s word be true. Let God be true and every man a liar. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us.
Amen.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
Advent 3, 2021. The Last Prophet and the Servants of the King
Gaudete, the Third Sunday in Advent
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Matthew 11:2-10
December 12, 2021
The Last Prophet and the Servants of the King
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
1.
The momentum of the spiritual movement that began with John seemed to have run its course.
John was in prison, and even though he had borne witness to Jesus, his disciples had reservations. He sent them to Jesus to ask if Jesus really was the Christ they were expecting.
And when John’s disciples leave, Jesus turns to the crowd. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” He asks them because they seem to have forgotten. The spiritual fervor and energy that drove them into the wilderness to hear John preach, to confess their sins, and be baptized by him, was waning.
“You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth,” Jesus said of John in another place. “Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I mention it that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice in his light for awhile.” (John 5:34-35)
For awhile the crowds were willing to listen to John. When people hear God’s Word, sometimes they receive it with joy, for a time. Then tribulation and persecution comes, and they fall away. Others hear God’s Word, but allow it to be choked by the thorns of earthly worries and delight in riches. This is what happened among many or most of those who heard John’s preaching that God’s Kingdom was imminent and went out to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
So Jesus reminds them what they went out into the desert to see.
Did you go out to see a reed shaken by the wind? Did you go out to listen to a man who would blow this way and that, who would change his message depending on what was popular, depending on whether or not the authorities would put you in prison if you preached it?
Of course they did not. There are some preachers and churches that seem to prosper for awhile when they are “blown about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). But at least as often churches that blow in the wind and preach whatever is acceptable to the majority, or to the people in power, have a dwindling number of hearers. People don’t generally listen to “a reed shaken by the wind.” Not for long, anyway. People may be afraid of the truth and fight against it when it condemns them. Yet as John the Baptist’s example shows, the truth compels people. It is a rare thing in our world for someone to preach the truth, come what may, whatever the cost.
John was such a man. That was why he was in prison.
He told Herod the King that it was unlawful for him to have his brother’s wife. But John preached this way to everyone. He told the Pharisees and Sadducees that they were a brood of vipers, sons of the devil. He told all the crowds that they must bear fruit worthy of repentance or they would be cut down and thrown into the everlasting fire. When you heard John, you knew he would tell you what God said even if you fought against him and inflicted pain on him. That is a mark of a prophet.
Jesus continued to remind the crowd who John was, whom they had gone out to see. “What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Behold, those who wear soft clothes are in king’s houses.” (Matt. 11:8)
Jesus isn’t saying kings are bad or that they shouldn’t wear soft clothes. A king may wear fine clothes because it is necessary for him to have worldly grandeur in order to do the work God has given him. Imagine if our President or Senators wore clothing from Goodwill! It would not be fitting.
Kings and rulers may wear soft clothes or expensive clothes. But if they want to live soft lives, that is the sin. A king or a ruler is not put in his position to live a soft life. He is in a position of authority in order to make hard decisions, in order to uphold justice and order for the people under his authority. He can’t do that and have a soft life. Pontius Pilate wanted to make things easy on himself as governor. He knew if he condemned Jesus he would prevent the leaders of the Jews from causing a riot. So he gave Jesus over to be crucified. It isn’t soft clothes that makes a person guilty, but when you want to live a soft and easy life instead of serving God and your neighbor, that brings condemnation.
But Jesus reminds the crowds—when you went out to see John, you weren’t going out to see a man in soft clothes. You weren’t going out to see an earthly ruler or the servant of an earthly ruler. You weren’t going out to see a man dressed in Brooks Brothers or Versace or whatever. You weren’t going out to see a man who governs this earth or gives advice on how to govern. And you certainly weren’t going out to see a man who would live a soft and easy life.
What did you go out to see? A prophet. You went out to see a man who proclaimed the divine Word.
You went out to hear a man who proclaimed the holy and righteous law of God and who called sinners to repent before the judgment of God came down on them. That’s what the prophets did of old, from Moses to Malachi.
They also proclaimed the gracious promise of God. They proclaimed hope to the sinners in Israel, that the Lord would send the Messiah, the King of Israel. He would govern Israel in righteousness. He would establish and accomplish justice in the world. And because He would bring about righteousness on earth, all the curse of sin would disappear. Sickness would be healed. War would end, death would be no more.
This is what a prophet does, Jesus says. He proclaims God’s uncompromising law and His impending wrath and judgment. He does this even though to proclaim it brings suffering and even death to himself. But at the same time a prophet brings God’s true comfort. Human beings since the fall into sin have tried to avoid confessing their sin and accepting God’s punishment. We have invented our own comfort, our own excuses. A prophet proclaims true comfort, the comfort of God to condemned sinners.
That’s what you went out into the desert to see, Jesus reminds the crowds. A prophet.
But actually more than a prophet.
All the prophets in the Old Testament proclaimed a comfort in the distant future.
But this prophet, John, is more than that. He is the messenger who goes before the Lord to prepare His way. He is the herald of the Messiah who the prophets had been promising for centuries.
That means the hope of Israel is here, says Jesus. The king who would establish righteousness in Israel and would reign over the whole earth in righteousness is here. Because His kingdom is here, death is destroyed. Human beings are made whole. The poor have good news preached to them. Those who are poor before God, who are paupers before Him, will hear the good news that they are rich. Sinners will hear that they are declared righteous before God.
That is who you went out to see in the desert. A prophet, but even greater than a prophet. The one who prepares you for the Lord of Hosts in the flesh, and for His kingdom, whom you have been awaiting for centuries.
2.
What does this mean for us this morning? John had his head cut off 2000 years ago.
It means in a certain sense, that the time of prophets is done. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost quoted the prophet Joel who said that in the last days that all God’s people would have the Spirit of prophecy, the Holy Spirit. But the Old Testament prophets who told about the coming Kingdom of God—their ministry has come to an end. Now the King has come.
Now instead of prophets who proclaim God’s judgment and consolation in the future, we have servants of Christ, servants of the King, as Paul says in the Epistle reading. This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1). They proclaim God’s judgment and Kingdom not in the distant future, but today.
Like John, faithful ministers of Christ must not be reeds blown in the wind. They must proclaim the unsparing judgment of God. I must proclaim it. I must say to you, Repent. God will not excuse your sins, as you try to do for yourselves. He demands perfect righteousness in His kingdom, and will not accept anything less. And it does not matter if you are Abraham’s descendants or if you are baptized—if you want to hold on to your sins and excuse them, you will be damned.
That preaching of God’s judgment does not spare the preacher either. It also calls me to repentance. And it condemns preachers who want to live a soft life. A faithful servant of the King must go to prison like John, must suffer like John, for proclaiming the judgment of God, or else he is a reed blowing in the wind, a man wearing soft clothing, an unfaithful servant.
3.
Because the King the preacher serves is not a reed shaken by the wind, or a man in soft clothes.
The King whose kingdom a pastor proclaims is the Son of God in our flesh and blood.
Our King proclaimed the judgment of God also. He declared that God would not permit sin in His kingdom. He was rooting it all out.
Then He proved what He preached by enduring the wrath of the Almighty against your sins.
He preached the judgment of God without wavering, and then He endured it when He was crucified.
Every attempt by us to excuse of escape our sins is an attempt to get rid of the judgment of God that fell on Jesus. When pastors waver and try to avoid the suffering that comes with God’s pure Word, they are also trying to do away with the cross. They say—we say—“There is another way to heaven than this. Just do your best. Mean well.”
But that is a lie. There is no other way. Righteousness must be done. Your sins must be punished. And they are. They have been.
Your sins have been punished to the uttermost and completely done away in the suffering of the God-man. The King has established justice and righteousness for you by His blood. And this righteousness is received through faith alone.
That is the good news He preaches to the poor. In this world you may not have soft clothes. You will have tribulation. But you are in My Kingdom, He says. There is no condemnation for you. Instead, you who were deaf to my voice now hear Me and live. You who were blind and could not see the glory of God now see Me removing your sins as I hang on the cross.
You who were unclean and cast away are cleansed and brought near to God in the bath of rebirth and renewal that I consecrated when I was baptized. When I claimed your sins and then died for them, I created this washing in which you would be purified.
You who were lame are now given feet to walk. I have raised you up with me to walk in the way of the Lord.
You who were dead in your trespasses and sins have been made alive. Because I died for your offenses and was made alive again, the one who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
The crowds went out to see a prophet, and more than a prophet. They went out to see the prophet who prepared the way for the Lord and His kingdom.
We live in the Kingdom of the Lord who has come. The judgment of God fell on Him and provided righteousness for all who believe. As we eat the body crucified and judged for our sins and drink the blood He poured out for us, the King pledges that we are in His Kingdom of righteousness and life. When He appears, our life will appear. But today, even now, we rejoice in the true comfort of God.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
How Far Away Is It? Advent Vespers, Wednesday of Advent 2
Advent Vespers, Wednesday of Populus Zion
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Matthew 3:1-12
December 8, 2021
How Far Away Is It?
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
How far away is the judgment of God, when the righteous will receive their commendation from the Lord? When they will receive their blessedness and joy, and be made new? When the wicked will be ashes beneath the soles of the feet of the righteous? When they will be cut down and cast into the unquenchable fire? How long until the righteous judgment of God?
How long until the Lord reigns as King in righteousness? Until the devil is cast out forever, and death is no more, and there is no more crying, or sadness, or pain? How long until heaven comes to earth?
Not long. It is very near. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. It is not coming soon. It has already drawn near. It is upon you.
The axe is already laid to the root of the trees, and every tree not producing good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire. It is happening, the Bible says. Everywhere you look, human beings are producing no good fruit before God. Every thought of their hearts, of our hearts, are only evil continually, according to Genesis. Even when we appear to ourselves to be doing good things and thinking good thoughts, we produce nothing but poisonous and rotten fruit before God. Whenever someone hears this and refuses to believe it, the ax is laid to the root of that tree. It is being swung and cutting into the trunk, cutting that tree down to throw it into the fire.
The wheat is already being gathered into the barn, too. The mighty One has His winnowing shovel in his hand. He throws up the wheat and separates the grain from the useless stalks. Whenever a group of sinners hears a sermon, the grain is being separated from the fuel for the fire. Sinners hear that they produce nothing good in God’s sight, and in their hearts they confess their sins before God, and believe in the righteousness God gives in Christ alone. They return to Holy Baptism and to the One whose sandals John was not worthy to carry, and receive the righteousness that stands when the Lord clears His threshing floor. They are already being gathered into the Kingdom of Heaven, right now, today.
2.
Therefore, repent.
The judgment of God and the Kingdom of God has drawn near. It is not far off in the future. The kingdom of heaven is near you. The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (Romans 10).
Repent; receive a new mind. The kingdom of heaven isn’t far away and God isn’t wavering about whether or not to let you in. People are outside the kingdom of God because they refuse it.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees arrive at the Jordan River where John is baptizing. He calls them a generation of vipers. A brood of devil’s children.
What makes them so bad? Are they prostitutes, homosexuals, transgenders, child molesters, devil worshippers? What have they done?
All around John at the Jordan River are flocks of people being washed for the forgiveness of sins. They come to John terrified they will be left out of the kingdom of heaven. They come to John and tell him the ugly truth about themselves. I cheated at business. I neglect my family. I am a drunkard. I am a glutton. I slander; I curse. I have fits of rage. I don’t pray.
I am a sinner, John. I have no good fruit. I am afraid I will be burned up with the unquenchable fire.
These come to John with sin and John baptizes them for the forgiveness of sins.
But the Pharisees and Sadducees come out convinced that they have lived a good life. Not perfect, certainly. But not nothing. They aren’t ready to come and say “It is all filthy rags.” That’s why they are a generation of vipers. They believe they have produced good fruit for God and they teach others to trust in the fruit they produce.
So they are poisonous. They look as though they are doing good, but they are poisoning people with the devil’s poison. They are teaching them to refuse to repent, to go on to the bitter end trying to establish their own righteousness.
Bear fruit worthy of repentance! What is fruit worthy of repentance?
It is first to confess your sins, to confess that you cannot make yourself right. And second to believe the truth, that God will give you the kingdom of heaven as a free gift.
John’s hearers believed that God would forgive their sins through his baptism, and soon after would give them the Holy Spirit through the One who is coming.
That is how John made straight paths for the Lord. False teachers make winding paths. They say do this work and that work. Pray, be sorry for your sins, read the Bible, give to the poor. Eventually you will feel the Lord’s coming into your heart, after you have worked.
The Lord’s way is made much straighter and simpler. It is this—the declaration that You are a tree that is being cut down and thrown into the fire. You are chaff about to be cleared into unquenchable fire. You are a sinner that cannot make good fruit.
When you are brought to confess that, the Lord’s way is made straight and plain. The Lord is the Savior of sinners. He doesn’t lead sinners in a maze, in a long way to the forgiveness of sins. He comes quickly and directly to the terrified, desperate sinner and says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The judgment is not far away. The kingdom of heaven with its joys is not far away. It is upon you. You are a tree that can’t bear good fruit, who has borne evil fruit your whole life. When you come with this confession to the Lord, heaven opens. The waters of Holy Baptism flood you and cleanse you of every stain before God. You are clean.
3.
It is not a mystery to us who is coming after John. We have heard that our whole lives. It is Jesus.
He is so great that John, the last prophet, is not worthy to carry His sandals. If one of the apostles were here, or even Luther or one of the great teachers of the past, we would probably recognize that we were in the presence of someone greater than us. But Jesus, whom we are so comfortable with, is so great that we are not worthy to do Him the most menial service. He is king of kings and Lord of Lords. He is the One who was with the Father in the beginning.
How shameful to think that this unspeakably great Lord was treated with contempt by the Pharisees and Sadduccees! They acted like Jesus was a fool, a lowborn, ignorant peasant. But we also forget with whom we are dealing when we listen to Scripture, when we listen to faithful sermons, when we come to the Lord’s table.
He comes near to us in the Divine Service. And when He comes now, He comes with what He will bring on the last day. The Kingdom of Heaven and judgment. The Holy Spirit and fire.
But as frightening as it is to consider the arrogant and stubborn way we often listen to Jesus, consider the joy and comfort of His coming. He comes to serve you, despite His greatness. Jesus has already drawn near to you in great grace. He has given you Baptism, not merely with water. He has given you the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives prophets the power to speak the word of God, kings wisdom to rule. He creates and makes new and gives peace.
Jesus won for you the Holy Spirit by coming in the flesh. He fulfilled the Law for you and suffered for your sins. He accomplished righteousness for you, so that you could receive the Spirit to make you a good tree. So that you would enter the kingdom of heaven and be judged righteous.
When you were baptized, He poured out on you with the water His Spirit. The Spirit gave you repentance and faith in the Word of God. He enabled you to believe that Jesus’ obedience and death is yours, is your righteousness. He gave you entrance into the kingdom of heaven. He made you a new creation, so that you are not a tree producing nothing but bad fruit. By faith in Jesus you are righteous and produce nothing but righteousness.
The sins you still see in your flesh have been given to Jesus, who perished for them, who was judged and condemned for them. The righteousness of Jesus, the living tree of life and good fruit, is counted to you. You have been grafted into this tree by the Holy Spirit given you when you were baptized.
The kingdom of heaven dawned upon you then.
So repent and return to it. The Mighty One, whose sandals John is not worthy to carry, says that in that baptism you were gathered into His barn. You were given His Spirit and heaven opened upon you. Don’t argue with Him or despise Him, like the Pharisees. You are a sinner; He comes straight to sinners and saves them.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
The Cloud That Hides Jesus. Advent 2, 2021
Populus Zion—The Second Sunday in Advent
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Luke 21:25-36
December 5, 2021
The Cloud that Hides Jesus
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
1.
Jesus calls the sun, moon, and stars “the powers of the heavens.” That is because those great lights rule the sky, and they rule over everything beneath them. When the sun begins to climb up into the sky, people get up out of bed and go to work. The moon appears, and most of the time we start getting ready for bed. We have no choice. We have to work to survive, and for that most of us need sunlight.
And when the sun’s time in the sky is long, that is the time to plant. When its time is short, that is the time we are supposed to have gathered everything in. These powers in the heavens had great power over our ancestors. Because their lives were tied to agriculture in a way ours were not, their lives were governed by the powers of the heavens.
When Jesus says the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and the sea and waves will roar in the days before He returns, He is saying creation itself will appear to be coming apart. The powers in the sky that rule our lives will be shaking. The sea that God separated from the land so that there could be life on earth will look as though it is going to overflow the boundaries He set for it and return the world to the formless and empty void it was at the beginning of creation and during the great flood.
People will be nearly dead with fear, Jesus says.
2.
But not everyone. You would think that when creation is shaking on its foundations, everyone would notice. But you would be incorrect.
You would also think everyone would notice when the Creator came into His creation. But they did not. Jesus rebuked His contemporaries: You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? (Luke 12:56)
So it is at the end of the world. Some are fainting with fear about what is coming on the world. But others, most, are weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life” (Luke 21:34). “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since our fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4)
When creation is tottering and breaking apart, most people are saying, “Everything is the same as it has always been. Nothing to be afraid of.”
Well, it is true that the world has always been evil and unjust. And since there is a just God in the universe who will judge it, who will right the injustice in the world, then it’s also true that the end has always been on the horizon for this creation and those who dwell in it.
When a house is on fire, there is smoke from the very beginning the fire starts. As the fire progresses, things begin to collapse in the house. Windows maybe shatter from the heat, a chandelier falls from the ceiling. If you were watching the fire from the beginning to the end, it probably would be hard to tell at what point exactly it went from a small fire to a fire that can’t be put out. And when the house finally began to collapse in the flames, it might come abruptly and even though you had been watching the fire for hours you might not have expected it. If someone walked up and said, “How much longer does this fire have left,” you would probably say, “I don’t know. It’s been burning for two hours already.”
That’s the way it is with the end of the world. Yes, there have been signs in the heavens for thousands of years, and wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, false prophets. But the house is on fire. We don’t know whether the house will collapse tomorrow or a century from now. But we should be able to tell what is coming, and that it is coming any time now.
There are two dangers as we live in this burning house. The first is that we see the end coming and are full of fear. The second is that we no longer think the end is coming. We become so used to the flames and the smoke that we think this will all go on forever.
The end is coming because God is just. This is a world where dictators slaughter religious and ethnic minorities, where parents abuse children, where lies and injustice are committed every day. But there is a just God who is going to punish wrongdoing and establish righteousness on the earth. Pestilences, plagues, signs in the heavens all testify that this day of judgment is very near.
That should frighten parents who abuse their children and dictators who commit genocide. But it should frighten also everyone who breaks the ten commandments. Everyone who does not love and trust God with all his heart, everyone who dishonors his parents, everyone who hates, lusts, covets, lies, gossips. God does not judge as we do, condemning only egregious evil. He is coming to root out all injustice from the world.
But what possible response can we have to this? One response is terror, hoping that Jesus will delay coming until we can figure out some way to become just. The other is scoffing and being asleep, and setting our hearts on the pleasures of this life. And this is what most people do, because our sinful nature doesn’t want to know God or repent of unrighteousness.
3.
Make no mistake, the judgment of God is coming upon you. Yet there is the possibility of greeting that day with joy. In fact, that is Jesus’ will for you. He says: When these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28).
When He preached this sermon, He was in Jerusalem, about to accomplish the judgment of God. He was about to be condemned for all the injustice of human beings on the cross. He would die as the substitute for us lawbreakers. He would provide redemption from sin so that everyone who believes in Him is released from guilt and counted just.
What is happening to the Creation in the days leading to the end of the world has already happened to Him. When Jesus was nailed to the cross He experienced the suffering and death of His body. But His soul experienced the anger and rejection of God that is the eternal torment of the damned.
At the end of creation, this world will be destroyed and a new one made. But the demons and the damned will experience eternal rejection and wrath from God. And Jesus received this wrath that we deserved when He suffered on the cross.
So everyone who believes this and has been baptized into Jesus has been redeemed from this old world of death and sin. In reality, even those who have not been baptized and believed have been redeemed by the judgment that came upon Jesus. But only those who believe receive this redemption.
But since we have already come through the judgment with Jesus, we are only waiting for Him to complete His work and set us free from this age and the bodies of death in which we now live.
When we look at Jesus nailed to the cross with our unrighteousness, we can’t say any longer, “Everything is the same as it has always been.” No, God has already judged the world. He has done away with unrighteousness and redeemed us. When we receive the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, we are participating in the end of the world, the end of our sins, and the life of the world to come.
When we look at Jesus nailed to the cross with our sins, we also can’t be terrified of the shaking of the powers in the heavens and the roaring of the sea, the destruction of this old world. It has already happened in Jesus. The old has gone and been put to death with Him. So when it appears to be falling apart, that is no surprise. But we know the One who is bringing in the new world. He is not a cruel Lord; He is the One who gave Himself for us and who has been with us in the Church all along.
4.
Jesus tells us that when these things happen, they will suddenly see the man appear in the clouds with great glory.
But when Jesus ascended into heaven, it was also with a cloud. As they were looking on, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)
The cloud represents the glory and majesty of God. In the Old Testament, God is almost never seen. What was seen instead was fire or the cloud of glory. The bright cloud was not God, but showed where He was while at the same time concealing Him. So when Jesus ascended and was hidden by a cloud, it meant that Jesus’ human nature now is exercising the divine majesty. When He appears again, His divine power and glory that we cannot see now will appear.
Right now many of us are filled with distress about the way the world is shaking. It’s not primarily the physical signs that are disturbing us, but the moral and political quakes that make us afraid. But the fact that Jesus disappeared behind a cloud and will come again with the clouds is our comfort.
He has already redeemed us from the old world of sin and death; He has already judged it. And now He is reigning in divine majesty until it is time for His majesty to appear. When the world quakes, it is by His doing. He is signalling that His return and the appearance of the new world is near, just as buds on the trees announce that spring is inevitable.
‘
This is how fear and sleepiness is replaced with joy and expectation. We have already been brought out of the old world. Its end has already come. We are prepared, because Jesus prepared us. He was judged for us, and we have come with Him through judgment in our baptismal water.
And while we wait for the joyful day of His return, He is reigning with wisdom and might. The glorious Lord we cannot see is on the throne. But He is also with us. He was with Israel in the cloud and the fire, hidden and yet present. He is with us in the water and the bread and wine joined with His Word. His majesty is hidden, but present. And when it is seen, we will recognize Him who has been speaking to us and feeding us with Himself in His Church.
Amen.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
Advent 1 Vespers. Is. 40:1-11 Prepare the Way of the Lord
Wednesday of Advent 1
Emmaus Lutheran Church
Isaiah 40:1-11
December 1, 2021
Prepare the Way of the Lord
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
1.
Jerusalem is a very old city and has been besieged many times. King David besieged it about three thousand years ago and made it his capital city. In the time of Isaiah the prophet, about 700 BC., it was besieged by Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians. In 597 BC the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, besieged Jerusalem, and then returned ten years later to besiege it again and raze the city and the temple to the ground. About one hundred years later the Jews received permission to rebuild the city, but it was later besieged by the Greeks and then the Romans, who finally destroyed the city and dispersed the Jews from Judea.
The Jews were continually at war with the nations around them. But their real warfare was not with the Gentiles but with God. They fought against Him by refusing to believe that He was their God and looking to idols to help them. And the Lord was angry with them. He sent the Gentiles to chasten them, to burn their cities, kill them, take them into captivity and slavery. The Gentiles were only tools of God’s fierce wrath against a people that turned aside from Him, that did not fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. He had told them this when He took them out of Egypt to be His people: I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.
God remains a jealous God. He does not wink at sin, does not tolerate it, does not overlook it. In His fierce wrath He threatens sinners with punishment in this world, temporal death, and eternal damnation.
But Isaiah the prophet foretold a coming day when He would have another word to say to His people besides His anger and threats against them for their sins. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins (Is. 40:1-2).
Jerusalem, the city where God made His dwelling, saw siege after siege, army after army. If you have read the Old Testament, you see how God is angry with His people again and again. They deserve it, but you can see where the Jews would despair: we can’t get it right. We can’t please God. He is always angry with us. And they are right. They are constantly provoking God’s wrath. Unless they receive some other righteousness than their own, He will always be angry with them, always be fighting against them.
But Isaiah says, Now that day has come. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, like a husband should speak to his wife. Comfort her. Tell her her warfare is ended.
This is what the Lord says to His Church in these last days. It is what He says to the world at Christmas. Now another righteousness has come to you than the one you produce for yourself under the Law. It has caused my anger against you to come to an end and made me pleased with you. It is the righteousness of my Son, God incarnate, who fulfills all My will in your place.
2.
But there is a problem. The problem is that Jerusalem has its wall. There is a wall around Jerusalem. It is made out of stone. Nothing can get into Jerusalem while that wall is there.
The wall around Jerusalem was put there to keep invaders out. But since the one besieging Jerusalem has been God, the wall blocks Him out.
So when sinners hear this gracious message from God, they don’t really hear it. When they hear the war is over between them and God they say, “Of course! I have always loved God. I would never fight against God.” When they hear “Comfort, comfort, says your God,” they say: “Of course! Why would God ever speak harsh words? After all, God is love.” When they hear “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,” they say, “Of course! Why would God not want to be close to us?”
Not just they: you. In your flesh you are deaf to God, like snakes who cannot hear the voice of the charmer. In your flesh you are dead to God. You fight against Him when He declares you a sinner under His judgment.
God has opened your ears and raised you from the dead with His message of peace and pardon. But your flesh is always working to close your ears again, and rebuild the wall around your heart, to assert your own righteousness. Then you will say, “Everything is fine between me and God. I am Abraham’s offspring and have never been a slave to anyone. How can you say we will be made free?”
That was the way Israel was. So Isaiah prophesied that a voice would come. “A voice cries, In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord.” (Is. 40:3)
This voice cries out that everything is not fine. Everything is not okay. God is not content with you as you are. And you have not always been God’s friend like you pretend to yourself and to other people. You have been His enemy.
The Lord enters in with His comfort among the poor and the lowly. He does not dwell among the high and mighty, the self-assured, and the strong. He dwells among the lowly and sinners. Every mountain and hill must be made low. The Lord wants to come with His comfort, with the end of warfare. But He cannot enter in among those who have no need of comfort, who are like the majestic mountains that tower over us in central Oregon. That’s where we imagine God wants to live: among the good and the noble, among the achievers and the skilled. Among the spiritually strong.
But it is just the opposite. He will only come where those mountains have been leveled.
So Isaiah prophesied that there would be a voice in the wilderness calling for the levelling of those mountains and the smoothing out of those rough places and uneven ground.
People would hear the word of God and confess themselves to be a besieged city at war with God. And then they would hear the Lord’s words of comfort and pardon.
3.
And something else would follow this work of demolition, levelling, and humbling.
The glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
After the Lord’s way was prepared, He would not only send words of comfort and pardon and peace. The Lord Himself would come and show His glory.
To see the glory of the Lord is another name for what we call heaven. It is paradise. Moses the man of God wanted to see the glory of the Lord, but he was only allowed to see God’s back as He passed by.
Isaiah foretells that those among whom the Lord’s way is prepared would see God’s glory. They would not only be forgiven but enter into paradise.
And not only this, but they would become heralds proclaiming the good news of God’s presence among us to others. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold Your God!”
The city that was formerly besieged by God, walled off from Him, now sees the glory of the Lord and proclaims with a loud fearless voice that He is among us!
And the Lord comes into the midst of Jerusalem as a mighty Savior and Shepherd. Jerusalem is not left to guide herself and shepherd herself, but the Lord Himself comes into her midst and guides her and carries her.
This is what the Lord does among you through the preaching of the Law and the Gospel. He levels the mountains of self-trust and self-righteousness and makes you a poor miserable sinner.
Then He reveals His glory to you—at the manger, at the Holy Supper, at His last coming.
And He shepherds you. John the Baptist baptized the contrite and pointed them to Jesus, and Jesus led and taught them. But those who are repentant and are baptized among us are no less led and taught and fed by Jesus. He taught and led them visibly for a few years. Now the Lord Himself shepherds you who are contrite from heaven through the ministry of the Word. He carries you in His arms and gently guides you.
Long ago the Lord prophesied that He would prepare the way before Him through His messenger, so that you would see His glory and be shepherded by Him. He is fulfilling the prophet’s word among us tonight. Your war is over. Comfort!
Amen.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
Advent 1 2021. A World’s Ransom
First Sunday in Advent
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Matthew 21:1-9
November 28, 2021
A World’s Ransom
Jesu juva!
In the name of Jesus.
Come, Jesus. Come to Your Church, and give us a blessed new year. Set forth the honor of Your Name, preserve the sound doctrine, and bless the pulpit and the altar. Amen. (From BWV 61)
The crowds that went to meet Jesus did not have two sets of clothes. They had an undergarment, which was a tunic, and a cloak that went over it. When they spread their cloaks on the road for Jesus and the donkey to walk on, this was a costly reverence. You are the King, we are your subjects, they said. This is what we mean when we talk about reverence in worship. We do not think about what makes us comfortable, but what shows outwardly that we believe Jesus to be the great King that He is.
Jesus our Lord is meek, lowly, and gentle. But you see that he did not stop the crowds from laying their cloaks in the road to be trampled in the dust by the donkey’s hooves. He didn’t say, “No, this is too costly a gift and besides, I don’t need cloaks on the road in front of Me to honor Me.” He didn’t tell the woman who broke the alabaster flask of ointment and poured it on His head that there were better ways for her to use that, either. Instead, He rebuked those who criticized her and said that it could have been sold and given to the poor.
So He does not reject our efforts to prepare His way with outward shows of honor and reverence. “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training” for receiving Jesus in the Sacrament, the Small Catechism says. The pastor wearing robes and the congregation dressing like they are going to see a king—Jesus does not refuse this outward honor, any more than He refused the cloaks spread on the road.
But even though we do our best to show outward honor to Jesus, how little our best efforts are! We don’t have enough wealth or class to give Jesus the kind of road you would give to one of the powerful people in this world. How much less can we give Him the kind of road due to God in the flesh? It was true when Jesus rode to Jerusalem long ago, on a donkey, over cloaks and tree branches with a crowd’s shouts of Hosanna! The priests and the leaders in Jerusalem laughed in their sleeves: This is supposed to be the long-expected King of the Jews? But he rides a borrowed donkey. His court and advisers are fishermen and tax collectors from the back country. He has one set of homespun clothes.
Outward reverence is good but Jesus’ road, His royal road, is prepared in your heart. Not that your hearts are a beautiful palace for Him either. But that is where Jesus wants to come in and sit down and make His throne. He once sat down on His throne inside the womb of a virgin, as we sang in the words of St. Ambrose’s hymn:
Here a maid was found with child
Yet remained a virgin mild
In her womb this truth was shown:
God was there upon His throne (LSB 332 st. 3)
If the virgin’s womb could be the throne of God, so can your heart, even though it is even more wretched than the road to Jerusalem, scattered with patched robes from the backs of the poor. Your heart by itself is not only poor and impoverished but also full of uncleanness and evil. Yet Jesus wants to make it His throne. He will renovate it and make it His palace.
But how must the royal road into your heart be prepared? It doesn’t need things put on it, but things taken out of the way. Think of what happened in Jerusalem. The King came, the long-awaited King. He came to console and help and save His people. But His way was blocked into the hearts of the priests, scribes, Pharisees. He was refused entrance into the hearts of Pilate and Herod. And His road was impeded into the hearts of His disciples, so that they stumbled.
What blocked or impeded the king’s way? Their expectations of what the Messiah should be.
They all had a similar expectation. The Messiah would come with great power and majesty, drive out their enemies, and rule the world in justice and peace.
Jesus did not meet the expectations that they had for Him. Because Jesus did not use might and glory like an earthly king and set up the sort of paradise they were expecting, the leaders of the Jews rejected Him. Herod laughed at Jesus. Pilate, despite his bad conscience, eventually gave way to those who wanted to kill the king. And the disciples? They fled in fear and would not stand with Jesus.
In all these cases their expectations of the Messiah were stumbling blocks that kept Jesus from making His throne in their hearts.
Oh Lord Jesus, let nothing be in the way, let nothing block Your road into our hearts in this new church year! Cause us to see what stands in your way. Stir us up by Your Holy Spirit so that we may see these things and cast them out, and greet you as our King of peace with shouts of Hosanna in our hearts!
What expectations do you have of Jesus that perhaps stand as rocks and potholes in His way to come into your heart?
Many church members expect that Jesus comes to perform a very limited role. He comes to provide them with a certain religious consolation. In the book of Judges, a man hired a Levite to serve as his personal priest and believed he would be blessed in this way. Many church members try to do this with Jesus. Not that they realize it. But since, as far as they are concerned, Jesus’ purpose is to do no more than provide them with a certain religious feeling, they become upset when He does not. He sends a pastor, for instance, who insists on teaching doctrine, not on making them feel a certain way. The pastor does not meet their expectations, so they close their hearts. They do not realize that Jesus has not come to provide a little consolation for our hearts, but to enter our hearts and reign as King.
And many church members, and many pastors, expect that Jesus will bring happiness and unity when He comes, not division. We see very clearly that though Jesus was meek and lowly in heart, He was hated and loathed by the chief priests. Despite this many church members and pastors also believe that if one just says the Gospel the right way, everyone will be won over. When this doesn’t happen, such Christians are tempted to close their hearts, because they realize some will always oppose and be hostile to Jesus and His Word, even in the visible boundaries of the Church.
And many church members and pastors have this expectation—that we will not have to suffer being called weak and foolish for Jesus’ sake. Pastors are tempted by this in particular. They preach the Gospel of Jesus, they proclaim the forgiveness of sins, and many hearers seem not to listen. They seem unimpressed. They perhaps begin to say, “This pastor is not very good at his job. All he does is preach ‘forgiveness of sins.’ The church is never going to grow this way.” Then the pastor is tempted to resort to some other methods to maintain order or maintain his position in the church. He closes his heart to Jesus, or closes it halfway, thinking Jesus’ way actually doesn’t work.
All these impediments stand in the way of Jesus coming into our hearts to be enthroned as king. If we insist on keeping them there, Jesus will not bulldoze them and come in anyway. He rides a donkey, not a chariot. He will let you keep Him out; He did not break down the door of Pilate’s heart or the chief priests’ hearts. Then your heart will remain what it is by nature, corrupt and dark, and will only get worse for eternity.
And in hearts He has once entered, He does not remain forever in those who don’t want Him there. He will allow those who don’t want Him as King to drive Him out of the city of their hearts.
Behold, the prophet says to us today as Jesus rides into the city. That means: stop and pay attention.
Your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
Behold, the Son of God, swaying back and forth on a short, squat donkey.
He isn’t coming with power and majesty, vengeance and a sword, but in poverty and weakness. There is nothing majestic about His coming. If you look at it with merely human eyes, it is actually sad and sorrowful, this coming of Jesus. Here the crowds have their hopes up that Jesus, right now, is going to save them form all the miseries of their lives. Even though He is poor like they are, and powerless like they are, they believe that momentarily He will be transformed into a mighty, glorious King, a new Solomon or David, who will destroy the wicked pagans who are grinding their faces, and also the Jewish leaders who to one degree or another are collaborating with them.
But they are wrong. And Jesus knows they are wrong. He knows He will go in apparent weakness into the midst of those who hate Him and they will treat Him shamefully and kill Him.
Behold how Jesus comes. He doesn’t come with visible power and glory, but with visible weakness, poverty, and suffering. When it says that He comes “humble,” that means with inward poverty of Spirit. He isn’t coming to Jerusalem angry at their sins, ready to punish, though He could be. He comes with sorrow over their sins and their coming destruction. He comes with tears for them, not for Himself.
That is how He comes to you today. Not with outward majesty, but tenderhearted. He knows the walls your flesh throws up in your hearts against Him will destroy you. But He is not angry with you. He comes tenderhearted to you to serve you.
But He doesn’t come with earthly joy and happiness. The road Jesus was riding to Jerusalem led, as He knew with clear eyes, to the cross. His road into your heart also leads you not to earthly joy and happiness but to the cross.
What kind of king is this, then, and what kind of kingdom will He give us?
Not an earthly kingdom. An earthly king doesn’t ask to borrow a donkey. He would take it. But Jesus is far greater than an earthly king. The King who comes to you hidden in words from the pulpit, hidden under the wafers and wine, is the eternal God in our humanity. He does not take the donkey by force because He has a greater power than force. He moves the heart of the owners of the donkey so that they give it freely. And that is the way He rules in His Church. Not by threats or the application of force. He rules through the Gospel, which is the power of God for salvation. He causes those who believe in Him to keep His commandments with a willing heart, out of love.
Wherever the Gospel is heard and believed, Jesus enters the heart and rules it by grace. He sets up His throne in our hearts as He once set it up in Mary’s womb. But where Jesus is refused entry, then people fight against Him. But this is part of His reign too. When the enemies of Jesus falsely accused Him, and those who were supposed to protect Him faltered, and even His friends deserted Him, and He was left all alone—what kind of kingdom is that to us? Yet Jesus reigned in all this. They mocked Him and put Him to death. But He destroyed our enemies and received a kingdom that will never perish.
He atoned for all your sins. With the blood that spilled out from His body He washed away your rebellion against Him. By the blood that streamed from Him He satisfied God’s wrath against you. His kingdom was established in which He reigns in grace, in the forgiveness of sins.
It was enough for Him to put away all your sins forever, this meek road to the cross. Because it was not the blood of a mere poor man that poured out on the cross, but the blood of God.
Behold, your king is coming to you, humble. He rode on the donkey into Jerusalem to provide this ransom. With a gentle heart He comes to you in the preached Word, in the bread and wine, with this ransom. It is not a king’s ransom. It is the ransom of a whole world. His body which He took up in the virgin’s womb. His blood. These were laid in the manger on Christmas for us. They were given for us on the cross on Good Friday.
They are given to you during the divine service in this church year that we are beginning anew. This is His kingdom. It is where He brings the ransom He paid for the world into the hearts of human beings.
Amen! Amen!
Come Lord Jesus, Crown of gladness,
We are yearning
For the day of your returning! Amen. (LSB 395 st. 6)
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
Interpreting the Present Time. Advent 2, 2020
Populus Zion, the Second Sunday in Advent
Emmaus Lutheran Church
St. Luke 21:25-36
December 6, 2020
Interpreting the Present Time
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Luke 12:54-56
Did you know on December 21st around twilight there will be a sign in the stars called “The Christmas Star?” All that week you will be able to see it right around sunset in the southwest. Saturn and Jupiter will be close together and give a bright light, probably about the brightness of the light from a jet plane. The planets align every twenty years or so, but they only come as close as they are this year usually every 800 years, although the most recent time was in 1623, and it caused the German astronomer Kepler to research how often it happens.
In the Gospel reading before us our Lord tells us that there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars before His return. The created world will signal that it is coming to an end. This will be in addition to other signs that our Lord does not name in this reading—wars and rumors of wars, persecution of the Church, the rise of false teachers and the Antichrist, famines.
And as these signs begin to take place, He says, people will be “fainting from fear”, or nearly dying from fear as they wait for what is coming on the world. Yet, even though some people will be terrified, many will not. As Matthew says in another place, they will be marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, just as people were before the flood, just as if nothing was ever going to change. Up until the moment Noah entered the ark, most of the world had no idea there was a flood coming to destroy all life on earth.
Sadly, that is just how it is in our day. Our Lord Jesus has pictured for us the signs of the end—signs both in the world of men and in the creation. The signs are taking place, yet the world does not know how to interpret them. It does not want to know how to interpret them.
But that is not how it is for Christ’s Church. Jesus’ faithful ones see the signs of His return and not only recognize them, but lift up their heads when they see them, because the hour of redemption is drawing near.
Let us then lift up our hearts to the Lord and ask Him to give us His Holy Spirit so that 1. We recognize the signs of His imminent coming, and 2. So that we straighten up and lift up our heads as we see them, joyfully recognizing our impending redemption.
1.
And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and foreboding because of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:25-26).
Our Lord does not tell us here what the signs in the sun, moon, and stars will be, but in other places the Scripture describes the sun not giving its light, the moon being turned to blood, the stars falling from the sky. In our time we have learned not to see eclipses as signs of anything. We see them as purely natural occurrences based on the motions of the heavenly bodies. Well, even the ancient world understood that. Luther understood it to. Yet he wrote—Nevertheless, Holy Scripture says that these eclipses and meteor showers are signs of the end. We should believe God when He speaks in Holy Scripture instead of our own wisdom and instead of the wisdom of our wise men.
And in our day we should especially take this to heart, when we have been listening to the media for the last several years talking about “believing the science.” “The Science” has told us many things that were certain and sure until a few months or years later, when it had to be amended. In fact, the Science has been telling us the Word of God is incorrect and unreliable for several centuries. But the Science cannot tell us about the end of the world, about the judgment, about redemption. When Scripture tells us that signs in the Sun, moon, and stars are signs of the end, and the return of Christ, we should let God be wiser than us and than our science.
Our Lord also mentions “the roaring of the sea and the waves.” This year we had so many hurricanes that we ran out of names for them and had to start using Greek letters. In the two or three decades that I have been half paying attention to hurricanes, I can remember us getting to “z” or close, but this year if I am not mistaken we went past z and got all the way to the 8th letter in the Greek alphabet—theta. Which would mean 34 hurricanes this year.
But we didn’t notice the roaring of the sea and the waves. The hurricanes were eclipsed by the wildfires that blocked out the sun with smoke, and the riots burning down cities, and the pandemic grinding the economy to a halt.
Luther said in his writing on this text that if we look at the signs in the sun, moon, and stars and expect the imminent return of Jesus and we are incorrect, we do ourselves no harm, and we are right anyway. But when people say, “It will be awhile, we don’t need to worry about it,” they do themselves great harm.
When we consider that our Lord has given us these signs and we don’t take them to heart—and we don’t—we should be frightened. What is that that causes us not to know how to interpret the times? It is the wickedness and deadness of our old Adam that wants Christ never to come back so that we can go on concerning ourselves with earthly worries and pleasures. And if our old Adam rules us, that day will come upon us as a trap. The Lord Jesus who comes in His glory like the sun will come upon those who do not love His appearing as a burning oven and will consume them because they desired another god.
2.
And when we see these signs we are perhaps tempted to be afraid and cast our heads down. When we see the sun darkened by smoke in the sky, our country teetering on the brink of civil disorder, hear the hurricanes roaring, it speaks to us about the destruction of creation and the judgment of God.
It is like when Noah built the ark and the Lord flooded the world and cut off all life. Who isn’t frightened to think about that? It shows God’s great anger and hostility toward sin, His great wrath, that He would not spare anyone on the earth except for Noah and his family, eight souls in all. And we are not free from sin. Why should things go any better for us?
But Jesus doesn’t tell us to reason this way. He gives us a command that is really an invitation: When these things begin to take place, straighten yourselves up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is near.
Why is our redemption near when the sun is darkened, the waves are blowing, and destruction appears to be upon us? Because our redemption was accomplished by our Lord under just such circumstances. He hung on the cross, and the sun was darkened, signifying God’s wrath. His fierce wrath and anger against sin swamped Jesus like the waters of the great flood. They poured over Him with no relief. And the eternal God who was incarnate in our flesh and blood, was cut off and went under.
So when the sun is darkened, and strange signs appear in the heavens, and the waters roar and foam, we lift up our heads, because the hour of our redemption draws nigh. We know the One who redeemed us from our sins by being destroyed for us. That day does not spring upon us like a trap, because we have already been closed in to the one who is coming. We were enclosed with Him in His death in our Baptism so that we might burst forth from the tomb and judgment in resurrection.
So do not hide from the signs that He is coming. Pray to the Lord that you may be able to stand on that day. If you are sluggish to notice the signs, ask Him to open your eyes. If you are afraid of His coming, ask Him to give you His love which drives out fear (1 John 4). And then lift up your hearts, and come with your sluggishness and your fear to His table, and He will strengthen you in faith and love so that when He comes you will be in His ark, waiting for Him to open the door and let you out into the summertime of your redemption.
Amen.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
The Kingdom of Power. Advent 1 Midweek 2021
Wed in Advent 1
Emmaus Lutheran Church
Psalm 24, Daniel 7:13-14, Ephesians 1:15-23
December 2, 2020
The Kingdom of Power
Jesu juva!
In the Name of Jesus.
Advent is the season of Christ’s coming. We want to be ready to receive Jesus when He comes. So we are remembering His first coming in the manger at Bethlehem. We are taught to recognize His coming to us in the means of grace, in preaching and the Word, in Holy Baptism, and the Sacrament of the Altar. And by preparing to meet Him and receive Him who comes in the means of grace, we prepare for His second Advent in His glory, to judge the living and the dead.
But who is this Jesus for whose coming we are preparing? The Scripture repeatedly tells us that He is the King. On Christmas we hear Isaiah’s prophecy: On the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. (Is. 9:7) And last Sunday, on the first Sunday of Advent, when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, St. Matthew called out: Behold, your King is coming to you. (Matt. 21: 5) And our Lord Himself preached constantly about the Kingdom of God. He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom Come.”
So what is this Kingdom of which Jesus is King? What are we praying when we ask for His Kingdom to come? With the help of our King this advent I will be preaching to you about Christ our King and His Kingdom. My prayer is that as we learn to know our King and His Kingdom, we will be comforted and strengthened to watch for our King in His Kingdom and to serve Him with zeal and joy—as Luther teaches us to say in the Small Catechism: “That I may be His own, and live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.”
The Synod’s catechism, following the old theologians of the Lutheran Church, says that Christ has a three-fold Kingdom: The Kingdom of Power, The Kingdom of Grace, and the Kingdom of Glory. These three are all under the rule of the one King, but they are distinct from one another. The Kingdom of Glory refers to the saints and angels who see God face to face; this Kingdom Jesus will bring on the last day. The Kingdom of Grace refers to the Church, the community of believers in Christ on earth, in whom Jesus reigns through His Word and Spirit. The Kingdom of Power refers to Jesus’ omnipotent reign over irrational creatures, the fallen angels, and unbelievers. This portion of Jesus’ kingdom is what I want to proclaim to you today.
But first we need to ask, “How did Jesus become King?”
That may seem like a silly question. We know that Jesus is God the Son. As the Son of God, begotten from the Father from eternity, He had equal power, throne, and might with the Father. As the Son of God He had dominion over all things. He had all power from eternity, and this power enabled Him to create all things together with the Father and the Spirit.
However, Jesus is also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. And we see very well that when He was incarnate He did not always use His majestic, omnipotent power. When He was laid in the manger, we assume that He became hungry and thirsty and cold, because His mother wrapped Him in swaddling clothes. We know that He ate and drank. We know that He became thirsty on the cross. He became tired and fell asleep. And above all this He suffered pain, anguish, and death. He did not always use His omnipotent power when He was on earth.
But the Scriptures repeatedly teach us that after Jesus had suffered on the cross, true God and man, the Father raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to His right hand. After His resurrection He appeared to His disciples and said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me.” (Matt. 28:18). That means that Jesus, true God and man, took up His unlimited power and reigns over all things in His human nature as well as His divine nature. This is what we were singing about in the Psalm this evening. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, ye ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory! (Ps. 24: 7, 10). The King of Glory is ascending the hill of the Lord and coming to enter His holy place. Who is worthy to do that, the Psalm asks? Only he who has clean hands and a pure heart. Not us. None of the sons of Adam. None of us have a pure heart. But this man, the King of Glory, does. He ascends into heaven to enter the holy place of God having fulfilled the Law on behalf of all men. So the Psalm says: Open the gates! He is worthy to come in on our behalf.
Scripture also tells us that after Jesus accomplished righteousness on behalf of human beings through His death and resurrection, the Father handed all things over to Him, and He reigns on our behalf until all His enemies are beneath His feet (1 Cor. 15:25-27). Unlimited authority is in the hands of our Savior, and He has received this authority as man because He did the will of His Father, did away with sin by offering Himself on the cross, and rising victorious over death and the devil.
And now Jesus reigns over all things. The reading from Daniel told us that He was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. (Dan. 7:14). The reading from Ephesians told us that all things are put under Jesus’ feet—not only Christians, but also unbelievers, His enemies, the devil, and the whole creation.
In His Kingdom of Power, Jesus, the same Jesus who was born for us in Bethlehem and who suffered for us, has absolute power and control over nature. Psalm 8 says about Him: You have given Him dominion over the works of Your hands, You have put all things under His feet, all flocks and herds, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim in the paths of the seas. In the Gospels Jesus told His disciples that two sparrows were sold for a penny, and yet not one of them falls from the sky without His Father in heaven. But now that power that extends to the sparrows is in the hand of Jesus our King.
And if Jesus reigns over the animals, He also reigns over the stars, the sun and moon, the earth itself, the oceans. The sun rises and sets in accordance with the plans of Jesus. He continues to maintain the earth and the seasons, the wind and the rain, so that His Kingdom of grace may continue to work in the earth and gather His elect, the way that the flood waters were held back until Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark.
And if Jesus is King who reigns with omnipotent power over the animals and the stones and the sky and stars, He also reigns over unbelieving men. This is hard to see because we see the world rebelling against God’s Law and also refusing to believe in Jesus’ name. Yet just as Jesus foreknew who would betray Him, where the donkey was for his triumphal entry, where the upper room was for the Last Supper and who owned it, even more now He rules over unbelievers so that even their disobedience to His Word is forced to serve the purpose of our Lord to gather His Church. Unbelieving men and the rulers among them are not able to harm or destroy His believers, but even when our King allows them to do evil against us, He makes it serve us for our eternal good. Consider how Pontius Pilate, the governor, committed the great evil of handing our Lord, who was innocent, over to be crucified, in order to save his own skin and please the Jews. This was not permitted to harm us. This great evil accomplished our salvation. In the same way, Jesus our King governs the unbelievers so that even their evil plans work for our glory.
Finally, if Jesus reigns over the rulers and the unbelieving people of this world, He also rules over the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, the fallen angels and their ruler, Satan. Without doubt Satan and the demons wish us evil. Like Luther says in his hymn: “The old evil foe now means deadly woe…Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us.” But they are not able to harm us. The King of Glory who has ascended the hill of the Lord for our sake holds the field forever. All who are united to him by faith, though the devil wounds them or even kills them, cannot be harmed. Their King’s omnipotent power turns all the attacks of the devil against him. The devil no doubt wants to convince us that he is able to destroy us, that he is to be feared. But Jesus, our King, who is of the same flesh and blood as us, reigns omnipotently over Satan. Satan cannot harm us as long as we are Christ’s.
When we consider that all power and authority has been given to the Son of Man, we are both summoned to repentance and also comforted.
First of all when we consider that Jesus, our flesh and blood, has been set above the fallen angels, the kings of the earth, and even the earth itself, to rule with omnipotent power, we must be struck with awe that such a great Lord has to do with us. And it should strike us with fear to consider how often we, like the rocks and the stars and the unbelievers and the demons, have not willingly served this King. In Psalm 32 Christ calls to us, Be not like the horse or the mule, without understanding, which must be curbed by bit or bridle, or it will not come near to you (Ps. 32:9). Not just mules are that way, but also those under Christ’s reign of power. Fallen men and demons do not willingly obey Christ. He governs them like we bridle a mule and put a bit in its mouth. But many times, that is just how we have been toward our Lord. We outwardly obeyed God’s Law because we feared His punishment. But those who are in the Kingdom of Power and not Christ’s Kingdom of Grace are slated for destruction, for eternal damnation. The fallen angels, the devil, and unbelieving people are enemies of this great King. The lake of fire is prepared for them. When we consider the great power of Christ the King and how often we have lived as those who had not received grace, we ought to fear and be driven to the Word of His grace, which tells us how this King, this mighty Lord, gave Himself to be condemned for all our offenses, to bestow on us His righteousness as a free gift in the Gospel.
Secondly, there is great comfort in Christ’s Kingdom of Power. We experience all the time how we are powerless. We see many enemies arrayed against us. We frequently see how the world is becoming more and more overtly opposed to Christ’s church, and it makes us angry and afraid. Right now we are all disturbed and troubled because we see enemies of the Church, enemies who mean us harm, at work in the government. On top of it, we have the virus, making us afraid for our health, as well as making us afraid of how the government may use it against us.
But we have a King who is Lord over viruses and plagues, over earthquakes and storms, over kings and mobs, over demons of great power. He shares the same flesh and blood as us. He is pure of heart and righteous and, having provided righteousness for us by His death, He has ascended to the holy place of God, to the right hand of power. And the Father has committed all thing into this man’s hands. And He exercises this authority for us.
This Kingdom has already come. We don’t need to pray for it to arrive. It has already arrived. Jesus reigns omnipotently, and He reigns over the sun, moon, stars, the animals, men, and angels, for His Church. For you, who are sinners, but who believe that He died for you while you were yet sinners. Who have been baptized in His Name. Your King’s great power is working for you.
Amen.
The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Soli Deo Gloria
Rev. Karl Hess
De Profundis Clamavi ad Te, Domine 