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

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

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

Advent Devotion. 2 Chronicles 7:11-22. The House of Sacrifice.

Tuesday of the Second Week In Advent

December 7, 2021

2 Chronicles 7:11-22

The House of Sacrifice

David wanted to build a house for the Lord, but it was Solomon who completed it.  The temple that David had planned needed God’s approval.  He had not instituted a temple made of stone, but a tent.

But when Solomon built the house, he prayed that the Lord would accept it as the place where atonement would be made for the sins of God’s people.  And the Lord showed His approval of the new dwelling place, sending fire from heaven to consume the burnt offering and sacrifices (2 Chr. 7:1), just as He had done at the consecration of the tabernacle (Leviticus 9:24).  In the reading before us, He tells Solomon: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice (2 Chr. 7:12).  Through the service of the priests in this house, God would be propitiated toward Israel, forgive their sins, and accept their prayers. 

And He tells Solomon further that as long as he and his descendants walk like David, by faith in the forgiveness of sins, and as a result uphold God’s Word in Israel, one of Solomon’s descendants would always sit on Israel’s throne.  But if they turned aside from God’s command and worshipped idols, He threatens that this temple in which He would receive sacrifices for sins would be cast out of His sight (2 Chr. 7:20). 

This temple is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.  When the Jews asked Jesus for a sign to prove His authority to cleanse the temple in Jerusalem, He told them, “Tear down this temple, and I will build it again in three days.”  (John 2:19)  They thought Jesus meant the building, but He was speaking about the temple of His body (John 2:21).

Jesus’ flesh and blood is the dwelling place of all the fullness of God (Colossians 2:9).  Through the sacrifice of His body, all our sins are covered before God.  He receives the prayers offered through Jesus the way He once promised to hear prayers for deliverance directed toward the temple.

Through our Baptism into Jesus, we are members of His body (Eph. 5:30).  We not only have access to God’s dwelling in Jesus; we are His dwelling.  The Church is the temple of God.  He dwells in our bodies.  He is in the midst of us, as we confess whenever we pray in the Divine Service: “The Lord be with you.  And with your spirit.”

The Lord told Solomon that if he and his sons turned aside from the Lord’s commandments and worshipped idols, He would cast away the house he had built and not receive sacrifices there anymore.  But the temple of Jesus’ body, the Church, will never be cast away.  It will always stand before Him, offering up prayers and intercessions through the one sacrifice offered by Jesus.

His body was already torn down once for our transgressions.  But now it is raised up, with sin destroyed forever.  We are raised up with Him, freed from sin.  Unlike Solomon, this King always keeps the Lord’s commands.  Therefore His house will never be cast away.  And we are His house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope (Hebrews 3:6).

Now in the manger we may see

God’s Son from eternity,

The gift from God’s eternal throne

Here clothed in our poor flesh and bone.  Alleluia!  Amen.  (LSB 382 st. 2)

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 Devotion: Genesis 22:1-19. Many Sons

Wednesday in Advent 1

December 1, 2021

Genesis 22:1-19

Many Sons

Just like Eve, Abraham receives a promise about his offspring.  He had almost offered his offspring up as a burnt offering, but the Lord had provided a ram in Isaac’s place.  Abraham received his son back from the dead, in a way.  And from this one offspring or seed named Isaac the Lord promises to multiply his offspring like “the stars of the heaven and the sand that is on the seashore.”  (Gen. 22:17)  From the son that was given over to death will come countless sons, just as Jesus taught before He died: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  (John 12:24)

“Offspring,” like “seed”, can be singular or plural.  If someone says, “My offspring,” they can mean one particular child, or all their children.  We have this same ambiguity in the promise to Abraham.  His offspring will be as many as the stars in the sky.  But when He says, “Your offspring will possess the gates of his enemies,” and “in your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed,” it’s not clear if one particular offspring is meant, or all of Abraham’s descendants.  (Gen 22:17-18)

Isaac was Abraham’s only son.  When he was given over to death at the command of God, the Lord blessed Isaac and promised to multiply him into many sons for Abraham, like the sand of the sea.

When Abraham’s offspring Jesus is given over to be a whole burnt offering at the command of God, the Lord also multiplies Him into many sons of God.  Jesus possess the gates of His enemies; by His death He stormed the castle of the one who holds the power of death, the devil.  He bound him and carried off the weapons and armor in which he trusted.  Jesus has taken away sin by His death, the weapon by which the devil held the human race in bondage.  That weapon is taken out of Satan’s hand.  The devil is disarmed and powerless.  He can no longer claim authority or control anyone who believes in Jesus.

By being offered up as a burnt offering for us, Jesus brought blessing to the whole human race.  In place of God’s anger against us as sinners has come His constant favor and blessing.  He regards us as righteous, who believe that Jesus has satisfied the requirements of the Law for us. 

Out of this one Offspring of Abraham, given over to death, the Lord raises up many sons.  He makes us possess the gates of our enemies in Jesus.  Death and the devil are defeated for us.  Sin lies under our feet.  And blessing comes to the world through us as well, as we proclaim Jesus Christ in our churches, in our homes, in our joys and crosses, and in our deaths.

Abram’s promised great reward,

Zion’s helper, Jacob’s Lord—

            Him of two-fold race behold—

            Truly came, as long foretold.  Amen.  (LSB 352 st. 3)

Devotion: Monday in Advent 1. Genesis 3

Monday in Advent 1

November 29, 2021

Genesis 3

Why We Have Advent

A few chapters after this one, Noah is born.  His name sounds like the Hebrew for “rest.”  His father Lamech said about him, “Out of the ground the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and the painful toil of our hands.”  (Gen. 5:29)  Lamech was talking about the curse God pronounced on Adam in Genesis 3.  Because Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree of knowledge, the ground was cursed throughout the world.  Adam’s sons would eat from it with painful toil, and instead of easily producing rich harvests it would bring forth briars and thorns.   

We are still under this painful curse.  We have to work hard and with pain for our daily food, and instead of easily bringing forth rich profits and success, our work produces many failures and difficulties.  In the centuries before us, our ancestors had to literally work the ground.  If they didn’t break the soil and plant in the springtime, they would starve in the winter.  Machines have taken away the necessity of so many of us having to bale hay and plow.  But the curse isn’t removed.  Even when we work with computers, thorns and thistles appear.  Our labor is painful, and then we return to the earth.

Besides the physical and mental pain that come from the curse of sin there is another, worse suffering—the loss of the image of God.  The serpent promised that when the woman ate, she would be like God, knowing good and evil.  But she was already like God, not in knowing good and evil, but in knowing God.  The knowledge of God made her and Adam share in His image.  They shared His righteousness and had eternal life.

But Adam and Eve threw that gift away.  Eve was deceived by the serpent and Adam listened to his wife instead of God.  So when God came into the garden, Adam hides.  He no longer wants to see God or know Him, because to see God after losing His image through sin is to die. 

This is the reason why we have Advent.  Advent means “coming.”  God must come to us so that we have His image restored to us.  Then we will have rest from the painful toil of our hands, from pain in childbirth and subjection to husbands, and we will have rest from returning to the dust from which we were taken—from death.

In the curse the Lord pronounced on the serpent He pronounced blessing and salvation on Adam and Eve and their descendants.  A seed of the woman would come and bruise the serpent’s head.

A man would come in whom we would see God again without dying.  That man would be bruised by the serpent, struck by his poison of sin and death.  But he would trample the serpent under his feet, not only for Himself but for all people. 

For this purpose God the Son came.  He was the offspring of a woman and called Himself the Son of Man, the Son of Adam.  He was struck by Satan, though He did no sin.  He suffered the curse of sin, tasting death for Adam’s rebellion.  He wore a crown made from Adam’s curse on His head.  He was bruised for the sins of Adam’s descendants, and tasted death for us on the cross.  But in so doing He bruised the serpent’s head.  Now we need not hide like Adam did in the garden from the face of God.  The way is open into the Father’s presence because our sin is removed.  When we believe in this seed of the woman, we see God and do not die, and His image is restored to us.  And we live in hope that at His second Advent, His image will not only be in our hearts by faith, but in our bodies.  We will be like Him in prefect righteousness and immortality.

Adam sinned in Paradise

His covenant with God was broken;

But God showed His mercy twice,

A new promise He has spoken—

To redeem each fallen human

With the offspring of a woman!  Amen (Caspar Neumann, 1648-1715)

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

His Is No Earthly Kingdom. Advent 1, 2020.

First Sunday in Advent—Ad Te Levavi

Emmaus Lutheran Church

St. Matthew 21:1-9

November 28, 2020

His Is No Earthly Kingdom

Jesu juva!

In the Name of Jesus.

When a Roman general won a notable victory, he would have a “triumph” in Rome, a ceremony to publicly celebrate his victory.  He would wear a purple toga and a crown of laurel, which was the regalia of a king or even of the Roman high god Jupiter.  Sometimes his face would even be painted red, as Jupiter’s face was.  He would be drawn in procession by a chariot with four horses, with captives from the conquered people and the spoils of victory going ahead of him as the crowds cheered.  Behind him would follow his massed conquering army.  He would sacrifice two oxen to Jupiter at the Capitoline temple, dedicating his victory to the gods and the people of Rome.  Then feasts and public games would follow, paid for by the loot the conqueror took from his battle.  A triumph was not only glorious and fun for the people, but it was good politics.  The people and the elites would see the conqueror as a rising star, a possible leader.

In a few months, we will have a different ceremony in our country, but the splendor and the weight of power will be much the same.  Right now the results of the presidential election are still being disputed, but in January, a president will be inaugurated for either his first or second term in office.  There will also be a parade, balls, and a prayer service. 

Today Jesus is before us in the Gospel reading in a parade to be installed as King.  But He is not being drawn in a chariot.  He is riding a donkey.  The prophet’s words: Say to the Daughter of Zion: Behold, your King comes to you, Meek and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden (Matt. 21:5). 

There is a cheering crowd going before Him and following behind, but it is not an army, nor does He have the elites as advisors going with Him as a court.  His army is the rabble; His advisors are former fishermen, a tax collector, and one who will betray Him.

He doesn’t wear clothing marking Him as a king or a god.  His face is not painted to look like a god or a fearsome warrior.  He only has one set of clothing, and His appearance is lowly and meek.

No one blows trumpets to announce His coming.  There are only the shouts of the common people.

There is no red carpet on the road, no rich tapestries.  People throw down their ragged cloaks and cut branches from the trees.

And the animal Jesus rides is not a kingly animal.  It is a beast of burden, a work animal, known for being slow and dull.  And Jesus’ is not even His; it is a borrowed donkey.

This King does not inspire awe with His majesty, wealth, or warrior’s demeanor.  This King who is coming to the daughter of Zion, the people of God, does not look like a King at all.  He looks like a beggar.

But there is a reason for it.  This King wants to make a distinction between Himself and earthly Kings.  He wants to make us learn the difference between His Kingdom and the kingdoms and power of the earth.  He is a far greater King with a far greater Kingdom.

Jesus comes to set up an eternal Kingdom and to bring us into His eternal Kingdom.

1.

The triumph of the Roman conqueror and even the pageantry of the inauguration of a president impresses us.  There is real, tangible power in the armies marching behind the Roman general and behind the man sworn in as the commander-in-chief of the army of the United States of America. 

But this power is temporary.  Mighty Rome fell.  In the questions around this election we are having it impressed on us forcefully that the form of government we have known could also fall.  Earthly kingdoms are limited—in time, in power, in extent, no matter how great they may be.

The Kingdom Jesus comes to establish has no end.  He shall reign forever and ever, sing the choirs in Handel’s Messiah.  It has no end in time and no end in place.  It will extend to the ends of the earth.  I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son, today I have begotten You.  Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth Your possession.  (Ps. 2:7-9)

Jesus comes with splendor and power, but it is not like the splendor of the Roman general, in a laurel crown and a purple garment.  His is the splendor of being the eternal Son of God.  He is true God, of one substance with the Father.  It is a splendor and glory so great that the world is not permitted to see it until the last day.  And His power is so far beyond that of the rulers of this world that it would be beneath Him to flaunt it. 

We see a glimpse of it, though, when He sends His disciples to fetch the donkey and her colt.  He tells them exactly where it is and what they should say if anyone in the town of Bethphage asks them why they are taking them.

Bethphage, we are told by some of the church fathers, was a town of the priests.  They stayed there because it was less than a mile from Jerusalem and they were forbidden to travel more than a mile on the sabbath according to the tradition of the elders.

When the people living in Bethphage willingly loaned their donkey to Jesus’ disciples, this was a surprise.  The priests were hostile to Jesus.  Yet here they willingly loaned him their donkey and its colt to use in His procession as King and Messiah into Jerusalem. 

Earthly kings get us to pay taxes and do other things we may not want to do by the application of force.  This King’s power is greater than that.  He holds the hearts of men in His hands.

And since He was able to cause the priests to loan their donkey to Him, it is clear, or should have been, to His disciples, that He was also able to direct things by His omnipotent power so that His journey to Jerusalem would have ended a different way than it did.  With betrayal, flogging, mockery, crucifixion.

But that was not His will.  His will was that He should suffer and die, not be praised and feasted in Jerusalem and set on a throne with a crown by men.  It was His will to establish an eternal Kingdom by His death.

Since this is His purpose, He doesn’t come the way an earthly King does.  An earthly king comes with anger to punish wrongdoers, to revenge himself on His enemies.  This King comes meek, or gentle, or lowly.  He does not have anger toward His enemies.  He weeps over them.  He is tenderhearted and gentle.  By His tenderheartedness He will win us and establish His Kingdom.

His Kingdom is not like earthly kingdoms.  It is not established in the same way—by war and violence.  It is not marked by earthly splendor and wealth.  And it gives different gifts.

An earthly kingdom, when it is good, brings peace and prosperity.  A good ruler will punish evildoing and uphold honesty and fairness.  By his sword he will defend fair play and he will defend his kingdom from its enemies.  And the result is that people have earthly peace and are able to make a living.  A bad government, however, cannot keep peace and the people under his reign suffer hunger and poverty.

This kingdom has different goods.  Zechariah says: Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he (Zech. 9:9).  Jeremiah says: I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king…and execute justice and righteousness in the land….And this is the name by which He will be called: The Lord is our Righteousness. (Jer. 23:5-6).

This Kingdom is not one in which the king imposes fairness and justice from without, by force.  It is a Kingdom in which the King is our righteousness.  He is righteous and He makes many to be accounted righteous.  That is what He is riding to Jerusalem in meekness to do—to be our righteousness.  To accomplish our righteousness by being put to death for the offenses of His enemies.

He has all power, and could choose to do anything.  He chooses to give Himself to be crucified in order to make His enemies to be accounted righteous.

And thus in His Kingdom, which never ends, there is salvation.  In this world, there is no wealth and glory in His kingdom that mark it as an earthly kingdom.  But in His kingdom He gives salvation.  That is why the crowds shout “Hosanna!”  Hosanna means “save us.”  Hosanna in the highest, the crowds shout.  This King comes to establish salvation for us before God, so that we are saved eternally and delivered from sin and death and God’s wrath.

2.

Jesus does not only come to establish His Kingdom, but also to bring us into His eternal Kingdom.

But we look at His lowliness and His apparent weakness.  He does not persuade the priests and the rulers and the majority of the people to join Him.  Then they take Him in their hands and kill Him.  So like the disciples of Jesus we stumble and are scattered.  We doubt and disbelieve that He is really the great King, the King appointed by God, who will reign from Mount Zion, from the Church.  He is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord, the King sent by God to save us forever.

Like Judas, we are tempted with disgust that Jesus’ great power never seems to translate into power or wealth on earth. 

Am I being dramatic?  But aren’t you stirred up by what is happening in the temporary kingdoms in which we live?  Isn’t it occupying you daily, how this election turns out, how this pandemic turns out, what we shall eat, what we shall drink?  Isn’t this what the Gentiles seek after?

This King says, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you.”  And while we are stirred up with what we shall eat and drink and who our king or president will be, Jesus is passing by to bring us into His eternal Kingdom.

Should our hearts be so occupied with these anxieties that we miss our King who is coming to us?

That we neglect to lay our clothes before Him, what little rags we have, and branches that acknowledge Him as the Branch, whose reign branches to the ends of the earth?

Should we not praise and remember Him who mounted the donkey and used His almighty power to establish His kingdom of righteousness for us with His blood?

This is the wickedness of our unbelieving flesh.  But Jesus is not angry with you, just as He was not angry with the disciples when they fell.

He came with His omnipotence not to destroy you, but gently, to be crucified for you, and to give you salvation in the highest, to count you righteous.

Now He comes with His might to bring you into His kingdom.  Take heart!  I have overcome the world, says your King.  (John 16:33)

He comes to bestow on you all the goods of His kingdom.  He gives you His righteousness.  He gives you His Baptism in which He gives you forgiveness of sins, rescues you from death and the devil, and gives you eternal salvation.

He leads you to His table and sets you in His Kingdom.  He makes you sharers in His cross and His Kingdom, in His body and blood.

Prepare the royal highway, the King of Kings is near!

Let ev’ry hill and valley a level road appear!

Then greet the King of Glory Foretold in sacred story.

Hosanna to the Lord, For He fulfills God’s Word!

The peace of God that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria