The Lutheran Hour
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"Behold, the Days Are Coming!"
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Text: Luke 21:25-36
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Happy New Year! That’s surely an odd thing to say when it’s not even December, much less January, but I can explain. For many Christians around the world who follow the Church Year as a sort of calendar that helps us mark time as God’s people from Christmas to Easter then back again with many points in between, this Sunday marks the beginning of a brand new church year. The name for this “new year” season is “Advent.” Advent means “coming.” But who or what is “coming”?
HE is coming! God is coming! That is the message of Advent. But the Advent cry of “He is coming!” isn’t simply some conveniently vague promise of something that’s going to happen in the future down the road somewhere. No, “He is coming!” is also the announcement of an already present and happening-to-you reality, but a reality which God already began in the past. But then we dare not speak of God’s coming as if it were merely some old bygone event that by the unfortunate chance of history we all missed. He is, at the present, still coming to us. Yet, He doesn’t wear Himself out in the present, but will show Himself to us also in the future.
So are you thoroughly confused yet? Perhaps you want to ask: So, which is it? What are you talking about? Did God come in the past? Or does He come now, in the present? Or will He come in the future? And the answer to all three of those questions about when He comes is, “Yes, all the above.” And throughout history, the Church has expressed this wondrous coming of her One LORD by speaking of His threefold Advent, His threefold coming.
First of all, HE HAS COME! God breaking in and coming to His own creation. The one Savior who God promised to Adam and Eve and His people down through the ages (like Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David), He appeared in history-book history. Well documented! He permanently united Himself to OUR human nature, became Man and dwelt among us. This is the coming that He spoke to the prophet Jeremiah when Jeremiah was thrown in prison for preaching God’s unpleasant wrath against all the unpleasant idolatry of God’s people (33:1, 14-16)-in the middle of His sharp words for His people’s unfaithfulness, come beautiful words of a promise He’d keep, and has kept: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a Righteous Branch to spring up for David.”
You and I? Unrighteous. God? Faithful. He’ll keep His promise. Wait. The “days are coming.” A righteous Branch, a tiny twig will sprout off the very dead tree of God’s people. God will do it. He sends His Son. He COMES and saves. His “people” will contribute nothing to this salvation. They shall receive it as a gift God promised.
Well that Branch from David’s line DID come-Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary on the day we’ll celebrate as Christmas again just next month. Almighty God, born in a dirty stable. Almighty God, nursing at the breast of His human mother. “Great is the mystery of our faith, that our God became a Man (a baby!) to save us.” HE HAS COME!
But that is not the only one of the “comings” (or advents) of their LORD that Christians are thinking about. For another coming of our LORD is that HE IS COMING. That is, He continues to come to us with all of His grace and favor-and flesh and blood-through His preaching and communion (His Words, His stuff). He comes now through THIS preaching, God Himself,putting His Good News, His forgiveness and life in our ears. He comes to serve you His gifts in His house (find a church if you are able): Jesus Himself absolving you, baptizing you, feeding you His Body and Blood-God serving you in all His ways to assure you yet again that your sins ARE put away.
Who else can forgive sins, who else blots out what we can’t ever erase, but this One, Jesus? A God who not only came once, but comes still, comes now in these days and this day. Comes to strengthen hearts that are faint and fragile and lonely. And to make you blameless by His holiness, His work, His doing. “Blameless” means “without sin”-you, without sin. He accomplishes that in you by COMING (coming “hiddenly,” but really) and doing this – proclaiming again and again what He did on the cross for you, and delivering it to you. Don’t get sick of it, or tired of it. You won’t outgrow it or get past your need for it until that time when our Lord Jesus comes with all His saints (I Thess. 3:9-13).
And that’s the third coming, the third way that God COMES (Advents) to us. Not only did He come as a baby born in Bethlehem, born to die. Not only does He COME still in your hearing by this Word preached to get to you what His marvelous death and resurrection brings for you-your own dying and rising with Him through Baptism! But so also He WILL COME! His majesty will be revealed at the “end of days”, a time not yet. The One who the world nailed to the cross will then confront His rebellious hammer-holding creatures as their Savior-Judge. And the world will really understand, and every eye will see what He means when He says, “I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, which IS and which WAS, and which IS TO COME, I AM the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).
He shall come again! And THAT coming is the only one that we’re still waiting for-for He came in the past, He comes now and – He is coming again. Jesus talked about this in Luke, chapter 21, preached it just a few days before His dying, His crucifixion, His burial, and His resurrection alive out of the tomb. Knowing that was coming, Jesus talked like this to His disciples there on a mount just outside Jerusalem. Talks about this final coming where there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; where folks will faint with real terror and fear over what they see is coming-and they will all see. When heaven and earth-the same heaven and earth that get’s to looking the same day after day for us-will pass away. When the Son of Man, Christ the King (and finally acting like a King!) will “come on the clouds with power and great glory” just as He was once lifted up-in great glory-to die. “Straighten up and raise your heads,” says the LORD,” because your redemption is drawing near.”
If you are to meet Him-your God-who comes in these ways, then be sorry for your sin and turn away from them. Repent your self-centeredness, repent your unkind words, repent your easy drifting thoughts. All the things you can’t control, and the things you think you can. Advent is a season of repentance like the whole life of the Christian is a day-by-day life of repentance into the forgiveness. Humble yourself before your Creator and Redeemer. Approach the One who came in the manger, for the Word of God is still flesh for you. Approach His altar in confidence that knows that He comes in bread and wine like He promises – to forgive sins. And so in this way, His way, be prepared for-and even look forward to His Final Coming, THAT great Day. For behold, the days are coming.
Be watchful. Be alert to His Word. Hear this! And be careful as you wait, Jesus says. Be careful in these days, the places where you are and where you work and where you rest and where you play, that your life is not given up to worldly concerns, or that you become faint and loaded down by your heavy earthly cares. You know exactly what THEY are for you-you can name them! So be careful that your heart is not weighed down with “dissipation” (Jesus says) so that it acts like one who is nauseous and staggering from too much strong drink. For you are pronounced FREE from the hangover from yesterday’s sin, and the “drunkenness” that we foolishly hope will ease away today’s problems or erase tomorrow’s. Watch yourself, Jesus says there [knowing that He would Himself die here shortly], or that day will close on you suddenly like a steel trap.
So let us be careful. Here Jesus makes you alert for that day. Let this season of Advent, this new church year be a new beginning for you, a time of repentance and preparation for the Advent of your LORD. He comes! And you will be ready because HE makes you ready. And so you will escape all that will happen on THAT day. And you will be able to stand before the Son of Man. In joy, not fear. (Or, if some of you are afraid still this morning, “Fear not!”) For His dying work on the cross, for which He CAME, has paid for all your sin. And He is giving you the strength and benefits of that as He COMES to you now to put that forgiveness into your ears and into your mouth and into your heart. And in this way, He prepares you to stand when Christ your King shall come in glory. For as it was in the beginning, it is now, and will be forever: Jesus Christ your Savior comes! Amen
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for November 29, 2009
Topic:Rejecting GodAnnouncer: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
Klaus: Hi, Mark.
Announcer: Today’s question has to do with Christian education and its effects. Specifically, how is that someone could go through all 8 grades of Lutheran school-and then later grow up to become an atheist?
Klaus: When Lutheran immigrants came from the Old World to North America, they considered it one of their first orders of business to establish schools for the Christian education of their children.
Announcer: There were a number of reasons why they did that?
Klaus: Absolutely. One of which was they wanted to keep the old ways, the old language intact. But if anybody thinks that is the only, or even the first
reason, why Lutheran schools were established, they’d be wrong.Announcer: Well, I can think of several reasons. First, this was a land of religious freedom. They wanted to make use of that freedom-which they often didn’t have back in the Old Country.
Klaus: Other reasons?
Announcer: They wanted to make sure their children grew up, as Scripture puts it, “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Klaus: Exactly. That was a priority and because it was they often built schools before they built church buildings, or even their own homes. They were amazing, dedicated people.
Announcer: That helps to explain the importance and the number of parochial schools within The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Klaus: Those schools are still out there, and although they can’t always afford all the bells and whistles of the state-supported schools, they are pretty much first-rate in providing a well-balanced, liberal-arts education – with that education being centered around the Savior.
Announcer: In fact, you came from such a school, didn’t you?
Klaus: I did. I met my wife, Pam, at that school. We went through parochial school together, as did my brother and his wife – and my parents. I should say that finding a spouse is not part of the purpose of Lutheran schools, but it does happen.
Announcer: Well, that’s how I met my wife. Anyway, back to our question for today. If these schools are good – and they are – why would someone who’s gone to such a school, later turn his back on God and his faith?
Klaus: Mark, the old Lutherans who began these schools had a philosophy which said, “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.”
Announcer: And in the book of Proverbs it says much the same thing: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Klaus: Which is really the question. It seems that this grown child has now departed from the way he was trained.
Announcer: Why would that happen?
Klaus: A lot of different reasons. I could only just really scratch the surface.
Announcer: OK. Scratch away.
Klaus: The Scriptural principle holds true, but – the person may have come under the influence of someone who thinks they are smarter, wiser, knows better than the Bible. Or, he might have been shocked and disappointed by a Christian who let him down. We are sinners and the world has a tendency to judge the Savior by what His servants do. When that happens, they not only reject the sinful Christian but they also reject Christ.
Announcer: Which is taking it much too far.
Klaus: Way too far. But there are other reasons.
He may have become enamored with those who take shots at Christianity – you know the new books which claim the church has always been lying – or the so called scholars who say the Savior never rose – or life is all the matter of blind chance and coincidence. Or, it could be he is trying to get back at someone who loves him – and rejecting their faith may be the best and most effective way of revenge.Announcer: So that it’s not necessarily something that’s directed at God. Someone else is the intended target.
Klaus: I’ve seen young people do just that. Anything that will enable them to spit in their parents’ faces.
Announcer: What would you say to such a person?
Klaus: I would say, “Faith is a serious matter; literally, it’s life or death. You’re playing with fire. Look, you’re not that smart, nor is anyone else, to be able to override the Bible.” I would say, “Don’t set aside the timeless Scripture for the wisdom of men which changes from one day to the next.” I would say, “This is an important matter. Don’t listen to me. Don’t listen to anyone else. Look at the Bible. Read the Gospels. Meet your Savior, face-to-face. You owe that much to yourself. ”
Announcer: What about the parent who might be worried about the fate of a son or daughter who’s turned away from the truth they were once taught?
Klaus: Oh, yeah. This person’s story is not yet written. I would say to these parents, I’ve seen people try to bury their Christian education – work hard at erasing it. They couldn’t do it. They kept it underground for years, and then, something happened, some situation occurred where that faith came bubbling and boiling out and it changed them. Something wonderful to see, how the Holy Spirit works through that Word of God, learned long ago.
Announcer: This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selection for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Savior of the Nations, Come” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending” arr. Robert A. Hobby. From Hymns for All Saints: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (© 2005 Concordia Publishing House)
“Lord, When Your Glory I Shall See” by Paul Gerhardt, arr. Gerhard Krapf & Richard Wienhorst. From Heirs of the Reformation (© 2008 Concordia Publishing House)
“Savior of the Nations, Come” arr. Paul Manz. From Hymn Improvisations, vol. 1 by Paul Manz (© 1992 Paul Manz)