The First Promise - November 30, 2022 - First Wednesday in Advent (Midweek 1) - Text: Gen. 3:15; Gal. 4:4; Luke 2:7; Rev. 12:5

This year during the season of Advent through Christmas and New Year’s Eve we will be looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, including the promise to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to David as well as His birth place, His travel to Egypt, and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus.
 

Today we begin at the beginning, at the very first Gospel promise. As Moses, by inspiration of God writes in Genesis, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God created all things in six days and rested on the seventh day blessing the seventh day as a day of rest and giving us our seven day week. When God created all things He created all things perfect and holy. And yet, being omniscient, God knew what was going to happen before it happened, that is He knew that Adam and Eve would sin and yet, because of His great love for us He created anyway.
 

God created all things perfect and holy. He created a man and woman and placed them in the perfect Garden He created just for them and He gave them only one rule, perhaps as a response of faith, a way to respond to all that He had given them and that rule was to not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden, the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of course, most of us do know the tragic history of Adam and Eve. Tempted by the devil, Satan himself, taking the form of a serpent Eve believed the lies of Satan, the father of lies, doubted God’s Word and ate of the fruit. And she gave some to her husband who also ate and with that disobedience, sin enter the world and with sin came a curse.
 

God’s threat of punishment for eating the forbidden fruit was death, meaning physical death, that is their bodies would begin to die and eventually would die, but even more it meant hell. And again, even before He began creating, God knew this would happen. So, as punishment for Adam and Eve, the world was cursed such that there would be pain in childbearing, there would be sweat and thorns in work. There would be enmity between Satan and humanity. But, because of His great love for His creation, God immediately stepped in to provide a solution. God promised a Savior, a Redeemer from sin, a Christ. One who would be obedient. One who would suffer the punishment for their sin. One who would suffer hell for them. And this promise of a Christ is the beginning of the Christian Church.
 

The price for sin was death, thus God’s promise was that the Savior would die. He would die a physical death and the worst death of all, death on the cross, the complete death of hell, and He would die a physical death, His body would die. And yet He would rise again, and Satan would be completely defeated.
 

In his epistle to the Galatians Paul tells us of God’s perfect timing. Paul says it was the fullness of time. Indeed, it was at just the right time in all of history, the Christ was born. All the events of history had reached the point determined by God according to His great counsel of love for His creation that He set for the execution of the events which would bring rescue for His people.
 

Paul tells us that Jesus was the son of God making Him truly God. We know that He was born of a woman making Him truly human. As God He was the Law-giver, but as a man He yielded to be born under and subject to the Law. Indeed, Jesus is God. He was born and subjected Himself to the Law, that is to perfect obedience, which was God’s demand from the beginning.
 

As true God, Jesus was born in perfection. He was able to be perfectly obedient. He fulfilled all the promises, all the prophesies concerning the Messiah, the Christ. He was tempted beyond what we might imagine and He never sinned. He was perfectly obedient and then He took our disobedience, our sin upon Himself. He who knew no sin became sin for us in order to pay the price for our sin.
 

In his Gospel, Luke describes the birth of Jesus. Mary and Joseph were from the kingly line of the great King, David and so they were compelled to return to their hometown of Bethlehem for the birth of their first born child. While they were in Bethlehem, because of all the relatives that had come into town to be registered, Luke tells us there was no room in the upper room or guest room which is why he tells us that when Jesus was born He was laid in a manger, a trough for animals, which also abided in the main part of the house.
 

Thus, Luke gives us the historic account that our great Prophet, Priest and King, our Savior and Redeemer was not born in a castle, even though He was from Royal David’s kingly line. He was born lowly, rather in obscurity, in the small town of Bethlehem and His first bed was an animal feeding trough and His first clothes were rags.
 

Jesus was true God, born in human flesh, born of the people of Israel and yet, even though He was born among His own people, His own people later failed to recognize Him. To one familiar with the history of the Children of Israel the fact that theirs was a history of rebellion and rescue by God, it would make sense that being under Roman rule, that rather than the people looking for a spiritual Savior, a Savior from sin, they were again hoping for a social-political Savior, thus many did not recognize nor accept Jesus as the Savior. At the same time, there were many who did continue to look for a Savior from sin.
 

Jesus came to fulfill, not an earthly promise of social-political relief, but a heavenly promise of forgiveness of sins and heaven. In order to fulfill God’s promise made in Genesis, in the Garden of Eden, the Savior had to be a human, the offspring of a woman. He also had to be divine, God in order to be born in perfection, since all mankind after the fall is conceived and born in sin. Only God can be perfect and only God’s Son could be conceived and born without sin. Also, only God can defeat the devil, bruising or crushing his head while having His heel be bruised or crushed. In other words, a mortal wound for God, a fatal wound for Satan.
 

What does this mean? God’s love is seen in His foreknowledge, knowing all that would happen. Knowing that Adam and Eve would sin. Knowing that He would have to curse the world because of the sin of Adam and Eve and His threat to do so. Knowing that He would have to take care of their sin, paying the price for their sin, because they could not. Knowing that He would have to suffer the punishment of hell, which He originally had created for Satan and not humankind. Knowing all that He would have to do in order to save His people, His creation, God created. No greater love can be seen in His creation and in His promise to redeem, to buy back His creation.
 

God’s love is seen in His substitutionary acts for us, in our place. Greater love can no one have than this that a person will lay down His life for another and that is exactly what our God in Jesus has done for us. Our omnipotent, all powerful God, created all things out of nothing. He has given all things to us to use in service to Him in His kingdom. Because we cannot be the people He desires, commands and demands us to be He lived the life demanded of us for us in our place as our substitute. Thus, we have a loving creator God who not only commands and demands, but accomplishes that for us.
 

God’s love is seen in His providing a way to give us all the gifts and blessings He has to give and that is through His means of grace. Through the Word of God as well as His Word working though Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution and His Holy Supper our Lord gives us all the good gifts and blessings He has to give, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Indeed, as we celebrate the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus we rejoice that He is the power in His means of grace giving to us and lavishing us with all His good gifts and blessings.
 

It is fitting that we begin the Church Year with Advent a time and season to prepare our hearts and mind to celebrate once again what a great, loving, gift giving God we have. In order to prepare it is fitting to be reminded of the necessity of all these events that we celebrate, God’s foreknowledge, His creation, the fall into sin and God’s promise to send a Savior, a Redeemer. It is fitting to be reminded of their fulfillment in the One, God in flesh, born of a woman who came into the world to fulfill all the demands of God which Adam and Eve, all of Israel and all we cannot do. Thus it is fitting to recall God’s promises and His fulfillment as reminders of His great love for us. And it is fitting that we rejoice and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Put On Christ - November 27, 2022 - First Sunday in Advent - Text: Romans 13:(8-10)11-14

Let me begin by saying “Happy New Year!” Today is the first Sunday in our new church year and so it is our church New Year’s Day. With that said, today brings us also to a new beginning in our lectionary series, that is in our Bible Readings. For those of you who do not know, our readings, the Old Testament Reading, the Epistle Reading and the Gospel Reading, as well as the Introits, the Graduals and the like, these are all put together in series. There are several different series that have been put together by different churches and these have changed somewhat throughout the years. For many years our church used a one year series of readings so that every year we heard the same readings over and over. When the last hymnal was published, the Lutheran Worship, a three year series was added, so that over the course of three years the same Bible readings were read. With our newest hymnal, Lutheran Service Book our one year and three year series readings have been revised again. What all this means for us is that we will continue to use this three year cycle of readings with some revisions. Last year you may remember that the text for my preaching were mostly from the Gospel readings for the day. Today we begin with series A and for this year I will be preaching mostly from the Epistle readings for the day.
 

The last Sundays of the Church Year call us to be ready for the end of our time on this earth, the day of Judgement, that is the day the Lord will return or the day we each die and pass on from this world. We were reminded that this day will come, soon, sooner than we know and sooner than we might expect, so we were reminded of the importance of being ready. We are to live our lives in eager expectation, in being ready for the day when we will meet our Lord. The beginning of the Church Year has a similar focus. Actually it is a two fold focus. The texts are words reminding us of getting ready. We are to get ready at this time to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, His birth in Bethlehem. At the same time, His first coming parallels the fact of His second coming and so these texts do have a dual purpose and a singular focus, to remind us of Jesus’ first coming and His second come and to be ready at all times, that is to be spiritually ready.
 

Paul begins by reminding us that the time to be ready is now. Now is the time, we read picking up at verse eleven, “11Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (v. 11). Paul had not personally witnessed Jesus’ birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection, but he did personally witness Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was very aware of Jesus’ promise to return and he personally thought that Jesus’ return would be soon, even during his own lifetime. Perhaps if we each had that same belief, that Jesus may be returning during our lifetime, we might have a similar urgency about our own lives. The fact of the matter is, since Paul’s day, we have been waiting about 2000 years so we can know for certain that Jesus’ coming is sooner now than when Paul wrote these words.
 

We will, each one of us, stand before the Lord and be accountable to Him. That day of being held accountable will happen either when Jesus comes to us, the day He returns as He promised that He would and that is on the day of judgement; or that day of being held accountable will come on the day that we will go to Him, that is the day of our own physical death out of this world. And if you do not believe me, or doubt me, simply read the obituaries in the newspaper. Indeed, death is no respecter of persons, nor age, and from this evidence we know that we, each one of us has a limited amount of time on this earth, from the time of conception to maybe 100 or 110 years. And yet, death happens at any time during this length of time, at two months after conception, at one year after birth, at sixteen years of age, at thirty years of age and so on, unfortunately even for some, before they are born, thus it is inevitable, each one of us will die, and actually we can truly say, from the moment of conception we are destined to die.
 

Each year, each month, each week, each day, each hour leads us closer and closer to the end of our time on this earth. And so, how are we to live while we are on this earth? Paul encourages us to cast off the works of darkness and sin, we pick up our text as verse twelve, “12The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy” (v. 12-13). Ever since the Fall into sin, ever since Eve and Adam ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there has been evil, temptation and sin in our world. We may well speak of these as the unholy three and the temptations of the Devil, the world and our own sinful flesh.
 

Temptations abound in our world. Paul lists the temptations of sin in orgies and drunkenness, and in sexual immorality and sensuality, in quarreling and jealousy. Simply check the newspaper headlines or the morning, noon or evening news headlines. Temptation and sin are running rampant in our world. The devil is having a free for all and we are his victims.
 

The worst temptations for us as Christians are the temptations to disbelief, despair and other great shame and vice. There is nothing worse than to fall into unbelief or disbelief, to despair of our faith. And the devil would delight in our demise. The devil knows our weaknesses and that is where he tempts us the greatest. Is our weakness the temptation to put other things before God? Is our weakness the temptation to curse and swear and misuse God’s name? Is our temptation to sleep in on Sunday mornings or have some other priority rather than be in Divine Service and Bible Class? Is our temptation to disobey and be disrespectful to those in authority over us, to hurt or harm others, to lust after others, to take things that do not belong to us, to gamble, to eat or drink too much, to say hurtful things about others, to covet what others have? Yes, the devil knows our weaknesses and he works to exploit those weaknesses so that we do fall into sin and then he works to move us to despair thinking that perhaps there is no hope for us. And left to ourselves, we would perish, eternally. Nothing would please the devil better.
 

Instead of falling for the lies and temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh, Paul urges us to put on the Armor of Light, that is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We pick up at verse fourteen, “14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (v.14). How do we defeat the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh? We do not. We cannot. We cannot look inside ourselves to find the answer to defeat or even to counter the temptations of the devil. We must look outside ourselves for the answer. And when we look outside ourselves we are directed to the means through which our Lord saves us. We are to put on the Armor of Light, that is Jesus Christ and we do that through His means of grace. Jesus’ Name, His robes of righteousness, the Armor of Light, was put on us through the waters of Holy Baptism. As water and God’s Name were put on us, so He has claimed us and made us a part of His Kingdom and He works in us to help us to fight against temptation and sin. As we remember our Baptism and the fact that our Lord has put His name on us and we are His, so He helps us to bear up under the temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh.
 

We put on Jesus through the reading and hearing of the Word. As we daily read our Bibles, as we come to Bible class on Sunday morning, as we come to Divine Service, through this means of His Word our Lord gives to us, strengthens us and keeps us in faith and helps us to bear up under the temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh.
 

We put on Jesus through the forgiveness of sins given to us through Confession and Absolution. As we come here on Sunday morning and confess our sins and hear His most beautiful words of Absolution that “Your sins are forgiven,” then we know that this is what we are given, forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness of sins we know that we also have life and salvation. And so, also as we make use of this means of grace our Lord helps us to bear up under the temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh.
 

We put on Jesus through the eating and drinking of His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.  As we participate in the Lord’s Supper, as we eat the bread and His body and drink the wine and His blood, so we participate in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection so that His life becomes our life, His death becomes our death and His resurrection becomes our resurrection. And so, also as we make use of this means of grace our Lord helps us to bear up under the temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh.
 

So, what does this mean? Today is the beginning of a new church year. This new beginning reminds us that for us there is always the possibility of a new beginning. Certainly we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness and certainly our Lord daily gives us that forgiveness earned by His Son for us taking our place on the cross.
 

Today we continue to think two thoughts. Our first thought is that now is the time to get ourselves ready to celebrate Christ’s first coming, His birth in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. Our second thought continues to be the need to make sure we are ready for Christ’s second coming, when He will come to judge the world, or to be ready for our own passing on from this world at our own death.
 

Because of the constant ebb and flow in our own lives, the falling into temptation and sin, the repentance and forgiveness, there is the reminder to always be ready!
 

As Paul urges, so I urge, the time is coming, the day of judgement is near, nearer now than in Paul’s day, nearer than we think or imagine, so it is important to put off the old ways of temptation and sin, drunkenness and sexual immorality and instead put on the armor of Christ, His righteous robes given through the waters of Holy Baptism and renewed through His means of grace, the new ways of Jesus which are pleasing to Him and righteous in His sight. May our Lord Jesus get you ready and keep you ready for His own Name’s sake. To God be the glory. Amen.

Shout for Joy and Sing - November 23, 2022 - Thanksgiving Eve - Text: Psalm 65:1-13

How fitting it is that we celebrate a national day of thanksgiving. That does not mean that this is the only day we are thankful for all the blessings our Lord has bestowed on us. We are thankful every day, or at least we should be thankful every day. We have so many things for which to be thankful and really only so many days on this earth in which to express our thanks to our Lord. Yet, it is not as if God needs our expression of thanks, but that we need to express our thanks out of the overflow from our hearts. This evening my message is based on the Psalm which we read responsively for the Introit. If you would like you may follow along in your hymnal as we use this Psalm to help us give thanks to the Lord.
 

The Psalmist begins by praising God for (v. 1-4) the mercy with which He rules out of Zion. In verse one he reminds us to praise the Lord as He rules over us from heaven. Our God is not a God who is a far off, rather He is a God who is very near to us. He is in heaven watching over us, ruling over us, interceding for us, and at the same time He is right here with us. For where two are three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
 

In verse two he reminds us to praise the Lord as He hears our prayers and answers them. Our God is not a God who turns a deaf ear to our petitions, rather He is a God who hears our every prayer and answers our every prayer, according to our need, according to what He knows is best for us according to His good and gracious will.
 

In verse three he reminds us to praise the Lord as He forgives our sins. Our God is not a God of vengeance, rather our God is a God of love, who loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son, to suffer and die on the cross for our forgiveness. We praise the Lord for His forgiveness because we know with forgiveness is life and salvation.
 

In verse four he reminds us to praise the Lord as He has chosen us to be His children, indeed each of us are reminded that He chose me to be His child. Our God is not an impersonal God, rather our God is a God who loves each one of us. He has chosen us to be His own. At our Baptism He has put His name on us. He has made us His.
 

The Psalmist praises God for (v. 5-8) the loving kindness which Israel as a people among the peoples has experienced. We can relate well to this because our great God also shows His loving kindness to us. In verse five the Psalmist reminds us to praise the Lord as He answers us with awesome deeds of righteousness. The deeds of righteousness with which the Lord answers us include our conversion, that is bringing us to faith, especially through the waters of Holy Baptism and His Word, earning our forgiveness on the cross, giving us life, eternal life and salvation.
 

In verse five he also reminds us to praise the Lord as He is our hope and is the hope for all the world. Here we are reminded that not only is Jesus our personal Savior, that is, not only did He die on the cross for me personally, He is also the Savior of all people of all time of all places.
 

In verse six he reminds us to praise the Lord as He is the Creator and Preserver of all things, of all the world. With these words the Psalmist reminds us that our God not only created the world and all things, but that He is also always with us with His ever preserving hand. God is not watching us from a distance, He is right here with us. It is the all preserving hand of the Father who keeps this world going.
 

In verse seven he reminds us to praise the Lord as He has power over the seas, the wind, the rain, over all nations. It is God who tends this world, giving us the rain in its season. He gives us the sun by day and the moon by night. He gives us the four seasons for planting, growing and harvesting. And His promise, contrary to what is believed by some in our society, is that the seasons, seed time and harvest will remain until the end.
 

In verse eight he reminds us to praise the Lord as He gives us each day, morning to evening. The Psalmist reminds us that each day is a gift from God. Yesterday is over that is why we call it the past. Tomorrow has yet to come, that is why we call it the future. Today is a gift from God, that is why we call it the present.
 

The Psalmist praises God for the past and (v. 9-13) the present year’s rich blessings, which He has bestowed upon the land of His people. In verse nine the Psalmist reminds us to praise the Lord as He sends the rain to water the earth. God gives us the rain.
 

In verse nine he also reminds us to praise the Lord as He waters the crops for an abundant harvest. God gives us the rain so that the crops grow so that we have an abundant harvest. Rain and harvest are gifts from God.
 

In verse ten he reminds us to praise the Lord as He sends the rain as we need it. God knows our needs and supplies them accordingly.
 

In verse eleven he reminds us to praise the Lord as He abundantly gives us bounty from His gracious hand. God gives everything and we are given everything. God gives graciously.
 

In verse twelve he reminds us to praise the Lord as He even cares for the desert which is ignored by man. God remembers and cares for even the little things about which we forget, the things for which we are negligent in caring, and the most seemingly menial things, the Lord cares for them all.
 

In verse thirteen he reminds us to praise the Lord as He covers the earth with meat and grain to eat. God supplies us with all that we need and more than we need.
 

In verse thirteen he also reminds us to praise the Lord, shout for joy and sing. Our response is to worship and praise the Lord. Our response is to come to Divine Service to be given the gifts that He has to give, and to respond with shouts of joy and sing praises to His Holy Name.
 

The only way to sum up this Psalm. The only way to answer, “What does this mean?” to this Psalm is to go back to Dr. Luther’s Small Catechism and to remind ourselves of his explanations of the articles of the Apostles’ creed. I say that because the Apostles’ Creed so well expresses our belief in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And Dr. Luther’s explanations so well explain what our great God does for us and gives to us as our God. I want you to follow along and read along with me. Please turn in your hymnal to page 322.
 

In the first article we confess that I believe in God the Father who is the giver of all. This means (please read with me): I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
 

In the second article we confess that I believe in God the Son who is the giver of all. This means (please read with me): I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
 

And in the third article we confess I believe in God the Holy Spirit giver of all. This means (please read with me): I believe that I cannot by my own reason our strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.
 

This evening we come especially to give thanks and praise to God for His many good gifts and blessings. This does not mean that this is the only time we acknowledge and confess that God is the giver of all, rather this is just an extra day, an extra opportunity, a special time to give Him thanks and praise. To God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Watch - November 13, 2022 - Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28) - Text: Luke 21:5-28 (29-36)

Today is the second last Sunday in our present church year. You may have noticed and you will notice again next week, our lessons focus our attention on the last days of this world and the fact that this world is a temporary place. As I have said before and as you will hear me say again and again, our lives on this earth are short, especially compared to eternity which is forever. At the moment of conception we are destined to die a physical death. We will meet our Lord, either at our passing or at His return, which ever comes first and believe me when I tell you, that day will be sooner than you know and sooner than you might imagine. So, as Jesus says in our text, so I too exhort you, “Stay awake at all times.” Quit focusing so much of your time and attention to this world and the temporary business of this world and focus you attention on making sure you are ready and those of your loved ones are ready for that final day, because after that day, it will be too late.
 

Getting to our text for today, we make note that Jesus is hanging around the temple and there are those there who are admiring the temple and especially the outward beauty of the temple. Jesus uses this event and this admiration of the temple as an opportunity to teach. To those who were admiring the physical temple and its beauty and especially to His disciples, Jesus spoke about the destruction of the temple. Now, one of our first thoughts might be that of Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John, but unlike in John’s gospel, Jesus is not speaking of  the destruction of the temple compared to destroying His body, that is He is not pointing to His death at this time, He is simply describing the destruction of the physical temple in Jerusalem as a sign of the coming of the end of the world.
 

Jesus explains some of the signs of the end of the world. Please understand that we recognize that Jesus’ birth ushered in the end times. Indeed, we are living in the end times. What are the signs of the end times? “8And [Jesus] said, ‘See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, “I am he!” and, “The time is at hand!” Do not go after them. 9And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.’ 10Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven’” (v. 8-11).
 

Just look at the world in which we live today. Of course, throughout history there have been similar signs of the end times and as has been said, each generation believes the world they live in is worse than the time before them, thus each generation believes they are living in the end times and even so today. Today we constantly hear of wars and rumors of war. We hear of terrorist attacks and bloodshed. We hear of uprisings and violence around the world and even in our own country and neighborhoods.
 

But there is even more, as we look at our world we are constantly being bombarded with news of man made climate change, as if we human beings really had enough control and power over God’s creation. We hear of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons. We hear of flooding and drought. We hear of famine and plague. We hear of one “natural” disaster after another as if there is no end to what sounds like bad news and even more bad news.
 

As we look at our world we can see that it is running down. It is getting worse. Of course as Christians this running down should not surprise us. Ever since the fall into sin, ever since Adam and Eve’s sin the world has been cursed and so the world will continue to run its cursed course until the last day. The whole world is groaning in eager expectation of the last day Paul tells us.
 

As Christians, how do we approach the events of the last days? We approach the events of the last days by being about the Lord’s business, by making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, those means the Lord has given and through which He comes to give us all the good gifts and blessings He has to give and through which He gets us ready and keeps us ready. We approach the events of the last days by being mindful of God’s plans and purpose in our lives.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that the events which we are experiencing are a direct result of the fall into sin and God’s curse in the Garden of Eden. At the same time we are reminded of God’s promise to Adam and Eve to send a Savior for all people, of all places, of all times, in other words God’s promise to send a Savior was not simply a promise to a certain group or ethnicity of people, but God’s promise was made before there were any people culture groups as we have in our world today. God’s promise was to all people, and especially to you and to me.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that God’s promise to send a Savior was reiterated throughout history and that when God called Abraham to be the one through whom He would fulfill His promise to send a Savior, His promise continued to be a promise of a Savior for all people, not just the children of Abraham. As a matter of fact, as we get into the New Testament, as the physical children of Abraham, indeed the children of Israel rejected Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, so Jesus reminds us that by faith in Him we who believe are now the true children of Abraham, children of the promise.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that Jesus is true God born in human flesh. Jesus entered into human history for a purpose, to reconcile and make right our relationship with Himself because we cannot. And Jesus’ birth ushered in the end of the world, so that we are now living in the end times.
    We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that Jesus lived perfectly for all people. Jesus was born as a human, one with us, one like us, except without sin, in order to live for us, that is to perfectly obey God’s command to be perfect. Jesus lived perfectly for us, in our place because we cannot. The fullness of the Gospel is not simply that Jesus died for us, but the fact that Jesus lived for us.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that after living perfectly and after obeying all of God’s laws perfectly, after fulfilling all God’s promises and all the ceremonial laws that pointed to Himself, perfectly, Jesus took all our sins as well as all the sins of all people on Himself. The price for sin was set in Eden, death, physical death and apart from faith in Jesus, eternal death and hell. Jesus died a physical death, but even more, He died the eternal death penalty of hell which would have and should have been ours.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that Jesus did not stay dead, but He rose from the dead. As we were reminded as Jesus confronted the Sadducees who did not believe in a physical resurrection, Jesus’ was not only a spiritual resurrection, but also a bodily resurrection. He rose in the body and showed Himself alive in His own body many times. Death and the grave had no hold over Him. He defeated sin, death and the devil.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, He earned forgiveness of sins for us. And the forgiveness He earned is distributed to us through the means of grace, through our Baptism and our remembering our Baptism, through our confession and our hearing the words of absolution, “your sins are forgiven,” through our reading and hearing God’s Word, and through our partaking of His true body and blood in His Holy Supper. Again, Jesus lived for us, took our sins and died for us paying the price for our sins for us, and rose for us giving us His victory so that now we have forgiveness of sins, and death and the grave have no power over us.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded to point to Jesus. We are reminded that faith is not something we get on our own, not something we can claim, not something we dedicate ourselves to, rather faith is a gift from God. God gives faith by the power of the Holy Spirit working through His means of grace when and where He pleases. Indeed God gives faith, forgiveness and eternal life and we are passively being given to.
 

We approach the events of the last day by being reminded that Jesus makes us ready for His return. How does Jesus make us ready? How does He get us ready? And how do we live readied lives? Again, Jesus explains in our text, “12But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your lives” (v. 12-19).
 

God does not and never has promised us an easy life. As a matter of fact, as Christians we should expect to be treated as our Savior was treated and in many instance in this world Christians are treated with such disrespect. Christians are tormented, tortured and martyred around the world and somewhat even here in our own country. I believe a day will come in the not so distant future when we Christians here in America will be thrown in jail because we cannot abide by certain laws of this land. When we speak against the sins of this world we will be imprisoned and punished for our faith. Jesus’ words encourage us to rejoice in such times of conflict because those will be times when we will have an opportunity to give an answer for our faith and hope. And He tells us that we are not to be concerned about our witness and answer because He will give us the words to speak, words which will give Him glory.
 

And finally we have Jesus’ own words of encouragement and exhortation, “36But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (v. 36). We are living in the end times. I say that not to be an alarmist, but to remind you that the most important thing in this life is not to be about the business of this world, but to be about the Lord’s business, that is to make every effort and take every opportunity to be in Divine Service and Bible Class, to have personal reading of God’s Word as well as personal and family devotions, to remember your baptism, to come to confession and hear His words of absolution, to partake of our Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.
 

Today is the second last Sunday in our present church year. Next week is our last Sunday in this present church year and again we will be reminded of the temporariness of this world. But even more we will be continually reminded of God’s love for us, His looking out for us, His reconciling us with Himself, His giving us and pouring out on us all the gifts and blessings He has to give, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. And He also shows His greatness in stirring in us to say, to Him be the glory for Jesus’s sake. Amen.

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb - November 6, 2022 - All Saints’ Day - Text: Revelation 7:(2-8) 9-17

Although today is the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, because All Saints Day was Tuesday, this morning we take the time to celebrate All Saints Day. Please understand that when we celebrate all saints day, we are not worshiping, nor are we praising all the saints who have gone on before us, instead we are placing their lives before us as examples of how we are to live our lives, that is that we are to live lives of faith so that others see our faith and give praise to God for our faith as well. Remember, as Lutherans we understand that we are at the same time sinners and saints. By faith in Jesus Christ, faith given to us at our Baptism or faith given to us through the Word of God, we are redeemed, we have been purchased, we are saved, yes, we are saints. At the same time, while we remain on this earth we continue to sin and so we are sinners in need of forgiveness. Thus we understand, we believe, teach and confess that we are at the same time sinner saints.
 

Our text for this morning is from the book of Revelation, and notice this is not a book of revelations, plural, but is one revelation. Revelation is a look into heaven and a look into what our last days on earth and our first days in heaven will be like. As we look into heaven we see the enumerable number of people in heaven. We see them wearing white robes and holding palm branches. We hear them speak. We see how, even John, is unable to answer the question from God concerning what he is seeing, so he refers the question back to God answering, “Sir, you know.” John’s answer reminds us that we do not need to know all the answers to all the questions about the Bible, rather we need to realize that God is so much bigger than we are and He does know all the answers. Which in turn encourages us to continue steadfast in the Apostles’ Doctrine to learn more about Him and be strengthened in our faith.
 

Our text begins with John telling us that he sees “a great multitude that no one could number.” These words remind us that the reference to 144,000 which is the number Revelation speaks about being the number in heaven, this number is not an actual counting figure, not an actual number one can count, but it is a symbolic figure. In this instance the 144,000 means the Old Testament believers from the twelve tribes of Israel times (X) twelve, (v. 8-10) or 12,000 x 12, the number 144,000. When we understand that the true Israel, the true Children of Abraham, Children of God includes all believers in Jesus then we might better understand that this 144,000 includes all the Old Testament believers from the twelve tribes of Israel times (X) the New Testament believers from the twelve apostles times (X) the number of completion, ten, cubed (v.9-10). In other words, 12 x 12 x 1000, the number 144,000 is what John is seeing, but even more, suggesting that this number is not an actual counting number but that this is a great multitude, all believers who ever lived, from Old and New Testament times. Indeed, everyone who believes in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is included in the great multitude, and in the 144,000. We, you and I, are included in that 144,000.
 

Their words, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (V. 10b) reminds us that salvation is given by God to those who believe. Notice who is doing what? Salvation is not something we get. It is not something we earn. It is not something we claim for ourselves. Salvation belongs to God. Our salvation was earned by Him and it is given out by Him. It is given to us by Him through His means of grace through faith in Jesus. God is the one doing the doing and we are the ones being done to.
 

The words of the great multitude is followed by a word by the angels, elders and four living creatures, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (v. 12). We are told that “they fell down on their faces before the throne.” They fell down in fear, in awe and in respect. They fell down in worship. In the Old Testament we are often told of people falling prostrate before the Lord, or a king or whoever. To fall prostrate means to fall on your face, completely flat, face down on the ground. This is a posture of complete submission. Thus, even the angels, elders and four living creatures recognize Jesus as Lord and fall down in complete submission to Him.
 

They worshiped and said “Amen!” They spoke the word which reminds us that God is faithful. In His faithfulness He remembered His promise to send a Savior, Christ the Lord. In His faithfulness Jesus was born as a baby, a human being, as one of us. In His faithfulness Jesus lived a perfect life. He obeyed all God’s laws perfectly. He fulfilled all God’s commands, perfectly. In His faithfulness He lived His life for us, in our place, as our substitute. Then, in His faithfulness Jesus took all our sins upon Himself, our sins of thought, word and deed. Our sins of omission and commission, all our sins. In His faithfulness Jesus gave His life for ours on the cross, suffering the punishment, the price for our sins, eternal death and hell. And after rising from the dead, in His faithfulness Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith, to give us faith, and to keep us in faith until He comes again.
 

The angels, elders and four living creatures speak a sevenfold word of praise. This sevenfold word of praise is very similar to their previous sevenfold chorus of praise and it is a word of complete praise.
 

John is then questioned by one of the elders. The elder asks, “These in the white robes—who are they, and where did they come from”(v. 12-17)? John rightly answers, “Sir, you know.” John does not know and so he turns the question back to the man who asked so that he might get an answer. The answer is that they are those who have suffered for their faith. The word that is used for tribulation is the same word that Jesus used when He said that we would have trouble in this world, but we are to take heart, because He has overcome the world. This trouble, this tribulation that we suffer is what we have suffered since the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. To be a Christian means that you inevitably suffer trials and tribulations.
 

You might think of it this way, the devil does not spend time working on those he already has. He spends his time working on those he does not have. Which means that if you are not having troubles in this world, if you are not having tribulation, if you are not suffering from the trials and tribulations of the devil you might want to take a hard look at yourself to make sure that he does not have you already [smile :)]. And this does not mean the troubles, the trials and tribulations we bring on ourselves, which we do because of our sinful nature.
 

The elder continues by saying that these are they who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” It is faith in Jesus’ death on the cross, the shedding of His blood that brings the white robes of righteousness. By faith in Jesus, we stand before God in His perfection, washed in His blood, robed in His white robes of righteousness.
 

“Therefore,” the elder says, meaning, as a result of Jesus’ redeeming work, because Jesus shed His blood on the cross, by faith in Him, faith given by God, therefore, salvation comes to those who believe. The perfect bliss of the redeemed people of God is described in the next series of ten statements. Remember too, that the number ten is the number of completeness and so we are reminded by these ten statements that there is complete release from all evil and complete fullness of joy which is ours, given to us by God.
 

The first three lines describe the blessedness of the redeemed who stand in the presence of God spending their days and nights in service to Him. Their service is a worship service, a time spent in praise and adoration to Jesus. While we are on earth it is most important and necessary that we come to the Lord’s House, to Divine Service first and foremost to be given to by God. It is only as we are given to by God that we can respond with lives of faith. In heaven we will be perfected and so we will be able to offer a service of worship, worthy of our Creator God.
 

The next four lines speak about the freedom we Christians will have in heaven from the effects of sin. The curse which was placed on all creation in the Garden of Eden is now broken. In heaven there is no hunger, no thirst, no being beaten down by the sun. In heaven there is no sorrow or sadness, only joy and rejoicing. In heaven we will eat eternal manna and drink of the river of pleasure forever.
 

The final three lines describe heaven in positive terms. We are reminded first that Jesus is the Good Shepherd as John reminds us in His Gospel. Jesus compares us to His sheep and He is our Shepherd. He leads us beside the quiet waters as we read in the Psalms. Jesus is the living water. We are Baptized into faith through water. We need water to live. Jesus is that living water for us. And with God there will be no suffering, no more tears. Heaven is a place of complete and unending joy.
 

This morning as we get another glimpse of heaven. We are reminded that heaven is a gift, given by God, earned by Jesus’ death on the cross and the shedding of His blood. We are reminded that heaven is a place of forever joy. And we are reminded that heaven is a place of forever worship.
 

The question we might ask ourselves this week is “are we ready?” If you ask young people “are you ready to go to heaven?” Many times you will get the answer, “Yes, I am ready, but I would rather grow up before I go.” How often do we find ourselves answering in like manner. “I think I am ready for Jesus to come again, but I would rather get done doing the things I think I need to do here on earth.” I think that answer begs the question even more. Are we ready? Are we ready if we believe that there is more for us to do on this earth than to get ourselves ready for Jesus’ to come? Or to get ourselves ready for our going to Him, which might be sooner than His coming to us. And maybe we need to spend time getting others ready as well. I wonder if we are ready as we continue to keep our focus on the things of this world instead of on things heavenward.
 

How do we get ourselves ready? We get ourselves ready by making regular and diligent use of those means through which our Lord gives to us and uses to get us ready, His means of grace. In other words, it is not so much we who get ourselves ready, but it is the Lord who gets us ready. He gets us ready by our remembering our Baptism. He gets us ready by our confessing our sins and hearing His most beautify words of forgiveness. He gets us ready by our hearing and reading His Word, by our having personal and family devotions, by our being in Divine Service and Bible Class. He gets us ready as we come to His table, where He is the host and the meal, where He offers and gives to us His true body and blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins and for strengthening of faith.
 

When I was attending the Seminary, one of my classes followed chapel. Every morning we had chapel at 9 a.m. It was a short service in which we heard the Word of God and sang some hymns. Our professor noticed that some of the men from our class were not making it to chapel, but were missing for some reason. He chastened us one morning by using the following words, “Gentlemen, receive the gifts.” So, too, I come to you and as I come to you I ask you to share these words with those who are not here. Ladies and gentlemen, receive the gifts. Because it is only through the gifts God gives, the gifts of His Word and Sacraments that He can prepare us for Jesus’ coming and/or our going to Him. And now more than ever is the time to be prepared. To God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.