Midweek Advent
Beloved. Here we are at the beginning of that most wonderful season of the Church Year—Advent. It is a season of anticipation as we look forward to Christmas and its announcement that our Savior has been born; and it is a season of preparation as we prepare our hearts to receive this message once again and aright. Advent is also a season in which we place ourselves in the shoes of the OT saints as they waited for the Savior, Christ Jesus, to come the first time. As we share in their long wait and preparation for Jesus’ first coming, we, in Advent, renew our fervent desire for His return on the Last Day.
The history of Advent in the Church is long and varied. Its earliest form was in France when Advent was a 3 week season, later becoming 40 days, of preparation for Epiphany, when the converts were baptized and so it was very “Lent-like” with its emphasis on prayer and fasting. Later Advent became a season of fasting from 11 November to Christmas. Advent came to Rome in 6th century and was not as penitential a season but observed more as preparation for Christmas. Down to today, Advent still has these twin themes of repentance—but not as strict as Lent —and preparation for Christmas. Perhaps Advent’s theme is best summarized by the words from St. Isaiah prophesying the work of St. John the Baptizer [Is 40. 4,5]: Prepare the way of the Lord [and that by repentance] Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. And why? The glory of the Lord shall be revealed [that’s Christmas—the Word/ the Son of God becoming flesh, dwelling among us and His glory being seen].
When we look around us, we see the world in its frenzy of “getting ready for Christmas.” But by that, it means rushing around to buy, to bake, to decorate, to party, to go to the obligatory school concerts, etc. We have our “Black Friday”, our “Small Business Saturday”, our “Museum Shop Sunday”, our “Cyber Monday” and “Giving Tuesday.” All these things nicely planned out for us to fill our lives and this season with all sorts of “busyness”. Perhaps it is true that people fill their lives with all sorts of busyness in order to give them meaning. But where are you this evening? You are in church. Being here is not one more thing to check off on the “holiday list of activities.” Instead, by being here you have excused yourself from all that busyness to sit here quietly and to ponder our Lord Jesus and His coming for you and for your salvation and in quiet joy for that to give Him your praise and thanks. Here in church is a quiet oasis away from all the hub-bub and commotion of life around us. Here in church is the true reality; here is what truly matters. All the busyness outside of here is just froth; it doesn’t really matter in the end. What really does matter is Jesus, His word, His gifts, faith that receives them and faith that looks for and longs to be ready for His return.
In that sense, isn’t Advent really a picture of our whole lives as Christians? –All around us the world is doing its thing, filling itself with all sorts of busyness, focusing on the externals, but we, dear Christian, get away from that—so much of which is toxic to us as people and certainly to us spiritually—and, in the best sense of the word “retreat” into the Church. Here is the true reality and what really matters: God, faith, forgiveness, salvation, love, peace, etc. The quiet joy that we have in Advent as we look ahead to Christmas and prepare our hearts for it, is the same quiet joy we, as Christians, have all year as we ponder all these great gifts and blessings of God. The great blessing of Advent is that it calls us once again out of the world’s trappings, which we so easily fall into, and to quietly ponder again the great work and blessings of our Lord: Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
What is the whole basis/ foundation for our Christian joy? St. Zephaniah in our text tells us—twice: the Lord is in our midst. First he says: The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil; and then he says: The Lord your God is in your midst, the mighty one who will save. This is exactly what Advent’s message is all about: the Lord is in our midst. We remember His first coming that first Christmas, true God, born of the virgin. We remember that He comes to us now in His holy word and sacrament and is with us. We remember that He will come again in glory on the Last Day.
Our joy in Advent is great— The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. And why is He in our midst? That’s precisely the reason why there was that first Christmas; that’s precisely the reason why the OT saints waited with fervent longing for Jesus to come. To be our Savior! But how is He in our midst? The Incarnation—God taking on human flesh in the womb of Mary and becoming also true man. Look at our text: The King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. Who is the King of Israel? –None other than the Lord, the true God, your God, Himself. The true God came visibly. St. John put it this way: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.
Notice the two titles given to Jesus. First He is called the King of Israel and then the Mighty One, the same title given Him by St. Isaiah [Is. 9.6]: Mighty God. The point? –Simply this: The reason that Jesus comes into our midst, the reason why He became true man, became visibly present was, as King, to claim His Kingdom and to show His kingship by His care for us; and as the Mighty One to fight and wage the battle and to be the victorious warrior for us, over our spiritual enemies. In other words, Jesus came to rule and to conquer. That sounds very different from the idyllic “silent night” sort of themes we think of when it comes to Christmas. But Jesus came and dwelt among us, was in your midst, was visibly in your midst precisely so that He could take on and defeat for us, in our place, the devil and all he could throw against Him and so rescue us from the devil and out of his kingdom.
We catch a glimpse of this—God in our midst as king and victorious warrior—already in the first verse of our text: Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! This singing aloud and shouting was done after battle. For example, when David returned after defeating the enemy, the holy writer reports that the women came out of the cities singing [1 Sm. 18.6]; and after David defeated Goliath, the men of the army shouted [1 Sm. 17.52]. Singing and shouting—all after victorious battle. And here the victory is assured the Lord, the King of Israel, the Mighty One, when He comes in your midst. That’s why the faithful down through the ages—the Church—are invited/ called upon: Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has come in our midst and fought and won the battle for us.
Because the King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst, and has fought and won the battle, The Lord has taken away the judgment against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The judgment against us? –That’s the judgment of condemnation against us because of our sin; that’s the claim of the devil, death and hell on us because our sin: the apostle says [Rm. 6.23], the wages of sin is death. But the King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. The Lord, the true God, the King of Israel became true man because that was the only way that we could be saved/ rescued from our sin. The Lord has taken away the judgment against you and He has placed them on His Son—the Lord who became true man and was visibly in our midst. The sins that we commit have been charged to Jesus; the holiness we failed to do/ be Jesus has done for us and is given us. That’s why the Lord has taken away the judgment against you: because Jesus suffered the wrath and penalty of God for our sin and has obeyed God’s law for us. So what about our sin? In Jesus it is forgiven. So what does that mean? It means that the devil can no longer accuse us of sin; it means death and hell no longer have a claim on us. Jesus overcame our enemies of sin, devil and hell so they can no longer harm us. The Apostle asks [Rm. 8.33]: Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies, whose wrath has now, in Christ, been turned to pure forgiveness. By that forgiveness of sin we have in Jesus, by the peace we have with God, we shall never again fear evil. We are the Lord’s. Jesus came and set up His kingdom and called us into it in holy Baptism and now we enjoy all His graces and gifts! Is it any wonder the holy prophet calls on us to Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!? And again why? The Lord has taken away the judgment against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
But our singing aloud, shouting, rejoicing and exulting is certainly deep and heart-felt but our joy is the quiet joy of Advent. We continually ponder in our hearts God’s great work for us, who came in your midst; we don’t want to let it get drowned out. It is a deep-seated joy that influences and affects us daily—in our struggles in this life. Notice: after that great statement of comfort that in Jesus, who came in your midst, we get hints of the cross and trial. What does this mean? –Simply this: even though we are Christians enjoying every grace and blessing of the Lord in Christ, the devil will come to attack our faith, our old sinful self will fight against the Holy Spirit/ new self in us, the world will try to allure us away from Jesus and faith in Him. But, in the face of that, we have the promise of our text/ of Advent: The Lord your God is in your midst, the mighty one who will save. That’s the foundation of our lives as Christians and the greatest source of comfort and joy in the midst trial and suffering as we live out our life of faith and good works here and now. Our text: On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. Because of that first Advent—Jesus’ coming to be and carrying out the work to save us—we can be joyful and confident: we are our Lord’s dear Christian; things are right between us and Him. And we love Him who saved us and want to do His will. That’s why we strive so that our hands do not grow weak in times of trial, or in the struggle against the temptations of the devil and the allures of the world, in striving to live a life of holiness. Let us not let our hands become weak and give in to discouragement Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. May our hands be strong, moving in service to the Lord. Let there be nothing stopping us from gladly doing the Lord’s will. Instead, let us make use of the spiritual power the Lord has given us to fight against sin. Advent gives us the opportunity to search our heart and life to see if/ when/ where our hands have grown weak in the fight against sin, in remaining faithful to the Lord; where, in times of cross and trial, we have forgotten that the Lord in is our midst and have despaired. Let us recognize them and repent of those times and draw strength from our Advent text: The Lord your God is in your midst, the mighty one who will save. He came into our midst born of the Virgin and He still comes in our midst in His holy word and sacrament. He is not off in the distance but close by to help.
Notice the wonderful encouragement we have to continue in our life of faith and good works, as we wait for Jesus’ return on the Last Day: He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Notice, the Lord rejoices over our faith and good works. He sees His Church that He brought about and is full of profound joy. He is in our midst rejoicing in us and He will do so eternally. Advent—the Lord is in our midst: when He was born of Mary; He still is now; and will be eternally as we are with Him in heaven. INJ