Advent 2
Beloved. What a contrast we find between these first two weeks of Advent. Advent means “coming” and so in Advent we remember Jesus’ coming to us—past, future and present. Last week we heard of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding on the back of a young donkey, in all lowliness and humility in order to, in just a few days, suffer and die for the sins of the world. All this was in fulfillment of the OT prophecy: Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
But then we have this Sunday’s Gospel, which are Jesus’ words describing the events leading up to the Last Day, the day in which He will come to judge the living and the dead and put an end to history and time as we know it:
There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth nations will be in anguish, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the surging waves, people fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
With power and great glory—what a huge contrast between with Jesus’ first coming: humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey! But yet both are true. One thing this points out to us is that when Jesus came the first time in lowliness and humility, He could be rejected and He was! When Jesus comes on the Last Day with power and great glory, He cannot be rejected but comes as the holy and almighty Judge, whose word and verdict cannot and will not be undone. The point is this: when Jesus comes to us today—and He does in His holy word and Sacrament—He still comes in all lowliness and humility. As He comes to us in word, water, bread and wine, He can be very easily rejected. Let us be on guard, lest we reject His humble and lowly coming to us now, reject His gentle voice calling to us in His word to repent of our sin and to come to Him for forgiveness of sin. Otherwise, we will have to face Him as our strict and stern Judge when He comes with power and great glory and then it will be too late. Rejoice that Jesus has come and comes to you now in all lowliness and humbleness. We poor sinners can now approach Him in love and receive the gifts He wants to give us. And the wonderful thing is that as we, by faith, receive Jesus now as He comes to us in all lowliness in His word and sacrament, we then, in and by that same faith, will look for and long for His coming on the Last Day when He comes with power and great glory for then the Judge is also our Savior.
The wonderful thing for us is that we can be certain of our promised salvation. We need never doubt whether we are saved, whether our sins are forgiven us and heaven is opened to us. That’s what Jesus did when He came for us/ for our good/ for our benefit humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. By His holy life and His innocent suffering and death as He took our sins on Himself to the cross and suffered in our place for them, Jesus reconciled us sinners to the holy God, obtained for us the forgiveness of sin, opened heaven to us. That reconciliation, that forgiveness, that promise of an open heaven He now offers us and gives us as He comes to us in His holy word and sacrament. In holy Baptism He came to us, washed away our sins and clothed us with His holiness and righteousness. He gives us that forgiveness and peace in the holy absolution as through the pastor Jesus says: I forgive you all your sin. He gives us that same forgiveness and peace as in the Holy Supper, He gives us His very body and blood which carried our sins to the cross and which was poured out for our forgiveness. There can be no doubt of our forgiveness and reconciliation with God as we receive Jesus’ very body and blood into ourselves.
In our text from the OT prophet St. Isaiah, we also see the certainty of the salvation the Lord has promised us. Here St. Isaiah records the Messiah’s words:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished.
In short, the point is this: even though the sky, universe, earth all seem so solid and secure, they will all disappear and wear out; the only thing remaining and enduring is the salvation Jesus won for us and gives us, and His holy righteousness that He gives us. Therefore, do not doubt your salvation that the Lord has given you and promised you.
Do you long for heaven and your eternal salvation, to be with the holy Triune God, the holy angels and all the saints? Then lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. Look up and around you at the created universe; it gives the impression of endless stability. One generation follows the other without interruption; to the human mind it seems firmly established as if things will always be this way. This is another example of God using the creation to preach to us. So again: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. And yet, even though they seem to be so solid and so fixed, what does the Messiah/ the preincarnate Jesus go on to say in our text? For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner. As certain and fixed and solid and secure that heaven and earth seem to be, they will more quickly vanish away/ disperse/ grow old/ die out than our salvation and righteousness in Jesus, which is certain and secure and eternal.
This is picked up in Jesus’ words in the Gospel. He speaks about the end of the world and the signs leading up to it—which are nothing other than indications that the universe will vanish away like smoke, that the earth is wearing out like a garment. Each natural disaster that we hear of, each “not normal” or extraordinary event or catastrophe that we hear of or experience is a reminder to us of that Last Day is coming, that the earth and universe are “winding down.” This seemingly endless stability of the universe and world turns out to be a charade; it is neither stable, nor endless. For those whose life is focused and centered on this world, this is cause for great fear, anxiety—as Jesus says in the Gospel:
There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth nations will be in anguish, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the surging waves, people fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
In contrast to that, though, the Christian hears Jesus’ words in our text: but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished. Here we are greatly comforted: heaven and earth and all that is in it—all that seems so solid and stable—may go away, wear out, be completely destroyed but our salvation in Jesus is certain and sure and eternal; His salvation and righteousness will endure throughout eternity! That’s why Jesus can say in the Gospel: But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.
Again, how does the creation around us preach to us? It preaches to us as it gives the impression of firmness and endurance but at the same time it points us away from itself—especially when we see natural catastrophes—to something that is truly enduring and eternal: our Lord’s salvation and righteousness. That means what? –Our promised salvation in Jesus is more certain than the created universe:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished.
And ponder this a moment! The Lord created the universe and world and all in it in 6 days. That’s His power! And He did it merely by His word. He can make it and He can make it disappear, vanish away like smoke. And by His almighty word He promises and gives us His salvation and His righteousness. Nothing can undo or void His word. Not only is this promise the word of God Almighty Himself, it is rooted and grounded in the work of Jesus—His holy life and His innocent suffering and death. This promise is certain because Jesus defeated our spiritual enemies of sin, death, devil and hell—He rose again from the dead on Easter and ascended into heaven. The word of the almighty God that declares us forgiven our sin in Jesus and righteous in Him—that same word that created everything—cannot/ will not be voided. God’s promise to us of an eternal salvation and eternal righteousness cannot be hindered by His enemies. He has His word go out into all the world to give that salvation and righteousness; and by that same word He creates faith to receive it—like He did in each one of us, dear Christian.
But that My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished is an article of faith. When we look up and see the world and created universe around us that seem so solid and sure, it is a matter of faith to believe that God’s salvation and righteousness are true, are for me—after all it is just some words, but it is the word and promise of God, grounded on His work for us in Jesus. Nothing seems more feeble than the word, voice, sound, water, bread, wine—but that word and promise of God of our salvation is so great that in comparison heaven and earth are regarded as nothing; they will, after all, vanish away like smoke, [and] grow old like a garment. Even though our promised salvation is more certain than the created universe, it requires an immeasurable faith but which God Himself gives us to believe and receive.
Remember, unlike the universe and world that seem so permanent but aren’t, our promised salvation is eternal. Yes, our salvation began the moment the Holy Spirit first brought us to faith in Jesus—for most of us that was at the moment of Holy Baptism. Now, throughout our earthly life, we live our lives as Christians— united with the Lord by faith and baptism, in the fear and love of Him, with the Holy Spirit leading, guiding and empowering us to live a life of faith and good works, regularly receiving Jesus, bodily/ uniting with Him, in the Holy Supper. We have received the divine promise and divine gifts; we have received Jesus, in fact, the whole Triune God who is dwelling in us, making His home in us. –How can that end? How can it not be eternal? My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished, Jesus tells us in our text through Isaiah. We have eternal life, salvation, righteousness, now and there will be a heavenly completion of our redeemed life, that is, we, dear Christian, will be eternally in heaven in both soul and glorified body. The thing is My salvation … and My righteousness are not abstract things. The Lord’s salvation and righteousness are carried out expressly and concretely as His dear Christians, whom He rescued here on earth from sin, death, devil and hell, are brought soul and glorified body into heaven eternally on the Last Day/ the day of Jesus’ return.
Now, dear Christian, our lives lived here on earth, are a preparation for eternity. We live in the time when Jesus has already come in all lowliness and humility to be our Savior, to be our righteousness and bring us salvation; we live in the time that Jesus continues to come to us in His in His holy word and sacrament to bring us to faith and strengthen us in the faith as we look ahead and long for His coming on the Last Day when He will bring His dear Christians soul and body into the glorious eternity of heaven.
With Advent upon us, let us use it as a season of penitence, preparation and prayer and Lift up [our] eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner; [And when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near]…My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished. INJ Amen