Advent 1--Midweek
We are in that blessed, glorious season of Advent. This wonderful season of the Church Year is to prepare us for that high and holy joy of Christmas, to welcome the coming of the Son of God when He came to this earth in all humility, born of the Virgin. Advent prepares us to hear once again that most glorious announcement of the angel that first Christmas [Lk. 2.11]: There is born for you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
So here we see that great difference between the way the world around us spends its time getting ready for Christmas and the way the Church and her dear Christians prepare for Christmas. What do we see in the way the world prepares for Christmas? All sorts of busyness—shopping, buying, baking, parties, decorating; all sorts of “extras” above and beyond the normal hectic pace of life people usually have. Very often it’s the case people are tired of Christmas before it actually gets here; they get “burned out.” And, yes, even as Christians we get sucked into the way the world prepares for Christmas; we get wrapped up in the buying and presents and all the extras.
But we are here in the Lord’s house this evening. That means that we know that there is something more; that all that sort of preparation is not enough—that is, the right and proper preparation. We recognize what the world senses but cannot or does not want to see/ admit. And that’s this: all these external preparations—as nice and traditional as they may be—do not really prepare for Christmas; there’s that sense that something is “missing”, that feeling on Christmas: “That’s it?” We dear Christian want/ have that fullness of Christmas joy and therefore—Advent.
Advent is a season of repentance. It’s not that strong season of repentance like Lent but it is a time of general quiet reflection and penitence. The short dark days we are in, lend themselves to this as we are reminded of the darkness of our sin and the darkness of sin contaminated world we live in. The longer darkness of the days we are in, give opportunity for and are a call to self-examination and prayer and penitence. This is the best preparation for Christmas and to hear the announcement that our Savior has been born. And think about it: who is better prepared for Christmas and grasps what it is really all about? –The one who has spent the entire 4 weeks before in outward preparations, which are often either aggravating or mind-numbing; or the one who has, yes, prepared outwardly but whose main focus was on prayer and repentance? Which one will long all the more to hear: There is born for you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Which one do you want to be?
The Church has for many centuries used our text as a cry/ call of Advent: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation. It is a fascinating verse that was originally intended to be a comfort to the Israelites who had been dragged away from their homeland into captivity in the foreign country of Babylon. They were there because of their sin. They had fallen away from faith in the true God and worshipped false gods. Through the prophets, the Lord called on them to repent and return to Him. But they wouldn’t. So as punishment God sent in the Babylonians to conquer the Israelites, destroy Jerusalem and the temple and expel them from the Promised Land. Languishing in captivity in a foreign land as punishment for their sin, the people certainly felt their sin and their lack of righteousness.
And that’s us, too, in our time of quiet reflection and repentance. We feel our sin and our lack of righteousness. We see how greatly we have sinned against God and that by our very sins we have separated ourselves from God and have shut ourselves out of heaven. We recognize our sin earn us nothing but His wrath and damnation. That’s the point of examination of conscience—that we recognize our sin and their consequences.
When we see that we ourselves lack the righteousness that God expects and demands of us, we sorrow over our sin and our unrighteousness. We long for and yearn for righteousness. And that’s why we cry out: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation. We want and need righteousness. By all our works and strivings—no matter how good, no matter how holy we may look outwardly—we are not in and of ourselves righteous. If we are to be reconciled to God/ if heaven is to be opened to us, we need a different righteousness; we need a righteousness from above/ a righteousness from God Himself! As the Israelites in captivity felt their sin and unrighteousness, so, too do we when we hold up our lives to the light of God’s holy law; or maybe we don’t have to—maybe our conscience is already accusing/ pointing out to us our sin and guilt. Advent is the perfect time for this examination and recognizing our lack of righteousness; Advent is the time for us to cry out: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness and seek God’s perfect righteousness. And then our hearts will be longing to hear the Christmas Gospel that Jesus, the Lord our Righteousness, has come!
Notice something very subtle but very beautiful in this cry: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation. It mentions both the rains coming down from the heavens and the earth receiving the rains and that together they bring forth salvation. This joining of the heavenly and the earthly—this is a picture/ image of Jesus, the One born that first Christmas! Because Jesus came—the righteous and holy God from heaven—and became also true man there is now salvation, that is, there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life for us! Luther comments here about our verse: Mainly this [verse] concerns the Messiah…In Christ, heaven and earth, that is, the divine and human natures are personally united; He redeemed the human race from spiritual slavery and restored the lost salvation, righteousness and blessedness [Weimar].
Our verse is a subtle but beautiful description of what happened that first Christmas, the incarnation. It uses the simple image of rain coming from the heavens to the earth. That’s exactly what happened with the incarnation: Righteousness came down from heaven—the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity—came down to the earth, and became also true man in the womb of the Virgin. The angel told Mary [Lk 1.35]: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now, in the Person of Jesus, the divine and human natures are united—Jesus is the God-man. And He is our Savior.
As true God, Jesus is perfectly holy and righteous. That means that He could and did live a life completely without sin; He is unable to sin. And because He is true man, that means that Jesus could be our Substitute and for us and in our place fulfill all righteousness. That means that He, the Lord Jesus, is our Righteousness. That very righteousness that we lack, Jesus fulfilled; that very law of God that we break, Jesus perfectly obeyed for us. Each sin that we commit, each sin we uncover as we examine our heart and life according to God’s holy Law, each sin that our conscience accuses us of and condemns us of—that part of God’s law Jesus has perfectly kept for us. The law that God has given us people to keep—and which we break day in and day out—that Law Jesus has kept for us, because as true man He could be our Substitute; and as true God He is holy and righteous. And of the very unrighteousness and sin that we are guilty of and which God, as a holy and just God must punish, Jesus, because He is also true man, has become our Substitute and has taken on Himself and went to the cross loaded down with the sin of the world. St. Paul tells us [2 Cor. 5.21]: [God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. During our time of quiet Advent reflection and repentance, recognizing our sin and lack of righteousness, we long all the more for Christmas and the announcement that our Savior has come, that He who is our righteousness has come. In the meantime we cry out in Advent in longing anticipation: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation.
In Jesus heaven and earth are united—that rain from heaven and that open earth. And what happens in the world when there is rain and ground to receive rain? There’s a rich and abundant harvest/ rich and abundant growth. The same thing here! When Jesus comes that first Christmas, when heaven and earth are united in Him, the God-man, here He comes bringing salvation, bringing rich and abundant salvation. Look at that picture the Lord uses in our text: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. He uses the image of rain, a rain of righteousness. That’s a beautiful description of abundance: raining down/ pouring down. This is a tremendous comfort to us. Here we see not only that rich fullness of Jesus’ righteousness, the righteousness of the very God Himself, but we also see that He richly and abundantly gives us His righteousness. This is not just a drop or two of rain, but a rich pouring down/ raining down of righteousness. That means that there is more than enough righteousness/ forgiveness to cover our sin. Because Jesus gives us His full and abundant righteousness—the very righteousness of God Himself—that means that no matter how grave or severe our sin/ no matter how much our conscience bothers and accuses us, that sin is covered with the perfect righteousness of Jesus; it is forgiven; in Jesus we are reconciled to God and heaven stands open to us. Where there is this rich and abundant righteousness given us in Jesus, there is salvation.
Think how wonderful and glorious this blessedness of righteousness and salvation are! We hear the words of the Holy Absolution: I forgive you all your sins… There we are forgiven our sin and given Jesus’ perfect righteousness in place of our own far from perfect righteousness. And something else wonderful happens, not only does God grant us the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake but He also sends the Holy Spirit to refresh us and renew us by His gifts. With the Holy Spirit in us, we then strive all the more to do the Lord’s will. We love Him that He came to be our Savior, that for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven. Now, as Christians, and led by the Holy Spirit, we follow His leadings and promptings as He strengthens us in a life of faith and good works. And here, as weak and imperfect as it may be, the Holy Spirit is leading us in a life of righteousness. Here as Jesus still comes to us, He comes refreshing us by His holy word and sacrament. Solomon describes Jesus’ coming to us this way in his psalm [72.6]: He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
Our cry this and every Advent is: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation. Jesus has come to be our righteousness and salvation. In Him heaven and earth are united. And He continues to come to us to lead us in a life of righteousness and salvation. INJ Amen