Encore Post: They were ordinary days. The seaside resort of Pompeii was bustling with the daily activities of the luxurious retreat for the richest of Romans, escaping the pressures of the imperial capital of ancient Rome. That is until Mount Vesuvius buried it in ash for 1700 years. It was a lazy Sunday morning in Hawaii, slower than normal for a navy base — until Japanese bombs shattered Pearl Harbor that December 7, 1941. On a bright, lovely September morning, a pastor drove from downtown Fort Wayne, practicing a sermon for chapel on the first regular day of classes for Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne — a sermon he rewrote on the ride in as he learned airplanes had destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City that September 11, 2001. Life was normal — until the world changed.
On another ordinary day, when people will go about daily life as usual, eating, drinking, marrying, working in the field and in businesses, Jesus will return from Heaven. (Matthew 24:37-41) He will appear in the sky with the angel armies of Heaven and the souls of his people with him. Every eye will see him. He will send his angels to gather both those who are saved to meet him and the damned to be judged. ( Matthew 13:41, 49, Matthew 24:30-31) There will be no rapture, where Christ appears secretly to claim his own and leave the world in tribulation. This notion comes from a misunderstanding of the dispensationalists.
At that time, Jesus will break the seal of the grave forever. All people will rise from the dead in the great resurrection of the dead. All souls will be reunited with their bodies and Christ’s own will be transformed to be just like him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17) As much as great dread has been put in this day, it is for Christians, the most joyful day of all, even with the next event — the Last Judgment — coming. For the goal of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord is this day — when all is made right, we are restored to his image and we will shine like the stars in his kingdom. So, the Church has always prayed: Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
Encore Post: Many of our evangelical brothers and sisters are fascinated by Biblical prophecy. Seeing the evil around us, they are convinced that we are living in the very last years and months before Christ returns to raise the dead, bring an end to sin, death and the power of the devil, gather all in the final judgement and begin the marriage feast of the lamb that has no end. They are not alone — in every period, Christians were convinced they were living in such times — even St. Paul and Martin Luther!
What makes their view unique in the church’s history is they accept a theological view called Dispensationalism, a Christian school of thought that was born in the 1800s. It adopted the ancient view that Christ would reign on earth literally for 1000 years after he returned in glory. It set this view in a way of looking at history inspired by the 19th century cultural movement known as Romanticism. Dispensationalism was developed by Charles Nelson Darby, D. L. Moody and C. I. Scofield.
Dispensationalists believe God divided the world into seven dispensations (also called economies and administrations). In each age, God supposedly revealed himself in different ways. Salvation was offered according to different plans for each age (for example, under the Law of Moses, salvation was by works, but in the church age, by grace) and humans were held accountable to the set of rules for that age. They get to these views by treating at face value prophecies written in figurative and symbolic language and using the interpretations they discover to understand in a complex way the simple and clear words of Jesus and the apostles.
For them, this age will end when events predicted in prophecy occur. They look to current events to fulfill these prophecies, treating the Bible as a giant algebra problem. Some have used such calculations to predict end-time events. Among these are the rapture, when all true Christians will suddenly be removed from the world, leaving only unbelievers, the Tribulation, when they will be punished, and those who come to faith seeing these events are persecuted and the Millennium, when Christ and the church will rule the world a thousand years. Two problems with this: Christ promised he would return suddenly and the last judgement follows immediately (so the Bible is not an algebra problem) and these versions of a rapture, millennium and tribulation are not in the Bible.
Encore Post: Hope is another one of those words that is hard to pin down. In everyday English, it means something like a wish that something we very much want to happen will come true. There is something about it that makes us doubt we will be so lucky.
In the Bible, hope is different. Hope is something you have no doubt will happen, so much so that you can build your life on it. In theological terms, the Christian hope is the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Because it is God himself who promises these blessings, we can count on it and live our lives knowing it will happen. This is how Christians can suffer and die rather than deny their faith in Christ. It is why the burial service calls it “the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection of the dead.”
Why is the Christian Hope so sure and certain? First of all, because God himself promises it in his Word. Second, because Jesus proved that these promises by dying and rising again from the dead. So, he can be trusted to keep his promises that where he is, we will be also. For us, hope becomes reality when we die. He comes to bring us to be with him forever. Exactly what happens then is a mystery.
But this is just the beginning of the blessings kept safe in Heaven for us. On the last day, Jesus will return in glory and he will bring us with him. He will raise our bodies from the grave and change us to be like him. We will then be gathered before the throne and our names read from the Book of Life. We will then live with him forever in Paradise, where there is no more sorrow, crying, grief or pain. God will make everything new. He will bring us to the great marriage feast of the Lamb, which will never end. This great hope gives us joy even in suffering, since we know it will pass away.
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Being a hunter, I have been in the woods well before the break of day. It was on one such early morning before the sun broke forth that I heard one of the most awful sounds I have ever heard. As the sun was just beginning to illuminate the hillside, an owl swooped through and picked up a squirrel that had wandered from its resting place. It is what happens. Owls are predators, squirrels are prey. And the Owl hunts them down ruthlessly. You have probably seen this play out elsewhere. Coyotes chasing after deer. Animal Planet shows where the lions lie in wait to pounce on a zebra getting a drink at the local water hole on the savanna. It is what we know. There are some animals who are higher up on the food chain. Wolves eat lambs. Leopards, goats. Lions, calves.
But what we see in Isaiah 11 is that this is not going to always be the case. Lions will eat straw like the ox. A child will play over the den of the snake and not be bothered. Everything will be at peace with one another.
You look now and there is nothing but conflict, contention, unrest, and strife all around us. That squirrel on the hillside never stood a chance against that owl. And to throw it into our own circumstances, we are at war with one another and even at war with ourselves. We fight and bicker back and forth. Our words towards one another sting just as badly as a yellow jacket in the summer if not worse. Peace is something that just isn’t here, and what we read from Isaiah 11 sounds like a fairy tale more times than not because of the events we keep seeing play out in the world, our nation, state, and even our own streets. Then there is the spiritual war going on as well.
The context in which Isaiah’s prophesy comes is not much different than our own. Judah was in trouble because they had a crummy king in Ahaz and Ahaz was no believer in the Lord. The house of David was in shambles, so much so that the line of David is just a stump, barely alive if not by the grace of the Lord, who would bring about the new shoot, and we know who this shoot is.
But it’s this One whom Isaiah prophesied of that the remnant of believers hoped and longed for. They hoped for the type of peace spoken of in the imagery of Isaiah 11:6–9. A bear lying down next to cow. Wolves dwelling with lambs rather than making them their lunch. They longed for the day when spears would be beaten into plowshears.
The hostility we see in the world even in the realm of animals, reflects the greater hostility that is felt between us and God because of the innumerable sins we have committed against Him. We sinful human beings can only think of God as the big bad wolf who will chomp us to bits. A certain lion who roars seeking someone to devour will get us to believe that it’s not Him we should be worried about, but God who has said the sinner must die. Satan says it is God who we should be afraid of, that we should be afraid of the Lion that came from tribe of Judah. Satan loves to lie to you. But is that what God really wants? Does He desire the death of His people? Not at all.
He brings you salvation and peace by his blood. He poured it out at the cross that you might be brought near to God, being made His child. And now pours that blood into your very mouths at His Supper. Think of that, you are a member of the household of God for Christ’s sake and welcomed to His Table to eat the finest of foods. Fellowship that lasts forever. The angels rightly proclaim that peace was coming to men. Peace which only Jesus, the Son of God could give. It is a peace which you receive every time you come up to this altar to receive the body and blood which He gave up for you at the cross. And he speaks to you upon receiving this blessed Sacrament: Depart in my peace, knowing with all certainty that your sins are forgiven for my sake.
Knowing and believing that God is not out to get us and catch us like an owl hunting down a squirrel, we can be at peace knowing God’s love for us. And knowing and believing that we are peace with God, let us then be at peace with one another for Christ did not just come for you, but He came also for your neighbor. That you both may be fellow citizens together in God’s Kingdom. Fellow members of the household of God. So, you kneel together at this altar, confessing the same faith in Christ Jesus, trusting in his promises, receiving peace together. Build each other up knowing that you both have the same foundation: Jesus Christ. Do not fight and bicker with one another, but talk gently to one another. Speak kindly. Do not lie to one another. Do not steal one another’s honor or break down each other’s reputation. But rather build up fellow members of the Church of God. Be at peace with one another, for Christ has brought you into the state of peace with His heavenly Father.
The second candle of the advent is associated with the word peace. May we see that true peace, peace with God comes in the gift of God sending His beloved Son to the world that He might shed his blood at that we who were once far off would be brought near and bring an end to the hostility between Man and God once and for all. No longer separated but living in perfect peace for the sake of Christ our Lord.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
The Old Testament and Gospel lesson for today, Mark 13:24–27 go hand in hand with the imagery of what will take place on the day the Lord comes down. Can you imagine though for yourselves what all this would look like? What kind of terror would that cause? The sky literally being ripped out and something, someone, the very Son of Man coming down to earth just as He promised.
You might be asking for what reason or purpose does Isaiah and Israel desire their Lord to rend the heavens open and come down? To destroy God’s and their adversaries of course! The prayer of Isaiah goes on, “to make your name known to your adversaries and that the nations might tremble at your presence.”
Your adversaries. Think about that for a moment. An adversary is a person who gets in your way. One who opposes your way. One who impedes your will. The very people who pray this prayer with Isaiah have been the Lord’s adversaries and you also.
The season of Advent is one of preparation for the Lord’s coming. Of course, Advent comes in the church year right before Christmas. Many people think Advent is a season preparing for the birth of Jesus, how the son of God came in human flesh by being born of the Virgin Mary. In the age of fact checking, this is not entirely wrong, but its not completely correct either. Look at the readings for the season, and you will not get a story about the impending birth of Mary until the final Sunday of the season right before Christmas. The readings chosen via the lectionary committee and the church universal from generations past place a lot more emphasis on being prepared for the final coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You might say the final weeks of the church year and the first weeks of Advent have the same kind of tone. Be prepared and stay awake for you do no know when the Bridegroom/Master of the House will come.
Hence, why it is so interesting to return to Isaiah’s prayer in the Old Testament lesson today? Isaiah and Israel want their Lord to come back. And they want Him to return now. Wouldn’t that cause destruction, mass fear, and death? It is the Lord’s adversaries, those who do not listen to his word, that will face these things. But those whose trust in the Lord and hold the Word of Christ as precious this is a day to look upon with great joy and great anticipation. The Last Day for the Sheep of Christ, the good Shepherd is not going to be one of dread.
And so even though Israel, along with Isaiah, know themselves to have sinned greatly against the Lord their God and to be adversaries of the Lord. They were so evil the sight of their Lord they were kicked out of the land that the Lord had promised to their fathers and we see them plead with God for mercy for He is their Father. They plead to Him to not hold on to their sin in anger forever. Yes, they chased after false gods, worshiped them inside the house of the Lord. And God was indeed angry, and rightfully He disciplined them. He chastised them and sent them packing. He sent first the Assyrians then the Babylonians to beat the city of Jerusalem into oblivion. But in the preaching of the prophets like Isaiah, warning them of the wrath to come for their sins as well as the events themselves taking place to fulfil the promised wrath, God was working to turn the hearts of his people from their sin and back to Him that they might know and receive mercy. And to Him they turn, pleading for mercy even as they look forward to the last day.
Sin is open rebellion against the Lord God. When we do not take our Lord’s words to heart and do not follow them, we sin against God and those commanded to proclaim His Word. We might want to think God is merely joking about the fire that will come upon the earth, that He will do neither good nor bad to us. We have been lulled to sleep, being led by Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh that this world is all we have. That there is nothing else, so as one company had as their slogan for many a year: “Just do it.” It won’t matter. You only live once, and you better live it up. Carpe Diem, Seize the Day. We have seen the fruit of Satan, good to our eyes, and also with the so-called ability to make one wise, we, like Eve, took and ate of it. And into sin and open rebellion we did fall. We openly fight against the coming of the Kingdom of God. We are God’s adversaries fully deserving of punishment, death, and hell. We need the proclamation of God’s Law. We need to have God’s name made known to us. To make us tremble but also that we might be saved from the fires of eternal destruction.
And that is what is so wonderful. God’s name has been made known to us. When He did awesome things which we did not look for. When He came down not in judgement but in grace, He came born of the Virgin, as He promised He would, to be with us. To be Immanuel. To be our savior, who would go to the cross, to do that thing we did not expect. To announce His favor upon us. There at the cross mercy was poured out on the all the world. The very Son of God came down to save us. To remove our iniquities and the iniquities of all people because we are all God’s people. Indeed, we were all unclean because of our sins but the Son of Man came down to make us clean in His own blood. Washing us clean, making us pure before His heavenly Father.
And so, we pray with wonderful prophet Isaiah, yes Lord come down! Come down now! Make all things right! Your people are being hurt and persecuted. Your saints are being put to death for Your name. Congregations can’t meet. Your people can’t sing your praise. Yes, Lord come down and save us. Take us to be with You.
The Lord has not yet seen it fit to come down. We are told to wait and make known His deeds among the peoples. One thing we are told not do: we are not wait without hope, nor are we to wait without being strengthened during this time of waiting. He gives you every good gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what does He give? He gives you His Word. He gives you His Promise that He will indeed grant you mercy for sake of Him who died for you. Though you may feel that you eaten the bread of tears, He will lift up his face upon you that you may be saved. And He has done so. He has come bearing your sin all the way to the cross. And now he feeds you with the bread of heaven, His own body and blood in His Supper. He gives you the water of life to drink. It is a deep well that never goes dry. His Words will not pass away.
Jesus tell us to stay awake. But let’s face it, we will fall asleep. We will not hold Christ’s word in highest esteem all the time. We will fight against our brothers and our sisters. We won’t stand up for the reputation of the man being gossiped about. We will not fully love and honor our spouses as we ought. We who trust in Christ will still fall into temptation and sin. The Spirit may be willing but our flesh is weak and unable to stay awake for coming of Christ. But we know how our Lord sees us. He sees us as His Own. For we are His own creation, purchased and won by the work of Christ Jesus at the Cross, who rose from the dead, ascended to right hand of God the Father, and who will come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead. And He continues to call us to be near where His gifts are that we might receive them often. Just like keeping oil in your lamps, be near the sellers of oil. For we do not know the day or the hour.
So come to this table. Come be refreshed be wakened again. Be strengthened in these last days. May the Lord rend the Heavens and come down soon as Isaiah prays. We are no longer adversaries, but have been made sons and daughters for the sake of the One who has come, Who comes presently in Word and Sacrament, and the Who has promised to come on the final day. We can see the sign of the times. Things are pointing to Christ’s return. The fig tree is ready. The fruit just hasn’t set yet. Jesus warns the world to be ready. He warns us, his Church, to not lose heart, nor to be weary in the time of waiting. Trust His Word for it is true. And it will come to pass just as He says it will. Let us be sustained by His Word and Sacraments as we wait for that day when we shall see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory that we may be saved and brought to live with Him in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
