Sermon - Advent 2 - Luke 21:25-36 - 2017

The sound of a door opening and closing, of keys being hung on a hook, of large footsteps drawing near. When my son David hears those sounds, before he even sees my face I hear him call out “daddy!” as he gets up and runs to the door to greet me. He knows the signs of my coming, and with joy he looks forward to my arrival, at least for now. 

But those signs of father coming home aren’t always met with joy. One winter afternoon while my dad was at an auction, I was throwing a ball around in the kitchen when it knocked an antique cookie jar off the soffit. My mom walked in the room and told me I’ll have to explain it to dad when he got home. So when the signs of his coming appeared, my only reaction was fear because I knew I was in trouble.

Likewise the signs of the Son of Man coming again are everywhere! There are wars and rumors of wars with North Korea, Russia, the Islamic State. Our world is polluted with trash both on land, sea, and air. Mass killings are regularly in the news. Our cemeteries aren’t getting any smaller. Animals are going extinct. “The powers of the heavens” are being shaken in front of us while the world is falling apart. The world can’t go on forever like this. We don’t know when it’s going to end, but we do know that the end is coming. In the words of the second Elijah, John the Baptist, “Repent! For the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

The terrible signs that the end is coming are everywhere, so rejoice! The end is near, rejoice! Your salvation has been won, rejoice! “See the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” The judgement day for you is a day to rejoice, like my little David does, and it’s a day to look forward to with great anticipation “because your redemption is drawing near.” 

For the unbelievers, judgement day is “distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the seas and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.” When unbelievers see the signs of the end they cower and panic in fear because they know they’re in trouble. And rightly so, because the signs are terrifyingly horrific. War! War with all of its evils, destroying homes and families. Storms that tear apart creation. Divorce that rips families apart. Death that divides the soul from the body and the person from their loved ones. All of these signs of Creation being utterly destroyed before our eyes reminds us that the end is near, and it causes great fear in the hearts of unbelievers.

But not so for you dear Christians. “When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads… watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down… 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.” 

Yes, when wars strike, storms rage, divorces separate, and death bites, lift up your eyes to the hills for “the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” The Son of Man is coming in a cloud with power and great glory, Jesus is coming, your redemption is drawing near! Your Jesus comes to buy you back from Adam’s wages of death. O Daughter of Zion, Jesus has paid your ransom with His blood on Calvary and He will come to save you from the pit of destruction on the day of judgement.

The day of judgement for you is like spring after a long, cold, dark, depressing winter. “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that summer is already here.” The coming of the Lord for us Christians is like the excitement that springs up in your heart when the snow begins to melt, the grass begins to green, and the buds begin to fatten. “You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”

How exhilarating it is to know that Jesus who is seated on the throne declares “Behold, I am making all things new.” “Heaven and earth will pass away,” and the Lord shall rebuild for us a new heaven and a new earth that shall never pass away. Judgment day ushers in a new creation. 

All of God’s creation will be remade anew. The trees will be mightier, the birds will sing brighter, the storms will be stilled, and the stupid mosquitoes will quit biting. But it’s not just the world around you that changes; all of creation will be changed, you will be changed. No more foxholes will be dug for wars, parents won’t argue over which weekend they get with their children in divorces, never again will we slave over living wills as we prepare for death. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet shall sound, and the dead be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

But in the midst of such change, one thing remains unchanged both now and in the new creation: the Word of the Lord will not pass away. In this life with the signs of the end ever present, creation slipping away and changing with every passing fad of our sinful hearts, it’s tempting to join the unbelievers in their fear. It’s easy for our “hearts to be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life.” It’s tempting to stop truthfully praying: Come, Lord Jesus.

Repent. Advent is a penitential season, so take some time today on your own to examine your heart. Look, see your willingness or hesitancy for the Lord’s Judgement day to come. Why do you fear it? What causes that fear? Then pray, pray “that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” 

Pray that the Lord would spare you from the signs of His coming, because they are terrible and they will cause you much suffering. Even Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that the Father would take the cup from Him. Obviously the Father didn’t take the cup, and Jesus must have known He wouldn’t. But His suffering was still horrible, His cross was still painful, and so are the sufferings and crosses we must each bear. So follow the example of Christ and bring that to the Lord in prayer, plead for His mercy and beg for His strength. He commands you to pray, He wants you to pray. Our precious Father in heaven wants to hear the voices of His children who suffer because He wants to give you comfort and console you in your sorrows. As you suffer from your daily crosses, never cease to pray to your holy Father.

The Lord has given us all crosses to bear, signs of His coming, none easier nor harder than others’, just different. Therefore I urge you as the body of christ to bear with one another in each other’s crosses. The Lord has given you a family in Christ in the church to uplift you and carry you through your burdens. He has given you one another and the mutual consolation of the brethren, so don’t neglect this great gift.

Just as the Lord has given you the gift of the church, so the Lord sends you His word to encourage you, strengthen you, and give you endurance to remain until His coming. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” 

The Son of Man is coming and until He arrives the signs of His coming are going to be quite miserable and it’s only going to get worse. Your crazy old uncle who keeps insisting things are worse today than in his day is right! The morality of our world is worsening. The faithful Christians are dwindling. Things may only get harder, too! Who knows what may happen! The glaciers could melt and our coasts would be flooded. North Korea could have more nuclear weapons than anyone assumes and attack us. The government could make it even harder to be Christian. The signs of Jesus’ coming are only going to get worse the closer we get.

But you will endure. God promises. The Lord will give you strength to stand before the Son of Man. The Holy Spirit gives you the faith to pray Come, Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord will come again, He comes to you this day through the power and glory of His Word. His Word will give you the endurance to stay awake in these last dark days.

His Word comes to you to give you hope as you’ve learned today. His Word comes to you and fills you with all joy and peace in believing. Though all the world will fall away, God’s Word shall yet remain. Grass and flower fade, but the Word of our God shall endure forever. You have been given something eternal, something that abides unto the end: namely, the very words of Jesus. And if Jesus’ Word abides in you, so shall you abide unto the end. His Word will preserve you as you are salted in it in baptism and the holy supper.

The Word of God will keep you and preserve you until Jesus comes again. And Jesus doesn’t just give you a little bit, He fills you with His Word. Our cup overflows with the praises of the Lord so that we might sing to His name, rejoice with His people, and extol His marvelous deeds! Like my little Son David who rejoices when He hears his father coming, we join together and rejoice when we see the signs of our heavenly Father coming! 

Jesus promises “Surely I am coming soon.” My dear friends, don’t hesitate to answer His promise, praying Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”