Sermon - Populus Zion 2019 - Luke 21:25-36

How’s the weather? How’s your garden growing? Typically we consider those types of questions to be little more than filler conversation or small talk when we don’t know what else to talk about and we don’t like awkward silence. But they’re a little more than that. Conversations about the weather or gardens are universal topics, they’re conversation topics that affect everyone and so everyone has something to say about them. 

This time of year, during December, we’re often talking about how cold it is or how much snow and ice we’re getting, if it’s particularly windy and biting or not. If we get a sunny day, when it’s not too windy, even if we have a foot of snow on the ground and it’s 20 degrees out, we often say it’s a pretty nice day! 

But more often than not during winter we’re looking forward to spring. We’re counting down the days until March when we can go back outside without bundling up. More or less, winter is a time of waiting for spring and summer to arrive. 

Thus Jesus’ parable is really very relatable to us here in a cold winter climate. “And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” Jesus relates His second coming to spring and summer after a long winter. So while last Sunday we considered how Jesus’ coming to us right now brings us great joy, this week we’ll consider how the second coming of Christ brings us joy.

See, the life we live here on earth right now is like living in perpetual winter. In C.S. Lewis’ beloved children’s story, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis paints a picture of a world called Narnia in which it is always winter but never Christmas. It isn’t until the hero of the story, Aslan, returns, that the snow begins to melt and winter gives way to spring and Christmas. 

Likewise in our world today, it’s as if it’s always winter but never Christmas, at least not until Christ returns. What I mean by that is that this world, this life we live in now, is quite bleak and it will be until our hero, Christ, comes again. 

During winter what does the landscape look like? The trees and plants are leafless. The main colors outside are shades of brown and grey. Any old fruits and vegetables left outdoors are shriveled up and frozen. Everything looks dead. Sure we know many things are still alive, or at least we hope they are, they’re just dormant, asleep, but it doesn’t change the fact that life is at a minimum. 

Similarly, this world and this life is quite bleak, filled with shades of greys and browns. Everything looks dead. This is what sin does to our world and our lives. Even if it’s hotter than the sahara desert outside, this life is still bleak. While we talk of joy and happiness, we aren’t always happy and filled with joy. We struggle with depression and anxiety. We struggle with besetting sins. Our finances may not be what they need to be. We’re lonely and missing our loved ones. We’re sick and lying in bed. We’re dying and we’re waiting to die. 

In this bleak midwinter, it’s tempting to let our “hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.” But my friends, there is joy to be found in the second coming of Christ; there is joy to be found in the second Christmas when Christ will bodily descend to this earth again and put an end to this perpetual winter. Christ doesn’t lie: “the powers of the heavens will be shaken” and we “will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” 

The return of Christ and that second Christmas will be for us Christians a source of great joy! “When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” That’s not how a depressed and sad person presents themself, but one who is hopeful and filled with expectation of something beautiful and glorious! When your redemption comes, that means your Redeemer, Jesus Christ, comes! It means spring and summer, Christmas, has come! 

No longer will this world be bleak and colored with shades of grey and brown. Instead life will be bursting forth from all the earth in glorious majestic color! In that day it will be like the new spring for Noah and his family, stepping off of the ark into a new world just beginning to grow with the most colorful rainbow stretching across the entirety of the sky. 

For us Christians, the second coming of Christ is a most joyful thing! We pray in the common table prayer, “Come Lord Jesus…,” we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come…” It is for us a source of great joy and hope to look forward to Christ’s coming! “For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” 

Just as small children look forward to Christmas with such profound anticipation to unwrap their gifts, so should we all look forward to the second Christmas with the giddiness of a little child or the energy of a leaping calf! The night of weeping is almost over! The winter of lament will soon be melted away! Christ is coming and He’s coming soon!

The early Christian martyrs are said to have known this joy of Christ’s coming in a very profound manner. When they were being led away to be devoured by lions, or drawn and quartered, or burned at the stake, it’s said that they would dance and sing! Because they knew that very shortly they would see their Bridegroom, Jesus, face to face! They looked forward to their meeting of Jesus by singing and dancing! Likewise do we share the martyrs’ joy at the promise that Christ will return soon! 

These scriptures have been written “for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” The winter of our sin that we live in today is going to come to an end. Jesus already came in the past, at which time He was crucified and He redeemed you with His precious blood. Today He comes to us in His Word, in His body and blood, to be present with us now. One day, our Redeemer will come again as it has been prophesied, just as He said He would, and then He shall cause us all to stand. From our lowly sins, from our knees of repentance, from our sickbeds, from our graves, all of us shall stand to greet Him as our long expected King who shall put an end to this never ending winter! 

It’s just as Isaiah long foretold of that first Christmas: “The root of Jesse will come, even He who arises to rule the Gentiles; in Him will the Gentiles hope.” So shall it be for the second Christmas! The Messiah will return! In Him we have hope!

So today let us put off the works of darkness! Let us “stay awake at all times… to stand before the Son of Man.” Let us watch and keep vigil through the long winter, because our only hope is in Jesus. He alone is our Savior. He alone gives us purpose in life. He alone brings us together with Him so that we might not be left alone in the cold dark bleak midwinter.

This Advent, we count down the days to Christmas with both joy and penitence. Likewise, our whole life is like Advent, awaiting that final Christmas with joy and penitence, when we shall see our Savior, not as a little baby, but as our King who comes to save us! Once the 12th day of Christmas is past, don’t cease to be filled with the joy and anticipation of Christmas. This life is sad and like winter, but even so, we’re filled with hope like giddy little calves because spring is just around the corner. Look at the fig tree, and all the trees, see for yourselves and know that summer is already near! 

“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.”