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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Advent is about being ready. I think we know that. Our readings starting last week remind us of this. Last week we heard about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This week we hear about the coming of the Son of Man. Next week we’ll hear Jesus speak about John the Baptist, the Elijah to come, that Malachi prophesied to us about today and so on.
And this morning, I think we hear some things in our lessons and even in our hymnody that can be somewhat distressing, at least at times, words about the day of judgment, the return of Christ, and what that moment will be like. And I’m not sure that we actually think a lot about it as we go about our busy lives, especially during this season, this time of the year, when we have a lot of things competing for our attention. We have all sorts of obligations and commitments going on. There are decorations and Christmas trees to be put up. There are parties to go to. There’s shopping to be done if you’re into that. And so it’s easy to get consumed with all the things going on and not really think much about the reality of the Advent of Christ and what it really means.
And I say this because I think it’s from my own attitude about this, as one who didn’t grow up in a Christian tradition that recognized and much less emphasized the church seasons, the church year. So as a new Lutheran many years ago, I was quite pleased to discover Advent. Because I spent many years thinking of it in terms of getting ready for Christmas. It’s like extra Christmas. But we know that’s not quite accurate. Yeah, we look towards the celebration of the birth of Christ, but more so we Christians look for his return in glory. And as we hear today, this will also be a return in judgment, and that can certainly be distressing to some. Because it’s not just that he will come in judgment, but we hear this description of what the manner of this return will be.
We hear both this morning from the book of Malachi and from the evangelist St. Luke. The latter has words from Jesus that are sometimes referred to as the little apocalypse for its content. And it’s not a pretty sight. From the prophet Malachi, we hear that the day of the Lord is going to come burning like an oven, and that evildoers will be set ablaze, and they will be made to be ashes. Our Lord Jesus says that people will be fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. This isn’t simply like some fainting from dehydration or heat exhaustion. No, it’s going to be more like dying of shock at death, the complete and utter loss about what to do, how to respond when they realize their condition. They will be, as we say, deeply wailing.
And this is all going to come without any kind of immediate warning. There won’t be these emergency alert sirens going off. You won’t hear that annoying beeping coming from your phone. There won’t be anybody to say, okay, look busy, Jesus is coming. No, there won’t be time to prepare either as if I think about this watching the news on Christmas Eve and they’re telling you how it’s already Christmas Day in Australia. No, it won’t start there and work its way toward us. Jesus tells us otherwise. It will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. So no, there won’t be reports that the second coming of Christ is imminent. But there will be signs. In fact, there have always been signs. Jesus says this. There will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth, distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the seas and the waves.
And so there will be these signs in creation. And we’ve seen them because creation itself has been groaning for its own release, for its bondage to corruption, as Paul writes. All these natural disasters that were never intended to be. And as to more signs, there will be wars, there will be division between nations, there will be false teachers, there will be the persecution of the church, and so on. All these things that, of course, we see going on today and all the signs to tell us that the end is coming soon, that the day is drawing near. And I think that what you confess about this, whether you actually believe it or not, it really informs whether or not you think about it, whether or not you concern yourself with its reality.
And I think we can come to this and have several different views of this. There are several of them. The first, I think, are those who are really indifferent about all of it. Now, we might first think, well, this is the unbeliever, of course. They’re indifferent about all of this. But I think we’ll see otherwise in a moment. It’s not just the unbelievers. Now, it is true that people who don’t believe in God don’t accept that he is the creator, and they certainly won’t accept that he’s the destroyer, and they also, of course, don’t believe that Christ died for sinners, and that he is going to come to return to judge the living and the dead.
And these people, I think, are what Jesus is describing as this generation in Luke. That is, those who have seen the signs, they’ve seen his signs, he’s been working his miracles, but they aren’t paying any heed. They’ve heard the gospel, but they won’t listen, they won’t believe, and so these people think that they really have nothing to fear about the end of the world because it’s really pointless. You’ve heard it said we just fade to black and we turn to dust or we turn into some kind of spirit animal or something like that, that our lives are inconsequential in terms of eternity.
There are also those who are indifferent about what will happen at the end of the world, but they are convinced that if it does happen, it’s going to come about because of man’s negligence and his exploitation of the earth itself. I think we could call these the prideful, the arrogant ones that Malachi talks about, who don’t believe in God who created the world and everything in it, but they’re convinced that man can somehow take responsibility for it. Yes, of course, we are called to be stewards of creation, but its destruction is not going to come about because of our abdication of any of those responsibilities of stewardship. And so some of these people begin to look for alternatives. Well, let’s just look for other places to colonize. Let’s go to the moon or let’s go to Mars. That way we can escape this coming man-made apocalypse.
But for both of these views, the end of the world is simply a cataclysmic event. It’s devoid of any spiritual consequence. And so they really don’t concern themselves with thinking about it other than thinking that it’s inevitable. And so instead, they look for ways to possibly avoid being subjected to it. But I think there are some who actually believe, believe in Christ, and believe in the spiritually eternal consequences of His coming. So I think we find a few believers in that camp. But they think, I think they’ve bought into what we call this soft antinomianism.
Now this could be its own sermon series or its own Bible study, so we don’t want to get too deep into the day, but let’s just understand that it’s concerned with how the Christian is to live because of Christ and the gospel. It suppresses or softens the law because when we preach the law, we’re preaching legalism. And so unfortunately at times this can lead to some Christians having the attitude sort of of eat, drink and be merry. I’m saved, it doesn’t really matter how I act. Now we often find this outside the Lutheran Christian tradition, but it has certainly been with us since the beginning.
We have words to tell us otherwise. We hear from Malachi today that the priests are to remember the law of my servant Moses that I commanded for all Israel. That’s not just then, that’s for us today, and that means this is for the church. The law is still to be preached. Christ himself is teaching this again today in the temple. Watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation, that is indulgence, with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. And Jesus’ words there are directed to those who would follow him. They’re directed to us. And so we Christians also, we have been warned about carelessness and indifference concerning that day.
Now, I think some believers thinking about the day of judgment actually think on it with a sense of maybe sadness or perhaps even disappointment. Right? We were talking about this the other night, and that sounds really strange to people, and I’m not sure how I can even be possible, but I have to confess that even I myself have thought this out, so hear me out. Oftentimes, when we think of this, we think, you know, I really want Jesus to return, but I’ve got a lot of things I need to get done. I haven’t graduated from high school or college. I haven’t gotten married yet. I’m waiting on a promotion at work. I don’t have grandkids. I haven’t retired or any other life achievement that is as of yet unfilled. And sometimes if things are going great, we really kind of want to bask in what we have going on in our prosperous moment. And in some weird way, we just can’t really fathom how heaven is going to be that much better.
But unfortunately, if we think about leaving it behind, that we dwell on what we would lose, then we become like the rich ruler who Jesus said must give up everything to be his disciple. We know how that turned out. And so we simply cannot love our things more than we have a desire to be free, to be free and rid of sin for good. And last, I think there are some others who might be sad because they don’t expect that someone that they know and love is going to repent in time or that they’re even going to come to faith. And unfortunately, we hear these false teachings about that, about there will be this time for making up for it, and that somehow we give people a false sense of hope in that, that there’s going to be a second chance.
And there are various heresies about this. Again, could be an entire Bible study series. But to believe this, to teach this, is to deny Jesus’ very words. In Luke chapter 13, he says, “Once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, there will be those who stand outside and knock but he will say to them I do not know where you come from.” So there are no second chances; there is not going to be Jesus saying ready or not here I come. But lastly, in this group is where we should want to be. There are those who anticipate his return with joy, and of course, this is the attitude that all Christians should have except unfortunately, as we see, our sinful nature tends to get in the way.
And so we may ask, well, so how can we have joy in thinking on this? How can we be ready? How can we prepare ourselves to meet our Lord? How can we get past the fears of the uncertainty of that moment and truly and joyfully wait and watch for? I think it’s pretty simple. We hear it in our scriptures today, and that is to remain in the word. Everything we heard from the scriptures should give us joy and the confidence of knowing how we will be found on that day. St. Paul tells us the very thing about Scripture. He says, “through encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.” And he’s specifically talking here about the Gentiles who now have this hope of Israel because they have been blessed through Israel. And it is through God’s people that we have been blessed and that we do rejoice.
And that hope that we have, as he says, is in the root of Jesse, the son of David, Christ himself. Christ has his own words about how we are to have this joy and being ready for him. He says, “straighten up and raise your heads when these things begin to take place.” Because your redemption is drawing near. Now I know we are used to bowing in humbleness and reverence before Jesus. And yet on that day, we will stand and we will have the strength we need to stand before the Son of Man. And lastly, Malachi tells us that those who do fear the Lord’s name will be met with the Son of righteousness.
And when we bask in this warming light of Christ, we will go out leaping like calves from the stall. Now, if you’ve never driven out in the countryside and seen calves at play, you should do so. Because you simply cannot be sad or angry when you see that. And that’s how our joy should be when we think of the return of Christ in glory. So, dear Christians, today Advent isn’t merely about looking toward the coming celebration of Christmas. It is that. But more so, it is back to the looking back at the prophecies of old. It is looking at the present age and what’s going on. And it’s looking to the end of the world we know it, and not having fear about that.
It’s about understanding what we hear and what we see. We hear, we heard the bells playing, we hear these Advent hymns being sung, but we are blessed to hear far more than that. We hear this promise that has been given to God’s people of old, that was delivered to earth and made man who was crucified, resurrected, ascended, and will return again. And we hear how we are to wait and watch in prayer with joyous anticipation. And we also see the signs of his advent, not just in those trees or those pretty lights or the blue advent paraments. We see the signs around us of a world undone and in need of a Savior.
We see the clouds of judgment gathering and we see the judge is at the gate and we see our Lord come to us in His word and in His own body and blood by which He forgives our sins, purifying and refining us so that we may indeed endure the day of His coming. So we live in hope and not in fear. We don’t dread His coming but rather we pray that He comes quickly. And so we are to live as if he is coming quickly. And when that day does come, when the Lord descends and he makes the clouds his own chariot, we can be sure that we will be able to stand before him because he’s promised us that.
And though, as we said, we do bow before him, we will lift up our eyes and we will see him robed in his glorious majesty and his righteousness. And we will, as we say, gaze upon those dear tokens of his passion, those glorious scars that will testify for all time to his suffering on the cross, by which he ransomed us poor sinners. And at last, our hope will be realized as we see him face to face. Amen.
Now 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. Amen. Please stand.