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Preparing for Worship - December 29, 2024

This is the First Sunday after Christmas. The focus of the readings turns to the early days after the birth of our Savior Jesus, especially in the Gospel lesson. (We also hear more at the circumcision and naming of Jesus in Luke 2:21 and in the Epiphany story of the coming of the Magi and then the escape to Egypt in Matthew 2:1-23.)

The Old Testament lesson is from Exodus 13:1-3a,11-15 and helps us understand what was going on with the “presentation of Jesus to the Lord” in the Gospel lesson. The last plague that came upon the Egyptians and convinced the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free was the death of all firstborn males and animals of the Egyptians. The Israelites were spared from this plague by celebrating the Passover meal and putting the blood of the sacrificed lamb on their doorposts. At the same time, this meant that the firstborn males and firstborn animals who were spared belonged to God, set apart for Him. The firstborn male children could be “redeemed,” bought back from God, though, by a sacrifice. These firstborns were still to serve the Lord throughout their lives, but later on, the Levites were chosen to serve the Lord in their place in the Tabernacle and temple. (See Numbers 3:11-13 and 8:16-18.) All this was to be like “marks” or “frontlets” sometimes worn on people, reminding them of God’s rescue of them from Egypt.

The psalm is Psalm 111. The psalmist is not identified but gives thanks to the Lord in a wholehearted way, praising Him, especially for His many works, which benefit His people in so many ways. The psalmist piles up a list of the Lord’s qualities. He is gracious and merciful, faithful and just and trustworthy. He remembers His covenant with His people and sends redemption to them. What He has done is “to be studied and delighted in.” “His righteousness endures forever.”

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-40, we see that Jesus, even as an infant, is clearly identified as the One sent from God the Father to be the redeeming Savior, as the psalmist hoped for and expected. Jesus was circumcised 8 days after birth (Luke 2:21), but Mary had to wait another 33 days before she and Joseph could go to the temple in Jerusalem for her purification from her time in pregnancy and childbirth. (See Leviticus 12. She and Joseph were very poor people, for only the cheapest animal sacrifice was done for her cleansing and for Jesus to be presented to the Lord as the Firstborn Child and then released back to the family. Jesus, however, would never be released from His service to His heavenly Father. In his perfect life for us and in His death in our place for our sins.)

While they were in the temple, a devout believer, Simeon, was led by the Holy Spirit to come to the temple. He realized that Jesus was the One promised to bring salvation and the Light of Revelation for both Jews and non-Jews. Simeon could now depart this life in peace, for the Savior had finally come, and his own eyes had seen Him. Simeon also needed to predict that Jesus would face opposition and people would rise or fall, depending on whether they would trust in Him (Jesus) or not. Mary would also have a pierced heart because of what would happen, referring especially to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross.

Another faithful believer, Anna, who had had a difficult life, also came to the temple, trusting the Lord. She, too, realized that Jesus was the Promised Redeemer, and she began to give thanks to God and tell her fellow believers about Him. Later, after the escape to Egypt that Matthew tells about, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus returned to Nazareth in the area of Galilee. And the Lord blessed Jesus, and He grew wise and strong, and the favor of the Lord was upon Him.

The Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:12-17, takes us many years later, after Jesus had lived and died and risen again and completed all of His saving work for the world. Now Paul, a Jewish convert to Christ, writes to fellow believers chosen by the Lord in the city of Colossi. He calls upon them to seek to have Christ-like qualities of compassion and kindness and patience and forgiveness and love in dealing with one another. They would need Christ’s peace in their hearts and His Word living in them richly as they worshiped and sang and taught and served each other and the Lord with thankfulness. In word and deed, they were to speak and act, mindful of Christ and giving thanks to God. None of this could they do on their own, but only as they “continued in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel which they had heard” (Colossians 1:23). 

Sermon from December 18, 2024

Sermon for December 18, 2024

Based on Psalm 85 - Psalm for the Third Sunday in Advent

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

(You are encouraged to open up your Bible or Hymnbook to Psalm 85 and follow it, together with me. It is the psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent.)

Many think that Psalm 85 was written after the Babylonian captivity of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. They had been sinful and rebellious and were worshipping false gods, and God finally allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple and carry many people away to Babylon, where some had been captives now for as long as about 70 years.

God had then allowed new leaders to take over Babylon, who permitted the Jews to return to their homeland of Israel. They could say, as the first three verses of Psalm 85 say: “Lord, You were favorable to Your land; You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew Your wrath; You turned from Your hot anger.”

God had helped and forgiven and given grace and favor to His people again and again in the past. And now he was giving them His blessing once again in setting them free from captivity. As God had promised through the prophet Jeremiah earlier, “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:25).

Unfortunately, things did not go as expected. Many Jews chose to stay in Babylon or go to other places. Of those who returned to Israel, things were difficult. The people now in control of the land did not want these Jews to come back. We read in the Book of Ezra, “The people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose” (Ezra 4:4).

It was hard, and the Jews began to focus on themselves and their own survival and forgot the Lord who had rescued them and wanted them also to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and especially their house of worship, the temple. We hear this report in Nehemiah, Chapter 1: “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire” (Nehemiah 1:3).

And the Lord God had to speak through the prophet Haggai, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord... Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses (meaning that the houses were getting pretty nice and fancy) while this house (of the Lord) lies in ruin?… Consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little… My house lies in ruin while each of you busies himself with his house. Therefore, the heavens above you withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land” (Haggai 1:2-11). (Notice in the psalm where what is good comes from, in v. 11-12, also, as we will soon hear again - from above.)

The Jewish people finally woke up and realized that only the Lord God could turn things around for them and help them. They cried out for that help and mercy with words like those of our psalm in verses 4-7: “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away Your indignation toward us! Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”

The words in v.4, ”Restore us again,” literally mean, “Turn us again, O God of our salvation.” We can’t get this all straightened out on our own. You are going to have to come and help us. And the words in v.6, “Will You not revive us again?” mean that we know that we faint and fail on our own, at times - isn’t that true of all of us, even in our own day? - and that we really need the Lord to lift us up and forgive and save us so that we may rejoice in Him.

God did help a remnant of His Old Testament people, and eventually, the walls of Jerusalem were repaired, and the temple was rebuilt, and people were kept in faith in the Lord and His promises. There were lots of ups and downs as time went on, too. There was a time when some people drifted so far from the Lord that He said, through the prophet Amos, “Behold, the days are coming when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

The Word of God was still readily available in the Old Testament, but few people were listening to it, and there were no new messages from the Lord Himself between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.

But the rest of our psalm is really a prophecy of what God would do in the future, beginning with the event we will celebrate in about a week, the sending and the birth of His own Son, Jesus.

The psalmist says in v.8 of our psalm, “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak” - and He did speak and act for us most clearly in Jesus Christ. The New Testament Book of Hebrews begins, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2) - true God, conceived from the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20) - “holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35) and yet true man, born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:21-23). When He was born, “His salvation was near,” as v.9 of our psalm says, “that glory might dwell in Him, in our land, on our earth.” And “He would speak peace” to us and all His people, as v.9 says. As the multitude of angels announced to the shepherds, praising God and saying at His birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:13-14).

And how are people, including us, pleasing to God? Only through Jesus Christ as our Savior and what he has done for us. In our psalm, in v.10, we hear that “Steadfast love and faithfulness” are personified, “meeting together,” together with “righteousness and peace,” who “kiss each other.” Only in Jesus, true God and true man, are these qualities combined together in a perfect way, in Jesus and what He did for us, in His perfect life, and sacrificial death for us, and His mighty resurrection from the dead.

I don’t think you want to be here all day, but we could look at Scripture after Scripture describing these qualities lived out in Jesus for us. The psalmist says in v.12, “Yes, the Lord will give what is good,” and it came to us, James writes, not from ourselves, but “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father… Of His own will He brought us forth (to a whole new and eternal life) by the Word of God and through the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus (James 1:17-18).

Or as our Psalm says in v.11, “Righteousness looks down from the sky,” not from us, and “the Lord will give what is good, in Christ “our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6 and 33:8,14-16). And as v.13 of the psalm says, “Righteousness will go before Him,” before Christ, in and with Him, and make His footsteps a way - in fact, the way to eternal life. As Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And as John wrote in his Gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace… Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God (God the Son) who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known” (John 1:14-18).

Finally, note that there is one strong word of warning in this psalm, at the end of v.8: “But let them not turn back to folly.” We are only foolish if we stop hearing what the Lord speaks in His Word and seeing the peace we have alone in Christ and His forgiveness and knowing the peace He brings to us in the Lord’s Supper, as well, that we will receive in a few moments.

So, we keep praying, with the psalmist, also: “Restore us, keep turning us again to You, O God of our salvation,” and “revive us,” strengthening us always with Your steadfast love in Christ. Amen.

Preparing for Worship - December 22, 2024

The readings this week bring us even closer to Christmas, with more prophecies of the coming of our Savior. The Psalm is Psalm 80:1-7. The author, Asaph, prays that the Lord will stir up His power and come to save His people. Some think that since three of the Northern tribes of Israel are mentioned, along with Joseph, this psalm may have been written when the Assyrians were conquering the Northern Kingdom, and refugees were fleeing south toward Judah and Jerusalem. Asaph calls three times upon the Lord, enthroned in heaven and appearing in the temple in Jerusalem, to let His face shine so that His people may be saved and restored to Him (v. 3,7,19). See also the blessing from God spoken of in Numbers 6:22-27, which Asaph requests and which is used as the benediction in many of our services. The words of v. 2 may also sound familiar, as they are used in some of the Collects (Prayers) in worship in the Advent season. God’s people especially pray that the Savior Jesus would come and be with us with His saving power always.

The Old Testament lesson is from Micah 5:2-5a. Micah prophesies that from the little town of Bethlehem, a Ruler would come forth who had actually existed from “ancient days." God the Father is called the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 7:9, and a Son of Man is connected with Him and would be given an everlasting kingdom, in Daniel 7:13-14. This One would come from God when “she who was in labor" (the Virgin Mary) would give birth in Bethlehem to our Savior Jesus, a true “Son of Man” and yet also the true Son of the Lord His God. This One would also shepherd His people in the Lord’s strength and bring them “security” and “peace.” This promise would extend to people everywhere, at all “ends of the earth,” in Christ Jesus our Lord, born in Bethlehem. (See related prophecies in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7 and the fulfillment in Luke 2:1-20.)

The Gospel lesson, Luke 1:39-45 (46-56), takes us to Mary, now expecting the child, Jesus, by the miracle of the Holy Spirit, and going to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also expecting a child, John the Baptist. (You can read the background for all this in Luke 1:5-38 and Matthew 1:18-25.) Elizabeth’s baby, John, leaps in her womb at the coming of Jesus, and Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to speak of Mary being blessed to be chosen to be the mother of her Lord. She also speaks of the blessing of Mary being given the grace to believe that this miracle would happen to and for her and for the world. Mary then speaks a song, now called “The Magnificat,” a song of praise, magnifying God. She knows that the child to be born would be her Savior, too. She is only a poor and humble servant, yet God has done great things for her in His mercy, and all generations would call her blessed, as we still speak of her in our creeds. She seeks to give all the credit to God. The birth of Jesus would be the fulfillment of God’s promise of Jesus, the One through whom all families of the earth would be blessed, through His saving work for all. Mary also seems to know her Scriptures, and/or the Holy Spirit leads her to speak portions of many Old Testament Scriptures in what she says in the Magnificat. Mary stays with Elizabeth for about three months, as they encourage one another. Some think she may have stayed until the birth of John the Baptist. She does return home, as she must get ready for a trip to Bethlehem, where her child Jesus would be born, according to prophecy.

The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 10:5-10. In this passage, Jesus Himself speaks of why He came into the world - to do the will of His Heavenly Father. He quotes from an Old Testament prophesy where He knows that all the animal sacrifices and other offerings of the Old Testament could not pay for sins. They only prepared the way for the “once for all” sacrifice of Christ’s body, as the true Son of God, but also a real human man. This had all been predicted in Old and New Testament Scriptures, and Jesus forgave our sins and sanctified us, in God’s eyes, through the sacrifice of His own body, bearing our sins and punishment for us, in our place, on the cross. Animal sacrifices and other sacrifices were still being done in the temple by priests, but it was “impossible” for them “to take away sins.” Only Jesus could do what was needed, as He followed the will of His Father and the Holy Spirit, and His own will, through the body prepared for Him in the Christmas miracle. More than 30 difficult years were ahead after that first Christmas, but that plan was perfectly fulfilled for us and our salvation, and with Good News to share with everyone else, in Christ. The Lord’s continued blessings in our Savior.

Preparing for Worship - Sunday, December 15, 2024

This is the Third Sunday of our Advent season, and the readings continue to prepare us for the coming of our Savior Jesus, with all His blessings and hope and strength and guidance for us.

The Psalm is Psalm 85, a psalm of temple singers, the Son of Korah. They know that the Lord had forgiven their sins in the past and had covered over those sins. (See also Jeremiah 31:19-20, 25 and how we also are to forgive others, James 5:20.) Now the psalm writers realize that they and their people are again having trouble in following the Lord and are under His anger and judgment. They pray that the Lord, in His steadfast love, would revive and restore them (literally, “turn them” back to Him and grant them salvation). They know that they also need His intervention so that they do not “turn back to evil folly.” They pray that the Lord, in His mercy, would “speak peace” to His people again. The Lord would have to “give what is good” in His own “steadfast love and faithfulness and righteousness and  peace.” This is prophetic of the coming of God’s own Son, Jesus, to be “our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6, 33:8, 14-16) and “fulfill all righteousness” in our place (Matthew 3:15, 1 Corinthians 1:18-21). In His footsteps is our Way (1 Peter 2:21-25).

The Old Testament lesson, Zephaniah 3:14-20, is also prophetic of the “rejoicing and singing” when “the Lord our God comes into our midst” in the Person of His Son, “a Mighty One who will save” and “take away the judgments against us” because of our sins. He will “save the lame and gather the outcast” and “change our shame into praise.” He will “quiet us with His love” and help us “not to fear” and not to “let our hands grow weak” but “exult in Him.” God’s mighty work in Christ will be a witness to “all the peoples of the earth” and for their benefit, too. One commentator, Franzmann, says that the Lord will act as Judge (v.15) and Warrior (v.17) and the One who loves us (v.17) and our Good Shepherd (v.19-20). What a wonderful prophecy!

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 7:18-35. Jesus, God’s Son, did come, but the one preparing His Way, John the Baptist, had been thrown into prison. John and his followers needed assurance that Jesus really was the Promised One. Jesus lets them see what He had been doing, including the lame walking and good news being preached, even to the poor, and many other miracles - exactly what had been predicted. He encourages all not to be offended, even if He is not doing everything in the way that people expected of Him, especially in His coming suffering and death for our forgiveness and salvation. Jesus also speaks again of John the Baptist, who did faithfully prepare the Way for Him in a “great“ way. Even despised tax collectors and many others could see the justice of God for their needs and were baptized for repentance by John. Sadly, religious leaders and others rejected the purposes of God and would not repent and be baptized. Too many people, Jesus said, were like fickle children, never satisfied with what was happening, with John the Baptist in His strict ways or with Jesus, who ate and drank with joy and sought to be a friend of all, including despised tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was the truly Wise One, doing His Father’s will, in love and care for all since all are sinners. (He demonstrated this in the story that follows, in Luke 7:36-49, forgiving a sinful woman and bringing her salvation, while others rejected Him and His true wisdom and thought they were much better and failed to show love. See how Jesus is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.)

The Epistle lesson is Philippians 4:4-6. This reading, plus many additional verses, was read in many churches on Thanksgiving Day. The focus here is upon rejoicing in the Lord and all that He has brought to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. We now have peace with God and the peace of God, which goes beyond all that we can see and understand. Our Lord God guards and keeps us in connection with Christ Jesus. He is at hand, with us always, and we can bring our anxieties and needs and requests to Him, along with our praises and thanksgivings, knowing that He truly cares for us, in and through and because of Christ. The word “reasonableness” is also sometimes translated as “forbearance,” the idea of being kind and gentle and yielding toward others. We don’t always have to have our own ways and desires because the Lord knows what is best, and he is working for good as we seek to stay in Christ and His Word. See passages like Titus 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:3, and James 3:13, where the same Greek word is used. We can try to talk with courtesy, without being quarrelsome, with “the meekness of wisdom” that comes from God. We don’t always do it so well, but we try to rely on God and His Word as we speak and on His mercy and forgiveness for us and for others, too. The rejoicing is not in ourselves but in our Lord. He and His Word are our confidence.

Preparing for Worship - December 8, 2024

The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 66:1-12. The author is not identified, but he sings a great song of praise to God. He calls upon all the earth to join him in worship and joy for the awesome deeds of God on behalf of the children of man. He remembers how God’s people had walked through the sea and the river on dry land as they traveled to the promised land. He knows that God had tested people, as silver is purified by fire, and gave them crushing burdens, at times in their lives, as their mighty ruler, yet brought them out to a place of abundance and blessing. (David uses the same word in Psalm
23:5, when he speaks of his cup “running over,” abundant with God’s blessings. This
abundance may not always be seen in this life, but it certainly will be clear in eternal life to come with the Lord.)

The Old Testament lesson is Malachi 3:1-7b. God’s people have not always been faithful to Him and His will, yet the Lord still cares for His people and predicts a coming time when He will send a messenger who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Himself to His temple and to His people. This will be a time of cleansing and purifying.
Judgment will be spoken against all kinds of sin, but the Lord has not changed. He still wants His people to return to Him in repentance and faith, and He will provide the way for offerings of righteousness to come from people. (This is a prediction of the coming of John the Baptist, preparing the way for our Savior, Jesus, God’s own Son.)

We see this in the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, Luke 3:1-14,(15-20). Luke gives the historical background of the time of the coming of John the Baptist. This happened in a real time and place in our world. God’s Word came to John, and he began to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as prophesied also by Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3-5. People could not trust simply in being children of Abraham. They were all a sinful brood of people, and John pointed out their sinfulness and many things that God wished for all kinds of people, including the crowds and tax collectors and soldiers and even the tetrarch (ruler) Herod, who had stolen away his brother’s wife and taken her for himself. (Herod had John thrown in prison for challenging him with his sin.) John also made it clear that he was not the Christ, the Anointed One sent from God, but that One was coming, through whom people would see the salvation of God. That One would be Jesus, the Son of God, sent from God the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Epistle lesson, Paul writes to Christians in Philippi, thanking God for bringing them to faith in Jesus and for their being partners with him in sharing the Gospel of salvation through Jesus and His grace. Paul prays for this congregation but cannot be with them because he is in prison just for being a faithful Christian. So, Paul writes this letter and also prays for the believers that their love would abound, with greater knowledge and discernment and understanding of what is excellent. Paul also prays that the believers will be “pure and blameless” at the coming of Christ. Obviously, we are not pure and blameless. We are poor, miserable sinners. Christ has lived perfectly for us, though, and paid for all of our sins by His sacrifice on the cross and is our Risen Lord who now lives in us through bringing us to baptism and faith. When God looks at us now, He sees Jesus in and with us, and we are counted as righteous through the Lord Jesus, who is our Righteousness. That is our certainty now and for our eternal future - not in ourselves and our performance - but through the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Savior, and the glory and praise for all that go to the one True Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Preparing for Worship - December 1, 2024

This Sunday, December 1, is the beginning of a whole new Church Year, with the Advent season. Advent is a Latin word which means “to come to.” We think of the various “comings” of Christ to us and our world to do His saving work for us. The coming of Christ was predicted in Old Testament prophecy. He did literally come into the world, born of the Virgin Mary, in order to do all that was necessary to forgive and rescue us. He has come to our own hearts, through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and our baptism, to bring us to faith and to strengthen us in that faith whenever we hear or read that Word. He comes to us in a very personal way in the Lord’s Supper, with His very Body and Blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine, for our forgiveness and encouragement. When we die, He comes to take our souls to everlasting life and peace in heaven, and He will return on the last day for the resurrection of all bodies and eternal joy for believers, in contrast with eternal sorrow for those apart from the Lord. There are touches of all these “comings” in what we heard the last few weeks and in what we will hear in Advent. The primary emphasis, of course, is on prophecy of the Savior, leading up to His birth in Bethlehem and His work for us.

This year, in Series C readings, we hear many readings from the Gospel of Luke. The Psalm is Psalm 25:1-10. David trusts in His Lord, even though he is having difficult troubles from treacherous people and other enemies. He asks the Lord’s help, even as he waits for Him and His ways. He prays for forgiveness of his sins and asks that the Lord, in His goodness, will give him His mercy and steadfast love and salvation, as He instructs him, a sinner, and keeps him humble, in seeking to follow His ways.

The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 33:14-16. The Lord’s people are facing a time of great judgment, because of their sin and rebellion. God promises a coming time, though, when He will raise up a “righteous Branch” from the line of King David. He will be the Lord Himself, who will be the Righteousness we need, in His saving work that we and David and everyone else need. This is a prophecy of Christ Jesus, who will be our High Priest and our Everlasting King, in His new spiritual Kingdom, where all believers are and will be now and forever.

The Epistle is from 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. Paul gives His thanks to God for this congregation. He wishes to be able to visit and see them again, to encourage them in faith. In the meantime, he prays that God the Father and our Lord Jesus would strengthen them and keep their hearts blameless through faith in Jesus, who is their righteousness and will come again on the last day, together the angels and with all believers who have already died and gone to be with the Lord.

There are two possible choices for the Gospel lesson. The first is Luke 19:28-40, the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday, at the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus Himself prepares the way for this, having his disciples bring a colt, a lowly donkey on which he would humbly ride into the city, according to Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 9:9ff). Yet a multitude of followers would praise God and say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” Some of the Pharisees call on Jesus to stop the crowds from saying such a thing. But Jesus answered, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out” - for He was the promised Savior King. (See how, in Habakkuk 2:9-11, stones “cry out” in judgment of God’s unfaithful people. Here, stones would cry out in praise of the Savior, Jesus, even if no one else would. He was the promised King from the line of David, though He would be a suffering Servant King, and His kingdom was not of this world, as He told Pontius Pilate, later that week. (See John 18:33-37.)

The other possible Gospel reading is from Luke 21:25-36. This is very similar to what we heard from Mark 13 last week, beginning with the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, as a sign of the end times to come. There will be much trouble, and then the Son of Man will come with power and great glory. If we are still living at that time, we can hold our heads high, for our Redeemer, the Son of Man, Jesus, will come. Heaven and earth will pass away, as we know them, but not the Words and Promises of God. We are ready for that last day, whenever it comes, by being spiritually awake, in continuing trust in Jesus and His Word and His saving work for us, in His life, death, and resurrection. We seek to leave the “cares of this life” in His hands and entrust our future to Him, relying on His mercy and forgiveness, already earned for us.

Preparing for Worship - November 24, 2024

This is the Last Sunday of the Church Year. The focus again is upon the last times and the return of Christ on the last day. There can also be an emphasis on Christ as King, now, and most clearly seen when He returns at the end. I’ll try to give you a sense of all this in a brief look at the readings.

The Psalm is Psalm 93. The Lord reigns with majesty and strength from of old even before He created all things, including the universe and our world. He is from everlasting and will exist forevermore. We can see great power at work in our world, at times, as with recent hurricanes and floods and mighty waves of the sea. The Lord on high is much, much greater. We can trust what He says and does, though we do not always understand, for He is our holy Lord.

The Old Testament lesson can be Isaiah 51:4-6. The Lord calls upon us to pay attention to Him and give ear to what He says and does. He will provide a “Light” for the peoples. Twice He promises that He will bring righteousness and salvation, pointing to the coming of our Savior, Jesus, in whom people should hope and trust. A day of final justice and judgment will then come, when the heavens and the earth will pass away, as we know them. Some will face eternal death, but those trusting in the Light of the Savior will have righteousness and salvation forever.

An alternative Old Testament reading is Daniel 7:9-10,13-14. In a vision that John sees, the Ancient of Days, the Heavenly Father, is seated on a fiery throne and many thousands of thousands are serving Him and standing before Him. It is a courtroom judgment scene. With the clouds of heaven, a Son of Man comes before Him and is given an everlasting dominion and glory and kingdom, with all peoples serving Him, from all nations and languages. Jesus is that Son of Man, returning to heaven, and eventually bringing with Him innumerable believers. (See Revelations 1:13ff, 7:9ff, etc.)

The Epistle lesson is Jude 20-25. Many scoffers will be around in the last times (v.19). God’s beloved people are to build each other up in the holy faith and prayer, by God’s grace, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. As we have received mercy in Christ, we are to be merciful to those who struggle with doubt, or who are in great spiritual danger, while seeking to avoid their negative influences. We trust our Lord God, who can keep us from stumbling, ourselves, and will present us blameless on the last day through our Savior’s sacrificial work for us. To Him be glory now and forever. Amen.

An alternative Epistle lesson is Revelation 1:4b-8. John speaks to seven churches, representative of all, and wishes them and us grace and peace through the One True Triune God, the eternal Father who was and is and is to come, and the Holy Spirit, with His seven-fold gifts (see Isaiah 11:2, for example), and the risen Lord Jesus and His faithful witness to us, all His life, and His love, in freeing us from all our sins by His blood. We are now part of a spiritual kingdom, priests to our God (see 1 Peter 2:9-10, for example), giving all glory to God. He will come again on the last day, bringing sorrow and wailing for those who have rejected Him, but eternal joy for believers in Him. Amen. (This is most certainly true!)

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 13:24-37, Jesus describes His second coming, when heaven and earth will pass away, but His Words and promises will be fulfilled forever, as He comes with the clouds in great power and glory, to gather all believers to Himself, bodies raised and changed and glorified (see, for example, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and reunited with souls, for the fullness of eternal joy. No one knows, though, but God Himself, when that last day will come. We are called then to be on guard and stay awake in our faith in our Lord, by His grace, until we die or He returns, whichever comes first.

The alternative Gospel reading, John 18:33-37, also includes words of Jesus, talking with Pontius Pilate, not long before His suffering and death. Pilate asks Him if He is a king, and Jesus explains that His kingdom is not of and from this world. He had come into the world to bear witness to the truth about His kingdom, and everyone who knows real truth listens to His voice and keeps on trusting Him and His Word, for the eternal kingdom to come, not like an earthly kingdom we see now. Right after this passage, of course, Pilate, like so many skeptics still today, says, “What is truth?” and rejects Jesus and condemns Him to die, though he knows that Jesus is not a guilty man. Yet through all that, we are saved and are part of that everlasting kingdom, glorifying God and receiving His blessings forever.

Preparing for Worship - November 17, 2024

In these last two weeks of the Church Year, our focus is on end times, with the victory of Christ and His return on the last day. In the psalm, Psalm 16, David “takes refuge” in the Lord and knows that he “has no good apart from Him.” He “delights” in his fellow believers, “the saints in the land,” but sees the “sorrows” of those who follow “another god” instead of the One True God, the Lord. David knows that he has “a beautiful inheritance ahead” in heaven in the presence of the Lord. Some of this psalm is also prophetic, though, in pointing to the coming of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. David eventually died, and his body saw corruption, though it will be raised on the last day. Peter quotes this passage in his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:22-36) with regard to Jesus, who was crucified and died but whose body did not see corruption but was raised to new and eternal life on the third day. Paul also quotes from Psalm 16 (and Psalm 2) regarding the resurrection of Christ and His body, which did not see decay, in Acts 13:32-39. Christ Jesus is now “the path of life” and “fullness of joy” for all who trust in Him for eternal life and resurrection.

In the Old Testament lesson, Daniel 12:1-3, Daniel speaks of great trouble for God’s people in the last times. All believers in the Lord and His saving work in Christ have their names written in the Book of Life and will be delivered. The bodies of those who have died in the Lord shall be awakened to everlasting life (and reunited with their souls). Unbelievers will be raised “to shame and everlasting contempt” apart from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord calls His people to “wisdom” and to seek to “turn many more to righteousness” through faith in Jesus. It is His doing, but we can be His witnesses.

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 13:1-13, Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and of the magnificent temple (which happened in 70 AD). This would be a prefiguring of the troubles in the last times, “the end of the ages” that Christ brought in by His saving life, death, and resurrection. (See last week’s epistle, Hebrews 9:24-28, for example.) There will be wars and earthquakes and famines and false prophets and persecution of believers and hatred of the name of Christ and other troubles, called “birth pangs,” which we have seen and still see today. These are reminders that Jesus may return at any time, and we will be saved as we endure to the end in faith in Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments.

The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 10:11-25, points us again to the single sacrifice of Christ, once for all time, bringing in the New Covenant and the forgiveness of all our sins. As we wait now for the return of Christ, we can approach our Lord with the full assurance of faith, cleansed by the blood of Christ and our baptism and holding fast to the promises of our faithful God. We are also called “not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some,” but to “stir up one another to love and good works” and to “encourage one another” as we wait for “the Day” of Christ’s return, “drawing near.”

Preparing for Worship - November 10, 2024

The readings this week remind us again where we need to put our trust - not in ourselves or in our earthly leaders, but in our Lord God and His saving work in Christ. Three of our readings also mention widows and others who sometimes don’t have much in which they can trust, except the Lord, as an example for us.

The Old Testament lesson is from 1 Kings 17:8-16. Elijah predicted a great drought for the Northern Kingdom of Israel because of the wickedness of King Ahab and the people, particularly in forsaking God and His will and worshipping false gods (1 Kings 16:29-17:7). Elijah was taken care of by the Lord through ravens at a brook until the brook dried up. Then the Lord sent him out of Israel to Sidon, to the North, near Tyre, and to a widow, preparing to eat her last meal that she had with her son. Elijah asked her to give him that last food she had, with the promise that the Lord would provide just enough food for them until the drought was done and rain came again. The woman trusted the Word of the Lord, and the three of them had enough to survive by the miracle of God.

The psalm is Psalm 146. The psalmist calls upon us to praise the Lord and put our hope in Him, who “keeps faith forever” for us and “all generations “ who trust in Him. This psalm includes a good reminder for an election week - that we are “not to put our trust in princes” or other earthly leaders who cannot save and who come and go and cannot be counted on to fulfill their plans. We are to trust our Creator God, who can help “widows” and “lift up those who are bowed down” by the troubles of life. The psalm is especially prophetic of Christ, who could heal the blind (see my sermon on Mark 10:46-52) and set us free from the prison of our sins, by His death and resurrection, and the fact that He now lives and “reigns forever” for us, to bless us.

The Gospel lesson is Mark 12:38-44. Jesus warns about scribes and other leaders, including religious leaders, who want honor for themselves and take advantage even of poor widows. Jesus is in the temple and contrasts the offerings of the rich, who have plenty left over for themselves, and the tiny gift of a poor widow, who, out of her poverty, gave all she had. Jesus is showing in this way His concern for such people, like the widow, and their great needs.

The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 9:24-28. The author speaks of the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Himself. He didn’t just talk about sacrifices, but He sacrificed Himself, once for all, on the cross, to forgive and “put away sin.” Unlike priests in the temple, He did not need to keep making sacrifices for sins “with blood not His own.” Christ was offered only “once, to bear the sins of many.” This is a Hebraic way of saying that He died for “the many,” which really means “all.” See v.26 - “once for all.” The risen, ascended Lord Jesus has now entered heaven and appears “in the presence of God on our behalf” - for us. He will come again on the last day, too, no longer to deal with sin but “to save all those who are eagerly waiting for Him,” with the resurrection of our bodies, as well. There’s one more important message in this passage. People die only once, and then comes the judgment, including eternal life for all who die in faith in Christ. There is no reincarnation or a second or multiple lives for any of us, as some religions say. When we die in faith, we are with the Lord forever in perfect peace through Christ.

Sermon from November 2, 2024 (All Saints Day)

A Sermon on Revelation 7:9-17

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7).

The text for our meditation this evening is the First Lesson from Revelation 7:9-17 - the vision given to John of the saints in heaven. Notice especially some of the later verses. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to spring of Living Water” (Revelation 7:16-17).

The emphasis on thirst and water and springs caught my attention because, for a few months now, it’s been warmer than usual and very dry - unusual for us. We had planned a family outing with the grandkids, including cooking hotdogs over a fire and making s'mores, etc. - and then came a burn ban in our own county and most all counties around us. And then came a red flag warning on Tuesday, with high winds and warm temperatures and low humidity, where any fires or even sparks from equipment could be dangerous, as it was so dry.

And added to all that, in the last year or so, we began to hear of the “Stop the Water Steal,” when there were plans that few knew about to build pipelines to ship large amounts of our water off to Lebanon for businesses and development there. Many people here were not happy. It made me think of a time we visited family in California and saw areas where there had been large lakes, which were now bone dry because so much water had been shipped off to other areas, especially Los Angeles.

We are richly blessed with water and can bounce back from the shorter periods of drought we have. It is not so true for many areas, including the land of Israel, where freshwater sources are limited and have been for a long, long time. I looked it up and found that in 2022, 85% of the drinkable water for the city of Jerusalem came from the desalinization of saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea, more than 30 miles away.

There was, of course, no such methodology in Bible times. Water sources in Bible times were very important and valuable but very scarce. It is no surprise that water became one of the images of God and His blessings, and even of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and lack of water was pictured as a judgment for sins. You can trace these images through the Old Testament and into the New.

In the perfect Garden of Eden, there was a river flowing to water it, according to Genesis 2. After the fall into sin, everything changed, and the Great Flood changed things even more, as sin and evil spread everywhere, with judgment for sin. Noah and his family “were saved through water” in the ark, and this corresponds, Peter tells us in the New Testament, to “baptism, which now saves us,” through connecting us to Christ and His resurrection. Christ has now gone into heaven at His ascension and is now at the right hand of God, with angels all around him, just as seen by John in Revelation 7 (1 Peter 3:20-22).

When the children of Israel were later slaves in Egypt, the water of the Nile River was turned to blood, as the first of the plagues on them (Exodus 7:14-25), and later, many Egyptians died in the Red Sea, while God’s people went safely through that same water on dry land (Exodus 14).

Unfortunately, God’s people quickly became rebellious about the lack of water, even though God always provided water in miraculous ways - whatever they needed (Exodus 15:22-25, 17:1-7; Numbers 21:4-5, etc.). Because of their continued rebellion, almost all of them died in the wilderness before ever reaching the Promised Land. Even Moses rebelled against God and produced water from a rock in an angry way, different from what God had told Him to do. He, too, failed to enter the Promised Land, though He was forgiven and reconciled with God (Numbers 20:2-13, Deuteronomy 34:1-6). Joshua was then chosen to lead the next generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, crossing the Jordan River - on dry land, as Moses had crossed the Red Sea, many years before.

Note how many Old Testament passages use water as an image of God’s blessings for His people and His promises for the future, with the promise of the coming Savior. In Psalm 1, we hear of a man of God, being like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither (Psalm 1:3).

In the familiar Psalm 23, we hear of the Lord as our Shepherd, “who makes us lie down in green pastures” (where there has to be plenty of water for the pastures to be green), and He “leads us beside still waters” (where it is easy for us to drink and no danger of being swept up and drowning) (Psalm 23:2).

In Psalm 36, we read, “How precious is Your steadfast love, O Lord” for Your children. “You give them to drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the Fountain of Life” - the best drinking fountain from the Lord (Psalm 36:7-9).

In Luther’s psalm, Psalm 46, we heard last week that “God is our Refuge and Strength, our Fortress, a very present Help in trouble” (Psalm 46:2,7). But we also heard, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” - speaking of God’s blessings for them, though there is no literal river in Jerusalem.

Isaiah, in His prophecy, spoke of the coming time of the Messiah, the Savior, and said, “The Lord will come to save you… the waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water” (Isaiah 35:4,6,7).

And again Isaiah prophesied, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them… I will open up rivers on the bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:17-18).

And again, Isaiah predicted, ”The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desires in scorched places… and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose water does not fail” (Isaiah 58:11).

There were warnings, too, if God’s people rejected Him as the one true God and His ways. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, not long before Jerusalem was destroyed, and many Jews were carried away into captivity in Babylon: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?… Be appalled, O heavens, at this”… “declares the Lord, for My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, and have hewn out cisterns (for storage of water) for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:11-13).

And when the fullness of time did come, God sent His own Son, Jesus, into this troubled world, a world thirsty for help, to be the Savior. And Jesus talked with a Samaritan woman at a well and said, “Everyone who drinks of this water (of this well) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

And later on, at a festival in Jerusalem that Jesus attended, “He stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” “Now this He said about the Spirit, Whom those who believed in Him were to receive” (John 7:37-39).

As Paul wrote, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (the children of God) (Galatians 4:4-5). Christ Jesus did all the redeeming, saving work for us through His perfect life, His death on the cross, and His mighty resurrection.

Now, we have been born again, of water and the Spirit, in our Baptism (John 3:5), and we are strengthened in that new Life through the living and abiding Word of God. As Peter wrote, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower fades” - that’s us, on our own in this world - "but the Word of the Lord endures forever, and that Word is the Good News of Christ" and the Water of Life that He brings to us, that wells up to eternal life, as well, for us (1 Peter 1:23-25).

John put it so simply: “This is the testimony (the Word) that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has Life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).

The last chapter of Revelation, the Scripture from which our text comes, has these words taken from an Old Testament prophecy from Ezekiel. John says, “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Revelation 20:1, Ezekiel 47:1,16). And some of the last words of Revelation say: “Come! And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, drink from the water of Life, without price” (Revelation 20:17) It is the free gift of God, without price, already earned for us, in Christ. And it is already ours in Christ, as believers, through His Word and Sacraments. We can be sure that we will be part of that great multitude seen by John in heaven one day as we stay in Christ, along with our loved ones and friends who have lived and died in faith in Christ.

We, too, are forgiven sinners, saints of God by God’s grace, whose robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb. And all the picture images and promises will be ours, too, though we still struggle now in this life.

No more hunger or thirst or tears. No more stifling heat or freezing cold. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, will provide us His living water, every blessing that we need, and the Heavenly Father will shelter us with His presence, and we will serve Him with joy. Amen (Revelation 7:15-17)