Advent 2 - Populus Zion December 10, 2023
Luke 21:25-36
Same Signs–Different Responses
V.25-28 And there will be signs…people fainting with fear and with foreboding…now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads…
Dear friends in Christ, our Lord’s words to us today come from His final public discourse during Holy Week. St. Luke records that Jesus has been teaching in the temple for days with vast crowds coming to hear Him preach. These last words of Jesus before the Passover are very blunt in their proclamation of what is to come both upon Jerusalem in the relatively near future (Jerusalem will be utterly destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 A.D.) and the signs that will accompany the more distant judgement of when Jesus returns in glory to Judge the living and the dead.
And boy are there some awful signs: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:10-11). Anyone familiar with any of these things currently going on? Russia and Ukraine have been at it for years, as have Palestine and Israel, not to mention all the other conflicts currently raging throughout the world. Earthquakes? Famines? Pestilences? Commonplace. As they have been for hundreds and thousands of years–since our Lord first ascended into heaven. So, what are Christians to make of these signs? We are to know that Jesus is coming soon–and so we are to repent of our sin and trust in His Word, patiently watching and waiting for His Second Coming.
In our text Jesus mentions celestial signs that will also accompany His return– “signs in sun and moon and stars, and on earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves…” Signs written in the heavens on the face of the earth that are plain as day–as easy to read as when leaves come out on trees indicating that summer approaches.
Yet these accompanying signs of Jesus’ imminent return–signs of a singular event–come with very different reactions or responses. On the one hand there will be “people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” The unbelieving world can only have one response: fear–terror–distress–a sure expectation that something bad (from their perspective) is coming. And they are not wrong.
For the return of Christ is going to be a time of great terror for the unbeliever as Jesus returns not in grace and mercy, but in Judgement and wrath–the eternal fires of hell await them. “And they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” When Christ comes again it will not be in humble meekness and lowliness as at His first coming, which we prepare to celebrate at Christmas. No, rather He will come in the fullness of His resurrection glory–as the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Father–the position of all power and authority–come to Judge the living and the dead.
Sounds pretty scary, right? Sounds pretty terrifying. So, what is the Christian response supposed to be of Christ’s return? “For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.” We Christians will not be exempt from experiencing and witnessing these great signs of Jesus’ second coming. Yet, our reaction is to be very different from that of the unbelieving world around us. Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near…So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
So the Christian, instead of cowering in terror, fainting with fear and foreboding over the dreadful things taking place on the earth: be they wars, famines, stars falling from the sky, or any other disaster whether natural or man made–we stand firm. We stand tall. Do not look with downcast eyes, seeking to hide in the darkest, deepest hole you can find–do not turn a blind eye toward these events and ignore them as unimportant or trivial–rather raise your heads–lift them up–put a smile on your face–for these signs indicate that our Lord Jesus–our very Redeemer–is coming soon.
While we deplore the conflicts raging across our world–and the innocent life and destruction that is occurring–while we are heartbroken over the many natural disasters that afflict people each year across the face of the earth–and do all that we can to help alleviate pain and suffering. Yet, we ALSO know and recognize these signs as foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus’ second coming. They serve as heralds that His Word is true–He is coming back–though for now He tarries in great patience to allow people time to repent and believe the Gospel and so avoid His terrible judgement. Nevertheless, He IS coming–and SOON!
Indeed, God’s kingdom is near to you now–in this place where His Word and Sacrament are proclaimed and distributed according to His will. Jesus your Redeemer is coming for you. At His first coming, when He took on our human flesh–and assumed all our sin into Himself–He suffered and died for you on the cross–to buy you back from sin and death–to set you free and to join you to Himself in His blessed Kingdom–by the power of His redeeming blood shed on the cross.
What joy, beloved! What PEACE we have, no matter what terrible and awful signs accompany His coming. Be they unjust wars and conflict around the world–be they horrific natural disasters across the face of the earth as well as nearer to home–be they wicked and evil laws, bent politicians, crooked preachers, unkind neighbors, or unspeakable acts of malevolence perpetrated by some human beings over and against others.
We watch ourselves–lest our “hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon [us] suddenly like a trap.” We see the signs. We know what they mean. Our Lord has told us! He comes again! So, “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.” Do not give in to the darkness. Do not grow weary of fighting the good fight–do not fall into restless sleep, plagued by the evils of this world–by the temptations of the devil and your own sinful flesh–rather, stay awake!
Stay awake, beloved. Pray to the merciful Lord to preserve you with His mercy and grace. Yes, Jesus is coming soon. Yes, He is coming in great power and might to Judge every soul. But you have no fear about being able to stand tall in His presence. To come before His judgement seat with head held high! “How can that be?” you ask. “How could I possibly stand before Christ with my head held high when I have sinned so much each and every day in thought, word, and deed! How can I dare to look Him in the eye when I have done so much against His Word and will. I’m going to be undone–sent to hell for sure.”
That would be so, beloved, were it not for Jesus First coming. Remember how He came in lowly humility and meekness to offer Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world–your sin and mine! He shed His blood for you. He literally bled and died for you. And He has literally washed away all your sin in the redeeming flood of Holy Baptism. He feeds you each and every week with His own body and blood given into death on the cross–now placed into your hands and mouths in bread and wine–so that your sin may be forgiven–and you may be strengthened not only to face the dark days of this broken world as we await His Second coming–but also that when He comes–you may indeed “stand before the Son of Man.”
Stand tall, beloved, stand tall with heads raised high–not because you come before the Judgement seat of Christ robed in your own meager righteousness or good works. But rather because you DON’T! Instead, you come before Him as one who has been redeemed by the blood of the very ONE who has come to Judge. And He will act as Judge to publicly declare before all the world that you are one who believed and trusted in Him, despite all the terrible powers of the devil and the world. Instead, you trusted in His Words which will not pass away.
As Jesus declares of those servants who have been ready and waiting for His return in St. Matthew’s Gospel (25:21), “Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your master.” So our Lord promises to each of you who cling to His Word and promises. Therefore, you have nothing to fear, but will greet the risen and ascended Lord with great joy when He comes again–for He is gracious and merciful–He is your redemption that is ever drawing nearer. You have His eternal Word on it. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Luke 21:25-36
Same Signs–Different Responses
V.25-28 And there will be signs…people fainting with fear and with foreboding…now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads…
Dear friends in Christ, our Lord’s words to us today come from His final public discourse during Holy Week. St. Luke records that Jesus has been teaching in the temple for days with vast crowds coming to hear Him preach. These last words of Jesus before the Passover are very blunt in their proclamation of what is to come both upon Jerusalem in the relatively near future (Jerusalem will be utterly destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 A.D.) and the signs that will accompany the more distant judgement of when Jesus returns in glory to Judge the living and the dead.
And boy are there some awful signs: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:10-11). Anyone familiar with any of these things currently going on? Russia and Ukraine have been at it for years, as have Palestine and Israel, not to mention all the other conflicts currently raging throughout the world. Earthquakes? Famines? Pestilences? Commonplace. As they have been for hundreds and thousands of years–since our Lord first ascended into heaven. So, what are Christians to make of these signs? We are to know that Jesus is coming soon–and so we are to repent of our sin and trust in His Word, patiently watching and waiting for His Second Coming.
In our text Jesus mentions celestial signs that will also accompany His return– “signs in sun and moon and stars, and on earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves…” Signs written in the heavens on the face of the earth that are plain as day–as easy to read as when leaves come out on trees indicating that summer approaches.
Yet these accompanying signs of Jesus’ imminent return–signs of a singular event–come with very different reactions or responses. On the one hand there will be “people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” The unbelieving world can only have one response: fear–terror–distress–a sure expectation that something bad (from their perspective) is coming. And they are not wrong.
For the return of Christ is going to be a time of great terror for the unbeliever as Jesus returns not in grace and mercy, but in Judgement and wrath–the eternal fires of hell await them. “And they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” When Christ comes again it will not be in humble meekness and lowliness as at His first coming, which we prepare to celebrate at Christmas. No, rather He will come in the fullness of His resurrection glory–as the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Father–the position of all power and authority–come to Judge the living and the dead.
Sounds pretty scary, right? Sounds pretty terrifying. So, what is the Christian response supposed to be of Christ’s return? “For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.” We Christians will not be exempt from experiencing and witnessing these great signs of Jesus’ second coming. Yet, our reaction is to be very different from that of the unbelieving world around us. Jesus says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near…So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
So the Christian, instead of cowering in terror, fainting with fear and foreboding over the dreadful things taking place on the earth: be they wars, famines, stars falling from the sky, or any other disaster whether natural or man made–we stand firm. We stand tall. Do not look with downcast eyes, seeking to hide in the darkest, deepest hole you can find–do not turn a blind eye toward these events and ignore them as unimportant or trivial–rather raise your heads–lift them up–put a smile on your face–for these signs indicate that our Lord Jesus–our very Redeemer–is coming soon.
While we deplore the conflicts raging across our world–and the innocent life and destruction that is occurring–while we are heartbroken over the many natural disasters that afflict people each year across the face of the earth–and do all that we can to help alleviate pain and suffering. Yet, we ALSO know and recognize these signs as foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus’ second coming. They serve as heralds that His Word is true–He is coming back–though for now He tarries in great patience to allow people time to repent and believe the Gospel and so avoid His terrible judgement. Nevertheless, He IS coming–and SOON!
Indeed, God’s kingdom is near to you now–in this place where His Word and Sacrament are proclaimed and distributed according to His will. Jesus your Redeemer is coming for you. At His first coming, when He took on our human flesh–and assumed all our sin into Himself–He suffered and died for you on the cross–to buy you back from sin and death–to set you free and to join you to Himself in His blessed Kingdom–by the power of His redeeming blood shed on the cross.
What joy, beloved! What PEACE we have, no matter what terrible and awful signs accompany His coming. Be they unjust wars and conflict around the world–be they horrific natural disasters across the face of the earth as well as nearer to home–be they wicked and evil laws, bent politicians, crooked preachers, unkind neighbors, or unspeakable acts of malevolence perpetrated by some human beings over and against others.
We watch ourselves–lest our “hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon [us] suddenly like a trap.” We see the signs. We know what they mean. Our Lord has told us! He comes again! So, “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.” Do not give in to the darkness. Do not grow weary of fighting the good fight–do not fall into restless sleep, plagued by the evils of this world–by the temptations of the devil and your own sinful flesh–rather, stay awake!
Stay awake, beloved. Pray to the merciful Lord to preserve you with His mercy and grace. Yes, Jesus is coming soon. Yes, He is coming in great power and might to Judge every soul. But you have no fear about being able to stand tall in His presence. To come before His judgement seat with head held high! “How can that be?” you ask. “How could I possibly stand before Christ with my head held high when I have sinned so much each and every day in thought, word, and deed! How can I dare to look Him in the eye when I have done so much against His Word and will. I’m going to be undone–sent to hell for sure.”
That would be so, beloved, were it not for Jesus First coming. Remember how He came in lowly humility and meekness to offer Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world–your sin and mine! He shed His blood for you. He literally bled and died for you. And He has literally washed away all your sin in the redeeming flood of Holy Baptism. He feeds you each and every week with His own body and blood given into death on the cross–now placed into your hands and mouths in bread and wine–so that your sin may be forgiven–and you may be strengthened not only to face the dark days of this broken world as we await His Second coming–but also that when He comes–you may indeed “stand before the Son of Man.”
Stand tall, beloved, stand tall with heads raised high–not because you come before the Judgement seat of Christ robed in your own meager righteousness or good works. But rather because you DON’T! Instead, you come before Him as one who has been redeemed by the blood of the very ONE who has come to Judge. And He will act as Judge to publicly declare before all the world that you are one who believed and trusted in Him, despite all the terrible powers of the devil and the world. Instead, you trusted in His Words which will not pass away.
As Jesus declares of those servants who have been ready and waiting for His return in St. Matthew’s Gospel (25:21), “Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your master.” So our Lord promises to each of you who cling to His Word and promises. Therefore, you have nothing to fear, but will greet the risen and ascended Lord with great joy when He comes again–for He is gracious and merciful–He is your redemption that is ever drawing nearer. You have His eternal Word on it. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.