Your Redemption Draweth Nigh

Luke 21:25-36 (Malachi 4:1-6; Romans 15:4-13)

Saints Triumphant Sunday - November 18, 2007

Rev. Steven D. Spencer - Pastor

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our text is the Holy Gospel according to St Luke. “And 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 sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” So far the text.

My father was an economist. Not that he worked with numbers and figures. Possibly he didn’t even know what the Gross National Product was. But he was an economist when it came to dealing with discipline. More concisely in sharing those little moral lessons that are suppose to correct an inappropriate behavior. I’m one of four children, all boys. But when one of us got into trouble, then all of us would be called into the room to listen to the great moral lesson.  One of those stories is of a little boy who cried wolf. It’s intended to teach us an important lesson. If you’re known for telling lies, pretty soon no one will listen to you. This goes for the pathological fibber as well as the alarmist--the boy who amused himself by crying Wolf! Wolf!  I’m sure we all remember the story. How the boy loved to cry wolf to see the people scamper and hide themselves. But when there really was a wolf no one would help him and he was devoured.

This story teaches a crucial lesson, but it has a dangerous side effect when being applied to the church. Our world teaches the principle of seeing believing! That is then applied to the revelation of God. What the Bible says and what the preacher proclaims is worthy of acceptance only if it can be verified by personal experience. The preacher shares the text and he wonders; “Are the people going to listen? Have they been conditioned to just dismiss it and say yeah, yeah—the end is coming?”

Even though we accept the Scriptures in their entirety as the inerrant and infallible Word of God, we hear about the end times in church very rarely, I wonder, do we give it much consideration in our daily lives? When it comes to Bible passages that people have memorized or hold as their favorites, Jesus’ admonition to watch and be ready are not common. After a time, we get so used to the sun coming up in the morning that it becomes the most dependable and sure thing in the world. Remember the words of Psalm 130: my soul waits for the LORD more than they who watch for the morning.

How long can the church and her preachers speak of the return of Christ and the destruction of the current heavens and earth before they are completely ignored?  How long will the people of God be forced to discern between the faithful interpretations of Scripture and the sensationalizing of God’s Word for profit? The boy who cries wolf strikes time and time again any time a false teacher comes forward with a new teaching about the looming end.

As well-meaning as they might be, churches and preachers who insist they know when Jesus is coming back, because of things like the tsunami in Asia a few years ago and the situation in the Middle East, are in fact turning the whole Christian Church into the boy who cried wolf. A generation comes and goes, the end has not come, and Christians are left with egg on their faces in the eyes of the unbelieving world. The end times become simply a tool, says the doubting world, for keeping people in line. If you threaten people with destruction and everlasting punishment, you can control them. That is the accusation of the world against “organized religion”, and unbelievers consider themselves vindicated every time another false teacher comes through with a false prediction of the end.

But Jesus wasn’t fooling around when he warned of the things to come. And His words proved true in the year of 70 A.D. The Lord told his disciples of the signs of the end for the city of Jerusalem, and many people who heard His words were still living when the city when it was completely destroyed. But the signs of the end of the world are different.

The laws of nature and the order of creation will be shaken as God begins to withdraw his benevolent patience from a wicked human race. When Christians gather on the Lord’s Day to receive His gifts in Word and Sacrament, this is why they continually hear the call to repentance and faith. At the Savior’s first coming, John the Baptist said Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!(Matthew 3:2). We hear the same message, for the kingdom of the new heavens and new earth will come as a thief in the night.

And yet we know what to look for. Things will occur that will cause fear and trembling in everyone on earth, in the godly and ungodly alike. And it will be more than the wars and natural disasters that are already plaguing creation. The natural orders will be shaken. The sun, moon, and stars will be affected as the universe begins to become unglued. We’re not talking about solar eclipses, people! It’s talking about signs that involve the moon and the roaring of the sea. We know that the moon exerts gravitational force upon the earth, and that it controls the tides on the coast. So our imaginations ought to run wild with speculation, knowing what would happen if the moon were thrown out of joint! These are the things Jesus talks about, and the destruction will be so great that entire nations will be perplexed and tremble in fear.

But how long can the Church and her preachers proclaim such things before no one listens anymore? Evidently not very long! Especially when you consider what Jesus says next. …people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And then he says something about how such things will be observed, even by Christians—Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing nigh.

The signs of the end of the world will cause such awe and fear that even the people of God on earth at that time will be trembling and hiding in terror. It doesn’t sound as though these things will be greeted with much enthusiasm, as if people were prepared for them. And for the unbelievers of the world or those who have fallen away, the coming of the Lord will not be a joyous event. For it is at this time that they will bow before him, not in reverence, but under duress as they are condemned before his seat of judgment and cast forever into the pit of hell, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

In our Old Testament reading for this day, the prophet Malachi spoke of that dreadful time—the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of host.

But Jesus tells the Christians not to fear, for when all of this comes to pass, their redemption is nigh. Their fear will quickly be turned into joy, as they bow the knee before Jesus with gladness and humility, in joy and reverence, and they shall be caught up with Him in the air for the dawn of the new heavens and new earth. Malachi continues, but 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.

This redemption of which Jesus speaks is not the redemption from sin, that redemption we already have and is the redemption of which Zechariah spoke in the Benedictus; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. This is the redemption of which Paul speaks in the present tense, where he says that we have redemption through Jesus’ blood and the forgiveness of sins. We already have such redemption through the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

The redemption that will be drawing nigh is the redemption from the consequences of sin that remain with us—namely our own sins and death. As sinners, we still have to take God’s gifts and differentiate between the now and the not yet. We have now the forgiveness of sins. We now have salvation by grace through faith. We have the promise of everlasting life. We have such things already through Christ Jesus who comes to us and is present with us here today. These are the gifts won on the cross. But we still await the perfection that will come only when we are delivered from this world and our flesh. Meanwhile, we continue to suffer the consequences of sin in the world—sickness, suffering, and finally, death. We are conceived and born in sin, and our bodies must return to the dust from which they came.

Brothers and Sister be assured your redemption from these things is drawing nigh. The same Jesus who was crucified and died for your sins, who rose again to conquer your death, will return on a cloud as your Redeemer. A redeemer is a person who rescues another by paying the ransom. And the ransom that Jesus paid for your sins was no sum of money. For not all the silver and gold in the world could have won you the gift of heaven and rescued you from the fires of hell. No, He did it with His own precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.

How appropriate, therefore, for a Christian church to be named Messiah. The office of Christ as Messiah illustrates marvelously what he did for you and for me. And it is more specific even than Savior. For he saved you not by simply showing you the way or serving as a mere example of godly living—He redeemed you by being both Priest and sacrifice by being the Messiah. He bought you back from the power of Satan not in the temples or on the Mount of Olives with His sermons, but at Golgotha, where he shed His blood and died upon the cross. Where He served as God’s anointed one to be both priest and sacrifice.

And when He comes again He will redeem you from power of sin and its consequences. There will be no more sin, no more sadness, no more suffering, and no more death. Until that great day, the Church will continue proclaiming that message of repentance and of the forgiveness of sins. The Lord will continue to say to the daughter of Zion, behold, surely your salvation is coming! And we will continue to proclaim the Word of God faithfully, remembering what Paul wrote to the church at Rome—for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

As your Lord comes to you with His gifts in the present age, be comforted in the knowledge of his love and of the redemption that he has won for you. As you suffer in this world, take heart and be confident in the redemption that is yet to come. For this is His promise to you. I will come that you may be with me!

May the God of all hope fill you with great joy and peace in knowing this, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in you unto life everlasting. In Jesus name, Amen and Amen!

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord now and forevermore. Amen!