Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke
21:25-36)
But 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.
Prayer: Heavenly
Father, send us the Holy Spirit so that by your grace we may believe your holy
word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the time of Moses, when the people of Israel were
rescued from the Egyptians, there were many things that happened that would
have caused people great fright: the Nile river turned to blood, there were
plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, the cattle all died, boils, hail, locusts,
darkness covered the land, and then of course the Passover, where the firstborn
child of every Egyptian house was killed by the angel of death.
It’s common for people to think that God doesn’t protect
his people in any special way, and that he doesn’t listen to prayer, and just
gives out punishments to anyone and everyone as he feels like it. Christians
often think that this is the case too.
But this isn’t true. Even though the things that happened
at the time of Moses were frightening things, the result was a great rescue of
God’s people. God delivered his people from the Egyptians. He brought them out,
and he passed over their houses, and protected them. And this great rescue
brought about great joy and gladness to all the people of Israel.
In the same way, in our Gospel reading today, Jesus speaks
about his second coming, or his second appearing.
He says: 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.
Jesus speaks here about things that will happen before he
appears again at the end of the world in his glory.
At the moment, there’s a lot of interest in things to do
with the end of the world. Recently, in newspapers, on the internet, and all
throughout the world, there are people who are looking at various things that
are happening and seeking to interpret how these things relate to the end of
the world. Sometimes, people even go so far as to suggest a date when the end
of the world will take place.
But remember that Jesus says at the beginning of the book
of Acts: “It is not for you to know times and seasons that the Father has fixed
by his own authority.” Also in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 it says, “Concerning that
day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father.”
We might ask the question, “If Jesus is true God, how come
he doesn’t know?” Well, he has every right to know, but because he took the
form of a servant, there were certain things that he put away from himself. For
example, in the days of his flesh, he also didn’t know how to speak English, or
Italian, or German—even though he was true God, and had every right to know
these languages. But he learnt Aramaic from his mum and dad, just like any
other boy down his street. In a similar way, Jesus also says concerning that
day or that hour, that “He doesn’t know”.
Also, Jesus says to his disciples, “Ask, and you will
receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Colossians
also says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.
But concerning the hour and the day, it will not be given to us to know. Jesus
simply won’t tell us. He wants us to prepare for that day and that hour,
but he will not tell us when it is.
On the other hand, there are many people around the world
who are not satisfied with this answer. And now with the internet, many more
people are connected with each other, and many more weirdos are connected with
each other. What Jesus says is final. God the Father doesn’t leave his dirty
old socks lying around on his bedroom floor, for us to go and take a sniff!
He’s not playing a game with us so that we can work out and find clues and the
answer to the riddle about the end of the world. We know that Christ will
return in glory. He tells us to prepare for it, and be ready in faith. That’s
it.
Now, part of the problem today is that many of the older
churches, including our own church, simply don’t study seriously and deeply the
passages about the end of the world, like Luke 21, Mark 13, Matthew 24 and 25,
the letters to the Thessalonians, and such like. But we need to study them
carefully. But many people in Europe, American and Australia simply don’t
believe that the world will end, and that instead we need to build a social,
political kingdom for Jesus here on earth. This isn’t true. The bible is clear
on this subject, and Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the
dead.
But what has happened is that where we have neglected to
study these things, other groups have
studied them and made many mistakes.
We need to be aware that the bible is clear and doesn’t
need some outside light to be shone on it. The bible is a clear light, and it
shines its own light. We don’t need special prophets to come and interpret
these things for us. Be careful if people follow a particular prophet on these
matters, without whom the bible wouldn’t make sense. God doesn’t need these
prophets to make the things clear which are clear. It is important that we know
what is in the bible and what is not in the bible. For example, the word “rapture”
is not found in the bible. But there are many people who hold the “rapture” to
be an article of faith.
But in our Gospel reading today, Jesus speaks about these
things that will happen at the time of his coming: signs in the sun and moon
and stars, distress of nations, perplexity, roaring of the sea and the waves,
people fainting with fear, foreboding.
Many people today have a real sense that the world is
changing for the worse. People look around at the society in which they live
and don’t see things getting better. The rich are getting richer, and the poor
are getting poorer. There has been a great breakdown of the family. There’s a
lot of suicide and drugs and domestic violence. World organisations are trying
to push selfish agendas. There is such a great apostasy from the faith all
throughout the world. Churches in Australia, America and Europe are empty, and
the church is moving to Africa and Asia. And then—there’s many false prophets. People
think: “Where is it going to end?”
It will end with the second coming of our Lord Jesus.
But most people start to worry and panic and get depressed
about these things. Jesus says the opposite. He says: When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your
heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Jesus says, not just when these things take place, but
when they begin to take place. Most
people could agree that these things have begun,
and we don’t know how much worse things may become. But also, Jesus encourages
us not to get down-hearted and depressed, but to straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing
near.
We often say in English, “chin up!” or “cheer up!” Jesus
says here: straighten up and raise your
heads. Even though many things around us are crumbling, many things which
we hold dear are being lost, nevertheless, Jesus says it’s not a time for us to
mourn, to be sad, to get depressed, it’s a time of great joy and gladness,
because we know the time is coming when Jesus will return. Your redemption is drawing near. The time is coming when our
heavenly Father will draw us and scoop us up from this valley of tears into his
loving arms.
Maybe there is so much depression today, because people
don’t believe in the final judgment. No matter how scared we might be, Jesus is
always scarier. No matter how frightened we might be, Jesus is always more
frightening. But we know from the Gospel that Jesus is loving, forgiving, gentle,
friendly. His blood is powerful. He rose from the dead. The light of his face
brightens up the world. We know that the time to come will be a great time of
joy and happiness and gladness.
Jesus tells a parable about this. He says: Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As
soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer
is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that
the kingdom of God is near.
Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a wonderful summer.
We can see all sorts of bad things happening in the world, but the end result
will not be a long, slow winter, but a bright, fresh, glorious, sunny summer.
And so we should look forward to it with great desire and longing and
happiness.
Jesus says: Truly, I
say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Do you see how Jesus talks about summer, the kingdom of God,
and his words?
The summer is already
near. The kingdom of God is near. My words will not pass away.
These things go together. Jesus words, his kingdom, his
summer. The word of Jesus is a great and powerful light. His forgiveness, his
gospel shines light on people, and makes them joyful and glad and happy:
sometimes not immediately because of our sin, but they still promise to turn
our sadness into rejoicing. And when we receive this word of Jesus, he brings
about his kingdom in us, and he makes us part of that kingdom that is connected
to Jesus, and made one body with him. At the same time, even though Jesus is
with us now, we wait for him to appear at the end. The kingdom of God is a
kingdom of light and of joy and of peace. The kingdom of God is a like a
brilliant summer. The church is a lamp on a lampstand, the place where summer
happens all year around in a wintry world. The word of God and the holy
sacraments are the brilliant sunshine that causes our lives to grow and
flourish and brought to new life again.
In Revelation it says: The
city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it
light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
When we come to church, when we pray, when we read and
hear the bible, the gospel, the forgiveness of sins, to be reminded of our
baptism and receive the Lord’s Supper, we come to bask in God’s own summery,
brilliant light.
It’s so hard for us to believe this though. It’s easy for
us to take our eyes off of Jesus walking on the water, and to look around at
the waves and the wind and to sink.
Jesus says in our gospel: But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation
and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly
like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole
earth. But 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.
There are so many things to weigh us down: over eating,
over drinking and over caring about our lives. But Jesus wants us to pray that
we may have strength. He know that we
don’t have any strength in and of ourselves, and that we have a tendency to
crumble up into a heap on the ground with the rest of the world.
But he wants to make his power perfect in our weakness. He
wants us to keep sighing to him, calling his name, asking for strength.
Strength to do what? Strength to escape, and strength to
stand. Strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and
strength to stand before the Son of Man.
Jesus won’t tell us when the end of the world will be, and
no matter how hard we pray, he will never tell us. But he does want us to pray
for strength, in all of our weakness, and in all of our worries as we wait for
that glorious, brilliant summertime when he comes again.
Amen.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for
you, Lord Jesus. Send us the joy of your Holy Spirit, the joy of your kingdom
as we wait for your glorious appearing at the end of all things. Send us
strength in our weakness, and make your power perfect in our weakness. We believe;
help our unbelief. Amen.
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