Trinity 25 [Matthew 24:15-28] (10-Nov-2013)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am, lay reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm).

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

Text: (Matthew 24:15-28)

False christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders.

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

 
Today we celebrate the first of last three Sundays of the Church Year. Today’s gospel reading together with the gospel readings for the next two Sundays all focus on preparing the church for the end of the world.

Today’s gospel reading is from Matthew 24, and here Jesus teaches us about two questions that his disciples ask him: When will the city of Jerusalem and the temple be thrown down? And secondly: What will be the sign of Jesus’ coming and of the close of the age?

Jesus says: When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray: Your kingdom come. In the Small Catechism, we read: God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father sends us the Holy Spirit so that by his grace we believe his holy word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

God is always building his kingdom. He doesn’t build his kingdom in response to our faithfulness or our piety and or our good works. No good thing that we do can bring about God’s kingdom on earth. God builds his kingdom purely by grace, and out of love and mercy toward us and the world.

The Holy Spirit always works through God’s holy word. Whenever the word of God is read and preached, the Holy Spirit is at work. Whenever the word of God is spoken over a person in baptism, the Holy Spirit is being poured out over that person. However, the Holy Spirit doesn’t work in the way we always want him to work. He works where and when he pleases. As Jesus said to Nicodemus: The wind blows where you it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Every time a person believes the word of God, this is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is not a human response, or decision, or choice that makes us believe in God’s word. It is the Holy Spirit’s work that does it. And whenever God sends us his Holy Spirit by his grace so that we believe his holy word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity, God is building his kingdom, and letting his kingdom come. In fact, every time this happens, God is answering the prayers of his own son, and of every Christian throughout all time: Your kingdom come.

Jesus is our king. The book of Revelation calls him the King of kings and the Lord of lords. St Paul calls him the King of glory. And Jesus is truly, physically present in his own church, speaking his word, forgiving us our sins with his own words himself, baptising people with his own mouth and hands, and giving people his body and blood to eat and to drink. Jesus comes to his church all the time, and he speaks and applies his word to us, and he gives us his sacraments to us. And when Jesus does this, he carries out his work as king of the world and of the whole universe.

Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He is our king. Now, how is going to rule the heaven and earth? Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

In other words: I am the king of heaven and earth. And I will be a king with you, and I will always be a king among you, through my word and my sacraments. Baptise and teach, he says. That’s how people will be made disciples and gathered into your kingdom.

However, in Psalm 110, it prophesies that Jesus will rule in the midst of [his] enemies. In Psalm 23, it prophesies that Jesus will prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Jesus is our king and rules as our king, through the cross. He was truly crowned by the Roman soldiers when they put a crown of thorns on him. He was truly robed in royal robes when the Roman soldiers put a robe on him. Jesus was truly elevated to his throne when he was nailed to the cross.

Jesus says: My kingdom is not of the world. This is a kingdom that is under the cross and which is under suffering. Only in the next life, we will see his kingdom in its glory. This is the kingdom of faith—in the next life will be the kingdom of sight. So when you see all sorts of bad things happening, don’t despair. Remember the prayer that Jesus has taught you, Your kingdom come. Remember that God’s kingdom comes right into the midst of his enemies. Remember that even on the cross, Jesus said to the thief next to him: Today, you will be with me in paradise. Yes, today I am coming into my kingdom, today I am already in my kingdom, and I will remember you right now. Today you will be with me in paradise.

At the time of Jesus, many people didn’t want this sort of suffering kingdom. They wanted a powerful kingdom, and they wanted a powerful king. They wanted a king to destroy and defeat the Romans, and bring about a golden age for the city of Jerusalem.

Instead, Jesus promises the exact opposite. He says: When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Jesus is the holy one of Israel. And instead of Jesus himself being enthroned in the holy place, he is enthroned in an unholy place: on the cross. He in enthroned in a place of filth, and shame, and sadness. But in the holy place, in Jerusalem, in the temple, Jesus says there will be an abomination of desolation. The holy one will be outside the holy city on Mount Golgotha, at the Place of the Skull. And the devil’s nastiest work will be in the holy place.

So what is this abomination? Many people have often thought that this refers to a statue of a Roman emperor, because in the bible, statues of idols are often called abominations. But it most likely refers to the Roman army, since in Luke 21 it says: When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.

We know from history that the Roman army destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. And the things that Jesus speaks about here came true: many Christians fled to the mountains and took refuge in a city called Pella. And there were such terrible things that happened at that time—this was a dark time of history.

Jesus says: Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.

Even though those times were terrible, Jesus also promised that those times would be graciously cut short to allow his church to be rescued and saved.  

The sort of kingdom that the Jewish people were expecting was not to be. But Jesus did not fail to establish his kingdom. No – in fact, he has established his kingdom and he rules us as our king, through his word and sacraments. Jesus breathes out on us the Holy Spirit so that we believe in this wonderful, comforting, forgiving word of Jesus.  

Now, what sort of a life will the church have? We often look back and we might think that there were more Christians in the past. Maybe—maybe not. One philosopher said recently: In the past, when Christians were in charge, many people pretended to believe in God when actually they didn’t. But now that the church is not in charge, people pretend to be atheist, when actually they do believe in God. Who knows what time in church history was the best one? Never mind! We are still called to pray: Your kingdom come.

But are we looking forward to a glorious golden age of the church? Will there be a glorious time before the end of the world when Christians will be in charge and all the atheists and unbelievers will be crushed? Some Christians like to tell people, instead of preparing for their death and to meet Christ in the next life, to prepare for a rapture instead, and for a 1000 year reign of Christ, where all unbelievers will be supressed. These people get this view from the book of Revelation, which speaks about Christ reigning for 1000 years. However, Revelation uses all kinds of mystical numbers: such as that there will be 144,000 people in heaven. Then these people try and squeeze the rest of the bible in to fit these passages, instead of seeking to understand Revelation in light of the rest of the New Testament.

What they don’t realise is that Christ is ruling the world now. His cross was not a failure. He rules the world today through his word and sacrament. We are living now in the 1000 year reign of Christ, and every time we join in with Christ, bringing to his feet the needs of this world, we are ruling and reigning with him in his kingdom. As St Peter writes: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Today is the golden age of the church. Holy Baptism is not a failure. The preaching of the word of God is not a failure. The absolution is not a failure. The Lord’s Supper is not a failure. The cross and resurrection and ascension is not a failure. This is the kingdom of Jesus, and the thing that we are waiting for is what we say in the creeds: He will come again in glory to judge the living and dead.

Do Christians need to manipulate government politics to bring about Christ’s reign? No. Does the American government need to pour money into supporting the modern state of Israel to bring about God’s plan for salvation? No. Jews and Arabs are called to join in Christ’s kingdom together through Holy Baptism.

Even in the church, many Christians would like there to be a wonderful golden age, in such a way that there are no sinners in the church, no bad pastors, no problems, no suffering, and no cross.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus promises the exact opposite. He says: Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.  So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightening comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Wherever there is a preacher pointing you to Christ’s works, there will be another preacher pointing you to your own works. Wherever there is the real Christ building his kingdom, the antichrist will not be far away, setting himself up in the holy place. Wherever there is a real prophet, a false one will follow after. Wherever there is a pastor pointing you to Christ as he meets you in his holy word and holy sacraments, there will someone else pointing you to Christ in the wilderness and in the inner rooms. Wherever the great miracles of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are being performed, there are plenty of people performing all sorts of false miracles.

Christ comes and speaks faith into people’s heart, giving them his Holy Spirit. And not too far away is a fake christ, the antichrist, the devil in disguise. He can’t forgive sins, because he didn’t pay for them, so he excuses them instead. He can’t create faith, so he creates a delusion.

When you take God’s word and God’s works away, the only thing you can replace them with is human works.

Every day in the life of the church from the day Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin to day of Pentecost until the end of the world is what the bible calls the last days, the last hour. We might think that this is a very long “last hour”, but with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Jesus will come like lightening, in such a way that he will be seen everywhere, just as he has been everywhere secretly with every Christian throughout history every day until the end of the world. There is not one day before the end of the age where the church is not called to make disciples by baptising and teaching.

St John says: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confes Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Let’s rejoice together with our Lord Jesus as we meet him today, tomorrow, at our time of death, and at the end of the world. Jesus has won the victory over sin, death and the devil, and he rules the world through his church today in our midst. Let’s never forget that! He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. However, we also know that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

 

Lord Jesus Christ, protect us from false plans and ideas for the future. Keep us faithful to you and your holy word, and create in us new and loving hearts. Build your kingdom among us, and send us your generous Holy Spirit. Amen.