Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
As our church year winds up and the Season of Advent is right around the corner, our readings and themes all turn towards the end times. Eschatology. The Return of the King. We’ve been talking about this at length in our Revelation Bible Study - Wednesdays at 10am, everyone welcome! The return of Christ our Lord is a promise He gave us in His word: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done” (Rev. 22:12). Judgment. We confess it every week in the Creed: “And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.” This idea is more than slightly terrifying! God is going to judge me. I have to stand before the Eternal Judge and give an account of how I lived my life, the decisions I made, the love and mercy that I showed … or the lack thereof!
There’s really only 3 responses to this. 1) Scoffing. This is the response of the world, the pagans, the non-believers. “I’ve heard it all before, blah blah blah. Your Sky Wizard Judge can go pound salt. There’s way worse people in the world than me.” And so on. This response either mocks or apathetically turns away from the promise of the Scriptures. No matter how hard you try to warn people, the warning falls on deaf ears. We see this clearly in our times, but it’s also not new. All the way through the Old Testament, even God’s people would turn away from a life of repentance for their sins and a watchful eye waiting for the promised Messiah to come. God would send His prophets to sound the alarm bells, to try and wake the people up from their sloth and spiritual slumber, but alas the judgment would come. Empires like Babylon would come in and overrun the people Israel, carting them off into captivity and slavery in far off lands. A life of misery was then exchanged for their life of blessing with God.
And, behind door number 2) Fanatics. This is the response of people who hear our Lord’s promise of judgment and return and become absolutely consumed and obsessed by it! Their every waking moment is spent reading stuff and listening to TV preachers or random teachers on the internet who “have it all figured out.” They write books like “88 reasons the world will end in 1988.” And then, they write books like “89 reasons the world will end in 1989!” They calculate dates and try and figure out exactly when and where the Lord Jesus will return. They read the signs of the times and interpret them. They make up all kinds of weird interpretations. Here’s just one. In Revelation 13 where it talks about the first beast rising from the sea, this thing is described “like a leopard” (2). A few years ago I heard a guy teaching that this was a clear-as-day prophecy that this was President Obama because a leopard has a spotted coat that is half light and half dark and President Obama was half white and half black! It’s as clear as day everybody! Wow! They believe that everything in Revelation was written to them in their time periods - neglecting that all Scripture was written to a specific, first-hand audience and then for us - the future audience - by extension. Revelation was written to the Seven Churches that were in Asia some 2000 years ago. And it was written not to rile up God’s people and cause them terror. God does not want His word to produce whacko fanaticism. Rather, it was written as an encouragement. Keep your eyes on the cross of Christ. That’s where the Lamb of God conquers and gives victory to all who believe. Wash your robes and make them white in His blood poured out for you and the forgiveness for your sins. Be baptized and believe. Endure the trials and tribulations of life in this fallen and sinful world, ever clinging to the cross, and you will receive the crown of life. Be watchful. Be waiting.
And finally the last response 3) Faith. The Lord’s word tells us that Christ our Lord will return to be our judge. This world will come to an end. Get ready. Be prepared. But do so with heavenly peace and confidence in Christ’s victory. Salvation is a free gift by faith for all who believe, not by works so that no one can boast. We talked about this at length on Reformation Sunday. Our Lord tells us plainly in our Gospel reading from St. John: “[The Father] has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (JN 5:27-29). Wait a minute, that sounds like works! Have I done enough good to outweigh my bad!?! Have I given enough money to the church!? Did I spend last Christmas handing out blankets and dinner to the homeless!?! Oy vey! The Law of God is showing me my sins, shining like a mirror and I don’t look so good! Calm down, take it easy. We will all be judged by what we have done and left undone. But our names are written in the book of life by faith. And as Hebrews tells us: “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (11:6). By faith, Christ declares us not guilty. But without faith, all you have is guilt and no amount of human good works will be enough. The message of the Gospel is that Christ gives us His good by faith alone. And we in turn live out that good in lives of faithfulness to God and love for our neighbours.
Faith is the ship that sails between the rocky shore of scoffers and the whirl pool of fanatics when it comes to the end times. The promise of Christ is rock solid. He’s going to return. He’s going to be our judge. And as we live these last days, it is very easy to become discouraged and apathetic. There have been many times of great distress in the history of the world. Everyone who endured World War I no doubt thought, “This is it!” And then, everyone who endured World War II no doubt thought, “This is really it!” And now in human history, the stakes have never been higher. The threat of an all-out Nuclear World War III is very distressing to say the least! Nevertheless, no matter how bad things get with world powers, or how terrible the economy is, we as God’s baptized people have absolutely no reason to become discouraged or afraid. Our God is the God of victory. His supernatural forces fight for His people, like the archangel Michael we heard about in our Daniel reading. Good always triumphs over evil. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (JN 1:5).
Stay on the ship of faith. Keep your eyes on the prize of the cross and empty tomb of Christ our Lord. For this alone is our victory and blessed assurance. This is what we cling to as we endure the difficulties of life. This is what we cling to as we wait for the return of Christ our King. And we do this, day after day, with His promise etched into our hearts and minds: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (MT 28:20). Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
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