Romans 15.4-13 + Luke 21.25-36
Populus Zion, the Second Sunday in Advent
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In today’s gospel Jesus tells us the signs that will precede His second advent. He says, “There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.” Signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars sounds familiar. Kerrville experienced an annular solar eclipse in October of last year and a total solar eclipse this last April. Four days ago, astronomers spotted a small asteroid, just over two inches wide, just before it hit the atmosphere above northern Siberia and made a fireball in the sky. Signs on the earth—distress of nations—sounds familiar, too. In fact, with the internet, we can hear about the distress of nations as it’s happening. War between Russia and Ukraine. Something now going on in Syria again. Political unrest in South Korea, the French government collapsing again; all this just in the last week. We have seen the sea and the waves roaring in the past months with Hurricanes making landfall and bring death and destruction to the southeastern states. There’s no doubt that we’re seeing the signs Jesus said would precede His second coming.
But aren’t these normal occurrences? Don’t eclipse and comets, wars and unrest regularly occur throughout the world? Of course. That is why Jesus attaches His promise to them, so when Christians see signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, they look up and lift up their heads, because their redemption draws near. Jesus takes these things which occur so regularly in our sinful world and puts them to use for our salvation. He turns them from being distressing occurrences into signs which Christians use to remind us to eagerly anticipate Christ’s return. He says, “When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” As the buds on a fig tree would tell the disciples that summer was drawing near, these signs show Christians that the eternal summer of the kingdom of God draws near. Jesus does not want us to think of His return in glory—and the redemption He brings—only once or twice. He wants to be continually reminding us of the fact that He is coming again, so that we do not come to love the things of this sinful world but look forward to the kingdom He has prepared for believers from before the foundation of the world. By attaching His word of promise to these signs, He encourages us to wait for our future redemption.
But He also gives Christians a sign of warning. He says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” By this He isn’t saying that He will return in glory during the apostles’ lives. Jesus often uses the word “generation” to describe the unbelieving Jews. In Matthew 13, when a group of Pharisees claims Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of Demons, then some of them asks for a sign, Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matt 12:39). When Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from Jesus in Matthew 16, He calls them “A wicked and adulterous generation” (Matt 16:4). The generation which will by no means pass away until all these things take place is the unbelieving Jews. This is why the Jews, as a people, and the modern state of Israel, still exist. Zionists imagine that modern Israel’s existence proves that she is God’s special people, with a special plan of salvation that does not include Christ. But Jesus tells us that even as they vehemently deny Christ, they serve as a sign to warn His Christians not to forfeit their salvation by imagining they remain God’s children while the place their faith in things other than Christ.
This is why Jesus says, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” We often think of falling away from faith—and placing our faith in something other than Christ—as an obvious process. But it happens more stealthily than we want to think it does. It begins when Christians do not take heed to themselves by hearing God’s word and applying to themselves so that they daily repent of their sins, meditate on the gospel, and order their lives according to God’s commandments. The heart begins to take heed to other things. Carousing and drunkenness weigh the heart down so that it cannot watch, it cannot pray, it cannot see things as God would have us see them. This is the case with any sinful pleasure we indulge in. It weighs down the heart and focuses it on the things of this world, and in such a way that drives out faith and the Holy Ghost, so that the heart is no longer prepared for Christ’s return, though in the stupor of sin it imagines it is still ready.
To carousing and drunkenness Jesus adds the cares of life. The cares of life are the things we have to attend to every day as part of our daily lives. Our work, our education if we’re a student, our family, paying the bills, helping our neighbors, taking care of our health, even our leisure time are all part of the cares of this life. These cares aren’t sinful in and of themselves. In fact, they are gifts from God. But when we allow them to weigh our hearts down, then our hearts become focused on them, as if they were the “end all be all” of life. If we let them, the cares of this life will drag our eyes away from Christ, so that we come to love our life in this world more than we love His promises, more than we love His return, more than we love the redemption He will bring with Him when He returns. It is possible to get too comfortable with this life and forfeit the far better life of the world to come. Those whose hearts are weighed down, either by love of sinning or by the cares of life, will find that that day—the day of Christ’s return in glory—comes upon them unexpectedly as a snare upon them.
Jesus tell His disciples all this so that they watch and pray. “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” When you see signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, direct your thoughts to Christ’s promise to return in glory brighter than the sun, and that those who persevere in the faith unto the end “shall shine like the brightness of the firmament” (Dan 12:3). When you see on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, remind yourself that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Christ, and that He rules all things for the sake of His church. When you see the sea and the waves roaring, pray for the safety of those who are in its path of devastation, and direct your thoughts to the fact that the Lord destroyed the world once with water, but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, as St. Peter teaches, and that we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:16-7, 13). When you see the Jews still claiming to be God’s chosen people despite denying what Paul says, that “Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,” pray for their conversion, and fight spiritual pride and self-righteousness in yourself if it should well up within your heart, and give thanks to God for the redemption He provides for you in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and remain in it by faith.
“When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” You have this redemption now by faith in Christ, but when He returns, you will have it by sight and experience the joys of everlasting bliss. Until that day, watch and pray. Do not let the sins of this world cling to you. Repent them and fight them with the gospel of forgiveness and new life. Do not cling to the cares of life, but to the word of eternal life, for He has said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Go in the peace and joy of the gospel—that your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake—that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let every sign in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, the sea and the waves roaring stir up your hearts to look forward to Christ’s return, His redemption, and life of the world to come. Let these things stir up your hope so that you pray with St. John at the end of Revelation, “Come, Lord Jeus!” and mean it. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
