Untitled Sermon

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit + Amen.

Every year when we come to the beginning of Advent, I think many people are caught off guards by the readings. We think of Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas. And so it is in the world. Christmas decorations go up in the stores and in our homes, bringing warmth and light in this too cold and too dark a season. Christmas shopping is well under way, preparation and planning for our yearly festivities begin, cards are sent out, cookies are baked, etc, etc. And so it is liturgically as well, Advent, which is simple the Latin word “come” is a time for us to step back, even from our busy holiday preparations and prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually to celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, God of God, light of light, very God of very God into our world as a babe. The fulfillment of all God’s gracious promises to his people Israel, that he would be their God and dwell among them, that he would deliver them from sin and overthrow the power of the devil. And done in way far more sublime, and miraculous, and mysterious then anyone could have ever imagined.

Indeed Advent is a time for us to prepare and rejoice in that miracle above all other miracles, that the God of heaven and earth has deigned to break down the dividing wall of sin which separates us from Him in the most unfathomable way possible. And possible only in the sense that for God all things are possible. That He became man. But the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is not simply a historical event. It is that. Indeed, the eternal Logos was born of the Virgin Mary in a particular town, and placed in a particular manger to sleep. Heralded by a star and Angels, witnessed by Shepherds, exalted by magi, and held in the tender arms of his mother. This particular coming, indeed, the central event of all human history, the most important thing to have ever happened. Compared to which no other thing, no event in our lives, no war, no king or emperor, no rise or fall of nations matters. This particular coming, is not simply a past event. And so Advent is a time of preparation to celebrate that coming of the Lord, but also a time to celebrate and meditate and prepare ourselves for the continued out working of that miracle. That the Lord came then in the flesh, and so too he comes to us even now. In his Word, in his Sacraments, in his flesh on the altar.

In this we see, in many ways, Christianity is not a religion like those of the world, it is not a religion of ascent, where man climbs and makes his way to God but it is a religion of descent. Of God coming down to dwell with man. In his coming on Christmas morning, and his continued coming though the means of Grace, in which he descends from heaven above to make you his Church his home, God descends. And so he came then, and comes now, and as we have heard over the past three weeks he comes again. He came once, meek and mild, and comes now in grace and forgiveness and will come in glory and judgement. And so Advent also has a taste of the eschatological, for it also continues to prepare us for that second coming.

And so in our readings today we see the strains of all three comings. The incarnation in the Gospel text, Christ’s mystical coming to his Church in the Epistle, and the final judgement as prophesied by Isaiah. And the three weave together and compliment each other, because it is the threefold coming of one and the same Lord.

The prophet Isaiah seems double minded in our text. On the one hand he eagerly desires the coming of God, even in judgement saying, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—

to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence” (Is 64:1-2). The Hebrew underlining this text does not read nearly as smoothly as the translation, it is abrupt and disjointed, full of dislocations. It reveals the heart of Isaiah, it is the fervent and earnest prayer of the prophet pouring out his soul to God without worry for refinement of speech. And what does he pray? Surrounded by evil, idolatrous nations, prosecuting the most grotesque crimes against their fellow man, Isaiah cries out that God would come in his visage as consuming fire. To bring justice and the wicked to their knees. That those who neither fear God nor respect man might be stopped in their tracks and held to account. That the very mountains, those iron and inflexible giants upon the earth, might shake and thunder with the Law of God as Sanai once had.

And yet he fears, for Isaiah has beheld Holy God in a vision, seen the throne room of Heaven with the preincarnate Christ seated among the cherubim and seraphim. And he knows to put it mildly, that a visitation from God might not turn out well for the people of Israel, even the faithful remnant, even himself. And thus he confesses then asks “in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” (Is 64:5). He goes on “We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Is 64:6). That is, even our good works, are not so good. Even they are tainted by sin. And again the ESV is quite polite here, for this “polluted garment” to which Isaiah compares even our righteous deeds is quite literally soiled menstrual rags. That is offensive and shocking language, which is precisely what the prophets means to do. He means to shock and offend, because if we are apart from Christ, if God were to reckon our sins against us, even our good works, the best we can do on our own ability, are so impure, so unclean, that they are as offensive and revolting to God as dirty menstrual rags. Isaiah continues “We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name,

who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us,

and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities” (Is 64:6-7). All, everyone, even the prophet himself are melting away in their iniquity.

How is it then, that Isaiah, recognizing the deep corruption not just of his enemies but of his own soul, can long so passionately for the coming of the Lord. That mountains would quake at his coming. Recognizing indeed that the coming of the Lord would be like a fire descending upon the dried brush. Because he hopes for forgiveness. “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people” (Is 64:9). He hopes for mercy, and by the Prophetic Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, who had come upon him, he knows that the Lord will do precisely that. Not to long before this earnest prayer, Isaiah had foreseen, the suffering servant “despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Is 53:3), who would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows; who would be stricken and smitten by the Father in our stead, who would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, upon whom would be the chastisement that brings us peace.

And so it is, the suffering servant, in whom there was no sin, not a single iniquity, rides into Jerusalem, the city that persecuted and stoned the prophets, on the back of a donkey. To the joyous adulation of the crowds “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9-10). But soon, those shouts of joy would turn to shouts of crucify. And it had to be so, for David’s greater son was born for this purpose; to go to his death to bring about that peace, that forgiveness, and that mercy which Isaiah hoped for. So that the coming of the Lord on that Last day, would be the day of salvation for all who believe in him.

And so it will be for us, just as it is for us today in his coming to us in the Holy Communion. It is joy and peace. Indeed it is as Isaiah said, God “meets him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember him in their ways” (Is 64:5). And so it is among us because of “the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge” (1 Cor1:4-5). The Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with his gifts, and sanctifies and keeps you in the Holy Christian Church. And “He will sustain you to the end” by his Word, by his Sacraments “guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” Amen!