MidWeek — Advent 3 — Dec. 18, 2024

Genesis 3:16–24 NIV84

16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Revelation 22:1–5 NIV84

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

John 20:30–31 NIV84

30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Sermon Theme: Do we eagerly anticipate this homecoming?

Goal: That hearers long for and eagerly anticipate a reunion with our Lord and Savior and our heavenly home.

In the last chapter of Revelation, John gives one more spectacular picture of the heavenly home we should eagerly anticipate. Here, he finds himself before the throne of God and the Lamb. It sounds spectacular! From the throne of God flows the river of life, representing the eternal life that God alone grants. John is shown a street that goes through the city and the tree of life. The picture is of a beautiful park running through the entire city, which has the avenue on one side and the crystalline river on the other. Between the river and the main street is the tree of life. The description brings to mind the Garden of Eden, which is now restored for God’s people to inhabit forever. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, no human being could look on God face-to-face and live. But now, in the New Eden, we see God face-to-face. His presence will shine all around us so that there will be no darkness. And God promises that we will reign with him in this beautiful garden paradise forever. Textual observations for this sermon outline are from Louis A. Brighton, Concordia Popular Commentary: Revelation (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 622–58.

Sermon Outline

Pick an apple off its tree, and you have a great source of antioxidants and fiber. Pluck the fruit of an orange tree. It provides the daily supply of vitamin C. Tanya and I were fortunate to live 12 years in a climate where avocado trees grow. I love this fruit packed with healthy fats, B6, and potassium. Different trees with different fruits and different health benefits.

Image a tree that produced a fruit that enabled you to live forever. Such a tree once existed. It stood in the middle of the Garden of Eden. When mankind fell into sin, tainting all creation with the stain of death, God banned access to that tree. He did not want us to live forever in a world as broken as this one. But today, we see that through the work of Christ, access to that life-giving tree has been restored. This evening we conclude our series on Christmas Trees by looking into paradise restored. There we find the Tree of Life, given to us once again by our gracious and merciful God. Eat up!

Just as a military member with a family longs to return home when deployed, in the same way that a mother longs to see her children after an extended absence, so we should long for the coming of our Lord and our heavenly home.

Revelation 22:1–6 NET

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life—water as clear as crystal—pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. 3 And there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him, 4 and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever. 6 Then the angel said to me, “These words are reliable and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.”

It sounds so glorious. And it will be—soon! But

Do We Eagerly Anticipate This Homecoming?

Sadly, we are not always so very eager for our Lord’s coming to take us home.

Unless we are either quite old, infirm, or struggling with worldly problems, it seems many would rather put off our Lord’s imminent return.

Illustration: Before their deaths, my mother suffered from congestive heart failure and other circulatory problems. My eldest sister struggled with drug abuse. My dad lived with Lewy Body Dementia, which is a progressive brain disease that affects thinking, movement, behavior, and mood. All three talked about wanting to go home to be with Jesus. I’ve heard similar statements from other older Christians, or even from younger Christians who struggled with depression or serious injury or significant loss.

But most of us have other places we would rather be or other things we still want to do.

It seems the only time many of us begin to think this way is when the wages of sin begin to weigh us down.

The doctrine of Jesus’ second coming teaches us that we cannot know when the world will end. It could happen before the end of this service. To some, this seems intolerably frustrating.

So many things would be interrupted. The adolescent wants to fall in love and get married. The young adult wants to have children. The middle-aged person wants to see grandchildren. Most people have other worldly goals, including careers, travel, things they want to accomplish before they go to be with Jesus.

This is a terrible temptation that we face. We cannot serve both God and the world (Lk 16:13). Our hearts cannot be in both places.

We face other temptations as well (2 Tim 3:1–5), which often times are sinful. When we are so tempted, we can lose sight of the fact that Jesus came into this fallen world to redeem us from sin to make possible our citizenship in heaven, a far better place for us.

But Jesus promises that He—with the reward he brings—is coming soon (vv 12–16).

Here, Christ calls what he brings “his reward.”

It is not the reward of sinful human beings. Salvation is by God’s grace and not because of anyone’s supposed good works.

This is the reward Christ himself earned with his perfect life and his suffering and death, a reward he freely gives to all believers.

The reward is the gift of eternal life in God’s holy presence, earned for God’s people by the death and resurrection of the Lamb.

Jesus is our everlasting God, Alpha and Omega, together with Father and Holy Spirit (Rev. 22:13). He is the initial source and the ending of all creation.

And so, Jesus is the first and the last for God’s people. We are saved only through him.

Because Jesus is the first and the last, only those are blessed who have been washed and cleansed in his blood (Rev. 22:14).

Those who trust in Jesus have their sins forgiven, are counted as righteous, and are given eternal life in his heavenly home.

Yet, there is that other awful place outside the gates for “the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22:15).

Banished outside the gates of heaven are the impure who have not trusted in Jesus as their Savior. Their sin is still with them.

A warning that we repent and trust in Christ!

But, it is also a wonderful promise for those blessed to be inside the gates of the holy city. Never again will they be tempted or injured by evil as they dwell in God’s glorious presence.

To be clear about his wonderful promise, Jesus addresses the apostle John, the seven churches of Asia Minor, and us in the first person with his given, human name: “I, Jesus” (Rev. 22:16).

He is speaking to each of us personally. He is your loving Savior and friend, the Messiah promised of old, son of David, David’s Lord.

As we look to him, we are like watchmen of the night who see the morning star rising on the horizon, eagerly anticipating the dawning of a new day. Jesus is that morning star. He has risen from the grave and ascended on high. When he comes again, he will give us a new and glorious life in his eternal presence.

So now, renewed by the Holy Spirit through the Word, the Church, the Bride of Christ, responds to Jesus’ promise.

“Come! We can’t wait to be with you! Come quickly!” (Rev. 22:17–20).

This is how Christ’s Church answers our loving Bridegroom. Let everyone “who hears” the words of John’s prophecy likewise be moved by the Holy Spirit to say, “Come.”

And as we receive Jesus’ forgiveness through his life-giving Word and Sacraments, we desire and await the Lord’s return with all the more longing and eagerness. We want our Lord’s return now!

We also cry out to others to join us in drinking of the waters of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ, for the time granted by God is short. They, too, could face Jesus’ coming any day.

As we eagerly await Christ’s coming and joy to drink of his Word of life, we are warned not to add to or subtract from this Word (vv 18–19).

There is no adding human flavors nor filtering out anything from this Word of life, not only in the Book of Revelation, but in all of Holy Scripture, for to do so will incur the wrath of God.

Because of what Scripture testifies, we hold all Holy Scripture to be God’s inspired, inerrant Word, not only able to guide us in all matters of faith and life, but able to make us wise unto salvation through Christ (2 Tim 3:16).

Therefore, Jesus’ last words to his people on earth are “Surely I am coming soon” (v 20).

Time is an interesting thing, particularly in the Bible. The promise of Christ coming, given almost two thousand years ago, still is as true today. He is coming soon. And yet, he is with us now through his Word and Sacraments. He is never far away. Soon is not a matter of chronological time, but of “nearness” time.

It seemed so long in human time from the promise to Adam and Eve of one to crush the head of the serpent until Jesus was eventually born. But it was a blink of an eye in God’s time until Jesus first came in “the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4). He is coming again soon!

There is the beginning and the end, and then there is the time in which we live. Time can move ever so slowly and then it can move so very quickly. Yet, Jesus is coming soon!

Time is in God’s hands, as are we. Any moment could be our last on this earth. So Jesus assures this apostle whom he loved that he is coming quickly. What is John’s response? “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (v 20). That is our response as well.

Conclusion: At mealtime, many of us pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.” We pray for Jesus to join us and bless the food we are to receive. In the Early Christian Church, an ancient writing called the Didache, or “Teaching,” included a prayer during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper containing the cry “Maranatha!” meaning “Come, O Lord.” Here the Church looked to Jesus’ coming with his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. But, even more, the Church, and indeed each Christian, should be moved to pray regularly that this day, today, is the day that Jesus will keep his promise: “Surely I am coming soon.” There is nothing better we have to do in this life or for all eternity than to be with Jesus in his glorious home. Come, Lord Jesus, and bring us to the new Eden, around the tree of life, forevermore together. Truly this is an eagerly anticipated homecoming!

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