Sermon Tone Analysis

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I believe in .... the Resurrection of the Dead and the life of the world to come.

In the Name of Jesus, dearly beloved.

As the Church year draws to a close, She turns her eyes to the end of all things.

In the Apostles’ Creed this includes the last two sentences of the Creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

This ultimately takes place on the Last Day, Judgment Day.

The Prophets called this day the “Day of the Lord”.

This phrase is also echoed in the New Testament.

We will examine this Day of the Lord, using the word DAY as our outline.

First, we will speak about the Day of the Lord, what has been prophesied and what will take place; All will be present at the day of the Lord, with every eye seeing Him, every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that He is Lord, and that we are called to yearn for the appearing of the Day of the Lord and for His welcoming us into heaven.

The Day of the Lord

When one begins to speak about the end times in church, curiosity is piqued.

Indeed, it is probably the most popular topic that one can bring up from the pulpit or in Bible classes, as we all want to be in the know.

Just look at all of the date setting that occurred just this year.

Of course it is always wrong, because even Jesus, Himself, according to His state of humiliation did not know the day or the hour.

Yet it continues to be done.

The point of the Prophets declaring the Day of the Lord, and Jesus telling us that He is returning, is simply to make us ready at all times to meet the Lord when He comes, through faith alone in Him.

One internet meme I spotted a few weeks ago when all of this was supposed to happen said, “How to accurately predict the exact date of Christ’s Second Coming: Step 1: Don’t.

As we know there are all sorts of various views in Christianity on the events leading up to the Day of the Lord.

Some believe that the world will soon get better and better, and then Jesus will appear.

Some believe that history is divided into different sections and that God works differently with His people in those different time segments.

Some believe in a literal thousand year reign of Jesus on the earth.

Others, like us, believe that this reign is now— that Jesus does reign on earth in His Church through Word and Sacrament.

Some believe that all of the Jews will be saved by race and not by grace.

Some people believe in a rapture- that is, when all of the Christians will disappear from the earth, and history will continue to go on until Jesus returns with all of the raptured Christians at a later date.

By the way, and interesting point.

Modern dispensationalism teaches that

teaches about the rapture.

They miss a huge point here.

“As in the days of Noah, so, the coming of the Son of Man will be… two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left...”

Growing up, I learned a song in one of the High School Bible classes attended written by Larry Norman, a 1970s Christian Pop artist, entitled, “You’ve been left behind.”

“Life was filled with guns and war and every one got trampled on the floor, I wish we’d all been ready, children died, the days grew cold, a piece of bread could buy a bag of gold, I wish we’d all been ready.

There’s no time to change your mind, the Son has come, and you’ve been left behind.”

Here’s the problem.

Who is taken, who is left?

What do these terms really mean.

Well, in context, just the opposite of Larry Norman’s song and the teaching of dispensational theology.

Those who were taken are not those “taken on the ark”, but rather taken by death.

Those who were “left” were the ones who escaped being taken by being on the ark.

The grammar of the text shows us that evangelicalism has read this backwards.

You want to be left behind, that is, saved by the Lord Jesus!

People begin to interpret the Scriptures in light of the headlines in the papers and in the subject section in news emails.

But what the Bible teaches is that all Scripture, including end-times prophecies, all find their fulfillment not in current events, but in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible’s teaching on the Day of the Lord is pretty simple:

The world will grow increasingly evil

Satan will be loosed for a short time toward the end, where his powers of deception will be re-allowed by God

Hearts will grow cold

Jesus will appear in the sky with all of His angels

The judgment will take place- which we will address next week

The sheep will be welcomed into heaven

The goats will be cast into hell with the devil

The world and everything in and on it will be destroyed by fire

We will live forever in the presence of the Lamb in eternal joy.

The main point of the Day of the Lord is that we are prepared by Jesus Himself, through faith, by the forgiveness of our sins on His cross.

The question begged of each of us pertaining to this day of the Lord is, “are you ready?” Do you believe in Jesus.

Do you live in Him.

Does He live through you?

All will be present at the Day of the Lord.

also warns of those coming and saying that they are the Christ.

I’ve met a few of them, maybe you have, too.

But Jesus coming will not be missed by anyone— dead or alive.

His return will be anything but secret:

Philippians 2:

1 Corinthians 51

Bottom line is this: Whether you are dead or alive at the time Jesus comes back for His Church, you will be there.

You will see Him.

You will be judged.

You will be welcomed into the courts of heaven with the whole Church as His bride.

Never worry about missing it.

Never worry about a secret rapture.

The Bible teaches none of that.

Every eye.

Every knee.

Every tongue.

We Yearn for this Day

Strange, after hearing such a scary text as we did in our Old Testament Lesson, that the Bible tells us that we are to long for this Day of the Lord, and to speed its coming by sharing the Gospel with the four corners of the world:

How can we look forward to such a time?

How can we embrace such a horrible text?

We don’t.

Jesus did.

Remember, all of the prophecies of the Day of the Lord are fulfilled in Jesus, not the headlines.

When it comes to buying a house, most need a mortgage.

Several mortgage companies offer a “pre-approval” of a mortgage up to a certain amount.

If you have that, and you want to purchase a house that is less than the pre-approval amount, it’s a home run.

You don’t have to find a house and then figure out how you will pay for it.

You’ve got the money in hand.

I say this, because Jesus has “pre-approved” you for heaven.

Not with gold or silver, but with His holy, and precious blood, and innocent suffering and death for you.

On the Cross, YOUR judgment Day already occurred.

Jesus went to the Cross as the sinless Lamb of God who became a goat for you.

On that Cross, He endured the judgment of God the Father in your place, in your stead.

God’s “depart from me” that was rightly aimed at you, was spoken to Jesus instead.

The earth groped in night.

The ground shook.

The dead were raised and walked through the streets of Jerusalem.

Jesus endured the Day of the Lord for you,

Because He loves you, these words were fulfilled by Him, and will not be demanded of you:

And because He did,

Rather, from the words of our Epistle,

1 Thessalonians 5: