113005 Midweek Advent 1
Sermon: Advent 1 on Quempas, stanza 1
The Quempas Carol, upon which this year’s Advent series are based, dates back to the Middle Ages. It is actually three different hymns that are sung together almost accidentally. This carol has speaks of a great deal of activity, portraying all the coming and going that attended our Lord’s birth. Just listen to the words of the first stanza:
He whom shepherds once came praising,
Awed by heav’nly light ablazing,
Cheered by angel news amazing:
“King of glory, Christ is born!”
Some say the hymn is not a specimen of great writing. But they also admit a rightness to the wild portrayal of different themes all smattered together in this hymn. Its musical ingredients seem to be thrown together—but it really hits the spot. The disjointed character of the story of the birth of the King of glory is perfectly portrayed in the Quempas Carol’s first stanza.
It speaks of the angels confronting the humble shepherds, giving them an announcement of good news, the “King of glory, Christ is born!” As they do we are moved to ask, “Who is this King of glory?” According to King David, He is the Lord mighty in battle. (Psalm 24). It is thought that this Psalm was sung as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple and placed in the Holy of Holies.
That might be why it is said in the Psalm, “Lift up your heads, you gates.” Indeed, the ancient doors to the temple should receive The Lord of hosts as He comes in to dwell among his people. Consider this. He is permitting himself to be tied down to places and times. Must He dwell in Jerusalem? David tells us that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1 NIV). So, of course He does not need to localize Himself in such a way! But He wants to.
It is not for his sake that he condescends to dwell among sinners. It is not for his sake that he ties his presence to the gold-covered box called the Ark of the Covenant. It is for the sake of His people. For their sake He chooses to allow himself to be touched and handled, and his majesty approached and violated by filthy human hands. But no one should presume to do so. The King of glory He is called.
But, Who is this King of glory? He is a God who can be approached only on his own terms, and where He says He can be found. When David first attempted to bring the ark into the city of Jerusalem, there was an awful tragedy: The Lord had given specific command to not touch the ark as it was being moved. Just listen to what happened when, “Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:7–8).
Again we ask, Who is this King of glory? He is a God who will not permit us to approach him in ways that we think are right, even if they seem to be helpful, proper, or even nice. Uzzah probably had only the best of intentions. But the ark was not to be saved by the people; the people were to be saved by the Lord’s presence at the ark. The point is this: The Lord does not want anyone to approach Him on anything but His own terms, no matter how well-intentioned they might be.
So too for us—the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Sometimes people plan to skip church for the sake of family events, or that they can worship God in a boat or on a mountaintop. They argue, with the best intentions of course, that God is everywhere. So, we think we don’t need the specific times and places of ordered worship.
But arguing that God is everywhere is not the real problem. The real problem is that we think He is nowhere, except where we would like to have Him. Let’s not mistake the meaning of David’s psalm that gives rise to the first stanza of the Quempas Carol. By teaching God’s sovereignty over all things, the psalm speaks to the problem of unbelief. You see, Israel presumed that God was theirs because they possessed the Ark of the Covenant and that they could keep him in a tent or a temple. We are not like that, are we?
That would be like trying to tell God when, where and how He must be with us to protect us. That is demeaning of God for the creature to say such to the Creator. God has chosen to reveal Himself only where He says He will. So, if He gives us the Word and Sacraments as a means of fellowshipping with Him, then we have no right to try to change that. Perhaps we don’t realize that we become guilty of breaking God’s command and will, like Uzzah, albeit, with our best intentions.
No wonder simple shepherds, when confronted with the angel host, were filled with awe and fear and trembling. The God who could send His angels to them with a message, must be the God who was mighty in battle. He is not to be trifled with.
This is the King of glory being born. King of glory—born!? Those two things don’t quite fit together, do they? What a mystery He reveals in his majesty. The God who defeats enemies, who gives life and brings death; the King of glory, mighty in battle, is born of a virgin mother. How is it that this King of Glory comes to us to be touched, and handled by sinners? How is it that sinners who desire God’s grace and mercy are able to find it, right where the Lord said they would?
Who is this King of glory who makes it simple for us? He is the One before whom all angels and demons must fall. This is the One, whose might is arrayed against all enemies, even against our sin. This Christ, this little child, this one born for us is the Lord mighty in battle. Not even the power of our sins can hold him; our good intentions cannot destroy him. Our sin cannot overcome him. In the tiny hands of the Lord of glory is held the sin of the world. The point is this: You needn’t fear your sins, for the Lord of glory took it, bore it in His body, and destroyed it on the cross. You see, He will not deal with us everywhere, because everywhere ends up being nowhere if God has not said He would meet us there. This God will not deal with us according to our good intentions. He will only deal with us here, where the word of the angels is still proclaimed: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 NIV). He will only deal with sinners under the humble signs like a virgin birth and lowly manger and divine humility. Only there will we find the One who forgives and can be approached and touched and embraced by all.
Who is this Lord of glory? He is the One willing to be placed on our altars, to be present through the simple means of bread and wine—water and Word. Here the gracious gifts of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are still given according to His own command. Just as the shepherds followed the Word to the manger and there beheld the Lord of glory, so, too, when we follow the Word to where the Lord may be found, we see the Lord of glory in the manger of the communion on the altar, and in the swaddling clothes of the baptismal fount.
The shockingly disjointed Quempas suits the amazing character of the incarnation of our Lord. The impossible gets said of our Lord of glory. He is born. So the angels told the shepherds, and so the shepherds believed, and so do we. He is born for us. Amen.