Raise Your Heads , Your Redemption Draws Near
Luke 21:5-28
“Nothing is so likely to produce despair as the awareness of the contingency and vanity of life. A powerful and time-honored cure is to seek a perception of eternity,” so wrote Peter Munz. In the midst of all the ominous and terrifying events that our Lord foretells, He enjoins us this day to have a perception of eternity, a posture of faith that that is contoured by His Word and promise. It is only by the Word of Promise that our hearts will not faint in the face of such eminent destruction. It is only baptized in His name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that our body and life though beaten and battered by this world’s tyrant, will be raised a new body and will remain in the eternal care and glory of the Son of Man who comes to judge the living and the dead.
A perception of eternity guided by death and resurrection of Jesus does not attempt to see what it wants to see, but recognizes the truth of the matter. Man according to his self-centered nature lives by bread alone. And as his life unfolds he soon realizes, to his horror, that this bread which he works so hard for will not carry him to Abraham’s bosom. Because of sin, death will have its way, taking from him all the objects he believed was the sum total of his existence—life, goods, fame, honor, child and spouse. It is a sobering thing to think about: that all the material objects, the stuff of this life, that we spend a life-time gathering will be gone in an instance, taken from us, as we face death the same way we began life, naked and without anything [Ecclesiastes 5:15]. Not only we ourselves will be stripped of our earthly pleasures but so also will the world in all its wonders be turned to stubble, no stone left on top of another.
The hour will come when all the countless machines that man beget with his skilled mind, all the musings of his hand contained in myriads of volumes, and all the safe places that we call home will cease to exist. The hour will come when what man made and looks upon with great satisfaction, awe and wonder—The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Stonehenge, The Roman Colosseum, The Great Wall of China, The Hagia Sophia, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, will be in a twinkling of an eye, gone.
The temple at Jerusalem was one of these man-made wonders also. It had first been built by King Solomon in 953 B.C. Some centuries later in 586 B.C. it was destroyed by the Babylonians. However a second temple was built in 516 B.C. Yet showing its age, in 19 B.C. King Herod the Great decided to refurbish the aging temple and this project continued after his death. We are told by the church historian, Josephus “that the exterior of the structure lacked nothing that could astound either the mind or eye.” The disciples certainly agreed as they said of the temple, “How it adorned with noble stones and offerings.” The beauty and wonder that the temple evoked in man’s heart must have been breathtaking. Yet Jesus is quick to point out that, “As for these things that you see, the days will come, when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
And so Jesus begins His end times revelation by warning us that “days will come” that will require us to have a perception of eternity, to think about the last things, to ponder Him who is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. His prophetic statements concerning the destruction of the temple and the end of the world are almost indistinguishable. Thus, it seems to the causal reader of the text that end of the world will be near, or will happen when the temple is destroyed, for it will be a sign of judgment by God upon Israel for rejecting her Messiah—a foreshadowing of God’s final judgment upon all who reject Christ. Yet the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans and we are still here. And so, what we must remember is that Luke is describing here two similar but distinct events. Standing center stage in all of this gloom and doom speech is the Son of Man who comes to judge the living and the dead, and the signs that will accompany such coming.
It has been said that when people cease fearing God, they become afraid of everything else. Such is the fear that we see today. Whether it is the dire predictions of global warming advocates, the fate of the Middle East, terrorist’s cells plotting and looking for their next target, the ever growing pockets of violent crimes, drug and sexual abuse, or just the simple decaying of our life, we live in constant fear of what may befall us around the corner of time. Sinful human hearts will always find something to be afraid of. Yet, lurking behind all these fears is the fear of death, of judgment. For unbelievers, that the Son of Man comes in power and glory is greeted not with the joy of rescue, of redemption, of vindication before skeptical and evil men, but of fear, distress, and heavy hearts. The author of Hebrews tells us very bluntly, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” [10:31]. Week after week, we stand here in the presence of the living God and confess that we believe that He will come again to judge the living and the dead. For unbelievers—for sinners who are unrepentant, for those who reject Christ as the only name under heaven by which man is saved, [Acts 4:12] for those who live their lives in stubborn rejection of the babe born in Bethlehem, the reality of Christ’s second coming is the cause of great horror. Their fear is indeed warranted.
Jesus says, “And they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” For unbelievers this sight will evoke a much greater fear then simply getting caught with one’s hand in the cookie jar. For them, the Lord’s return will be the end of the Law. The time for repentance will be over and they will face the reality of Satan and hell. The day which the Prophet Malachi spoke of will have come. “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evil doers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze says the Lord of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch” [Malachi 4:1]. On this day, no time will be allotted for playing dumb, for the manifold excuses that man will bring as to why he has not the wedding garment, for feeble attempts at justifying oneself, for offering before the Almighty Judge the pious works they so heartily believed would gain them access into the Promised Land that flows with milk and honey. Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and all that has been prophesized therein. He is the one spoken by the prophet Daniel when he stated, “And behold, with clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” [Daniel 7:13-14]. Such a sight will be to the eternal regret of all those who have lived as adversaries of Christ. The end-time’s hymn, The Day is Surely Drawing Near [LSB 508], starkly reminds us of such truth:
The day is surely drawing near When Jesus, God’s Anointed,
In all His power shall appear As Judge whom God appointed
Then fright shall banish idle mirth, And flames on
flames shall ravage earth As Scripture long has warned us [v. 1]
Then woe to those who scorned the Lord And sought but carnal pleasures
Who here despised His precious Word And loved their earthly
Treasures! With shame and trembling they will stand And at the
judge’s stern command To Satan be delivered [v.4]
The Last Day for believers, those who receive Christ as gift, has a much different ending. “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things” so wrote Paul to the church at Ephesus [Ephesians 4:10] And so, the One who returns on the clouds of heaven is the same One who was made flesh and was crucified for us. Jesus, the incarnate Word, wants to prepare us “to stand before the Son of Man” who is both Judge and Savior. He wants us to know that the distress of the nations, perplexity, and faintheartedness will precede His second advent. He wants us to know that even though we look out our windows, turn on our TV’s, or talk to our neighbors and all we seem to see, hear, and discus are the hellish reports of a world in chaos, we need not fear. Listen again to Jesus, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Certainly these signs which our Lord speaks of have been present ever since He became flesh and dwelt among us. With His coming in the flesh, the Lord has brought the Kingdom of God near. As children born of water and Spirit we live in this Kingdom of God by faith and we will receive “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us” [1 Peter 1:4]. Therefore we do not tremble or cower in dread at the destruction of all that is temporal, of the stuff of this life, for as children of God, bought by His Son’s precious blood and innocent suffering and death we raise our heads in joyous acclamation and expectation of the crucified, risen, and ascended King who comes to us; righteous and having salvation [Zachariah 9:9].
Simon Peter was right. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God [John 6:68-69]. In the Lord’s pardoning and saving Word there is salvation from sin, comfort in sorrow, joy in chaos, strength in struggle, companionship in loneliness, and peace and hope in decay, judgment and death. Only the truth of Christ, saves, gives life, and abides forever. And so we wait in hope and with joyful hearts for we have as our Savior “the sun of righteousness who comes with healings in His wings” [Malachi 4:2] who brings us His body and blood for us Christians to eat and to drink so that we may stand on the last day holy and righteous in His sight all the days of our life. The Divine Service echoes Jesus’ words “Lift up you hearts. We lift them up to the Lord.” We lift up our hearts and our heads for our redemption does draw near. The night of death will come, and the things of this life will be no more, but blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord whose death brings the morning of new life and everlasting joy and peace in the midst of all of God’s people. Let us enter these judgment days gazing not upon the precious stones of this earth, that which may dazzle our eyes temporarily, but in the end give way to our demise. Rather think and lift up your hearts to the Stone that the builders rejected, the Stone which was smitten, stricken and afflicted for our sake that we may have pardon, peace and comfort. Hold fast to the words of the hymnist,
The Night will soon be ending; The dawn cannot
Be far. Let songs of praise ascending Now
Greet the morning Star! All you whom darkness
Frightens With guilt or grief or pain, God’s radiant
Star now brightens And bids you sing again. [v.1]
Yet nights will bring their sadness And rob our
Hearts of peace, And sin in all its madness Around
Us may increase. But now one Star is beaming
Whose rays have pierced the night; God comes for
Our redeeming From sin’s oppressive might. [v.4]
The Night Will Soon Be Ending [LSB 337]
In the Name of the Father and of the Son+ and of the Holy Spirit. Amen