Populus Zion

As time runs out for our dying world, Jesus says that there will be “distress among the nations… people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world” (Lk 21:25–26). Look around. Has this description of the end times ever been more fitting? People are seized with fear, literally unable to leave their own homes. Our nation is gripped with a sense of deep foreboding. Grandparents worry about the world their grandchildren will inherit, and rightly so. The architects of society are planning to use the crises of 2020 to implement their vision of a radical socialist utopia called “The Great Reset.” Legislation is in the works that will prevent Christians schools and institutions from hiring teachers who support Biblical values. Young children are being forcibly removed from their homes because their parents will not allow them to be mutilated with so-called “gender reassignment surgery.” “Nations rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, there are famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. And these,” Jesus tells us, “are only the beginning of sorrows” (Mt 24:7–8).

This sounds like cause for great alarm, and many Christians are terrified. But they shouldn’t be. Jesus says, “When you see things things taking place, look up, and lift your heads, because your redemption is at hand” (Lk 21:28). The signs of our Lord’s coming are not a cause for fear, but for rejoicing. When the evils of this world mount up, when dread of the judgment is shown even by the trembling powers of the world, when the night is darkest, then lift up your heads! That means, be glad, because the world, with which we are not friends, is coming to its end. Rejoice because the redemption of your soul, for which you have been yearning since it was first promised to you in baptism, is drawing near.

Those who love Christ and wait for his appearing need not fear the end of the world, for they will soon meet Him whom they love, and all they do not love will pass away. Far be it from you to grieve over this stricken world, which we know will end in these catastrophes. For it is written, “Whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Do not be as the merchants in Revelation chapter 18, who weep and mourn at the destruction of Babylon. Their hope and treasure is in this world, and they fear its loss. They do not rejoice as the end approaches, proving that they are friends of the world and enemies of God.

But let it not be so with you. In your heart, you know by faith that there is another life. Your hope is centered upon the promise of Christ’s kingdom that is yet to come. And when it does, you will miss nothing that is left behind. Everything that is beautiful and good in this world is but a poor, corrupted shadow of the true reality that awaits us. Whether the majestic beauty of nature, or the simple companionship of a beloved pet, the joys of this life will only be heightened in heaven. Nothing good will be lacking, and what is gone—suffering, fear, disease and death—will not be missed.

Let the children of the world grieve over its ruin, for the love of the world is rooted deeply in their hearts, but we yearn for the heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God. We who have learned of the joy that awaits in the new heaven and earth long to be there already, even though the hour and means of our entrance is in God’s keeping.

But what folly it would be to lose sight of this promise and exchange it for the passing pleasures of this life. Jesus warns sternly: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly” (Lk 21:34). The observance of Advent, which was passed down to us by the saints of old, is a faithful response to Jesus’ warning. The church fathers recognized that season after season, year after year, believers must refocus their eyes beyond this passing world and onto the world to come. In fact, we can rightly say that from Adam until the Final Day, the whole of the Christian experience is but one long season of Advent. We live in the expectation of his coming, we walk by this faith, we hope in this promise. And we know that Jesus’ return is nearer now than when we first believed (Ro. 13:11).

Dear Christians, do not fear at what is coming on the world. Do not be afraid when the powers of the heavens are shaken. Do not be caught up with the world in its distress and perplexity. Instead, as you see these things taking place, know that the coming of Christ draws even closer, and the kingdom of God is very near. Do not fear. Instead, rejoice! The prince of this world will soon be cast down forever, and the King of kings returns to take up his throne. At the first coming of Christ, the power of sin was conquered. And at his second coming, the lingering effects of sin will be undone at last.

This past week three of God’s dear saints finished their course and entered their eternal rest—three long-time members of First Lutheran and St. Paul. Their bodies, which had once been fresh and lively as children, succumbed to the slow decay of time in a broken world. And though we mourn their loss, they have lost nothing. Their hope in life was in Christ, and sustained by this faith in the hour of death, they have now entered into eternal joy. So we too, look with eager expectation toward the bright day of Jesus’ return, waiting for the fulfillment of his promise written in the final pages of Scripture: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:6).

Jesus is coming in a cloud with power and great glory. That day will come suddenly like a trap, and for some it will be a terrible day of weeping, terror, and judgment. But for all who have longed for his appearing, for all whose prayer of the heart is “Thy kingdom come,” for all whose eyes have been fixed on Christ and his promises, it will be the beginning of a day of untold joy without end. “Lift up your heads,” Jesus says, “because your redemption is drawing near.” Amen.