November 28 2021: Luke 21:25-34, "Looking for the Signs"

What signs have you seen recently? We’ve all seen many different kind of signs. In fact, one of my hobbies is to notice signs that may seem a bit out of place.

For instance,

A store clerk who went to lunch posted a sign that read, “Hey, I’ll be back in 5 minutes. If not, just read this message again.”

A money saavy restaurant posted quite a deal. The sign out front read, “Today’s special, “Buy one Fish and Chips for the price of two and receive a second Fish and Chips Absolutely Free!”

Instead of a No Trespassing Sign, I recently saw a sign that read, “Due to the high cost of ammunition, no warning shot will be given.”

A therapist posted a sign for a Procrastination Workshop. The sign said it was to be at 6 pm today, only the 6 pm today was crossed through and beneath it were the words “Postponed.”

From a small town in California…”Fishing for children Only/Limit 3”

From Maui, Hawaii…”Bottomless Pit/65 feet deep

From Austin, Texas, a sign on a balcony read…”Please be aware that the balcony is not on ground level”

In Mitchell, South Dakota is a sign that reads…”Safe Haven Small Animal Hospital/ Hunters Welcome”

From Los Angeles…”Caution: Blind Drivers Backing Out”

Sometimes we miss the most obvious of signs, don’t we?! Maybe it’s not just a humorous sign. Perhaps it is a road sign. A yellow light may mean something completely different to two different people. Some see it as a sign to slow down. Others see it as a sign to hit the gas. Others (as happened to us the other day) may see a turn signal to pull into a parking space as a race to see if they can slide in front of you and win the prize by wedging their car into the space before you make a textbook parking maneuver. Why? I do not know, except that it was Black Friday. Whether oblivious or purposeful, we all miss or ignore the signs from time to time.

Our lives are filled with signs and symbols. It has been estimated that we observe over 15,000 images a day. I believe more and more that we need Spiritual signs to help us negotiate this world more so than ever.

Let’s stand for the reading and the hearing of the Word of God this morning from Luke 21:25-34 (NIV)

25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.

And may glory be to God for the reading and the hearing of His Word this morning.

As Jesus, God in the flesh, was preparing to come into the world, they were looking for the signs of a Savior and had been looking for a Savior for some time to come into the world. The prophet Jeremiah predicted it in Jeremiah 33: 14-16 (NIV), ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. 15 ‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; ...This is the name by which it[a] will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’

They expected a knight in shining armor, riding in a chariot, whose sword would be big enough to defeat any enemy. He could rally the troops to deliver them from the oppression they faced and would be their King. What they got was a baby in a feeding trough… a helpless infant who needed his parents to provide for his every need until he was old enough to stand on his own two feet. Eventually, he would ride into Jerusalem, but on a donkey. And his opponents would eventually nail him to a tree. But that was God’s plan. Jesus, God in human form saved us from our sins, saved us from the Hell and damnation that we deserved, and saved us from ourselves and others who might mean us harm. Many didn’t see the signs of his Lordship. Many still don’t. As we prepare for the coming of our Lord yet again, are you prepared to see the signs of His coming? Will you allow Advent to be the season of the Coming of a Baby in a Manger.... Emmanuel, God with us, Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords. Will you open your heart so that Jesus can come yet again into your heart and life this Christmas? After all, Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Advent is a season that looks in two directions at the same time.

We look backwards to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but we also look forward to the time when he will return to earth to set up his kingdom.

The first Sunday is always the day that we look forward to the end of history and his final return.

We believe that it was God who created the world and is on the way to bringing it to an end as we know it. God is on the move, always active, always going forward toward the goal of establishing his rule over every living creature.

And along the way, there are signs. Everywhere are signs. In Isaiah, King Ahaz received a sign of the Lord’s presence: a young woman bearing a child named Immanuel (Is. 7:14). At the birth of Jesus there were signs in the heavens and the earth. The star shown in the heavens and the choirs of angels sang. The shepherds received the word from the angel, “This shall be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” At the end of his life, darkness covered the whole earth and the curtain in the Temple was torn in two as signs of his death.

Just the same, there will be signs that will herald the end of times.

Isaiah says, “The glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people shall see it together (40:5). If you go back to the beginning of Luke 21, you discover that among the signs of the end times are that Jerusalem will be destroyed, that there will be wars, earthquakes, famines, and false Messiahs. There will be persecution of Christians because of their faith. This is the time when Christians are urged to be faithful and continue their witnessing until the Good News has been preached to the ends of the earth. In the lesson for this morning we learn that the signs include uproar in the cosmos and chaos over all the earth.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will recognize that this stuff has been going on for centuries. Jerusalem was indeed destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Wars have not ceased. Natural disasters continue to haunt us: floods on the Gulf Coast, Tsunamis in the Far East, and earthquakes in Iran.

If you turn to just about any religious radio station, you will no doubt hear a preacher say that the end times are just around the corner because the signs are everywhere. Just around the corner for God may be very different than our interpretation. The disciples had trouble understanding and reading the signs. And we too still struggle with their comprehension.

But notice what Jesus says about the fig tree. He tells the disciples that they are able to tell the changing of the seasons by looking at the leaves of the trees. When the trees regain their leaves, it is a sure sign that summer is just around the corner. The same thing is true of the end time signs. When the time is right, the disciples will be able to interpret those signs as easily as they can interpret the changing of the seasons. They will then understand that there is no reason to fear.

Humanity has a tendency to misread, misunderstand, or just ignore signs.

Let me offer one example.

We all know that World War II began on September 1, 1939 when German armies invaded Poland. Hitler’s original plan however, was for the invasion to begin a week before that on August 26. Because of some last minute change of plans, the war was put off for a week.

Orders went out to all of the front line units to stand down. Everybody got the message except one unit, which rolled into Poland at midnight August 26th and soon captured a very important mountain pass and a number of prisoners. When the unit commander phoned his headquarters to tell them of his success, they told him of the change of plans. So the battlefield commander released his prisoners, turned around, and led his soldiers back into Germany.

The Polish government let the incident pass and missed the big sign that war was coming. They were caught completely unaware and unprepared when the Nazis finally did invade on September 1st. They weren’t ready. They didn’t read the signs.

We are all waiting for the Second Advent of Christ, when Jesus will return to set up the new heaven and the new earth.

We are all wondering when that will be, but we know that it will happen on God’s timetable and not ours. It seems to me that if we are more concerned about the first Advent of Jesus and do our best to live the faith we profess, then we won’t have to worry about the Second Advent because it will take care of itself. If we live as Christ calls us to live now, then whenever the Second Advent occurs, we will be ready.

We may all want to know the “when” of the end times. When will it occur? Should I be ready tonight or do I have a decade or more? I am pretty comfortable with the mystery of the whole thing. I think a more useful question would be: “Am I ready for the Second Advent whenever it gets here?” If Jesus came to your house today, would you be ready?

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said that it is so much easier to become a Christian when you aren’t one than to become one when you assume you already are.” As we wait in the time between the Advents, my hope and prayer is that we can focus on the first Advent, the birth of the baby in a manger, so that we may be ready for the second, as John records in the Book of Revelation. The signs are there. He is coming. He is coming again.

May we be ready.

SALVATION POEM