MidweekAdventSermons2014

Midweek Advent Sermons for 2014

“The Mountain of the Lord”

Isaiah 2:1-4

December 2 & 3, 2014

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

On the three midweek Advent services this year, we will be considering three messianic prophecies from the book of the prophet Isaiah. By messianic we mean that they refer to the Messiah or Christ – the promised Savior. The word Messiah doesn’t appear in any of them, but the prophecies all refer to his coming.

Isaiah, the son of Amoz, is the human author of the words before us this evening. He wrote these words about 740 years before Jesus Christ was born. Isaiah was from Jerusalem. He wrote about her future. He begins this prophecy by writing, “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” The test of any prophecy is its fulfillment. If a prophet’s prophecy doesn’t come true, he isn’t a true prophet. But to know whether a prophecy has been fulfilled requires that we know how to interpret prophesy. The interpretation of prophecy isn’t complicated, but it does require a little knowledge of prophetic literature. Think in terms of pictures. Jesus taught by using parables. He told stories to picture the kingdom of God. Picture language was used by the Old Testament prophets.

The prophecy before us is about the latter days. Isaiah writes:

What is being pictured here? There is a mountain. It is called the mountain of the LORD’s house. It is placed above all other mountains, and all nations flow to it. Obviously, the prophet isn’t talking about a geological miracle whereby God will put this mountain on top of those mountains. He’s talking about a greater miracle than that!

The mountain is Mt. Zion. It’s not much of a mountain as mountains go. It’s nothing like the Rockies in the American West. It’s more like a hill. But on Mt. Zion is the temple. The temple is where God reveals himself to his people. It is where his Word is, where his Church is. In the latter days, God will send his Son and reveal his glory to the whole world. It will be the glory of God’s eternal love – a love so deep that it could only be revealed in the person of God’s eternal Son. All that the temple taught and typified will become clear in Christ. Then, what God had taught his people of old in the temple, will be taught all over the world. All nations shall flow to Zion to be taught by God.

The prophet continues:

Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”

Who could have imagined it? Not Isaiah. He could only write what God gave him to write. The time would come when folks from all over the world would seek out instruction from the God the Jacob. The small and rather insignificant nation of Judah, which was but a portion of the small and rather insignificant nation of Israel, would become the center of the world as the teaching of her Christ would be proclaimed to the four corners of the earth. People who had not known God would welcome his holy teaching and follow him.

What would that teaching be? The prophet continues:

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

The word law refers to the whole word of the LORD, both law and gospel. The word of the LORD that goes out of Zion is both law and gospel. It judges and rebukes. That’s what the law does. It also brings about peace, as those who hear it in faith beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Those who hear the gospel that sounds forth from Mt. Zion are changed. Jesus said of them, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

The prophet prophesies of peace. When and where and how will this occur? There is the view of the religious purists who believe that, in order to have genuine Christian peace among us, we must withdraw from the world and exclude the evil of this world from us. So they go off by themselves and form their own community of holy people. They maintain their holiness by a strict regimen of rules and religious obligations. They imagine that the prophecy of peace will be fulfilled in their community.

What they don’t understand is that the source of war lies within us. It lies within all of us. A man beats his wife in the cruel privacy of their own home. A man joins up with religious fanatics to wreak havoc on innocent civilians. A mob burns down buildings and sets police cars on fire. We look at it and rightly condemn it and wonder why people behave this way. We need look no further than to the hatred inside our own hearts that bubbles up out of us when we speak hateful and hurtful words. Hatred is not a mysterious and alien power out there somewhere from which we can hide. It lies within. War is not caused by guns, bombs, and military hardware. It comes from the violence that lies within every human heart.

The gospel that sounds forth in Christ’s church is the source of peace in this world. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas we prepare our hearts to receive this peace. It is the peace of sins forgiven. When God joined the human race he did so to establish peace with us. That’s what the angels promised to the shepherds. That’s what we sing: peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

He didn’t come in terrors to judge. He came in love to redeem. And he did. He was born, lived, obeyed, suffered, and died. On Calvary the promise of peace that the angels gave to the shepherds was fulfilled. Jesus has established peace between God and us. Listen to how St. Paul describes it in his Epistle to the Colossians:

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Colossians 1:19-20

Wherever the gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake sounds forth, there Zion is established on top of the mountains. There the word goes forth from Jerusalem. There men, women, and children beat their swords and spears into implements for peace. For the gospel is the power of God to bring heaven to earth.

And finally, it is the power to bring earth to heaven, for that is when the peace that is ours now by faith will become visible before our eyes and manifested in all its sweetness and joy. Here and now we embrace the peace through faith. The gospel gives it. Where the gospel is given, there peace is established. This world will come to an end but the gospel will not. God’s word will last forever. This means that the peace it brings will last forever. The prophetic word promised it. Christ, the Incarnate Word, guarantees it. Amen

“The Branch of the Lord”

Isaiah 11:1-10

December 9 & 10, 2014

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.

And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.

I grew up quite ignorant of Gospel Music except as it found its way into Country and Western music. One song struck me when I first heard it sung by Johnny Cash and June Carter. It is called, “Peace in the Valley,” and it’s based on the words from Isaiah that we consider this evening.

It’s a pretty song. It has an emotional pull as the refrain is repeated: There will be peace in the valley, there will be peace someday. There will be peace in the valley for me, dear Lord, I pray.” Clearly, whatever else might be said of this mournful and evocative Gospel song, it looks forward to a day, a day that has not yet arrived, in which there will be peace.

I must differ with the message of this song, as moving as it is. The song uses the wrong tense in describing this peace. Isaiah’s prediction has already come true.

The Gift has been given, though those for whom it was intended refused to acknowledge it. As St. John writes, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10-11) The Prince of Peace was born. The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” This was not a prayer. It was a proclamation. It was a statement of what had just taken place. Jesus is born. That means that peace has come to earth. Shalom is now incarnate in Shiloh, the Prince of Peace.

His birth was a miracle. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost before he was born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Ghost, as a dove, came upon him when he was baptized thirty years later, anointing him as the promised Christ. That’s what the title Christ means: anointed One. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure. He had upon him and within him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. The Holy Spirit identified him as the Savior at his baptism in the Jordan.

He came as a living branch grows up out of a dead stump. The stump appeared to be dead, but there was life in it. God promised that the Savior would come from Abraham, from Isaac, from Jacob, from Judah, and from David, the son of Jesse. Since God promised it, it had to happen. The glory days of David’s kingdom were a dim memory. The dynasty of David had long been divided and was a shell of what it had been. The descendants of David were ruled by heathens or by Jews without religious conviction. But God couldn’t forget his promise.

The government of the Savior would be different from any human government. It would be a unique kind of government, unknown among the rulers throughout the history of this world. Listen again to words of the prophet, Isaiah.

He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. (Isaiah 11:3-5)

Legitimate authority comes only from God. How could it be any different? After all, it is the Ten Commandments that define for us what is right and what is wrong and these Commandments were written on stone tablets by the finger of God. But there has never been on this earth an entirely fair, just, and equitable government due to the sinful nature of both the governing and the governed. Those who govern do not apply the law fairly because they would rather serve themselves than those they govern. They claim to be servants of the people, but they crave power, prestige, personal enrichment, and all of the perks of their offices that make them feel good about themselves. Power corrupts because it appeals to the pride and vanity of those who use it.

Then there is the problem of those who are governed. Even if the government gets justice right, the people who are governed don’t want justice. They are just as corrupt as those who govern them. They want special favors. Their high principles are grounded in base desires. Consider the old clichés. A conservative is a liberal who just got mugged and a liberal is a conservative who just got arrested. Whatever our political ideals may be, the fact is that our high principles rarely even approach how highly we regard ourselves.

How can there ever be a perfect government here on earth? The government must be in the hands of One who is perfectly just. He must be incorruptible. He must be untouchable by any kind of dishonesty or deceit. Righteousness and faithfulness must be his clothing. His innocence must be impeccable. He must be incapable of sin.

And so he was. The holy God become man cannot deny himself. He cannot lie or deceive. He cannot sin. He cannot desire what is wrong. The Servant of Isaiah’s prophecy is born.

But more is needed for there to be peace on earth. More is needed if there is to be that perfect justice that peace requires. Not only must the One who governs be just, but those he governs must be just as well. The Branch of Jesse is a just or righteous Branch. But more than that, he is the LORD, our righteousness. He is not only just in and of himself, he brings to us that justice or righteousness that is required of us. What we must be he is. What we must do he does. What we must love, he loves. What we must obey, he obeys. And what we must suffer, he suffers in our stead. He is righteous. His righteousness is now ours. It is ours by that wonderful exchange whereby this righteous One becomes the sinner and we sinners become righteous. It is a double imputation. Our sins are imputed to him. His righteousness is imputed to us.

We are righteous only in him. It is not a righteousness we do. He does it. Let there be no mistake about this. If you look to anything you do to find peace with God you will not find it. The peace is Christ come to you. As he comes to you, he gives himself and his righteousness to you. This is how you become righteous.

There is a peace within. The hatred of God and neighbor gives way to the Holy Spirit’s gracious call. He comes and lives inside the Christian’s heart and he applies the peace of the gospel to the bitterness and hatred within. The wolf lives at peace with the lamb, the leopard lies down with the young goat, the calf and the lion are companions, and the little child leads them. The Prince of Peace has brought us peace. He makes peace in our hearts by his Holy Spirit.

God changes what we are from the inside out. If you don’t have this peace within, if you don’t love your neighbor, but fight him instead, if you don’t desire justice, but want only what benefits you, then confess your sin today! Confess to the one who doesn’t judge you by what he sees and hears, but by his own righteousness. He will give you righteousness for sin!

Consider this world where the cow lives without fear of the bear and where the child can play with the viper and not be hurt, where everyone is filled with the knowledge of God. Who is it who stands as the ruler over all? Whose banner calls all people to find rest and peace in him alone? Who is he, but Jesus? And you know him. He has come to join you here and now where you live. In him you have rest and peace. And his resting place is glorious. Amen

The Salvation of the Lord

Isaiah 35

December 16 & 17, 2014

The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
And make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

This is a beautiful description of Christ’s reign on earth in his holy Christian church. What lies hidden to our eyes is revealed to our faith. It was Augustine who said, “I do not see in order to believe; I believe in order to see.” May God grant us the faith to see in this lovely description of Christ’s holy reign our own status as members of the holy Christian Church!

Christ’s reign among us Christians in the Church entails three great benefits. He delivers us from the power of the devil, from the power of our sinful flesh, and from the power of the world.

He delivers us from the power of the devil. He talks away our timidity and fear. The prophet prophesies:

We get psyched out by life because we fight and lose, fight and lose again, and begin to think we’re losers. Temptations arise. We resolve to face them and do what is right, and we cave in – not once or twice – but repeatedly. Our hands lose their grip and our knees wobble in weakness and our hearts are afraid because we don’t do what God says we must do. The devil gains the victory over us again and again. Christ takes away our fear and strengthens us. He crushed Satan under his cross. Satan’s victories over us are shattered. By blotting out all our sins by his suffering and death, Jesus lays Satan beneath our feet a defeated enemy. God’s vengeance against the evil one delivers us from his power.

He delivers us from the power of our flesh. The prophet prophesies:

He gives spiritual sight, opening the eyes of the blind. He gives spiritual discernment, unstopping the ears of the deaf. He gives spiritual strength, healing the lame. He opens the mouth of the mute to sing praises to God, praises in which all of nature joins as we are delivered from the sin that infects these dying bodies.

Yes, I know. The bodies in which we are living are dying. Nobody can deny it. Our dying bodies are evidence of the sinful condition of our fallen nature. Our sinful flesh would claim us for sin if he could. But the gospel that pronounces us forgiven of all our sins is the gospel that opens our eyes to see God as he is, unstops our ears to hear the truth and believe it, and gives us the spiritual strength to live lives of praise for our God.

He delivers us from the temptations of this world. The prophet concludes this portion of prophecy:

The Highway of Holiness is the path every Christian walks. Only the Christian walks it. The unclean shall not pass over it, the prophet says. This is the path that a fool can walk and not go astray. There is no danger, no lion or ravenous beast to threaten. What makes the Highway of Holiness a Highway of Holiness is that those who walk on this path are redeemed. St. Peter writes:

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19

They are set free by the ransom Christ paid to free them. They belong to God, not to this world. Therefore, the world cannot lure them into the vain life that ends in death. Their lives are too precious and they know it.

The world promises what it cannot deliver. The life that appears to be filled with success is in fact void of all meaning and has no purpose. To live lives estranged from the Source of life – can you think of anything more pathetic?

We are redeemed! Our lives have the value that only God the Son can bestow on them. He who is the very image of God chose to be born in our image so that we and God might become friends again. To be redeemed means to be forgiven of all our sins. Sins enslave. Redemption is freedom. The devil cannot claim us. Our sinful flesh cannot control us. The world cannot lead us off of the Highway of Holiness that takes us to heaven.

This highway is not paved with our good deeds as if we are the ones who make it holy. The saints are washed in the blood of the Lamb. They are cleansed by holy Baptism to be clothed with the white robes of Christ’s own righteousness. It is as those redeemed and justified in Christ’s blood that we live holy lives.

The road leads to heaven. There is no dead end at the end. The prophet concludes with the words:

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Joy and gladness replace sorrow and sighing. This is a promise. Christians struggle with sorrow because they lose what they love in this life. They sometimes define their own future by such losses. But God is in charge of their future. He who crushed the devil under his feet; whose perfect and sinless flesh was offered to bear the sin of our sinful flesh; has triumphed over all the evil powers of this world and even now sits at the right hand of glory in heaven. He has secured our future. He has guaranteed that all our sorrow and sighing shall flee away as the mist evaporates in the face of the shining sun. The church’s future is wonderful. We who are her children rejoice as we await the revelation of God’s glory. Amen.