Learning from the Courage of Jesus

Trinity 10| Luke 19:41-48| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| August 4, 2024

The United States of America will be destroyed. I am not speaking hyperbole. The destruction of Jerusalem, which Christ predicted and which came to pass just forty years later, foretells the destruction of every nation. Israel was God’s chosen people. Jerusalem was God’s city where alone He chose to dwell in His temple. Yet, because Israel refused to recognize her visitation, God destroyed her.

There is a great heresy today, which causes great harm to the Jewish people. That heresy is that the Jews will be saved apart from faith in Jesus. But that is not true. The Christian religion is the true religion of the Jews, the religion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of David and of the faithful remnant throughout Israel’s history. This is what Jesus told the Jews, “You search the Scriptures (that is, the Old Testament), because in them you think you find eternal life; and it is they that bear witness of Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40) Again, Jesus who was sent to the Lost Sheep of Israel preached to the Jews, “for unless you believe that I am He (that is, the Christ) you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

The people of Jerusalem did not recognize their visitation and the things that make for peace, that is, they did not recognize Jesus as their Messiah, who came to rescue them from sin, death, and hell. And so, they received judgment and destruction. Yet, those who believed in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles, were declared children of Abraham and heirs of the promise, as St. Paul writes, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (Romans 9:6-8) and again in Galatians 3, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” (vs. 7)

The destruction of Jerusalem is a judgment for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus came to Israel first, but He did not come only for Israel. He came for the whole world, to every nation. And every nation that rejects Jesus as the Christ, who rejects His visitation, rejects the only one who can bring peace between us and God and will face a like punishment. Few nations have heard the preaching of Christ as clearly and loudly as the United States of America, but America has rejected the preaching of Christ. And we know that Christ’s preaching has been rejected, because of the fruits of this rejection. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter one that when nations know God, but do not honor God, that God gives them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonorable passions. And that is what we see in our nation. Our nation has embraced the murder of unborn children, sexual perversion in every form, celebrating unnatural relations, the worship of idols, and the following of false prophets. And so, God’s wrath will be poured upon this unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). Judgment is coming. Every knee will bow before Christ. And only His kingdom will remain forever.

And since we know that God’s wrath is coming upon the world and upon our nation, how then should we behave? Jesus teaches us exactly how to behave in this situation. Knowing that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed because of her unbelief, Jesus does three things, which we too should do.

First, Jesus weeps. Jesus is God. He has come to save His people from their sins. Yet, they reject Him. Jesus does not cry as a needy boyfriend who has been dumped by his girlfriend. Jesus laments the suffering, death, and condemnation facing His people, just as the prophet Elisha wept before Hazael before declaring him king of Syria, because he knew how God would use Hazael to punish Israel (2 Kings 8). God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but He desires that they turn from their way and live (Ez. 33:11). God did not predestine anyone from eternity to go to hell. Rather, Scripture says that God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). Jesus is not simply weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem and hundreds of thousands of deaths that will accompany it, but He is mourning the damnation of people, whose souls He desires to save.

And so, as we are aware of God’s impending judgment on this unbelieving world, we should mourn for the lost. We should pray for their conversion, both the Jews and the Gentiles, because Jesus died to save them all. We should not be complacent at their damnation. St. Paul exhorts us to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15), how much more should we weep with Jesus over the damnation of the lost and rejoice with Him at their conversion.

Second, Jesus cleanses the temple of sellers and traders, saying, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” How remarkable that after Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, which includes the destruction of the temple, He still makes the effort to cleanse the temple of uncleanness. He doesn’t see this as a pointless task, because until God destroys it, this temple remains His.

So, how should we imitate our Lord in cleansing the temple? The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. What temple is there left to cleanse? St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (vs. 16) and again in chapter 6, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (vss. 18-20) So, you cleanse the temple of your body by repenting of every evil lust and sin. Jesus warns us that God’s judgment is coming, so we should take that as an opportunity to cleanse the temple as He did, repent of our sins, our pride, lust, and greed. And be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Scripture also calls the Church the temple of God, because it is the household of God, built of living stones. We cleanse the church by cleansing it of false prophets and teachers, that is, we refute false doctrine. When the world is collapsing all around us, Christians must put their own house in order. This is not a time to become tolerant of the devil’s lies. Rather, we should even more insist on the truth of God’s Word.

Finally, Jesus preached in the temple. This is the most remarkable thing Jesus does. After declaring that Jerusalem will be destroyed, because she does not recognize the time of her visitation, meaning, she has rejected Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus then continues to preach to her. And He does this in the presence of the very people who will within a week arrest Him and deliver Him over to the Romans to be crucified. This preaching in the midst of His enemies shows incredible courage from our Lord Jesus and teaches us two things.

First, we too should take courage and not fear those who can kill the body, but afterward have no power over our soul. The chief priests and scribes were already planning to murder Jesus. They were planning to murder Him because of His preaching. Jesus knew this. He knew they would succeed in killing Him. Yet, He continued to do the very thing they would kill Him for. He continued to preach. He did this, because He knew that their power was superficial. Although they would kill Him, He would rise again and live and reign for all eternity, victorious over sin, death, and every enemy. So, He continued to preach the Gospel in front of them. And so, we should follow suite.

In response to the blasphemous opening ceremony for the Olympics, which mocked the Christian Church and our Lord Jesus with a drag show parody of the Last Supper, Elon Musk, the owner of the social media site X wrote, “Unless there is more bravery to stand up for what is fair and right, Christianity will perish.” He is wrong, because Christianity can never perish. The Church will withstand the very gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). It is the world which will perish, while the Church stands strong even in God’s judgment. However, he is right that Christians need bravery. In fact, unless Christians have bravery to stand up against evil, they will perish and not stand in the judgment. It takes courage to repent of your sins. Only cowards continue in the sins of their flesh, following the course of the wicked world. It takes courage to stand up against the world and live by the Word of Christ. Confessing Christ takes bravery. Yet, Jesus says, whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess before My Father in heaven, but whoever is ashamed of me in this generation, of him will I be ashamed before My Father in heaven.

The Church must continue to preach the whole council of God in this sinful generation. We must not be afraid of what men can do to us, how our neighbors or friends will react, or even what the Government will do. We must preach Christ crucified as the Redeemer of the world, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His name.

Second, Jesus’ preaching in the temple in the presence of His enemies even after predicting Jerusalem’s destruction teaches us that there will remain a remnant until the end of the age. A remnant is a small group of people who remain faithful. Although God has not preordained anyone from eternity to go to hell, God has from before the foundation of the world chosen His elect, who will remain faithful to the end and be saved (Eph. 1:4-5). And until the end of the age, until the final judgment, there will remain a remnant of believers, whose ears have been prepared to listen and cling to Jesus’ Word. And so, to the very end, even when the whole world is crumbling around us, even as our enemies are trying to silence and kill us, there will always remain the necessity to preach the Gospel, so that God’s elect may be saved.

God has prepared for Himself a courageous remnant, who will cling to His Word even as the world is destroyed. That remnant recognizes God’s gracious visitation through the preaching of Christ crucified for sinners, in Baptism, where we are clothed in the Crucified One, in the Sacrament of the Altar, where we feast on Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. This is what it means to know your visitation. It means to recognize Jesus as your Savior and to receive Him according to His Word. Those who receive Christ through faith will be prepared to receive Him at His glorious visitation, when He comes in judgment.

It is Christ’s Word that gives us courage to stand up against the evil of the age. And it is Christ’s Word that gives us power to stand when the world falls. Because Christ’s Word gives us the forgiveness of sins and peace with God, purchased with the very blood of Christ. Christ’s Word reveals our Savior Jesus and gives us certainty of everlasting life. And so, we will cling to Christ’s Word even as the world passes away, because by the power of Christ’s Word we will stand forever. Amen.