Lift-up Your Heads; Your Redemption is Drawing Near
Advent 2| Luke 21:25-36| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| December 7, 2025
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Christians have been singing this hymn for about nine hundred years. Emmanuel, as you know, means God with Us. Jesus is Emmanuel. Isaiah prophesied that the Virgin would conceive and bear a son and would call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). And as the hymn is strongly associated with the Christmas season, people connect this hymn to the birth of Christ. But Emmanuel has already been born of the Virgin Mary. He has already come to Israel. Yet, this hymn is sung by Christians today. We ask that Emmanuel would come again. We pray that He would ransom Israel. Israel is the Holy Christian Church, which through faith in Jesus Christ has become the people of God. Christ purchased His Holy Christian Church with His own blood and comes to claim what He paid for. The fervent desire of Christians is for Emmanuel to come again and deliver us from this world full of sin and death. And so, this hymn is a perfect introduction to our theme: Lift-up your heads; your redemption is drawing near.
We do not know when Christ will return, but there will be signs of His coming. Jesus tells us that there will be signs in sun, moon, and stars. And so, we have them today, solar and lunar eclipses, comets, and meteorites. Jesus says that nations will be in distress, there will be wars and rumors of wars. We see these things as well. Jesus says there will be storms at sea and swelling of waves, and so we see hurricanes and typhoons, tsunamis and earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes. These all, Jesus says, are signs of His coming. People will say that there are natural explanations for all these events, but that does not mean that they are not signs. Who is the one who runs nature anyway? Just as the rainbow continues to be a sign of God’s covenant to all flesh not to destroy the world with a flood, even though we know the scientific phenomenon which causes rainbows, so also, the signs in the heavens and on the earth continue to be signs, even if we are able to predict eclipses with great accuracy.
It appears that the signs for Jesus’ return have already come. Jesus said that the Gospel would be preached to all nations and then the end would come (Matthew 24:13). It appears the Gospel has been preached to every corner of the earth. Jesus said that the love of many would grow cold, meaning, there would be mass apostasy from the church (Matthew 24:12). That also appears to have happened. Jesus warns of false christs and false prophets (Matthew 24:24), and the Abomination of Desolation (Matthew 24:15), and Paul warns of the Man of Lawlessness placing himself in the temple of God (2 Thessalonians 2) all before the end comes. And we have seen false christs and false prophets, even popes setting themselves up as the head of the church and punishing those who preach the Gospel and leading many astray. It appears that there is nothing left to be fulfilled before Christ comes. Yet, Jesus also says that He will come like a thief in the night. So, these signs are not ways of telling us the day or hour of His return, but rather to exhort us to be ready. Don’t think that the day is far off.
Scripture foreshadows Christ’s redemption many times. In every case, there are signs. And in every case people are caught off guard, but the faithful are rescued. Noah preached until the day he entered the ark, yet the world ignored his preaching and all but the eight souls who entered the ark perished. Lot warned his sons-in-law to flee Sodom before God destroyed the cities, but they laughed at him. Only Lot and his two daughters escaped as fiery brimstone destroyed those cities of sin. God sent ten plagues upon Egypt to bring Pharoah to repentance, before He redeemed the children of Israel with a mighty outstretched hand. As the prophets repeatedly prophesied, Jerusalem was led into captivity, but the faithful received their consolation. And as Jesus predicted, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, leaving not a stone of the temple standing and killing thousands upon thousands of people, yet the faithful fled to safety when they saw the signs.
And so, these signs forewarn God’s coming judgment, when Christ will judge the living and the dead. Yet, Christ tells you His faithful, when you see these signs, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. These are words of comfort from our Savior Jesus. What does it mean that your redemption is drawing near? Jesus is our redeemer. He has redeemed us from sin, death, and the power of the devil with His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death. This means that Jesus purchased us, bought us back as His special possession. Before, we were slaves to sin, indebted to death and hell on account of our iniquities. That Jesus redeemed us means that He erased our debt by suffering and dying in our stead. St. Paul explains what redemption is in Ephesians chapter 2, he writes of Christ, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” (vs. 7) Again, St. Paul explains how Christ canceled our debt of sin in Colossians chapter 2, “God made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. (vss. 13-14)
So, our Emmanuel, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered and died to pay our ransom of debt which we owed on account of our sin. And because Christ Jesus is true God and true man, His payment is insurmountable. St. Paul said to the pastors of Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.” (vs. 28) Who obtained the church with His own blood? God did. God, by virtue of His personal union with the human nature, shed His own blood. That means that your sins are paid for. That means that it is impossible for your sins to be greater than what Christ paid to redeem you from them. Though the whole world were filled with nothing but sin, Christ’s passion and death is more than enough to pay the ransom of every sinner. Where sin increases, grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20).
In fact, through faith in Christ, we already dwell in His kingdom of grace, as St. Paul writes in Colossians 1, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (vss. 13-14) So, we Christians live in the world, but not of the world. Rather, we live here as citizens of Christ’s kingdom, and we pray that He would come and take us to the kingdom where we belong. Therefore, we sing:
O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
While the unbelievers panic or scoff at the signs God sends, Jesus tells you Christians to rejoice that He is near as you rejoice when you recognize the signs of summer in the trees. Christ’s kingdom of glory will certainly come. Jesus says, “this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.” What He means is that there will always be unbelievers who reject the signs and ignore God’s Word. Yet, none of Jesus’ words will fall to the ground. Jesus’ Word is God’s Word. God’s Word will never pass away. And so, we should beware of God’s warnings and hold fast to His promises.
Our Redeemer Jesus desires to grant us the salvation He has won for us. And so, He warns us and encourages us. He warns us by saying, “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.” Many will become distracted in the last times, and so, they will not be ready when Christ returns. How will people be distracted? By Dissipation, drunkenness, and cares of this life.
Those first two words could both be translated as drunkenness. The second one means more literally to get drunk by drinking alcohol. Scripture repeatedly warns against getting drunk (1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21). While drinking alcohol is not a sin in itself, as Jesus turned water into wine and even gives us His blood under the form of wine, alcohol should be drunk in moderation with thanksgiving to God. Scripture warns that those who get drunk will not inherit the kingdom of God. Becoming a slave to alcohol is one of the worst slaveries you can be bound to. So, all Christians should be careful not to become slaves to drink, to practice moderation, and even to deprive themselves entirely for a period, to guard against such slavery. Ultimately, only Christ can grant freedom from the bonds of drunkenness.
Yet, the first word, which can also mean drunkenness, but out English Bible translates it as dissipation does not simply mean to get drunk from alcohol, although it is normally associated with that. It is another form of intoxication referring to the results of consuming excessively, which brings dizziness and staggering. The dictionary translates the English word dissipation as, “an idle or frivolous amusement or diversion,” or “indulgence in pleasure to the point of harming oneself.” And we see this in spades, don’t we? Perhaps you struggle with this yourself. People are constantly distracted, listening to music or podcasts, watching videos on their computer or phone, mindlessly scrolling through apps. We’re over entertained, distracted, over satiated with amusement to our harm. Even people who do not touch drugs or alcohol are intoxicated with mindless entertainment, so that they cannot give thought to prayer, repentance, or God’s Word.
Finally, Jesus warns against being distracted by cares of this life. Even without drunkenness and phone and internet addictions, people are distracted from Christ’s coming with day-to-day concerns: their children, work, marriage, school, money, the direction of our country, politics, and the list goes on. Now, Christ does not mean that we should forsake this world, abandoning marriage and work. The Lutheran Confessions criticize both the monks and nuns for fleeing to the monasteries and the anabaptists for neglecting their civil duties and trying to remove themselves from this world. No, you still have a vocation and duty in this life to your spouse and children, to you neighbor and government. Jesus does not tell you to renounce your vocation when He warns against being distracted by the cares of this life.
Rather, Jesus teaches you to keep watch even within your vocation. But how can you be ready, even as you deal with your day-to-day responsibilities? By keeping watch and praying. You keep watch by listening and cherishing in your heart Christ’s promise of redemption. In this way, we begin and end each day and week with the end goal of welcoming Christ when He comes. St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4, “Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me on that day: and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” We love the appearing of Christ. And we long to see Him, as the Apostle writes in Titus 2, “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” This is done through faith in the promises of Christ, which tell us that we have a Redeemer who comes to save us.
Finally, Jesus encourages us to pray. We have a perfect example of such prayer in the Lord’s Prayer, where we say, “Thy kingdom come,” and “Deliver us from evil.” Through faith in Christ’s redemption, we pray that Christ would come with His kingdom of glory to deliver us from this evil world, and grant us everlasting life. By beginning and ending our tasks in our vocation through the Word of God and prayer, we keep watch, with our heads lifted high for the appearing of our redemption. And having been washed clean in the blood of Jesus, we are confident to stand before the Son of Man, our Redeemer.
O Come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel! Amen.