What are you looking forward to? The holidays? The next congregational voters meeting? The next vacation? High School Graduation? Maybe a better question to ask is, what does the church look forward to? We heard the answer in our Introit: “We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” Put quite simply, the church waits for Jesus, the church longs for Jesus to return.
There are a lot of voices in our world that say it is a bad idea to think about the future too often, and that the best thing to do is live in the moment. They say if you can’t live in the moment there are too many regrets from the past that will weigh you down, and too many worries about the future that will make your heart tremble.
However, looking for the return of Jesus in the future is a faithful action, and an undeniably good thing. This longing for the future does not introduce an undue extra stress or worry into our lives. Instead as we look forward in hope we are grounded in our current life challenges with the sure and certain hope of Jesus as our hope and joy.
When Jesus returns our role is to take in the unsurpassed joy of the Last day. Until that time Jesus urges us to stay spiritually vigilant. Stay awake!
There are no shortage of examples in the scripture of the followers of Jesus falling asleep and missing the mark to be ready in faith. Our sinful human nature draws us to see much more of the task and challenges of everyday life before us- so that we can relegate watching for Jesus to return as an afterthought.
It is perhaps even hard for us to picture this day, because we have not had any day like what it will be. You can think of past Christmases that brought joy and wonder to your heart, past Easter services, weddings and school graduations. Or perhaps world events you watched on tv, the coronation day of a king or queen. Maybe you remember watching the scenes on the news the day the Berlin Wall fell down, and the surprising relief that after so many years the cold war was over just like that.
The Day of the Lord is different than any holiday or big event in history because it will change everything about the world and our lives. It will be the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation, our faith will become sight. We will be with the Lord forever, the final act of the Bible will play out before us as Jesus is in the air with all of the Saints in the great resurrection.
What was thought of as long dead and broken, and decayed will be brought to life, the bodies of believers and the church itself will have her faith now as glorious sight.
Listen to the word of Scripture in 1Thesalonnians: 4:16 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” What a picture of the future that awaits us, of what we have to look forward to!
In our gospel lesson Jesus gives another perspective of what there is to look forward to or more precisely what t here is to expect. Namely complete destruction until the time Jesus returns 24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
The same things was prophesied by Isaiah: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
The earth and even the heavens will be destroyed, but God’s Word remains, Jesus remains as he comes down from the clouds and makes all things new. It is important for us to remember and pay attention to the reality Jesus gives about the sun darkened and the moon not giving its light, because it helps for us to fully grasp that this world is passing away, that our emotional attachment cannot be for the things of this world.
As a result we are prepared to look forward to a new heaven and a new earth that Jesus creates. Once we clearly see that this world is passing away, we are truly prepared for Jesus to return.
Our congregation is going through a difficult period for our worship attendance. A few have been called to the Lord, a few people moved out of the area, some have stopped attending worship since Covid, and health problems have created a barrier for attending regularly for some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who would like to be here.
Virtually every congregation has dropped in attendance after the events of the past few years, but the difficulty is particularly felt for us as a small congregation. It is hard to come to a nearly empty sanctuary and not feel a little outnumbered by empty pews. It can be discouraging to be here without those who were once with us.
But despite the discouragement, we are here as an outpost of Christ’s love and truth in a world where the lies of Satan so often seem to rule the day. God’s kingdom grows in ways we do not always see and expect and God’s Word has the power to grow this congregation again because the Holy Spirit is always working in our lives and in the world.
And we are part of a larger Lutheran church that also walks with us. In a few weeks our choir ranks will double as St. Paul joins with us again in Christmas Caroling. Our children’s choir has provided extra life to our ministry to our youth, with participants from 3 other Lutheran congregations and counting.
I have talked with some of you already about the mission possibilities of outreach to the deaf community through Peace Deaf Lutheran.
We need to know that although this world is passing away, God’s Word remains, and His church will remain no matter what the situation.
In 1Kings chapter 6 there is an account of how the king of Syria has sent and army with chariots to surround the city where Elisha and the King of Israel are. When the servant of the Lord felt overwhelmed by the danger Elisha told him:
“Do not be afraid, those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
7 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Just like the nation of Israel under siege all those years ago, we are in a time where it looks like we are outnumbered. We need to pray that our eyes are opened to see the Lord’s armies supporting us. We need to see the great scope of support we have in the Lord Jesus who now reigns over heaven and earth.
We need the Lord to open our eyes to see how we are not alone, how the Lord and the entire heavenly host cheers for us. We will soon be in the joy of being counted with people from every tribe and nation coming before the throne of the Lamb.
The 3rd stanza of our hymn of the Day, Lo! He comes with Clouds Descending paints a picture of the bliss we will have in seeing the Lord Jesus in his exalted state after the resurrection. We will see the marks of his crucifixion as the greatest of all pictures of love.
“Those dear tokens of His passion, still His dazzling body bears, Cause of endless exultation To His ransomed worshipers. With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture gaze we on those glorious scars!