Advent of Your Redemption :: Luke 21:25-36
Your redemption is drawing near (v. 28).
You know … most days blur together, one into another. But some days are simply unforgettable. They can be outstanding ... extraordinary ... like the day of your confirmation, the day of your graduation, the day of your marriage, the day your child was born ... the day we give new life to an old sanctuary. Or they can be devastating ... like the day of divorce, the day you discovered you had cancer, the day you were involved in a serious accident, the day death took a loved one from you. All of these days can be unforgettable days because of the overwhelming joy or sorrow they brought.
Our text speaks of a day that makes the most memorable day of our lives pale into insignificance. And we will never forget it.
In the Gospel according to Luke, days after arriving in Jerusalem to die and to rise, Jesus began talking about that day … the last day ... God’s great day, the greatest day of all. It’s the day of a great disturbance, the day of great judgment, and the day of great redemption.
Brothers and sisters in Christ ...
THE ADVENT OF YOUR REDEMPTION IS NEAR, IT IS HERE, AND IT IS DEAR.
1.
This is what all of our readings today are showing us. They all describe the great and awesome day (4:5) … the unforgettable day … the day of our Lord Jesus Christ ... Not the one on which he was born, but the great day of disturbance and judgment and redemption.
Malachi foretold this advent of your redemption hundreds of years before Christ. He described it as burning like a furnace. Christ highlighted it as he described the future awaiting him ... It is near, Jesus said. And Saint Paul expressed why that day is so dear. This is the day the Lord has made .. the day of our redemption.
We can summarize it this way: Our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, silently and quietly went to the cross to redeem you from your sin ... to pay the price of your sin ... to set you free. That’s what redemption is. It is the price paid.
We needed our Lord to do this for us. We couldn’t afford to pay for one sin, let alone all of them; our debts were too great. We couldn't go to him; sin has no standing with God. He didn’t desire our sacrifices (Hos 6:6); so our heavenly Father, in his mercy, gave us his only begotten son as the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.
Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for you that great and awful day of disturbance and judgment and redemption, when the Father poured out his burning wrath upon Christ. Jesus was consumed on the cross. After living for you, he suffered and died for you in the most excruciating way.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the price of your sin, your lust, your idolatry, your self indulgence. We knew it was coming … just as we know the advent of our redemption is near.
As Saint Paul declares in our epistle, I tell you that Christ became a servant to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises ... the promises given in the garden, given to Noah, given to Abraham, given to David, given to all the prophets ... that he would redeem his people. Our Lord did this so that you can rejoice and make this good news dear to your heart.
Because of what God has done, we can rest in peace. He has given us certainty by raising Christ from the dead for your justification. And because we have seen our risen Lord, we can now you can go leaping like calves from the stall in joy (4:3), knowing that the author of life who united himself with us, will give us eternal life too ... forever and finally ... on the great day when Jesus returns in a cloud with much glory to raise the dead and give eternal life to all who have faith in him. Yes, we all know the day is drawing near.
Which brings us to today’s reading from Luke.
2.
These words were written for you who believe. As our gospel opens, Jesus has already told the disciples about this day three times. But you can never say it too often ... your redemption drew near and was fully realized as Jesus lived for you and died for you. We witnessed it on Good Friday when the sun darkened and the earth shook. Then He rose for you, was baptized for you, and is making you holy just as he is holy. Eternal life is yours now and forever on account of Christ. Talk about a great day!
But the signs haven’t ceased giving us peace. In this life, we still have to contend with our sin. We are still sinners who sin ... and until he comes in the flesh one final time, we will suffer ... for the wages of sin is death. That’s why he has given us his word and sacraments … to give us life. These means, which we neglect to often, remind us of what Christ has done and is doing for us. They call us to faith and deliver forgiveness, life and salvation.
Today you see it in the font and on the altar, you hear it in the word proclaimed. You who are the saints of God can continually receive the fruit of his redemption by allowing yourselves to continually hear the proclamation of the gospel and to the receive his sacraments. These will keep us strong in faith until he comes.
Those who reject Jesus’ word and sacraments, don’t have such hope. They ignore the signs of the time or explain them away. They insist on playing a part in their redemption, longing to boast but never finding it. They reduce the word of Christ to be just picture language, never hearing it.
But you … my brothers and sisters in Christ … know your redemption is near, it is here, it is dear. Lift up your heads, O gates. The signs Jesus described are all around us. Do you see them? They are and will be in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth; the distress of nations in anxiety [will grow] because of the sea and the waves as people faint from fear and expectation of what is coming upon the inhabited world (vv. 26-26).
Jesus wasn’t telling us something new. Listen to the world around you. They say ..
“The seas are going to rise so high, we are gonna drown. The stars are gonna strike the earth and cause a mass extinction. The heat and drought are so great we’re gonna burn up." More than that they moan and decry that you refuse to legitimize their adulterous lives, their homosexual lifestyle, their demand to slaughter their children in the womb.
The signs are all there.
Sadly The truth is, the world refuses to believe that God can save you through the waters of baptism. They love themselves. They turn away from the gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake in favor of the false gospel of self preservation. False religions and cults continue to rise as Christian laity become more and more ignorant of basic Christian doctrine. And churches continue spurning the sacraments, denying that they deliver life and salvation.
3.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, lift up your heads and believe the gospel. Repent, mourn your sin, recognize your need for a savior, and run to the sacraments. Your redemption is drawing near through them. You too can rest securely in God’s good word that Christ delivers his redemption through word and sacrament until the final advent we hold so dear.
4.
Your Lord applied his redemption to you and made it yours. He has set you free. This news is dear to all who believe and you can stand firm as you await the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pt 1:9). You can stand confident because you know the truth. Your sin became his. His righteousness became your righteousness. You were buried therefore with him in baptism, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead you too might walk in the newness of life (Rm 6:4). In other words you have been redeemed. It was all made possible through the pouring out of his Holy Spirit upon you and over you and through you in the living waters of Holy Baptism ... which we should always keep at the center of our lives together.
Now we see and understand that whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope (Rm 15:4). And that we can praise his name, and rejoice with his people. We who have been enlightened by the Gospel and sanctified by the gifts of the Holy Spirit should look at the signs he is providing as continued reminders of all that God has done.
As Paul tells us in Ephesians, In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
You know it is coming. We who have faith in Christ know God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pt 1:11). He is giving us the signs of the times to calm us and comfort us. Why? Because Christ comes with healing in his wings. He is drawing near to the advent of your final redemption ... in Jesus name.