Vicar Christopher Gillespie
Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
Advent 2 (December 9, 2007)
Text: Luke 21:25-36

 12-11-2007 audio

Our meditation is taken from the Gospel text just read, especially the words of Jesus “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

Let Us Pray:

Heavenly Father, you have presented your people with many signs and wonders through the millennia. We pray that your Holy Spirit may guide us to recognize the signs of your mercy you set before us so that we may remain ever steadfast in your promises. In the name of your Son Jesus. Amen.

As mankind has increased in knowledge of the stars and planets, the things that were once thought to be signs from God in heaven are now explained away as natural occurrences. For example, once we might have said “the sun has darkened.” Now knowledge of the orbit and path of the planets attribute the phenomena as an eclipse. We once said that the moon waxed and waned, that it grew and diminished. Now, its orbit is plotted precisely and its actions are wholly predicted. Stars used to fall. Now they aren’t stars at all but asteroids being pulled from space.

Our attempts to see God’s hand in these events have been easily overcome by our powers of human observation. Now the stars, moon, and sun are no longer omens of the hand of God but are natural occurrences, mostly predictable, and definitely of little consequence.

Astronomy, medicine, farming, weather, and indeed all human wisdom is guided by observation, guided by our reason, and fueled by our intellect. We observe the world and try to fit it within a system that we can understand. In all of science perceive trends, patterns, and regular behaviors and then assume that these are the laws of nature.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some laws to nature. As God has told us in His Word, just read this past midweek service from the Genesis 1, God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons.” (Gen 1:14) God had created His creation to operate systematically, orderly, and perfectly for the benefit of the communion between Man and his God. This was the perfect environment for man to dwell, to be provided for, and to serve God in love.

But these God’s intent for nature are obscured, hidden, and confused by the corruption the world brought upon the world by our sin. Sin is the original chaos theory. Sin threw all creation into turmoil, confusing even the animals to attack their master, plants to defy their Creator’s intent, and the sun, moon, and stars purpose to be hidden from us.

Its no wonder then that we have lost our ability to interpret the signs God places before us. Yes, God the Father, creator of the heavens and the earth did not leave His creation to ruin but instead still continues to for us despite our sin. He protects His people. He delivers them from evil. He provides for them food and drink. He guides them from the wilderness to the promised Land.

But our eyes, blinded with sin cannot witness the truth of God’s almighty power in the world. We trust in our own observations and intuition. We allow our lives to be guided by our own acquired wisdom and not God’s.

This foolishness ignores the hand of God. It foolishly believes that sun, moon, and stars are not at our Lord’s beck and call. It believes the chaos of the sea is not at God’s command. It believes that because God is hidden from our eyes that he is not active in our lives. It believes that God has left himself powerless to take hold of your life.

To deny God’s creative and almighty is the same as denying God. “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”” (Psalm 114:1) The lives of the faithful are not spiraling out of control towards death. Your life are being prepared by God for the advent of our king on the last day.

The Triune God has not absconded from his creation. He is truly present. But how is the presence made known? Can we observe the hand of God with our senses? Can we discern God’s benefaction by our reason? Can we predict the actions of God with our intellect?

God has not left us. He has given us signs and wonders to behold. By using the rainbow, God promised to spare faithful Noah and his family. God testified to his promise to preserve Israel by delivering them from bondage to Pharoah and into the promised land. God gave us a sign of his power over death when Jesus caused men to rise from the dead.

God continues to give us mighty signs and wonders of His steadfastness to His promise. God the Father’s action for us is made known in His Word. By His Word he tells us of all that He has done. By His Word we learn of the chaos wrought by sin upon the perfection of creation. By His Word we know that God has not forsaken His people but remains with them. By His Word we know that all the heavenly host are at his command. By His Word we know his good and gracious will.

As written by Paul in our Epistle, “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.” (Romans 15:4) We aren’t to be instructed by our reason or intellect in spiritual matters. God’s will is made manifest to us in His Word. All of Scripture was written for our learning. It was written to inform us of God so that we might not live in fear but patiently await the coming judgment. Only by the Scriptures do we have encouragement and hope for the future.

Those who are not enrolled in the school of the Holy Spirit where the only curriculum is His Word will be left to the curse of their own powerless reason and intellect. These faculties are edifying for the things of this world but are a hinderance to the things of God. For true hope and joy we must believe, and belief comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) By His holy prophet of old, God testified to the truth. He promised a savior, the Christ, the Messiah who would be God with us.

We don’t need our senses to believe this. Our minds, hearts, and senses have been overtaken by the power of the Holy Spirit working this His Word. He works faith in us that believes.With ears of faith we hear the promise of God and we hear his faithful witness Simeon proclaim “Lord, my eyes have seen thy salvation, the glory of thy people Israel.”

With eyes of faith we behold his Son, born in the manger, dead on the cross, and risen from the dead.Our reason is once again made servant to the will of God, free to read Scripture not to justify our own actions but to illuminate God’s intent. Our intellect is held captive by the sheer expanse of the wisdom of God given by His Law, His Prophets, and His Son.Behold the signs of God with the eyes of faith! The sun, moon, and stars continue to be used by God to guide His people to the see the Nativity of His Son in Bethlehem.

As we watch our world spiraling into decay, with nations devastated by the seas in hurricanes and tsunamis, God’s Word tells us that the judgment is near. The day is coming when the evildoers will be burnt to stubble. The earth is in distress with the roaring of seas and waves. The powers of heaven will be shaken.

You do not need to seek signs like the Jews or attempt to gain wisdom like the Greeks (Matthew 12:38-42) Instead the Holy Spirit has enlightened our minds to the signs of the age to come. The Holy Spirit has granted the wisdom to know that the time of judgment is near. But Fear not for our Lord comes and it is for your redemption!

We are not like the children of man who seek after God and try to understand and so remain in terror. (Psalm 114:2) We can rest and wait as the people of Zion, awaiting the coming of our Lord again. We can confess with the psalmist that our salvation comes.

The Lord has spoken. His majestic voice resonates in our ears. He leads us by His Word in paths of righteousness. Like a flock, He shepherds us away from worldly fears and anxieties. He guides us to the still waters of His voice which tells us the truth, the truth which our observation and mind cannot discern. By His servant Moses, by His prophet Elijah, and by His forerunner John the Baptist we know that the way is prepared. We know that the way has been made straight in Christ.

Christ came not to prove foolish human wisdom but to prove His own true wisdom. In Christ, His death, and His rising to life we are all made new again. In Christ our lives are not lived in dread of death and the judgment to come but in the hope of the life in heaven. In Christ, we see the Son of Righteousness rising with healing on His wings.

“18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”…22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

The cross challenges our understanding. It is to us a sign of foolishness. Our hearts have been turned to the wisdom of our Father to assure us of the truth. This is not merely a hypothesis but it is the promise that cannot be shaken. It is the truth that will not waver. It is the promise of the hope of the life to come.

Many say that God is dead, inactive, or absent. Just as He sent signs against Pharoah and gave Moses many signs to show the deliverance of Israel, He has given you might signs of rebirth with water and his living body and blood to testify to his steadfastness. His preachers of the Gospel prophesy this truth for you.

Behold the great and mighty signs of God! Do not fear the judgment for you have been prepared. God has has informed your heart and mind of His last will and intent. His Spirit works faith in your heart by His Word that you may hear and believe. Doubt not, for the Son of Man will come in a cloud with power and great glory. His advent approaches! “Straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near!” Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understand keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord unto life everlasting. Amen.