Last Sunday of the Church Year

1 Thessalonians 5:1–11

St. Matthew 25:1–13

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When our Lord returns in glory, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. These virgins are the bride’s attendants, whose job it was to greet the bridegroom as he was coming from his parent’s house to his bride’s home. Then they would join the wedding procession to the new home that the bridegroom had prepared for his wife, and there the party would begin. In this parable, Jesus is talking about the Church, not people of other religions, outside the Church. All ten ladies are virgins carrying lamps—they all look the same. These ten maidens represent members of the Church: they appear outwardly pure, they bear the name Christian. But not all outward members of the Church are true believers. These ten virgins are not all the same.

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The simple meaning behind the terms foolish and wise is unbeliever and believer. But there’s more to learn from these terms. This Greek word for foolish is actually where we get our word, “moron.” Bet you didn’t know that Jesus calls people morons. It’s quite an insulting word to us, but it’s a good word. If we think someone is a moron, we don’t mean someone who just lacks knowledge. Ignorance can be educated—you can learn new things if you want to. But we would say a moron is someone who’s not street-smart. They lack common sense: like not bringing oil. It’s nighttime, you’ve got lamps, and you don’t bring oil? Pretty dumb.

But the truth of the parable is that sin is stupid and sin makes us stupid. We know there are bad consequences to sin. We know God is not happy with us when we’re careless or go ahead against better judgment and sin anyway. But being sinners, we convince ourselves that we are right and we refuse to be corrected. The moronic virgins and people like them are not uneducated people, they are stubborn. They do not want to learn from God’s Word. They do not want to admit that they are wrong, that they have failed, that they need help and that they need to learn something new. Not wanting to repent of sin, and not wanting to learn from God’s Word, is foolish. It’s as foolish as bringing lamps with no oil.

The other five virgins are called wise. The Greek word here for wise also means “sensible or thoughtful.” Again, we’re not talking about book-smarts. You don’t have to study a lot and know a lot of facts in order to be wise. But it means you want to learn, you want to be a better person than you are now, and you are open to being changed. The best meaning for the word is actually “prudent.” This word Jesus uses is one of the four human virtues. The classical Greeks identified four virtues that are necessary to be a good human: justice, courage, self-control, and prudence. Being prudent means that you care about future things. This could be something big, like saving for retirement, or something small, like bringing oil for your lamps when waiting for the bridegroom.

These five wise virgins were prudent—they were ready for difficult circumstances. They were ready to admit they might be wrong about the Bridegroom’s arrival. Maybe they thought he would arrive sooner, but he was delayed. These prudent ladies planned ahead. Prudence—looking forward to the future, planning for and caring about the future—this is the virtue that listens to Jesus’ warning: Watch… for you know neither the day nor the hour. This means that the wise person wants to prepare now for Jesus’ return. You want to learn what He has to teach you in His Word. And you’re open to being corrected. You know you’re a sinner, so when you hear yourself being judged and your sin condemned, your first reaction is not to take offense or be outraged and storm off, but you repent. You want to turn away from your sin and try to do what God expects. You know you have failed and so you also want to do better. Most importantly, you want to get what Jesus offers now in His Word and Sacraments, so that you will be ready when He comes.

That last part really is the most important, because your prudence is not enough. Your effort to be on guard against sin, your work to prepare and obey God’s commands—that isn’t enough. All ten virgins became drowsy and slept, even the prudent ones. You have failed, and you will fail again. You can’t make yourself ready by your own power. And the church you belong to can’t do it for you either. Just playing the part, showing up once in a while or helping out when the congregation needs something—that won’t be good enough when the Bridegroom shows up. You need something else. You need something more than justice, courage, self-control, and prudence. The Christian Church recognizes that those human virtues are good and true, but we also recognize that the Bible tells us something else. We need the theological virtues: faith, love, and hope.

What we need is the oil for our lamps. In an oil lamp, the wick needs to be in oil—that’s the fuel for the fire. With no oil, the wick would burn up very quickly and go out. But with the oil, the wick burns slowly, brightly, steadily, because the wick is drawing up the oil so the flame is feeding on the oil. For us, in the Kingdom of Heaven, the oil is God’s Word and Sacraments: the Holy Scriptures and the preaching of those Scriptures that create faith by the power of the Spirit and instruct us in the life that is pleasing to God; Holy Baptism, the Name of God joined to the water that washes our sins away and gives us new birth as God’s children; Holy Absolution, the declaration of the forgiveness of sins spoken aloud so that you may be certain of God’s grace and have a good conscience before Him; and the Holy Communion, the feast of Christ’s true body and blood that forgives sin, enlivens faith, strengthens love, and saves us for eternity. These are where and how we get the oil for our lamps. These are the holy things that the flame of faith must feed on. Without this holy oil of the Word and Sacraments, our faith would sputter and go out. But with this oil, the flames of faith, love, and hope can burn brightly, all through the long night of waiting—waiting for our Bridegroom to arrive.

Now the fact that we need this oil and can’t do without it on our own means that it is really the Lord Himself who makes you ready for His coming. While our prudence is necessary, it’s not the thing that saves us. While our faith, love, and hope are necessary, these also are not why we are saved. We are made ready for Jesus’ return, we are saved, because He died for us and rose again; because He loves us enough to deal with our sin, to rebuke us and to forgive us; because He speaks to us and He is faithful to His promises.

In the Epistle, we were told that the Lord provides us with the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. There’s those three theological virtues again. Our Lord gives us the gift of faith in Him, and He kindles in our hearts the gift of love for our neighbors. He also inspires in us the sure and certain hope of His return on the Last Day. We know the future that has been promised to us. Christian hope is the greatest prudence of all: not merely working and planning for the future, but confidently trusting in the Lord who will come again to rescue us from every evil. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep (alive or dead) we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Do not be foolish and do not confirm other people’s foolishness. But be wise for yourself and for one another. Encourage your fellow Christians to live a holy life in keeping with God’s Word. Build up your fellow believers by speaking and singing that Word to them, and by praying for them. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body, be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.

Day of Thanksgiving

Psalm 104

St. Luke 12:13–21 (Harvest Observance)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Introit this morning is drawn from Psalm 104, but whenever we sing snippets of a psalm, it is also good for us to think about the entire psalm. Psalm 104 is a psalm of thanks to God for the goodness of His creation that was made and given to us as an undeserved gift. 

The psalm begins: Bless the Lord, O my soul! We exhort ourselves to praise and bless God. To bless someone means to speak good words about them or to them. So, how do we bless God? Just as we do at the end of the Divine Service: Bless we the Lord. Thanks be to God. We speak good words of thanksgiving. We tell of what He has done and given for us. In this way, the psalmist begins His exuberant song about this world that is bursting with life, an absolutely wonderful riot of fruitfulness, a beautiful order in which every creature praises its Maker by doing what He has given it to do.

God’s work is good because it reflects His own goodness. He is clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Himself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. These heavens are the sky, even what we call “outer space”, which is not empty but full of the sparkling, blazing splendor and majesty of stars and planets, constellations and galaxies. 

He makes the clouds His chariot; He rides on the wings of the wind; He makes his messengers winds, His ministers a flaming fire. Even the winds and storms of our atmosphere tell us something about His power and speed, and about the service of the holy angels, His ministers. The angels, these windy, fiery messengers serve their Lord by serving us. They are sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14).

He set the earth on its foundations… He set a boundary for the oceans that they may not pass… He makes springs gush forth in the valleys… they give drink to every beast of the field… the earth is satisfied with the fruit of His work. The Lord’s creation does His bidding and so is blessed. His creation is good because it reflects His own goodness. Or as another poet once said: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God…”

From the realms of stars and vast sweeping oceans, the psalmist descends into the lush liveliness of creaturely order: a world full of wild donkeys and roaring lions, the birds of the heavens and storks building their nests in great trees, while the wild goats and badgers make their fortresses in the mountains.

Also there is Man, that most unique of God’s creatures. Man—like the animals, he is flesh, and like the angels, he is spirit. Body and soul, he is created in the image of God. And since he is the crown of God’s creation, all of that creation is made for his benefit. The Lord causes the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart. The rich bounty of the Lord’s earth is put into the hands of men, so that we may be glad, refreshed, and strengthened for lives of service to our God and to His world.

            And yet, even the food we need to survive is not mere fuel. God could have arranged our bodies to be nourished by dirt. But the food He gives is also for our enjoyment, that we may taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). As Solomon wisely observed: Happy are you, O land, when… your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! … Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life (Ecclesiastes 10:17–19). Sin comes with over-indulgence, when we use our earthly goods for selfish purposes. But there is no sin in enjoying the good gifts of this creation: wine and beer, turkey, chocolate, or buttery mashed potatoes. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4).

The psalmist goes on to marvel at the orderliness of life. Far from this world being the mad, random rushing of atoms, the universe is held together by a design. God’s creation works together because it fits together, each creature finding his proper place at the proper time. He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. He makes darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. Even man and beast have their coordinated schedules, happily going to the work their Master has given them to do so that He might also fill them with His bounty.

And yet, life is not all work and no play. The psalmist sees how life’s labor and fun complement each other, making each more rewarding and more pleasurable. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which God formed to play in it. Can’t you hear the enthusiasm of a little boy? There go the ships! And Leviathan—a giant sea creature, what we might call a dinosaur, or better yet, a dragon!—splashing about in the waves.

O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all. All the many and various works of God are done in Christ, the true Wisdom of God. That Wisdom is not just a thought, but a Person—specifically the second Person of the Trinity—the Word who is God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3). In Christ, this world was made. In Christ, this world was redeemed. And in Christ, the gifts of this world are still given to all His creatures, even though some of these human creatures do not believe in Him or thank Him.

Whether they know it or not these all look to You, O Lord, to give them their food at the proper time. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things. And without the Lord who created us, and died for us, and rose again, then all creation would cease to exist, crumbling, falling into the void of nothingness. When You hide Your face, they are dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. He is the Creator and Redeemer, and so He has the authority to judge and sentence to death.

But, when You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground. The Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver of Life, is always at work in His world. He is the Breath that carried the Word of the Father and brought all things into being. And He’s still doing it. “The world is charged with the grandeur of God… Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.” The dawning of each new day is a reminder of God’s mercy and faithfulness.

The antiphon for our Introit comes from the end of the psalm. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works. This prayer flows from God’s declaration in Genesis 1: God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen. 1:31). His creation is good because it reflects His own goodness. He was pleased by His creation. And even though His creation rebelled against Him, He desired to rescue it so that He could rejoice in His work all the more. May the Lord continue to rejoice in His works, He who could unmake it with a touch, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! The psalm ends with a word of judgment: Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Evil, disobedience, ingratitude, pride, selfishness—all that must be eradicated so that only joyful praise is heard from God’s creation. 

This means that repentance is essential for true thanksgiving. You can’t really enjoy God’s gifts in creation when you’re unrepentant of your sin. God certainly gives daily bread to everyone… even to all evil people, so, if you don’t confess your sin, sure, you’ll still eat and you might have what you think is a good life, but you won’t really enjoy it. What is better? Buying dessert from the store or getting a piece of Grandma’s homemade pumpkin pie? The bought one might be perfectly fine, but you truly enjoy Grandma’s pie because of the good relationship you have with the one who made it and gave it to you out of love.

Likewise, the foolish but rich farmer had many earthly gifts from God, yet they were not good FOR him. He could not enjoy them and in the end they even condemned him because of his faithlessness. The fact that he turned the goods into idols made it even worse for him. So, to have a truly good life means repentance for sin and faith in Christ. Give thanks to God and give goods away to your neighbor. Then, even when it’s time to die, you don’t lose anything. In fact, you gain even more, because what was most important was your good relationship with God, the Giver of all those gifts.

And you do have a good relationship with the Creator, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Christ graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32). He sends forth His Spirit and we are created anew by faith. And the Lord Christ even gives His body for bread to strengthen you and His blood for wine to gladden your heart. So, we can call God our Father and confess His works in the Creed.

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.

He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. 

All this He does only out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.

For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.

This is most certainly true (SC, First Article).

Bless the Lord, O my soul! Alleluia!

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Poem quoted: “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Second to Last Sunday of the Church Year

Daniel 7:9–14

2 Peter 3:3–14

St. Matthew 25:31–46

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last week, we heard Jesus prophesy about the End Times and the Final Judgment. We also heard from St. Paul about Jesus’ return and the resurrection of the dead. And we heard how some Christians get confused about the End Times and come up with strange and unbiblical ideas like the Rapture. Of course, I can understand why some people get confused—we’re reading and talking about things that have not happened yet, so Scripture often presents them to us in visions, with strange images and symbols. These visions can be quite confusing, and require careful interpretation, and sometimes we cannot say what each detail means precisely. Because, as I said, these are things that have not happened yet, and God has not chosen to lay out the future for us, but expects us to live by faith. So, even when you run across one of these prophetic visions that you don’t completely understand, that’s okay—you know your Savior, you trust His Word, and you know He is returning for you.

The visions of the End Times from the prophet Daniel can probably be the most confusing. I think a simple reason his visions seem less clear is that they were given in the Old Testament. They are more abstract, more symbolic, simply because Daniel had less historical references than the writers of the New Testament. See, for Daniel, not only was Jesus’ final coming in the future (so he had to use symbolic imagery), but also Jesus’ first coming—His birth, His dying and rising—were all in Daniel’s future, so even that was not crystal clear for Daniel in all its details, and he had to use symbolic imagery there too.

Things are clearer for us now because the chief events of salvation are in our history. We know the death and resurrection of Jesus as historical facts, rather than futuristic visions. Even though we don’t have all the answers about the End Times, we know more about Whom we are waiting for. We have a fuller picture of who our Savior is and what He is coming to do. So, today, we’ll go through Daniel’s vision of Judgment Day, and to explain it we can use the clearer descriptions that we have from Jesus and St. Peter.

So, we pick up Daniel’s vision: As I looked, thrones were placed,  and the Ancient of Days took His seat… the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. God’s court is convened and ready to issue His judgments. At the center is the Ancient of Days, God the Father who rules and judges all things. Surrounding Him are the thousands of angels who serve Him by carrying out His decrees, and before Him are the thousands upon thousands of people to be judged. 

So, this vision takes place in God’s throne room, the heavenly court, where all people are judged. And the books were opened. God sees and knows everything that we think, say, and do—there is a record of both our good deeds and our sins. Our hymn also used these books to symbolize the record God has on each one of us:

The books are opened then to all,

A record truly telling

What each has done, both great and small,

When he on earth was dwelling,

And ev’ry heart be clearly seen,

And all be known as they have been

In thoughts and words and actions (LSB 508:3).

Although the Books are not mentioned by Jesus, we see something similar in His description of Judgment Day. Jesus recounts the deeds of those on His right and those on His left. However, there is something we should notice of how Jesus keeps His records. For those on His left, those who do not believe in Jesus, their record only includes sin and lack of good deeds, because without faith in Jesus it is impossible to please God. Without faith, God’s record books will show that they are unrighteous and deserving of punishment. But for those on Jesus’ right, those who believe in Him, their record only includes their good works. By Baptism and faith their names were written into the most important record book of all: the Lamb’s Book of Life. That means the record of their sins has been expunged, blotted out by the blood of the Lamb, and all that remains to be recounted are the good works these Christians have done by faith in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

On Judgment Day, God’s books will be opened, but for you who trust in Christ, God’s judgment is that you are innocent, forgiven, set free to live forever.

     My Savior paid the debt I owe

And for my sin was smitten;

Within the Book of Life I know

My name has now been written.

I will not doubt for I am free, 

And Satan cannot threaten me;

There is no condemnation!

     May Christ our intercessor be

And through His blood and merit

Read from His book that we are free

With all who life inherit. 

Then we shall see Him face to face,

With all His saints in that blest place

Which He has purchased for us (LSB 508:5–6).

Now, Daniel’s vision also shows us what will happen to Satan and his evil allies. Daniel’s vision included four beasts who rule the world and fight against God. In the book of Revelation it is made more clear that the final beast is the antichrist, the one who tries to take the place of Christ and lead His people astray. In Daniel’s vision, the antichrist is symbolized by a horn on the fourth beast’s head, and this horn speaks great words, blasphemous words against God and His saints. But in God’s courtroom, this beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. This is the fate of Satan and all his followers. As Jesus also points out, the eternal fire of hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. The devil’s time of power and influence will come to an end. The devil does not torment people after death, but he himself will be tormented by the fires of God’s wrath.

This final destruction by fire is also in store for this present creation. St. Peter compares the end of this world to the destruction of the Flood. Mankind rejected God and turned so far away from Him that He decided to destroy them, except for Noah and his family. So, along with that wicked generation, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. In a similar way, this world will be brought to an end, along with the devil and all the forces of evil. St. Peter tells us: The heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly… The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

But now, Daniel’s vision turns from that fiery destruction to the glorious coming of the true King: Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. This is none other than Jesus the Christ. To say that He is the Son of Man means more than that He is a true man, but it means He is the truest Man—the representative, the substitute, the Savior of the human race. He is the Son of God who became a man, the son of Mary, so that He could suffer and die for the sins of the world, rise again and open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. All that is bound up in this term, the Son of Man.

And that is why this Son of Man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. We know that the Son is equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit within the Godhead. But what we see in Daniel’s vision is that Jesus is given a throne at the Father’s right hand, not only as God, but as a Man, as the Christ. So, Jesus can say of the Last Day, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Jesus the King comes with all the authority given to Him by the Ancient of Days. He comes to execute His Father’s judgments. He is appointed to speak the Father’s pronouncements and make it known for all to hear who belongs in His kingdom.

Now, we know that all those who believe in Jesus belong in His kingdom—all who confess their sins and do not trust in their own worth, but trust only in the holy blood and righteousness of Jesus. Yet, St. Peter still urges us to consider what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness. If we are the people of God’s kingdom, then we must surely be about the work of that kingdom—living the way our King would have us live, according to His commandments, seeking to do His will, striving to reflect and show His holy name that He has given to us. If we are truly blessed by the Father, if we are truly called by His name, then we must also live like it. Good works do not save a Christian, but they are necessary. Good works show forth the faith that is hidden in the heart. And when a Christian does good for his neighbor, the King accepts it as a good work done for Him. Live lives of holiness and godliness, so that you may also be among those who hear the King’s answer: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”

Take all these words and warnings seriously, from Daniel, Peter, and Jesus. Let the rich and fantastic imagery of these visions be etched into your mind and heart. Do not become complacent and imagine that none of this applies to you. Judgment Day will come to all and there are only two final destinations. And woe to those who scorned the Lord And sought but carnal pleasures, Who here despised His precious Word And loved their earthly treasures! The King will say to them, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” That destructive fire is not meant for you. It was only ever prepared for the devil and the demons. But if you reject the Lord and His Word, if you think you can enter heaven based on your efforts, your thoughts or feelings, then you also will end up in that same awful fire.

On the other hand, for those who love the Lord and listen to His Word, the King will say, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” This kingdom is not just for Jesus or God or the angels. It was always prepared for you! Do not doubt this word from your King. It is true even now, even while we are still waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God with prayer and hope and joy. According to our King’s promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We look forward with joy to that new creation where Jesus will dwell with all of us who are righteous by faith in Him.

O Jesus Christ, do not delay,

But hasten our salvation;

We often tremble on our way

In fear and tribulation.

O hear and grant our fervent plea:

Come, mighty judge, and set us free

From death and ev’ry evil (LSB 508:7).

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.