Third Sunday in Advent

St. Matthew 11:2–11

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

Rejoice in the Lord always! The Lord is at hand. (Introit: Phil. 4:4–5)

But John the Baptist is not rejoicing. He is in prison.Very rarely do people rejoice in prison.Nor people who are lonely or sick, struggling with depression or missing a loved one.

Well, maybe they need a dose of Christmas cheer? Maybe not. All the glitter and jingly bells, all that gets tossed in with the holly and jolly and sugar-plum fairy—sometimes it can all ring just a bit hollow. Have you ever heard the singer telling you to “have yourself a merry little Christmas,” and thought, “Maybe I can’t”? Maybe you’re too tired, or too sad, or the people you want to be with are too far away—far away in heaven is one difficult pain, far away on earth is another one but not so difficult, and far away in heart because of some family fight is much worse. For all of its promises to be “the most wonderful time of the year,” I’m sure most of us have been disappointed by Christmas at least once or twice. The expectations are so high, the nostalgia is so strong, the festivities don’t quite satisfy us the way we think they should. Cherished heirlooms break, toys aren’t as amazing as they seem in the commercial, people die and leave big empty wholes in our lives, and even memories dim and fade over time.

The reason the Christmas holiday can sometimes let us down is because nothing in this life lasts forever. It’s not really meant to, and everything in this life and earth, in one sense or another, finds its way to a grave. And what makes this even worse is when we put our faith and hope in these temporary things, when we look for lasting joy in material goods or in the human love of family and friends. By focusing all our faith, hope, and joy on the good things of this life, we turn them into idols, and we make for ourselves little prisons within our hearts. We think and hope that what cannot last will somehow make us feel better and so we chase after it. But whatever it is, if it’s not the living God, then it only leads us deeper and deeper into our own hearts, into darkness, into death. By loving and trusting our idols we trap ourselves in the darkness of sin and despair.

This is what our Collect today recognizes: the darkened hearts of our self-made prisons. By sin and disregard for God, we’ve locked ourselves in, thrown away the key, and blown out the light. So, our Collect also corrects us, and turns us to the one true Light, the only One who can save us from sin and sadness, disappointment and death—really, the only One who can save us from ourselves: Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation.

It seems as though John was not rejoicing in prison, but perhaps he prayed something similar to our Collect. He was in desperate need, and so he went to the very best place for an answer. He went to God’s Word looking for faith, hope and joy. “Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?” he asked through his followers. And he got his answer from the preaching of the prophets and from the Word of God Incarnate Himself. Jesus answered, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”

            Yes, Jesus was and is and will always be the One who is to come. We don’t need to look for another. He came into our flesh so that He, who is Joy Itself, can take away our sorrow. He was born for a life of disappointment and rejection, so that He, who is the Hope of all, can give to us in our despair the brightest of futures. He came to His cross and suffered the wrath of God but with perfect trust in His Father, so that He, who is Faithfulness and Righteousness personified, can redeem sinners and defeat death itself. He came out of His tomb, so that He, who is Life Itself, can give that very life as a gift to all who trust and call upon His name.

John the Baptist got his answer even though he was still in prison, because he had His Jesus, the Savior who gives the gifts of faith, hope, and joy. You have that answer too. God’s Word gives it to you, even now. The answer comes in what you hear and see in the Means of Grace. Our Lord breaks through your little dark prison and sheds the light of His Word in Your heart. This is His gracious visitation.

So, if you want a Christmas that won’t disappoint or let you down, then come to church on Christmas Day. If you can come here, but instead choose to stay home and unwrap presents, then you are only digging in deeper to that dark prison of the heart. You are teaching yourself and your children that the presents and food, the “family time”, that’s what really matters, that’s the answer. You’re saying God isn’t the One who can save you from sadness or darkness or death. Presents and food with family are wonderful, in fact, there’s not much better in this life. But there is something better that comes from outside this life and brings the very best of eternity for you. Your God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, comes to you, here in this life.

So, open some presents before church, and open more after! But however you do it, come to open up the greatest present of all—the Lord Himself. Hear His Word that gives peace for your troubled soul and comfort for your worried mind. Receive His body and blood, which was once laid into an animal’s feed trough for a bed, but is now laid into your mouth and into your heart so that He might dwell with you and you with Him. There’s the answer to the prayer in our Collect. The Word and the Sacrament will enlighten your dark heart. That will give the faith, the hope, and the joy you need.

Even as we come to our Lord’s House to receive Him and His gifts, He is also the One who is to come so that He might stay with us now and forever. He graciously visits us in His Word and Sacrament, today, and next Sunday, and Christmas Day. And in this way, He makes us ready for His coming in all His glory one day soon.

Rejoice! The Lord is at hand!

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.

Second Wednesday in Advent

Advent Banners – Christ’s Final Coming

Malachi 4:1–6

Revelation 1:1–8

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

We learned last week that Advent means “coming.” We also learned, even as we sang in the opening hymn (LSB 333), that there are basically three times or ways that Christ comes. These three Advents are depicted in our Advent banners.

First, in the back, two banners that show Christ’s first advent—His coming in the flesh and in humility. The manger and the star, the cross and palm branch direct our minds and hearts to the incarnation of the Son of God and to His state of humiliation when He suffered here on earth and finally died. This is also what we will soon celebrate at Christmas. Second, in the middle, two banners that show Christ’s current coming in the Means of Grace. But we’re going to skip over those tonight and come back to them next week. So, third, up in front, we have two banners that depict Christ’s final coming in glory. This is what we call the End Times or the Last Day or Judgment Day. This is what we confess when we say in the Creed, He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end… And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

So, on the one banner we see Christ coming on the clouds. This is how His return is described again and again in Scripture. We heard tonight in Revelation 1: Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him (v.7). As I said last week, the reason blue can be a color for Advent is because we will see our Lord coming in the sky. Jesus Himself describes His return in this way in Matthew 24: Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (v.30). Or as we also heard from Jesus in the Gospel this past Sunday, Luke 21: The powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Although some people will be afraid on the Last Day, some will mourn and wail when they see Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven, we will not be afraid or sad. When all the earth is trembling and falling apart, when all the things of this life don’t matter anymore because they are perishing, we can straighten up and raise our heads. We stand up tall and confident because our redemption is drawing near. That is to say, our Jesus is drawing near. And we long to be near Him.

On the other banner we have two symbols for the Last Day. The more obvious one is probably the crown. Jesus said, “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. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will speak His judgments to those on His right and those on His left (Matthew 25:31–34). Now, it’s true that Jesus is King now, sitting and ruling at the right hand of the Father. Our Lord’s Ascension into heaven was really His coronation and we are in His Kingdom now. But we can’t see it yet. On the Last Day, Jesus will establish God’s Kingdom in a visible way. Unlike His first coming, Jesus will not return in humility, lowly in a manger, powerless on a cross. At His final coming Jesus will show and use all of His power and glory. His judgment will make it known to all who belongs in this Kingdom. Then our God will create a new heavens and a new earth, a new and perfected creation where God is all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). This is what we sang in our theme hymn:

            Soon will come that hour

            When with mighty power

            Christ will come in splendor

            And will judgment render,

            With the faithful sharing

            Joy beyond comparing (LSB 333:3).               

Other Banner symbol: Sheaf of grain

            We are the Lord’s harvest

            Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection 

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Cor. 15:20–23)

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

Resurrected bodies sprout from the earth, ripe and ready for harvest

Parable of the Weeds…

“The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13)

Angels are the reapers. This is more explicit in Matthew 24: And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

The Last Day is also described as a Harvest in Revelation 14:14-16

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

This image of Judgment Day as a Harvest shows us bad news for the weeds. They are thrown into the fire. Malachi’s vision is similar: For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. He sees the wicked as stubble, what’s left after the harvest. What’s more, The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. God’s glory consumes sinners—God is a consuming fire. His glory descended upon Mount Sinai and anyone who touched it would be killed. His glory filled the Tabernacle, and when the sons of Aaron disobeyed the Lord, the fire of God came out of the Tabernacle and consumed them. His glory is pure and holy, and cannot abide sin. Just as fire instantly consumes gasoline, His holiness instantly destroys sinners.

But our Lord has made a way for us to receive Him and come into His presence without being burned. He made a way for us in the flesh of Jesus—through His cross and resurrection. As we sang in the second hymn:

            So, when next He comes in glory 

            And the world is wrapped in fear,

            He will shield us with His mercy

            And with words of love draw near (LSB 345:4)

God’s glory is shared with us and God blesses us when we are covered in the righteousness of Christ. When we are forgiven and justified by faith in Him, then we are declared pure and holy in God’s sight. So the Lord also promised us through Malachi: But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. “You who fear the Lord’s Name”—those are Christians—that means you have faith in Him. And that means the Lord will not come to you in His wrath but as the glorious Sun of righteousness. We will sing about this in our closing hymn:

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,

But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;

Tears for all woes, a heart for ev’ry plea.

Come, Friend of sinners, thus abide with me. (878:3)

            At this time of year when the days grow short and the darkness deepens, Advent helps us to look for the rising of another and greater Sun—the sun of righteousness who is none other than the Son (S.O.N.)—Son of God and Son of Man. And our Advent Banners remind us of this too. A new Day dawned in Christ’s first coming, with His incarnation and birth, His death and resurrection, so, you can see the first rays of the sun shining at the bottom of those banners in the back. As we progress through Advent, the light begins to grow, just as the candles are gradually lit on the Advent Wreath. So, the middle pair of banners show a partial sun. The Light of Christ shines out more and more as the Gospel is preached throughout the world and as the Sacraments are given. We are living in this time, called the time of grace, so we gather around the bright beams of His Word. And finally we come back to the last pair, where we see that the Sun is fully risen. We are now waiting for that glorious Day, for the full brightness of Christ’s final coming. Then we will behold the Sun of righteousness shining with the full force of His glory.

And we will be able to stand with joy in that glory on that great day because we know and receive the righteousness of Christ now by faith. In Rev. 1 it says every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Those who pierced Him are those who rejected Him and refused to believe in Him. They will wail on that day. The marks of the nails and the spear still remain in His glorified flesh, and those marks will condemn the people who scorned the Lord’s death and rejected His gift of salvation. But for those who trust in Jesus, we will see those glorious scars with joy. We know our salvation is secure because the crucified Lord who died for us is the same Lord who rose again and will come in glory. The loving Lord who comes to us now in His Word, who feeds us His holy flesh that was pierced, who gives us to drink of His holy blood that poured from His side, that same Lord, He will greet us on that day and welcome us into the Kingdom He has prepared for us. And we will go out to meet Him with uncontainable gladness, kicking up our heels like calves released from the stall.

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.


This Advent series was inspired by the six Advent banners that hang in our nave. The sermon for the first Wednesday in Advent on the first set of banners (first coming of Christ), I preached from a rough outline so I did not preserve a manuscript. This manuscript also has an incomplete section in the middle where I preached from the Bible verses and notes given here.

First Sunday in Advent

Jeremiah 23:5–8

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

If you’re preparing for something, you’re going to actively get ready for it, maybe even get a little busy. But you’re also waiting, and that should probably imply a sense of calm and stillness—waiting for something to happen. That’s what’s going on in Advent. While the commercialized world is running ragged in its preparations, the Church is doing a lot of waiting. While we wait for our Lord we should also prepare to receive Him. Yet sometimes the waiting takes its toll. We don’t like to sit and wait for something to happen. We think we have to be the ones doing the happening.

Waiting for the Lord certainly took its toll on Jeremiah the Prophet. In fact, all of the Old Testament is like one huge season of Advent—waiting for the coming of the Lord, the Messiah, the One who would save His people from their sins. Ever since God promised Adam and Eve that the Offspring of the woman would come to crush the serpent’s head, God’s people had been waiting. And Jeremiah was no different, except that he certainly had a hard time of it while he waited.

I don’t think many people would pick Jeremiah as their favorite Old Testament prophet. He is known to be quite depressing. After all, he also wrote the book called Lamentations. But if anyone had reason to lament, it was Jeremiah. His ministry as a prophet of God was one of the toughest. He had to preach to the people of Jerusalem in that city’s darkest hours. By Jeremiah’s time, the northern half of Israel had already been destroyed by the Assyrians. Those Israelite tribes had been killed, enslaved, and scattered to the wind, because they would not repent and trust the Lord’s Word. Now all that was left was Judah, the southern tribe, and its capital, Jerusalem. And the shadow of destruction was looming over them as well. The Babylonians were on their doorstep, and Jeremiah saw what was in store for Judah and Jerusalem: exile. Their king would be thrown down, their people carried off to Babylon, and their city and temple destroyed. Because they also would not repent and trust the Lord’s Word.

So it was Jeremiah’s God-given task to preach this message of judgment. Do you think the people or their rulers were happy to hear this gloomy message? Do you think they thanked Jeremiah for his faithfulness to God’s Word? Do you think they listened and turned away from their sinful deeds? Far from it. They continued sacrificing to false gods, even slaughtering their own babies. They continued to ignore God’s commands and live like the rest of the godless nations surrounding them. They even tried to kill Jeremiah on numerous occasions because he wouldn’t leave them alone. And if they couldn’t kill him, they could at least keep him in prison.

The people and their rulers didn’t like Jeremiah—he was a downer. Besides, the king of Judah was sure that he could save Jerusalem from the Babylonians. The priests of the temple were sure that God was pleased with them and all their sacrifices. So, instead of repenting and waiting for the Lord to save them, they continued their busy lives, making their own preparations, playing the games with politics and money, and dabbling in the worship of idols alongside the true God. Although they used His Name, they did not truly believe in the Lord their God. Although they read His Word, they did not truly listen to it or trust it. And so God judged them to destruction. He used the Babylonians to bring them to ruin.

And do any of us operate the same way? We use God’s Name and sit in church and listen to His Word, but then do we care when babies are slaughtered for the idols of choice, freedom, and convenience? Do we care when people live in sin and deliberately ignore God’s commands? We don’t throw prophets into prison, but do we spread lies about pastors and other Christians? These things are not true about everyone, but they are certainly true of many people today. It makes me wonder who our Babylonians will be? Will God bring His judgment down on us and what will that look like? None of us are innocent. We all must repent and trust the Lord’s Word.

In the midst of sadness and destruction, God also gives a message of hope to Jeremiah and to those faithful people who still believed in God. But it wouldn’t be a quick fix. They would have to wait. They would have to live and suffer through this horrible destruction and exile, and wait for God to save them, trusting that the Lord made a promise and that He always comes through on His promises. So, the Lord gave them this hope and comfort for the future, so that they would know that the ruin of their city was not the end: Behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.

There was already a king in Jeremiah’s day, but clearly he was not doing a good job. The Lord says He will raise up a new King. From the old dying family tree of King David, with the rotten limbs of wicked kings, the Lord will make a righteous Branch come forth. He will be a King like none other, because this King will be the Lord Himself. His name will be called, “The Lord is our righteousness.” Ironically, the evil king of Jeremiah’s day was named Zedekiah, which means, “The Lord is my righteousness.” Yet, he was not the promised king. Unbelieving Zedekiah clearly had none of the Lord’s righteousness. He was not right with God, and so he was judged to destruction.

But this new King, He will be righteous and He will be the righteousness for His people. He is the Lord, our righteousness, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Branch sprung up from the tree of David. In Mary’s womb He became the heir of that ancient king—a descendant of David’s house and line. He is the Promised One, the One Jeremiah and all the Old Testament waited for. 

From the Gospel today, we see that our King Jesus is humble. He comes to us riding on a donkey on His way to the cross. Meekly, He came to do His Father’s will, obedient to the very end. He fulfilled all of God’s demands, He was perfectly righteous. And yet God judged Him to destruction. All of God’s wrath over sin was poured onto that righteous Branch, so that we can escape the destruction we deserve. There is no more condemnation for those who believe in Jesus. 

And not only do we escape God’s judgment of destruction, but we are also given God’s judgment of righteousness. You who believe and are baptized into Jesus your King, you have Him for your righteousness! You have no righteousness that can be called your own. Nothing that you have done can save you from His anger. But the King gives you His own righteousness—His goodness, His life, His glory. God declares you to be righteous and holy because of Jesus. And so with a King like that, you are saved and dwell securely.

There are two times in Jeremiah’s book, where the promised righteous Branch is mentioned along with this name, “The Lord is our righteousness.” The first time is what we have heard today from Jeremiah 23: The Lord will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king… In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which HE will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ But the second time is just a bit different, in Jeremiah 33: The Lord will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David… In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which IT will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (v.16) Did you catch the difference? The second time, the name of the King, the name of the righteous Branch is also given to Judah and Jerusalem. The righteousness of Jesus is declared, imputed, given to God’s people, and so they actually bear His holy name. Our sin has been removed from God’s sight, and instead He sees us covered in the King’s holy blood, His innocent life, suffering, and death, and His glory.

In the Old Testament the event that really defined God’s relationship with Israel was the Exodus. The people often said, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” That was how they knew God, that He was their Savior. But Jeremiah saw a time when the people of God would no longer talk about Egypt and that old Exodus. There would be a far greater Exodus with the new and righteous Brach—the King. Then the people would say, “As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.” Here Jeremiah references the Lord’s promise that the people who are exiled to Babylon will return to Jerusalem one day and rebuild it. And that certainly happened.

But the new Exodus, the ultimate end to all exile and destruction, the reign of the righteous Branch who will gather all His people into His eternal city, that is the Exodus of Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection He has brought you up out of the land of sin and death. He has forgiven you, freed you, and given you a home in His Church. And over this new home He is a King who rules you with His forgiveness and love. No longer do we say, “He is the Lord who brought us out of Egypt.” Nor do we say, “He is the Lord who brought us out of the land of Babylon.” But we say, “As the Lord lives, He has brought us from the ends of the earth. He has gathered us by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. And He makes us His people by declaring us righteous.”

And that is precisely how you prepare for your King’s coming again: you receive His righteousness. You confess your sins and are absolved. You are taught His Word and trust it to be true, whether you feel it or not. You are fed with His body and blood so that His own life is in you and your life is found in Him. No frantic, stressful season for you. You prepare for the King by waiting in the calm and stillness of a sure faith and a confident hope.

Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.