Preached
on December 6, 2015
Introit: Psalm 80; antiphon: Isaiah 62:11;
30:30,29
St. Luke 21:25–36
In the name of the Father and of the + Son
and of the Holy Spirit –
Our Introit today comes from Psalm 80, but
the antiphon sung before and after the Psalm verses is slapped on there, taken
from the prophet Isaiah: Say to the
daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes.” The Lord will cause His majestic voice to be heard, and you shall have
gladness of heart. The old Latin name for this Sunday changed the antiphon just
a bit to explain who this “daughter of Zion” is: Populus Zion – that is, People of Zion. Zion is the holy mountain
where God dwells with His people, Jerusalem – not just an earthly city, but the
Church of God. God is a Father: He has a Son from eternity, and His daughter is
His people, a holy Bride for His Son.
And so the prophet Isaiah is
told to give a promise to this daughter of faith, the people of God: He is told
to tell the people of Zion: “Behold, your
salvation comes.” That means that the
Lord WILL cause His majestic voice to be heard, and you SHALL have gladness of
heart. This promise matches up with the prayer of Psalm 80 in the Introit
verses: Restore us, O God; let Your face
shine, that we may be saved! The shining of God’s face is the revealing of
His grace and mercy. This is a prayer for God to make Himself known to us as
our Savior, rather than turning His face away from us in wrath and punishment. We
want to see God’s shining face and for His coming to give us gladness of heart,
rather than see God’s vengeance and for His coming to strike us with terror
over our sins.
Dear daughter of Zion, your
heavenly Bridegroom will make Himself known to you. His majestic voice is heard
even now – it is the Word of Truth that comes from His Scriptures and from the
lips of faithful servants sent to preach the Good News. O People of Zion, your
Lord will appear to you with grace and righteousness. He is coming with
salvation for you.
But the rest of the world, those
who do not hear the Lord’s majestic voice, His glorious Word, they have no
gladness of heart. Without His Word they do not see the Lord’s face shining in
love and mercy. Without His Word, they do not know the Lord’s favor – His
forgiveness and righteousness for sinners. The unbelieving, un-hearing world
only sees terrible signs: There
will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations
in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people
fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. All
they see are wars and rumors of war. All they see is cancer, murder, and
tragedy. All they see is pollution, brokenness, and decay. What exactly
is coming on the world? Is it really a Savior or a demon? The world is in a
long slide downhill toward final destruction.
But the People of Zion know the
cause of this destruction. It is our sin – our rebellion against God that has
ruined us and ruined His world. And so the People of God know what to pray: Restore us, O God. Or really, “Turn us,
O God.” “Turn us away from our sin and our self-destructive ways. Turn us back
to You.” That’s what the prophet’s call “Repent” really means. God is working,
His voice is going out, His Word is being preached, and His Spirit turns the
hearts of sinners back to their God.
But there is another turning
going on as well, another turning that we pray for: the turning of God. Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven,
and see. Not only must we be turned back to God, God must be turned back to
us. Our sin and rejection of our Creator causes Him to turn His face away from
us. He is a God of Love and that means He will not force Himself upon us. If
unbelieving sinners think God is evil, then that is what they will get: the
darkness of an evil god. If you think you should be God, then He will turn His
shining face away and leave you with what you want: the darkness of your own
heart and the darkness of your ways. That is really the wrath of God. And woe
to those sinners who find themselves in a world of self-made gods: sad,
arrogant creatures who only have love for themselves. That is hell. So the
People of Zion pray, Turn again, O God of
hosts! They want to hear His Word – His Law and judgments, His Gospel and
forgiveness. They want to hear from
their God and see His face turn back to them and shine with His favor.
What Psalm 80 wants is for both
turnings to happen: For God and People to both turn back to each other – face
to face. The face of God shining with mercy and favor. The faces of His People
reflecting His light with trust and thanksgiving. And in the middle of it all,
the One who brings about the turnings: the Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let your hand be on
the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Jesus is the Man at God’s right hand. He is the Son of Man
made strong by His righteous life in our place, His innocent suffering and
death for us, His victorious resurrection that gives us a share in the life of
God. Jesus is stronger than our prideful sin, stronger than our tyrant the
devil, and stronger than death itself. Jesus was made strong for God, in order
to do His Father’s will. He suffered under God’s wrath instead of us, and He
brought God’s anger to an end.
The Son of God and Son of Mary let
His face shine upon this dark world: shining in the darkness surrounding that
manger, shining in the darkness surrounding that cross. His face shined with
the dripping blood of His love, love for His Father and love for the world. And
that is how He brought us back to face each other. Jesus reconciled us to His
Father: forgiving our sins and making peace between God and sinners, that we
might believe in Him and look upon God’s face with godly fear, love, and trust.
Jesus reconciled His Father to us: taking away His anger over our sins and
giving us His righteousness, that God would look upon us with the same favor
and love that He shows His only-begotten Son.
That is actually the favor that
God shined down upon the Virgin Mary when He looked on her and chose her to be
the Mother of His Son. “Rejoice, O
favored one, the Lord is with you!” said Gabriel. This was not a favor that
Mary earned by a sinless life or a humble attitude. She found favor with God
only because of the favored Son who was to be conceived in her womb, born from
her, only to die for her and for a world of unfavorable sinners. The angel
Gabriel might as well have sung today’s antiphon to the Virgin Mary, that
particular daughter of Zion: Behold, your
salvation comes, Mary! The Lord will
cause His majestic voice to be heard, and you shall have gladness of heart.
And Mary believed it. She heard the majestic voice of the Lord tell her the
Good News of her Savior. “Behold, I am
the handmaiden of the Lord,” she replied. “Let it be to me according to your word.” She had gladness of heart
and her soul magnified the Lord.
That angelic message and that
antiphon are both for you too: “Rejoice, O favored ones, the Lord is with you! Do
not be afraid, for you have found favor with God.” The Son of Man has won
forgiveness for you. Behold, your salvation comes. And Psalm 80 is for us to
pray as well. Restore us, O God; let Your
face shine, that we may be saved! Turn
again, O God of hosts! Appear to us with Your grace. Make Yourself known
with a shining face of favor and love. Give us faith to see past the terrible
signs of this age and this dying world. Turn us from our sin and from our works
of darkness. Turn us back to Your Truth and Your ways. That we may have
gladness of heart and look forward to Your glorious coming. Lift up our heads
to see our redemption drawing near, and see the face of the Son of Man shining
in the clouds of heaven.
Come quickly + Lord Jesus –
Several
themes are from Rev. David Petersen in a sermon on Psalm 80 from God with Us.
