The temple – destroyed?God’s house – His most beautiful house – torn down?Not one stone left upon another?Whoa!Really Lord?When Lord?When will this horrific disaster happen?Can you give us any hints so that we calculate the date?
And then Jesus goes into prophecy mode.Like the prophets of old.He predicts what will soon happen.What will come later.And then finally what will happen on the Last Day.In other words, He speaks of what’s near, what’s further along, and then finally the farthest future, the end, the Last Day.
And the list of prophetic items is quite stunning.He just mentioned the devastation of the temple. “Watch out!” Jesus preaches.“I’m warning you ahead of time.Don’t want you to be caught off guard.There will be false prophets and false Christs.False teachers of God’s Word.All kinds of people pretending and promising to be the little saviors, little redeemers.”
“Watch out!You’ll hear of wars and revolutions.You might think that’s the end.But not quite yet.There’s more to come.More war between the nations and kingdoms.And worldwide disasters.Earthquakes, famines, and epidemic, deadly diseases.Stars will fall from the sky.The heavenly bodies will be shaken!”
“And then get a load of this,” Jesus proclaims.“Before you see all these things look what will happen to you who follow me, the Lamb.The church will suffer!You’ll be hated!Hauled in before the courts.Before kings and presidents.Before the theological experts and big wigs of the day.And will they thank and praise you?Not hardly!They will persecute you!You’ll even be betrayed by the people closest to you – parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.And if they get the chance, they’ll kill you – graveyard dead!All because you, my disciples, follow me.Wait!There’s more!Jerusalem will fall to the Roman armies.And toward the very end the world, before I return in glory on the Last Day, the world will be filled with fainting, frenetic anxiety as it moves from one crisis to another.”
Again, Jesus preaches this sermon to warn His disciples and all of us of what will happen.So that you don’t get sucked in to all kinds of false and feverish utopian hopes by all kinds of false prophets and false Christs.“Watch out that you are not deceived,” Jesus says.So that you don’t despair when you see all the panic and terror that is to come upon the earth in all those various forms.So that you cling to the Lord Jesus Christ in the agony of a collapsing world.
In other words, when Haiti-like earthquakes devastate, when economic after economic Great Depression-like crisis hits, when disease after deadly disease ravages, and even when the authorities come after you because you follow the Lamb who was slain, don’t panic.Don’t put your trust in false prophets or pretend Christs of whatever realm:political, economic or religious – that promise a heaven on earth, a classless society, or some other utopian dream if you’ll only given them total obedience.Instead, trust the Lamb – the Lord Jesus Christ.He is the true King.He is the true Savior.
He uses these things for good.Did you notice that? Really!For good!Check it out.When the church suffers oppression, persecution or when her pastors or other faithful members undergo martyrdom, what happens?Jesus will get proclaimed all the more!Jesus says:“All this will result in you being witnesses to those who hate you because of me.”The more the church suffers, the more opportunity for the witness to the Good Friday and Easter Sunday Savior Jesus!
And no need to worry about what to say or how to defend yourself when the church suffers for Jesus’ name.Jesus promises:“Don’t sweat it.I’ll give you the words and the wisdom.I’ll use you as my mouth to speak my Holy Spirit-filled words.And your witness to those that hate you because of My name won’t be able to resist or contradict what you say.After all, what you say will be My words.My wisdom!”
And then another amazing promise from the Lord Jesus.“As all men hate you because of me,” he says, “not one tiny little hair of your head will perish.”
Brothers and sisters, in the midst of a world always on the brink of one disaster after another, a world full of false prophets and wanna be Messiahs, Jesus exhorts you and me “to stand firm” by trusting only in Him.By following only Him.So that in, with, and under Jesus we “gain life.”Life eternal with Him.That’s the greatest good of all that He works and gives in your life.
This life is one that must be endured.With all its troubles in the midst of all its joys.And if we are still alive when Son of Man Jesus comes “in a cloud with power and great glory” on the Last Day, it will be time “to stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
And your redemption is Jesus.Jesus, who died and rose for you.So until that Last Day go ahead, stand up, and lift up your heads.For Jesus, your redeemer, who won you from the sin, death and hell comes with salvation in His hands.His Body.His Blood.With the bread.With the wine.His judgment?All your sin is forgiven.Redemption is yours!Even as the world around you comes crashing down.
Let us pray.Come Lord Jesus.Come in your Word!Come in the Sacrament!Come on the Last Day.And as always come with redemption in your Good Friday hands for all of us gathered here around your throne for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.Amen.
The red dragon and his two beasties (one from the earth and the other from the sea) are frauds.They act like little messiahs.Little saviors.Little gods.In John’s day the emperor claimed to be god.And one’s entire existence depended on him.If you would not offer sacrifices and promise total loyalty to the deified emperor, you could lose your job, your family – and maybe even your life.
Have you ever heard of Polycarp?He was a disciple of St. John the Evangelist.He was the bishop of Smyrna.Arrested.The Governor offered to set him free if he would just curse Christ.Bishop Polycarp wouldn’t.“Eighty and six years have I served Christ and He has done nothing but good.How then could I curse Him, my Lord and Savior?”And so he was burned alive.
Ever heard of Ignatius?Another disciple of St. John the Evangelist.He was bishop of Antioch.He too was arrested.The emperor Trajan sentenced Ignatius to death – to be thrown to the wild beasts at Rome.
Economic, political and religious utopians are totalitarians that brook no opposition.Especially from the church.Especially from Christians who bear the mark of God’s holy name on their foreheads.
Want to succeed in the world?Want to enjoy life?Then deny Christ.Curse Christ.Live as if Christ is a nothing.Live outside your Baptism.And the utopian totalitarians won’t harass you or kill you.The red dragon and his two beasties (the political and religious totalitarian powers in every age) form an unholy and evil trinity to deceive and defraud.They promise everything – world transformations – hope and change -- and yet they deliver nothing.They promise life – a life without end -- but they only give death.They promise heaven but their ways of idolatry and immorality lead the inhabitants of the earth (unbelievers) to a hellish end.
Do not compromise.Do not give in.Follow the Lamb – the Lord Jesus Christ.He alone is the Savior.Polycarp and Ignatius followed Good Shepherd Lamb Jesus even when death stared them in the face --even when the temptations of Satan and his little beasties were so enticing and alluring.
And Polycarp and Ignatius are not alone.Millions more have not compromised the faith.Those who follow the Lamb who died for them are an immense crowd.A mega church of enormous proportions.Here the Book of Revelation reveals what is genuine.What matters.What is real.What is permanent.
And here is what is true, genuine and real.“A great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” is white robed because they are covered with the Blood of the Lamb.Palm branches in their hands.They’ve come out of the great tribulation of this life in which the red dragon Satan and his two little beasts rage against Christ and His church on the earth.These believers have followed the Lamb to the end.Even if their confession of Jesus cost them their life.And now they rest.
In heaven.“Standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”Eternally safe.The victory has been won!Good Friday’s Lamb is the Savior.“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.”All the angels in heaven join in the praise.A sevenfold praise of:“Amen!” [True!]To our God be the praise and the glory and the wisdom and the thanks and the honor and the power and the strength for ever and ever.Amen!”In other words, if there is any glory it belongs to God.If there is any wisdom is comes from God, ect.Even salvation comes from God and the Lamb Jesus who gave His life into death as the only atoning sacrifice for the salvation of sinners!This is true.This is genuine.The sevenfold doxology of praise means completeness!I.E.All there is belongs to God and to the Lamb.The economic, political and religious utopians are frauds.Fakes.Antichrists!
Satan and his beasties will oppress and persecute the church and those who follow the Lamb.Such tribulation comes through oppression and injustice of all kinds: political, social, economic and religious.All to tempt you to forsake Jesus.To compromise.To call it quits.To stop following the Lamb.
But Lamb Jesus has won the victory!Salvation belongs to Him.He won it!That’s Calvary.And it’s all for you.And for all those loved ones and friends who believed in the Lamb and followed Him too.Faithful until the end.
And now they rest.They too are part of this worship that is described here in the Book of Revelation with all the angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven.All the sin and all the consequences of sin in this world are no more in heaven.No more hunger.No more thirst.No more cancer causing ultra violet rays from the sun.No more tears.No more death.Only life. “For the Lamb at the center of the throne is their shepherd.”He is the living water that grants eternal life to those that believe in Him.
Jesus is the real deal.He wins and delivers salvation.He uses the troubles and heartaches of this world to strengthen our faith in Him.Do not despair.Heaven is yours.Death is changed.Death is now the doorway to heaven.
And today in the Lord’s Supper the Lamb gives you a foretaste of that heavenly feast to come.He spreads His tent over you right now.You too, at the Sacrament, are before His throne.And He reigns right here and now – for you.With His Body.With His Blood.And the Lamb promises that all your sin is forgiven and that eternal life is yours.What is there left to say?How about this?
“Salvation belongs to our God … and to the Lamb … To our God be the praise and the glory and the wisdom and the thanks and the honor and the power and the strength for ever and ever.Amen!”
