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St. Luke 21:33 – Advent 2 (2003)
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX
In the name of Jesus, who is coming. Amen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the Lord’s words will never pass away.
That means that your salvation will never pass away. For the Lord’s words spoken over you will never pass away. They endure and endure and endure forever.
“I forgive you all your sins.” Those Words – spoken by the Lord into your ears through His servant - will not pass away. They will not go away or fade away into the darkness. Those words will not wear out . Not even the grave cancels those words for His Words will carry you and endure you to eternal life.
Which means that all the evil, all the bad, all the terrible, all the nasty, all the arrogant, all the immorality, all the disobedience, all the evil things that you have ever done or thought, and all the good things you’ve tried to do and didn’t do has been forgiven.
You have been redeemed. You were bought back from sin, death, and the power of the devil. What should endure, what you deserve to endure – namely your sins – do not endure.
No, your sins have been forgiven. Your have been redeemed not with gold or silver but with the holy life and bitter suffering and death of Christ for you.
His Word will not pass away, it endures. Your forgiveness won for you on the cross and delivered to you in the Word will not pass away, it endures.
Forever is forever. Forever is no doubt about it. Forever is salvation for sure. That’s what your forgiveness rests upon – the forever-enduring Word of God.
He is coming. His advent is near. Don't take your ears off His Words. His Words will save you. Don't give up. Don't stop waiting for the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
“In the cloud” – that means God is coming. The Lord comes with the clouds of heaven.
He comes “In glory” – that means He comes – He advents – with those wounds. Those scars won on the Cross, where He won your salvation.
He comes with “power” which means that He comes bearing what only He can do – your salvation and your redemption.
How certain is that? How certain is your salvation? Heaven and earth will pass away, but His promise to rescue you will never ever pass away. His Word endures forever.
But, because your salvation is as sure as forever is forever, Jesus tells you to take heed lest our hearts be weighed down. It’s when we forget that our salvation is as sure as the forever-enduring Words of the Lord-that our hearts are weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life.
The extremes seem easy to avoid – carousing and drunkenness. But, we find ourselves into those too. But, much more difficult is “the cares of this life.”
What will we eat? What will I wear? How will we pay our bills? Who will get the big promotion? What will I buy for Christmas? Will I get my Christmas cards out on time? Who will win the big football game? In my team’s case – who will not? How will everything get done? Will I get well? Will I ever feel good?
All of these are the cares of our day – some important and some not so important. But so consumed are we that we live our lives – with ups and downs as if these things are the determining factor of whether God is good to us or not. Whether we are going to heaven or not and what heaven is like.
Evidently, Barbara Walters was gonna to have a show on what's heaven and how to get there. Talk about something we don't need! The last thing we need to do is come up on with our own stuff about heaven! Especially not from Channel 13!
We think heaven is the place where we are going to be and someone else is not. We are there and WE finally get what WE want. Heaven is where things finally go our way. It's where our team always wins. Where we always always have enough.
Is that really heaven? Is heaven really the place where everything works out for us – where everything is perfect-perfect the way we see it. Is it some Muslim-like paradise minus the 70 virgins where things are just the way we want them? Is that Heaven?
No, that's not heaven, dear redeemed of God, that's just more of the cares of the day. That sort of me-centered thinking is the very thing which passes away and the very thing which we are given to repent of in Advent as we prepare for our Lord's coming.
Heaven for you is located, centered, and wrapped around the Son of Man and what He did for you on the Cross.
What's most important is not going or trying to get to heaven, but being in Christ. In Christ – heaven, eternal life, and salvation are a done deal.
So, be on guard. He is coming with the clouds of Heaven. Prepare in the Word, which endures forever. For all of salvation, nothing left out, nothing kept from you is delivered in His Word.
Dear Redeemed of God, Christ will come soon. When He does, Heaven and eternal life comes with Him.
He has already come to you today in His Word. “Your sins are forgiven.” Those words will never pass away and in those words you will never pass away. In that Word of God, in the Word of God, you endure forever too.
Your body may get sick, may stop, and may fade to dust, but in the Word, in Christ, you will endure forever.
The earth may crumble and pass away, your life may not turn out the way you want it to, but if the Word endures forever, you will endure forever in the Word.
And the heavens... what will it matter when the heavens fade away and the heavenly bodies are shaken?
It won't matter. We are in the Word made flesh who endures forever! In Him, in the His Words, we will endure forever too.
So, dear Redeemed of God, when you see the One who won your salvation on the Cross coming with the clouds of heaven with power and great glory – look up, lift your face, crack a smile, rejoice, and start singing, for your redemption is here. Jesus is here.
Daughter of Zion, behold your salvation is coming.
God will shine forth. Our God shall come.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus. In the name of Jesus, who is coming soon. Amen.
Edited on: December 05th, 2005 2:57 pm
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