Category: Sermon Page

Fourth Sunday in Advent
December 18, 2022

“Joseph, Did You Know?” (Matthew 1:18-25)

If you’ve listened to one of those radio stations that play Christmas songs for about two months before Christmas, then you’ve probably heard a song called “Mary, Did You Know?” You’ve heard that song, right? The lyrics involve asking Mary a series of rhetorical questions about whether she knew what her son would grow up to do: “Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?” “Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?” That sort of thing.

Well, today I’m wondering about the man who would become Mary’s husband. Joseph–what did he know? And so our message today will take up that question, under the theme: “Joseph, Did You Know?”

First, though, let’s go back to what Mary knew. Because she knew right from Day One–at least in general terms, if not in specific detail. The angel Gabriel had come to Mary and announced to her that she would be the mother of the Messiah: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked, “since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God.”

So that’s what Mary knew, right from the get-go. She knew that her pregnancy was from the Holy Spirit, not from any man. She knew that her son would be the holy Son of God. She knew that her son would be the long-expected son of David, the Messiah, who would reign over an everlasting kingdom. These things Mary knew, because God’s messenger had told her, right from the start.

But now Joseph–what did he know? Not much, to begin with. He knew that Mary was pregnant–it became hard to hide that. And Joseph knew that he was not the father. So in Joseph’s mind, that left only one possibility: Some other man had gotten her pregnant. And that was unacceptable. For the girl you’re going to marry to be fooling around with some other guy? “Nah, nah, ain’t gonna happen! I’m not going to marry a woman like that! She has really let me down! I’m calling off the marriage!”

That’s what Joseph knew–or at least what he thought he knew. And ordinarily, in 99% of the cases–no, make it 100%, other than this one–he would be correct. But this was a one-time, unique exception. And Joseph needed to know that. For Joseph’s role in this would be very important.

So the Lord sends Joseph an angelic messenger. In a dream. The Joseph of the Old Testament was known for his dreams. Now this Joseph, in the New Testament–God would speak to him also through dreams.

An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Notice right away that the angel addresses him as “Joseph, son of David.” That is significant. The David being referred to is not Joseph’s immediate father. No, his dad had a different name, as we read in the genealogy right before our text. But to say “Joseph, son of David”–that calls attention to the fact that Joseph was descended from the great King David from a thousand years earlier. Now that in itself was nothing special or unique. There were lots of descendants of David around after so many generations–just ordinary people. There had not been a Davidic king actively ruling for 600 years. But Joseph was physically descended from King David, and the angel wants to remind him of that.

Why? Because the son that Mary would bear would need to have a legal right to the throne. And that came through the father’s line. In this case, it would come through the child’s earthly father, Joseph. Because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David. Now Mary also was descended from David, and it was necessary for the Messiah to be born physically from that line. And this child would be. But for the right to the throne–that came through the father. Thus the importance of Joseph as a “son of David.”

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Joseph is assured that the child Mary is carrying is not the result of any infidelity on her part. No, Joseph, don’t divorce her. Go ahead and take her as your wife. It’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay! It’s marvelous what God is doing!

And so, Joseph, here is what Mary will do; here’s what you will do; and here’s what that child will do. The angel says: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” What Mary will do is to give birth to the child: “She will bear a son.” And what you will do, Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus.”

By giving the boy his name, Joseph will be taking on that child as his own. He will be legally adopting him. Thus the boy will come into the royal lineage of David. And in this way, he will be entitled to take up his office as the Messiah sent from heaven, the Christ.

And what about the name that Joseph is to give the boy? “You shall call his name Jesus.” Now “Jesus” was a fairly common name among the Jews of that time. It’s basically the same name as “Joshua,” and Joshua was one of the heroes of Israel’s past. So no biggie there. However, the angel gives Joseph the reason for calling the child that name. He says: “And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

You see, the name Jesus or Joshua in the Hebrew is “Yehoshua.” And it literally means, “Yahweh saves” or “The Lord is savior.” OK, fine. The people would have been all on board for that: Yay! Finally, the Lord is going to save us, deliver us from the foreign powers that have been dominating us for centuries! Goodbye, Romans! Get out of town! The Lord is coming to save us. Your days here are numbered! We’re finally going to get back to being the rich, independent, powerful nation we deserve to be! And if this kid “Jesus” is going to lead us back to those glory days, more power to him!

But is that what Israel really needed to be saved from? Political adversity. Was that their real problem? And how about us? What ultimately do we need to be saved from? The angel tells us: “for he will save his people from their sins.” That is our biggest problem. We need to be saved from our sins! And that’s what this child will do. By suffering and dying on the cross, this Jesus will save us from our sins. And if we are saved from our sins, we are therefore saved from death and damnation. Jesus does it all. He has saved you, brothers and sisters, he has saved you from sin, death, and damnation. He has saved you for forgiveness, life, and salvation. And even his very name tells you this. “And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

And there’s also another name you shall call him. As our text says: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Immanuel! Another little Hebrew for you: Im, “with”; manu, “us”; el, “God.” Together: Im-manu-el, “With us, God.” This Jesus is God with us! With us, not to condemn us, but to save us! With us in our joys and blessings! With us in our sorrows and sadness. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, here in our midst, here in this church, where he bestows his gifts on us in Word and Sacrament. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, with his baptized people, guiding us, leading us, restoring us, all the way in our life through our final hour. “For lo, I am with you always, all the days until the close of the age.” And then, in the age to come, our Lord Jesus will continue to be our Immanuel, God with us, for endless days in glory.

Joseph, did you know all this? Well, maybe not at first. But the angel’s message that night gave him a good head start. Joseph then knew that there was a special purpose for this extraordinary child on the way, in this most unique, one-of-a-kind pregnancy ever. So go ahead, Joseph, go ahead and marry Mary! It’s all good. And God will have a special role for you to play in all of this, as Mary’s husband and Jesus’ earthly father and guardian.

Now, dear Christian, did you know? Do you know? Yes, you know plenty about this child born at Christmas. You know him to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, true God and true man, God in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us. You know him, you know Jesus. He lives up to his name, for he is the Lord who saves you. He saves you from your sins, he saves you for new life now, he saves you for life everlasting. Mary and Joseph know this too, and together we thank God that he has made our Lord known to us!

Third Sunday in Advent
December 11, 2022

“He Will Come and Save You” (Isaiah 35:1-10)

Do you ever feel weak, like you’re not strong enough to handle what life is throwing at you? Do you ever feel like your faith is feeble, that it’s not firm enough to face the future? Are you ever anxious or worried, afraid that there are forces or people out to get you, and it feels like they’re winning? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then I’ve got a word for you today. Actually, God has a word for you today, and I’m here to deliver it to you. It goes like this: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’”

“He Will Come and Save You”: This is the theme for our message today. And this word of God, this promise of God, will strengthen your weakness, firm up your faith, and relieve your fears and anxieties. For God always keeps his promises. He is faithful to his word.

This word of God was first spoken by the prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel, some 700 years before Christ. And those people needed to hear it, because there would be plenty for them to be anxious and fearful about. And this word of the Lord, from Isaiah, was there to strengthen and bolster their faith, even as it will do for us today.

“He will come and save you.” Isaiah is writing to prepare God’s people for a time when they will need saving. The Lord gave Isaiah the prophetic insight to foresee the time when Judah and Jerusalem would be taken captive to Babylon. That happened about a hundred years after Isaiah, but the prophet writes this now to prepare for that day.

Babylon will have conquered Judah and ravaged Jerusalem. They will destroy the temple, and take large portions of the population captive, to Babylon, in a series of deportations. The Judahites will be stuck there, in Babylon, for a long, long time. The situation was pretty miserable, and it was easy for the people to become discouraged and despondent. “Has God forgotten about us? Where is his rescue? We’re supposed to be living in the promised land, the land God had promised to our ancestors. And yet here we are, hundreds of miles away, stuck on the other side of a desert.”

The situation looked pretty hopeless. So God chose to give his people a word to hang on to, to revive their hopes and strengthen their weak knees. He has not forgotten about you. The Lord will deliver on his promises by delivering you from your exile. “I will come and rescue you. And you will return and come back home, in a way you cannot see now. Nonetheless, I will come and save you.”

And that’s what the Lord did. After about 70 years of the Babylonian Captivity, the Lord acted to set his people free. He raised up the nation of Persia to be the next world power. Persia defeated Babylon in 539 B.C., and the next year the emperor Cyrus issued a decree, telling the Judahites they could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their city and rebuild the temple.

The Lord–he will come to save you, Isaiah had prophesied. And then you–you will come back home. Isaiah gave a beautiful description of this return: “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

So this was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Or was it? For the prophecy sounds a lot grander and more glorious than just the return to Judah, as great as that rescue was. The prophecy talks about “everlasting” joy. And sure, it was a joyful event when the exiles were able to come back home. But “everlasting”? No, their joyful freedom did not last forever. Judah was still under the rule of the Persians. And after Persia would come Alexander the Great, followed by the Seleucids. And after them, the Roman Empire would come and occupy the Holy Land. So the people of God may have come back to the land, but they were not free. They would continue to be under the thumb of foreign rulers. Sorrow and sighing did not flee away.

There was more awaiting the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. The messianic age had not yet arrived. For these would be the signs that would signal that arrival. Isaiah writes: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” When you start seeing these things taking place, then you will know the time has come.

Well, have those kinds of things taken place? Yes, they have! Listen to what Jesus tells John’s disciples: “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.” In other words: “I am the one prophesied to come. The messianic age has arrived. For I am fulfilling those signs Isaiah was talking about. Eyes of the blind opened? Check! Ears of the deaf unstopped? Check! Lame men leaping? Mute tongues singing? Check! Check! Prophecy fulfilled!”

This is it! He is it! Jesus the Messiah! He is the one who has come to save you! Dear friends, you are the redeemed walking on the highway to heaven. You are the ransomed of the Lord returning to Zion. And the ransom price, the redemption, was the holy precious blood of Christ, shed on the cross for you.

We were the exiles, driven out of Eden and captive to the devil, due to our own sins and folly. We were cut off from the tree of life and made subject to death. But Christ came to deliver us from our enemies. He conquered death and the devil by his own death and resurrection. “Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” This is what Jesus has done. He came and delivered the big payback to death and the devil, defeating our foes for us, something we could never accomplish. But Jesus has. And he shares his victory with us.

Our Lord links us to his life-giving victory through the means of grace. In Holy Baptism you were united with Christ, so that now your destiny is tied to his. He lives forever, and so will you. You will share in his bodily resurrection. And in Holy Communion, you receive the very body and blood of Christ for your forgiveness. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Christ has redeemed the whole you, body and soul, to live with him forever.

And not only will your body be raised whole and glorious, this whole dreary earth will be renewed and restored. Isaiah prophesies that, too: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.”

Imagine what that will be like! Living with the Lord and all his people in a new creation, no longer subject to death or decay, no longer plagued with sin or sorrow or sadness! Eternal joy! Rejoicing unbounded! Eternal life! Life to the fullest! It has not even entered into our imagination how wonderful this will be! But it will be, rest assured! God always keeps his promises. God always is faithful to his word.

So, dear friends, if you ever feel weak or feeble or anxious, today you have come to the right place. Because your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has come here first, to free you from your fears. Today he speaks his hope-reviving words into your ears: “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

And when Christ comes again, then we will see–and we will experience–the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Second Sunday in Advent
December 4, 2022

“A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1-10)

Maybe when you heard today’s Old Testament Reading, from Isaiah, you were thinking: “Shoot? Fruit? Root? What in the world is Isaiah talking about? And who is this Jesse fellow? And what could all this possibly have to do with me?” Well, it has everything to do with you, so let’s listen now as Isaiah tells us about “A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse.”

Our text is the reading from Isaiah chapter 11. The prophet begins: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” Who is this Jesse, and why is there only a stump? This goes back to several hundred years before Isaiah, back to around the year 1000 B.C. Israel was going to have a new king. The Lord sent the prophet Samuel to the house of a man named Jesse, and the Lord told Samuel that he was to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be that king. It turned out to be that Jesse’s son David was the one the Lord had chosen. So in time David became the king of Israel.

After David’s reign became established, the Lord made a special promise to him. From David would come a whole line of kings, until eventually there would come one particular descendant of David who would rule over an everlasting kingdom of blessing and glory. Well, after David died, one of his sons, Solomon, did indeed become the king of Israel. And while Solomon’s reign attained a certain degree of glory, it fell short of the grand expectations that the Lord had promised to David. And it was not an everlasting kingdom.

After Solomon, his son Rehoboam became king. But his reign fell even shorter than Solomon’s. And so it went, one king after another, some good, some not so good, for several hundred years. Then we get to about the year 600 B.C. At that time, the nation Babylon conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and took their king, Jehoiachin, captive. He was the last actively ruling king from the line of David. And that was it. No more kings from the Davidic line. Oh, the physical lineage continued, generations of descendants from David. But none of them would reign as an active, independent king.

So, what would become of the promise God had made to David? If there was supposed to be a line of descendants from David, leading to that one greatest-of-all-king, the Messiah, who would deliver Israel from all her foes–well, that hope looked like a tree that had been cut down, clean cut off, and all there was left was a stump. A dead stump. And if you trace it back to David’s father, Jesse, you could call it, as Isaiah does, “the stump of Jesse.”

Have you ever had a great hope in your life that got cut down, cut off, thrown in the trash bin, over and done with, deader than a doornail, with no chance of ever being revived? Then you have an idea of what this must have felt like for the people of Israel. It looked like no hope. No chance for that supposedly great king ever to take up his throne. It looked like, quite frankly, that God had forgotten his promises.

But what did Isaiah prophesy? “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Wait a minute! Hope is not dead! From what looks like a completely dead stump, somehow there will emerge a little shoot coming forth, small, not very impressive at first, but one that will grow and become a fruitful branch. This shoot from the stump of Jesse will become mighty and meet the expectations set for the Messiah.

This is for sure a messianic prophecy. This Messiah, this Anointed One, what will he be anointed with? Isaiah tells us: “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Friends, think of what happened when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. The Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, came down and rested upon him, anointing him for his ministry. And Jesus’ delight was in the fear of the Lord. He came to do the will of his Father. Jesus always kept the commandments of God, fulfilling the Law on our behalf. So Isaiah was prophesying the Christ, who turns out to be Jesus!

Isaiah tells us more about the Messiah to come: “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.” Jesus will be this great king, establishing justice and righteousness in his realm. He will make all things right.

Christ our king will undo the damage to creation and the hostility in nature that set in when mankind fell into sin. His kingdom shall be the peaceable kingdom: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.”

What a wonderful world it will be! We’re not there yet, but it’s on the way. Paradise restored. What hope! An Eden prophesied, which will reach its fulfillment when Christ our Lord comes again. “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

This is what we have to look forward to, my friends! Let this hope uplift your drooping spirits when you get down. Death and its curse will be reversed! No more sorrow! No more sadness! “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning!”

And it comes in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the shoot that comes forth from the stump of Jesse. He is the branch that bears fruit for eternity. Our joy and our hope come in the person of Christ. No one else can do what he has done, is doing, and will do.

What has Jesus done? He has taken the judgment that you and I deserve, and has suffered that judgment for us, in our place, on the cross. Your sins have been atoned for. His righteousness, his faithfulness, supplies what we are lacking. And so we are accounted righteous before God for Christ’s sake. This is good news! This is the sweetest good news we could hear! God has had mercy upon us!

What is Jesus doing for you? He is coming to you right here in this service. He is speaking his holy absolution into your ears. He is proclaiming his victory over sin and death, which he shares with you, his baptized believers. He, Jesus, is giving you his very body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Christ is here, wrapping you in his arms, in his love.

And what will Jesus do for you? He will come again and pronounce you righteous and blessed on the day of judgment. He will raise your dead body from the grave and restore you whole, complete, in both body and soul. He, King Jesus, will welcome you into his eternal kingdom. That’s who Jesus is. That’s what Jesus does.

In our text today, Isaiah starts out: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” And now our text concludes: “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples–of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” Did you catch that? The shoot from the stump of Jesse is also the root of Jesse! The shoot is also the root! The one coming forth from the line of David is, at the same time, the source and origin of the Davidic line. This marvelous mystery points to the unique nature of Christ Jesus as both true God and true man. He is the Son of God from eternity. And he came down from heaven to be our incarnate Savior. Jesus is both the shoot and the root of Jesse. And he bears abundant fruit. You are part of the fruit he has borne. For he is the Savior not only of Israel, but also of us Gentiles. We too get to glorify God for his mercy.

Brothers and sisters, here is encouragement for you today: When it looked like all the hopes of God’s people were like a dead stump, lo and behold, here comes this little shoot, coming forth from the stump of Jesse! No, God has not forgotten his promises! Let this faithfulness of God sustain you in the midst of all your dark nights of the soul. “He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.”

It’s Advent. During this season, we see how Christ came to fulfill the ancient prophecies. We rejoice that Christ comes to us now in Word and Sacrament to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith. And we anticipate, with eager longing, his coming again to restore creation and to usher in the peaceable kingdom. “Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation.”

And now: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

First Sunday in Advent
November 27, 2022

“Come, Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:1-5)

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD.” The prophet Isaiah says that this is what many peoples, many nations, will say in the latter days. “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.” And this is what we say–yes, you and I–this is what we say in these latter days, because this is equivalent to saying, “Come, let us go to church.” Really? Yes, really! Because this now–this place, the church–this is the mountain and the house that Isaiah had prophesied. This is God’s house, the place where God’s word goes forth. And this is why we gladly say: “Come, Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord.”

In our reading from Isaiah 2, the prophet says that the days are coming when God will establish his house on the mountain of the Lord. And peoples from all over will come there, because that is where the Lord will teach us his ways and his word.

Now Isaiah lived about 700 years before Christ. And the mountain he had in view was Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is situated. On Mount Zion stood the temple, the dwelling place of God in the midst of his people. That was the house of the Lord at the time of Isaiah.

But Isaiah was looking ahead to a time beyond his own. That’s why he says, “It shall come to pass in the latter days.” The Lord revealed to Isaiah what was to come in the future: “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills.” This place–the mountain where the house of the Lord is–will be the one place in all the earth that shall be preeminent and most prominent.

And as the most prominent place in all the world, what will happen there? “And all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come.” Note, “peoples” shall come. When the Bible says “peoples,” plural, it means the Gentiles, the non-Jews, the nations outside of Israel. The Gentiles did not know the one true God. They worshiped other gods. But those peoples, those outsiders, now will come to the mountain of the house of the Lord. It won’t just be Israel going up to Mount Zion. In the future, in the latter days, peoples will come from all around. This is a prophecy of the Gentiles becoming part of God’s people, the church.

And why will they come? What will they come for? “Many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’” Friends, this is the reason why you are here. You have come to the house of the Lord in order to hear God’s word. You want to know his ways. You want to walk in his paths. You want to follow Jesus.

Because Jesus is the one who would come and make this place worth coming to. The coming of Christ–that’s what we’re looking for in this season of Advent. His coming at Christmas, in the flesh. His coming as our humble king, to suffer and die in Jerusalem for the sins of the world. His coming to us now in Word and Sacrament. And his coming again at the Last Day, when his kingdom will be established in its fullness and glory.

What a kingdom it will be, when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead! “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” The kingdom that Christ will establish on that day will be a kingdom of peace and life and blessing forever. It will be glorious, and how we look forward to it!

Isaiah foresees the coming of the Christ, both his first coming and his second coming. What Jesus would do in his first coming guarantees the glories promised at his second coming. For Jesus himself would come and go up to the mountain of the Lord. Jesus made the trek up that mountain. He went from the Mount of Olives and came up Mount Zion, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. “Behold, your king is coming to you!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Christ your king came to suffer and die for the sins of the world. He came to suffer and die for your sins, all of them. No longer are they held against you. You have forgiveness in Jesus’ name. And by Jesus taking away our sins, which he did on the cross, he has taken away the barrier that separates us from God. Now God is at peace with us. Now God looks kindly upon us. Now death has had its sting taken out of it, because Christ has risen from the dead, and you, baptized Christian, you will share in his resurrection. Christ has made it so.

Christ came to fulfill this prophecy of Isaiah. He is the Word of God incarnate. He teaches us God’s ways. Jesus says to each one of us: “Come, follow me. I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the light of the world. Hear my voice, and I will give you the light of life.”

And so you have come here to meet with Jesus. You have not come to Mount Sinai, where the threats of the law would terrify you so that you tremble with fear. No, as it says in Hebrews, “you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, . . . and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” Yes, his shed blood on your behalf speaks a word of comfort and peace to your soul.

And so we come. We come to where Jesus is. And he is here, here in this house of the Lord. What the temple was in the Old Testament, our Lord Jesus is in the New Testament, and in an even greater way. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

And Christ Jesus has come here on this day, to this house of the Lord. Jesus has come here to this house, in this service, to give us his very body and blood for our forgiveness. We acknowledge his coming in our midst by singing those same words that the crowds in Jerusalem used to greet the coming king: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Christ has come to the mountain of the Lord, Mount Zion. And so the peoples, the nations, will come also. Why? How? “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” This is the law in the broad sense of the word, the Torah, the instruction of the Lord–both Law and Gospel, really. The word of the Lord goes forth, inviting people to come. Calling us here: “Come to the mountain, come to this house, to get your sins forgiven! Come and meet your Savior! Come to the mountain, come to this house, and receive the gifts that God has to give you! Come and be at peace with God, and learn how to love your neighbor, too.” “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.”

Christ has come to this mountain, Christ has come to this house, to be God dwelling in our midst. And this is why you have come. You and I can say with the psalmist: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” Brothers and sisters, it is a joyous thing to be able to say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.”

Last Sunday of the Church Year
November 20, 2022

“From the Domain of Darkness to the Kingdom of His Son” (Colossians 1:13-20)

Our reading today from Colossians says that God has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” And this gives us our outline for today’s message: first, the domain we’ve been delivered from; second, the kingdom we’ve been transferred to; and third, the Son whose kingdom it is.

First, the domain we’ve been delivered from. St. Paul describes it as “the domain of darkness.” This is what God has delivered us from. And thank God he has. For this is a domain from which we could never rescue ourselves. “The domain of darkness” describes the lost condition in which we were born and in which we would still be stuck, if not for God’s intervention and rescue. The domain of darkness is the devil’s domain of doom and death. In his realm and under his sway, the devil deceives us into thinking we are our own gods, independent of the will of our Creator. And we all too easily go along.

The domain of darkness. The world is lost in the darkness of sin and unbelief. The people of this world are groping around in the dark. They don’t know God. They can’t find their way to him. Oh, they may figure that there must be a god or gods up there somewhere. Nature, reason, and conscience can tell them that. From nature they can observe that there is an intelligent design to all of this. It could not have come about by accident. Likewise, reason tells them that must be a Creator behind all of this and a purpose to our existence. Their conscience tells them that there is a standard of right and wrong, which they can know since God has written his law in human hearts. People can sense that there is a god to whom we are accountable, but that somehow things are not right between us and God.

Nature, reason, and conscience can give us this sort of natural knowledge of God. But it is not a saving knowledge. It does not tell us who this God is or how he is disposed toward us. It does not tell us how we get right with him. And it does not solve the death problem. These are questions the people of this world have no answers for–not right answers, anyway. So they’re just groping around in the dark, guessing, grasping at straws, making things up as they go along.

The domain of darkness is a bad place to be. And you and I would still be there, trapped, stuck, if God had not intervened. He undertook the big rescue mission. God sent his own Son into this hall of death, this domain of doom and gloom and darkness. Jesus took on the devil on his own turf. Or at least the devil thought it was his own turf. It isn’t, but it was under his temporary sway. Like Pharaoh enslaving the Israelites, so Satan held us in slavery and bondage. But also, like Pharaoh, Satan was about to get cut down to size.

And so Christ came, doing the big rescue job. Born as our brother, sharing our humanity, the Son of God came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation. The devil went after him from the get-go, trying to kill him, along with the other baby boys of Bethlehem. That didn’t work. So the devil went after him again, at the start of Jesus’ ministry, right after his baptism in the Jordan. The devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, just like he tempted Adam and Eve in the garden and the Israelites in the wilderness. But again, it didn’t work. Jesus withstood the temptation.

Jesus then went on the offense, driving out demons, healing diseases, fulfilling the law, forgiving sins, exposing hypocrisy, teaching his disciples. This did work, and it worked beautifully. But Satan didn’t give up. He’d give it one more try. Yeah, get someone to betray Jesus, hand him over to the authorities, get him sentenced to a shameful, humiliating crucifixion. “Ah, Satan, this time you’ve done it! You’ve won!”

Uh, maybe not. Satan, you are pretty stupid, when compared to God. Because, actually, this crucifixion was part of God’s plan. It didn’t look that way the time. It looked like the domain of darkness was winning. Deep darkness came over the land, the mockers mocked, and Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

But this actually was God’s rescue plan–his daring, dramatic plan, put into action. This was the only way for humanity to be saved, to be delivered from the domain of darkness. The penalty for sin had to be paid, and we couldn’t pay it. Our sacrifice wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans. But Christ’s death does measure up, and then some. For he is the very Son of God, fully able to pay the price for all sinners who have ever lived. Jesus is the holy, righteous one. He kept God’s law in perfect righteousness. As the Son of God in the flesh, his death, his shed blood, has infinite worth.

And so this rescue mission, this deliverance, did work. “It is finished!” Christ cries out. The goal has been reached. All the sins of man have been atoned for. The devil’s domain has been shattered. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The resurrection of Christ shows forth his victory. Death is defeated. God and man are brought back together. Peace, reconciliation, forgiveness–all accomplished in the cross of Christ. Life–new, eternal life–springs forth from the empty tomb.

And this is for you. You, dear friend, have been delivered from the domain of darkness. No more are you groping around in the dark. You are baptized. You have been enlightened with the gift of the Holy Spirit. You know who God is. The true God is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You know how God is disposed toward you. He is merciful toward you. He loves you with an everlasting love. You know how you are put right with God. Not through you own works, which could never suffice. But through the saving work of Christ, for you, on your behalf. Thus you know the answer to the death problem. It is, quite simply, Jesus Christ himself. Through faith in him, you are moved from death to life.

God has delivered us from the domain of darkness, our text says, “and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Our citizenship has been changed. No longer are we in the devil’s domain. Now we have been transferred, relocated, to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. This is Christ’s kingdom, the one he came to establish. In this kingdom, we have redemption. “Redemption” is a word of liberation, freedom. Redemption means release from a state of bondage, by means of a payment being paid to set the person free. The payment that secured our release was the blood of Jesus Christ, which is all-sufficient. And so, in the kingdom of Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins. “Forgiveness” means that our sins have been removed from us. God has sent them away, lifted them off us. God doesn’t hold our sins against us any longer. For Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

God has “transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Luther sums it up like this, in his explanation to the Second Article of the Creed: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.”

And this is most certainly good news! Living under Christ in his everlasting kingdom of glory–this is the great transfer we will get to enjoy for eternity. This is the transfer we rejoice in even now, because right now you and I are living in his kingdom of grace.

God has delivered us from the domain of darkness. He has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Now Paul, in the rest of this passage, tells us more about who this Son of God is. This part of Colossians, in its form and style, looks like it may have been an early hymn of praise to Christ, used in the church. It goes like this: “He,” that is, Christ, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

This is who your Savior is! Look at who it is who has rescued us! Look at who it is, this king of the kingdom to which we belong! He is the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the one by whom all things were made. He holds all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the head of his body, the church. Yes, the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ right now is ruling all things for the sake of his church. And that’s us. He has our welfare in mind in all that happens in this life. Christ is the beginning of the resurrection of the dead, meaning that you too are going to rise, on the day when he returns. He is the God-man Savior, both true God and true man, all powerful and, at the same time, our sympathetic and merciful brother. Jesus Christ–through him God has reconciled all things to himself, “making peace by the blood of his cross.”

This is the great gospel of Christ: who he is, the very Son of God, and what God has done for us through him: God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. This gospel, this good news, this sure anchor of our salvation will sustain you to the end, through all adversities and trials. This gospel of God’s grace, which even now fills you with hope and joy, will carry you through into the age to come, in the everlasting kingdom of glory.