Pentecost 16 (Proper 18), September 8, 2024
Reversing the Ramifications of Sin Text: Isaiah 35:4–7a
Other Lessons: Psalm 146; James 2:1–10, 14–18; Mark 7:(24–30) 31–37 Sermon Theme: Be strong, fear not! The Lord will come and save you, reversing the ramifications of sin.
Sermon Goal: That you not fear your afflictions but trust that the Lord will one day reverse all the ramifications of sin that he now asks you to endure with faith in Christ. Based on a sermon outline in Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Stephen K. Preus.
Sermon: The Lord’s promise through Isaiah, did not fade. And God’s kingdom has not fallen. It stands. Forever. Because Christ Jesus fulfills this prophecy of the Lord’s prophet. And our text points to the greater hope of the new creation for all those who cling to the Lord Jesus and the ransom he gave on the cross. He will come in triumph to set creation free from Satan and the curse and give his people the redemption of their bodies (cf Rom 8:19–23). He says to all of you today: Be Strong, Fear Not! The Lord Will Come and Save You, Reversing the Ramifications of Sin. The feeble and the fainthearted need not fear their enemies. The Lord is coming with vengeance against his and his people’s enemies (v 4). It stands because Jesus came to destroy our spiritual and greatest enemy: the devil. The Son of God became flesh “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). Jesus did this in our Gospel (Mk 7:29), in his temptation (Mt 4:1–11), and then on the cross for us all (Gen 3:15), rising victorious over sin, death, and the devil. This means Christ also came to destroy the sin, sickness, disease, deformities, and death that Satan has brought into this world. So, all who are a part of Christ’s kingdom, find your strength in him against his and your enemies, and fear not! The Lord’s vengeance is recompense, a repaying for all the evil the enemies have done against God’s people (v 4). God used the nations of Assyria, Babylon, and others to humble and discipline his people. But he also repaid those nations for all the evil they did against God’s people (cf 2 Thess 1:6). The devil, who works evil through so many agencies in the world, might also appear to be winning, and God uses our setbacks and seeming defeats to discipline us. But the devil’s time is short (Rev 12:12). He has already been repaid in the crushing defeat of Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. And recompense is finally and ultimately coming in the end when Christ returns and the devil is forever relegated to the prison prepared for him and his angels (Mt 25:41). The Lord’s goal in this vengeance and recompense is salvation for his people (v 4). The Lord is a God defined not by wrath but by love (1 Jn 4:8). While the immediate purpose of his coming for his Old Testament people was vengeance and recompense of the wicked, that had the decisive purpose of salvation for God’s people, delivering them from those enemies. The same is true spiritually speaking. Jesus’ attack of the devil, the stronger man against the strong man, was to save you and have you as his own so that you might “live under Him in His kingdom” (Small Catechism, Second Article). You need not seek vengeance (Rom 12:19) but can leave that to God. You can focus instead on the salvation he has already won for you and has in store for all who believe and are baptized into Christ. That salvation includes the truth that You need not fear because the ramifications of sin will be reversed (vv 5–6a). When Jesus came, “then” (vv 5, 6) God’s kingdom came to reverse sin’s ramifications. When Jesus came, he healed bodies just as Isaiah said (cf Lk 7:22). The “eyes of the blind” were “opened” (cf Mt 20:29–34). The “ears of the deaf unstopped . . . and the tongue of the mute [sang] for joy” (cf Mk 7:34–35). The “lame man [leaped] like a deer” (cf Mt 9:6–7). Jesus showed himself to be the one who made all these appendages and could heal them, reversing the curse of this world. And what he did physically, he also did spiritually (Jn 9:39). The Gospel of Jesus Christ enlightened the eyes of the disciples’ hearts and those of many others who sat in darkness (Eph 1:18; Lk 1:79). He opened their lips so that their mouths declared his praise (Ps 51:15). Now, through the Gospel proclaimed in church, the eyes of your heart are opened, you hear his promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation, you follow him and sing hymns of thanksgiving for his salvation. On the Last Day, you will experience this completely, both body and soul, in the kingdom of glory. All of sin’s ramifications will be reversed forever. The curse that now leads to being blind, deaf, lame, or mute will forever be lifted from God’s people in the resurrection. Find joy in your baptism, where God gave you the Spirit (Acts 2:38), for he “is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:14). Amen.