Celebrating Christmas with an eye toward the future

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Christmas 1

Galatians 4:1-7  +  Luke 2:33-40

Although most of the world has moved on, it’s still Christmas today, the fifth day of Christmas, to be exact. It’s good to celebrate Christmas. It’s good to think of Jesus as a tiny baby, lying in a manger, surrounded by Mary and Joseph and the shepherds of Bethlehem. It’s good to sing Silent Night, and to think of baby Jesus sleeping in heavenly peace on the day He was born. The Lord God approves of such a celebration. He must, because He inspired the story of it to be recorded in Holy Scripture, which He wants us to read and hear and ponder. But He doesn’t want us to get “stuck” on Christmas, as many do. Even among those who actually celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, many refuse to move on from it. Many are happy to think of Jesus as a baby lying in a manger, and that’s it. They don’t want to think too hard about the ramifications of Jesus’ birth, why He was born, what He would say and do, how His birth must have an effect on their lives. But God wants us to turn our thoughts from the Child’s birth to the Child’s future, as the Scriptures immediately do and as the calendar of the Church also does. In today’s Gospel, the Lord directs our attention to Simeon and Anna—two elderly, outstanding Old Testament saints who help us celebrate Christmas, without getting stuck on the manger, to celebrate Christmas while keeping an expectant eye on the future.

Our text begins, And Joseph and his mother were amazed at the things which were spoken about him. Let’s make sure we know the context. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. When He was 8 days old, He was circumcised, and now a month has passed since then. Jesus is 40 days old, still a little baby. Mary and Joseph have brought Him to the temple in Jerusalem for His presentation, and for Mary’s ceremonial purification after childbirth. An old, respected man in Jerusalem named Simeon has been directed by God the Holy Spirit to the temple on this same day and has been enabled by the Holy Spirit to recognize baby Jesus as the promised Christ. He has just taken the baby in his arms and has spoken the words we know as the Nunc Dimittis, praising God for allowing him to see the long-awaited Savior with his own eyes. We’ll talk more about all that in February when we celebrate the Festival of our Lord’s Presentation. For now, understand that it’s Simeon’s words in the Nunc Dimittis that have left Mary and Joseph in utter amazement.

But Simeon isn’t done talking to them yet. Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel,

Not a single one of us knows, when our children are born, what they’re appointed for. We may have hopes and dreams and aspirations for them, maybe some expectation of which opportunities they may or may not have. But God alone knows the plans He has for our future, and for that of our children. That was not true about Jesus. God had already revealed much about the coming Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, not only the passages that are specifically Messianic but also all the prophecies about what God would do for Israel, and also for the Gentiles. All His plans, all His promises, and also all His judgments revolved around the coming of His Son into the world, and the impact that the Christ would have on the world. Simeon knows those Scriptures especially well. How does he sum up for Mary and Joseph the future that lay ahead?

This child is appointed for the fall…of many in Israel. Not the political fall. Not the physical fall. But the spiritual fall of many in Israel. Think of the high and mighty Pharisees and priests in Israel who fell from favor in the eyes of the people as Jesus revealed them for the hypocrites and frauds they were. Think of Judas, who fell from grace all the way down to betrayal and suicide. Think of all the people in Israel who fell away from the faith of Abraham, and from the inheritance promised to Abraham, by rejecting Jesus, the true Son of Abraham. Think of that whole people group known as the Jews, who were once God’s chosen people, but who have fallen from grace and have made themselves enemies of the Gospel of Christ.

But think, too, of all people who live in sin and impenitence, and in willful ignorance of the doctrine of Christ, refusing to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, refusing to listen to His Word. They’ve all fallen, and they will fall even harder when Christ comes again in judgment.

But, Simeon also says, This child is appointed for the rising of many in Israel. Think of the thieving tax collectors and sinners who encountered Jesus and were brought to repentance and faith, and who went on to live a new life of obedience to God. Think of Mary Magdalene, and of all who had already fallen, because of their sin, or who fell when they heard Jesus, but then, like the Apostle Paul, eventually found God’s forgiveness and salvation in Christ. Think of all those among the Jews and Gentiles who have been rescued from eternal condemnation and brought into God’s family by hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of that lay hidden in the future of the child that Simeon held.

He also says, This child is appointed…for a sign that will be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Already as an infant, Jesus’ future was clear. If He was the Christ, then the Old Testament foretold His future clearly: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Or in the words of the prophet Isaiah, He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. The Christ was appointed for rejection, for being spoken against. Think of the Pharisees, constantly speaking against Him for “dishonoring the Sabbath Day,” or for working with Beelzebub, or for criticizing their godless traditions. Think of the crowds on Good Friday, demanding that Jesus be crucified, or the soldiers at the foot of the cross, mocking Him as He died.

Still today, Jesus is spoken against, more vehemently than at any time. Just last week I read the words of a woman who was musing about how much better the world might have been if Jesus had been aborted, or if Jesus had been killed as a little baby. The people who cry about “white supremacy” usually find a way to blame Jesus (or at least His Christians) for every bad thing that has ever happened in Western civilization. But there are other ways of speaking against Him. Every expression of belief in the theory of evolution is a denial of Jesus. Every prayer uttered to a saint is a “speaking against” Jesus as the one Mediator between God and man. Every suggestion that you don’t have to believe in Jesus in order to go to heaven, or that you don’t have to listen to Jesus in order to be a child of God—that’s speaking against Jesus, too.

Finally, Simeon, even as he celebrates Christmas, points Mary to the future of her Son, (yes, a sword will pierce your own soul, too). Speaking by the Holy Spirit, Simeon points her ahead to the terrible pain she would suffer one day, the pain of sitting at the foot of her Son’s cross, watching Him suffer and die.

In all these things, God used Simeon to point not only Mary and Joseph but you and me to the whole life of Christ, so that we can celebrate Christmas intelligently, so that we’re pondering who the baby was who once lay in a manger, and why He came, and how it will affect our lives.

Now, Simeon gets more of our time, because his words about Jesus are actually recorded for us. But we don’t want to neglect Anna, who was also a faithful child of God whom the Lord used to keep our eyes on the future of the baby named Jesus.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well-advanced in years and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and was a widow of about eighty-four years, who never left the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

The fact that Luke is able to give us so many details about Anna speaks to how highly regarded she was in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth. And with good reason! She had spent over five decades of her life, ever since her husband died, basically living in the temple in Jerusalem, fasting, praying, meditating on the temple ministry and its significance, and surely also interacting with the priests and with the Jews who came regularly to the temple. She had devoted her whole life to God’s service, and God had a special reward for her for her faithfulness.

She came at that very moment and gave thanks to the Lord and spoke about him to all those in Jerusalem who were looking for redemption. It was no accident that Anna showed up at just that moment, or that she was able to recognize Jesus for who He was. Whether she learned it from Simeon or by direct revelation from God, she knew. And she celebrated Christmas! She celebrated the birth and the arrival of Jesus. She gave thanks to God, and she also made sure to tell others in Jerusalem about Him.

And what did she tell them, exactly? Not about how cute the baby was, or about the wondrous circumstances of His birth. No, Luke tells us what her message was. She spoke about Him to “all those who were looking for redemption.” Redemption is one of those big words in the Bible. It means “purchase.” It also means a radical rescue from a dire situation. Redemption is what God did when He brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. It’s what He promised to do through the coming Christ, saying through the prophet Isaiah, The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD. It’s what St. Paul was talking about in today’s Epistle: When we were children, were enslaved under the principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. This is the word that Anna so faithfully spread to all in Jerusalem who would listen, to all who worshiped the God of Israel, not for tradition’s sake, not to fulfill some obligation, but because they trusted in God to send the Redeemer, to rescue them from their sins and to make them acceptable to God. “Christ, the Redeemer, has come!”

Yes, Christ, the Redeemer, has come! Don’t stop celebrating His birth, especially while we remain in the Christmas season. But, as you celebrate, keep an eye on the future of that baby, why He came, what He would accomplish, how it affects your life to believe in Him. That child is your Redeemer. That child is your Lord, and your King. He didn’t come to make your life easy. He came to give you life, and life to the fullest, because without Him you are dead. But with Him as your Redeemer, you have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, and a future of your own as a beloved child of God. Amen.

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The Christian celebration of Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Christmas Day

Hebrews 1:1-12  +  John 1:1-14

Dear Christians, saints of God and siblings of Jesus, who became our Brother in order that, through Him, we might become children of God: Last night, we heard the story of Jesus’ birth, and we heard the angel declare to us exactly who that baby was whom the shepherds would find lying in a manger. Unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. A Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. Christmas Day digs deeper into those key truths about the Child who was born to Mary and placed in a manger. It identifies for us who the Jesus of the Bible really is; it defines the celebration of Christmas, and it separates the Christian celebration of Christmas from the secular traditions that have corrupted Christmas and turned it into a Christ-less nothingness.

So consider with me for a few moments, on this Christmas Day what the writer to the Hebrews, and also St. John, reveal to us about the Christ, so that ours may truly be a Christian celebration of Christmas.

Long ago, at many times and in various ways, God spoke to the fathers through the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son…

Dreams. Visions. Brief, mysterious encounters with God. These are some of the ways God gave His word to the prophets in the Old Testament, bits and pieces of knowledge, snippets of revelation. In some cases, we don’t even know how exactly God gave His word to the prophets, who then preached that word to our Old Testament fathers and revealed to them what God wanted them to know about Himself and about His demands and His promises. But from the moment Jesus came into the world, God had a new and better way of communicating with mankind. Because God didn’t have to send His word to Jesus or reveal Himself to Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Unlike the prophets of old, Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, didn’t receive the word of God. He was the Word of God. He is the Word of God. Jesus didn’t speak from God some of the time, but all of the time, in every word, in every deed, and gave us the perfect revelation of God’s Being and of God’s will, and especially of God’s grace.

His Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the universe.

Those two phrases don’t seem to go together. If God the Father made the worlds—made the whole created universe—through His Son, then isn’t the Son already the co-owner of all things, together with the Father and the Spirit? He is! So why does He have to be “appointed heir of all things”? This is the mystery of the incarnation. According to His divinity, Christ already possesses all things from eternity. But Christ, the co-Creator and co-Owner of the universe, was born in time and took on human flesh in order to become the Redeemer of humanity. And so, according to His humanity, born in time as one of us, Christ has to receive everything from His Father, just as we do. As a man, Christ owned nothing until the Father declared Him the Heir—the human Heir of all things.

And of course, if the Son of God is the Heir of all things, then what is left for anyone else to inherit? If the Son of God receives all things, then what is left for anyone else to receive from God? Nothing! And yet Scripture speaks many times of the “inheritance of the saints.” How does that work?

Understand what it means to be made a believer in Christ Jesus. It means that God brings you into the body of His Son, as Scripture often uses the analogy of Christ being the Head of the body, and the individual members of His Church being His mystical body. As a sinner is converted by the Holy Spirit and united with Christ through Holy Baptism, he is now counted by God as being a part of the Son of God, so that everything that the Son of God inherits, the converted sinner who believes in Christ now inherits, even a place in God’s house, even the inheritance of all things—together with Jesus, and never apart from Jesus.

Back to Hebrews. It says that Christ is the radiance of the Father’s glory and the express image of his being, even sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Can you separate the brightness of a light from the light itself? Can you separate the image or the appearance of a thing from the thing itself? And yet that’s how the Bible describes the relationship between God the Father and God the Son—distinct Persons, and yet one God, so that when you see Jesus, you see exactly what God the Father is like, and when you hear Jesus, you hear exactly what God the Father speaks. That’s a little bit mysterious and hard to grasp. The Apostle Philip once struggled with it, too. He once said to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father;

Do you see, then, why it’s utterly impossible to say that those who don’t believe in Jesus still believe in the same God in whom we Christians believe? If Jesus is the express image of the Father and the brightness of the glory of the Father, then to reject Jesus is to reject the Father, and to worship anyone but Jesus is to worship a false god.

On the other hand, to receive Jesus is to receive His Father as well. And to know Jesus, the express image of God, lying humbly in a manger, showing mercy to sinners, dying on a cross for our sins, is to know God the Father as well. And so, by faith in Christ, we are made children of God.

And so, after making a cleansing of our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…

The writer to the Hebrews connects Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and the Ascension for us. The same Jesus, the same Christ the Lord, who was born at Christmas, purged our sins by His death on the cross. He rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the majestic Father—all of this according to His humanity. First His humiliation, then His exaltation. It’s our Brother who now reigns over all things.

…having become as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

There was a bit of angel worship going on in the first century, as we also learn in Colossians 2. But the writer to the Hebrews shows us how foolish that is, because in the Person of Christ, we have the eternal Creator, who took on human flesh for us, who died on the cross for us, who now reigns over all things for our good. And we are invited to trust in Him and to worship Him and to call upon Him as the God-Man, our Brother, who is the one Mediator between God and man. He is far superior to the angels according to His divinity. He has become far superior to the angels also according to His humanity. Why on earth would anyone pray to an angel or a saint, or worship an angel or think of the angels as anywhere near as important as Christ?

No, the angels themselves don’t want anything to do with being worshiped. They themselves bow down and worship Christ, even as they came down from heaven and worshiped Him when God brought Him into the world on Christmas, because they know who He is: the Son of God, who is also called God and Lord and Yahweh/Jehovah, as the rest of the verses from the Epistle demonstrate, the Son of God who, out of pure grace and mercy, took on human flesh to save His fallen human creatures. That makes Him worthy of all praise and honor and worship, from the angels, but even more, from us human beings whom He came to save.

And so we have come today to praise Him, to honor Him, to worship Him who took on man’s flesh to save man from sin and to bring us to God. And the highest and best way to worship Him is to hear His Word, to hear what He says about Himself, to believe it, to believe in Him as our Savior, and to receive, in His holy Sacrament, the very body and blood that once lay in a manger, later to be sacrificed for us on the cross, that we might be forgiven all our sins, that we might believe in Him and be given the right to become children of God. Let us praise the Lord God for His grace revealed in Christ Jesus, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the virgin Mary. This is the truth that defines a Christian celebration of Christmas. This is the truth to which we must cling, and by which we must be saved. Amen.

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The angel still tells the meaning of Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Christmas Eve

Luke 2:1-14

Back in 1965, a man named Charles Schulz wrote a Christmas special for TV called, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and he decided to include in it a reading from the Bible, Luke 2:8-14, which you heard a moment ago, read by Linus from a public school stage, after which Linus said, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” When asked if he was sure he wanted to include a Bible reading in his cartoon, Schulz said, “If we don’t do it, who will?” He had no idea how right he was! Because, fast forward 60 years, and, where would you turn, if you didn’t know the true meaning of Christmas? Where would you look? How could you find it? Certainly not on a public school stage, or classroom. A drive through the neighborhoods and streets of our city would make you think Christmas is about pretty lights, and ornamented trees, and reindeer, blow-up dinosaurs and Mickey Mouses, snowflakes and Santa Claus. Christmas movies tell of family gatherings, romance, cookies, presents, holiday cheer, and maybe also Santa Claus—most of which is harmless fun, but none of which gets at the true meaning of Christmas. Who even knows what it is anymore?

You do. We do. It isn’t complicated, but it is largely unknown in this world, whose adults have intentionally forgotten it and whose children, in many cases, have never learned it in the first place. But, for those who are paying attention, it’s all captured in the verses that Linus read in that old Christmas special, where an angel from heaven explained it perfectly well to a group of shepherds. Let’s review it together this evening and proclaim to the world again from this humble church building what the meaning of Christmas truly is, as revealed by God’s holy angel. And in proclaiming it, and in contemplating it, let us rejoice!

We start with just a little background that’s also relatively unknown to people today. The true history of the world starts only about 6,000 years ago, when God—the true God, the only God—created a beautiful, perfect world, including a perfect man named Adam and a perfect woman named Eve. He gave them everything, except for the fruit of a single tree, from which they, tempted by the Prince of demons called Satan, still decided to eat, knowing, and not caring, that it would ruin their relationship with their Creator and would place them and their descendants under God’s curse of death and condemnation. But God, in His mercy, promised to send a human child who would be more than a human child—a Child so powerful, so special, that He would be able to save fallen mankind from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Some 4,000 years went by, and the more you study world history, the more you see just how violent and idolatrous and unjust mankind has always been, from the great civilizations down to the scattered tribes of men. Men lived in darkness and always in the shadow of death. But during those 4,000 years, God was getting all the world actors into just the right places, including the people of Israel, including a young woman of Israel, a virgin named Mary, and her fiancé Joseph. God sent an angel to Mary to announce to her a miraculous pregnancy and a virgin birth. She was to give birth to the Son of God, the Savior first promised 4,000 years earlier, and Joseph was to care for her, and for her Son. 9 months later, God turned the tides of history to cause Caesar Augustus of Rome to issue a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, which forced Mary and Joseph down to Bethlehem, where, 700 years earlier, in that prophecy you heard this evening from the prophet Micah, God had foretold that the Savior would be born. Well, Mary’s baby was born right there in Bethlehem, and wrapped in strips of cloth and placed in a manger, where animals feed, because all the inns in Bethlehem were full that night.

And then there’s the part that really gets to the meaning of it all, the part that Linus read from the school stage in the cartoon, the part about the shepherds, and the angel, and the brilliance of the glory of the Lord piercing the darkness of the night, and then a whole sky full of angelic soldiers in the angelic army.

The angel appeared to the shepherds and said, Do not be afraid. For, behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. The Christmas message, is above all, good news! Joyful news! Because God had finally fulfilled a promise He had been repeating to mankind for 4,000 years—the birth of a human Child who was not just a Child of man, but also the Son of God. And the Son of God was not born into the world to destroy sinful men, or to shame us into obedience, or to model for us the way to earn our own way back into God’s good graces. No, the Son of God was born as a man to save sinful man, because we, by ourselves, are beyond saving. We, by ourselves, are godless, idolatrous people who love neither God nor man as we ought. But, instead of destroying us, instead of abandoning us, God became one of us, joining us in our hardships, choosing a manger for His very first bed. But that’s only one part of the good news. The awful, wonderful rest of the story is that God became one of us as a little baby, laid sweetly and tenderly in a manger, so that, one day, He might give His life for us on the cross, as the true price of mankind’s reconciliation with God.

The angels knew this. They knew the extent to which their God had lowered Himself, and why. They knew the height and the depth of God’s love for fallen mankind, which brought Him to earth as a tiny baby, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And so they sang, Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace to men! Goodwill! God gave His Son as a peace offering to man, so that we might turn from our sins and find God’s goodwill toward us—God’s love and forgiveness—lying in a manger, that we might believe in Him, and be saved by Him.

That, as you know, dear Christian friends, is what Christmas is all about. That’s the meaning of Christmas, and it puts all the other fake meanings to shame. Who cares about Santa Claus or reindeer or anything else, when you have the truth of God’s love staring up at you from the manger at Christmas time? So rejoice in your God, your faithful God, your Savior-God, who came for you, and who wants nothing more for you at Christmas time than that you should know, and believe in, and rejoice in His only-begotten Son, and find rest for your soul in the true meaning of Christmas. Amen.

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Let John prepare the way for you, too

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Advent 4

Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

Last week we heard Malachi’s prophecy about John the Baptist: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.” There it was Jesus identifying John as God’s messenger. In today’s Gospel, we hear John identifying himself in the same way from a similar prophecy found in the book of Isaiah: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD!” On this, our final Sunday of the Advent season, we turn to John the Baptist once more, examining his ministry to see how he prepared the people of Israel for Jesus’ first coming. Because the same preparations are necessary for us, as we await Christ’s second coming, and as we would seek to celebrate His coming at Christmas in just a few days. Let John prepare the way for you to meet the Lord.

John’s role in God’s plan of salvation was unique. As we just saw, he was more than just a prophet. He was the prophet who was to hold the door open, as it were, for the Messiah, as the herald of His arrival. And he began to perform that service even before he was born!

When newly pregnant Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant with John, Elizabeth informed Mary that as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Yes, already in his mother’s womb, John was filled with the Holy Spirit, as the angel Gabriel had told John’s father Zacharias that he would be. There he was, already celebrating the arrival of the One who was greater than he, rejoicing in the salvation Mary’s Son would bring, and showing us that, even in his or her mother’s womb, it’s possible for a little baby to have faith in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word.

Some thirty years later, John headed out into the wilderness to live by himself. But not to be alone! He traveled up and down the Jordan River, preaching to all who came by, and his powerful preaching attracted more and more people. In fact, St. Mark begins his Gospel of Jesus’ life with the ministry of John the Baptist: John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John was fulfilling what the angel had foretold about him: He came in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, waking them up from their spiritual slumber. They had forgotten about the Lord for too long, had neglected their souls for too long, had become too focused on this world, with its pleasures, and with its troubles. Here’s a sample of his preaching:

“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. A strong warning to repent, to turn away from their sins before the Lord comes in judgment. But also strong comfort in this new Sacrament called “baptism,” which God had directly sent John to administer, through which God promised to forgive them their sins. Finally, a strong warning not to go on sinning after receiving God’s forgiveness, but to mend their ways and bear fruit consistent with repentance. In other words, if you say you’re sorry for living in adultery, then stop living in adultery! If you say you’re sorry for stealing, stop stealing! If you say you’re sorry for neglecting God’s Word, then stop neglecting it!

After preaching for many months to sinners who needed to repent and receive God’s forgiveness, John was surprised to see Jesus finally step forward to be baptized—the only man in history who had no need of repentance or of forgiveness. We’ll hear about that in a few weeks, during the Epiphany season. After He was baptized, Jesus disappeared for the next 40 days to face the devil’s temptations alone in the wilderness. The events of our Gospel apparently took place just as those 40 days were coming to an end, as Jesus was just about to return.

Well, the scribes and Pharisees (the religious leaders in Jerusalem) hadn’t yet heard of this “Jesus.” But they had heard a lot about John and were nervous about his popularity with the people of Judea. So they sent to ask him who he was and by whose authority he was preaching and baptizing—because they certainly hadn’t authorized it! As you heard in today’s Gospel, John didn’t for a moment claim to be more than he was. In fact, he came right out and denied being the Christ. But what he claimed about himself was still extremely important. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD!” That meant that the Lord was just about to appear on the scene. And, sure enough, the next day, He did!

But before we move forward, we should pause and consider what John meant when he said to the Pharisees’ envoys, “I baptize with water, but there stands among you One whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” John had said something similar earlier, Yes, I baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Evangelical churches tend to teach wrongly about “water baptism.” They make it something inferior to the “real” Baptism, which, according to them, has nothing to do with water. But was John’s baptism inferior to Jesus’ baptism because John baptized “with water”? No, it wasn’t inferior. It was a “baptism for the forgiveness of sins,” according to Scripture. Jesus would soon institute a similar water baptism “for the forgiveness of sins,” and it’s this “water baptism” that is a “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul writes. Baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is and has always been “water Baptism.” So there’s nothing insignificant about it!

But, as John says, Jesus would also “baptize with the Holy Spirit.” In fact, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus explained to His apostles exactly what that meant: For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. He was referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers on the day of Pentecost—the same Spirit who is now given in connection with “water Baptism,” as Peter told the crowds on the day of Pentecost: Repent and be baptized…for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

As for the baptizing “with fire,” that’s referring to Jesus sending forth His Gospel into the world after the Day of Pentecost, a Gospel that would spread like wildfire as the Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God and works through it to spread the kingdom of God. As Jesus once said, I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

So John wasn’t minimizing his divinely-ordained baptism. He was simply confessing to the Pharisees that the Christ would do far, far more than he would. While John baptized a relatively small number of people in the Jordan River, the Christ, who was far superior to him, would send the Spirit of God to convert sinners to repentance throughout the world.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, apparently returning from His 40-day fast in the wilderness, and John told some of his disciples, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Finally, Jesus had arrived on the scene to begin His ministry, and John was the one holding the door open for Him, pointing people to the Christ who had come. From then on, John began to send his own disciples away to follow Jesus, the Savior of the world. From then on, John, as a faithful messenger, told people plainly, He must increase, and I must decrease… For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. In this way, John prepared the people of Israel to receive their Savior in repentance, in faith, and in joy.

His preaching prepares the way for us, too. “Christ is coming,” John declares. He’s almost here! It’s time to wake up from the daily routine that so easily lulls us to sleep. It’s time to hear the Word of God and truly pay attention to it. It’s time to recognize sin for the deadly snare that it is. It’s time to repent and, either be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, or cling to the promise God made to you when you were baptized, because Jesus is the Son of God, sent by the Father to save the fallen world, including you, the Lamb of God who took the sins of the world upon Himself and suffered for them on the cross, and who now holds out the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit of God. And, Christians, it’s time to bear fruit consistent with repentance, to live each day as the children of God, as the Christians you proclaim yourselves to be, because Christ is coming soon in judgment against the sinful world, and He’s given you this time before His coming to prepare, so that you may escape the judgment and go with Him, rejoicing, into a new and glorious world. This preaching, this message, is how John the Baptist prepared the people of Israel for the Lord’s first coming. May it also serve to prepare you, so that you may be a people ready to receive the Lord on the Last Day, and before then, a people ready to celebrate the Lord’s birth. Amen.

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Two different endings for two different groups

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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We’ve come to the end of our meditation on Isaiah’s prophecy. We’ve spent just over a year on it. I hope you’ve noticed over the past year that certain basic themes keep repeating throughout these 27 chapters, usually in contrasting pairs: Law and Gospel, judgment and salvation, threats and promises, comfort for the distressed, and distress for those who live in godless comfort, restoration and destruction, eternal life and eternal death, the end of Old Testament Israel and the beginning of the New Israel, the first advent of Christ in humility and the second one in glory. Back and forth Isaiah goes to those themes, repeating them over and over. We have them all before us in tonight’s reading as well. We also have a perfect example of the difficulty Old Testament readers must have had in recognizing the two separate advents of Christ, because Isaiah goes back and forth between them, foreseeing them both, as if they were just two sides of the same portrait, telling what he sees on one side, then on the other, back and forth. And just as there are two advents of Christ, so there are two messages and two outcomes for two very different groups of people, one for the faithful, the other for the faithless.

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants. Here Isaiah is describing the second Advent of Christ, speaking to believers, about believers. And with Christ’s arrival at the end of the age comes heartfelt joy, and prosperity, and, finally, revelation! Revelation of what God has been doing all along, behind the scenes, how He has been guiding the world and the Church and our own lives to get to that moment of eternal victory. The hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants.

Still viewing Christ’s second Advent, Isaiah then speaks about unbelievers on that day: And the LORD shall show his indignation against his enemies. “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD. “For I know their works and their thoughts. God is speaking here in the language of Old Testament Israel, including among their forms of rebellion how they thumbed their noses at God’s commands in the Law of Moses against eating pig’s flesh or mice or other unclean foods. Part of the idolatrous practices of Israel was intentionally breaking some of those laws, eating things that were forbidden. But since this is talking about the last day, it doesn’t only include Israel’s rebellion. It includes the rebellion of “all flesh,” as all men have thumbed their noses at God’s Word and God’s commandments, often making up their own invented forms of worship and expecting God to accept them. Those whom God finds still living in rebellion against Him on the Last Day will not escape the fire of God’s wrath and the sword of His condemnation. He will “slay” them all, which, as we’ll see shortly, doesn’t mean just putting them to death, but something much, much worse.

Now Isaiah turns his head to gaze at Christ’s first Advent. and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. There’s a subtle reference here to Jesus’ birth, when God first began to gather the nations to see His glory by bringing the wise men from the East to worship His newborn Son. The star was one of those “signs” that God set among them. But the cross was another one of those signs, as Jesus Himself said about His death on the cross, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will gather all peoples to Myself.”

Still looking at Christ’s first Advent, Isaiah goes on: And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. He’s talking about Jesus’ command to His apostles to Go and make disciples of all nations, to Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation. He’s talking about Pentecost, when the nations first gathered in Jerusalem to hear about the fame and glory of the God who had given His Son into death so that all men might take refuge in Him and be incorporated into God’s holy family.

Now gazing at the time between Christ’s first and second Advent, Isaiah foresees the New Testament era: And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.

This is the success of the Gospel among the Gentiles, the building of the Christian Church over the centuries. The “holy mountain Jerusalem” is no longer the literal mountain on which the literal city of Jerusalem is built, but the spiritual mountain of the Church throughout the world, the spiritual Jerusalem, in which you and I are also citizens, as St. Paul said to the Ephesians: For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The Lord even foretells the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Testament ministry: And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. Now, you can’t literally make a Levite out of anyone. A Levite is literally a descendant of Jacob’s son Levi. But this is a figurative way of saying that God will take, not all New Testament Christians, but “some” of them to be called and ordained ministers, sent out, just as the original apostles were, to preach the glory of Christ among the nations.

Now Isaiah’s gaze turns one last time to Christ’s second Advent and the eternal glory of the Church after He comes again: “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. Earlier, Isaiah saw the Lord slaying “all flesh” at Christ’s second Advent. Now, He sees “all flesh” coming to worship before the true God. The “all flesh” that was slain were the unbelievers. The “all flesh” that comes to worship are the believers, the sheep at the King’s right hand, from the parable of the sheep and the goats, the ones who are invited by the King to come and inherit the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world, where we will worship our God forever and ever.

The Lord closes out Isaiah’s book of prophecy with a final word about the eternal destiny of those who are found in unbelief on the Last Day: “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” Imagine putting these verses on a Christmas card! Does it seem strange that Isaiah would end on such a sour note, describing the eternal suffering of “the dead” in hell? Well, it’s no different from Jesus’ own preaching, who always preached comfort and joy to believers, judgment and anguish to unbelievers. A wide open invitation to the penitent to come into His kingdom, while the doors to the kingdom are closed shut to those who refuse God’s gracious invitation. Forgiveness and joy and the adoption as sons is what God wants for all men. That’s why He was born in Bethlehem. That’s why we’ll celebrate His birth next week. Because God wants all men to find their Savior in that manger. But make no mistake. Mankind has already earned his own condemnation. And for those who won’t seek God’s salvation from that condemnation in the manger, and on the cross, in the Son of God named Jesus, there will be a day of reckoning and an eternity of suffering.

But even this bad news is preached as a gift from God. This age of Christ’s first Advent is the time of grace, the time to repent, the time to enter Christ’s Church before He comes again. This age of Christ’s first Advent, including its warnings about eternal condemnation, is meant to bring all men to repentance, that all may escape the judgment, through faith in Christ Jesus, that all may be prepared to enter with Him, when He comes, into endless, glorious joy. Amen.

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