december 3 2023
December 3rd 2023
Old Testament: Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm: Psalm 80:1-19
Epistle: 1st Corinthians 1:3-9
Gospel: Mark 11:1-10
Sermon Text: Isaiah 64
Sermon Title: “Rend the Heavens and Come Down”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today is the first Sunday in Advent; which is the first season in the new church year. Today we begin this season much as we ended the last church year, by talking of Christ’s coming. The second coming and the Day of Judgement is still fresh still in our minds, and still evident in a couple of the readings for today, including the alternative Gospel reading, which is drawn from Jesus’ “apocalypse” in Luke 21 and the need to be ready for His coming in glory.
Of that day, CFW Walther wrote “if God were to announce mankind’s Last Day, even one hour before the fact, many would still think they had (plenty of) time to be converted … but God has cut off this false comfort … Scripture tells us that the Last Day will come suddenly. There will be nothing to announce this day, that was not made long ago … even the godly will not receive any advance notice … the heavens will suddenly open and Christ will appear”. (Walther sermon on Luke 21:34-36)
Now, throughout the season of Advent, the focus gradually begins to shift to His first coming, His incarnation; which is God becoming man in the person of Jesus; in order to die and atone for the sins of the whole world. Like Lent, Advent is a season of repentance and preparation. Therefore, Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter.
In the Gospel reading, which is the account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, just before what we now call “Holy Week”, He is welcomed and praised as they sang “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. (Mark 11:9b) As you know, just a few days later, many will forget that they welcomed Him and will join in the shouts to crucify Him. Even Peter will deny Him and all the other disciples except John will desert Him.
In Isaiah’s day, a similar thing happened, almost all of the people of Israel had joined with the rest of the world in deserting God; in rebellion against the Lord and His Word. And, they are bearing the consequences of their sins, being threatened by the nations around them. Isaiah describes this in the verses following our text this morning.
“Your holy cities have become a wilderness … Jerusalem a desolation … our holy and beautiful house … has been burned by fire and all our pleasant places have become ruins … O Lord, will You keep silent and afflict us so terribly”? (Isaiah 64:10-12) “O Lord … how long will You be angry with Your people’s prayers”. (Psalm 80:4) In their despair, they do not believe that the Lord is with them. They think; He is either unaware of their plight or perhaps He is distancing Himself from them saying, “we have become like those who are not called by Your name”. (Isaiah 63:19b) They certainly do not “feel” the presence of the Lord with them.
So, the prophet Isaiah prayed to the Lord, “Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are Your zeal and Your might”? (Isaiah 63:15a) “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence, as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil, to make Your name known to Your adversaries and that the nations might tremble at Your presence”. (Isaiah 64:1-2) (These are the verses that inspired our opening hymn today)
Luther described this prayer saying, “This is a true prayer … nothing is more grievous for the godly than to see the enemies (of God) so very smug and confidently despising the Word of God … they do great evil … yet they sit very securely … they refuse to believe unless punishment and destruction threaten”. (Isaiah 40-66 Commentary, page 363-364) So, the believer in Christ prays in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil”.
In the middle of these threats to the remnant of believers, it is good for us to recall what the Lord has done for us in the past, so Isaiah now recalls some of the mighty acts of the Lord in history; “when you did awesome things that we did not look for … You came down and the mountain quaked at Your presence”. (Isaiah 64:3) This happened at Mt. Sinai, just before the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments; “Now, Mt. Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln; and the whole mountain trembled greatly”. (Exodus 19:18)
Isaiah continues; “from of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no one has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for Him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways”. (Isaiah 64:4-5a) The Apostle Paul applies this verse specifically to the Gospel he preached saying, “what no man has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined. What God has prepared for those who love Him”. (1st Corinthians 2:9)
Even though the righteous pray, there is still need for confession and repentance in their lives. It goes without saying then, that the unrighteous and unbelievers also need to repent of their idolatry and unbelief. Therefore, the prophet Isaiah, on behalf of all the people, confesses their sins; that they are getting what they deserve for their many transgressions.
“Behold, you were angry and we sinned; and in our sins we have been a long time and how shall we be saved? We have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away”. (Isaiah 64:5b-6) As the Psalmist also declared, “the wicked … are like the chaff that the wind drives away”. (Psalm 1:4) Sin makes us like the dry leaves or dust blowing in the Autumn wind.
Sin has wrecked and ruined the lives of all the people and even the godly (who are righteous by faith alone) must suffer with the unrepentant sinners. Isaiah declares, “There is no one who calls upon Your name; who rouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquity”. (Isaiah 64:7)
The thought that God would “hide His face from us” should terrify us; and so the Psalmist David earnestly prayed in his time of trial, “Lord … hide not Your face from us”. (Psalm 27:9) When God “hides His face from us”; He leaves us to fend for ourselves and as Luther remarked, “nothing remains but the face of the devil, death, and sin”. (Isaiah 40-66; page 371) When we cling to our sins and rebellion against God, this is what we should expect.
When any people continually reject the Word of the Lord, He often takes it from them and sends it somewhere else. Luther wrote of this saying, “all the calamities of this earth … are nothing compared with the calamity and wrath when God does not speak with us or allow us to hear His Word … the withdrawal of God’s Word is the greatest plague and manifestation of God’s wrath”. Isaiah wrote, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear”. (Isaiah 59:2)
Yet so many think they can take or leave the Word of God; that they can stay away from hearing it for months and even years and should still be considered Christians; thinking they can come back at a more convenient time; not realizing that the longer they stay away, the harder their hard will become. Jesus said, “If you abide (continue, remain) in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”. (John 8:31b-32)
Why then do you treat with the Word of God with contempt, as if it something harmful, rather than what it really is, “the Word of Life”. Do you no longer believe that the Holy Scriptures, “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ”? (2nd Timothy 3:15b) Do you no longer believe that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness”? (2nd Timothy 3:16)
The Apostle Paul speaks of those who reject the Word or who want it on their own terms; “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths”. (2nd Timothy 4:3-4)
He warns that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men … who suppress the truth”. (Romans 1:18) Three times he repeats these words about those who reject His Word, “God gave them up” to various sins and passions, sending “them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false … all will be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”. (2nd Thessalonians 2:11-12)
We hear these warnings of Holy Scripture about the cost of sin, and rejection of His Word quite frequently, but I am afraid we pay little attention to them, either pretending that the blame belongs to someone else and not to us, (as if blaming someone else, will get us off the hook with God) or ignoring the cost of sin altogether, imagining that what God calls sin and unbelief is just a matter of opinion and will have no serious consequences. Do you not know what the Scriptures declare; that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a) and “You were dead in your trespasses and sins”. (Ephesians 2:1a)
Do you not remember that it was our sin that caused our Lord Jesus Christ to go to the cross? “You who think of sin but lightly; nor suppose the evil great; here may view its nature rightly; here its guilt may estimate; mark the sacrifice appointed; see who bears the awful load; tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed; Son of Man and Son of God”. (“Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”, # 451, verse 3)
God warns us of His wrath; His judgment of sin and unbelief; so that we would confess and repent of our sins; looking to Christ Jesus and clinging to His cross, where atonement for our sins and the sins of the world was accomplished; so that we would “gladly hear preaching and His Word” and receive His sacraments with thanksgiving; for this place (the church/divine service) is where Christ gives us the benefits of His saving work. “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out”. (Acts 3:19)
Knowing and believing God’s Word, we too pray with Isaiah; “O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay and You are the potter. We are the work of Your hand. Be not so terribly angry. O Lord; and remember not our iniquity forever … please look, we are Your people”. (Isaiah 64:8-9) “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts. Let Your face shine, that we may be saved”. (Psalm 80:19)
As we humble ourselves before Almighty God, confessing our sins and trusting in His Word, He has promised to restore us and “sustain us to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”. (1st Corinthians 1:8) Lord, grant that in this season of preparation for Your coming, we would in faith gladly hear, learn, and meditate upon Your holy, precious Word with repentant hearts. Amen.
The peace of God …