Midweek Advent Vespers
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
“Waiting for the Day of the Lord: A Day of Judgment and Salvation” (1
Corinthians 1:3-9)
For Advent and Lent, pastors tend to do a series, with a particular theme, for
the midweek services. Coming up with a series theme sometimes comes easily,
sometimes less so. Last year for Advent, since it was the year of St. Matthew,
we did “The Genealogy of Jesus Christ” found at the beginning of Matthew’s
gospel. Next year, when it’s Luke, an obvious series possibility is the four
canticles found in Luke’s infancy narrative, chapters 1 and 2: the Magnificat,
the Benedictus, the Gloria in Excelsis, and the Nunc Dimittis. But what to do
this year? Mark doesn’t have an infancy narrative.
So I was looking around at the lessons for the Sundays in Advent this year, and
something jumped out at me. It was in the Epistle readings, particularly in
the Epistles for the first three Sundays in Advent. There was a phrase, a
connecting thread, that ran through those readings and that would make for a
distinctive series theme. See if you can notice what I noticed.
First, from the Epistle for the First Sunday in Advent, 1 Corinthians 1, the
part where it says: “as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Then from the Epistle for the Second Sunday in Advent, from 2 Peter 3, phrases
like these: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. . . . waiting for
and hastening the coming of the day of God. . . . we are waiting for new
heavens and a new earth. . . .”
And from the Third Sunday in Advent, 1 Thessalonians 5: “may your whole spirit
and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Did you catch it? What was the thread running through those lessons? It was
the idea of “the day of the Lord,” the coming and revealing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, his Second Coming, and how we are to wait for that day. Thus our theme
for this Advent series: “Waiting for the Day of the Lord.”
We think of Advent as primarily waiting for and getting ready for Christmas,
the celebration of Christ’s first coming, his birth at Bethlehem. And that is
well and good. It is appropriate to do so. There is also the Advent accent on
repentance, as John the Baptist calls us to prepare the way of the Lord. But
in addition, there is this Advent emphasis on getting ready for Christ’s Second
Coming, at the Last Day, “the Day of the Lord,” in that sense. And really, all
these “comings” of Christ fit together. For his first coming, at Christmas,
was to win the salvation we’re waiting for at his second coming. And even now
Christ comes to us through his Word, calling us to repentance and enabling us
to lead holy lives as we wait for that great and glorious day. So today,
“Waiting for the Day of the Lord.”
You know, this phrase, “the day of the Lord,” did not spring up new, out of the
blue, in the New Testament. No, “the day of the Lord” is a concept with a rich
background in the Old Testament. The prophets used that phrase many, many
times. For example, the prophet Joel: “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm
on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day
of the LORD is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of
clouds and thick darkness!” Or again, from the prophet Amos: “Woe to you who
desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is
darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or
went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit
him. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no
brightness in it?”
Whoa! These passages make the day of the Lord sound like something very dark
and gloomy, something to be dreaded and feared, not a great and glorious day to
look forward to. And that is true, as far as it goes. In the Old Testament,
the day of the Lord would be a day of judgment, God’s wrath coming down on
sinful humanity, beginning with God’s own people, Israel. The prophets
preached the day of the Lord as a way of calling Israel to repentance. To
those who presumed upon God’s grace and their status as God’s chosen people in
order to feel secure in their sins and avoid repentance, to them the prophets
preached stern judgment to come, coming on the day they called “the day of the
Lord.” For Old Testament Israel, that day would come in the form of particular
historical events, in which the Lord would visit calamity and destruction upon
the nation--the Assyrians conquering the northern kingdom of Israel, the
Babylonians overrunning Judah,
the southern kingdom, and destroying Jerusalem and the temple. This was “the
day of the Lord” as near historical judgment upon Israel.
But the day of the Lord also pointed to something bigger, something more
long-range. The historical judgments on Israel, on Judah and Jerusalem, were a
“type,” a microcosm, of the judgment to come on the whole world at the Last
Day. Jesus himself speaks this way in his end-time discourses in the gospels.
He prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem that would come forty years later,
in A.D. 70, and moves from that to talking about the final judgment that will
fall on the unbelieving world.
That day is coming, people of God. Make no mistake about it. Judgment Day is
coming. As surely as the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, as a perpetual
sign of God’s judgment on the unbelief that rejects the Christ, so surely will
the Last Day destruction fall upon this unbelieving world. Take heed, lest ye
fall! Do not treat as a light and casual thing the coming of the Christ, who
comes to you even now, calling you to repentance and faith. What shall we do,
how shall we stand, if we neglect so great a salvation? We cannot. So heed
the voice of God as it comes to you now, for that is the only way you will be
able to stand on the day of the Lord.
But, dear friends, you will stand on that great day! God is speaking to you
now, calling you through his word, precisely so that you will stand. The day
of the Lord is not only a day of fearful judgment. The day of the Lord will be
a day of great salvation! A day of deliverance, when our Lord will deliver us
from all evil, once and for all! For the salvation won by Christ in his first
coming--the forgiveness of sins, purchased by his blood on the cross--this
blood-bought redemption will have its outcome, its consummation, at Christ’s
second coming: the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Life
with Christ and all of his people, in glory, forever! That is what is coming
and will be revealed at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore the day of the Lord is a day to look forward to, with eager
anticipation! And with confidence, knowing that the God who has saved you by
the blood of Christ and who gives you faith in your Savior--this same God is
intent on keeping you in that faith, firm unto the end.
This, then, is how St. Paul speaks of the day of the Lord, in those words from
1 Corinthians: “as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Do you see? You, a sinner--you are guiltless, because of the atoning death of
Christ, who has taken your guilt from you and replaced it with his perfect
innocence. Christ’s righteousness, given to you as a free gift, will turn the
day of judgment into a day of salvation for you! And until that day, when
Christ returns and is revealed in glory, God will sustain you to the end,
keeping you strong in the faith and in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit
working through the Word and Sacraments. Yes, our “Waiting for the Day of the
Lord” rests on the grace and faithfulness of God himself. We wait, confident
in this sure promise: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the
fellowship of his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord.”
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________________________________________________
'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
for quoting or use in a congregational setting
_with_or_without_attribution_.
Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:
Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
