Midweek Advent Vespers
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
“Waiting for the Day of the Lord: New Heavens and a New Earth” (2 Peter 3:8-14)
So this Advent we’re doing this series on “Waiting for the Day of the Lord.”
We’re looking at the Epistle lessons for the first three weeks of Advent, all
of which carry this theme of looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ and
how to live now while we’re waiting for that day. Last week we began by
looking at the biblical background of the term, “The Day of the Lord,” and
seeing it as both a day of judgment and a day of salvation--judgment for the
unbelieving world, but salvation for us as the people of God. Indeed, you have
God’s promise that he will “sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Today, then, we continue exploring what it means to be waiting for that day.
Our lesson this week is from 2 Peter 3, where St. Peter alerts us to be ready
for that day, neither thinking that God has forgotten his promise to bring it
to pass, nor being caught unawares when it finally does come like a thief in
the night. Peter also tells us what will happen to this evil world on that
day, and he points us to the new creation that God will then bring about: “New
Heavens and a New Earth.” Finally, Peter exhorts us to live as God’s holy
people even now, since that is who we are in Christ and those new heavens and
new earth we’re waiting for will be a place “in which righteousness dwells.”
Let’s take those points now one at a time.
One, don’t think God has forgotten his promise, and don’t let the seeming
“delay” catch you off-guard. Peter writes: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill
his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that
any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief. . . .” Peter writes this several decades after
Christ’s ascension, at which time Jesus promised to return. However, this is
now decades later, and Christians are wondering: What happened to that
“return” we heard about? Why hasn’t it happened yet? How much longer do we
have to wait? Did God forget? Did we get this all wrong? No, Peter answers,
God has not forgotten his promise. Christ will indeed return. We don’t know
when that will be, the exact day or hour or even the year or century. But it
will happen, rest assured.
The day of the Lord may seem like it’s slow in coming, but it isn’t, really.
God is in charge of the timing, and he knows what he’s doing. What’s he doing
is giving people time to repent. This is a window of opportunity the church
has now to get the gospel out and to call all people to repentance and faith,
lest they perish in their sins. God is giving us this time, out of his
patience and long-suffering and mercy. God wants us to repent and believe and
live.
That includes you! You have this time right now to come to grips with your own
sinfulness, to mourn your sins, to come to the end of your rope--which is a
good thing. For then God throws you the only lifeline that will work to pull
you out of the swirling vortex of your sins, and that lifeline is the saving
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He it is who will keep you from perishing,
for God so loved the world--so loved you--that he gave his only Son, that you
would believe in him and thus not perish but instead have everlasting life.
That is the reason for the seeming “delay,” so that you and a whole bunch of
other sinners whom God loves would have the time and the opportunity to repent
and believe and be saved.
So the day of the Lord is surely drawing near. But don’t let the “delay” catch
you off-guard. Don’t get lulled to sleep during this time of waiting. For
that day will come like a thief, that is, it will come when people are not
expecting it. There will be people caught off-guard, unprepared, but don’t let
that be you. Always be aware, always be alert, always be conscious, that
Christ will indeed return. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could
be a hundred years from now. But whenever he comes, God would have us be
prepared and ready. And that means to be found in faith, fortified by Word and
Sacrament, strong to stand in that great day.
Second point, Peter tells us what will happen to this evil world on that day,
and he points us to the new creation that God will then bring about: “And then
the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned
up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be
exposed. . . . the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly
bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for
new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
That day will be a day of fire and judgment. Just as in the days of Noah, when
the evil world was destroyed by water, so on the final day of the Lord, the
earth will be destroyed by fire. Only it will be ten times worse, if you will.
The whole creation, the whole universe, the heavens and the earth, will be
consumed by fire. In the verse right before our text, Peter writes: “The
heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until
the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” So it will be a fearful
day of wrath, when God’s righteous anger will be unleashed and hurled upon this
wicked world of ungodly men, bound for destruction.
The whole sin-damaged creation, subject to decay and futility, where things
don’t work right, will be destroyed also. There will be a giant “do-over,” the
ultimate “system restore.” The whole sin-tainted, sin-corrupted universe will
be dissolved, will be purified by fire, and there will come out of it “new
heavens and a new earth.” Paradise restored, only ten times better. “The new
heavens and the new earth,” not as though there won’t be any continuity with
the original heavens and earth God created, but this will be the heavens and
the earth “re-newed,” “re-created,” perfected and improved. God is committed
to a physical creation; it was his idea in the first place. Man’s sin brought
a curse upon creation, brought a curse upon our bodies, brought death and decay
into God’s good creation. But Christ by his death and resurrection has brought
about a new creation, and we will see the final outcome of that on the day
of his return, when there will be this “new heavens and a new earth.”
It’s the same thing St. John saw at the end of the Book of Revelation: “Then I
saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away. . . .” And the voice said, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is
with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God
himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from
their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor
crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. . . . Behold,
I am making all things new.”
My friends, you and I have no idea how good this will be! It is beyond our
experience, beyond our imagination, all the good things God has in store for
his people! It’s like the Christmas presents under the tree: We know they’re
there, we know they’re going to be fantastic, but it’s not time to unwrap them
just yet. We have to wait a little bit. That’s how it is, that’s the
excitement and eager anticipation we have, as we look forward to what will be
revealed for us and in us on that wonderful day, the day of our Lord’s return.
In the meantime, how then do we live? Peter answers, “With lives of holiness
and godliness.” That’s the last point. While we’re waiting for the Lord’s
return, “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and
godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. . . .
according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in
which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for
these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
Christ is coming again, and he will rescue us from our sins and from this evil
world bound for destruction, and that is our one great hope, for which we wait
and for which we long. But that does not make our lives now unimportant or a
matter of indifference. No, God wants us to live holy lives, lives transformed
by his holiness, even now. How we live is important. God has rescued us from
sin for righteousness. We are waiting for “new heavens and a new earth in
which righteousness dwells.” And that means God would have us get used to
righteousness even now as we dwell in the old heavens and old earth. God has
already made us his new people, his holy people, set apart to live for him. To
be sure, we are still afflicted with the old Adam hanging around our neck,
which calls for daily repentance, dying and rising with Christ each new day.
We are always in need of Christ’s forgiveness, as long as we live in this old
world with our old sins.
But God has given us his Spirit, we are new people in Christ, and God would
have us live like that. Holy people, new people, growing in love and
righteousness. Loving God, loving our neighbor, doing good to those around us.
Reflecting the character of our heavenly Father, as his dear children. That’s
who we are. That’s how we will live, God helping us. And he will.
Dear friends, we are waiting for the day of the Lord, when there will be new
heavens and a new earth. God is not slow in bringing that to pass, but he is
giving you time to repent. This old world is bound for destruction, but you
and I, by God’s grace, are bound for glory. Christ’s first coming, in which he
won our salvation, prepares us for his Second Coming, when we will enter fully
and finally into that salvation. And even now he enables us to live in this
world as his holy people, as we wait with eager longing for that great day.
Soon will come that hour
When with mighty power
Christ will come in splendor
And will judgment render.
With the faithful sharing
Joy beyond comparing.
Come then, O Lord Jesus,
>From our sins release us.
Keep our hearts believing,
That we, grace receiving,
Ever may confess You
Till in heav’n we bless you.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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