[Here's audio of the latest podcast.]
Friday, February 09, 2024
Thursday, February 08, 2024
Revelation, Part 2 (Video YouTube Version)
[This is the second episode of my study of Revelation. It begins as a Facebook Live event and then gets edited into a podcast. Why the opening logo gyrates, I have no idea. I'm still figuring this podcast and iMovie editing out.]
Friday, February 02, 2024
Thursday, February 01, 2024
A Bit About Revelation
[This is a document I created to which I refer in my first podcast. It introduces some basics about the New Testament book of Revelation.]
“No other book of the Bible has attracted so much attention and caused so much consternation as the Book of Revelation. No other book has been so widely read and wildly misread.” (Richard L. Jeske
1. The first thing to be understood about Revelation is to understand WHO and WHAT it is about. It’s NOT about the antichrist. It’s NOT about what’s called “the tribulation.” The closest thing we have for a title from the author comes at the very beginning of the book: Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. This literally means: “The unveiling or revelation of Jesus Christ.” In Revelation, Christ and the triumph of Christ for all who believe is revealed. That’s the revelation that it gives to Christians.
2. Bottom line: This book which is so often used to incite fear or a false sense of security placed in one’s own righteousness or right actions, is about Jesus Christ, the only place that hope is found for this life or the next.
3. Who wrote Revelation? The author identifies himself simply as John. There were several notable people among Jesus’ early followers named John:
John the Baptist, who died well before Jesus’ death and resurrection and exhibited a less than full understanding of Jesus’ office and ministry and is, therefore, unlikely to be the author of Revelation;
John Mark, part of the ministry team of Paul and Barnabas mentioned in the Book of Acts, is also traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of Mark; and
John, the son of Zebedee and probable younger brother of James. The earliest Church Fathers identified the author of Revelation as this John. The evidence suggests this John lived in Ephesus in what is today Turkey, where he was bishop. He was for a time exiled to the island of Patmos for his faith in Jesus, but returned to Ephesus. He lived through the first seven decades of the Church’s life, living to a ripe old age.
4. Was Revelation always widely accepted as canonical? Some will know that Revelation is often referred to as one of the “disputed books” we today have in the New Testament, along with 2 and 3 John and Jude and even Hebrews. In fact, the evidence suggests that when John first composed Revelation in the late first century, it was received, like other books now in our New Testament, as an apostolic Word from God, equal to both books in the Old Testament and other books accepted in the New Testament. A later-generation Church Father, Dionysus, and others who followed his lead, questioned whether John was the author of Revelation and whether it deserved equal treatment with other books of the Bible. But this was never the prevailing view, nor was it the earliest view, of the Church. We can, I think, safely regard Revelation as the last proclamation of the definitive apostolic Word about Jesus and therefore, part of the canon, the standard for the proclamation of God’s Word today.
Louis A. Brighton writes: “Revelation is…the culmination of the entire salvation contained in the Bible…it draws all of revelation, both prophetic and apostolic, to its final goal: the exalted reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords (19:11-16) and the fulfillment of the promise of the new heaven and earth (21:1).”
He continues: “As the last book of the Bible and the completion of God’s revelation to his church, it is the lens through which the entire Scripture is to be viewed. Revelation reveals and confirms the Christ was prophetically promised and that his incarnation, death, and resurrection happened sp that God’s creation could be restored to its original glory and righteousness.”
5. What kind of book is Revelation? John himself describes Revelation as prophecy. Most scholars, conservative or liberal, would say that Revelation represents a kind of prophecy or a separate genre related to prophecy, apocalyptic.
The term is from the Greek noun that actually begins Revelation, ἀποκάλυψις (apcalupsis). The word means uncovering or unveiling. Apocalyptic literature in the Bible uncovers the truth about God for the benefit of believers. Apocalyptic literature is highly visual. Understanding the visual signs God gives to the recipient of them is completely dependent on God’s Word. Usually, God sends angels to deliver apocalyptic visions to particular recipients, like John.
The most prominent Old Testament example of apocalyptic literature is Daniel. Some apocalyptic elements are seen in Ezekiel and in other Old Testament prophetic writings, including Isaiah and Haggai. There are some places in Jesus’ discourses in the gospels and in the writings of Paul where apocalyptic messages are given.
Revelation is the only book of the New Testament that is almost completely given over to the apocalyptic genre, although in a way, it starts out as an epistle, a letter. The entire book, in fact, is an apocalyptic letter written to the seven churches mentioned at its beginning.
Apocalyptic literature was meant to assure people in uncertain situations that God was still in control and that all who trust in Him have hope that cannot be taken from them. This is why, though Revelation was addressed to first-century people faced with particular circumstances, we too can be comforted by its message.
6. John is clear that in Revelation, the events he refers to are not all centuries removed from his time, but mostly in the lifetimes of his original audience. He tells them that they will be blessed in the reading and hearing of his words–just as he had been blessed in receiving the visions and the accompanying words from God–”for [or because] the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)
John wasn’t presenting some gnostic puzzle requiring specially trained guides to solve. And he wasn’t giving some obscure playbook for world history. John was sharing the conquering Lamb of God, Who consoled Christians of his own time and Who consoles us still. The events to which John refers in Revelation were imminent the people of his own time.
7. An important point to remember is this: Like John, like every human being who has lived since the resurrection of Jesus, we live in the end times. The “thousand years” referred to in Revelation is not an exact period of time; it’s not literally “one thousand years.” Apocalyptic language is figurative language. Just as we might say things like “a month of Sundays” or “as old as Methuselah” or “forever and a day,” the phrase “a thousand years” is a way of saying a long time.
8. Revelation tells believers, as Jesus did, to be prepared for Jesus’ return when He will judge the living and the dead, send unbelievers to condemnation, and when the new heaven and earth will descend to believers. Believers, who are part of the Church, need to hold fast to Christ (2:10) and complete our mission of sharing the gospel with others (10:11)
9. Revelation reveals two ongoing phenomena, Brighton says, “the terrifying sufferings and horrors on earth, and the reign of Jesus Christ as Lord in his heavenly exalted glory.” Revelation underscores the truth revealed by Saint Paul in Romans, that no matter how horrifying life in this world may be and no matter if death visits us before Jesus’ return to the world, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)
Helpful resources:
Johnson, Dennis E. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation.
Brighton, Louis A. Revelation-Concordia Commentary.
A Bit About Revelation
(Pastor Mark Daniels, January 31, 2024)“No other book of the Bible has attracted so much attention and caused so much consternation as the Book of Revelation. No other book has been so widely read and wildly misread.” (Richard L. Jeske
1. The first thing to be understood about Revelation is to understand WHO and WHAT it is about. It’s NOT about the antichrist. It’s NOT about what’s called “the tribulation.” The closest thing we have for a title from the author comes at the very beginning of the book: Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. This literally means: “The unveiling or revelation of Jesus Christ.” In Revelation, Christ and the triumph of Christ for all who believe is revealed. That’s the revelation that it gives to Christians.
2. Bottom line: This book which is so often used to incite fear or a false sense of security placed in one’s own righteousness or right actions, is about Jesus Christ, the only place that hope is found for this life or the next.
3. Who wrote Revelation? The author identifies himself simply as John. There were several notable people among Jesus’ early followers named John:
John the Baptist, who died well before Jesus’ death and resurrection and exhibited a less than full understanding of Jesus’ office and ministry and is, therefore, unlikely to be the author of Revelation;
John Mark, part of the ministry team of Paul and Barnabas mentioned in the Book of Acts, is also traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of Mark; and
John, the son of Zebedee and probable younger brother of James. The earliest Church Fathers identified the author of Revelation as this John. The evidence suggests this John lived in Ephesus in what is today Turkey, where he was bishop. He was for a time exiled to the island of Patmos for his faith in Jesus, but returned to Ephesus. He lived through the first seven decades of the Church’s life, living to a ripe old age.
4. Was Revelation always widely accepted as canonical? Some will know that Revelation is often referred to as one of the “disputed books” we today have in the New Testament, along with 2 and 3 John and Jude and even Hebrews. In fact, the evidence suggests that when John first composed Revelation in the late first century, it was received, like other books now in our New Testament, as an apostolic Word from God, equal to both books in the Old Testament and other books accepted in the New Testament. A later-generation Church Father, Dionysus, and others who followed his lead, questioned whether John was the author of Revelation and whether it deserved equal treatment with other books of the Bible. But this was never the prevailing view, nor was it the earliest view, of the Church. We can, I think, safely regard Revelation as the last proclamation of the definitive apostolic Word about Jesus and therefore, part of the canon, the standard for the proclamation of God’s Word today.
Louis A. Brighton writes: “Revelation is…the culmination of the entire salvation contained in the Bible…it draws all of revelation, both prophetic and apostolic, to its final goal: the exalted reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords (19:11-16) and the fulfillment of the promise of the new heaven and earth (21:1).”
He continues: “As the last book of the Bible and the completion of God’s revelation to his church, it is the lens through which the entire Scripture is to be viewed. Revelation reveals and confirms the Christ was prophetically promised and that his incarnation, death, and resurrection happened sp that God’s creation could be restored to its original glory and righteousness.”
5. What kind of book is Revelation? John himself describes Revelation as prophecy. Most scholars, conservative or liberal, would say that Revelation represents a kind of prophecy or a separate genre related to prophecy, apocalyptic.
The term is from the Greek noun that actually begins Revelation, ἀποκάλυψις (apcalupsis). The word means uncovering or unveiling. Apocalyptic literature in the Bible uncovers the truth about God for the benefit of believers. Apocalyptic literature is highly visual. Understanding the visual signs God gives to the recipient of them is completely dependent on God’s Word. Usually, God sends angels to deliver apocalyptic visions to particular recipients, like John.
The most prominent Old Testament example of apocalyptic literature is Daniel. Some apocalyptic elements are seen in Ezekiel and in other Old Testament prophetic writings, including Isaiah and Haggai. There are some places in Jesus’ discourses in the gospels and in the writings of Paul where apocalyptic messages are given.
Revelation is the only book of the New Testament that is almost completely given over to the apocalyptic genre, although in a way, it starts out as an epistle, a letter. The entire book, in fact, is an apocalyptic letter written to the seven churches mentioned at its beginning.
Apocalyptic literature was meant to assure people in uncertain situations that God was still in control and that all who trust in Him have hope that cannot be taken from them. This is why, though Revelation was addressed to first-century people faced with particular circumstances, we too can be comforted by its message.
6. John is clear that in Revelation, the events he refers to are not all centuries removed from his time, but mostly in the lifetimes of his original audience. He tells them that they will be blessed in the reading and hearing of his words–just as he had been blessed in receiving the visions and the accompanying words from God–”for [or because] the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)
John wasn’t presenting some gnostic puzzle requiring specially trained guides to solve. And he wasn’t giving some obscure playbook for world history. John was sharing the conquering Lamb of God, Who consoled Christians of his own time and Who consoles us still. The events to which John refers in Revelation were imminent the people of his own time.
7. An important point to remember is this: Like John, like every human being who has lived since the resurrection of Jesus, we live in the end times. The “thousand years” referred to in Revelation is not an exact period of time; it’s not literally “one thousand years.” Apocalyptic language is figurative language. Just as we might say things like “a month of Sundays” or “as old as Methuselah” or “forever and a day,” the phrase “a thousand years” is a way of saying a long time.
8. Revelation tells believers, as Jesus did, to be prepared for Jesus’ return when He will judge the living and the dead, send unbelievers to condemnation, and when the new heaven and earth will descend to believers. Believers, who are part of the Church, need to hold fast to Christ (2:10) and complete our mission of sharing the gospel with others (10:11)
9. Revelation reveals two ongoing phenomena, Brighton says, “the terrifying sufferings and horrors on earth, and the reign of Jesus Christ as Lord in his heavenly exalted glory.” Revelation underscores the truth revealed by Saint Paul in Romans, that no matter how horrifying life in this world may be and no matter if death visits us before Jesus’ return to the world, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)
Helpful resources:
Johnson, Dennis E. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation.
Brighton, Louis A. Revelation-Concordia Commentary.
Revelation, Part 1
Here's the first episode of my new podcast, 'Route 66: A podcast journey through the Bible.' Naturally, we're starting with the last of the Bible's 66 books, Revelation. Please share the podcast with others!
Thursday, January 04, 2024
Gun Violence in America
France24 has details on today's school shooting in Iowa.
I pray in Jesus’ name that God will give us both the wisdom and the courage to act on the wisdom He gives to end the tragic nonsense of gun violence in our country.
No other advanced Western-style democracy deals with gun violence to the extent that we do in America.
Is there more mental illness in America than in other countries? The data I’ve seen suggests that’s not the case. What the definitive answers might be, I don’t claim to know.
Many of the answers will be rendered in the country's political life and, as a pastor, I stay out of politics.
But, as a Christian who cherishes all human life, just as I pray babies will be kept safe in their mother’s wombs, I pray too that those babies, grown older, will also be kept safe in classrooms.
I pray in Jesus’ name that God will give us both the wisdom and the courage to act on the wisdom He gives to end the tragic nonsense of gun violence in our country.
No other advanced Western-style democracy deals with gun violence to the extent that we do in America.
Is there more mental illness in America than in other countries? The data I’ve seen suggests that’s not the case. What the definitive answers might be, I don’t claim to know.
Many of the answers will be rendered in the country's political life and, as a pastor, I stay out of politics.
But, as a Christian who cherishes all human life, just as I pray babies will be kept safe in their mother’s wombs, I pray too that those babies, grown older, will also be kept safe in classrooms.
Monday, January 01, 2024
Ready to Die? Ready to Live?
[Below you'll find the message shared yesterday morning, December 31, 2023, during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. We celebrated the First Sunday after Christmas. It was also the last day of my call as pastor of Living Water. As of yesterday, I am officially retired. I hope you find both the service and the message helpful. It has been an undeserved blessing and joy for me to have been called by Christ and His Church to the ministry of Word and Sacrament these past thirty-nine years.]
Often over the years, when I’ve visited elderly people suffering deeply with no prospect of improvement in their health, they’ve told me.“I’m ready to go, pastor.”
Here’s a question for those of you who are likely healthier and younger than the people who have said this to me, “Are you ready to go? Are you ready to die?
“Well, Pastor,” you may be thinking, “this is kind of an unpleasant question for New Year’s Eve.”
But I ask the question because of the song of praise sung by a man named Simeon in today’s gospel lesson. More on that in a second. We need to look at a bit of background before hearing Simeon sing.
As the lesson begins, Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, Whom God has entrusted to their care, are in the temple courts in Jerusalem. They have two reasons for being there.
First, they’re at the temple in obedience to God’s Old Testament Law, Jesus is to be consecrated to God. In Exodus 13, for example, God commands His ancient people, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” (Exodus 13:2)
Second, they’re there in obedience to that part of God’s Old Testament Law which said that the mother of a son was ceremonially unclean, unable to participate in the life of God’s people for forty days after the birth, when she could be purified through the offering of a sacrifice. (Leviticus 12:8)
Now, because we know how this child was conceived–by the Holy Spirit–and Who this child is–God and Savior of the world, it may seem strange that Jesus, the Son of God, needs to be consecrated to God, or that Mary needs purification. After all, what could be purer or more holy than the virgin birth of God into our world?
Well, we’re in the season of Christmas. Do you know what the real miracle of Christmas is? It’s not just that God the Son took on human flesh. The truest and deepest miracle of Jesus’ incarnation is, as the apostle Paul puts it in our second lesson for this morning, “when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” (Galatians 4:4)
God, Who is holier than the Law and above the Law, intentionally places Himself under the Law–the Law that says we are sinners deserving of death and condemnation–so that He can fulfill the Law perfectly for us and give Himself as the perfect, definitive sacrifice for our sin. For your sin and for mine.
Jesus lived under the Law–God’s righteous commands, everything from “You shall have no other gods before Me” to “You shall not covet”--so that when He died, He could take away all our shame and condemnation, giving us God’s forgiveness, God’s peace, and God’s eternal life for all who trust in Christ!
In our second lesson today, Paul says that Jesus chose to live under the same condemnation of the Law into which you and I are born as descendants of Adam and Eve, “to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons [and that includes female as well as male Christians], God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:5-7)
Here is the breathtaking truth: Through Jesus, all who believe in Him are adopted by God as first-born-sons, inheritors of everything that has belonged to Jesus before the universe came into being!
This promise is yours, friends. Jesus lived under the condemnation of the Law so that you don’t have to.
Jesus justifies–that is, declares innocent, guiltless, pure–all who see Him as the promised Savior and believe in Him.
All of which leads us to Simeon, the singer in our gospel lesson. Simeon, we’re told was a man who was, first of all, δίκαιος, righteous, meaning that he was a sinner justified by God, declared eligible for eternity with God not because he perfectly obeyed God’s Law, but because he trusted in the God Who had, centuries before, promised a Savior. Simeon was like Abraham, then called Abram, of whom Moses wrote, “Abram believed the Lord, [that is, Abram believed the promises of Yahweh] and he [God] credited it to him as righteousness…” Simeon was right with God because he trusted God and God’s promises. Luke also says that Simeon was εὐλαβής, meaning he reverenced, was devoted to, and trusted in God’s promises.
Over the years, I’ve assumed that Simeon was an old man. But in fact, nothing in what Luke writes tells us that. I’ve come to like the idea that he was a young man, with his whole future life seemingly laid out before him.
Whether that’s true or not, this man, filled with the Holy Spirit and responsive to the Holy Spirit, is led by the Holy Spirit to the Temple that day when Mary, Joseph, and Jesus come in obedience to the Law. The Holy Spirit had already told Simeon that he would not die before he clapped eyes on the Savior of the world.
And there, in Mary’s arms, Simeon sees Jesus.
Simeon scoops the baby up in his arms and sings: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)
“Now that I see my Savior,” Simeon is saying, “now that I know He is here not just for me, but for all sinners, Jews and Gentiles, I can live and die in peace. I can face death knowing that because of this Savior in Whom I believe, I will live forever in the arms of God!”
Today, Christ comes to you again in His Word and hands you His Gospel promise, “Because of Me, all your sins are forgiven. Not just some of them; all of them. Finally, fully, forever!
He comes to you too in the bread and the wine, His body and His blood, with that same gospel promise to you, “Take and eat; this is My body given for you. Do this, even if you feel far from God or from the believer you mean to be, so that you are re-membered to Me again. And take this cupm which is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people to bring you the forgiveness of sin.”
Christ comes to you today as surely as He came to Simeon at the temple. In Word and Sacrament, you, like Simeon and Anna, see your salvation in Him.
And because Christ shows all this to you, you can, like Simeon, sing to God, “Dismiss your servant in peace. I can die now. I know the good, eternal future You, Christ, have secured for me.”
That can be our song every time we encounter Christ in worship with God’s people, when we read His Word, when we pray or serve in His name.
If this all sounds morbid to you, it shouldn’t. Listen, friends: It’s only when you are ready to die to this life, knowing that Christ has already overturned the condemnation of the Law and destroyed the power of sin and death over you, that you are ready to live in Christ’s freedom today and through eternity under His loving grace.
You’ll live each day anticipating the moment that will come after you’ve drawn your last earthly breath, when the first one you will see is Jesus and the first thing you’ll hear is Jesus telling you, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)
Until that day, Simeon’s song is yours: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace…” Amen
Here’s a question for those of you who are likely healthier and younger than the people who have said this to me, “Are you ready to go? Are you ready to die?
“Well, Pastor,” you may be thinking, “this is kind of an unpleasant question for New Year’s Eve.”
But I ask the question because of the song of praise sung by a man named Simeon in today’s gospel lesson. More on that in a second. We need to look at a bit of background before hearing Simeon sing.
As the lesson begins, Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, Whom God has entrusted to their care, are in the temple courts in Jerusalem. They have two reasons for being there.
First, they’re at the temple in obedience to God’s Old Testament Law, Jesus is to be consecrated to God. In Exodus 13, for example, God commands His ancient people, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” (Exodus 13:2)
Second, they’re there in obedience to that part of God’s Old Testament Law which said that the mother of a son was ceremonially unclean, unable to participate in the life of God’s people for forty days after the birth, when she could be purified through the offering of a sacrifice. (Leviticus 12:8)
Now, because we know how this child was conceived–by the Holy Spirit–and Who this child is–God and Savior of the world, it may seem strange that Jesus, the Son of God, needs to be consecrated to God, or that Mary needs purification. After all, what could be purer or more holy than the virgin birth of God into our world?
Well, we’re in the season of Christmas. Do you know what the real miracle of Christmas is? It’s not just that God the Son took on human flesh. The truest and deepest miracle of Jesus’ incarnation is, as the apostle Paul puts it in our second lesson for this morning, “when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” (Galatians 4:4)
God, Who is holier than the Law and above the Law, intentionally places Himself under the Law–the Law that says we are sinners deserving of death and condemnation–so that He can fulfill the Law perfectly for us and give Himself as the perfect, definitive sacrifice for our sin. For your sin and for mine.
Jesus lived under the Law–God’s righteous commands, everything from “You shall have no other gods before Me” to “You shall not covet”--so that when He died, He could take away all our shame and condemnation, giving us God’s forgiveness, God’s peace, and God’s eternal life for all who trust in Christ!
In our second lesson today, Paul says that Jesus chose to live under the same condemnation of the Law into which you and I are born as descendants of Adam and Eve, “to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons [and that includes female as well as male Christians], God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:5-7)
Here is the breathtaking truth: Through Jesus, all who believe in Him are adopted by God as first-born-sons, inheritors of everything that has belonged to Jesus before the universe came into being!
This promise is yours, friends. Jesus lived under the condemnation of the Law so that you don’t have to.
Jesus justifies–that is, declares innocent, guiltless, pure–all who see Him as the promised Savior and believe in Him.
All of which leads us to Simeon, the singer in our gospel lesson. Simeon, we’re told was a man who was, first of all, δίκαιος, righteous, meaning that he was a sinner justified by God, declared eligible for eternity with God not because he perfectly obeyed God’s Law, but because he trusted in the God Who had, centuries before, promised a Savior. Simeon was like Abraham, then called Abram, of whom Moses wrote, “Abram believed the Lord, [that is, Abram believed the promises of Yahweh] and he [God] credited it to him as righteousness…” Simeon was right with God because he trusted God and God’s promises. Luke also says that Simeon was εὐλαβής, meaning he reverenced, was devoted to, and trusted in God’s promises.
Over the years, I’ve assumed that Simeon was an old man. But in fact, nothing in what Luke writes tells us that. I’ve come to like the idea that he was a young man, with his whole future life seemingly laid out before him.
Whether that’s true or not, this man, filled with the Holy Spirit and responsive to the Holy Spirit, is led by the Holy Spirit to the Temple that day when Mary, Joseph, and Jesus come in obedience to the Law. The Holy Spirit had already told Simeon that he would not die before he clapped eyes on the Savior of the world.
And there, in Mary’s arms, Simeon sees Jesus.
Simeon scoops the baby up in his arms and sings: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)
“Now that I see my Savior,” Simeon is saying, “now that I know He is here not just for me, but for all sinners, Jews and Gentiles, I can live and die in peace. I can face death knowing that because of this Savior in Whom I believe, I will live forever in the arms of God!”
Today, Christ comes to you again in His Word and hands you His Gospel promise, “Because of Me, all your sins are forgiven. Not just some of them; all of them. Finally, fully, forever!
He comes to you too in the bread and the wine, His body and His blood, with that same gospel promise to you, “Take and eat; this is My body given for you. Do this, even if you feel far from God or from the believer you mean to be, so that you are re-membered to Me again. And take this cupm which is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people to bring you the forgiveness of sin.”
Christ comes to you today as surely as He came to Simeon at the temple. In Word and Sacrament, you, like Simeon and Anna, see your salvation in Him.
And because Christ shows all this to you, you can, like Simeon, sing to God, “Dismiss your servant in peace. I can die now. I know the good, eternal future You, Christ, have secured for me.”
That can be our song every time we encounter Christ in worship with God’s people, when we read His Word, when we pray or serve in His name.
If this all sounds morbid to you, it shouldn’t. Listen, friends: It’s only when you are ready to die to this life, knowing that Christ has already overturned the condemnation of the Law and destroyed the power of sin and death over you, that you are ready to live in Christ’s freedom today and through eternity under His loving grace.
You’ll live each day anticipating the moment that will come after you’ve drawn your last earthly breath, when the first one you will see is Jesus and the first thing you’ll hear is Jesus telling you, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)
Until that day, Simeon’s song is yours: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace…” Amen
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
All God Wants for Christmas
[Below you'll find the text of this year's Christmas Eve message as well as live stream video of both services from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Because our sanctuary is small, we move these services to our Mission Outreach Center.]
Luke 2:1-20
In the weeks before Christmas, we may ask the people in our families and circles of friends for their Christmas lists. It turns out, God has a Christmas list too. You, friends, are on God’s Christmas list. You are who Jesus came to seek and save at Christmas.
This Christmas, whatever else is going on in your life or in this world, know that in Christ, you are deeply loved and that, in Him, there is forgiveness and everlasting life with God.
As Jesus says elsewhere: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40)
In Christ, you can turn to the God Who is for you.
The Savior in the manger shows us that, to paraphrase Mariah Carey, all God wants for Christmas is you!
Merry Christmas, friends.
Amen
Luke 2:1-20
The message and meaning of Christmas can be put simply. The very simple message is this: God is for you.
Now God gives His law–His commands, of course, because He wants you to see that you and I fail to keep His law and, because only perfectly righteous people can live in God’s presence, you are in dire straits. You need to turn to Him in repentance.
God also gives His Gospel–the good news–that tells you that because God loves you, He sent Jesus to take your sins onto Himself so that He could give His perfect righteousness to all who believe in Jesus.
In the first sermon delivered by a Christian preacher, the apostle Peter tells the crowd who just have heard the Law and the Gospel: “The promise [of the Gospel] is for you…” (Acts 2:39) There’s an immediacy to the Christmas message and to the message about Jesus Christ, that, despite how hard our secular world tries to ignore it, cannot be avoided.
One reason Christmas has become so meaningless for most people is that the miracle of God becoming human to destroy sin and death for all who believe in Him is lost. We forget that God did not do all of this so we can engage in a frenzy of materialism and self-indulgence once a year.
Instead, God became human at Christmas, then went to the cross and rose from the dead for us: for me, for you.
When you hear Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth, you can’t miss the message from God that the promise of Christmas is for you individually, not as members of a numberless, faceless mass of people, but as particular people for whom Jesus came to die and rise.
Let’s look at three different places in Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth where the “for you-ness” of Christmas is underscored..
An angel came to shepherds. Although in the history of God’s people, shepherds were highly regarded, by the first century AD, nobody looked up to shepherds. Shepherds were generally seen as lowlifes. The angel tells the shepherds on Christmas night: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people…” (Luke 2:10) “This news is going to bring joy to all sorts of people,” the angel is saying, “but right now I am bringing it personally to you, the very people the world looks down on!!”
The Lutheran preacher and novelist of the last century, Bo Giertz, said in one Christmas sermon that this message deeply affected the shepherds. The shepherds could see that “God cared about them. God wanted to help them. In the midst of the dark and the cold, during their hard and heavy work, in the midst of all the burdens life had put on them, God came so close to them, so near, and did so much in order for them to understand…It really was good news.”
In Jesus, God is near to you too.
He wants to help you too.
God with us–Immanuel, Jesus–is with you and cares about you every moment.
In all circumstances, there is joy in knowing that in Jesus, God is with you and God is for you!
As I prepare to retire in one week, I wonder how I will do. So much of my identity has been wrapped up in my identity as “pastor” these last 39 years.
But Christmas reminds me that God long ago gave me another identity when I was baptized into Christ and blessing was pronounced over me by Reverend Borton: “Mark James, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Long before there was a Pastor Mark, there was a Mark whom God made His child because, as Christ demonstrates, God is the God Who is for sinners like me and you.
The angel then tells the shepherds, “a Savior has been born to you…” (Luke 2:11) We all need this Savior because we are all sinners. And there are days when all of us feel like failures: as parents, grandparents, spouses, friends, children, employees, bosses, and human beings. Jesus comes to save us from all the condemnation meted out against us by the devil, the world, and our sinful selves. He saves us from condemnation for all our sin and our failings.
The apostle Paul, after talking about his weakness in the face of his sin, cries out: “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
Friends, Jesus the Savior has been born to you and for you! Even if you were the only person in the universe who needed saving, Jesus would have been born to you, gone to the cross for you, and risen for you. That’s how important you are to God!
In this time of year, when you’ll be encouraged to make new year’s resolutions, I hope you won’t consider me a Debby Downer when I tell you that you are incapable of deciding to be a better person. You are incapable of doing it. You can’t make a decision to not be a sinner. You cannot decide to follow Jesus. You cannot decide to be a good person. None of us can. We are bound to acknowledge our vulnerability and our utter lack of invincibility. But Jesus can save you and make you a new person as you daily follow Him. (Luke 9:23)
God’s Word says, “If anyone is in Christ [that is, if anyone is baptized into Christ and lives with Christ in daily repentance and renewal], the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
The Word also tells us, as we mentioned a few days ago, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1) In Jesus, you have a Savior. There is absolute joy in that!
The angel then tells the shepherds: “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)
There were likely many babies in Bethlehem that night, their families back in their ancestral town to be counted in the Roman census. But it’s equally likely that none of the others were sleeping in an animal’s feeding trough.
And who would expect the One the angels described as the Messiah, Savior, and Lord to be in such a place?
You’d expect such a King to be in a palace in a crib covered in gold, attended by armies. But that isn’t how the God Who is for you operates. That is not His M.O.
He enters your life not to intimidate you or force you to bow, although when you see Him in His holiness and perfection, you will inevitably feel compelled to bow down to Him.
God enters your life to, in the words of the Christmas hymn, “cast out [your] sin and enter in”--into your life with forgiveness which, when received by faith will make you righteous in God's sight forever! And so, on the first Christmas, the simple sign that pointed the shepherds to the King and Savior of the world was a manger in a barn.
Today, we don’t need signs. Instead, Jesus comes to us directly in God’s Word and the Sacraments: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Through them, we receive the forgiveness of our sins and saving faith in Jesus, the Savior Who is for us. This too is our joy!
In the weeks before Christmas, we may ask the people in our families and circles of friends for their Christmas lists. It turns out, God has a Christmas list too. You, friends, are on God’s Christmas list. You are who Jesus came to seek and save at Christmas.
This Christmas, whatever else is going on in your life or in this world, know that in Christ, you are deeply loved and that, in Him, there is forgiveness and everlasting life with God.
As Jesus says elsewhere: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40)
In Christ, you can turn to the God Who is for you.
The Savior in the manger shows us that, to paraphrase Mariah Carey, all God wants for Christmas is you!
Merry Christmas, friends.
Amen
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