Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas - Isa 11:1-5

 

   Christmas 1

                                                                                                Isa 11:1-5

                                                                                                12/28/25

 

           

            Around the middle of the third century B.C., the land that had been Israel was ruled by the Seleucids. These were descendants of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, and they were adherents of Greek culture and pagan religion. For reasons that are not entirely understood, in 167 B.C. Antiochus IV began a religious persecution of the Jews.  The sacrifices in the temple were suspended.  The cult of Zeus was set up in temple and swine’s flesh was offered there.  Antiochus ordered that the Torah be burned.  He forbade circumcision and ordered Jews to eat pork.  The death penalty was administered to those who refused to comply.

            In response, in 166 a rural member of a priestly family, named Mattathias, began an uprising. It has come to be known at the Maccabean revolt after one of Mattathias’ sons, Judas Maccabeus. They gained control of Jerusalem and in 164 B.C. the temple was rededicated to God – the event celebrated at Hannukah.  In the years that followed during 167-141, what had begun as an uprising about religious freedom and restoration became a war of national independence.

The Hasmoneans - those who descended from Mattathias - gained control over Palestine and ruled it during the years 141-63 B.C as they established their own kingdom.  They expanded rule over what had been Israel’s enemy Edom in the south, and over Galilee in the north. The Hasmoneans weren’t from the line of David, and made no claims to being the Messiah, but the Jews were glad that they ruled themselves.

All of this came to a crashing end in 63 B.C. when the Roman general Pompey conquered Palestine. Herod the Great, who was himself from the land that had been Edom, was appointed by the Romans as the petty king who ruled in their stead. The Jews could see that they no longer ruled themselves. Instead, the Geniles were in charge.

Some time after Pompey’s conquest, a Jew wrote a work that we now know as the Psalms of Solomon. There he responded to what had happened, and asked God to raise up the Messiah to deliver his people.  He wrote, “See, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel in the time known to you, O God.”

This writer used language from our text – Isaiah chapter eleven – as he asked God to work through the Messiah – the Christ as he was known in Greek.  He added: “Undergird him with the strength to destroy the unrighteous rulers, to purge Jerusalem from Gentiles who trample her to destruction; in wisdom and righteousness to drive out the sinners from the inheritance; to smash the arrogance of sinners like a potter’s jar; To shatter al their substance with an iron rod; to destroy the unlawful nations with the word of his mouth.”

This text gives us a good idea about what some Jews hoped God would do through his Messiah – the descendant of King David.  It’s not hard to understand why they thought this way. In our Old Testament lesson this morning we hear Isaiah’s prophecy about this One. He begins by saying, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.”

Isaiah wrote in the eighth century B.C. at a time when most of the kings who descended from David – men like Ahaz – were a great disappointment. They did not trust and believe in Yahweh. But God promised that he would raise up a descendant from the line of David. This descendant would not be just another king. Instead, God would place his Spirit upon him – he would be the Messiah of the end times.

God says through Isaiah, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Through his Spirit, God would endow this One with all that he needed to walk in God’s ways as ruler. His delight would be in the fear of the Lord and he would judge righteously. The poor would be treated fairly. And he would act with decisive judgment against the wicked.  Isaiah says in our text, “he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

This Messiah would mean victory for God’s people as he enacted God’s will. But he would bring more than that.  He would bring peace. He would be the Prince of Peace as Isaiah had described in chapter nine. He would bring a peace that would extend to all creation. Just after our text Isaiah goes on to say, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.”

This One would be the instrument through whom God would bring the peace of the end times. Isaiah added: “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Just as the peace that the Messiah would bring was cosmic, so his work was not limited to Israel.  Isaish said of the Messiah in this chapter, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” This would be the time when as Isaiah said in chapter two, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Instead of war, all nations would come to the God of Israel.  Isaiah said, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’”

There is little doubt that this is what Simeon expected God to do.  Luke tells us that Simeon was righteous and devout Jew who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. But he was more than just a faithful Jews. We learn that the Holy Spirit was upon him – he was endowed with the Spirit like the prophets of the Old Testament. And indeed, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

When Mary and Joseph came to the temple with the infant Jesus in order to redeem their first born son, and to offer a sacrifice for the purification of Mary, Simeon was prompted by the Spirit to meet them. He took Jesus in his arms and praised God because he had fulfilled his word in revealing the Christ to him. He spoke the words that we know so well from the Nunc Dimittis: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

And if I stopped there, everything would be wonderful.  We have the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah – the One endowed with the Spirit who brings peace and God’s salvation. We have Simeon holding the fulfillment of God’s Word, saying he can depart in peace because he has seen God’s salvation.

But then Simeon goes on to say: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” This is the Christ – the Messiah. And yet Simeon says that he appointed for the fall of many in Israel.  Simeon reveals that he is for a sign that is opposed.  He even says that a sword will pierce Mary’s soul.

As we read our Old Testament lesson in light of our Gospel lesson, we learn that the subject of the Christ is not quite what it appears. Now there is no doubt that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah.  As Isaiah describes he will go forth and have the Spirit rest upon him.  At his baptism he is anointed with the Spirit and will walk in the ways of the Lord.

But rather than striking the earth with the rod of his mouth and killing the wicked with the breath of his lips, he meets resistance and rejection. Luke indicates this by beginning his account of Jesus’ ministry with his visit to Nazareth. There Jesus reads the words of Isaiah chapter 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

When he had rolled up the scroll and given it back to the attendant he sat down and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And the people’s reaction to this and what Jesus said afterwards? Luke tells us: “When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.”

The Scripture lessons for the First Sunday after Christmas set a paradox before us. Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah – promised in Isaiah chapter 11. And yet he is merely an infant in Simeon’s arms – an infant appointed for the fall of many in Israel; an infant appointed for a sign that is opposed.

Jesus is indeed both of these things. In fact, he can only carry out the role given to him by Father for our salvation by being both.  Jesus is the Christ.  But our Lord was not only the fulfillment of God’s word about the Christ. He was in fact the fulfillment of all of God’s word in the Old Testament.  He is the Christ, but he is also the suffering Servant who bears the sins of all.  He is One to whom all of the sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed.

There can be no peace where there is sin.  There can be no peace where there is death. At Christmas, the One conceived by the Holy Spirit was born of the virgin Mary in this world. As Paul tells us in the Epistle lesson, “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.”  Christ redeemed us from sin by taking our sin and dying for it. Paul said of God that, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”

Jesus died and was buried in a tomb. But Christ was also the One through whom God was working to defeat death. On Easter, God raised our Lord from the dead.  In the resurrected body of Jesus he overcame death and began the resurrection of the Last Day. Because of this we now have peace. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We have peace with God now, for we already know the verdict of the Last Day. And we have peace because we know that bodily death is not the end. Instead to die is to be with Christ. And on the Last Day when he returns in glory, we will share in his resurrection.  Paul told the Corinthians, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

All of us have been baptized into Christ. This means that we have received Christ’s saving work. But it means more than just that.  Paul told the Corinthians, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Through baptism we are the Church – the Body of Christ.

As the Body of Christ in this world, the Church now reflects the same character as Christ during his ministry. On the one hand we are the saints of God who are justified before him. But on the other, we too are for a sign that is opposed.

The last twenty five years have seen a dramatic change for the Church.  Church attendance and membership have declined. At the same time, those who identify as having no religious beliefs – the “nones” – are increasing.  As she follows the teaching of God’s word about sexuality, we in the church find ourselves opposed by an ever increasing tide of sexual immorality in our culture. To say that sex should only occur in marriage; that couples should not live together until married; that homosexuality is sinful; and that marriage is between a man and woman for life, is to invite the world’s disdain and rejection.

This is discouraging and it certainly gets old. But in our Old Testament reading this morning we receive encouragement.  Baptized into Christ we are walking the way of Christ who suffered and died for us.  But Christ who was anointed with the Spirit and died is also the One who was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of God in the ascension.

He is the Lord who will return in glory on the Last Day – the One who will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and kill the wicked with the breath of his lips. We will share in Christ’s vindication when he returns, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The victory that Christ has already won will be ours for all to see.

And then we will live in the new creation with our Lord. We will live in the world where the wolf will dwell with the lamb. There will be no pain, or suffering or death, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Sermon for the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Day: Ex 40:17-21, 24-38

 

   Christmas Day

                                                                                                            Ex 40:17-21, 24-38

                                                                                                            12/25/25

 

 

            “Some assembly required.” These are words that every parent dreads on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The anticipation of a son or daughter has been building as Christmas approached. The tree had been set up and decorated. And then the presents had been placed under the tree. The child had looked at the present and perhaps held it – dying to know what was inside.

            Then on Christmas Eve or Day the child opens the present and is thrilled to see the toy that is inside. He or she is can’t wait to play with it. They want to do so right now. And yet those three words now stand in the way: “Some assembly required.”

            Thankfully, I am no longer in the phase of life where I face this challenge. But I certainly remember having to read and follow directions on Christmas Day in order to get a toy ready so that the kids could play with it.  After the sermon writing, preaching, and preparation during Advent, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all I wanted to do was sit back and relax. But there in front of me was a set of directions I had to decipher so that the joy of the present could be fulfilled.

            In our Old Testament lesson for Christmas Day we hear about how Moses set up the tabernacle as God’s glory came to dwell in the midst of Israel. We will see that he and Israel had directions that they had to follow, and that assembly was required. In the tabernacle we encounter an Old Testament type that has found fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  And we learn about how Christ continues to be present and give forgiveness to us today.

            Our text this morning narrates the process by which the Moses set up the tabernacle and placed all of the furnishings that had been made for it. Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egyptian slavery in the exodus. He had taken them into a covenant with himself at Mt Sinai. They were his treasured possession. And so God announced that he was going to be with his people in a new and specific way. He said, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”

            The tabernacle was going to be the means by which God dwelt in the midst of his people. And the construction of the tabernacle was not left to chance. Instead, God said, “Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”  Many items would be needed to make the tabernacle – things like gold, silver, blue and purple thread, and acacia wood. God told Moses to take up a contribution from the people. He said, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.”

            Yahweh provided the directions about how to make the tabernacle and all its furnishings. We hear about this in Exodus chapters 25 to 31. God also uniquely endowed two Israelite men with the Spirit to provide artistic skill and craftsmanship for making these things. At the heart of the tabernacle stood the Ark of the Covenant, and its lid the mercy seat with the wings of cherubim extending over it. God said, “And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.”

            In our text we learn that Moses set everything up. Next we hear: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”  A cloud covered the tabernacle, and then Moses wasn’t able to enter it because the glory of the Lord – the perceptible presence of God - filled the tabernacle.

            The tabernacle was the located means by which Yahweh dwelt in the midst of his people. The tabernacle, and Ark of the Covenant which was contained in the Holy of Holies, was the means – the thing God used to be with them.  Israel knew how God was present for them as the tabernacle was located in the center of the camp.

            As our text describes, the cloud and the pillar of fire over the tabernacle directed their journeys.  God brought Israel into the promised land, and eventually he used Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem as the permanent replacement for the tabernacle. At its dedication the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies. Then we learn: “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.”

            The tabernacle, and then temple, was the located means by which God dwelt with his people. It was also the means by which God dealt with their sins. In the sacrifices, such as the sin offering God promised, “And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.”  And then once a year on the Day of Atonement the priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of a sacrifice on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant – on the mercy seat – to remove the contamination of their sin.  God provided the sacrifices as the means by which he the holy God dwelt in the midst of a sinful people.

            Today we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. During Advent we remembered how the birth of Christ had been promised by God in the Old Testament. But Jesus was the fulfillment of more than just statements made by God’s prophets. He was the fulfillment of all that is found in the Old Testament. This includes the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, and the sacrifices. These things were types – means by which God acted in the Old Testament that pointed forward to what he would do in Christ.

            John makes this point clear in our Gospel lesson. He tells us that the Son of God – the Word – is God.  He is the One who created the cosmos. John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

            And then John explains what happened on Christmas as he writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The apostle declares that the Son of God became flesh – he became man without ceasing to be God.

            When John says that the incarnate Word “dwelt” with us, the Greek word he employs is based on the same root of the noun that was used to translate “tabernacle.” We could almost translate it, “he tabernacled among us.” And note that John refers to glory, just as we hear in our text that the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The apostle wants us to know that all of which had been true of the tabernacle as the means by which God dwelt among his people is now true of Jesus Christ.

            Jesus himself makes this identification. After Jesus cleansed the temple in John chapter 2 the Jews ask him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”  Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then the Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But then John tells us, “he was speaking about the temple of his body.”

            At Christmas, the baby Jesus was the located means of God for us. He was the Son of God, bodily located in this world – God acting at a place and time to save people who live a bodily existence at a place and time.

            We have mentioned that the tabernacle and temple were the location of sacrifices offered in the Old Testament. And the cover of the Ark of the Covenant – the mercy seat- was the means by which sacrificed blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement.  Jesus was present as the sacrifice and means of atonement. The Son of God was lying in the manger at Christmas so that his body could be nailed to the cross on Good Friday.

Jesus was the sacrifice for sin because we are sinful people who cannot be in the presence of the holy God. St Paul told the Romans: “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” 

Jesus Christ the sinless One died for you as he received God’s judgment against sin.  Christ’s death atoned for you – it removed sin as the barrier to fellowship with God. Paul told the Colossians, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

We see in our Old Testament lesson that the tabernacle was the located means by which God dwelt in the midst of his people. Christmas reminds us that as the fulfillment of the tabernacle, the same thing is now true of Jesus Christ. We see a pattern here as God uses the things of this world to come to us. He locates himself in ways so that we know where he is present for us.

These actions reflect the way God made the world and us. God made a material creation that was very good.  He made us as the unity of body and soul to live in this world.  In the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, the Father has freed us from sin and redeemed bodily life – a redemption Paul says that we will experience on the Last Day when Christ raises up our bodies from the dead.

Now, the risen Lord continues to use located means by which he is present for us and delivers the forgiveness he has won. He instituted the Sacrament of the Altar as he uses bread and wine to give us his true body and blood. Christ comes bodily into our midst. Just as the Son of God was the baby in the manger, so now it is his body and blood at the altar. We eat and drink in the assurance that this is his body and blood given and shed for us.

As we prepare to receive the Sacrament we will sing in the Sanctus, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The Lord who came as a baby at Christmas, comes to us now in his body and blood. But this coming in the Sacrament also points us to the day when he returns in glory. As Paul told the Corinthians, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

In our Old Testament lesson for Christmas we see that the tabernacle was the located means by which God was present with his people and provided forgiveness and atonement. It was a type that pointed forward to Jesus Christ. On Christmas we celebrate the fact that the Son of God entered our world to save us. God was at work through the located means of the incarnate Son of God. By his death on the cross Jesus Christ has won forgiveness and made atonement. The risen Lord gives this to us now through his body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. And the One who comes to us bodily this morning in the Sacrament will come in glory on the Last Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Sermon for the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Eve: Lk 2:1-20

 

   Christmas Eve

                                                                                                            Lk 2:1-20

                                                                                                            12/24/25

 

           

This year there has been an intense national focus on immigration and what should be done about illegal aliens who are now living in the United States. And so I guess it’s not surprising that in the days leading up to Christmas there have been a number of individuals who have tried to drag Mary and Joseph into the discussion by comparing their experience to these modern situations. However, any attempt to do so reflects a lack of understanding about the historical setting in which they lived.  And these same historical facts help us to understand how God was at work in the birth of Jesus Christ.

When Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, they never left one country and entered into another. They were, in fact, within the kingdom of Herod the Great the entire time. The Romans had conquered this area in 63 B.C. However, their typical practice on the eastern end of the empire during this period was not to take direct control over lands. Instead, they established client states that served as a buffer zone that separated the Romans from the Parthian and then Persian empires.

These client states were ruled by petty kings, and Herod the Great was one of these kings. Herod ruled a kingdom that was larger than the one over which David had been king. In an impressive display of being a survivor, Herod had managed to ingratiate himself to whichever Roman leader happened to be controlling Palestine at that time. Herod ran the affairs of his kingdom, but there was no doubt about who controlled him. He answered to the Roman emperor.

As our text indicates, at the time when Jesus was born, that man was Augustus.  For more than fifty years, the Roman Empire had been racked by wars as leaders vied for control. Augustus had come out on top, and he took actions which transformed the Roman Empire into something that was truly ruled by one man – by him.

Our text begins by stating, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” Augustus ordered a census, and normally a census led directly into Roman taxation.  The available evidence indicates that typically a census was done for lands that were under direct Roman rule. But in this case it apparently also included lands that were under their indirect control – a land like the kingdom of Herod the Great.

And that probably explains what our text describes: “And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David.”  Normally a Roman census was done according to where a person lived. But there was some accommodation to local settings, and so in the Jewish land of Herod it was done on the basis of family lineage.

Joseph and the pregnant Mary had not travelled to Bethlehem for the purpose of living there. They weren’t “immigrants.”  And there was nothing illegal about their activity. In fact, quite the opposite, the only reason they were in Bethlehem was because they were obeying what the government had told them to do.  I’ll have more to say about that in a moment.

There was no doubt that the timing of the decree was terrible for this young couple. We learn in our text that Mary was pregnant, and it turns out that when they made the trip she was close to giving birth. When they arrived in Bethlehem they didn’t find the normal accommodations. They probably expected to stay in an extra room at the home of extended family. The Greek word translated as “inn” in our text doesn’t mean a place where travelers rent a room. There is a different word for that, and Luke uses it in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Instead, the word used refers to an extra room in a house that’s available for use. The influx of people for the census probably meant they weren’t the only extended family who showed up looking for housing. When Mary and Joseph arrived, there was no more room in the house, and so they were given the next best thing available – a stable where animals were kept. This is the reason that when Mary gave birth, after she had done the typical practice of wrapping Jesus in swaddling cloths, she did the very unusual action of laying him in a manger.

Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem because of forces over which they had no control. An emperor had issued a decree.  A king was obeying by implementing it. And they had to obey. But what we now know, is that the emperor was subject to the One who controls all things.  St. Paul told the Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son.”

God acted at the right moment according to his plan. He, the Creator of all things, had used empires in the past as the tools by which he carried out his purposes. He had used the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, and the Persians. He had used Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus. And now he was using the Romans and Augustus. He used them to cause Mary and Joseph to be in Bethlehem at the time when Mary gave birth to Jesus.

God was at work doing great things.  Yahweh had promised David that he would establish the throne of his kingdom forever. He promised that this Messiah descended from David would be the One who would bring God’s end time salvation.

Through Isaiah he declared that the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon the descendant of David. He said, “And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.” This One would destroy the evil and he would bring peace. He would be as our Old Testament lesson says, “the Prince of Peace.” He would bring a cosmic peace in which “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.”

The trip to Bethlehem was not the first unplanned difficulty that Mary had experienced.  Her pregnancy itself was unplanned and unexpected. The angel Gabriel had appeared to Mary and announced to her that she would give birth to the Messiah. The angel said of the child: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

            When she asked how this would happen for her, a virgin, Gabriel revealed breathtaking news: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God.”  The Spirit of God caused Mary to become pregnant with the One who is the Son of God. When Joseph who was from the line of David took Mary and the unborn child as his own, Mary’s child became part of David’s line.

            God was doing great things. He had used the Emperor Augustus to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at the time when Mary was to give birth to Jesus the Christ – the Messiah. He had done so because this fulfilled his word that he had spoken through the prophet Micah: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

            And in our text we learn that God announced the great things he was doing. An angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds in the area around Bethlehem with the glory of the Lord. He told them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” The angel declared that the promised Messiah had been born in Bethlehem.  This was good news of great joy for all people because as God’s Word had declared, this One was the Savior – the One who brought God’s end time salvation.

            But in the midst of all this, there was one puzzling fact. The angel concluded by saying, “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  They would know they had found the right child, when they found a baby in a manger – in a feeding trough for animals. When they went to Bethlehem, they found exactly what God had revealed to them. They found Mary and Joseph, and the infant Christ lying in manger.

            Our text tells us that God is doing great things.  He uses an emperor to fulfill his word. He sends his Son into the world. He provides the descendant of David who is the Messiah – the One who brings his end time salvation. And yet when the shepherds come to see it they find only a helpless baby lying in a manger.   A baby in a feeding trough? One would be hard pressed to find a more humble scene.

            In this we begin to learn that God does big things in ways that look small – in ways that don’t look like what they really are. Jesus is the Son of God – the Christ who brings God’s end time salvation. The reason that we need salvation is the sin that exists in our lives from the moment of conception – the sin that finds it source in the disobedience of Adam. Conceived in sin, we then live in sin. We do not trust in God, and put him first. We act in selfish ways as we ignore the needs of our spouse, children, parents, and friends. We are jealous of the success and wealth of others as we covet.

            Jesus Christ was in this world to be the means by which God provided the answer to this sin. Sin evokes God’s wrath and judgment. As God had said since the beginning, sin brings death. And so God sent forth his Son to take your place and redeem you. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus is true God and true man.  At his baptism he took your place and then went to the cross. The baby was in the manger on Christmas Eve, so that the man could hang on the cross on Good Friday.  Jesus received God’s wrath and judgment against your sin as he died on the cross.  St Paul told the Corinthians, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 

            A man dying on a cross appeared to be nothing – less than nothing. But on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. He raised our Lord who is still true God and true man with a body that can never die again. He vindicated Jesus and showed that the cross had in fact been God doing the greatest thing for our salvation. In the resurrection we see that Jesus is the Christ who brings God’s end time salvation, because he is the beginning of the resurrection of the Last Day.

            The risen Lord is now the ascended Lord seated at God’s right hand. He will return in glory on the Last Day and bring all that Isaiah described about the Messiah.  He will judge and condemn the wicked who will be powerless before him. He will raise up our bodies and transform them to be like his own. He will renew creation and make it very good once again – a place of peace for man and all of God’s creatures.

            The God who acted in Jesus Christ is still doing great things today. But like the infant Jesus in a manger, they often look small and humble. He is doing it right now. This is not a big and impressive building. I am a nobody in this world – just a man proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But this word in this place is good news of great joy for you. Through this word the Spirit of Christ is giving you forgiveness and sustaining you as the child of God. This word is the power of God for salvation for all who believe.

            On the altar you see nothing more than bread and wine. But in a few moments Christ will take that bread and wine and use it to give you his true body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. He will come into our midst bodily and give to you the very price he paid for your salvation. The risen Lord will give his body and blood into your bodies in the guarantee that he will raise your body and make it like his own on the Last Day.

            Jesus Christ is doing these things now. They may look small, but they are indeed great for it is the crucified and risen Lord who is doing them.  And they will keep us as God’s people until the day when Christ returns in glory  - the day when God does great things in great ways that all will see.

           

 

 

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent - Dt 18:15-19

 

    Advent 4

                                                                                                                        Dt 18:15-19

                                                                                                                        12/21/25

 

                       

What do you think of when you hear the word “prophet” in the Bible?  Most likely, you think of someone who foretells future events. Advent is certainly a time that makes us think about this since we focus on the prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled in Christ.  Prophets like Isaiah said what God would do in the future, and then God’s action accomplished it. So when the virgin Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, Matthew tells us, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us).’”

Yet while this is the association that we usually have, it really isn’t very accurate. To be sure some prophets did make prophecies about the future. But this was in fact a small part of their work.  Instead, the primary task of the prophet was to declare God’s Word to the people.  His work was to teach them about God’s ways, and to call them to repentance when they sinned. This was the basic task of prophecy, and it continues to be the case when we find prophets mentioned in the New Testament.

This understanding is very important as we come to our text today from Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy we have the words that Moses spoke to Israel as they were about to cross over into the promised land. The adults who had refused to enter the promised land, had all now died in the wilderness.  It was a new generation – most of whom had not experienced the exodus – that were about to cross over. And so Moses reviews what God had done and teaches the people about God’s law – his Torah.

Moses begins our text by saying, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’”

Now the thing that probably catches our attention is the fact that Moses identifies himself as a prophet. We don’t normally think about Moses in this way. Instead, we usually associate him with the Law given at Mt Sinai – we identify him as the “law giver.”  But in Hebrew, the word translated as “Law” – Torah – is based on a root that means “to teach.” Law is not an inaccurate translation, but we need to understand that the Torah is God’s teaching about how the people are to live according to his will.  It is God’s Word.  Moses is the one who gave God’s Word to the people, and so he is rightly called a prophet.

In our text we learn that Moses became the prophet who spoke God’s word to the people because the people couldn’t bear to hear from God directly. After the exodus when they came to Mt Sinai, Yahweh descended upon the mountain. It was an awesome scene as there was thunder and lightning. There was a thick cloud on the mountain. God descended on the mountain in fire and the mountain trembled as smoke went up like a furnace.

In response the people said, “Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore, lest I die.” They wanted nothing more of a direct encounter with Yahweh. So Moses took on the role of being a mediator. After God enacted the covenant with Israel, Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Torah. Moses was before God and this began a pattern in which he continued to do so. When he returned from these encounters with God, the skin of his face was shining and he had to put a veil over his face so as not to frighten the people.

Moses was not permitted to enter the promised land.  He died and was buried by God. At the very end of Deuteronomy we are told, “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

Scripture calls Moses a prophet, and says that there was no one else who could compare with him. This was so because Moses knew God face to face – he encountered God’s presence in a way that no one else did. In addition, this passage calls attention to the powerful miracles for which God used Moses. There were the ten plagues on Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea.  There was water from a rock, and the bronze serpent on a pole.

At Mt Sinai the people did not want to encounter God directly anymore. In our text, God says, “They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”

Yahweh promised to raise up a prophet like Moses. And note what this prophet will do. God says that he will put his words in the prophet’s mouth so that he can speak God’s word to the people. The word of this prophet will be the word of God, and anyone who ignores this word will receive God’s judgment.

As you would expect, the words of our text attracted interest among Jews at the time of Jesus. In addition to the prophet like Moses, God had also revealed through Malachi that he would send his messenger to prepare the way. He said he would send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord arrived.  We hear the questions about these figures swirling around in today’s Gospel lesson as the priests and Levites come to John and ask questions about who he is.

But because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection we have no uncertainty regarding who the prophet like Moses is. In the book of Acts Peter declared to those at the temple, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.”

God had glorified Jesus in his resurrection and ascension. Peter said that he is the One, “whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.”

Jesus is the prophet like Moses promised by God. Moses said that this future prophet would speak God’s Word. John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus is in fact the Word become flesh. He is the Son of God incarnate among us – God himself speaking his word to us.  Jesus spoke on his own authority. In the Sermon on the Mount he repeatedly said, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…”  Jesus is the One who reveals not only God’s love for us, but who also instructs us in how to live as those who have received God’s saving reign.

God used Moses to work signs and wonders – to work miracles. Miracles were a feature of the prophets who followed Moses. This was especially true of the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. During his ministry we see Jesus do the same kinds of things that these ninth century B.C. prophets had done. He healed lepers, provided miraculous feedings for crowds, and raised the dead. By his actions Jesus demonstrated that he was the prophet like Moses.

Moses and the prophets who followed him spoke God’s word. They often worked miracles. And there is one more thing that characterized their ministry: they were rejected, suffered, and died.  Moses gave the people God’s word and they repeatedly disobeyed. They worshipped the golden calf. They refused to enter the promised land. They worshipped the false god Baal at Peor.

Moses bore the burden of the people’s continual rejection. They grumbled at Moses about not having food. They quarreled with Moses about not having water. He faced a rebellion led by Korah. At times he felt overwhelmed by it all. When they complained to Moses about the manna he said to God, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?” And then he added, “I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

The people ignored the prophets who followed. We hear in 2 Kings, “Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.”

The prophets suffered. Elijah felt that his ministry was a failure. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”  Jeremiah was threatened with death and thrown into a well. And the prophets were killed. As Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”

Jesus was the prophet like Moses who came to suffer and die.  He said, “Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”  Yet this season of Advent prepares us to remember that Christ is more than just a prophet. He is the Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.

Moses knew God face to face. His face shown as it reflected the glory of God. But Jesus is the Son begotten of the Father from all eternity.  As the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

Moses was the mediator between God and Israel. But Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and all peoples of all times. St Paul told Timothy, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”  Christ suffered and died on the cross as the sacrifice that has won forgiveness.  He was, as John the Baptist declared “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

In his life and death Jesus was the fulfillment of all that was written in the Old Testament. He was the Christ. He was the Servant of the Lord. He was the temple as God dwelt with his people. He was the sacrifice. And he was the prophet like Moses. By his suffering and death Jesus won forgiveness for us. And then on Easter God raised him from the dead. In the resurrection, death has been defeated and eternal life has begun.

On the evening of his resurrection Jesus said to the disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

In our text today God says, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”  Jesus continues to speak God’s Word to us. He does so through the Scriptures which have been inspired by his Spirit – the Spirit breathed Word of God.

But this raises the question: Are you listening?  To listen means that we must take time out of our other activities. We must set aside time to listen. This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, we make time for the people and things that are important to us.

In order to listen to Christ’s Word we need to hear, read, and study the Scriptures. So how much time did you spend listening to Jesus Christ this past week? What place does God’s Word have in your daily schedule?

The Scriptures are the means by which Christ comes to us. Through them we receive the forgiveness that he has won by his death and resurrection. Through them the Spirit strengthens faith in Christ so that we can trust in God in the midst of every circumstance. And through them Christ teaches us what life looks like for those who live according to God’s will.

Your life will be better if you read God’s Word.  Your marriage will be better if you read God’s Word. You will be a better husband; a better wife; a better Christian if you read God’s Word. That is Scripture’s own witness about itself. St Paul told Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

So find a regular time in your day to read Scripture. And take up a pattern of reading that is going to lead you through God’s Word. I strongly encourage you to use the one that has been adopted by the spiritual resources of our church body: it’s found in the Treasury of Daily Prayer and through the InPrayer app on your phone. It’s the insert in your bulletin, and is on our church website – complete with a link to those texts.

Through the Scriptures we receive the crucified and risen Lord. We listen to his word by which he comforts and strengthens us.  He teaches us how to live as God’s children, and provides the Spirit who makes this possible.