Sermon for the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Day - Jn 1:1-14

 

          Christmas Day

                                                                                                Jn 1:1-14

                                                                                                12/24/24

 

            Recently I had the ballast in one of the fluorescent lights in the train room go bad.  The train room where my model railroad is located is the unfinished side of our basement.  The basement windows there are no longer visible because a background for the scenery runs around the entire layout.  It extends from the layout up to the ceiling, and it has been painted blue with clouds.

            I turned the power off to that part of the house so that I could replace the ballast. But I soon realized that this created an unforeseen problem.  With the power out, the train room is completely and utterly dark.  There is no source of light whatsoever in the room, and you can’t see anything.  I found that I would have to bring a source of light in so that I could see what I was doing and repair the light that was supposed to be there.

            In our Gospel lesson today, the apostle John describes the world as being a place of utter darkness.  This darkness is a metaphor for the rule of the devil, and the sin and death that he brings.  This darkness encompasses all people, because since the fall, all people have been conceived and born in sin. We are born with the devil as our lord. We are unable to escape the sin that the always in our lives.  And this sin leads to death for all people.

            Today, as we celebrate Feast of Christmas, we learn from our text that God acted to change all this in his Son, Jesus Christ.  The baby in the manger on Christmas Day was God present with us to bring the light of life.

            John begins our text by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  John refers to the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God.  He describes him as the Word because he is the revelation of the Father – he is God speaking to us.

            John tells us that the Son is God.  He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 

            Then at the end of our text John 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.” This verse captures the mystery and wonder of what we are celebrating today.  John tells us that the Word – the Son of God – became flesh.  God became man, without ceasing to be God.  The baby in the manger is the creator of the cosmos.

            John says that the Word became flesh and “dwelt” among us.  With this word the apostle signals that incarnate Son of God was the fulfillment of how God had dwelt with this people in the Old Testament. 

God told Israel in Exodus, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”  Yahweh commanded Israel to make the tabernacle.  In our Old Testament lesson we hear what happened when the tabernacle was completed and was set up.  We learn, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”  The glory – the perceptible presence of God – filled the tabernacle.  The same thing happened when the tabernacle’s replacement, the temple was dedicated.  God demonstrated that through the tabernacle and temple he dwelt in the midst of his people.  It was the place of his located presence.

John tells us that now, the same thing is true of the flesh of Jesus Christ.  He is the located presence of God in the midst of his people.  And just as the temple and tabernacle were the place where sacrifice occurred, so Jesus Christ came to be the sacrifice for us.

John says that we have “we have seen his glory.”  During his ministry Jesus revealed his glory.  John says about Jesus’ miracle of turning water in to wine, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”

Jesus revealed his glory, and this pointed forward to ultimate way in which he would reveal his saving glory – in the cross.  John tells us that during Holy Week Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Then Jesus went on to say, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  John adds, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

            The Son of God became flesh to be nailed to a cross.  Jesus was the Lamb of God who was sacrificed to take away the sins of the world. Christ died because you do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things.  He died because you do not love your neighbor as yourself.

            Jesus gave himself into death on the cross.  But he had said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” On Easter Jesus took it up again as he rose from the dead.

            Sin brings death.  But by his death and resurrection, Jesus has brought life.  John says in our text, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, was the light that entered into the darkness of this world.

            John tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The darkness of Satan, sin, and death were not able to overcome Jesus.  Instead, he conquered them as died on the cross, was buried, and left the tomb as the risen Lord

            Jesus is the light who gives light to all and rescues them from the darkness.  John says in our text, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”  However, many do not want this light.  They want to hang on to their sin.  They refuse to give up their false gods.  John says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

            Yet for those who are called to faith, Jesus gives us the right to be the children of God.  We hear in our text, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

            We learn that it is only God who can give us the gift of faith.  Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”  And so in the water of baptism, God gave you new life.  You were born again of water and the Spirit.  By his grace God has called you to faith in Jesus Christ, and so you are God’s children.  John said in his first epistle, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

            Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Our life is lived in the light of the life that Jesus gives.  Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”  Because of Christ we already have eternal life now. We live in the forgiveness that Christ has won, and know that this forgiveness will be true on the Last Day.

            Because of Christ, we have already passed from death to life.  For this reason, physical death cannot end our life with God.  Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Our life with God will never end, even if our body dies. And Jesus the risen Lord will raise our bodies and transform them to be like his on the Last Day.

            As we live in this new life, Jesus tells us that we will be different from the world. The Lord who served us by giving himself into the suffering and death of the cross, now sends us to serve one another.  Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

            At Christmas, the Word – the Son of God – became flesh.  He became flesh to reveal his saving glory by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.  He was the light of life that came into a world of darkness.  We already share in that life through faith.  And the risen Lord will enter this world once again on the Last Day to give us resurrection life that will never end.

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

          Christmas Eve

                                                                                                Lk 2:1-20

                                                                                                12/24/24

 

            The beginning of our Gospel lesson leaves little doubt about who was in charge.  It says, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.”  Caesar Augustus ordered that a registration be done for the purposes of taxation.  And when Caesar ordered … things happened.  We learn, “And all went to be registered, each to his own town.”

            This had not been the case four decades earlier.  From 133 B.C. to 31 B.C. the Roman world had been racked by civil war.  Large, highly skilled armies had fought against each other in unceasing carnage. The movement of these armies was a constant hardship for the locals because the soldiers forced people to supply and move the army.

            However, Octavian – now known as Augustus – had made moves to play off leaders against each other.  He allied with leaders to eliminate other leaders.  And then he turned against the leader with whom he had been allied.  Finally, in 31 B.C. at the battle of Actium, Augustus had defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

            Augustus became the sole ruler of the Roman world.  He claimed to be “restoring the Republic,” but in fact he was cleverly reorganizing things so that he was the absolute ruler.  He formed a professional army that would carry out his will for conquest as he extended the borders of the Roman Empire.

            Caesar Augustus’ was in charge, and he had brought peace to the Empire.  People were thankful.  This genuine thankfulness was mixed with flattery in a 9 B.C. inscription in Asia Minor.  It described how providence had sent Augustus as a savior.  Augustus was called a god, and his birth was described as “the beginning of the good tidings for the world,” where the Greek word used is the plural form of the word we know in the New Testament as “Gospel.”

            It was Caesar Augustus’ world into which Jesus was born.  Prompted by Augustus’ order, Joseph and the pregnant Mary had journeyed from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David. The timing could not have been worse since Mary was almost due to give birth.

            The registration had brought many people to Bethlehem, and the couple was not able to find lodging.  Instead, they had to settle for the place where animals were kept. When Mary gave birth in that crude place, she wrapped her son in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger. She placed her child Jesus in an animal feeding trough.  Caesar Augustus was in a palace in Rome.  Jesus was in a feeding trough because of Caesar’s order.

            We learn that in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. The shepherds were terrified by the sight.  But the angel said to 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 told the shepherds not to be fearful because he was bringing them good news that would be the source of great joy.  He said a Savior had been born for them – a Savior born in the city of David who was Christ the Lord.  The angel was announcing that the long hoped for Messiah – the descendant of King David – had been born.  He declared that the One who would bring God’s end time salvation had come into the world.

            Yet, since this was the case, what he said next was very puzzling.  He announced: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  The angel gave the shepherds a sign by which they would be able to identify this Savior – this Christ. He would be wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

            Newborn children were wrapped in swaddling clothes. But why would this Savior be lying in an animal feeding trough – in a manger? Yet before the shepherds could ponder this, there suddenly appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

            Prompted by the angels, the shepherds said, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They went and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby Jesus lying in a manger just as the angel had told them. They made known to others what had been told to them about this child, and returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

            Caesar Augustus was born into a family of equestrian status – a family of substantial wealth.  His father had been governor of the province of Macedonia.  His great uncle was Julius Caesar, who in his will adopted Augustus as his son and named him as his heir.

            Jesus Christ was born to a couple of no significance in Galilee.  His father was a carpenter. The circumstances of the place of his birth indicated the humble nature of his existence.

            Yet God was working in the midst of this humility to do something mighty and powerful – something of cosmic significance.  The baby in the manger was far more than he appeared to be.  He was a human being, born of his mother.  But he was also the Son of God. His mother Mary, was a virgin, and yet she had become pregnant.  The angel Gabriel had told her, “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 helpless infant was Immanuel – God with us.  He was true God and true man.

            Joseph and Mary had gone to Bethlehem because Joseph was from the house and lineage of David.  When Joseph took Jesus to be his son, he made Jesus part of the house of David – he made him a son of David.

The angel had announced to the shepherds, “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 said that Jesus was the Savior.  He said that he was the Christ – the promised descendant of David who brought God’s end time salvation.  He said that he was the Lord, and he was indeed God present with us.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God – the Savior who had come into the world.  He had come to save us from Satan, sin, and death.  Since the Fall of Adam and Eve we have been conceived and born as people ruled by Satan.  We have been trapped in sin.  We have been destined for death.

Jesus was present in the world to free us from this.  Yet he had come to do so in a way that reflected the humility of his birth.  Christ freed us by dying on the cross for our sin.  Here again, it looked like Caesar was in charge – this time Tiberius, Augustus’ son.  It was his prefect, Pontius Pilate who condemned Jesus to death and had the crucifixion carried out.

As Jesus died on the cross it appeared that Caesar was in charge. But it was God the Father who had sent the Son to bear our sins upon the cross. It was Jesus who willingly submitted to what he knew was going to happen.  He received the judgment and wrath of God against our sin to win forgiveness for us.

Jesus’ body was buried. And then on the third day, God vindicated Jesus as he raised him from the dead.  By his crucifixion Jesus won the forgiveness of sins.  And in his resurrection he defeated death.  He began the resurrection that will be ours on the Last Day.

The risen Lord has now ascended into heaven and has been exalted at the right hand of God.  His saving work continues as he creates faith and delivers forgiveness.  Yet like the baby in the manger and the man on the cross the means by which he does so appear humble and easily overlooked.  He uses the preached word and the water of baptism to create faith and wash away sins.  He speaks absolution through the mouth of a pastor.  He uses bread and wine to give us his true body and blood, given and shed for you.

It is tempting to look around and think that Caesar is still in charge.  Our government and culture promote every sexual perversion that violates God’s will.  They describe the murder of unborn children as a matter of “reproductive rights.”  The Church continues to diminish in social standing as the culture becomes more and more secular.

But the Church is the creation of the risen Lord.  You are the creation of the risen Lord through water and the word.  You are a new creation in Christ through the work of his Spirit. God has called you out of the world and made you his own.  You live as those redeemed by the Lord.  You are justified.  You already know the verdict of the Last Day.  This is the status you have now, and the world cannot take this way from you.

And while the means through which Christ works seem humble in the present, they point forward to the return of Jesus Christ on the Last Day.  Angels announced the birth of Christ when he was born in Bethlehem. And angels will accompany Jesus Christ as he returns in glory on the Last Day.  Every knee will bow before him and will have to confess that he is Lord.  He will raise the dead and transform creation so that it is very good once again. And we will live with our God forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

         Advent 4

                                                                                    Deut 18:15-19

                                                                                    12/22/24

 

           

Who is the GOAT?  Who is the greatest of all time? This question is a source of ongoing debate and disagreement among sports fans.  In each of the sports, commentators and fans make passionate arguments to support the claim that a particular athlete was the greatest.

It is very rare when a consensus exists, that one athlete can in fact be identified as the GOAT – the greatest of all time.  But in the case of NFL quarterbacks, there is wide agreement that Tom Brady is the greatest.  Incredibly, Brady won the Super Bowl seven times.  What is more, he lost in the Super Bowl three times, and so he took his team to the Super Bowl ten times.  Brady leads all quarterbacks for most completions, most passing yards, and most touchdowns.  He played twenty three seasons, and at 43 was the oldest player to appear in a Super Bowl – a game that he won.

If I turned from sports to the Bible and asked you who was the greatest prophet of all time in the Old Testament, you might be surprised to learn the answer.  Here too there is a clear winner, for Scripture tells us that Moses was the greatest prophet.

Now we don’t usually think of Moses as a prophet.  Instead, we usually consider him to be the “law giver.”  Yet Scripture tells us that Moses was a prophet, and that there was no one else like him.  Moses was the instrument through whom God worked some of his greatest miracles such as the plagues sent upon Egypt, the Passover, and the parting of the Red Sea.  He delivered God’s word to the people of Israel and performed the prophet’s role by calling them to repentance.  Unlike any other prophet, he spoke with God directly in his presence, and as a result of this his skin was shining and he had to put a veil over his face.

In our Old Testament lesson this morning, Moses tells Israel that Yahweh will raise up a prophet like him for the people.  Moses says that God will provide a prophet who is equal to him, and that the people are to listen to what he says.  We learn that in Jesus Christ, God sent this prophet like Moses into the world in order to save us.

Our text this morning is from Deuteronomy which contains the instruction that Moses delivered to the people as they were preparing to enter the promised land after they had wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  Moses says, “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.’”

            Moses is referring to what happened when the people gathered before Mt. Horeb – also known as Mt Sinai – when Yahweh descended on the mountain. There was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.  Mt Sinai was wrapped in smoke because Yahweh had descended on it in fire. The whole mountain trembled greatly.

            God spoke the words of the Ten Commandments to the people. When the people saw all that was taking place they were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” So the people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

            In our text we learn, that for once, Israel had been correct.  God said to Moses, “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.”

            God promised to raise up a prophet like Moses.  This prophet would speak the words of the Lord – he would faithfully deliver God’s word to the people.  He would be God’s unique representative, and Yahweh warned that anyone who did not listen to the words this prophet delivered would face God’s judgment.

            The end of Deuteronomy says, “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.” 

What was true at the end of the writing of Deuteronomy continued to be true during Israel’s history.  God raised up mighty prophets like Samuel, and Elijah and Elisha. But none of them interacted with God in the manner that Moses had.  None of them performed miracles that could rank with what Moses had done. 

As Israel’s history went on, it became clear that they were still waiting for the prophet like Moses.  This prophet became associated with the end time action of God.  He was a figure that people were hoping would appear.  We learn in our Gospel lesson that when John the Baptist appeared and drew so much attention with his ministry, the priests and Levites asked him: “Are you the Prophet?”

During Advent we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  We are reminded that Jesus was born in fulfillment of God’s promises in Scripture. Jesus is the Christ.  He is the Messiah who descended from King David.  He is also the Servant of the Lord – the suffering Servant – promised through Isaiah. Indeed, Jesus is the fulfillment of many different Old Testament promises.  I once had a seminary professor who described Jesus as “the great sucking sound of the New Testament.”  He meant that Jesus draws into himself the many promises of the Old Testament and fulfills them all.

The New Testament tells us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophet like Moses.  In the Book of Acts Peter proclaimed to the people 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.” And then a little later as he talked about Jesus he declared: “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.’”

Jesus performed the miracles of a prophet.  He controlled nature as he stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and on another occasion came to the disciples walking on water.  Last Sunday we heard Jesus summarize his ministry as he replied to John the Baptist’s question by saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Jesus also spoke God’s word as a prophet.  Our Lord said, “He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”  He called people to repentance, just as the prophets always had.  Matthew tells us that Jesus began his ministry as he said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jesus was a prophet.  But at Christmas we will be reminded that he was also more than a prophet.  Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus raised people from the dead.  Yet when Elijah and Elisha did this, they prayed to God and asked him to work the miracle.  Jesus didn’t offer any such prayer.  Instead, he just did it by his own power. He did so because he is the Son of God.  He is the One who is true God and true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

The prophets proclaimed God’s word to the people. And they suffered because of it. They died because of it.  Jezebel promised to kill Elijah, and the prophet fled into the wilderness wishing that God would end his life.  Jeremiah was put in stocks and was thrown into a dry well as a prisoner. John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, and was then executed by beheading.

Jesus was the end time prophet sent by God – the prophet like Moses.  It was his calling to meet with rejection and to die. But as the Son of God, his death was more than a faithful witness.  It was a sacrifice that removed sin.  Peter said that we have been ransomed “with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” 

By his death, Jesus rescued us from sin.  And then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead.  In the resurrection, God rescued us from death.  We may die before Christ returns in glory, but that death cannot separate us from God.  And that death cannot hold onto our bodies because the risen Lord will raise up our bodies to be like his own – bodies that can never die again.

In our text, God says about the prophet like Moses: “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.”

These words remain true for us.  We listen to the word of Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord.  We repent and turn away from our sin when his word confronts us as Law – when it reveals the ways we do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things; when it reveals the ways we do not love our neighbor as ourself.

We listen to his word of Gospel – the good news that we have forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus – through faith alone.  We receive the visible word of the Sacraments by which Jesus applies this forgiveness to us as individuals.

And we listen to his word as he describes life that is prompted by the Spirit working through the Gospel – as he describes life that is true to God’s will.  We listen as Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  We listen as Jesus tells us to forgive others.  We listen as Jesus tell us to trust in God’s provision and care for us.  We listen as Jesus tells us to take up the cross and follow him.  We follow our Lord because by believing in him and keeping his word we have forgiveness and eternal life.

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

Sermon for third mid-week Advent service - Lk 1:57-80

 

Mid-Advent 3

                                                                                       Lk 1:57-80

                                                                                      12/18/24

 

          “And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”  That is what the angel Gabriel told Zechariah when he announced that John the Baptist would be born.  As we heard two weeks ago, Zechariah had doubted the word from the angel that Elizbeth would become pregnant with a son.  So Gabriel told Zechariah that he would be unable to speak until this took place.

          Our text tonight begins with the words, “Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.” Just as Gabriel had said, Elizabeth had conceived and given birth.  Yet we find that Zechariah is still unable to speak.  In fact, we learn that on the eight day after John’s birth, when the friends and family gathered for the circumcision of John, Zechariah still could not speak.  Zechariah must have begun to wonder whether he would ever be able to speak again.

          The circumcision was associated with the naming of the child.  Those present would have called the child Zechariah, after his father.  However, Elizabeth objected that instead he should be named John.  It was pointed out to her, that none of her relatives were called by that name.

          So they made signs to Zechariah, asking what he wanted the child to be called.  He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, 

“His name is John.” And then immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

          Zechariah had not been able to speak. But now he was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied – he spoke words that provided revelation about what God was doing.  He said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people”.  Zechariah praised God because he was now coming to them and he was acting to redeem them – to free them.

          Zechariah declared that God had raised a horn of salvation in the house of David, just as he had spoken by the prophets of the past.  This meant that the Messiah was going to be present – the descendant of king David who brought God’s end time salvation.

          He added that God was showing the mercy promised to their fathers as he remembered his covenant – the oath that he had sworn to Abraham.  God was fulfilling his word, and this was grounded in the promise he had made to the patriarch.

          The Holy Spirit used Zechariah to announce that the time of fulfillment had arrived.  This visitation by God was the fulfillment of the promises that God had made to Abraham and David.  God was keeping his word as he brought redemption to his people.

          And then, Zechariah turned to the role that John would play.  He said, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.”  John would be a prophet for God. He would go before the Lord to prepare his ways – to make ready a people prepared.

          This ministry would give the knowledge of salvation to God’s people in the forgiveness of their sins.  This would be possible because of the compassionate mercy of God.  Zechariah announced that by this mercy, “the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

          Zechariah speaks about the role that John will play.  Just as we heard two weeks ago in the words of Gabriel, once again we find that he will go before the Lord – he will go before God - to prepare the way.  He announces that the Lord God has visited and redeemed his people.

          While John will go before the Lord, the rest of the prophecy speaks about what God will do through the Messiah.  Zechariah says that God “has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.”  When he says “the sunrise shall visit us from on high” he uses a Greek word that was associated with the Messiah.

          John will prepare the way for the Lord – for God.  Yet it is the Messiah descended from David in whom God is working salvation and giving light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. 

There is, at first, something puzzling here. The Messiah was expected to be a descendant of David.  This describes someone who is a human being. And yet Gabriel had told Zechariah that John would go before the Lord God in the spirit and power of Elijah. And here Zechariah prophecies that John will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.

So which is it?  God himself or the Messiah? The answer that we are preparing to celebrate during Advent is that both are true at the same time.  Gabriel had told Mary that her son would be the Messiah.  He said, “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.”

And at the same time, the angel had told Mary that her son would be the Son of God.  When she asked how she, a virgin, would conceive Gabriel said, “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.”

We learn that the Messiah descended from David will also be the Son of God.  He will be a human being born to Mary, and by taking him to be his own Son, Joseph will make him a son of David.  But he will also be God, conceived in the virgin Mary through the work of the Holy Spirit.

No one expected that the Messiah would be God. And no one expected that the Messiah would suffer and die.  Instead, the Messiah was portrayed as mighty, powerful, and victorious.  Psalm 2 provided one of the verses most quoted by Jews about the Messiah. It described what he would do to the nations as it said, “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

However, Jesus Christ had come for the purpose of winning the forgiveness of sins mentioned in our text.  He came in order to redeem us.  And he did this through the cross. St. Paul told the Philippians: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Christ died to win forgiveness for us.  And then on Easter God raised him from the dead.  He defeated death and began the resurrection that will be ours as well.  Because of his resurrection, Jesus is the One who gives “light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”  The resurrection of Jesus means that death is not the end.  Instead, it is the beginning of life with Christ which knows no sin or pain. And the resurrection of Jesus means that he will raise our bodies from the dead when he returns in glory.

In tonight’s text Zechariah prophecies, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” We will celebrate at Christmas that Jesus is God visiting and redeeming his people, and that he is the Messiah who descended from David. True God and true man he is the One who has given us forgiveness and salvation.