The sermon for December 5 was based on Luke 21:25-36.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the lessons for today you again hear the double focus of the advent season. As you prepare to celebrate the first advent of the Lord, also be mindful of His promised second advent. Clearly the Gospel appointed for today keeps you mindful of the second coming of Christ: "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Many Christians also read into the other lessons the second coming of Christ. Malachi begins, "For behold, the day is coming . . ." [4:1] and St. Paul speaks of Him, "who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles." [12] Those who see in these texts the second advent of Christ to set up some future millennial kingdom are sadly mistaken. While the Gospel lesson looks forward to the Last Day, the other lessons look at the first advent of Christ, when He established His true and everlasting kingdom. Thus these lessons are well suited to this holy season, looking both forward to the Lord's second advent and back to His first advent and what He accomplished.

Both the prophet Malachi and the apostle Paul look to the first advent of Christ as the establishment of His kingdom over all nations. In this kingdom, beginning with His first advent, Christ reigns over the Gentiles as they hope in Him. This kingdom is the Church.

The error of those who confuse the two advents of Christ is not new. The Jews of Jesus' day also expected the Messiah to establish an earthly kingdom. This confusion arises because of man's fallen mind, NOT because of any confusion in the Word of God. There is no confusion or error in the source of truth. The flaw is in man's sin-sick imagination. This flaw has a name: it is called the theology of glory. Those who preach and teach a political kingdom of Christ are intoxicated with the theology of glory. They crave a better world, a world without war and terrorism, a world without pain and suffering, a world without death. Why not? This desire is quite natural. But what is natural to fallen men is sin.

Wouldn't it be nice to have Jesus in the White House, ruling not only this country, but the entire world? I am not talking about the meek and mild Jesus of the manger, either. I am talking about the second coming Jesus, "the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." He would storm out of heaven with His celestial armies and sweep across the battlefield in all His might. The armies of the godless would fall, crushed beneath His feet like grapes in a winepress. Moslems and Hindus and pagans would either submit to His rule and convert or submit their necks to the sword of His vengeance. And then He would promote all good Christians to positions of power and authority on this earth. If you have been especially faithful, you may even get to govern your own province, as the wealth of all nations filled the treasuries of the kingdom. Wouldn't that be great? What could be wrong with that?

It is contrary to the Word of God; that's what's wrong with it. It bypasses the cross, or pushes it into insignificance. It is a false and empty hope. It causes people to look forward to something which will never happen, while they cease looking where they should be looking: at the cross of Christ. Without the first advent, the second advent would bring you everlasting hell. Without the cross there is no glory. For the cross is the glory of Christ. The enemies of Christ are not conquered by weapons and armor; the enemies of Christ are conquered by the cross, and they are conquered already. His first advent accomplished this.

There is another error of the theology of glory. It assumes a wrong goal of Christ and His work. The goal of Christ and His work is not world domination-not in the political sense. Christ did not come to establish an earthly kingdom, nor shall He come to do so. As He so plainly told Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; as it is My kingdom is not from here." [Jn 18:36] Rather, Christ came specifically to endure the cross. He came so that He would be delivered to the Jews, turned over to the Romans, and nailed to the accursed tree. This is exactly the opposite of establishing an earthly kingdom. This is exactly the opposite of the theology of glory.

So what is the goal of Christ and His work? In spite of what I have been saying, the goal is the defeat of the enemies of Christ, the goal is world domination, the goal is the establishment of a world-wide kingdom. But these goals are accomplished not through glory, but through shame; not through conquest, but through suffering; not through wealth, but through sacrifice; not through victory, but through defeat. Furthermore, the enemies, the domination, and the kingdom are not political, but spiritual, and that is the key to understanding both advents of Christ.

The enemies of Christ are His enemies not because they take up the sword against Him and His kingdom, but because they sin against His holy majesty. And here is where the message gets a bit uncomfortable. It is so easy to sit back in your smug Christianity and sneer and jeer at those pagan enemies of Christ, those persecutors of His saints. The glory theologians can write volumes about those wicked servants of the devil, and look forward with glee to their destruction. But they don't see the real enemy of Christ. Not those who take up the sword, but those who take up sin are Christ's enemies. And those who are still in their sin when He comes on the Last Day will surely be destroyed. The enemy is not so much out there; the enemy is within your sinful flesh. That old Adam, who rebels against God and shakes his defiant fist at the Lord of hosts-he is the enemy who must be destroyed. To put it bluntly, the enemy of Christ is your own sinful self.

Glory theologians will not admit this. Your old Adam refuses to admit this, though he knows that it's true. In so far as you like the theology of glory, you have a hard time admitting this. But admitting this is what the confession of sins is all about. You confess that you have offended God. You confess that you justly deserved His punishment, now and forever. In other words, you confess that you have been His enemy. If you were offended at me when I said, "The enemy of Christ is your own sinful self," then go back and read what you confessed at the beginning of this service. Think about what it means to have offended God and justly deserved His punishment, now and forever. Then you will not be offended at me, but will confess, "I have been an enemy of Christ."

By the cross, Christ has destroyed His enemies. You have been crucified with Christ, nailed to that accursed tree as surely as you are baptized. There your sinful self is destroyed. For Christ took your sin upon Himself, and became your sin for you, and there on the cross suffered the wrath of God against all sin. Every enemy of Christ met his doom on the hill of Calvary. Sin was swallowed up in sacrifice; death was swallowed up in death; and the skull of the serpent, Satan, was crushed under the weight of the death of God. Is this the theology of glory? By no means! This is the theology of the cross.

With sin and death and the power of the devil destroyed, even though your flesh is crucified with Christ, yet you also live with Him. For as He lives and is risen from the dead, you, too, have been raised up in newness of life. This new life is not one of revealed glory, but of a glory hidden under the cross. You suffer, and are comforted by the Spirit of God living in you. You sin, and are forgiven through the means of God's grace. You die, and yet you live forever in Him. All this is yours, not because of the power of God's glorious might, but because of the power of His shameful yet glorious death on the cross.

With His enemies defeated, Christ has established His world-wide empire. Notice that I did not say, "Christ will establish . . .," but, "Christ has established." This kingdom is not of provinces or states. It is a kingdom of parishes. The laws of the kingdom are not written in some constitution. The laws of the kingdom are written on the hearts of its citizens. The kingdom is not a nation one can draw on a map. The kingdom is the Church of Christ, a nation of the royal priests of God, spread across the face of the globe wherever the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered. This kingdom, Christ's kingdom, has been established since He accomplished the work of His first advent. This kingdom, Christ's kingdom, shall remain for the rest of eternity.

Now you can begin to understand this passage of St. Paul, "He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope." Jesus rose from the dead and has ascended to the right hand of God. He now reigns over the Gentiles, not from some political throne, but from the throne of God. He now reigns over the Gentiles, not in some political kingdom, but in His holy Church. For in His Church, and only in His Church, He enters into the hearts of men, fills them with His Spirit, and lives and works in and through them to do the will of your Father in heaven. So He has entered into your heart through your ears as you have listened to this Gospel preaching, and is about to enter into your heart through your mouth in this holy Supper. In this way He will continue to reign over Gentiles, even as He strengthens you through this salutary gift in faith toward Him and in fervent love toward one another.

This kingdom of Christ is a militant kingdom-no, not a military kingdom with battalions of armed warriors-but the Church militant, surrounded by Her foes and constantly waging warfare in the spiritual trenches. As St. Paul says in Ephesians, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . . . spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." [6:12] Don't let the theology of glory sneak in here. As the Church wages Her war, She seems to lose on many fronts. She is besieged by the world. She is troubled by traitors. Heretics outnumber Pastors who speak the truth. And yet, under the cross, She prevails by the power of Her Lord. Her victories seem ridiculous to Her enemies: a little water poured and the Triune Name spoken, and yet you are snatched from the kingdom of darkness. A bit of bread and a sip of wine, and yet you are healed of your wounds, strengthened and refreshed for the battle ahead. Some words from a frail man in black, and yet a whole company of soldiers is raised up from the brink of death. Though weak and surrounded, She wields within Her bosom the very power of God. This is the kingdom of Christ, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her.

"In Him the Gentiles shall hope." Your warfare would soon end in defeat, if your Champion did not take the field. This is your hope in this advent season: the return of the Lord, the return of the King. With this hope you turn your expectant eyes toward His second advent. Soon, soon, to faithful warriors comes their rest. The victory has already been won with His first advent; your peace and rest will come with His return. Because of the work He accomplished at His first coming, His second coming is that to which you look forward. You are not looking forward to a puny political realm which only lasts a thousand years. You look forward to the coming of your gracious Lord, who shall then reveal what was hidden under the cross: the kingdom of His glory, the Church at rest forever and ever. Amen. 

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008