The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (NASB)
This morning we enter the last three Sundays of the Church Year. As is the tradition of the church, the Bible readings for the next three Sunday and going into Advent direct our attention to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Last Day- – Judgment Day.
Many religions and the modern scientific community don’t believe that this material universe will come to an end. Many believe that the universe and all in it are caught in an endless cycle of rebirth and death. For them, history is not going moving toward a climax or an end. It’s just going around, and around, and around.
The Christian religion teaches that history and this world is heading to a climax and to its definitive end. The Bible teaches that this corrupt world and all the evil that is associated with it will come to an end on the last day when Christ will judgment the living and dead.
The prophet Daniel in the Old Testament lesson and Jesus in the Gospel lesson (as well as other Bible passages) gives us a glimpse into what will happen prior to, on that last day, and beyond the last day. What the Bible doesn’t do is give us the kind of details we need to know to determine when the end will come. At the time Jesus didn’t even know. He said in Mark 13:32 “About that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
What we can say with certainty based on the Bible is that prior to the last day, the world in general and Christians in particular will be faced with an ever increasing evil. This evil will wage war against the Word, will, and way of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This meas that evil will wage its war against God’s children–Christians and the church.
The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 10:11–25 tells us that Christ 12 “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet.” Jesus was offered as our sacrifice for sins for all time. This not only means that His sacrifice is all sufficient for us, that is we need not offer any additional sacrifice to appease God the Father, it also means that Christ Jesus will never be offered as a sacrifice again. He will never allow Himself or His church to defeated by the devil and the world.
As for the Old Testament lesson and the prophet Daniel, he tells us that “at that time” meaning the coming of the end of time, “Michael [the archangel] shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”
Here we learn that the archangel Michael watches over “the sons of your people.” He is the protecting angel who stands over the church and when the end comes he will be the rescuing agent of everyone whose name is written in the book of life. That’s what the book of Daniel tells us.
In the Gospel lesson Jesus adds details to the prophecies about the Last Day. Daniel prophesied, “There shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation.” Jesus tells us what that time of trouble consists of. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, troubles, brother will fight against fight, father against child, children against parents.”
We learn here that as history moves towards it end, sin, evil, and chaos will increase. The world will become more violent, more depraved, and more at odds with itself and with God’s people. Even nature will wage its own kind of war; earthquakes and famines. The scene depicted here should put biblically minded people of the time before Noah and the great flood.
As bad as things are now, they are going to get worse. Both in scale and in veracity. It is axiomatic. The more sinful people that populate the planet, the more violence, the more governments, the more disagreements, the more wars, the more famines, the more natural disasters effect human beings, and the more ideas, moral codes, philosophy, and religions there will be that pit family members against family members. Things are going to get increasingly worse especially for the Christian and the church.
Jesus began His teaching concerning the coming of the last day by addressing the greatest threat to the Christian and to the Christian Church. He said, “See to it that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and they will mislead many.”
Jesus is talking about false teachers and false doctrines that will plague His church throughout history. According to the Scripture, the absolutely worst thing that can be taken from a church or a Christian is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is warning Christians against wandering away or departing from the truth Christian Faith and following after people who usurp the place of Jesus Christ.
Jesus began with the most important thing first. Don’t be deceived. Don’t follow after false messiahs. Then He turns His and our attention to what can rightly be called Christian perseverance as history counts down.
Jesus isn’t giving us a detailed picture of what will happen in the immediate 24 hours, or week, or decades before He returns so that we can put our house in order.
It is not like when my brothers and I grew up. Mom and dad would leave, head off to the bowling alley and tell us they’d be home around 10. Then chaos would ensue until one of us would yell, “It’s quarter to 10!” It’s amazing how much four boys can get cleaned up and hidden away in 15 minutes.
Jesus isn’t giving us that kind of warning. That’s why He says what He says in verse 7. “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.” Christians and the Christian Church are to go about the business of being faithful to the mission and to our daily duties all the way up to the end, to their last day on this planet or on the last day of the planet. Luther once commented “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Jesus teaches here that this world is in a state of decline and that as time goes on things will get worse. That’s the way of sin. It goes from bad to worse.
Also remember Jesus is talking to a group of people who believe (and rightly so) that He is the Messiah. They also believe He will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven.
They are so convinced that things are going to be getting better and better that they argue among themselves who will sit on the right hand we should. After the resurrection they were still expecting the immediate arrival of the kingdom. “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6
The Bible teaches that we are a remnant, the faithful few. In the case of the West and America, the church is smaller than it was in years gone by.
Jesus however, taught time and time again that life in this world for the church and for Christians is filled with hardship. The devil, the world, and even our own sinful natures are at war with God. Jesus said (Matthew 11:12) “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently, and violent men take it by force.”
John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
When the last day does come, all the people who have ever lived will be divided into two basic groups. Things are going to get worse for the world and for the church, and perhaps even for us personally. For the Christian, life in this world is marked by the theology of the cross. Here in this place Christ and His works are manifested in our weakness, troubles, and service to God and our neighbor. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has provided everything we need in this life need for to win the final victory.
He has given us His Word. He created the church and invest it with the Word and sacrament ministry. He has given His church the power to retain and forgive sins, the keys to open and close the doors of heaven. He has grafted us into fellowship with Him and with each other, the holy Christian church. He has given us His holy angels to watch over us.
Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension has given you and all who believe an eternal life that cannot be taken away. (John 10:27-29) “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
The days of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation have begun. But by the grace of God, all of sin’s consequences and rebellion will come to an end. He will consign all who have lived and died apart from Him to everlasting punishment.
On the other hand, Jesus Christ will give the “Theology of Glory,” that is, an endless afterlife of bliss in God’s heavenly mansions to all who by Spirit-given faith in Him repentantly held on to Him alone in this life for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
Thus we pray for protection in Luther’s Morning Prayer.
I thank Thee, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray Thee to keep me this day also from sin and all evil, that all my doings and life may please Thee. For into Thy hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.
We also pray in the communion liturgy each time it is celebrated: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and singing…”
Daniel speaks of a time of a “time of trouble, such as never has been,” but he was also given to write of you, “at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. . . And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Until that time when all pain and suffering tears and mourning are wiped from our lives, Jesus has given us several promises. Among them. “I am with you always, even to the end of your age.” And this one, “Take heart, for I have overcome the world.”
And this one “In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.”
And this one “I will deliver you, for I have written your name in the book, and I will raise you up to everlasting life.”
Soon you will “shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven and . . . like the stars forever and ever.” For your sins are forgiven you.
AMEN
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.