Jeremiah 23:5-8/Romans 13:8-14/St Matthew 21:1-9
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Behold the days are coming. This will happen. It shall take place, I, the Lord, promise, and I am faithful to My promises.
This promise given by the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah was a continuation of His promise begun the moment our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden and brought sin into the world. I will send the Seed of the Woman, He shall crush the serpent’s head and save you. He reconfirms this promise of salvation each and every generation through the Old Testament.
The promise of the Seed of the Woman, the Righteous Branch, the Suffering Servant, the Prophet of prophets, the Messiah, the King, s passed on through Seth to Noah to Abraham to Jacob and his sons to Moses to Joshua to the judges to David and to all the prophets. The Lord will rescue His people. He will save them from their sins. Behold the days are coming when the Righteous Branch will be raised up to reign forever. Behold, O daughter of Zion, your King is coming to you. This will happen. It shall take place. I, the Lord, promise, and I am faithful to My promises.
But the years came and went. Decades passed. Then centuries. Then millennia. For thousands of years the children of Israel waited for Him to fulfill His promise. For us everything is an emergency; instant gratification. God’s people waited thousands of years. We read the Old Testament today with the clarity of His coming and see His promise passing from Adam through Malachi and wonder how the Israelites could grow impatient, doubt, and be lead astray into false belief.
Eve heard the promise and assumed Cain to be the fulfillment. Boy was she wrong. The Old Adam is impatient, however. Your flesh prefers not to wait. The Israelites were impatient, you are no different. Patience is a virtue which has not been mastered by a single sinner who ever lived.
The Lord is keenly aware of this. Thus does He provide for His people during their long wait. He does not simply speak the promise but once and abandon them to their waiting. He dwells with them. He brings the blessing of the promise into their reality. He cares for His own as if He has already fulfilled His promise to them. The Lord gives them the sacrificial system, the shedding of blood by which He atones for their sins and foreshadows the blood of the coming Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He is among them, tabernacled and templed, in the synagogues - He is with them wherever His Word and promises are preached and clung to in faith. There, among His people He brings the fulfillment of His promise in the already, but not yet. He feeds them. He forgives them. He sustains them. He is with them as they wait for the consummation of His promise.
As it was for ancient Israel, so also for you. The fullness of time has come. You live on the other side of the Messiah, the Coming One. Today, as we begin another Church Year, you behold the fulfillment of the promise: Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up for David a Righteous Branch. Today, dear daughter of Zion, you behold the fulfillment of this promise. Today, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, you behold the fulfillment of the promised uttered in the Garden, the Seed of the Woman has come and crushed the serpent’s skull. Blessed are your ears and your eyes, for today you behold the Righteous Branch, the King, the Messiah to Come, our Lord Jesus Christ, who rides into Jerusalem to fulfill all that He has promised.
The Lord is faithful to His promises. He said that this would take place. It shall be done. The Seed of the Woman has come, the Savior of the Nations, born of the Virgin, Jesus Christ. He comes as the Second Adam, the Prophet like Moses, Israel reduced to one, the Son of David; in His perfect life, innocent suffering and death, He fulfills all the promises of old. He is the Lamb of God. He has made full atonement for your sins. After thousands of years of waiting, God’s people have the promised fulfilled for them.
But now you continue to wait. No longer for the fulfillment of your salvation. That is finished. Your Messiah has come and accomplished all the Law on your behalf; loving you more than He loved Himself. There is nothing left to do. You owe nothing to God, nor to one another.
He who ascended into heaven shall come again to judge both the living and the dead. Behold the Day is coming when the King who rode into Jerusalem, lowly and humbly, riding atop a borrow donkey, will return in power and great glory to usher in the new heavens and new earth. His eternal kingdom. There is one promise of our Lord yet to be fulfilled; the promise to bring an end to this dying world and welcome His people from all the countries where they live, and they shall dwell in their own land.
And so you wait. You do not wait alone. Waiting with you are the patriarchs and prophets, the saints in glory, the souls beneath the altar crying out, How long, O Lord? For two thousand years the Church waits.
And the world scoffs at you, mocks you, ridicules you. Behold, dear daughter of Zion, your King shall fulfill His promises. In the fullness of time He came; He came for you, redeemed you from the curse of the Law, rescued you from sin and death. He shall come again for you. His second Advent is as sure and certain as His first.
For this is what Advent is truly about - waiting. Waiting in repentance and faith. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
But waiting is difficult for your flesh. It grows lax and impatient; comfortable and complacent under the cloak of the works of darkness. Your Lord knows your difficulty. He provides for you, His people, as you wait. He has not simply given you the promise of His Second Coming and abandoned you to your waiting. He dwells with you and brings the blessings of His promise into your reality. He cares for you as though His promise were fulfilled.
He sets up for you a Holy Church where He comes to you at font, pulpit and altar. He establishes His presence among you in His Holy Church and is truly with you in the Holy Absolution, Holy Preaching, and in His Holy Supper. There He delivers to you His very body and blood, the self -same which once rode into Jerusalem upon a donkey, now comes into your midst upon paten and chalice, in and under bread and wine. He is with you. He has always dwelt with His people. He is a God who locates Himself for the comfort and peace of His people. He brings the fulfillment of His promise to return to you already here and now. He feeds you. He forgives you. He sustains you. He wis with you as you wait.
He has put on you the armor of His light; clothed you in Himself, your Lord Jesus Christ. He is your righteousness. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. His Advent is nearly upon us. Come, then, beloved in the Lord, receive your King, receive Him who comes to you in the Lord. Salvation is as near as His holy altar. Hosanna to the Son of David. Hosanna in the highest!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Behold the days are coming. This will happen. It shall take place, I, the Lord, promise, and I am faithful to My promises.
This promise given by the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah was a continuation of His promise begun the moment our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden and brought sin into the world. I will send the Seed of the Woman, He shall crush the serpent’s head and save you. He reconfirms this promise of salvation each and every generation through the Old Testament.
The promise of the Seed of the Woman, the Righteous Branch, the Suffering Servant, the Prophet of prophets, the Messiah, the King, s passed on through Seth to Noah to Abraham to Jacob and his sons to Moses to Joshua to the judges to David and to all the prophets. The Lord will rescue His people. He will save them from their sins. Behold the days are coming when the Righteous Branch will be raised up to reign forever. Behold, O daughter of Zion, your King is coming to you. This will happen. It shall take place. I, the Lord, promise, and I am faithful to My promises.
But the years came and went. Decades passed. Then centuries. Then millennia. For thousands of years the children of Israel waited for Him to fulfill His promise. For us everything is an emergency; instant gratification. God’s people waited thousands of years. We read the Old Testament today with the clarity of His coming and see His promise passing from Adam through Malachi and wonder how the Israelites could grow impatient, doubt, and be lead astray into false belief.
Eve heard the promise and assumed Cain to be the fulfillment. Boy was she wrong. The Old Adam is impatient, however. Your flesh prefers not to wait. The Israelites were impatient, you are no different. Patience is a virtue which has not been mastered by a single sinner who ever lived.
The Lord is keenly aware of this. Thus does He provide for His people during their long wait. He does not simply speak the promise but once and abandon them to their waiting. He dwells with them. He brings the blessing of the promise into their reality. He cares for His own as if He has already fulfilled His promise to them. The Lord gives them the sacrificial system, the shedding of blood by which He atones for their sins and foreshadows the blood of the coming Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He is among them, tabernacled and templed, in the synagogues - He is with them wherever His Word and promises are preached and clung to in faith. There, among His people He brings the fulfillment of His promise in the already, but not yet. He feeds them. He forgives them. He sustains them. He is with them as they wait for the consummation of His promise.
As it was for ancient Israel, so also for you. The fullness of time has come. You live on the other side of the Messiah, the Coming One. Today, as we begin another Church Year, you behold the fulfillment of the promise: Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up for David a Righteous Branch. Today, dear daughter of Zion, you behold the fulfillment of this promise. Today, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, you behold the fulfillment of the promised uttered in the Garden, the Seed of the Woman has come and crushed the serpent’s skull. Blessed are your ears and your eyes, for today you behold the Righteous Branch, the King, the Messiah to Come, our Lord Jesus Christ, who rides into Jerusalem to fulfill all that He has promised.
The Lord is faithful to His promises. He said that this would take place. It shall be done. The Seed of the Woman has come, the Savior of the Nations, born of the Virgin, Jesus Christ. He comes as the Second Adam, the Prophet like Moses, Israel reduced to one, the Son of David; in His perfect life, innocent suffering and death, He fulfills all the promises of old. He is the Lamb of God. He has made full atonement for your sins. After thousands of years of waiting, God’s people have the promised fulfilled for them.
But now you continue to wait. No longer for the fulfillment of your salvation. That is finished. Your Messiah has come and accomplished all the Law on your behalf; loving you more than He loved Himself. There is nothing left to do. You owe nothing to God, nor to one another.
He who ascended into heaven shall come again to judge both the living and the dead. Behold the Day is coming when the King who rode into Jerusalem, lowly and humbly, riding atop a borrow donkey, will return in power and great glory to usher in the new heavens and new earth. His eternal kingdom. There is one promise of our Lord yet to be fulfilled; the promise to bring an end to this dying world and welcome His people from all the countries where they live, and they shall dwell in their own land.
And so you wait. You do not wait alone. Waiting with you are the patriarchs and prophets, the saints in glory, the souls beneath the altar crying out, How long, O Lord? For two thousand years the Church waits.
And the world scoffs at you, mocks you, ridicules you. Behold, dear daughter of Zion, your King shall fulfill His promises. In the fullness of time He came; He came for you, redeemed you from the curse of the Law, rescued you from sin and death. He shall come again for you. His second Advent is as sure and certain as His first.
For this is what Advent is truly about - waiting. Waiting in repentance and faith. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
But waiting is difficult for your flesh. It grows lax and impatient; comfortable and complacent under the cloak of the works of darkness. Your Lord knows your difficulty. He provides for you, His people, as you wait. He has not simply given you the promise of His Second Coming and abandoned you to your waiting. He dwells with you and brings the blessings of His promise into your reality. He cares for you as though His promise were fulfilled.
He sets up for you a Holy Church where He comes to you at font, pulpit and altar. He establishes His presence among you in His Holy Church and is truly with you in the Holy Absolution, Holy Preaching, and in His Holy Supper. There He delivers to you His very body and blood, the self -same which once rode into Jerusalem upon a donkey, now comes into your midst upon paten and chalice, in and under bread and wine. He is with you. He has always dwelt with His people. He is a God who locates Himself for the comfort and peace of His people. He brings the fulfillment of His promise to return to you already here and now. He feeds you. He forgives you. He sustains you. He wis with you as you wait.
He has put on you the armor of His light; clothed you in Himself, your Lord Jesus Christ. He is your righteousness. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. His Advent is nearly upon us. Come, then, beloved in the Lord, receive your King, receive Him who comes to you in the Lord. Salvation is as near as His holy altar. Hosanna to the Son of David. Hosanna in the highest!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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