Malachi 4:1-6
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes.” Have you ever noticed how one event can have opposite reactions in people - great rejoicing for some and great disappointment for others. Think of how Butler defeated Manchester on Monday. 100-41! A blowout victory for the Bulldogs; a crushing defeat for the Spartans. Butler fans celebrate. Manchester returns home disgraced.
Such was the triumphal entry of our Lord Christ. Good news for the crowds who greeted Him in jubilation. Bad news for the Pharisees and scribes, the religious establishment. The same event being greeted differently by different groups of people is the key to the readings for the second Sunday in Advent and particularly for our text tonight.
Malachi, the first reading from Sunday, the last prophet of the Old Testament, describes a day coming, burning like an oven, when the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. That day will set them ablaze. But the self-same event, the arrival of that day, is for those who fear the Lord’s name, the rising of the sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings, in his rays. It is indeed the same event. For a day comes precisely when the sun rises. So the day that is a terror to the arrogant and the proud will be a day of joy, of jubilation to those who fear the Name of the Lord.
Now Advent is the preparation for our Lord’s coming. And all the prophets, including Malachi, prophesied concerning the Coming One, the Messiah, the Anointed, even as Christ Jesus will quote this Sunday from Malachi 3, Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. Yet here, as Malachi preaches, roughly 430 years before the birth of Jesus, he speaks not of His incarnation and nativity. The picture he paints is of our Lord’s second Advent.
When Christ returns in glory, when He appears upon this earth, the brightness and light of His appearing will be a fire - either terror or joy to all. For the warmth of a bonfire is gladness on a cold night. But when the same fire engulfs your home in flames, it is disastrous. And this is how Scripture describes our God - as a consuming fire.
As the Lord spoke through Moses, assuring Israel of victory over the Anakim, saying: Know therefore today that He who goes before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you (Dt 9:3). Or as Isaiah preached: The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?” (Is 33:14). And to the Hebrews: Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28-29). St Paul speaks of fire testing each man’s work (1 Cor 3:13). And Jesus says that everyone will be salted with fire (Mk 9:49).
It is an intriguing thing, for God to be this great, consuming fire which strikes terror in the hearts of the wicked, yet is joy for the righteous. St Maximus and other church fathers have speculated that heaven and hell are the same place - well, not the same place, per se, but the same fire lights them both - that is, God’s presence. To some it is warmth, joy, delight; to others pain, misery, and sorrow.
Dr. Luther rightly saw it in terms of Law and Gospel, sin and grace. If you long to be free from your sins, if you long to be healed of the sorrows you endure in this age on account of your own corrupt nature, then the glorious appearing of Christ holds no fear. It only means that His cleansing fire will burn up the sin and arrogance and pride of your life and bring you a healing that will be full and complete; the sins are gone, the sorrows wiped away forever.
But if you love your sins, if you are happy in your rebellion against God, if you are among the arrogant, that is, if you insist that you will live your life your own way, and disregard the commandments of the Lord, living and doing as you see fit, then that Day will be a day of terror to you. For on that Day you will suddenly see the Truth, the Light, the Holiness that rules the universe and to Whom you must give an account. And you will shrink in terror before Him. His fire will consume the sin you’re holding onto and so it will consume you.
That the advent of this light to you may be like springtime for pent-up calves - kicking up their heels in delight at life as they are led out - be ready. How? By remembering the Law of My servant Moses, that is, examine yourself according to the Ten Commandments. Where you have sinned, where you have lived as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most, repent. Listen to the preaching of “Elijah the prophet” who turns hearts back to the Lord. In other words, heed the Baptist as he calls you to repentance and points you to the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin; and those pastors who rightly divide God’s Word. For the fire of His teaching will sear the dross of your indifference and bring forth sincere repentance. Treasure most of all His precious Word about the appearance of Jesus our Savior, the messenger of a better covenant.
For while the arrogant who despise God and His Word and His ways are shrinking in terror, a totally different moment is occurring for you who fear His Name. You will see Him, shinning before you. The One who was born for you and for all in Bethlehem, who took on human flesh to make common cause against the enemies of the human race, against all the pride that was eating us up and destroying us, against all the devil’s power and death itself.
You will see Him who for love of you went to the Cross and offered Himself up to the Father as the perfect human life - offering Himself in exchange for you, in exchange for all the people of the world who will humble themselves to receive this gift. You will see in Him the scars that ever cry out for your pardon and that are the eternal testimony of the unspeakable love your God bears for you.
The Risen One will be before you, the Child of Mary raised from the dead in a body incorruptible, and you will see Him as He is, for you will be like Him, and you will run to Him. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. Joy, for in seeing Him you will be healed at last from all the sin and trouble that you so despise, from all the weakness and the constant falling and the tears of repentance, healed of all the sins that eat away at you and that you fight against, and yet that burden you still. That will all be gone. It will be an eternal spring that awaits you!
Come, abide with Him and He with you, as you break your fast with His Supper. The evening is at hand, the day is far gone. Yet He is your constant companion, kindling your hearts with the fire of His love, awaking hope among you, and opening your eyes to see Him as He is revealed in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes.” Have you ever noticed how one event can have opposite reactions in people - great rejoicing for some and great disappointment for others. Think of how Butler defeated Manchester on Monday. 100-41! A blowout victory for the Bulldogs; a crushing defeat for the Spartans. Butler fans celebrate. Manchester returns home disgraced.
Such was the triumphal entry of our Lord Christ. Good news for the crowds who greeted Him in jubilation. Bad news for the Pharisees and scribes, the religious establishment. The same event being greeted differently by different groups of people is the key to the readings for the second Sunday in Advent and particularly for our text tonight.
Malachi, the first reading from Sunday, the last prophet of the Old Testament, describes a day coming, burning like an oven, when the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. That day will set them ablaze. But the self-same event, the arrival of that day, is for those who fear the Lord’s name, the rising of the sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings, in his rays. It is indeed the same event. For a day comes precisely when the sun rises. So the day that is a terror to the arrogant and the proud will be a day of joy, of jubilation to those who fear the Name of the Lord.
Now Advent is the preparation for our Lord’s coming. And all the prophets, including Malachi, prophesied concerning the Coming One, the Messiah, the Anointed, even as Christ Jesus will quote this Sunday from Malachi 3, Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. Yet here, as Malachi preaches, roughly 430 years before the birth of Jesus, he speaks not of His incarnation and nativity. The picture he paints is of our Lord’s second Advent.
When Christ returns in glory, when He appears upon this earth, the brightness and light of His appearing will be a fire - either terror or joy to all. For the warmth of a bonfire is gladness on a cold night. But when the same fire engulfs your home in flames, it is disastrous. And this is how Scripture describes our God - as a consuming fire.
As the Lord spoke through Moses, assuring Israel of victory over the Anakim, saying: Know therefore today that He who goes before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you (Dt 9:3). Or as Isaiah preached: The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?” (Is 33:14). And to the Hebrews: Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28-29). St Paul speaks of fire testing each man’s work (1 Cor 3:13). And Jesus says that everyone will be salted with fire (Mk 9:49).
It is an intriguing thing, for God to be this great, consuming fire which strikes terror in the hearts of the wicked, yet is joy for the righteous. St Maximus and other church fathers have speculated that heaven and hell are the same place - well, not the same place, per se, but the same fire lights them both - that is, God’s presence. To some it is warmth, joy, delight; to others pain, misery, and sorrow.
Dr. Luther rightly saw it in terms of Law and Gospel, sin and grace. If you long to be free from your sins, if you long to be healed of the sorrows you endure in this age on account of your own corrupt nature, then the glorious appearing of Christ holds no fear. It only means that His cleansing fire will burn up the sin and arrogance and pride of your life and bring you a healing that will be full and complete; the sins are gone, the sorrows wiped away forever.
But if you love your sins, if you are happy in your rebellion against God, if you are among the arrogant, that is, if you insist that you will live your life your own way, and disregard the commandments of the Lord, living and doing as you see fit, then that Day will be a day of terror to you. For on that Day you will suddenly see the Truth, the Light, the Holiness that rules the universe and to Whom you must give an account. And you will shrink in terror before Him. His fire will consume the sin you’re holding onto and so it will consume you.
That the advent of this light to you may be like springtime for pent-up calves - kicking up their heels in delight at life as they are led out - be ready. How? By remembering the Law of My servant Moses, that is, examine yourself according to the Ten Commandments. Where you have sinned, where you have lived as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most, repent. Listen to the preaching of “Elijah the prophet” who turns hearts back to the Lord. In other words, heed the Baptist as he calls you to repentance and points you to the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin; and those pastors who rightly divide God’s Word. For the fire of His teaching will sear the dross of your indifference and bring forth sincere repentance. Treasure most of all His precious Word about the appearance of Jesus our Savior, the messenger of a better covenant.
For while the arrogant who despise God and His Word and His ways are shrinking in terror, a totally different moment is occurring for you who fear His Name. You will see Him, shinning before you. The One who was born for you and for all in Bethlehem, who took on human flesh to make common cause against the enemies of the human race, against all the pride that was eating us up and destroying us, against all the devil’s power and death itself.
You will see Him who for love of you went to the Cross and offered Himself up to the Father as the perfect human life - offering Himself in exchange for you, in exchange for all the people of the world who will humble themselves to receive this gift. You will see in Him the scars that ever cry out for your pardon and that are the eternal testimony of the unspeakable love your God bears for you.
The Risen One will be before you, the Child of Mary raised from the dead in a body incorruptible, and you will see Him as He is, for you will be like Him, and you will run to Him. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. Joy, for in seeing Him you will be healed at last from all the sin and trouble that you so despise, from all the weakness and the constant falling and the tears of repentance, healed of all the sins that eat away at you and that you fight against, and yet that burden you still. That will all be gone. It will be an eternal spring that awaits you!
Come, abide with Him and He with you, as you break your fast with His Supper. The evening is at hand, the day is far gone. Yet He is your constant companion, kindling your hearts with the fire of His love, awaking hope among you, and opening your eyes to see Him as He is revealed in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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