Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Revelation 12:7-12; St Matthew 18:1-11
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The prophet Daniel and his people, the men of Judah and the children of Israel, had been languishing in captivity in Babylon for three score and ten years, the length of a man’s life, according to Moses in Psalm 90. Daniel was himself perhaps twelve to fifteen years older than his captivity, having been hauled off by the cruel hand of Nebuchadnezzar when he was a youth.
But Daniel knew the prophecies of Jeremiah from the previous generation. How there were 70 years appointed by God for Judah’s exile in Babylon. And that the time of the fulfillment was coming due (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10). So Daniel prayed to God on behalf of the exiles; seeking Him with supplications made in fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He confessed to God the unfaithfulness of Judah which had brought this long-lasting disaster upon her with words such as these, To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame because we have sinned against You (Dan 9:7-9).
And Daniel implored the mercy of God upon the children of Israel in this way: O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations . . . O Lord hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name (Dan 9:18-19).
This prayer of Daniel was answered by the visitation of the man Gabriel, who is really an angel, but is called by the prophet, the man Gabriel (Dan 9:21). He carried to the prophet in swift flight, during the time of the evening sacrifice, the Word of the Lord. The Word concerning 70 weeks of years in a hard-to-comprehend vision of the end; replete with mention of a murdered Messiah, an Anointed One who shall be cut off and shall have nothing (Dan 9:24-27).
Not long after this Daniel entered again into a profound state of self-mortification, with fasting and fervent prayer for his people. They had done their time of the full seventy years of exile. And again, the man Gabriel, came to Daniel in order to impart a divine vision of the final conflict.
But the glorious appearance of Gabriel was too much for the prophet and no strength was left in him. He went white as a sheet and fainted into unconsciousness at the sound of his words.
And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. The touch of Gabriel revived Daniel. And the messenger assured the prophet of God’s good will toward him and the children of Israel.
But even Gabriel, whose demeanor was that of a man most terrible, had to admit that it had taken him a full twenty-one days to reach Daniel’s side from the time that God had first heard his prayers. Why was this swift flighted angel impeded for three full weeks? Because the prince of the kingdom of Persia had withstood Gabriel, not wanting him to reach Daniel with the Word of the Lord concerning Daniel’s captive people. But, behold, then came the first of the chief princes, Michael, to rescue mighty Gabriel from the double-teamed resistance by the kings of Persia so that his beleaguered angelic comrade might break on through to the prophet Daniel.
What is here described in Daniel 10 is nothing less than an angelic conflict between supernatural spirit-patrons of nations. Evil angels standing over Persia run interference on Gabriel as he seeks to reach Daniel, God’s prophet to the children of Israel now being held in Persian lands. But it takes Michael, the angelic Prince of Daniel’s people, to thwart the angels over Persia and enable an out-gunned Gabriel to do his messengers duty (Dan 10:21).
Now if Gabriel’s body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightening, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude, then what must that Michael, who is so much greater than Gabriel, be like? It seems to be an almost almighty Michael who will take His stand over Daniel’s poor people to protect them during a time of tribulation, the likes of which has never been seen since the beginning of their nation.
But every one of Daniel’s people, the children of Israel, whose names are found written in the book of truth (Dan 10:21), shall be delivered by this Michael and saved by the awesome Angel in bodily resurrection from the dead. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt. And this who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. That is, those like Daniel, the prophet and messenger of the Lord, who trust this promise of God and catechize others in it, shall shine like the angelic sons of God (Job 38:7).
Daniel didn’t live to see the release of his people from exile and their restoration to Judah and Jerusalem by the decree of Cyrus, the Medo-Persian king of Babylon. What he did see, however, during his long life was plenty of trouble. Daniel saw, at a young age, Jerusalem surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and the rulers of her people get deported to Babylon in 606 BC. Daniel was among them. He saw himself made into a professional courtier and administrator for his Babylonian captor, probably at the cost of being made a eunuch.
In 586 Daniel saw Judah fall completely to the ground and Nebuchadnezzar trashing the Temple and deporting everyone of any account. He saw three of his friends thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to commit idolatry. He saw the sacred vessels stolen from the Temple desecrated by a playboy king and his concubines on the night that Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians. Daniel saw the grim interior of a den of lions due to the jealousy of the Persian satraps over whom he was promoted by their own leader!
Throughout his long life Daniel saw stark and fearsome visions from the Lord that appalled and mystified him. Yet in, with, and under all the trouble of the Babylonian captivity, Daniel saw the word of the Lord hold fast and stand firm. But he saw this by faith, not by sight. Daniel saw the hungry lions’ mouths stopped up for him by the Angel of God (Dan 6:22). Daniel saw the inferno of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace quenched for his three friends by One strolling on the coals who was like the Son of God (Dan 3:25). Daniel saw the very hand of God weigh Babylon in the balance, find her wanting, and judge her in just one hour (Dan 5:17-31). And last and most important of all, Daniel heard from the Angel Gabriel that Michael, First of the chief princes, was Daniel’s Prince and the Prince of the children of Israel. This Michael was He who had stood up to defend Daniel’s people before and would stand up for them again, according to theWord of the Lord.
Michael stands up for his people, the children of God, in the terrible time of the End in our reading in Revelation 12. Michael and his angels wage war in heaven against the dragon and his demonic horde. The dragon cannot prevail, though, and there is no place left for him and his evil minions in heaven any longer. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.
Now the verbs for deposing the devil and all his motley crew are in the passive voice. The subject of these verbs is not specified. Who is doing the throwing down? Very often in Scripture this way of speaking, called the “theological passive,” is used to show that God is acting, without mentioning His name outright. God is throwing down Satan and his demons by means of the Archangel Michael and Michael’s good angels. This is made clear in Revelation 20 where we hear, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended (20:1-3).
How is it that Michael is able to do all of this to the dread Satan? If its simply a matter of one created angel - the good archangel - going up against another create angel - the bad rebel - then it should be even money as to which angelic brawler will best the other. The “smart money” would actually be on the devil, the master of a thousand arts who has no qualms about fighting dirty.
There’s something deeper going on here, though. The devil-binding angel of Revelation 20 has the key to the abyss and the great chain in his hand. At the beginning of the Apocalypse, it is our Lord Jesus Christ who has the keys of Death and Hades (Rev 1:18); it is Christ who has the key of David so that He is the one who opens and no one can close and closes and no one can open (Rev 3:7) - not even the devil himself! The angel coming down from heaven of Revelation 20, He who manhandles Satan and locks him up in the Abyss with the same short work of the Archangel Michael as he flings down the devil in Revelation 12, begins to look suspiciously like our Lord Christ Himself!
When Satan is flung from heaven in Revelation 12, a great voice declares, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Interesting! Scripture says that Michael and his angels have won their victory over Satan by means of the blood of the Lamb, by means of the Word of their testimony, by means of their not having loved their lives even unto death.
This doesn’t sound like an aerial victory won by some high-flying ace archangel and his deathless brethren aloft high in heaven. It sounds like a bloody victory won by the crucified Christ and His martyred Apostles right down here on earth!
And that is precisely where Christ Jesus, the Angel of the Lord who is Word of the Lord, the GodMan is when He speaks to the Twelve concerning greatness and repentance. He is one earth, because Satan was thrown from heaven like lightening where he wanders to and fro seeking someone to devour, causing affliction and sorrow, pain and death. Attempting to lead you into false believe, despair, and other great shame and vice.
You are indeed attacked by these things, as was the prophet Daniel and the children of Israel held captive in Babylon. But the Lord has heard your prayer and your plea for help. He has sent His Michael to deliver you, the devil-trouncing Great One of heaven who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made Man. A man most terrible, who loved not His life even unto death and conquers that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, by His blood, for He is the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world.
Where Christ is there is His Church. Where the Church is there is heaven, even on earth. And where heaven is, Satan is not far away trying to weasel his way back in. Thus does our Lord Jesus warn, Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! Woe to the scribes and Pharisees, the hypocrites of our age, who hide themselves in a cloak of righteousness, yet inwardly are ravenous wolves, poisonous beasts who prey on little children, leading them astray into perversion and blasphemy, victims of the sexual exploitation of the workers of lawlessness masquerading as angels of light.
By this, of course, I mean the pedophile priests and homosexual bishops of Rome, that great dragon. They are hands and feet that have caused so much sin and destruction, shame and vice and ought to be cut off and thrown away. They have caused many such children who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ to sin! Woe to them!
But not only them. Woe to us too who are puffed up with the pride of Lucifer, consider ourselves great ones, and rebel against the Chief Prince, YHWH Sabaoth, the Lord God of Hosts with smug arrogance. Woe to us who have despaired of the swift promises of God and His mighty deliverance from our Babylon. With fasting and sackcloth, we confess with Daniel, To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame because we have sinned against You.
Amen, I say to you, unless you repent and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Receive, then, by faith He who comes to you in the Name of the Lord; the great Messenger of YHWH, your “Michael,” who is the Lord Jesus Christ of Revelation 12, for the heavenly angels are said to be His. And the holy angels belong to God alone. The name “Michael” means, “Who is like God?” The answer to the question embedded within this name lies hidden in Him whose name it is. Of all the visible beings only the Lord Christ is like God, for only the Lord Christ is God among us! He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, but has come down to earth.
The angelic host conquered the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their martyrdom. Thus do you also conquer the temptations of the Evil One by the Blood of the Lamb of God and the Word of His martyrdom. For this is the battle which once ragged in heaven, but now continues for a time, times and half a time, here on earth. For Satan and his unholy angels profane the name of God among us by heresy and immorality. They blaspheme God in heaven.
Yet, where the Church is, there is the Lord Christ, and wherever the Lord Christ is, there is heaven. Thus do you endure the great wrath of the devil for a season.
But do not be afraid, for he knows that his time is short.
And to steal you for the fight our Lord Christ, the uncreated Angel of the Lord, sends you His flesh and blood messengers, the angels of the churches, your Pastors, who continue to prevail for you and with you by the Word of the Lord, swinging that double edged sword against all false doctrine, perverse living, and wrong practice as they fight against Satan and his angels. They use the keys bestowed by Christ Himself to unbind you and loose you from your sins and free you from the devil’s captivity.
And the blood of the Lamb which has conquered the devil and Satan is poured over your lips once more today, bestowing upon you the death-defying victory. No more can he accuse you. Fasten around his neck and the neck of your old Adam the millstone of the Law and drown him in the sea of your Baptism. For you, O Christian, are greatly loved. Fear not, you children of God, you whose names are written in the book of truth, you shall be delivered. You shall arise from the dust, shake of your sinful nature and death itself, and walk into everlasting life, shining like the brightness of the angelic stars with the radiant righteousness of your great Michael, even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Portions of this sermon were adapted from a sermon preached by Rev Dr Stephen Wiest of blessed memory.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The prophet Daniel and his people, the men of Judah and the children of Israel, had been languishing in captivity in Babylon for three score and ten years, the length of a man’s life, according to Moses in Psalm 90. Daniel was himself perhaps twelve to fifteen years older than his captivity, having been hauled off by the cruel hand of Nebuchadnezzar when he was a youth.
But Daniel knew the prophecies of Jeremiah from the previous generation. How there were 70 years appointed by God for Judah’s exile in Babylon. And that the time of the fulfillment was coming due (Jer 25:11-12; 29:10). So Daniel prayed to God on behalf of the exiles; seeking Him with supplications made in fasting and sackcloth and ashes. He confessed to God the unfaithfulness of Judah which had brought this long-lasting disaster upon her with words such as these, To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame because we have sinned against You (Dan 9:7-9).
And Daniel implored the mercy of God upon the children of Israel in this way: O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations . . . O Lord hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name (Dan 9:18-19).
This prayer of Daniel was answered by the visitation of the man Gabriel, who is really an angel, but is called by the prophet, the man Gabriel (Dan 9:21). He carried to the prophet in swift flight, during the time of the evening sacrifice, the Word of the Lord. The Word concerning 70 weeks of years in a hard-to-comprehend vision of the end; replete with mention of a murdered Messiah, an Anointed One who shall be cut off and shall have nothing (Dan 9:24-27).
Not long after this Daniel entered again into a profound state of self-mortification, with fasting and fervent prayer for his people. They had done their time of the full seventy years of exile. And again, the man Gabriel, came to Daniel in order to impart a divine vision of the final conflict.
But the glorious appearance of Gabriel was too much for the prophet and no strength was left in him. He went white as a sheet and fainted into unconsciousness at the sound of his words.
And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. The touch of Gabriel revived Daniel. And the messenger assured the prophet of God’s good will toward him and the children of Israel.
But even Gabriel, whose demeanor was that of a man most terrible, had to admit that it had taken him a full twenty-one days to reach Daniel’s side from the time that God had first heard his prayers. Why was this swift flighted angel impeded for three full weeks? Because the prince of the kingdom of Persia had withstood Gabriel, not wanting him to reach Daniel with the Word of the Lord concerning Daniel’s captive people. But, behold, then came the first of the chief princes, Michael, to rescue mighty Gabriel from the double-teamed resistance by the kings of Persia so that his beleaguered angelic comrade might break on through to the prophet Daniel.
What is here described in Daniel 10 is nothing less than an angelic conflict between supernatural spirit-patrons of nations. Evil angels standing over Persia run interference on Gabriel as he seeks to reach Daniel, God’s prophet to the children of Israel now being held in Persian lands. But it takes Michael, the angelic Prince of Daniel’s people, to thwart the angels over Persia and enable an out-gunned Gabriel to do his messengers duty (Dan 10:21).
Now if Gabriel’s body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightening, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude, then what must that Michael, who is so much greater than Gabriel, be like? It seems to be an almost almighty Michael who will take His stand over Daniel’s poor people to protect them during a time of tribulation, the likes of which has never been seen since the beginning of their nation.
But every one of Daniel’s people, the children of Israel, whose names are found written in the book of truth (Dan 10:21), shall be delivered by this Michael and saved by the awesome Angel in bodily resurrection from the dead. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt. And this who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. That is, those like Daniel, the prophet and messenger of the Lord, who trust this promise of God and catechize others in it, shall shine like the angelic sons of God (Job 38:7).
Daniel didn’t live to see the release of his people from exile and their restoration to Judah and Jerusalem by the decree of Cyrus, the Medo-Persian king of Babylon. What he did see, however, during his long life was plenty of trouble. Daniel saw, at a young age, Jerusalem surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and the rulers of her people get deported to Babylon in 606 BC. Daniel was among them. He saw himself made into a professional courtier and administrator for his Babylonian captor, probably at the cost of being made a eunuch.
In 586 Daniel saw Judah fall completely to the ground and Nebuchadnezzar trashing the Temple and deporting everyone of any account. He saw three of his friends thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to commit idolatry. He saw the sacred vessels stolen from the Temple desecrated by a playboy king and his concubines on the night that Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians. Daniel saw the grim interior of a den of lions due to the jealousy of the Persian satraps over whom he was promoted by their own leader!
Throughout his long life Daniel saw stark and fearsome visions from the Lord that appalled and mystified him. Yet in, with, and under all the trouble of the Babylonian captivity, Daniel saw the word of the Lord hold fast and stand firm. But he saw this by faith, not by sight. Daniel saw the hungry lions’ mouths stopped up for him by the Angel of God (Dan 6:22). Daniel saw the inferno of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace quenched for his three friends by One strolling on the coals who was like the Son of God (Dan 3:25). Daniel saw the very hand of God weigh Babylon in the balance, find her wanting, and judge her in just one hour (Dan 5:17-31). And last and most important of all, Daniel heard from the Angel Gabriel that Michael, First of the chief princes, was Daniel’s Prince and the Prince of the children of Israel. This Michael was He who had stood up to defend Daniel’s people before and would stand up for them again, according to theWord of the Lord.
Michael stands up for his people, the children of God, in the terrible time of the End in our reading in Revelation 12. Michael and his angels wage war in heaven against the dragon and his demonic horde. The dragon cannot prevail, though, and there is no place left for him and his evil minions in heaven any longer. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.
Now the verbs for deposing the devil and all his motley crew are in the passive voice. The subject of these verbs is not specified. Who is doing the throwing down? Very often in Scripture this way of speaking, called the “theological passive,” is used to show that God is acting, without mentioning His name outright. God is throwing down Satan and his demons by means of the Archangel Michael and Michael’s good angels. This is made clear in Revelation 20 where we hear, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended (20:1-3).
How is it that Michael is able to do all of this to the dread Satan? If its simply a matter of one created angel - the good archangel - going up against another create angel - the bad rebel - then it should be even money as to which angelic brawler will best the other. The “smart money” would actually be on the devil, the master of a thousand arts who has no qualms about fighting dirty.
There’s something deeper going on here, though. The devil-binding angel of Revelation 20 has the key to the abyss and the great chain in his hand. At the beginning of the Apocalypse, it is our Lord Jesus Christ who has the keys of Death and Hades (Rev 1:18); it is Christ who has the key of David so that He is the one who opens and no one can close and closes and no one can open (Rev 3:7) - not even the devil himself! The angel coming down from heaven of Revelation 20, He who manhandles Satan and locks him up in the Abyss with the same short work of the Archangel Michael as he flings down the devil in Revelation 12, begins to look suspiciously like our Lord Christ Himself!
When Satan is flung from heaven in Revelation 12, a great voice declares, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Interesting! Scripture says that Michael and his angels have won their victory over Satan by means of the blood of the Lamb, by means of the Word of their testimony, by means of their not having loved their lives even unto death.
This doesn’t sound like an aerial victory won by some high-flying ace archangel and his deathless brethren aloft high in heaven. It sounds like a bloody victory won by the crucified Christ and His martyred Apostles right down here on earth!
And that is precisely where Christ Jesus, the Angel of the Lord who is Word of the Lord, the GodMan is when He speaks to the Twelve concerning greatness and repentance. He is one earth, because Satan was thrown from heaven like lightening where he wanders to and fro seeking someone to devour, causing affliction and sorrow, pain and death. Attempting to lead you into false believe, despair, and other great shame and vice.
You are indeed attacked by these things, as was the prophet Daniel and the children of Israel held captive in Babylon. But the Lord has heard your prayer and your plea for help. He has sent His Michael to deliver you, the devil-trouncing Great One of heaven who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made Man. A man most terrible, who loved not His life even unto death and conquers that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, by His blood, for He is the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world.
Where Christ is there is His Church. Where the Church is there is heaven, even on earth. And where heaven is, Satan is not far away trying to weasel his way back in. Thus does our Lord Jesus warn, Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! Woe to the scribes and Pharisees, the hypocrites of our age, who hide themselves in a cloak of righteousness, yet inwardly are ravenous wolves, poisonous beasts who prey on little children, leading them astray into perversion and blasphemy, victims of the sexual exploitation of the workers of lawlessness masquerading as angels of light.
By this, of course, I mean the pedophile priests and homosexual bishops of Rome, that great dragon. They are hands and feet that have caused so much sin and destruction, shame and vice and ought to be cut off and thrown away. They have caused many such children who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ to sin! Woe to them!
But not only them. Woe to us too who are puffed up with the pride of Lucifer, consider ourselves great ones, and rebel against the Chief Prince, YHWH Sabaoth, the Lord God of Hosts with smug arrogance. Woe to us who have despaired of the swift promises of God and His mighty deliverance from our Babylon. With fasting and sackcloth, we confess with Daniel, To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame because we have sinned against You.
Amen, I say to you, unless you repent and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Receive, then, by faith He who comes to you in the Name of the Lord; the great Messenger of YHWH, your “Michael,” who is the Lord Jesus Christ of Revelation 12, for the heavenly angels are said to be His. And the holy angels belong to God alone. The name “Michael” means, “Who is like God?” The answer to the question embedded within this name lies hidden in Him whose name it is. Of all the visible beings only the Lord Christ is like God, for only the Lord Christ is God among us! He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, but has come down to earth.
The angelic host conquered the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their martyrdom. Thus do you also conquer the temptations of the Evil One by the Blood of the Lamb of God and the Word of His martyrdom. For this is the battle which once ragged in heaven, but now continues for a time, times and half a time, here on earth. For Satan and his unholy angels profane the name of God among us by heresy and immorality. They blaspheme God in heaven.
Yet, where the Church is, there is the Lord Christ, and wherever the Lord Christ is, there is heaven. Thus do you endure the great wrath of the devil for a season.
But do not be afraid, for he knows that his time is short.
And to steal you for the fight our Lord Christ, the uncreated Angel of the Lord, sends you His flesh and blood messengers, the angels of the churches, your Pastors, who continue to prevail for you and with you by the Word of the Lord, swinging that double edged sword against all false doctrine, perverse living, and wrong practice as they fight against Satan and his angels. They use the keys bestowed by Christ Himself to unbind you and loose you from your sins and free you from the devil’s captivity.
And the blood of the Lamb which has conquered the devil and Satan is poured over your lips once more today, bestowing upon you the death-defying victory. No more can he accuse you. Fasten around his neck and the neck of your old Adam the millstone of the Law and drown him in the sea of your Baptism. For you, O Christian, are greatly loved. Fear not, you children of God, you whose names are written in the book of truth, you shall be delivered. You shall arise from the dust, shake of your sinful nature and death itself, and walk into everlasting life, shining like the brightness of the angelic stars with the radiant righteousness of your great Michael, even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Portions of this sermon were adapted from a sermon preached by Rev Dr Stephen Wiest of blessed memory.
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