Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Revelation 12:7-12; St Matthew 18:1-11
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back. It sounds like the stuff of big budget Hollywood movies. Some ancient, long forgotten prequel to the Avengers.
You have St Michael who is like Captain America, Thor, and Dr Strange all rolled into one. He stands at the ready, commanding a supernatural army of extraterrestrial beings that numbers in the thousands upon thousands, ten thousands upon ten thousands. This is the mighty angelic band of the Lord God of Sabaoth, the Maker and Master of the Universe. An elite squad of truly invisible warriors, greater than any ninja clan or assembly of Avengers.
And their opponent? The arch, super villain, one of their own rank, a traitor from their midst, Lucifer. He possesses a dark, chaotic power of his own. Imagine Thanos times a thousand. He is Death, the hater of humanity, deluded in his misbelief, hell-bent on one thing: the destruction of God’s good creation and its inhabitants. He hates Christ and His Word. A close third, Satan hates children.
The author of this real-life comic book, St John the Apostle and Evangelist, calls him the Deceiver of the whole world, the great dragon, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Σατανοσ, the deceiver of the whole world. And he has a third of the host of heaven at his command, willing to fight to the destruction of the heavens and the earth in a violent, venom fueled rage all on account of the Incarnation of the Son of God.
In prideful arrogance he refused the command of his Maker to serve humanity. “That?! You want me to serve those little flesh bags? You’re going to become One of those?!” That’s why he hates children; dirty, smelling, snotty kids. Because the Second Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity became Man, Satan wants to annihilate the earth and mutiny heaven. Even if you don’t like comic books or super-hero movies, this is still pretty cool.
And into this heavenly battleground, amidst angelic beings wielding phenomenal cosmic power beyond our wildest imaginations comes the cinematic juxtaposition of the ages, a scene so unusually outrageous you’d think the editor made a mistake. A Lamb. Between the ferocious jaws of the beastly dragon and the flaming sword of the Arch Angel stands a helpless, defenseless little Lamb.
It is so out of place, so surreal, that we’d never have presumed it on our own. Its illogical. Foolish. Such is the natural of the Gospel. It is always a surprise.
Like our Lord putting a child in the midst of these theologically hulking giants, between Saints Peter and Matthew, James and John the Sons of Thunder, and saying, “This child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, not you.” Not fame or fortune, power or might, not intellect or reason, but whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Humility. Poverty of spirit. These are the marks of greatness.
For it is not the seven older brothers of the shepherd who stand down against the Philistine, but the child David. Protected not with the weighty armor of a man, but guarded by the Name of the Lord and the five smooth stones of His Torah, foreshadowing the number of our Lord’s own wounds received on the Stone Ground of Golgotha, the true war zone. The shepherd king takes his place on the battlefield not in the strength of his arm, but in the Name of the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, YHWH Sabaoth who gives His holy angels to guard and defend His little ones. In heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Not even the seraphim in the heavenly throne room as seen by Isaiah were privileged to behold the face of God, but covered their eyes with two of their six wings.
Not so the children’s angels! They always see the face of the Father! See that you do not despise them. For the angels weep at sin and impenitence, arrogance and pride.
That is why Jesus takes the question of the disciples so seriously. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Is it Gabriel? David? Samson? Joshua? Moses? It is St Michael, who’s name is in fact a question, “Who is like God?” This question is potentially idolatrous and satanic. But the answer to both is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and the only One who is like God, for He is God!
God in the flesh, who did not consider it beneath Him to make Himself, for a time, a little lower than the heavenly beings. To become a dirty, smelly, Child, like those being brought by their mothers. Not just children, but infants; babies. And then, having made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become much superior to the angels, upholding the universe by the Word of His power (Ps 8; Heb 1).
This is why Jesus warns against temptations to sin with such sobriety: Woe to the world for temptations to sin! It is better to loose members than to perish eternally. Is it better to expel the perpetrator, to cut off the sin and throw it away than to tolerate it and be eternally damned. You can either die to your sin through repentance and faith or you can die in it for all eternity.
But how shall this be done? How is the dragon slain? How is the evil horde expelled? How is sin fought against and overcome? They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony. This is how the devil is defeated, sin beaten back. By standing firm in the shed Blood of the Lamb and the preached Word of His martyrdom.
And the great dragon and his angels were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Therefore woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!
We get lost in the mystery of it all. We let our imaginations roam and think it can’t possibly be real. We hear Jesus praise the humility of children and we mistakenly apply this to their worldly innocence, falling into the prideful trap of the culture, relegating them to second-class citizens, even within the Church. Jesus says they are the example of faith; the rule, not the exception.
And His Word says that the cosmic battle between St Michael and the Devil, between good and evil, light and dark, life and death is real. It is not a comic book fairy tale, but more real than what our eyes see, than our senses detect and our reason determines.
We think we’d pay anything to have Peter Jackson or the Russo brothers turn this story into a movie, but its happening all around us and in us. Those dastardly things you heard about in the Psalm - the snare of the fowler, the deadly pestilence, the terror of the night, the arrow of the day, the stalking pestilence in the darkness, the wasting destruction of noonday - all those pitfalls and traps, seventh century Church Father St John Cassian wrote, “All these names we ought not to take as given at random or haphazard, but as alluding to their fierceness and madness under the sign of those wild beasts which are more or less harmful and dangerous among us” (Conferences 7:32). Those are demons. Real, spiritual warfare against sin and vice, shame and addiction, battling for your body and soul, mind and heart.
Imagine the grotesque creatures allied with the White Witch in Narnia. Hags and ghouls, minotaurs and wraiths. These represent the fallen angels, those whose beauty and splendor, the majesty in which God the Father created them has been demonically altered. They portray on the outside what our sin has done to us on the inside. Their outer nature exemplifies our scarred conscience, our depraved minds, our wicked hearts.
They are the army of the Evil One, amassed in battle worse than any orc or oruki. And they are all around us allied with the fallen world, and even within us - in our own twisted, corrupted flesh! Elsewhere St Paul says, We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). And St Peter, Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith (1 Pt 5:8-9).
Those confirmation promises you made long ago - which Seth and Joe reiterate today - become a little more real. “Suffer all, even death, even death, rather than fall away?” By the grace of God.
Fear not, dear Christian! For against such cosmic forces in the present darkness you have the truly powerful One, your great Champion and mighty Avenger, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. For while the battle between St Michael and the dragon is captivating, the truly epic victory, the ultimate triumph of good over evil, of Light over darkness, is the Crucifix. It is folly. It is shame. It is weakness and humility.
It is the power of God unto salvation! It is the radical nature of the Gospel. That as the dragon opens his foul mouth to devour this little Lamb, as his deadly teeth pierce the flesh of this helpless Creature, the surprise is revealed: the Blood of the Lamb undoes the power of Satan! And the Lamb of God turns out to be the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who stalks death to the grave and destroys him forever.
That’s what this Feast Day is all about - not angels and demons, greatness and power - but about the Lamb and His Blood which cleanses you from all unrighteousness. For the antidote to death and the grave, the victory over the dragon, that which pulses through the veins of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is shed for you and now fills in the Chalice in His Blood! The Word of His martyrdom washes over you in Holy Baptism and the Holy Absolution and it expels Satan. The preaching of His Word of His Cross causes Satan to fall like lightening from heaven!
How much would you pay for this movie? How long would you stand in line? Watch is over and over again? Dissect it, discuss it, blog about it?
It’s playing every Sunday! Every Lord’s Day, every Divine Service, heaven and earth meet in the very communion of the Body of Christ, in the fellowship of the Lamb. For He sends forth His ministers, His ordained men, who do His will, bestowing His life and His light. Behold the Lamb of God! And the Bread that is His Body is held before your eyes and placed upon your tongue. He takes away the sin of the world! And they pour the Wine that is His Blood from the Chalice over your sin-parched lips. By these you are steeled for battle in the forgiveness of your sins, dressed in the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:11).
Here He prepares a Table before you in the presence of your enemies, both within and without. The sin which hounds you, the fear of the world which makes you anxious, the power of death and the devil, which incapacitate you. He silences them all by His Blood and sends them running by His Word. So fear not, for they exist only here, only this side of glory.
Over there, beyond that mystical East lies the country of our Aslan, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. How we long for His holy habitation. On the other side of the Altar, hidden from our senses, the Sabbaoth, the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, joined together with us around the throne of Lamb, ever singing His praise: Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back. It sounds like the stuff of big budget Hollywood movies. Some ancient, long forgotten prequel to the Avengers.
You have St Michael who is like Captain America, Thor, and Dr Strange all rolled into one. He stands at the ready, commanding a supernatural army of extraterrestrial beings that numbers in the thousands upon thousands, ten thousands upon ten thousands. This is the mighty angelic band of the Lord God of Sabaoth, the Maker and Master of the Universe. An elite squad of truly invisible warriors, greater than any ninja clan or assembly of Avengers.
And their opponent? The arch, super villain, one of their own rank, a traitor from their midst, Lucifer. He possesses a dark, chaotic power of his own. Imagine Thanos times a thousand. He is Death, the hater of humanity, deluded in his misbelief, hell-bent on one thing: the destruction of God’s good creation and its inhabitants. He hates Christ and His Word. A close third, Satan hates children.
The author of this real-life comic book, St John the Apostle and Evangelist, calls him the Deceiver of the whole world, the great dragon, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Σατανοσ, the deceiver of the whole world. And he has a third of the host of heaven at his command, willing to fight to the destruction of the heavens and the earth in a violent, venom fueled rage all on account of the Incarnation of the Son of God.
In prideful arrogance he refused the command of his Maker to serve humanity. “That?! You want me to serve those little flesh bags? You’re going to become One of those?!” That’s why he hates children; dirty, smelling, snotty kids. Because the Second Person of the Blessed Holy Trinity became Man, Satan wants to annihilate the earth and mutiny heaven. Even if you don’t like comic books or super-hero movies, this is still pretty cool.
And into this heavenly battleground, amidst angelic beings wielding phenomenal cosmic power beyond our wildest imaginations comes the cinematic juxtaposition of the ages, a scene so unusually outrageous you’d think the editor made a mistake. A Lamb. Between the ferocious jaws of the beastly dragon and the flaming sword of the Arch Angel stands a helpless, defenseless little Lamb.
It is so out of place, so surreal, that we’d never have presumed it on our own. Its illogical. Foolish. Such is the natural of the Gospel. It is always a surprise.
Like our Lord putting a child in the midst of these theologically hulking giants, between Saints Peter and Matthew, James and John the Sons of Thunder, and saying, “This child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, not you.” Not fame or fortune, power or might, not intellect or reason, but whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Humility. Poverty of spirit. These are the marks of greatness.
For it is not the seven older brothers of the shepherd who stand down against the Philistine, but the child David. Protected not with the weighty armor of a man, but guarded by the Name of the Lord and the five smooth stones of His Torah, foreshadowing the number of our Lord’s own wounds received on the Stone Ground of Golgotha, the true war zone. The shepherd king takes his place on the battlefield not in the strength of his arm, but in the Name of the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, YHWH Sabaoth who gives His holy angels to guard and defend His little ones. In heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Not even the seraphim in the heavenly throne room as seen by Isaiah were privileged to behold the face of God, but covered their eyes with two of their six wings.
Not so the children’s angels! They always see the face of the Father! See that you do not despise them. For the angels weep at sin and impenitence, arrogance and pride.
That is why Jesus takes the question of the disciples so seriously. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Is it Gabriel? David? Samson? Joshua? Moses? It is St Michael, who’s name is in fact a question, “Who is like God?” This question is potentially idolatrous and satanic. But the answer to both is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and the only One who is like God, for He is God!
God in the flesh, who did not consider it beneath Him to make Himself, for a time, a little lower than the heavenly beings. To become a dirty, smelly, Child, like those being brought by their mothers. Not just children, but infants; babies. And then, having made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become much superior to the angels, upholding the universe by the Word of His power (Ps 8; Heb 1).
This is why Jesus warns against temptations to sin with such sobriety: Woe to the world for temptations to sin! It is better to loose members than to perish eternally. Is it better to expel the perpetrator, to cut off the sin and throw it away than to tolerate it and be eternally damned. You can either die to your sin through repentance and faith or you can die in it for all eternity.
But how shall this be done? How is the dragon slain? How is the evil horde expelled? How is sin fought against and overcome? They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony. This is how the devil is defeated, sin beaten back. By standing firm in the shed Blood of the Lamb and the preached Word of His martyrdom.
And the great dragon and his angels were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Therefore woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!
We get lost in the mystery of it all. We let our imaginations roam and think it can’t possibly be real. We hear Jesus praise the humility of children and we mistakenly apply this to their worldly innocence, falling into the prideful trap of the culture, relegating them to second-class citizens, even within the Church. Jesus says they are the example of faith; the rule, not the exception.
And His Word says that the cosmic battle between St Michael and the Devil, between good and evil, light and dark, life and death is real. It is not a comic book fairy tale, but more real than what our eyes see, than our senses detect and our reason determines.
We think we’d pay anything to have Peter Jackson or the Russo brothers turn this story into a movie, but its happening all around us and in us. Those dastardly things you heard about in the Psalm - the snare of the fowler, the deadly pestilence, the terror of the night, the arrow of the day, the stalking pestilence in the darkness, the wasting destruction of noonday - all those pitfalls and traps, seventh century Church Father St John Cassian wrote, “All these names we ought not to take as given at random or haphazard, but as alluding to their fierceness and madness under the sign of those wild beasts which are more or less harmful and dangerous among us” (Conferences 7:32). Those are demons. Real, spiritual warfare against sin and vice, shame and addiction, battling for your body and soul, mind and heart.
Imagine the grotesque creatures allied with the White Witch in Narnia. Hags and ghouls, minotaurs and wraiths. These represent the fallen angels, those whose beauty and splendor, the majesty in which God the Father created them has been demonically altered. They portray on the outside what our sin has done to us on the inside. Their outer nature exemplifies our scarred conscience, our depraved minds, our wicked hearts.
They are the army of the Evil One, amassed in battle worse than any orc or oruki. And they are all around us allied with the fallen world, and even within us - in our own twisted, corrupted flesh! Elsewhere St Paul says, We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). And St Peter, Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith (1 Pt 5:8-9).
Those confirmation promises you made long ago - which Seth and Joe reiterate today - become a little more real. “Suffer all, even death, even death, rather than fall away?” By the grace of God.
Fear not, dear Christian! For against such cosmic forces in the present darkness you have the truly powerful One, your great Champion and mighty Avenger, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. For while the battle between St Michael and the dragon is captivating, the truly epic victory, the ultimate triumph of good over evil, of Light over darkness, is the Crucifix. It is folly. It is shame. It is weakness and humility.
It is the power of God unto salvation! It is the radical nature of the Gospel. That as the dragon opens his foul mouth to devour this little Lamb, as his deadly teeth pierce the flesh of this helpless Creature, the surprise is revealed: the Blood of the Lamb undoes the power of Satan! And the Lamb of God turns out to be the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who stalks death to the grave and destroys him forever.
That’s what this Feast Day is all about - not angels and demons, greatness and power - but about the Lamb and His Blood which cleanses you from all unrighteousness. For the antidote to death and the grave, the victory over the dragon, that which pulses through the veins of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is shed for you and now fills in the Chalice in His Blood! The Word of His martyrdom washes over you in Holy Baptism and the Holy Absolution and it expels Satan. The preaching of His Word of His Cross causes Satan to fall like lightening from heaven!
How much would you pay for this movie? How long would you stand in line? Watch is over and over again? Dissect it, discuss it, blog about it?
It’s playing every Sunday! Every Lord’s Day, every Divine Service, heaven and earth meet in the very communion of the Body of Christ, in the fellowship of the Lamb. For He sends forth His ministers, His ordained men, who do His will, bestowing His life and His light. Behold the Lamb of God! And the Bread that is His Body is held before your eyes and placed upon your tongue. He takes away the sin of the world! And they pour the Wine that is His Blood from the Chalice over your sin-parched lips. By these you are steeled for battle in the forgiveness of your sins, dressed in the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:11).
Here He prepares a Table before you in the presence of your enemies, both within and without. The sin which hounds you, the fear of the world which makes you anxious, the power of death and the devil, which incapacitate you. He silences them all by His Blood and sends them running by His Word. So fear not, for they exist only here, only this side of glory.
Over there, beyond that mystical East lies the country of our Aslan, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. How we long for His holy habitation. On the other side of the Altar, hidden from our senses, the Sabbaoth, the angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, joined together with us around the throne of Lamb, ever singing His praise: Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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