2nd Sunday in Advent, 2013
Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
December 8, 2013
Luke 21:25-27 “And there shall
be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth
distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing them for
fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the
powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great
glory.”
On the surface, it seems that we
have an anomaly with this Sunday’s Gospel selection from St. Luke. Doesn’t it
seem strange to have a Gospel reading that presages the end of time, with all
its horrific events, at the beginning of the Church Year? At first glance, we think it does.
Please note, this particular
passage is known as the “small apocalypse” of St. Luke. It echoes, in many details, the Apocalypse of
St. John in the book of Revelations.
Some commentators see it as a preview, if you will, of that book. Others, usually of a more modern
interpretative persuasion, see this passage as foretelling the fall of
Jerusalem in a.d. 70.[i]
Honestly said, both interpretations have their value, and as if often the case
with Biblical prophecy, it may very well be a case of “both and”, rather than
merely “either-or.”
Still, at any rate, it may
seem vaguely out-of-place. Certainly for this priest, prior to some heavy
Biblical study, and some blessed enlightenment by the Holy Ghost, it certainly
seemed that way for a long time.
Let’s briefly examine this
passage and see why it actually has great significance for this Advent Season
today and now, as well as for all Christians until the world’s end.
If one backs up a few verses
in Ch. 21 of Luke, it begins with the disciples admiring the magnificence of
the Temple, to which Christ replies that not one stone will be left upon
another. To many students of the Bible,
this reference clearly refers to the desolation of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and rightly
so. The Temple was destroyed by the
Romans, when they brought their leveling bars and turned Jerusalem into a pile
of rubble after the revolt of 70 A.D.
What is amazing is that
Temple, although magnificent, was only a faint reflection of the truly amazing
Temple of Solomon, which was considered one of the wonders of the ancient
world, and, as we know from our Biblical history, was destroyed by the
Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. At any
rate, the disciples had to be amazed that Christ would make so amazing and
dispiriting a prediction. They asked the obvious question, when will thing
happen?
Jesus then gives a truly
fearsome answer that many have thought to be about the end times, including a
discussion of the Anti-Christ, wars and rumors of wars, nations against
nations, and terrifying natural disasters. He also speaks of signs in the
heavens, and persecution of Christians.
Interesting, many of these things happen almost routinely in this fallen
world. We have been experiencing some truly terrible natural disasters
latterly, both abroad and in this country, with the recent tornadic activity,
for example.
What sets Christ’s account of
the end times apart from the routine effect of the curse under which the world
labors, dating back to Adam and Eve, is the end result. After Christ describes the signs in the
heavens, and the powers of heaven being shaken, he caps it with the
announcement (Luke 21:27-28) ” And then shall they see the
Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to
come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh.”
This is where this passage
begins to make a great deal of sense for our Advent journey.
The message for Christians is
very plain: persevere to the end with faith, and your salvation will be
secured. In short, “look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption
draweth nigh.”
This is the point: one cannot
celebrate the first coming of Christ without recognizing the reality of the
Second Coming as well. That is, if one
is blessed with faith, one knows that beginning at Nazareth ends with the
cataclysmic ending at the end of time, when Jesus Christ finally reclaims what
is rightfully His. He came the first
time in great humility, and this is the Jesus, the world, especially the
secular world, loves to admire. Virtually everyone has a soft spot for the
Christ child, somewhere in their being.
Yet, it is the Second Christ
that the secularists and non-believers reject.
They can handle, maybe, the baby Jesus.
However, they cannot abide, they cannot stomach, the true King of Kings
and Lord of Lords as He is portrayed in His glorious and divine Self. As Matthew 24:30 tells us “And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Imagine the scene, with the skies literally splitting apart and Our Lord
and Savior Christ coming to earth on a
cloud with great glory. It will be terrifying enough for us Christians;
imagine what those without any faith will feel….
As a theological aside, the
cloud on which Christ will arrive will not be just any ordinary cloud. Most theologians believe that this is the
Shikinah Cloud, the cloud that led Israel through Sinai, the cloud of glory
that enveloped the temple in the Book of Ezekiel, and possibly the “Cloud of
Winesses” that the writer of the Book of Hebrews spoke of. It was also the same
cloud that overshadowed Christ and his three chosen disciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration. In short, it will not be ordinary.
One might be tempted, to say
“So what?” Who cares what cloud Christ accompanies Christ? What is the big
deal?
Beloved in the Lord, nothing
that the Lord does is without significance.
The point is, that when our Lord returns in power and great glory, He
will not be alone. He will be
accompanied with the host of heaven, and he will come in unspeakable power and
great glory.
This is truly what we are
celebrating today. We are not just
celebrating the coming of our Lord and Savior, although that is incredibly and
eternally significant. We are also celebrating
the prediction of the completion of God’s Plan for His world. As we said, one simply cannot celebrate the
First Advent of Christ without recognizing the reality and inevitability of the
Second. What God the Father began
through Christ, he will complete through Christ. Someday, the Great Cycle of Creation,
Sacrifice, Resurrection and ultimate Redemption will be accomplished.
For this, we must offer to the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost eternal praise, honor, and glory, forever and ever.
The time is now. May we make the most of this Advent Season,
as Our Lord and Savior draweth nigh. AMEN
Luke 21:27-28 “And then shall they see the Son of man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory. 28
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your
heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
No comments:
Post a Comment