Advent 1 [Isaiah 2:1-5] (1 December 2013)

This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran, Karoonda (9 am) and Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Ben (11 am).

Well it's Advent, but the readings this week aren't about the birth of our Lord. They're about readiness for Christ's second coming, and about how special Jerusalem and the house of the Lord is. It's like sticking two different things together. But, since Christ has come to be born, that includes that he must come again, not in humility as a baby, but as the One who is to judge the living and the dead. So it's a time of anticipation and repentance – the perfect setting for Isaiah chapter 2.

Repentance is first on the list, so that you know who the nations are that Isaiah speaks of, and what's up with the Jerusalem he addresses. Isaiah prophesies that “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it”. The city of Jerusalem is built on top of a mountain, but it's not the tallest mountain that there is. That's not what God is promising when he says it will be established as the highest of the mountains, the head of the mountains. Because it doesn't say “Jerusalem will be the highest”, it says the mountain that has the house of the Lord on it will be the highest. And it says it will be established. So who will establish it, who will make it the head, the chief mountain? The way the text talks, this can only be God who does this. (And as we'll see, the way he talks can only be talking about the Christian Church).

And why is this such a big promise? Because God describes the nations and Jerusalem itself very differently than he describes this promise in the latter days (which start with the incarnation of Christ). This is in Isaiah chapter 1, and the rest of chapter 2. The nations are described as devouring the land of Judah and burning its cities with fire. They surround Judah as a constant danger, not as happy visitors. And Jerusalem is described “And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.”, as once faithful but now unfaithful, a land filled with idols. They chase after the idols of the surrounding nations, and seek security in alliances with other nations and not in the Lord. Both are idolatry, and by it Jerusalem is brought low, not raised up.

The Church during Advent and always is in need of repentance because you make other gods all the time. When you make gods, they like what you like, and they call good what you call good. You're not perfect, but you think you're good enough, tried enough? Congratulations, that's all the god you made up wants of you anyways. You don't think it's right to tell someone else what is right and true, or what marriage is, or that human life should be protected? Congratulations, your homemade god also thinks those things are just personal, they don't apply to everyone. You have a righteousness that you can take credit for? Congratulations, your god says that's all you need. Your god doesn't want to take a lot of time revealing who he is or what he's done, so that you can keep the focus right where you want to: yourself. But take a look at what the nations say when they come streaming in to the place where the Lord dwells: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”. They're not there to believe in a god that they can make up, but in the God who reveals who he is and what he is like. Your heart would deceive you on who God is. His Word puts the spotlight on your heart so that the better spotlight would go on his promise of forgiveness through the blood of Christ.

You see,

From beginning to end, the Church lives only from the work of Christ.

That involves a lot of anticipation, even as it involves the faith that believes that the only life is the life that is given to you by the work of Christ, the work that is for you. The Christian Church is raised up above every false religion because of what Jesus has done, received by faith alone. You anticipate, you look forward to, when you will see this with your eyes, but the prophecy that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains only takes place in the Church which is bought with Christ's own blood shed for you on the cross. But you believe now that only Christ's work is where your faith can rest. Your conscience is restless without Christ and his cross, either restless or so out of tune that it's numb. Either way is a way without comfort. But with Christ's cross you're daily lifted out of the darkness of sin, until the day you repent no more, which is the day you see the Church in all her holy glory in heaven. Then you'll see the truth of that glorious picture of the mountain that is the highest, except in elevation it isn't, but by God's pure grace and mercy it is.

The nations stream in because of what Jesus has done. It's his work that there is a Christian Church on earth for Christ to return and gather to himself. In the Gospels he says, “but when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” If it were up to you, no. But it's not, it's his work from start to finish. That's the other part of the picture in this reading – the nations stream in, that is they flow in like a river. But what direction do they flow to get to the mountain? Up! Streams don't flow up, unless God wills it. The Church, right down to this congregation, doesn't exist because it has things we want in it, but because it has the only needful thing in it – that Christ is here, with the precious gifts of his cross, to hand them over to you by the work of the Holy Spirit. Here are the things you need. And if the Lord is here to do these things, then by his incarnation, his suffering and death, here is Mount Zion. The epistles to the Hebrews doesn't lie: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven”.

 

And it's all because the Word of the Lord has gone out. It's only because of that, just as you are saved only by Christ, saved only by grace alone through faith alone. The Word of the Lord goes out and the people come in, this is as amazing sounding as the raising up of Mount Zion; usually we hear of people being sent out to bring people in, and that's true, but here Isaiah puts all the emphasis on the Word of the Lord, and no wonder, for only that could bring in such different people from such different lands and times into the Christian Church. And usually we think so small that all we see is congregations shrinking, but this picture here in Isaiah describes the entire life of the Church, for all its ups and downs in the world it is still described as a streaming, that which comes in like water, without needing to be pushed.

Daily repenting, the Church doesn't despair even when looking toward the future because of what Jesus has done. If the Church had a righteousness that was her own, then that wouldn't be so. But the Church has a righteousness that comes from outside of her. And my goodness, think of Christ's mercy here. If you were God, you wouldn't save you, knowing how wicked and self-righteous you are. But God is more merciful than you are, to forgive your sins. So in your life, morning and evening, is where repentance and anticipation come together this Advent. You look ahead by repenting, by confessing your sins daily before God, each other, and your pastor. You look ahead by looking backward to Christ's cross and all his promises to you of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. You look back to your baptism, you receive the forgiveness of sins in the Lord's Supper, and you look ahead for Christ to return soon, meaning at any time. And you do that by looking ahead to celebrating a past event in human history: that God himself took flesh, became man, and was born. And so you look ahead to the future without despair because the Holy Spirit keeps the Church with Jesus in the one true faith.

Conclusion: We start Advent by looking way way ahead, to the second coming which is part of the whole history of the Church, even the parts that haven't happened yet. But we do so by examining ourselves in repentance. And it's all about the cross which has brought about the forgiveness of sins and all righteousness for the Church. It's how we prepare to sing about the manger of Jesus. Amen.