Sermon 18th November 2018- Second Sunday before Advent
Based on: Mark 13. 1-8; Daniel 12. 1-3; Hebrews 10. 11-25
Prayer:
Last Sunday, as I mentioned in my sermon that when we arrive near the end of the old church year, we usually spend about three Sundays talking about things that have to do with the end of time: the final judgement, heaven and hell, and Christ’s eternal rule over all things.
Even today, all the readings of our lectionary talk about the end of time.
Our first reading is from the book of Daniel. Daniel wrote this book in the sixth century B.C. It records the events of Daniel’s life and the visions that he saw from the time of his exile in Babylon 605. B.C (1. 1)
In the Book of Daniel, chapters 10, 11, and 12 are a part of one revelation that speak about the end of time. Chapter 10 serves as the introduction; chapter 11 provides a number of the details of God’s prophetic program, and chapter 12 serves as the conclusion. Chapter 12 is the crowning chapter of this prophecy, as well as its conclusion. The final revelation from God to Daniel gave him more details and a greater, though far from complete, grasp of what it all meant. Daniel, distressed, mourning, and praying for insight finds the answer to all of his petitions in this final revelation.
The final words spoken to Daniel are words of comfort, words intended to turn the sorrow of verses 2 and 3 of chapter 10 into joy. They are words which also bring joy to the heart of the believer of any age and terror into the hearts of the wicked.
The elventh chapter of the book of Daniel describes the events of history from Daniel’s day down to the “day of the Lord” in terms of the on-going struggle of the two world powers: the king of the North” and the “king of the South.” Chapter 11 describes the approach of the last days from a human standpoint, whereas chapter 12 describes the end in terms which are divine.
The first verse of chapter 12 reveals two facts pertaining to the end times we would not have expected apart from divine revelation. First, the angel Michael is the instrument through whom the period of the Great Tribulation is initiated.
What we notice here- When Michael arises, the time of Israel’s trouble begins. At first this does not seem possible. Michael is “Israel’s prince” (10:21), the “great prince who stands guard” over the sons of Daniel’s people, Israel (12:1). How could the “protector of Israel” precipitate this time of such great suffering?
The answer is found in the second surprising fact revealed in verse 1: The deliverance of God’s people is that which occurs in the time of her greatest trouble—the Great Tribulation. If we are surprised to see Michael associated with the suffering of Israel, we should also be surprised to see Israel’s deliverance associated with the time of her greatest suffering.
God has chosen to bring about the salvation of his chosen ones by means of suffering. God does save men and women from suffering, but He also saves through suffering. Consider for a moment the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. God was well aware of their suffering and heard the cries of His people. He sent Moses to deliver His people from their suffering. But the deliverance of the Israelites came through suffering.
Likewise, the salvation of sinners has been accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ THROUGH His sufferings. He delivers us from sin, from suffering, and from death, but He did so by means of His own suffering and death. As we have read in our epistle this morning “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins” He offered up the perfect sacrifice when he offered up himself. Today’s Epistle draws together the argument the author began six chapters ago, namely that Jesus is God’s final and ultimate High Priest. His priesthood differs in several fundamental respects. Beginning in verse 11 the author reiterates those differences once again.
The principle is this: God’s power and our deliverance come not through any human efforts or our own strength but through our weakness.
We see this principle at work all through the Bible. God provided the means for Abram’s blessing through a son, whom Abram and his wife were powerless to produce (Genesis 12:1ff.). God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, not by their power but in their weakness. God provided our salvation when we were too weak to save ourselves:
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6, 8).
And when we are saved through Christ’s sacrifice the author of the book of Hebrews urges us to hold fast our confession without wavering. An exhortation to all of us after his bold proclamation of the work of Christ might seem odd. And a question may come to our minds. Has his sacrifice not brought perfection? Isn’t it the case that there is no more need for offerings for sin? Can we not approach the holiest throne of God? Hebrews maintains a delicate balance between these two truths. Christ’s death has brought perfection, but those who follow him are still being sanctified (10:14). In other words, they are members of God’s household, but they have not yet reached God’s house.
Hence, they all have need to remain together and to pay attention to each other. Verses 24-25 “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching”.
To be a Christian means you are part of a church family, and families need to spend time together, to interact with one another. If one family member is missing, the rest of us feel it. Your presence or absence in the pew makes a difference to the rest of us? It does. Your physical presence is an encouragement. The sound of your voice added to the voices of all the rest of us–in the singing of the hymns, in the confessing of the creed–this is an encouragement. It lifts our spirits. Yesterday, we had the Youth Get-together of our church and it was not very formal or official meeting but it was all about to get to know one another better. we got to know our needs and our joys and how we might be able to help one another in the body of Christ.
As we have seen reading from the book of Daniel talks of the end of time and The content of Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel suggests that things are about to get really bad. Being led astray will be a danger, there will be war, earthquakes, famine. And, this will only be the beginning. For the author of the book of Hebrews, assembling together is even more pressing in light of the approaching day — surely a reference to the day of the Lord, the day in which God will mete out judgement for all people (Isaiah 2:12; 13:6; Amos 5:18; Joel 1:15). On this day, the children of God will celebrate on God’s mountain while the enemies of Jesus will be placed under his feet, as is promised in Psalm 110:1. It is so important to stay together.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
