Two very different advents

Sermon for Ad Te Levavi – Advent 1

Romans 13:11-14  +  Matthew 21:1-9

We enter the Advent season again this year with purple on the altar, and on the pulpit, and on the pastor—the three symbols of Christ in our midst, calling on us, through the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments, to live in daily contrition and repentance as we await His advent, His coming at the end of the age, which is nearer now than when we first believed, and much, much nearer now than when St. Paul wrote those words to the Christians in Rome.

That coming for which the Church has been anxiously waiting all these hundreds of years, that advent of the glorious King for which we’re even now preparing, will be very different than the advent we heard about in today’s Gospel, Christ’s coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We’re going to spend a little time this morning comparing those two advents of Christ.

First, consider the timing. No one knew the day or the hour of Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Not until He told His disciples to go and fetch those famous donkeys. But there were plenty of Old Testament signs pointing to the general timing of His coming into the world, signs that had all been fulfilled. The scepter had recently departed from Judah, according to Jacob’s prophecy. Christ had been born in Bethlehem, as Micah had said, and born of a virgin, as Isaiah had prophesied, and Israel was experiencing a time of peace. The 70 “weeks” or the 490 years of Daniel’s prophecy were just then coming to an end. And Jesus had opened His mouth in parables and had performed many miracles, fulfilling those prophecies, too. Not only that, but Palm Sunday and Holy Week took place in conjunction with the Passover, which may have been the greatest sign pointing to Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood shelters us from death.

The timing of the second advent will likewise be unknown, and yet the general timing of Christ’s coming has been announced with all kinds of signs, which we’ll consider further next week: Earthquakes, famines, wars, plagues, false doctrine and great apostasy within the Church. Not a time of peace for the Church, but a time of persecution of Christians, the love of most growing cold, and yet the Gospel being preached to all nations. Very different signs, but still signs that should make us look up!

Zechariah was the one who prophesied about Christ’s coming into Jerusalem. See, your King comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey. He had to come to Jerusalem the first time in meekness, to allow His enemies to reject Him, to plot against Him, to betray Him, to arrest Him, to torture Him, to try Him, condemn Him, crucify Him, and bury Him. He had to come in meekness, not to condemn sinners, but to be condemned by sinners. He had to come in meekness, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

But it will be very different when He comes again. The disciples brought that donkey to King Jesus for His ride into Jerusalem. King Jesus will bring His disciples with Him on a cloud at His second advent, as Daniel prophesies about His second coming: I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed. He’ll come in power and great glory. He’ll have dominion and glory and a kingdom. He’ll come in judgment against His enemies, and no one will be allowed to reject Him ever again, but every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue will confess, either gladly or forcibly, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The King came the first time, as Zechariah’s prophecy continues, righteous and having salvation. But His righteousness wasn’t a matter of bringing justice to the earth, or removing tyrants from their thrones, or making people behave justly or fairly toward one another. The salvation He brought wasn’t about saving people from oppression or from poverty, from sickness, or even from death. Not at His first advent. Instead, He led a righteous life in how He obeyed His Father in heaven and in how He served His fellow man. He kept God’s holy Law in our place, and He brought salvation by earning a righteous verdict for us. He brought salvation by revealing the God of love, who doesn’t want to see anyone perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. He brought salvation — and brings it still! — by giving spiritual life to those who were dead in sins and trespasses, by creating and sustaining faith by His Spirit, by sending ministers to preach His Word and administer His Sacraments.

But when He comes again, the King will bring righteousness to the earth, and not only to the earth, but to His holy people, to the Christian Church, which is His precious Zion. Every lie will be exposed. Every injustice will be addressed. Every sorrow will be removed. And everything that has been taken away from His people in this world will be restored to them a hundredfold.

When the King rode into Jerusalem, His disciples’ garments and His people’s palm branches were the tokens of honor that prepared His way. When He comes again, His disciples will be wearing His righteousness as a garment by faith, and His way will be prepared with His people’s repentance and holy living and works of love.

When the King rode into Jerusalem, the multitudes received Him with great enthusiasm, not understanding at all the sacrifice He would make that week, the sacrifice of His own life so that sinners might live. But now Christians know just how great is the love of Christ, just how precious is the forgiveness He won on the cross, just how deeply He has loved His own. So when the King comes again at the end of the age, the praise will be that much greater.

Hosanna to the Son of David! was the song of the multitudes, and is still our song today. To that the Church will add, when He comes again, a loud, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, they sang, who came to give His life as a ransom for many! The new song will be, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, to rescue us from this world, from sin and from death and from the power of the devil, to live beside Him in glory forever! Blessed is He who came in the name of the Lord to establish an invisible kingdom of grace. Blessed is He who comes again to establish a visible kingdom of glory.

So what do we do in the meantime? What do we do while we wait for the return of the King? Well, we hope. We set our sights beyond the troubles of this present time, beyond the hardships that come with COVID and political unrest and personal trauma. Soon enough the King will appear, sooner now than when we first believed. And St. Paul, in today’s Epistle, gives us plenty to do while we wait: The night is over; the day is at hand. Therefore, let us set aside the works of darkness, and let us put on the weapons of light. Let us walk decently, as in the daytime, not with debauchery and drunkenness, not with sexual immorality and indecency, not with discord and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its desires. Live in daily contrition and repentance. Live as those who have hope. Live as those who don’t cling to a nice, comfortable life in this world, but who know that we’re citizens of a better country. Live as those who are expecting the King to come at any time, because He really could. May the King grant you peace and joy in His Spirit, and make you ever mindful of His imminent arrival. Amen.