https://app.dropwave.io/episode/83b4b66a-0a76-4504-a42e-79a3fe8477eb/populus-zion-advent-2-ad-2025.mp3

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the sun, moon, and stars: signs. On earth: roaring of the waves and national distress. Men’s hearts: failing from fear. The powers of the heavens: shaken.

The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up (2 Peter 3:1).

It sounds like terrible news. Everything you have known and loved and touched and experienced in this life will be destroyed. Except that’s not entirely true. You, dear saints, will be raised in your body. You will likewise be raised with all Christians. Free of sin, you will be glorified and will live forever with Christ your Lord for all eternity.

This leaves us with a question: What do I do in the meantime? Should simply want all the trouble to pass or hope that it will soon? Should I withdraw from the world? Hide from the trouble and just wait for it all to pass?

Jesus says in today’s Gospel that you should look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28). Jesus calls you be optimistic and full of joy because these signs tell you that He is coming to save you and to bring you to Himself.

Like last week’s Gospel, it’s Holy Week. Jesus has already rode into Jerusalem, receiving all glory, laud, and honor. Now it’s Tuesday. The scribes, Pharisees, chief priests and the principal men are planning to kill Him. In two days, Jesus will be betrayed into their hands. The disciples will witness this. They will see men make war upon God. They will see signs in sun, moon, and stars. The earth will quake. Nations will be distressed. Forty years later, Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed. The devastation will be unlike anything they have seen. The rest of the world will lose its collective mind.

But Jesus speaks to His disciples now so that when trouble comes, they won’t despair. That Jesus is being killed is no cause for fear. That Jerusalem is being destroyed is no cause for panic. That the whole creation is thrown into confusion is no cause for alarm. For Jesus is coming to set all things right.

So set your heart on what is sure and certain. You will not find a sure foundation among the chaos of the created world. Instead, fix your heart on God’s Word; listen to what He says. In this way, you will be strong enough to escape the things that are to come and to stand before the Son of Man. Then you can rejoice! For you will be certain to hear your Lord’s verdict. That you are innocent, perfect, righteous, blameless.

You will rejoice in the demise of the wicked and you will reign with your King forever and ever. That’s where Jesus is taking us today. But before we get there, we need to understand the trouble we face in this world and how to escape the fear of it. Jesus gives us exactly what we need in today’s Gospel.

[The world’s turmoil]

The world would like to believe that it’s in control. So the people of the world plan and set things into order. They hold onto the things that seem valuable: money and health and possessions and acclaim and favor. But then things fall apart. They don’t work the way they were intended. Some problems are too big for the world to solve. So the world becomes concerned, troubled, stirred up, confused.

More than that, the world becomes afraid. It doesn’t understand the signs. It certainly doesn’t believe the signs are good news. The signs cause the world turmoil and grief. But you know what these signs mean. Back in Luke 17, Jesus says: And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all (Luke 17:26-29).

These are signs of God’s judgment and wrath against sin. God’s patience waited in the days of Noah. But His patience came to an end. All who refused repentance and rescue were destroyed. God’s patience waited in the days of Lot. But His patience came to an end. All who refused repentance and rescue were destroyed. So will it be at the end of all things. God is patient now, not wanting any to perish but all to reach repentance. But His patience will come to an end. There will be judgment. God will send His wrath against the heathen. All wickedness will be judged.

Many people reject this teaching. Some people say that the god of the Old Testament was only full of wrath, but the New Testament god is only love. — that it would be unloving for God to judge sin. But even if people don’t reject this teaching directly, they often reject it functionally. They live and act as though God will not come to judge. They put their sin on display and take pride in it and parade it around.

Like Pastor Malmstrom mentioned last Sunday, a congregation in our own District has embraced this lie. While the pastor of this church resigned last week, there has yet to be any statement of public repentance — either from him, or the congregation. We hope there will be, because we want to see their sin forgiven. Jesus has died for these sins, and He wants to grant His forgiveness. But all appearances indicate they are proudly opposing God’s Word. Lord, have mercy!

But God doesn’t want us to reject any of His Words — including His teaching about the end. He wants us to confess His eternal judgment of all who reject Him. That’s why sin is such a big deal. Sin — unrepentant sin — damns. God will judge. The signs that accompany the end are a kind of wake-up call. Are you living as though the things of this world are eternal? Are you trusting in the wrong things? Beware: God is coming to take them away from you.

The world doesn’t know how to understand the signs. They think God is mean because He’s taking away their stuff — all the things they worked so hard for. The signs make them afraid of God — or even angry at Him. They don’t consider that God is using these signs to communicate. They don’t consider God’s warning as an act of His love. Sometimes we Christians fall into thinking the same way.