Advent: The God Who Was and Is and Is To Come

Two weeks ago, at the beginning of Advent, we talked about the God Who Was, and in that sermon we discussed the different conceptions of who and what the 1st century Jews thought the Messiah would be. We talked about the differences between the powerful and political Messiah they expected and the much bigger, much more significant ministry of redemption that Jesus actually came to accomplish.
After the God Who Was, we moved on in the next week to talk about the God Who Is. And if you recall, in that sermon we talked about how the ministry of Jesus isn’t merely something that occurred in the past, but how His ministry to and for us is an on-going ministry of intercession where He is REAL: Resurrected, Enthroned, Ascended, and Living.
Now after we’ve talked about the God Who Was, and The God Who Is, the most natural thing in the world to talk about this week would be the God Who Is To Come.
First, a few observations: One: I don’t want to give the impression through the titles of the past three sermons that we’re somehow talking about three different Gods. As Christians, we of course confess in the Athanasian Creed that we do not worship three gods, but one God in unity in Trinity and Trinity in unity. So we’re not talking about three Gods, the god of the past and the god of the present and the god of the future, but we are speaking of the one true God who is God over all.
The second observation that we need to make is that, just as we are not talking about three gods, neither are we talking about a God who acted one way in the past and acts differently today. Does God do that? Operate on one standard for one time and people and then go by an entirely different standard in another time and place? No, He says in Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change.” He doesn’t change. Therefore we’re not trying to discover how God is going to change sometime in the future, we’re not looking at a God who will be at some future point, but a God who already is.
So, it’s not a God Who Will Be, but the God Who Is To Come, meaning that the point of our discussion today is centered on how God God will come in His 2nd Advent, Christ’s 2nd Coming to earth.
Now what does that mean? I mean, if you recall the end of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” So what do we mean by saying, “Jesus will come again”? Isn’t God here with us today? How is God with us here, today? (Word and Sacrament, present with us in our hearts in His indwelling, in Spirit, etc.)
So sure! Of course God is here with us today! So we must also understand that when we talk of His 2nd Coming, we’re speaking of Christ’s second mission the Earth. Christ’s first mission was accomplished on the cross. Jesus Himself said in Luke 5:32, “I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough.” (NLT) His first mission was to seek and to save what was lost, it was to be a doctor to those who suffer from the sickness of sin. We could say that it was primarily a mission of mercy.
But His Second Coming is not a mission of mercy. The Scriptures call His Second Coming the Day of Judgment. It will be a great Day. It will be a terrible Day. On that Day Christ will come and the Lord will judge the world.
Since that is true, it makes sense that we would learn something about Christ’s Second Coming. So what do we know about His Second Advent?
In Matthew 24:5-12, Jesus gives us a list of signs to watch for that will lead up to His Second Coming. “5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
Let’s do a little exercise, shall we? I’m going to give that list to you again, and you tell me which—if any—of the signs that you have seen in your lifetime. You can just raise your hand for every one that you’ve seen.
People claiming to be the Christ.
Wars. Rumors of wars.
Famines.
Earthquakes.
Persecution of Christians.
False prophets leading believers astray.
An increase of wickedness.
The Christian love of some growing cold.

I doubt that we even need to take a count. We’ve all seen those signs. Does that mean we should be able to expect the End soon? Should we be able to predict when that Day will come?
That question brings us to the second thing we know about Christ’s Second Advent: No one knows when it will be. Just a little later in that same chapter of Matthew, Christ says in verse thirty-six, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Only the Father knows when that Day will come, and He is keeping that knowledge to Himself. It is the height of foolishness—the height of arrogance—to try and predict the timing of that Day.
The third we know about Christ’s Second Advent is that it will not be secretive or quiet. Unlike His first coming where many were mistaken about the coming of the Messiah—they simply couldn’t conceive of a little baby being the King of Kings—His second coming will be immediately apparent to all. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says, “16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” That will be a pretty dramatic event! His first coming was marked by His humility and lowly position, but in His Second Coming He will bet revealed in all His glory, with His arrival heralded loud and long by the very head of all the angels; there will be no mistaking Him that time. Not for me, not for you . . . not for anyone.
Okay, well that makes me think of a good question: If His coming is visible to everyone, how will we react to Him?
Well surprise, surprise . . . would you have guessed that C.S. Lewis has something to say about that, as well? In the seventh and last book of the Narnia series, appropriately named The Last Battle, Lewis’ Christ-figure, Aslan, The Lion, stands before a door—the only door—between the land of Narnia and his own country—a figure of our eternal home. Aslan is drawing the curtain on the final act of the land of Narnia.
He went to the Door and they all followed him. He raised his head and roared, “Now it is time!” then louder, “Time!”; then so loud it could have shaken the stars, “TIME.” The Door flew open.

The light from behind them (and a little to their right) was so strong that it lit up even the slopes of the Northern Moors. Something was moving there. Enormous animals were crawling and sliding down into Narnia: great dragons and giant lizards and featherless birds with wings like bats’ wings. They disappeared into the woods and for a few minutes there was silence. Then there came—at first from very far off—sounds of wailing and then, from every direction, a rustling and a pattering and a sound of wings. It came nearer and nearer. Soon one could distinguish the scamper of little feet from the padding of big paws, and the clack-clack of light little hoofs from the thunder of great ones. And then one could see thousands of pairs of eyes gleaming. And at last out of the shadow of the trees, racing up the hill for dear life, by thousands and by millions, came all kinds of creatures—Talking Beasts, Dwarfs, Satyrs, Fauns, Giants, Calormenes, men from Archenland, Monopods, and strange unearthly things from the remote islands or the unknown Western lands. And all these ran up to the doorway where Aslan stood.
This part of the adventure was the only one which seemed rather like a dream at the time and rather hard to remember properly afterward. Especially, one couldn’t say how long it had taken. Sometimes it seemed to have lasted only a few minutes, but at others it felt as if it might have gone on for years. Obviously, unless either the Door had grown very much larger or the creatures had suddenly grown as small as gnats, a crowd like that couldn’t have ever tried to get through it. But no one thought about that sort of thing at the time.
The creatures came rushing on, their eyes brighter and brighter as they drew nearer and nearer to the standing Stars. But as they came right up to Aslan one or other of two things happened to each of them. They all looked straight in the his face—I don’t think they had any choice about that. And when some looked, the expression of their faces changed terribly—it was fear and hatred. . . . And all the creatures who looked at Aslan in that way swerved to their right, his left, and disappeared into his huge black shadow, which (as you have heard) streamed away to the left of the doorway. The children never saw them again. I don’t know what became of them. But the others looked in the face of Aslan and loved him, though some of them were very frightened at the same time. And all these came in at the Door, in on Aslan’s right.

In that one moment, at that Door, judgment will occur. Those who have spent their life denying Christ, rejecting His offer of salvation from their rightful punishment, will be given what they have been asking for their entire lives: eternity without God. There will be no second chances for them, there will no longer be any time to repent. The time for faith will have passed, and the time for sight and an eternity of regrets and torments will have come. They will finally see Christ for who He truly is . . . and they will be horrified.
But for those who have spent their earthly life under the gracious cross of Christ, that Day will be a doorway into a never-ending story of the adventure of faith. They will look with love upon their gracious Savior, and enter into His rest.

We’ve seen the signs. We know we can’t predict when the Day will come. We’ve heard how everyone will see Christ at His coming . . . but some will spend eternity wish they hadn’t. So what, then, are the Scriptures telling us regarding the End? They tell us to be watchful. They tell us to not grow lazy. They tell us to be prepared.

How can we be prepared for such a momentous event as the coming of the King of the Universe? There’s two very simple answers for that.
The first thing we must do to be prepared is to believe upon Jesus Christ. There is nothing else that will prepare you to meet Him if you do not believe upon Him, and there is nothing else you can add to help you be prepared if you do. So the first is believe in Him. Love Him. Grow in your relationship with Him. Come to church regularly, receive the Word and Sacraments to help you stand firm in Christ. Keep a short tab on your sins before God, and above all else trust—radically trust—in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. This will make certain that you are prepared.
The second is to help others be prepared. Is there anyone that you know that isn’t prepared to face judgment? Is there anyone that needs the love of Christ in their lives? Can they be ready to meet Christ without you first telling them how they might be made ready? Are you willing to condemn them to an eternity without God because you were too embarrassed to mention the name of Christ to them? Share your life in Christ with them . . . share what you have already been given. Help them to be prepared, even as others have helped you.