Psalm 24,7-10; Zechariah 9,9. Populus Zion

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Psalm 24,7-10; Zechariah 9,9 (Jer 23,5-8) 0117

1. Sonntag im Advent  01

Populus Zion (People of Zion)  

Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg, Austria. ✠ 780 

27. November 2016 

1. О Almighty and Merciful God, You put to shame no one who waits for You; make us to know Your ways, and teach us Your paths, so that we know that in Your Son we are redeemed and made anew in holiness.  Amen. (Gradual) 

2. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving, humble and mounted on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, so that the King of Glory may enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, so that the King of Glory may enter in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory! Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving, humble and mounted on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.

  3. The Psalmist poetically describes a scene from the coronation of a king of Israel. This King is strong and mighty in battle; He is a Warrior King like his forefather King David. The people of Jerusalem rejoice and sing praises to this Davidic King. He enters Jerusalem riding on an ass. He is humble, yet a Justifier and a Savior. He is a Glorious King. 

4. What earthly king can match such pomp and circumstance? What man can elicit such jubilant praise? The Psalmist says this is no ordinary king; He is the Lord of hosts. Yea, He is God Himself, and He commands the host of His angelic army! Who is this King of Glory? He is Christ Jesus our Lord! 

5. On Palm Sunday Jesus ascended to Jerusalem as King and Savior. On this 1. Sunday in Advent, we proclaim with the People of Zion that the Christ whose birth we prepare to celebrate in a month is Jesus our Savior. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18,36). With a single petition, His Heavenly Father would send more than 72,000 angels to protect Him (Matthew 26,53), but as Jesus told Pontius Plate: I was born to bear witness to the truth; everyone who is of the truth listens to My Voice (John 18,37). What is this truth? A: Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving. Thus when John the Baptizer sees Him, he cries out: „Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!“ (John 1,29). 

6. Advent prepares us to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, but it points us to the cross. A sacrificial Lamb must lay down His life to redeem the world. Jesus did not redeem us with money, force of arms or a mighty angelic host; He redeemed us in humility: suffering on the cross, bleeding out His life blood and vicariously dying for us. 

7. Ask anyone who has served in the military, or a policeman or a fire fighter, and they will tell you how heroic it is to put others’ safety before your own. They know the deep truth of Jesus’ words: »There is no greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends« (John 15,13). Jesus did this for us, and in doing so He justified us and saved us. 

8. Advent prepares us for Christ’s birth and incarnation into this fallen world in the midst of our human misery and wickedness in order to redeem it. Irenaeus called this „Recapitulation“ (re-creation). As he expressed it: „The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, so that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself“ (Irenaeus Book 5 Preface). 

9. The Prophet Zechariah proclaims: »The Christ is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving.«, and the Apostle Paul declares: »Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old creation has passed away; behold the new creation has arrived« (2. Corinthians 5,17). Jesus draws near to make us a new creation, and He has done it with His incarnation. The Second Adam has entered the world of the First Adam to restore both mankind and creation to the pure and perfect state that God had created them to be. Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit of this new creation and at His advent those who belong to Him will be the fruits of this new harvest (1. Corinthians 15,20). Jesus has overcome death at His first advent; He will destroy death at His second advent when He bodily raises all believers to live forever (1. Corinthians 15,26). Jesus has been victorious over sin, death and hell. His return will make that victory ours in the flesh, for He is our Savior who justifies us before God our Father.  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Perfection of beauty from Zion, shine forth the illumination of Your Word so that all who hear it are changed into those who believe on You and desire to walk upon Your path of righteousness.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Irenaeus. Against Heresies. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.