Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 2. Kings 25,8-12. 10. Sunday after Trinity

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Kings 25,8-12 4414

10. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 055

Nathanael/Bartholomew, Apostle, Martyr in Albania 1. c.

The Martyrs of Utica 285/385

24. August 2014

1. O Christ, the Lord of Your Church and faithful them, strengthen our trust in You as the days yield to persecution for those who believe in You for salvation so that we look to You to dispel the machinations of the evil one and in return grant peace (VELKD, Prayer for 10. Sunday after Trinity § 1). Amen.

2. »In the 5. month, on the seventh day of the month, that was the 19. year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of Yahweh and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.«

3. Our Gospel Lection tells us: »And when Jesus drew near and saw Jerusalem, He wept over her, saying: „Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that have to do with peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another within you, because you did not know the appointed time of your visitation.“« The Romans fulfilled this prediction made by Jesus when they destroyed the temple on 10. August 70. Now Flashback 657 years to 2. Kings 25 where the Babylonians had destroyed the temple on 10. August 587 BC. Was this same date a coincidence or Divine will?

4. There is a similarity between the first and second destructions of the Jewish temple. Both occurred because the Jews did not know the things that have to do with peace. Yahweh sent the Babylonians to destroy the temple because by-and-large the Jews had fallen into idolatry. For thus said Yahweh Sabaoth through His prophet Jeremiah: »My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, Baal and other idols who are, broken cisterns that can hold no water.... Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake Yahweh your God; the fear of Me is not in you....Yet in spite of all these things you say: ‘I am innocent; surely God’s anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying: ‘I have not sinned.’« (Jeremiah 2,13.19.34-35). Six hundred years later, many of the Jewish politicians, priests and Pharisees had rejected Jesus, their Messiah, who is Yahweh made flesh. God punished unrepentant Israel by destroying their temple, first through the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and then the Roman General Titus. God the Father had sent prophets to warn Israel and call them to repentance. But Jesus Himself lamented: »O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!« (Matthew 23,37). The Jews slew Isaiah with a saw, killed Ezekiel and stoned Jeremiah to death (a year after the temple had been destroyed). John the Baptizer was beheaded. Jesus was arrested, falsely accused and crucified as a blasphemer, false prophet and an insurrectionist against Rome. Nothing has changed today. Christians are persecuted and martyred around the world. Some Christians even persecute and ridicule those who call them to repentance.

5. But the prophets merely wanted to spare God’s people from His wrath and judgement. Our God is a jealous God who does not tolerate His people worshipping other gods and idols. It’s not that God the Father is insecure, but rather He knows that such idols are false, empty and cannot deliver what they promise. There is only One God, and the Triune God is that God, who delivers on His promises and wants to bring peace to His people and all the world. Jesus went to Jerusalem to bring peace to the city, Israel and all the world (Just 750). It is no coincidence that the Prophet Isaiah calls Jesus the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9,6). Israel’s peace was receiving Jesus as their Messiah and Savior. Our peace is only in receiving Jesus as our Christ and Savior.

6. The events of 2. Kings 25 and Luke 19 show that we reject God and His Son at great risk and peril. Unbelief lead to Jerusalem’s destruction (Just 750), and we are foolish to think that our nation or culture is immune to such a fate. Not only does a rejection of Jesus lead to religious stagnation, but the culture as a whole begins to corrupt even worse. Morality will transition from one grounded upon Christianity to some other philosophy or religion. We have historical examples of what such unbiblical morality looks like: Pol Pot, Stalin and other tyrants who pursued genocidal and ethnic cleansing programs. Nature abhors a vacuum, and if Jesus is absent, then something else will fill the void, and that something else will ultimately be detrimental to men and women.

7. Only Jesus brings grace and peace, and this is why the Apostle Paul began all 13 of his epistles with the address: »Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ« (or a variation of this). Paul’s admonition to the Galatian Christians is one of exhortation to stand firm upon the Cornerstone that is Christ Jesus: »I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel; not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed« (Galatians 1,6-8). The gospel Paul preached is the gospel that proclaims Christ and Him crucified (1. Corinthians 2,2). Paul received this gospel from Christ Himself, for Christ went up to Jerusalem to be rejected by His people, arrested, condemned and crucified. He did this to purchase our forgiveness and to redeem us back to God the Father. All the apostles preached this same gospel, and all pastors who are faithful to the apostolic ministry only preach Christ crucified.

8. This gospel is so powerful that it not only saves sinners from sin, death and hell, but this gospel saves people from temporal destruction. Had the Jews in 587 BC heeded the Prophet Jeremiah, repented and believed in the Messiah he said would arrive, then God the Father would have stayed the conquering hand of Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem and the temple would have been spared. Had the Jews in AD 30 heeded Jesus and His teaching, repented and believed in Him as the prophesied Messiah, then God the Father would have stayed the conquering hand of Titus and Jerusalem and the temple would have been spared. Had the people trusted in Jesus, the temple would have become the grandest church in all Christendom, and the Muslim mosque known as the Dome of the Rock would not be standing on Mt. Zion as it does this very day. Yes, receiving Jesus has consequences.

9. It behooves us to remain steadfast in our Christian faith. We need to pray for our nation, our culture and people around the world. We pray that God protects His Christian children and converts those who oppose Him. We pray for peace: that violence and wars cease, that people are treated decently and fairly and that the gospel is proclaimed throughout the world. Christ and His gospel create peace for they promise and give eternal life and salvation to those lost in their sin. »The gospel is not proclaimed with lofty speech or wisdom, so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God, for the wisdom of this age and of the rulers of this age are doomed to pass away. But we have the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory« (1. Corinthians 2,1.5-7), and this mysterious wisdom is Christ and Him crucified for the redemption of sinners.

10. No enemy, no barricade and no war machine can destroy this peace. No philosophy, no religion and no persecution can unravel this peace. This peace is grounded firmly upon Jesus, and Jesus has defeated death, the grave and the devil. No force can stand against Him, for He is seated at the right hand of His Heavenly Father. Even a destroyed temple can be rebuilt, for He has burst forth from the dead in resurrection victory and the temple of His body is alive. Christ promises to raise up our bodily temples, too, and He will do it on the last day. You known on this day the thing that has to do with peace, for it is revealed to your eyes. The thing of peace is Jesus and He has been revealed to you in the gospel that you believe. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, You are our God and we are the people of Your pasture and the sheep of Your hand, use us to proclaim Your gospel so that others are brought into Your fold unto everlasting life. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

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.

Martens, Gottfried. A sermon preached on 2. August 2009 (8. Trinitatis) in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany on Matthew 5,13-16. Copyright © 2011 St. Mary Church in Berlin-Zehlendorf (SELK). All rights reserved. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, August 25, 2014

2. Kings 25,8-12. 10. Sunday after Trinity

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