Psalm 102,13.19-21; Psalm 102,16. Rorate Caeli

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Psalm 102,13.19-21; Psalm 102,16 0417

4. Sonntag im Advent  04

Rorate Caeli (Shower down, you heavens)

Wunibald, Abbot at Heidenheim, ✠ 760 

18. Dezember 2016 

1. O God the Father, Thou Omnipresent Lord, send forth the Holy Spirit to dwell with us, so that as we draw ever nearer to Christ’s nativity we are assured that You truly are in our midst for Jesus, our Immanuel, is God with us, now and always.  Amen. (Gradual). 

2. For the Lord builds up Zion; He appears in His glory. O Lord, You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has arrived. The Lord looked down from His holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, so that they may declare in Zion the Name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem His praise. 

  3. Rorate Caeli Sunday proclaims that God will shower down from heaven His mercy upon the earth. The Psalmist says Zion is the focal point for this deluge of Divine grace. Like Palisades Park, Jerusalem is built upon numerous valleys and hills. The highest point in Jerusalem is Mount Zion, and that is where the temple stood for hundreds of years. Zion is where God’s glory physically dwelt upon the earth. 

4. Zion is often used in the Old Testament to refer to the Jewish people. They are His chosen people Israel; they are His Zion. But the Psalmist foresees a time when Zion is oppressed and the people are prisoners. This happened several times in Zion’s history, and of particular national importance was when Babylon had conquered Judah, razed the temple to the ground and took thousands into Babylonian captivity. Our Hymn of the Day expresses the desire of Zion’s restoration: „O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.“ (LSB 357,1). 

5. Emmanuel means „God with us“. The Prophet Isaiah tells us: »Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call Him Immanuel« (Isaiah 7,14). The Angel Gabriel said to Mary: »Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you! Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Your Child will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His reign will never end« (Luke 1,28,.30.32-33). Thus the psalm was fulfilled: »It is the time to favor her; the appointed time has arrived.« 

6. With Mary’s favor comes Zion’s favor, and with Zion’s favor comes the Gentiles’ favor. Jesus Immanuel is the Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of Zion Israel (Luke 2,32). The Lord has heard the groans of those imprisoned for their sin and set free those who were doomed to die. This is the gospel that Advent prepares us to celebrate. 

7. If the Son of God is with us, then who can be against us (Romans 8,31)? He has forgiven our sin and set our conscience free from the law’s condemnation. He has liberated us from death and the grave. Death no longer separates us from God and our sin no longer weighs us down. 

8. on the 4. Sunday in Advent the heavens shower down righteousness and salvation (Isaiah 45,8), for the Lord has arisen and has had pity upon His creation; it is now the time of grace; the appointed time has advented and arrived (Psalm 102,13). Thus the Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God« (Isaiah 52,9-10). 

9. Today’s O Antiphon proclaims our Lord’s visitation unto us:   

℣ O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush and gave him the Torah on | Sinai: * 

℟ Draw near with outstretched arm and re- | deem us. 

The antiphon teaches us that Zion is not merely Israel but that Zion is now the Church. The Psalmist proclaims: »Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for the Lord judges the peoples with equity and guides the nations upon the earth« (Psalm 67,4). »Praise the Lord, all nations, for great is His steadfast love toward us« (Psalm 117,1-2). The Church is full of Christians from many nations and she is the Lord’s Zion; we believe that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah who saved the world through His vicarious sacrifice. We declare in church the Name of the Lord, and in our borough we praise Him as the Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth is soon upon us once again, and we sing praise to Him as we celebrate that day a week from today, for it is the great day of God’s visitation among mankind. God is with us in Jesus, and His arrival restored and redeemed us back to God our Father.  Amen.  

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Pleasing Theme of Thy Father’s heart; inspire us to sing Thy praises just as Your mother Mary magnified and rejoiced in You, so that we may also rejoice in Your blessed visitation among mankind.  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^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.