Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Revelation 1,4-8. Exaudi

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Revelation 1,4-8 2818

Exaudi 032

Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren, Belgium ✠ 384

13. Mai 2018

1. О Glorified Jesus, Thou Eternal High Priest, keep us from coveting earthly things that bind our minds and lead us by Your counsel, so that You preserve us to remain constant in the blessed state of grace (Starck 93.94). Amen.

2. »John to the 7 churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to return, and from the 7 spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of kings on earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is arriving with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen. „I am the Alpha and the Omega,“ says the Lord God: „who is and who was and who is to return, the Almighty.“

3. „We have followed the life of Jesus this first half of the Church Year from the ... infant on the straw in the stable to the baby receiving the homage of the Wise Men. We have followed Him from the boy in the temple to the man to whom John the Baptizer pointed: „Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!“ (John 1,29). Then, baptized of John in the Jordan, the Spirit came down on Jesus and we heard the Father’s voice: „This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him“ (Matthew 17,5). Tempted in the wilderness, Jesus held to God’s high-saving purpose: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. All this so that He might bless us“ (Nagel 143-44).

4. Today we commemorate the anniversary of Christ’s ascension this past Thursday. This event occurred 2000 years ago, 40 days after Easter, at Bethany, near Jerusalem. Decades later, the Apostle John described the ascended Jesus as one who has »glory and dominion forever and ever.« In the Creeds, we confess that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of His Father. Like the 1. and 2. century Christians before us, confession of Jesus’ ascension is an affirmation that Christ our Lord has beaten down the hostile powers opposed to Him and his church (Kelly 151).

5. As we begin to transition from the 1. half of the Church Year that focuses on Jesus’ life and ministry into the 2. half of the Church Year that focuses on the Holy Spirit’s ministry in and through the Church, the Apostle John reminds us that just as Jesus ascended into heaven He will one day return to the earth with the clouds. Everyone will see Him: believers will worship Him but the unbelievers will wail in distress. For with His ascension, Jesus takes up again the full exercise of His omnipotence (Allmacht) now as both God and man, for the property of the Divine and human nature is preserved in 1 Person (The Chalcedonian Creed of 451).

6. In his revelation, John heard Jesus say: »I am the Alpha and the Omega.« Those are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet; in English it would be »I am the A and the Z.« or »I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.« This theology permeates the Gospel according to St. John. Jesus is the Eternal Word of God who was present and active when the Triune God created our world and the universe. He is deeply invested in His creation and we human beings who were created in His Image and Likeness. So it should be no surprise that He will be the Cornerstone of our redemption and salvation. Since men and women must endure the curse of sin by suffering and dying, so Jesus would suffer and die for us in our place to save us from sin, death and hades. Thus John describes Jesus as »the Faithful Witness and the Firstborn from the dead who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.« Being the first implies that there will be others, and indeed Jesus is the first to rise from His grave and that He will raise up each of us from our grave.

7. Jesus is with us right now. Christ our Lord told John: »I am the one who is and who was and who will return.« This is a Trinitarian statement that teaches that Jesus is the Eternal and Immortal God; He is the Ever-present God in our midst, for He promised us right before He ascended: »Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age« (Matthew 28,20). Jesus’ dominion has specific benefits for us. Jesus ascended to prepare our eternal dwelling place (John 14,2-3). Jesus ascended to send the Holy Spirit to His Church and to send apostles, pastors and others to proclaim the gospel (John 16,6-8; Ephesians 4,10-12). Jesus now intercedes for us before His Father (Romans 8,34-35). Jesus now rules over His Church and all creation (Ephesians 1,20-23), which means that sin, death and the Devil must be subject to Christ. All this says that the ascended Jesus is a Jesus who blesses. When last we saw Christ Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke, He was ascending to heaven with His hands raised in blessing (Luke 24,50-51). These are the hands that lovingly held Mary’s hand. „These are the hands that ... learned to write the words of Scripture that Jesus knew so well by the time He was twelve years old. These hands worked with hammer and saw, sharing and blessing our work with us. These are the hands that touched the eyes of the blind and the tongue of the dumb, the hands that had taken hold of the pale cold hand of the little girl and given her back alive to her wondering father and mother. We read so often of these hands that Jesus stretched them out, touched or grasped with that personal, individual love and help that marks the healings of Jesus. He did not heal people by the dozens lumped together, but was there for each one that needed Him as His hands took hold of each one“ (Nagel 144). He is present were 2 or 3 Christians gather in His Name; He is present when His Word is preached, someone is baptized and when we receive His Supper. Jesus is present with us right now. Today we believe He is present by faith but when He returns in glory we will see Him with our physical eyes.

8. Jesus is the Eternal Word of God who will return on the last day, and at His 2. advent our soul will be rejoined with our resurrected body. John describes this returning Jesus: »Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one seated on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords« (Revelation 19,11-16). Christ is risen; Christ is ascended; Christ is returning for us! Let us worship Him with great joy and await His return with a grateful hearts. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your right hand exalts and does valiantly; pour out upon us the Holy Spirit so that in the days ahead when we struggle as Your Church militant we may be comforted with Your promise that we will inherit Your heavenly reign on account of Your righteous merit. 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.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Revelation 1,4-8. Exaudi

No comments:

Post a Comment