2. Corinthians 1,18-22. Rorate Caeli

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Corinthians 1,18-22               0420

Rorate Caeli (4. Advent) 04

Ischyrion, Martyr in Egypt 253 

22. Dezember 2019 

1. O Faithful God, who pours out justice upon the earth, justify Your people in Jesus Christ, so that we may rejoice and call upon Your mercy.  Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for 4. Advent 2019 § 2) 

2. »As surely as God is faithful, our word to you is not Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom having been proclaimed among you, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but has become Yes in Him; for all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we reply with our Amen to God for His glory. And it is God confirming us with you in Christ and having anointed us, and who having sealed  us for Himself and having given us the guarantee of the  Spirit in our hearts.« 

3. As John the Baptizer prepared the people for the arrival of the Christ, he did so by  exhorting them to repent and receive the baptism of repentance in the Jordan River. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Christians in his 2. epistle to them that »God is faithful, for all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus Christ.« The Prophet Isaiah proclaims a number of Messianic promises, and his overall theme is: Israel has sinned by forsaking the Lord; God will meet out Divine justice upon Israel through Assyria; then God will restore Israel with a new king; and this Messianic King will bring peace on Earth (Isaiah 1-2).  

4. Isaiah proclaimed: »For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders (the crucifixion!), and His Name will be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace« (Isaiah 9,6). And a little later: »There will go forth a Shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit« (Isaiah 11,1). And yet again: »The Gentiles who walked in darkness have seen a Great Light; those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them has Light shone« (Isaiah 9,2). Paul teaches the Corinthian Christians that Jesus Christ is the Yes, the Fulfillment, of these and all the prophecies throughout the Torah and the Prophets. Not only is Jesus the Fulfillment but He is always the Fulfillment; only Jesus is, and can be, the Yes of the Prophets. 

5. By the time John the Baptizer appeared in the Jordan to prepare Israel for the advent of the Messianic King, 700 years had passed from the time of Isaiah; David had been king 1000 years before John the Baptizer and Abraham’s era was 2000 years before John preached in the Jordan. More than 2 millennia had passed in Israel’s history from the first promises of the Messiah to their imminent fulfillment by His arrival. 21. century men and women have rather short attention spans and memories; we often expect promises made to be promises fulfilled quickly and in short order. After a while, we either forget the promises entirely or resign ourselves that it’s been so long that they simply will remain unfulfilled. This is why God sent John to prepare the way for Jesus. 

6. John the Baptizer knew his prophetic role and thus told the Biblical scholars, the priests and Levites (sent by the Pharisees): »I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: make straight the way the Lord.« John was quoting to these Jewish theologians Isaiah 40,3; it was a verse they knew by heart and that it was a verse urging preparation for the Messiah’s imminent advent. John prepared the way for the one arriving after him, the Messiah, who is so majestic and glorious that John is not even worthy to untie Messiah’s sandal. 

7. Our faith and humility pale in comparison to John’s, and that is why we spend the 4 weeks of Advent humbling ourselves in preparation to meet our wonderful Christ. Our Lectionary readings have drawn us ever closer to the appearance of Jesus, so that now we are merely 2 days away from celebrating His birth in Bethlehem! Today’s Introit sets the mood so perfectly: »Shower down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, so that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it« (Isaiah 45,8); yet another prophecy from Isaiah! 

8. The 4. purple Advent candle is lighted today, and proclaims: »Rorate caeli, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness« (Isaiah 45,8a). Its light completes the advent wreath and shines forth with the other candles. The 1. candle that proclaims: »Rejoice greatly, Populus Zion! Behold, your King is drawing near to you; He is justifying and saving« (Zechariah 9,9). The 2. candle shines forth: »Unto You, O Lord, Ad te Levavi« (Psalm 25,1). The 3. candle brings joy: »Gaudete in the Lord always; rejoice: the Lord is at hand« (Philippians 4,4-5). The righteous rainfall of Christ’s grace cleanses us as we anticipate the 5. candle in our wreath, the white center one, that turns the Advent wreath into the Christmas wreath on Tuesday Eve with its proclamation: »The Lord said to Me: „You are My Son, today I have begotten You« (Psalm 2,7b), for we will celebrate Christ’s birth in 2 days with Word and Carols.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Jesus, our Messianic King; pour into our hearts the overflowing pleasing theme of Your advent, so that the verses we sing praise Your Holy Name and confess unto our neighbors the nearness of Your appearing.  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 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2019 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.