Advent II Sermon 2025

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth 
distress of nations, with perplexity…(St. Luke xxi. 25)
 
Advent is that season that is all about preparing for Christ’s coming. Christ is coming to us and is the Word of God that never dies. Last week we spoke of spiritual death to sin and Satan. Today we look more closely at the life that Christ brings to us. With eager expectation, we prepare for that life that came down from Heaven and brought eternity within man’s reach once again. But before we jump prematurely to that, on this Sunday of Advent we are called to prepare for Christ’s judgment of us. For we shall never begin the journey to His Kingdom unless we are prepared to be judged by Him, the Word of God. Today Christ the Word comes to us so that we might begin to measure our every thought and desire by His truth and to ensure that this Word is indeed our enduring hope.

In the Gospel appointed for today, Jesus establishes Himself as the Word spoken to those who will hear Him. He speaks of His own future coming, a final coming, when all things shall be measured and summed up in relation to Him. At the end of time, the Word of God, His rule and governance, will be established finally and definitively as what has always ruled and governed the universes and now will judge men’s lasting destiny. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (St. Luke 21. 27) Jesus will come to judge the world, to determine whether every man’s words and works are consistent with His will. Those who have been faithful and are deemed worthy will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who have been unfaithful and were the servants of false gods will be judged fit for Hell.

In the Gospel, Jesus states clearly that all men will be rewarded in a way that is suitable to their rational choices. But notice also the fear that will enslave some and not others. 
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (St. Luke xxi. 25) 
 
Heaven will break open with Christ’s coming at the end of all time. Men who disobeyed, neglected or even rejected God’s existence will be full of anguish, anxiety, and affliction. These men’s hearts will be full of fear because then they will begin to feel the presence and power of God, who shakes the universe with his terrible wrath. The traumatic and paranormal seismic shift will herald the coming of Christ the Word as unrepentant sinners and unbelievers realize their error with unmitigated terror. Unfaithful earthly-minded men will see at last that their riches are lost, their power robbed, and their dignity destroyed.

At the same time, faithful heavenly-minded men will embrace the coming Glory as the reward for cleaving to the Word of God that never passes away. To them Jesus says, And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (St. Luke 21. 28) Though sinful men will be taken by surprise, as by a thief in the night, the faithful friends of Jesus shall be neither blindsided nor astonished. With faith and confidence, they shall begin to be swept up in their unfolding destiny because they have long since been judged, corrected, disciplined, and redeemed by the permanent and unchanging Word of Christ’s love. Jesus illustrates their spiritual state in the Parable of the Fig Tree. Jesus says, 

Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise, ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. (St. Luke 21: 30, 31) 
 
Faithful men shall see that Christ’s coming kingdom is like the time when nature bears her fruits. They shall remember that the worship of earthly mammon led only to sterility and impotence. They shall remember that earthly honor, riches, and dignity always pass away because they have no root in God’s Eternal Word. Then, they shall realize more fully that the Word of the Lord alone endureth forever. And so, in the high summer heat of the Word’s return, the bright and burning truth of God’s Word of love shall bring those to life who can withstand the heat because they alone have been growing spiritually. With His coming, they will rejoice and be exceeding glad, for the world will be destroyed, but the dynamically penetrating heat of God’s loving Word shall summon the fruits of His Spirit from their hearts as harvest for the Kingdom. 

So how does the Word of God judge us now? How can we apply this Word of God to our lives now so that at the Judgment we shall be found worthy of salvation? Our Collect for today helps us. It exhorts us to a faith that seeks understanding and then generates hope in God’s unchanging Word, that never passes away.

BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
 
The Word of God, His communicated Wisdom to us and most fully revealed in the life of Jesus Christ, is found through a diligent and persistent hearing and reading of Holy Scripture. Scripture is all about the Word of God and its fulfillment in the life of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures must be noted, learned, and applied to our souls for spiritual digestion. We are called to inwardly digest their content because they give us patience in adversity, the comfort of heavenly healing, and the courage to clutch on to our hope, which is everlasting life. We must find in the Scriptures a record of God’s persistent, unalterable, and enduring love for us and our salvation. We must discover that Jesus Christ, God’s Word made Flesh, has, in these last days, become not only the forgiveness of our sins but our resurrection and life, neither of which need ever pass away.                                    

Hope in eternal life must be the object of our desire. Earthly-minded man hopes for things that perish and puts his faith in earthly things that grow old and pass away. Earthly man grows old and when life grows short, his hope grows weary, as Joseph Pieper writes. But spiritual man grows young because he hopes in a life that is ‘not yet’ and shall be as long as eternity. (Faith, Hope, Love, II, 110-111) Spiritual man hopes in a life that is just now starting to be lived in and through Christ, God’s Word. Spiritual man hopes in the Word that even now begins to prepare him for everlasting happiness with God. He has the audacity and courage to hope for a life supernaturally above and beyond this transitory world with its fleeting promises. Spiritual man hopes in heavenly promises, and he begins to find true and lasting joy in the permanent things. Because spiritual man is forever reaching out towards the goal he has not attained, he is forever being rejuvenated by God’s Grace. He believes that what he learns from Jesus is making him better and better, and stronger and stronger because the Word of God that never passes away is leading him out of sin and into righteousness. And even when the pilgrimage calls for suffering and sacrifice, spiritual man learns to never count the cost but to wage war on sin courageously, intending finally to defeat it through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection.  The root of spiritual man’s life is hope in Jesus Christ, who takes his nature and rejuvenates him for Heaven. 

In this holy season of Advent, we are called to be transformed by the unchanging and enduring Word of God’s love in Jesus Christ. So let our judgment begin today. Let us judge ourselves according to Christ, the Word of God. Let us humbly fall down before Him now to confess our sins, receive His forgiveness, and endeavor to honor his counsel and correction. And let us remember always that the Word of God which never passes away is with us every step of the way with patience and comfort to help us, heal us, repair us, and redeem us because wants us as His own forever.

Amen.
©wjsmartin