Let us pray! As we hear the
fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy, may we understand our willful choice
determines our eternal destination. Yet
the promise Jesus Christ made to the thief on the cross and to us like Daniels
prophecy will be fulfilled. May we hear
and heed God’s call and during this Advent season, may our hearts be stirred up
to understand the true role of the Prophet, Priest and King we call Jesus
Christ. For though these prophecies are
from the Old Testament and find fulfillment in the New Testament, may we begin
to see and understand them as applicable for us today here in Goodland, KS for
all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel.
AMEN.
Recently, Mary our secretary caught me doing something. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t illegal or
immoral, nor was it moving boxes or items in the church or office, it wasn’t
shoveling snow, but to some it would have been just as loud and
distracting. You see, I was
whistling. When we were preparing for
Shirley Boll’s funeral, one of the songs chosen, was “Shall We Gather at the
River”. And my love for whistling came out
and I could not stop whistling “Shall We Gather at the River”. The refrain for the song reads, “Yes,
we’ll gather at the river, / The beautiful, the beautiful river; / Gather with
the saints at the river / That flows by the throne of God.” This gathering that will take place is
reminiscent of the fulfillment of the prophecy that Daniel foretold which we
heard about on Sunday, where the Son of Man will come in clouds where He will
have power and dominion forever over His Kingdom. And we have a choice to make, hence our free
will.
And so from St. Matthew we find the fulfillment of the Daniel
passage. Hear again, the words of
Matthew 24:
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON
WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE
STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and
the powers of the heavens will be
shaken. 30 And
then the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the SON OF MAN
COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31 And He
will send forth His angels with A
GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one
end of the sky to the other.
There are some who would say, Daniel’s prophecy has not been
fulfilled. So how could you say it is
fulfilled here in Matthew? But the
fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy isn’t ‘normal’ per se. This passage from Matthew reveals to us how
God actually works and functions. You
see as humans on this earth we have been created by God who created all things
including the heavens and the earth, the sun, moon and stars and God made all
of these things subject to time. But time
is something which God is not limited to.
The Maker of all things is not ruled by something He created, so time to
God does not exist. This is why as we
confess in our Catechism that God is first and foremost ‘eternal’ – without
beginning and without end. As Peter says,
“one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.” (2 Peter 3:8)
Therefore, prophecies about God sometimes though yet to be
fulfilled are written about, like in our case with Matthew reminding us of the
prophecy of Daniel and the foretelling of Jesus “and then the sign of the Son of
Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and
great glory”.
Thus, just as the people of Daniel’s time were given the
opportunity and free will to chose life, we to are given this opportunity. As we sit here tonight, Jesus Christ, Son of
God and Son of Man, who came down from heaven in a lowly manger is calling us
prepare our hearts, minds and spirits for His second coming. In anticipation of the Great Second Coming,
that will be fulfilled in its proper earthly time we prepare for this by
remembering His first coming in the lowly manger. For it was in the lowly manger that the
wheels of our redemption were set in motion that led Jesus Christ to the cross
of Calvary where He suffered and died for our sins and the sins of
mankind. Jesus redemptive act completed
for all time and for all of humanity when He uttered the words, “It is
finished”, signaled the completion of His earthly ministry of His first coming,
and began the countdown for His second coming “on the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory.”
So what is your choice, will you choose eternal life with Your
Savior in heaven, and enjoy the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel in
Matthew? Or will you choose death and
live life for today and willfully dread the fulfillment of the prophecy of
Daniel?
It is my prayer that you choose eternal life and the
joyful journey Jesus Christ offers all of us for all eternity. For He makes this offer to each of us because
of what He has completed and fulfilled for each of us on the Cross of Calvary
for all of us saints here at Emmanuel.
AMEN.
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