The text this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the first chapter:
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.Thus far the text.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Dear friends in Christ,
Today being the Last Sunday of the Church Year, we are beginning to turn our attention fully on the end of all things. The Gospel readings have been warning us more and more of the violence and death that is to come in this world. All prophetic words uttered by Jesus have come true. On the day that Jesus died, the earth quaked, mountains trembled, seas roared, there were wars, rumors of wars, the moon blotted out the sun, the dead rose up from their graves. The end is coming, my friends, and we would do well to mark it.
That is why we have this day, why we celebrate it here in this congregation. We are marking the end of time. It is coming to a close. And what will be the ultimate sign that the end is nigh? Of course, it is Christ coming back for the final time, that day when all will see Him descending from the heavens and every tongue confess that he is Lord of all. He is coming back on a singular day in history. This is the last day of time as we know it. It will be a great and terrible day. For those who believe in Christ, Christ will welcome them into their great and eternal rest. For those who have rejected Christ, rejected His saving work for them, Christ must send them into the terrible pit of hell itself, prepared for the devil and his angels, but now also occupied by humanity.
This is a great and terrible day that we await, the Day of the Lord. But, we must await it. Next week begins Advent. Though we celebrate the end of time today, and rejoice in the Lord and His will, we must await that time when all things are fulfilled in Him, when all things become as He desires them, perfect, sinless, and without blemish.
And this is where our text today takes us. For we are fully looking forward to this final day on this sinful earth, and we look forward to being fully and completely within the Kingdom of God, in which there is no sin, no tears, no sorrow, no grief, and no shame. We are indeed those who will be saved, our trust being firmly on Christ and His promises toward us. Our Lord Jesus Christ was sent by His Father, and Our Father, that He might make full satisfaction for our sins upon the cross of Calvary. This was what Luther called The Great Exchange. Upon this cross, Jesus Christ took all of our sin, and gave us all His righteousness. Upon this cross, Jesus Christ took the punishment for sin and death, which is damnation itself, and gave to us the benefit of a perfect life of obedience, which is heaven itself. Upon this cross, Jesus took us out of the kingdom of Satan and put us solely, and firmly, into the kingdom of God.
We should walk no longer in darkness, for this marvelous light, the light of the Son of God, lightens our paths. He is a lamp unto our feet, and every Word that comes from the mouth of Christ is worthy to be learned, studied, meditated upon, and is useful for teaching, reproving, and rebuking. We no longer need be worried about the darkness overtaking us, our sin overtaking us, our grief overtaking us, our depression overtaking us. Christ has conquered these things; He has redeemed them with His very blood upon the cross.
On this cross, Christ has reconciled all things to Himself. Paul tells us that Christ, the Son of God, in His act as the very Word of God, when God the Father spoke, Christ did what He said. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep. And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was. This was Christ’s doing. Christ Jesus is the light of the world, and in this creative act, God turned His face towards us, creating this world, creating our land, creating our crops, creating our animals, and creating us, forming Adam and Eve with His own two hands, breathing the breath of life, the breath of the Spirit into them, making them image bearers, making them the very image of God.
This image of God, though, was lost. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. They trusted the word of the serpent, that wily, wicked, evil, satanic serpent, leading them away from the face of God with, “Did God really sssssssay…” And in this moment of doubt, in this moment of action, in this moment of turning away from the light of God, Adam and Eve plunged all of humanity into the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom that would seek to destroy us, devour us as lions would. Adam and Eve secured our own future as sinners, sinners who no longer care for or about God’s righteous light, no longer caring about serving our neighbors, no longer care about being the image bearers we were intended to be.
The image of God is the righteousness of God. It is complete trust and obedience to Him. And we cannot, in our flesh, be this image bearer any more. We are gone, we are separated from the Lord’s image as far as the east is from the west.
And yet, hope is not lost. Rather, our hope is in the very act of Jesus on the cross. In this act, Christ, in His pure and unadulterated obedience, desired none of it for Himself, and gave us His trust in God. He gave us His perfection, His righteousness, His obedience, His image of the invisible, unseen God. He gave it to us, He gives it as a free gift. And the place where He gives this to us is our baptism. The water flowing from the side of Christ, out of the very Word of God Himself, gives to us in this font the gift of the cross, the gift of forgiveness, the gift of life everlasting. In this font, we receive the gift of the water and the Word, where all things are reconciled to God. In this font, your old Adam, that old Adam that gave into the serpent’s temptation is drowned repeatedly and violently, and the New Adam enters in, the New Adam who is Jesus, who beat back the serpent’s temptation and crushed his head into the dust of the ground.
And all things, not just you, not just me, not just we gathered here, all things were reconciled to God: this world, this land, these crops, these animals, us, the very earth, and all of the heavens. The heavens declare the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. While they, too, suffer because of us, because of our sin, while they, too, cry out to God for justice and the Day of the Lord’s Coming, they have been reconciled, they will be remade, just as you will be remade.
When the Lord returns, He shall bring you with Him and grant to you a new body, imperishable, in the flesh, standing in the very presence of God and all of these witnesses. Those who are still here when the Lord returns, they, too, shall be given a new body. They will see the Lord coming from above and they will glory as every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord of all, all thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. Lord Jesus is Lord of all creation, and all things are subject to Him, for, one, He created all things, two, all things were created for Him, and three, He, only Jesus, has sustained all things.
We today get upset at the way the world is going, don’t we? We get upset that the world, even our own country, seems to be going deeper and deeper into the kingdom of darkness. That is because our world, our sin-filled world, is still suffering under the delusion of Satan. It still follows after the things that come spewing from his mouth. Sex, lust, abortion, drugs, drunkenness, false gods, false religions… these come from Satan himself. And our world follows after him like a dog does a bone. So, too, does our country, so, too, do the people around us, but, most importantly, so do we.
But we should not put hope in the things of this world, for they are merely created. We should not put hope in America. We should not put hope in the pro-life movement. We should not put hope in drug and alcohol restrictions. We should not put hope in a president. We should not put hope even in our soldiers.
Rather, we put our hope in the one place, in the one person, that has existed since before time began, that was never created, but begotten of His Father. We put our hope in Christ and His promise to us for eternal life. This is our hope. This is everything.
Everything else, everything else created, will pass away. America someday will not be here. You someday will not be here. But Jesus will be, for He created all things, sustains all things, loves all things, for all was created for Him. And soon, even today, you will be with Him in paradise, the paradise of His promise to you and for you to sustain and preserve you.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, created all things so that Jesus Christ, the Lord of all creation, would come and die for you. God created you so that Jesus could die for you. God created you so that you would spend eternity with Jesus. This is what our Lord desires. This is what we must see and realize. Not that we are in any way special by our own merit, but that God loves us because He made us and God always loves what He makes. Creation is good, and you, your saintly self, you are very good, God says.
But we don’t hope in ourselves do we? Just as we do not put hope in princes and powers, we also don’t trust ourselves. And this is right. When we gather together, we confess our sins. We confess that we are unable to hope in our own righteousness. Rather, we must plead the blood of Jesus Christ. We plead that He have mercy on us for the sake of the cross. We plead that He forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And He does.
For He HAS reconciled you to Himself. He has taken your place. He has opened the door unto eternal life for you. He has pulled you through the waters of baptism, and even now He is preparing a place for you, a place at that great banquet table in heaven, a place where you shall feast on His bread, which is His body, and His wine, which is His blood, and you shall partake of that cup unto eternity for His kingdom, His paradise, shall last forever and ever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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