“Has, Will, and Does”

Text: Isaiah 64:1-9

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

            Some things are just different today than they were yesterday, or last week, or last year. Many are here that weren’t here last year. Some are gone that were with us a year ago. The world around us looks a bit different. Wars rage in places where a sense of peace used to exist. Even if it was a tentative peace. But the differences aren’t all bad. New life has come into the world. Positive strides have been made in many areas. Things change. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Things are not the same today as they were yesterday, and we can be sure and certain that they will be different tomorrow as well. Life will press on. We see it even here in our sanctuary. The colors on the altar have changed. There are additional candles lit, and waiting to be lit. It’s a New Year. Things are different than they were yesterday and will continue to be different as the days pass. But there’s one thing that that is sure to be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God never changes. He comes to us in different ways, but He is always the same loving and caring God who desires to be with His people.

As we enter into this season of Advent, we consider the three-fold coming of Christ. He has come, He will come again, and He does come to us daily. Throughout our service this morning there is a noticeable shift. For the past three weeks our focus has been on the future coming of Christ, whenever that may be. Today, we begin the journey to the manger. Our annual opportunity to revisit the Christ child, who has already come. Not simply for the sake of reminiscing, but rather because without His coming in the incarnation, the second coming which we await would hold no joy for us. And yet, as we await with eager anticipation the Christ child, we can’t forget that we are still awaiting His second coming. These cannot be separated from one another. And neither can be separated our knowledge that He comes to us daily.

This air of anticipation is not simply because we now have trees in the chancel or garland on the walls. And it’s not just us. The world around us has for weeks already been preparing us to enter into this season of waiting and anticipation. It’s in our song, and in our prayers and felt throughout all aspects of our gathering. We know what’s coming, and yet we anticipate it as if it’s our first Advent season. And it’s all summed up in the words of the Collect we just prayed, “Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come.” Words drawn from Psalm 80 where the Psalmist writes, “Stir up Your might and come to save us!” And there is the reason we look forward with joy in this season. For our Savior is coming. In all ways, we anticipate His coming and prepare ourselves for the blessings He gives and promises at each time, and in each way, that He comes.

CHRIST HAS COME, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN, AND CHRIST DOES COME

          Christ has come. We’ve all heard the story. Most of us could probably recite Luke chapter 2 by heart. So why is it that we get so excited for something that came to pass so long ago? Go ahead and ask a child why they get so excited that Christmas is approaching. You’ll almost certainly get a response, that if not directly, then at least peripherally will refer to what’s likely to be under the tree on Christmas morning. And for the same reason, we too, look forward, not to that which will be under the tree, but to the gift that was laid in the manger. The gifts we give are just a poor imitation of the gift we were given 2,000 years ago, when a much more substantial season of waiting came to an end, and the Messiah was born.

The season of waiting that Isaiah speaks about when he says, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.” Here, Isaiah foreshadows the coming of the Savior with a glorious scene. The heavens are opened and God sends His Son, not as He was expected, but in a miraculous way nonetheless. In the incarnation God “did awesome things that we did not look for.” Despite the fact that in hindsight it seems so evident how God would deliver His people, the gift God delivered when He opened the heavens came in a way, and at a time, that no one expected.

In much the same way, and at a time that we are not yet aware of, Christ will come again. The difference this time is that we are given a much clearer picture of the way in which He will come. But just as they knew that the first coming would be to atone for sins, we also know that the purpose of the second coming will be to judge the righteous and the unrighteous. God has a purpose in all that He does, and it’s necessary that His second coming separate those who are faithful from those who are not. Will we continue to be like those who Isaiah describes who “have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment?” And do “we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away?”

This is how we currently live. Constantly turning away from the one who came that we might be saved. Living in the sins of doubt and distrust. We are just like the Israelites and we too could also be saying, “Behold, you were angry and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” What right do we poor, miserable sinners have to be asking for salvation? The only way we can come to our God with this request is in the knowledge of the One who has already come as a baby, lived a sinless life, and was offered as the perfect sacrifice for all of our sinfulness. With this knowledge and understanding, which through the working of the Holy Spirit, leads to faith, we can be prepared for that day when Christ will come again in judgement.

Until that day, what do we do? We prove it every year, during this season, as well as at all other times, that we are not the most patient people. And in our impatience, we will constantly fall into sin, neglecting that which God would have us do, and doing that which He has forbidden us from doing. Fortunately, Christ comes to us daily. With all of this talk of waiting for the Lord, and anticipation of His arrival, we often forget that Christ comes to us daily in His means of grace. We have His Word, which we read, and which is preached to us. And we have His promise of forgiveness when we turn from our wicked ways and look to Him to provide it.

Through the bride of Christ, the church, God constantly makes right our relationship with Him. That which would not have been possible without the sacrifice of Christ, is now reality for us as we are offered forgiveness of sins as we feast on His body and blood and receive the strengthening of our faith. The creator and created relationship is made right when we receive the gifts that He freely provides to us. As Isaiah says, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are the work of your hand.” This is the relationship that God desires to have with us today as He comes to us through Word and Sacraments.

Conclusion: God has come, He will come again, and He does come to us daily. This season is the ultimate test of patience as we wait in eager anticipation, not only for the celebration of His first coming, but also for His second coming. Along with Isaiah, we wait with patient faith. We can do so because although we are sinful, we have a God who dwells among us today and we have a faith that longs for Him to appear again. And above all, we believe in our God who always keeps His promises to His people.

A God who is with us in the past and the present and the future. He came that our sins might washed away, giving us a gift greater than any we might anticipate during this Advent season. He comes to us daily in His Word and His Sacraments, not hiding Himself from us, but rather making His presence known in our lives for the sake of giving us the gift of His grace. And He will come again. His presence will once again be made known to us on that last day when His ultimate gift of eternity will be made known to us. When His wrath will be made known to the unbeliever, but also when the believer will be able to say, “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever.” And when the faithful can stand up and say, “Behold, please look, we are your people.” And so, in this season of Advent, may we remember His coming, rejoice in His daily dwelling with us, and prepare ourselves for the time when He will come again. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.