READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Exodus 32:1-20
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
- St. Matthew 24:15-28
Grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who
is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead,
and the ruler of kings on earth.
Who speaks to you in today’s Gospel saying:
“So, if they say
to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he
is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.”
In the madness of sin, some super-believers will use
this verse to prove that God is not on earth and therefore His Sacraments do
not save, even though it seems He promises they do. Yet, in that false
statement of belief, they prove the devil is here, twisting Scripture as he
pleases. This then, in turn, proves to the faithful that God is here as well,
in His Word, as He promised.
For as much as I like to say any ruler or government is
going to be oppressive. For as much as I enjoy a good, Acts 5:29 hoodie that
screams, “Obey God, defy tyrants”. For as much as I would love to fly a 6th
Louisiana Infantry flag of the Orleans Rifles which declares, “Let us alone,
Trust in God”.
Regardless, the Lord gives us lesser authorities.
Now Jesus is the true authority, to be sure, but there will
also always be earthly governments until He returns. And taxes, lest we forget,
no matter how much we try and rage against the machine.
Last week, we discovered that there is war in heaven. This
week, we focus on its primary theater: earth. For the devil has been cast down.
Where to? Earth. There is no other place except the realm God has created. All
of His creations live together whether we can see each other or not, and
whether we like it or not.
Thus, in mercy, the Lord allows His authority on earth to be
used to keep His peace and allow His people to worship Him. Earthly authorities
have the duty, bare minimum, to enforce godly peace. Not their own. Not their
constituents’. God’s peace.
This means punishing the wicked and promoting God’s own
virtue.
A step outside that divine jurisdiction is a step outside
their vocation. As in, they no longer operate as the Lord’s “earthly swords”.
Thus, in order to keep a semblance of peace on earth, we will have kings.
We may call them presidents, but a consolidation of power is
a consolidation of power.
Listen to Psalm 21: “O Lord, in your strength the king
rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults! You have given him his
heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.
For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of
fine gold upon his head.
He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days
forever and ever.” (v. 1-4)
Sounds like “Long live the king” and “God save the king”,
right? Now we know where that came from. What else does it mean that the devil
is cast down? It means that we live in the realm where sin, death, and the
devil are on a rampage.
So what is “God’s Peace” that it can be gotten by a human
sword? It is the peace we have been striving for. The peace that is love. The
peace that is “random acts of kindness and reckless acts of beauty”. The peace
that is “can’t we all just get along?” Struggle as we might, we never get
there. So is God’s sword dull?
Repent. Whenever we think of God’s peace, we always think in
terms of a zero-sum Game. That is that there are winners and losers and the
gain from the winners equals the loss of the losers. And of course, we are
always on the winning side. Thus, we treat God as if He were an earthly king:
to be placated, to be appeased, to be obeyed no matter what.
Yet, out of the mouth of Christ comes a two-edged sword, as
He says Revelation 1:16. This is His Law, His earthly authorities. They may cut
down enemies with it, in the name of faith, but if their measure is off, then
the backswing also cuts them, because they are also not innocent.
And because it is impossible to tell who is saved and who is
not, with this method, God swings the sword Himself. Indeed some of you may
sing, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling
out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the
fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:”. But have you?
Have you seen or do you know Who it is that the Lord pierces
with His terrible swift sword?
For these things took place that the Scripture might be
fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another
Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced” (St. John
19:36-37)
God causes His Earthly sword to swing against His
Only-begotten. God makes the earth sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic against
Jesus. And there is only one end to that: His death. And by rising again, He
proves that the kingdoms of earth are nothing. That, though He gives earthly
authority, their only purpose, their only end goal, is to get us to Jesus.
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die”,
the saying goes. The devil has obtained very definite power over the world. He
has brought strife upon the face of the earth on the day when he led Eve into
sin, and Adam through her agency. Evil then made a triumphal entry and Satan
became "the Prince of this World."
His power, maybe, was described by Christ in the parable of
the strong man overcome by one stronger (Lk 11:22). Over all mankind Satan
extended his sway. Paganism with its idolatry, its cruelty, lust, and the
overwhelming majority of vote for the murder of babies, is his domain.
Once, again, this “strong and stronger man” may sound like
it describes satan, but it describes Christ. Jesus holds His creation securely.
And though it is gripped by suffering, He suffers as well. And in that
suffering, Jesus also becomes the stronger man. On Golgotha they clashed, and
Satan lost. Christ had foretold it before His passion: "Now has
judgment come upon the world; now the prince of this world is cast out"
(John 12:31). The second phase of this war ends with the defeat of the
devil.
Defeat through defeat. Not even God gets out of the
stupendous combat unscathed, and it is on purpose. In His suffering and dying
on the cross, suffering and dying find their fulfillment in God Almighty. Maybe
you never thought of suffering as a prophesy, but there it is.
Jesus has engaged both the spiritual and physical battle for
us. We sing of Him as our strong Captain, our Right Arm of the Lord Who fights
valiantly and holds the field forever. And the fields are the fields of earth,
now, and forever in the New Earth.
Dear Christians, Jesus does not win and then retreat to His
quarters for a spot of tea. He wins and remains. What does “I am with you to
the end of the age” mean, except that He continues to dwell with us on earth?
He sets His forward position in His Church. Here are the front lines.
Why? Because it is here you must wrestle with the Word of
God made flesh. You do not argue against a ghost, but against a person: God
with flesh and bones, coming to commune with His people. It is only in regards
to the Last Day, can you say there is no Christ here, because He will come then
in all His glory.
But until the Last Day, until the Last Battle is fought,
Christ remains. He remains unshaken. He remains unmoved. He remains unchanged.
All in order that we be medivac’d out. His battle, His victory is for us. So
that, though we stand on the front lines, we remain on hospice in His Church,
IV’d to His Body and Blood, awaiting His Return.
Jesus stays with us. We only get hints through creation,
such as kings and authority. But they are shadows, passing away with the night.
For it is the morning breaking in the east and the distant triumph song begins
to float to weary arms and faint hearts. Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding:
Christ is near we hear it say.
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