444. Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity. I.
Give us, O God, the enlightened eyes
of understanding. Amen.
Gospel Lesson, Matthew 24, 15-28. When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: Behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
❦
As the times were before the destruction of Jerusalem, exceptionally evil, so shall they be in the last days before the end of the world. Especially shall doctrines of human invention and heretical sects increase at a dreadful rate. In the first place, “false prophets shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Even Saint John in his epistles speaks of false Christs, deceivers, and antichrists, who deny the Father and the Son; but what must the apostle have said, had he lived in our day? The Christian religion proves its power to conquer the world; the Lord’s command to “go and make all nations my disciples” is being realized in all parts of the earth. And yet, how many thousands who have been baptized are there not who are become deceivers and infidels! How many are there not who have trampled under foot the apostolic doctrine of justification by faith; and how sadly have they not abused it, making it an excuse for lasciviousness! Who shall number the many who in our day have risen in revolt against the Lord and his Anointed; who deny the divinity of Christ, and revile the teaching of the church in regard to the Father and Son and Holy Ghost? And the people willingly allow themselves to be led astray. Our modern intellectual culture is born of the gospel, but turns against it to destroy it. The word of God is the light of the nations, the sun that illumines the peoples; yet men willingly surrender themselves to those who deny the gospel, and who thus lead them into black darkness. Wretched men to be thus blinded by the devil’s own malevolence! Saint Jude also finds it needful to write to the faithful, and exhort them that they must earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. By the spirit of prophecy he speaks in a wonderful way to us who live in these latter days. He warns against them that deny their only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ; and who, being filthy dreamers, defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities, and go in the way of Cain and Balaam and Core. (See the General Epistle of Jude.) Let us lay it to heart, and understand the signs of the times. — Secondly, to Jerusalem the terrible internal dissensions and schisms were certain destruction, as were the Roman legions thundering at the gates. In the Christian church it is becoming all the time more common to cry: “Lo, here is Christ, or there!” The apostles of infidelity, who place themselves outside of the communion of saints, and make war on the Christian faith, would not be particularly dangerous did the faithful but present a united front. But the devil is acquainted with the rule, “divide et impera”; which means, divide, and rule; bring about dissensions among your adversaries, and the victory is yours! Christendom has never before been divided into so many sects as now. Somebody has a new idea on some doctrinal point; at once he organizes a church denomination of his own. Another has his private opinion in regard to church government, and starts a new sect. A third thinks that the discipline is too lax, and a fourth rather likes the style of preaching adopted by some separatistic exhorter; so they form new parties, dissolve the old bonds, sever the connection with their former brethren in the Lord. Many who shrink from fellowship with us on account of our imperfections do not shrink from sinning against the most earnest prayer of Jesus for the unity of his disciples; nor do they shrink from founding heretical sects, though the apostle, in Galatians 5, places this sin in the same class with adultery, murder, and drunkenness. Dear brethren in the Lord; let us be united, forbearing one another in love! The party spirit is not the spirit of the lowly and loving Savior; if we would belong to him, let us strive to be of the same mind with him! Go not forth after them that say: Behold, he is in the desert, but not in the church! Neither follow them that say: He is in the secret chambers, in the small church societies, not in the large ones! Remain true to that which you learned from the beginning; remain in the church which became your spiritual mother. Continue in humility and love; stay at your spiritual birthplace, and prepare yourself to meet the Lord, who shall come when he is least expected. Let this be your care, “in a holy life and the exercise of godliness to wait and long for the coming of the day of Christ.” The words of the Lord concerning the destruction of Jerusalem have been fulfilled to the letter; that which he says concerning the end of the world shall likewise be fulfilled with equal certainty. Look and see, if the branch of the fig tree be not already tender. Are not our days becoming more and more like the days of Noe? And is not the church altogether too much like shattered and dismembered Jerusalem? Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come!
Help us herein, O God, for Jesus’ sake. Keep us united in thy love, and preserve us from the arts of seduction. Be merciful to thy church, preserve thy believers, and make us one in thee, that the cunning Satan may come to naught. Grant that we may always stand with loins girt about with truth, with lamps trimmed and burning, ready to go forth to meet our bridegroom. Amen.*
“Wake, awake, for night is flying,”
The watchmen on the heights are crying,
“Awake, Jerusalem, arise!”
Midnight hears the welcome voices,
And at the thrilling cry rejoices:
“O where are ye, ye virgins wise?
The Bridegroom comes, awake!
Your lamps with gladness take!
Hallelujah!
With bridal care yourselves prepare
To meet the Bridegroom, who is near!”
[TLH 609, LSB 516, ELH 544; listen here]
445. Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity. II.
Lord, let this thy word edify us,
and make us steadfast in faith,
rejoicing in hope. Amen.
Epistle Lesson, 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
❦
Just as surely as Jesus is risen from the dead, all his disciples also which are asleep shall rise in glory. To Paul there is so intimate a connection between the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection that he declares, 1 Cor. 15, 13: “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.” It was for us that Christ died, and for us that he rose again; his death is our death, and his resurrection is our resurrection. The faithful are members of him; it cannot be, then, that he with a body quickened and glorified may sit on the throne of heaven, while their bodies remain in the grave. Therefore when you sorrowfully close in death the eyes of a friend who believes in Christ, remember that this friend shall hear the voice of the Lord, and that these eyes shall open again, and see the glory of Jesus. He is in the hand and bosom of the Lord, like a sick child that is carried in its mother’s arms until it falls asleep to wake again healthy and happy. — When our Lord Jesus on the last day shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, all who are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth. We who are alive at that time shall behold it. The graves shall be opened, and the dead shall come forth, and the sea shall give up the dead which are in it. As Christ at the moment when he was quickened found his way from paradise to his body in the grave, so shall the souls of his saints find their bodies, and bring them out of the grave. And in the selfsame moment when the dead arise, we which are alive and remain shall be changed, and that which is mortal in us be swallowed up in life. Then shall be accomplished the final and absolute separation between the good and the wicked, which is described in Matthew 25; and all the saints shall then ever be with the Lord. — But your soul must tear itself loose from the lusts of the world, and long only alter heaven! Prepare yourself, then, for that place, which you wish to make your eternal habitation!
Lord Jesus, give us the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that we may believe thy word, and await thy glorious coming. Let me in truth be thine, my living Savior; let me be a member of thy body, and live with thee in eternal glory. Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly! Amen.*
Arise, the kingdom is at hand,
The King is drawing nigh;
Arise with joy, thou faithful band,
To meet the Lord most high!
Look up, ye souls weighed down with care,
The Sovereign is not far;
Look up, faint hearts, from your despair,
Behold the morning star!
[Common Service Book 15; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.