ON THE LAST DAY WILL YOU BE FOUND BLAMELESS?
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 40:1-11
Gospel Lesson; Mark 1:1-8
Sermon Text; 2 Peter 3:8-14
When we get to this time of year, we spend a great deal of time talking about Judgment Day. During the months of November and December, at the end of the Church Year and at the beginning of the Church Year, so many texts speak about the Last Times, the Second Coming of Christ, and Judgment Day. Today’s text provides us with another vantage point of the Day of the Lord, and what Judgment Day will be like.
Do you remember when cameras came out that could take panoramic pictures? No longer would part of the picture be left out. Now everything was included in that one picture. Our text for today is like a panoramic picture. It gives us a marvelous picture of the last times and the end of the world.
On the Last Day,
will you be found blameless?
Today as we study Christ’s Second Advent, or Christ’s Second Coming, we should look at our text to consider, first of all, who is God? Secondly, what can we expect from Him on Judgment Day? And, finally, how can we be at peace with God?
Who is God?
In confirmation class, when we start studying the Apostles Creed, and the First Article, I look at many passages in Scripture that talk about God and describe who God is. All of these passages help to clarify who God is. Those words, which clarify God, are called attributes. They are qualities or characteristics that tell us who God is.
Our sermon text for today gives a few attributes for God. One of them is that God is eternal and timeless. Our text says, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."
Now to us it may seem like it has been an awful long time, since Jesus left, since He ascended into Heaven. We might think that God is taking too long to bring this world to an end. We might say, "It has now been 2,000 years since Jesus ascended into Heaven! Why isn’t God coming in judgment?"
By human standards it has been a long time, because we live in time. But by God’s standards, it has only been like a day since Jesus ascended in Heaven, because God is eternal. To God, a thousand years seems like a day.
Our text for today also tells us that not only is God eternal and timeless, but God also keeps His promises. God promises salvation to all who believe in Jesus, His Son. Even though much time has gone by, He will keep His promise.
A great example of God keeping His promise even when much time passed by, is with Abraham. Abraham was 75 years old, when God called him. God said to Abraham, "I will make you into a great nation." Now in order to be a great nation, in order to be the father of many nations, you need to have children. Abraham didn’t have any children, when he was 75 years old. God took Abraham outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars…so shall your offspring be." Twenty-four years went by, before Sarah finally became pregnant. Twenty-four years! Was God slow in keeping His promise? Maybe according to our standards, but remember God is eternal. A thousand years are like a day in His sight. The book of Romans 4:19 event tells us, "Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and Sarah’s womb was also dead." God kept His promise and Sarah gave birth to a son, Isaac, at the age of 90, when Abraham was 100 years old. God keeps His promises.
Our text for today also tells us that God is patient. "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." He wants to reach every sinner. I Timothy 2:4 says, "God want all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." God is patient, wanting everyone to be saved.
God has the ability to call this world to an end, right now. Yet God is patient, because He wants more people to come to His Kingdom. God is patient and He wants us to stand before Him, as people who recognize that they are sinners, and recognize that they need a savior. God is eternal and timeless. He keeps His promises to us. And, He is very patient with us.
Jesus once used a parable to explain the patience of God. He said, "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir’, the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’" The meaning of this parable is that God is patient and gives us time to repent.
What can we expect on Judgment Day?
Knowing this about God, and who He is, what can we expect from Him on Judgment Day? Our text tells us that we can expect Judgment Day will come like a thief. It will come unexpectedly. Just as we are prepared for a thief to come into our homes, we need to be prepared for Judgment Day. To prepare for a thief, our doors are locked, our windows are locked, we have lights that are set off with motion, and maybe even have a security system on our house. Just as we are ready, in case a thief does come, so we should want to be ready for when Christ comes the second time, by using the means that God has given to us.
We look at ourselves and see how retched we are. We look to His Son, whom He sent to us. And, we look into His Words, and hear what He has to tell us. We were baptized with the waters of Holy Baptism, and are strengthened in our faith by receiving the Lord’s Supper.
Now is not the time to procrastinate. Some people may say they will get to God’s Word and go to church after they clear up some situation or business in their life. Others may say, "It’s too hard to get up on Sunday morning. Sunday is my only day of rest."
Are we truly ready for Judgment Day?
We are ready,
when we recognize that we are sinners.
We are ready,
when we believe in Jesus as our Savior.
We are ready,
when we use the means that God has given to us;
hearing His word,
being baptized and
being strengthened with the Lord’s Supper.
On Judgment Day, we can also expect the heavens to disappear with a roar. The earth will be destroyed. Nothing will be left. And all that will remain are God, His Word and worship.
If everything will be destroyed, where should we place our hope? Should we place our hope in our 401k? Should we place our hope in our car, or in our home? I hope not, because everything in this earth will be destroyed. After all, we know that we can’t take anything with us. So our hope can only be found in heaven.
How can we be at peace with Him?
Knowing whom God is, and knowing what we are to expect from Him come Judgment Day, how can we be at peace with Him? We have peace with God as a result of being justified through faith. In the book of Romans 5:1, we are told, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The only way we can be at peace with God is because Christ gave us that peace. He won that peace for us at the cross. God has declared we have been justified. We are not guilty because of Christ’s obedience and death. This Advent Season, again as we prepare for Christ’s Coming, we remember that little babe who was born in Bethlehem. We also remember that the little baby grew up and lived a perfect life for us. We remember that the little baby grew up, and then went to the cross for us, 33 years later. There He died, to take our sin upon Himself. In exchange, He gave us His perfect life, so that we could be at peace with God. The only way that we can find peace with God is through Christ.
Knowing all that, which our text lays out for us today, we again go back to our theme. We ask the question, on the Last Day, will we be found blameless? Can we be certain? Can we be sure that we will be found blameless on that Last Day? And, the answer is yes! It is through Christ. We have that confidence, because we know that through faith in Jesus as our savior, we will be saved. God tells us that when we trust in His Son, when we look to His Son by faith, we will be spotless. We will be blameless. We will be at peace with Christ, for all eternity.
And yet, that is a struggle for us, isn’t it? It is a struggle, especially during this month of December, when many other things are going on, and we are busy. Things are going on, all around us. We can have those temptations to think, "I don’t need to be prepared, right now, for the Last Day. It is ok for me to procrastinate, because I am busy with other things in life. Once I am done with all of those busy things, then I will turn to the Lord."
But, just as we are prepared for a thief in our homes, so also today we need to prepare ourselves for Christ’s Second Coming, so that we can have peace with God, and so we can be found blameless.
We have that confidence, knowing that our sins are forgiven. We have that confidence, that when Christ comes again, during His Second Advent, when He comes again to judge all, at the end of the world, we will stand blameless. We will be spotless and have peace with God, because Christ died for us and because Christ lived a perfect life for us. God guaranteed that for us, when He raised Jesus from the dead. We have the confidence that we will found blameless on that Last Day, through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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