C, Post Pentecost 23 Proper 28 - Luke 21:5-19 "Eternal Endurance"
When what we know
and have depended upon for everyday life disintegrates, the restless hearts of
humanity will boil over with fear and horrors that history hasn’t even
experienced. The destruction of
Jerusalem and its temple—a place where heaven met earth and God dwelt with
man—all those years ago in 70 AD, stands as a reminder and warning to us that
the collapse of creation is coming.
God says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things
shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in
that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people
to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more
shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.” (Isaiah 65:17–19 ESV)
However, the
hearts of those who elevated their created surroundings into their hope were overcome
with unquenchable anguish. Those who lift
up this life as their heavenly paradise are heading for devastation just like
the temple.
In stark contrast
to these terminal times is the enduring name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the new temple. Through him, heaven meets earth. He is created like you and me, but he is also
eternally begotten. Not only did he have
a human beginning, conceived in the womb of a woman, God the Son has always
been there eternally enduring with our Heavenly Father.
Like the temple in
Jerusalem, we find a place with God in Jesus’ person. No longer do we need to have our sin atoned
for in the sacrifice at the temple with the spilling of animals’ blood, but
we’ve had his blood spilt for us. The
temple of his body was bludgeoned, beaten, and bled; left like temple rubble
was Jesus dead on the cross.
We know the temple
in Jerusalem has never been rebuilt and will never be resurrected. Nevertheless, Jesus has! He lives and rules eternally at the right hand
of the Father in heaven. We also know Jesus
lives and rules eternally in the hearts of those who allow the Holy Spirit to
create life-giving faith.
As the walls of
Jerusalem’s temple crumbled and Jesus’ days on earth ended in chaos, we can
expect the same thing to happen to us.
As creation shows its signs of coming down, those living in Christ will
increasingly be handed over to torturous times.
Human spirituality
will increase, as people look for answers.
Those who are faithful to Christ and his word will be rejected by those
seeking spirituality in fruitless idols. Those led by the Holy Spirit will get
the blame when temporary human temples tumble down.
This includes “so-called”
Christian people too. Many who call themselves Christian, in whom
Christ is temple-ing through Holy Baptism, will cast him out of the temple of
the human body, perishing through delusion and deception. They will be caught
up chasing myths due, whipped into uncontrollable frenzies by mob mentality. In
fact, some of the greatest attacks against Jesus Christ and his faithful, will
come from within the ranks of dysfunctional church institutions.
Like Judas
Iscariot, there will be those who act towards the faithful, as he did towards
Jesus Christ. With Christ one minute, then against him the next. There’ll be those who worship Jesus with us
one day, and then the next, turn on us and hand us over to all types of torture,
just as Jesus was, and the countless martyrs have been since.
As the true church
of Jesus Christ is moved by the Holy Spirit to be God’s mouthpiece, it’s not
going to win any favours from the those whose idols are exposed by the light of
the truth! However, when the world is
shaken, and you begin to witness horrors happening around you, to you, know the end is drawing near.
Jesus tells us not
to be afraid, not to go after those who come seeking to stand in Christ’s
place, or who seek to bully you with fear and dread. Jesus calls you and all who believe to stand
firm in what our help really is. And our
help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Confess your sins
and call on the name of the Lord, and he will forgive the guilt of your
sin. In fact, you will only endure in
him, his word, his flesh, enabled by the Holy Spirit, who will fire faith
within. He will empower you with
endurance as the day of death destroys all temporary goods and evils.
You might wonder
how you might survive these dreadful days!
These times are here and have been here ever since Christ ascended into
heaven — the Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost.
From when the Jewish temple was
sacked in Jerusalem in AD 70, and every temple and idol God has allowed destruction
of since!
These times of
chaos and destruction also come to us individually in our death. One day there will be a final event on earth,
but for many, we’ll be faced with the destruction of our mortal frame first,
just as the temple was destroyed and so too was Christ, on the cross.
But those who live
in the body of Christ are adorned with the nobility and eternal beauty of Jesus
Christ by the Holy Spirit in the faith he gives. Just like one who loves living in the light
continues in the upkeep of the candle or the wick, those who allow Jesus Christ
to be lifted up as their Saviour, will be lifted up in faith, hope, and love
towards him.
True believers
will want to be in Jesus’ presence face to face in the warmth of his love, so
they allow the enduring fuel of Holy Spirit faith to burn within. For them it’s no longer the temple of the
human frame primarily important, but he who lives within making it a holy
temple of the Lord.
So, it won’t be a
surprise when others hate you for not upholding the righteousness they believe
to be beneficial. They won’t like
hearing about the truth of our darkness as we confess our sins to the Lord. They
will seek to deceive you and make you doubt Christ rather than enlighten you with
the word for hope. Why? Because the true light of Christ threatens to expose
their pleasure in their unrighteousness.
If you’re
wondering if you’re one within the ranks of Christ, know you are when you allow
the Holy Spirit to lead you to repentance, returning you to Jesus’
righteousness, rather than a righteousness of your own. Trust Jesus is — the
only way, the only truth, and the only life!
When the
struggle is real and it’s before you, Jesus promises, “This
will be your opportunity to bear witness.
Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to
answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries
will be able to withstand or contradict.
You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and
friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s
sake. But not a hair of your head will
perish. By your endurance you will gain
your lives.” (Luke 21:13–19 ESV)
Hear
what’s happening! Some may be put to
death, but not a hair of the head will perish!
Holy Spirit assisted endurance gains life. In faithfulness to death, you gain true life! Just as Jesus endured by the will of the
Father, enduring in the Holy Spirit, and knowing full well he would die, we too
can endure, knowing full well we too will die.
But like Jesus, death will have no hold over us, your death will be a
restoration to whom you were always meant to be, not one hair of the head will
perish. Some of us might even get a few head
hairs back, and some lose a few hairs from where they shouldn’t be growing!
In fact, even
today as God allows the idols and temples of your heart to be destroyed, he is
calling you to endure in the joy and love of having your sinful self, daily
drowned in repentance, having all your righteousness die, so Christ might
fulfil all righteousness within you.
As you notice the
kingdoms and nations raging, the earth shaking, and the hatred of those against
Christ directed towards you, know that death has already been dealt its death
in you, because having been buried with him in
baptism …you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of
God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12 ESV)
In other words,
what now can truly harm you? Nothing,
when you allow him to daily raise you through repentance in faith! And in the true faith that God gives, he will
faithfully fill you with peace, joy, and love.
Do you realise
hell is for Satan and his angels! It’s
not meant for humans! God will for humanity is to daily raise and recreate
within us the new enduring eternal nature of Jesus Christ.
Jesus says, “But when all these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28 ESV) God is working in you, enduring in you, with the holy goal that you gain your eternal life in him. Amen.
