Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 19:15 mark.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O that You would rend the heavens and come down! Come down and make Your name known to Your enemies! Make the nations tremble at Your presence. Come down and make the mountains smoke and tremble. Then all of those who are in open sin and rebellion will be terrified, fall down in repentance, and know that You alone are God and there is no other. O that You would rend the heavens and come down!

Isn’t that what we want? When we look around at all the open sin and shameless flaunting of the laws of God and people? Don’t we want God to come and get rid of His enemies once and for all? What would happen if God did come down? It reminds me of the question Jesus asks in Luke 18: Will not God give justice to His elect who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?

What would God find if He were to open the heavens now and come down on the earth? If we want God to come and destroy all His enemies, we had better be 100% sure that we are not among them! There are certainly those in open rebellion against God. There are also those who pretend that their sin does not compare to them, to their sin. Isaiah says that God will meet the one who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember Him in His ways (64:5). But what does God find when He examines our hearts? “Behold, You were angry, and we sinned. In our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? … We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (64:5, 6). If God appears in His wrath and righteous judgment, in all His holiness and glory, it is not only the open sinners who will die. There is no one who can stand before God in his or her own righteousness or lack of sin. Not you, and not me. Before God’s holiness, before His law, there is no one righteous, not even one. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous action like a polluted, unclean garment. There is no one who calls upon Your Name, who rouses himself to take hold of You. We have all been in our sins for a long time; shall we be saved?

Aren’t you, like me, tired of the same sins, the same temptations, always grabbing hold of us? The same anger, the same pride, the same lust, the same greed, the same selfishness and lack of forgiveness? We have been in our sins a long time; shall we be saved? But now, O Yahweh, You are our Father; we are the clay and You are the potter. We are all the work of Your hands. Be not so terribly angry; do not remember our sin forever. Behold, look please, we are all Your people.

Isaiah knew about this, because he had seen God, and it caused him to fall on his face in the temple. The veil between heaven and earth was torn back, and God was there, in all His glory. He hears the angels singing, their voices shaking the thresholds of the temple: Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the Lord Yahweh of the heavenly armies! The whole earth is full of His glory! Woe is me! Isaiah said. I am a dead man. Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and I have seen Yahweh, the King. We have been in our sins a long time; shall we be saved?

When God tears open the heavens and comes down, He does not do it in the terrifying majesty of His wrath. He does not make the mountains smoke and the nations tremble. He does not come destroying His enemies. He comes, in fact, hidden in flesh, hidden in Bethlehem. He comes hidden, riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. He comes hidden, crucified and dying on a cross. Hidden in a tomb. Look! Zechariah says. Here is your King, humble, riding on a donkey, righteous and having salvation. Shall we be saved? Yes, in this one. He brings the salvation of God in His humility, crucifixion, resurrection. When Isaiah rightfully should have died, because no one can see God and live, an angel took a coal from the heavenly altar of God and touched Isaiah’s lips and said: Look! This has touched your lips. Your sin is taken away and your guilt is atoned for.

When we should rightfully die, God shows up in human flesh, dead and risen, and says, Look! Here is your king, humble, riding on a donkey, righteous and bringing your salvation. Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David. Hosanna! That means, save us now! Behold, please look! We are all your people. Look! Here is your salvation. His flesh and blood, from His altar, has touched your lips. He is the one who forgives your sin and takes away your guilt. Holy! Holy! Holy! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! The day will come when He finally will appear, when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And on that day, He will save you, because He saves you now. You bow now. You worship now. You believe now. We have been in our sins a long time; shall we be saved? Look, your King comes to you, righteous and having your salvation.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 12/1/23