Here we are, at the end of 2022. It sure FEELS like the end times, doesn’t it? So many of our systems seem worn out. Things feel like they are getting worse. Armageddon. Apocalypse. The end of the world as we know it. People have a lot of ideas about Bible prophesies and what it says about the last days, the return of Christ, and the end of the world as we know it. It can be a little bit scary, especially if you get your theology from Indiana Jones, the DaVinci Code, or TikTok.
In fact, the promise of Christ’s return is good news. Prophets like Isaiah wanted to give hope and direction and perspective and encouragement to people who were scared, overwhelmed, and uncertain about the future. Jesus wanted to give hope and direction and perspective and encouragement to his followers—who were scared, overwhelmed, and uncertain about the future. My prayer today is that today’s message, based on those prophecies of Isaiah and those promises of Jesus, may offer you hope and direction and perspective and encouragement as you and I face a future that feels so often scary, overwhelming, and uncertain.
Let’s start with Isaiah 2:1-5.
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
Here we are, at the end of 2022. It sure FEELS like the end times, doesn’t it? So many of our systems seem worn out. Things feel like they are getting worse. Armageddon. Apocalypse. The end of the world as we know it. People have a lot of ideas about Bible prophesies and what it says about the last days, the return of Christ, and the end of the world as we know it. It can be a little bit scary, especially if you get your theology from Indiana Jones, the DaVinci Code, or TikTok.
In fact, the promise of Christ’s return is good news. Prophets like Isaiah wanted to give hope and direction and perspective and encouragement to people who were scared, overwhelmed, and uncertain about the future. Jesus wanted to give hope and direction and perspective and encouragement to his followers—who were scared, overwhelmed, and uncertain about the future. My prayer today is that today’s message, based on those prophecies of Isaiah and those promises of Jesus, may offer you hope and direction and perspective and encouragement as you and I face a future that feels so often scary, overwhelming, and uncertain.
Let’s start with Isaiah 2:1-5.
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
In These Last Days (Matthew 24)
Hello, and welcome to the Will Preach for Food podcast. I’m Doug, a pastor here at Faith Lutheran Church, based out of Shelton, Washington, a congregation of the ELCA. Faith is learning how to be a welcoming community, energized by God’s amazing love. We want to make Christ known in the world, we want to grow closer to and more like Jesus. We want to joyfully serve our neighbors, each other, and the whole world. You can learn more about Faith at our website, www.faithshelton.org. This sermon is entitled: “In These Last Days” and we are observing the first Sunday in Advent. Happy Church New Year, y’all! And thanks for listening today.
Here we are, at the end of 2022. It sure FEELS like the end times, doesn’t it? So many of our systems seem worn out. Things feel like they are getting worse. Armageddon. Apocalypse. The end of the world as we know it. People have a lot of ideas about Bible prophesies and what it says about the last days, the return of Christ, and the end of the world as we know it. It can be a little bit scary, especially if you get your theology from Indiana Jones, the DaVinci Code, or TikTok.
In fact, the promise of Christ’s return is good news. Prophets like Isaiah wanted to give hope and direction and perspective and encouragement to people who were scared, overwhelmed, and uncertain about the future. Jesus wanted to give hope and direction and perspective and encouragement to his followers—who were scared, overwhelmed, and uncertain about the future. My prayer today is that today’s message, based on those prophecies of Isaiah and those promises of Jesus, may offer you hope and direction and perspective and encouragement as you and I face a future that feels so often scary, overwhelming, and uncertain.
Let’s start with Isaiah 2:1-5.
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3 Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
This is the word of God. Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Isaiah, son of Amoz, is a prophet—a pastor, teacher, and reformer—living in Jerusalem about 700 years before Jesus. Jerusalem is in Judah, which is the southern kingdom, and they are watching in real time as the Assyrian empire is pulling a Putin in the northern kingdom, the part called Israel or Samaria. Imagine living in Poland or Lithuania right now, watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For Judah, there is little doubt that, once the Assyrians are done with the northern kingdom, their full attention will turn south to Jerusalem, their capital city and home of what many of them believed was the very house of God—the temple to YHWH built by King Solomon 250 years earlier.
And Isaiah has a vision. He has a vision of “the holy city on a hill.” He sees a day when his hometown, Jerusalem is secure and established and at peace—no foreign invaders on the horizon. The nations are streaming toward Jerusalem, Isaiah says, not to conquer but to learn the ways of YHWH God, to receive God’s good judgment, and to worship YHWH.
He sees Jerusalem as an international hub of diversity, multicultural learning, and peacemaking. Warring nations holding peace talks in the shadow of the temple, walking away in with signed peace treaties in hand. All over the world weapons factories are decommissioned, retooled to make things like farm implements instead. One of these days, Isaiah says, the day shall soon come!
Isaiah’s vision is certain because it is consistent with God’s vision from Day One. It is the dream God first shares with Eve and Adam in the garden—humanity caring for creation, enjoying its abundance, you know—going forth and multiplying. The dream God shares with Sarah and Abraham, whose descendants would be a light to the nations. The dream of manna and mercy the people learned in the Wilderness: everything is a gift; no one has too much, no one has too little. The promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, where people walk in the ways of God: the kingdom of God, shalom, world peace. The way it’s supposed to be. The Day is surely coming!
In the last days of Jesus’ life and ministry, seven hundred years later, the disciples ask him about Isaiah’s vision. Has the day finally come? Would Jesus finally bring about the reign of God: justice, peace on earth, and good will toward all? Give us some inside information—how will we know, they ask.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, he tells them, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Some folks call this “the rapture,” that Jesus is describing a day when Christians will get beamed up into heaven while everyone else gets “left behind.” There is a whole book series about it. Maybe, but then you have to do a whole bunch of biblical gymnastics to make that fit with everything else he says. Most folks think that the main point here is simply that you can’t prevent or fully prepare for the future. All we can do is keep watch, be ready, be prepared, expect the unexpected.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
The end times are above your paygrade, Jesus says. You want to be ready for my return? Then make sure that when I return I find you doing the things I’ve commanded you to do.
In Jesus Christ, the prophesies of Isaiah, the promises of God from Day One are fulfilled. Jesus is the prince of peace, the one who judges the living and the dead. His death on the cross destroys death and ushers in the kingdom of God, a world in which God dwells not just in a little temple in Jerusalem, but in the hearts and lives of the billions of people who have heard and received his forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Jesus is Manna and Mercy. He is our peace. The way, the truth, and the life.
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets,” says the writer of the book of Hebrews, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…the radiance of God’s glory and the spittin image of the Father…”
These are the last days, and we have been living in the last days for 2000 years. The body of Christ. Each of us living temples of the Holy Spirit, going to all nations, baptizing, teaching the word of Christ, being witnesses, messengers, bearers of the good news to the ends of the earth.
This is good news. To say we are living in the last days is the most hopeful thing we can say! God has got a hold of it all. We don’t know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future. God’s dream and vision for humanity and all creation hasn’t changed since day one: a good creation where people take care of the planet and each other. Manna and mercy—no one has too little; no one has too much. There is diversity, generosity, compassion, and mutual growth. More sustainable agricultural and commerce—less war and violence. The powerful nations learn from the smaller ones.
It is not all up to us—thank God! This is God’s preferred future, and God will accomplish God’s purposes, in God’s way, in God’s time. No matter how difficult life feels, no matter how hopeless your situation feels: take heart—the kingdom of God is near—so close you can touch it, taste it, smell it, sense it. Take courage. God’s got this.
And if God is doing what only God can do, then we also ought to do what only we can do. Living in the last days is a call to obedience, to faithful service in God’s household. We are called to be ready, to do what the master of the household has given us to do. Love one another as I have love you, Jesus says. Go and make disciples, Jesus says. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. When you feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, clothe the naked, or give the thirsty something to drink, you do it unto me, Jesus says. When our lives align with and conform to that of Christ Jesus, we taste the kingdom of God and we reveal God’s promise to the world.
In Isaiah’s vision, all the nations are streaming to the mountain of the house of God. May we stand ready to welcome them, regardless of nationality, gender, or social status. Let us study and teach ways that make for peace. Let us see Christ in every person we meet. I wonder if, by God’s grace, Faith can be the kind of melting pot envisioned by Isaiah centuries ago?
Living in these last days is an invitation to put our hope in God’s faithfulness. It is a call to being faithful servants, practicing hospitality and peacemaking.
The last encouragement I would offer today is for us to practice a certain humility and perspective. Remember, Israel was never a powerful nation. Isaiah’s vision was one in which the powerful would humble themselves and seek to learn the ways of God. The vision is that the world powers—the likes of Assyria and Rome, the likes of China and the United States of America—would humble themselves and learn from those on the underside of power. Children understand and fathom the kingdom of God more naturally than we do, Jesus says.
As much as Faith has much to offer others, especially those in need, at the same time Faith has much to learn from others, especially those in need. We don’t just host Brighter Days because they need us. We need them. We need to have children and youth in our congregation, not just because they need to know Jesus, but because we need their perspective to teach us about Jesus.
We don’t only share our space with CIELO or Kid’s Cove Preschool because we want to help, but because we need their help. We need to learn the ways of God from them. We need them to show us the cost of our consumption, our warring ways, our tired political infighting. God reveals Godself in the wisdom and suffering of the least of these. Lord, make us humble of heart.
For two thousand years the church has been called to live in the now-not-yet-ness of the Kingdom of God. Christ has come. Christ will come again. We live in the last days, waiting for the Last Day, when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. When the old heaven and earth will disappear, and a new Jerusalem, the shining city on a hill, will lead and guide the nations in the ways of peace on earth, and goodwill toward all.
May today’s message, based on those prophecies of Isaiah and those promises of Jesus, may offer you hope and direction and perspective and encouragement as you and I face a future that feels so often scary, overwhelming, and uncertain. God, give us hope, humility, and the courage to do your will. Come, Lord Jesus!
Thanks for listening, folks. To learn more about Faith, go to our website, www.faithshelton.org. While you are there, like us, subscribe, donate, or sign-up for our newsletter. You can subscribe to this podcast on most podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple, and Google. Thank you, Chas and Nadia, for your production and tech support for this podcast.