God’s Last Word to the World!

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

2/1/09

Epiphany 4

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Did you ever think how great it would be if the Lord would just simply come down right now and speak to us. Rather than having go-betweens such as myself, he could simply join us on Sunday mornings. Can you imagine how things would progress?

We begin by saying: “In the name of the Father and of The Son And of the Holy Spirit.” and then there would be this blinding flash of light and the Lord would present himself a at both 8:00 and 10:30 services.

Instead of me preaching a sermon, he himself would ascend the pulpit to instruct us. And since he knows everything even our very thoughts. His message would be quite penetrating I’m sure.

As we sang hymns to him, he would smile appreciatively. And we wouldn’t bow our heads and fold our hands to pray so that we could maintain our focus, we’d actually look right right at him and I can see him, perhaps sitting in a chair, just there stroking his long white beard, cocking his head to listen and nodding intently as we speak.

And he could do this all this not just for us, but for every gathering of Christians...wherever two or more are gathered....because, as you know God is fully capable of being everywhere at once.

Think how clarifying this would be for the church! And how easy it would be to prove that our God is the real God. We’d just say, come to church and you’ll see him! Every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that the Lord is indeed God.

Wouldn’t that be cool if this is the way it is? But let’s be careful what you wish for, for you see others have had the experience that you crave and they wish they hadn’t. Moses talks about such a case in this Morning’s Old Testament Lesson, Deuteronomy 18:15-20. It was on the day that the Ten Commandments were given, and the Lord descended upon the mountain with fire and billows of smoke And the people said “ Moses Moses Make it stop, we cannot hear the voice of the Lord or see his great fire anymore or we will die.” And this they said, having only seen and heard from a great distance! They were horribly shaken by the experience of the Lord’s presence

Now why would that Be? Why would they be so terrified by his presence. Isn’t the Lord loving? Isn’t the Lord kind? Isn’t the Lord gentle? Yes of course, but the Lord is also holy and they were not. As a matter of fact they were guilty, guilty of breaking the very law that he was in the process of giving them. They knew this and was gnawing away at their insides, gnawing away at their souls.

It’s hard to explain, this deep seated fear that sinful human beings have in the presence of God, but let me try. Have you ever been driving a little over the speed limit, and then all of sudden see a the lights of the sheriffs deputy? At that very moment, a pang of fear shoots through the core of your being ; your heart starts racing; your breathing becomes shallow; beads of sweat may even form on your brow. And why? Because you know you’ve done wrong and you know that you are now going to have to answer for it.

Now if you feel that way when you are caught and confronted for a simple moving violation, imagine what it will be like for the other more serious stuff that you’ve done! That thing you did to your brother or sister or friend. Those awful things that only you know about? How would you feel standing in the presence of your maker whom you know would hold you accountable? You’d feel naked and exposed. “Please Moses!” You’d say “No more! We can’t take it.”

And do you know what the Lord thinks about that? He agrees. He made a plan to enter our world without exposing us to his glory. He said to Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers I will put my words in his mouth!” He’s talking about Jesus! Jesus would be from among the brothers. Jesus would be born like we are all born; would have to learn to walk and talk like we all have to learn to walk and talk. He would be human in every sense of the word. He would be one of us! But, of course, he would also be the Son of God. So concealed within this normal human frame, the Lord would come to dwell in our midst and the people wouldn’t freak out over it.

In Jesus God is, at long last, approachable not simply because his glory was concealed, but mostly because of what he did. Remember, he took that guilt that we often feel so deeply; that guilt that would otherwise give us pangs of fear and made it his own. The sin that lay so heavily on our souls would be laid on his soul instead. That’s why he shook so and sweat so and prayed so in the Garden of Gethsemane in the moments before he was captured to be taken away to the cross. He would be the one who was naked and exposed before the Lord; not you. He would be the one who would die. Not you.

But make no mistake, though he appeared in the the weak and humble form of a servant, his authority was of great moment. We saw that in the Gospel lesson for today. Nobody had ever been able to command evil Spirits to depart like this before... but Jesus did. And when he taught he taught with all authority too. He spoke firmly, clearly, frankly. The people who heard him were amazed. In Deuteronomy Moses said “you must listen to him.” And God said “Anyone who does not listen to the words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” In other words, this prophet, whom we know as Jesus is God’s preordained way for us and all people to finally make their way into the presence of their creator. If we listen to him; if we hear his invitation to be cleansed by his cross, we are saved. If we don’t listen, we will be called to account and all that remains for us is that fearful expectation of Judgement which we all innately fear. Jesus is God’s last word to this world and his last word to you. Are you listening?

This might surprise you, but he can be heard in places like this. Though he has ascended into heaven he is still thoroughly present in the assembly of the church. He has said “wherever two or more are gathered in my name behold there I will be.” He has said the church, that is the people, are his body. He has called Pastors to speak his word and when they faithfully speak his word, he speaks through them. Same goes for any Christian who faithfully speaks it.

Yes, he is indeed present among us. he hears us singing our hymns of praise and appreciates them. He listens intently to our prayers and even pleads our case in the councils of heaven. He’s here also in the waters of baptism and the bread and wine of communion. He is really here. He is God’s last word to the world. Will you hear him? As Moses says, “Listen to Him!” And as I say: Please listen to him. AMEN