Advent 1 - Midweek - Ad Te Levavi - 12-3-08

Advent 1, Midweek
One Year Lectionary,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (December 3, 2007)

“The Mountain of Peace”

Readings:
Isaiah 2:1-5
John 1:1-14

Sermon Form: Deductive
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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Old Testament Reading of Isaiah the 2nd chapter, especially the following verses.

Isaiah 2:1-5 (NIV)

1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 5 Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

It is the Church season of Advent, right before Christmas and we are urged by our surroundings and our society to forget the waiting and move on to Christmas. And that is okay, Christmas is a joyful time of the year to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, the babe in Bethlehem who would become the prince of peace. But Advent is also a good time to look forward and to anticipate the coming of that Christ-child, AND a time to anticipate the Christ-man and all that He would do when He came into this world and all that He would do upon His return. And so Advent teaches us that as we wait, we prepare to receive that special Christmas gift of the One who would be the hope and peace for all who are in this world. So Advent is really worth the preparation and the journey. And this is born out in the Advent hymns which we sing, like “Come, thou long expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in Thee”(LSB 338:1) or “Prepare the royal highway; The King of kings is near! Let ev’ry hill and valley A level road appear! Then greet the King of Glory Foretold in sacred story; Hosanna to the Lord, For He fulfills God’s Word!”(LSB 343:1)

And our journey during this Advent season will reflect on the Words of God which Christ did fulfill. And the words will be the ones God gave to His prophet Isaiah who spoke of the mountains of God and the path to those sacred mountains paved in prophecy. And so we begin on the mountain of Peace and the description of this mountain which Isaiah calls the “mountain of the lord’s temple.”(v. 2) or “the mountain of the lord”(v.3) While that may seem like two different places, in fact it is one place. For the these two names both refer to the same mountain which is Mt. Zion, and the temple mount in Jerusalem. And from Isaiah’s description this is a mighty place, a place to which many people are drawn and they will come from far and wide to arrive. But what does all this talk of Isaiah have to do Advent or Christmas or even you and me?

Actually, Isaiah’s vision and prophecy was a lot more far-sighted than we could ever imagine for he not only sees past himself, he sees beyond his own time. For he sees the mountain of peace that Jerusalem will one day be and then he looks even farther ahead to what would be at the end of all time. So to that we could say, sarcastically, “Thank you very much Isaiah, you just proved the case against the season of Advent. For, if Isaiah can jump forward more than 600 years to see what would happen in Jerusalem and if he can jump who knows how many more years after that to the end of all time, what’s the harm in jumping over a few weeks of Advent to get to Christmas?”

Well, hold on there for just a second, let’s see what Isaiah is really saying about this Mountain of the Lord and who would be going to that mountain. And that question is quickly answered, for Isaiah says that, “Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’”(v.3) That does sound like words of great optimism and it sounds like Isaiah is placing a lot of hope in that time to come. Really we might even say it sounds like a new era. For Isaiah says that “Many peoples will come” and that would be very unusual for a Jewish prophet to use those kind of words. Because the word he uses here for “peoples” means more than just Jews would be coming to the mountain, it also means from many nations and tribes and that would be very forward looking for a man like Isaiah. And it would also sound quite a bit like the words of Christ as recorded in Matthew, remember He said, “make disciples of all nations”(Mt. 28:19)

And on this mountain of peace, “The law will go out from Zion, the word of the lord from Jerusalem.”(v. 3) Again that would be prophecy which would be fulfilled in Christ for it was He who took all the law upon Himself by His death on the cross and it would be His words proclaimed from the cross that would go out from Jerusalem to make that mountain a place of everlasting peace. For in His death and resurrection Christ set aside the law he being God’s incarnate Word would forever offer a, “peace which surpasses all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7)

Yet we still do not see peace. In fact, we join in proclaiming the lack of peace with one of our very own American heroes who proclaimed, “Peace, Peace, but there is no peace. The war is actually begun.” and he finished that speech with the familiar words, “Give me liberty or give me death.” (Patrick Henry) Unfortunately for Patrick Henry, he did not live long enough to see the national liberty for which he longed.

However, Isaiah looked forward to all that would be achieved on that Mountain of Peace and the last days. We look back in prophecy fulfilled on that Mountain where Christ’s Death and resurrection sealed that peace and we join Isaiah in looking to Christ’s return in those last days.

And the road to that Mountain of Peace? Well it is not paved by bricks or stone which we put in place, nor by our toil, nor by our sweat, or the heat of the day which we may endure. It is not paved by the works of our hands, rather it is composed of our sins which have been laid down upon the foundation of that road which is blood of Christ. For now “in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace,”(Eph 2:13-14)

And so on that Mountain of Christ’s peace “swords will be beat into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks, and nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”(Is. 2:4) For in Christ’s death, He created an everlasting Mountain of Peace, and so He proclaims; Peace, Peace there will be eternal peace. And that peace He has established for you now in your baptism. And one day you “will walk in the light of the Lord,”(Is. 2:5) when you are “raised above the hills”(v. Is. 2:2) to see Him in the heavenly city of the new Jerusalem and that is truly a Mountain of Peace. Amen.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

AMEN
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