+ 2nd Advent Midweek Service – December 8, 2021 +
Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38 (John 1:1-18)
Beautiful Savior Lutheran
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” It doesn’t take long, maybe just a note or two, and by the time you’re a few lines in, you know it’s Advent. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is more than an iconic Advent hymn. It’s our prayer. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. O Come, Emmanuel. These words are also our confession of faith. Matthew’s gospel gives us the gospel-rich translation of Emmanuel: “God with us.”
From Eden to the burning bush, from his tabernacle in the wilderness to his manger in Bethlehem. From his cross outside of Jerusalem to his dwelling place in Mt. Zion, the Scriptures reveal that God is the God who dwells with his people. Always has. Always does. Always will.
Emmanuel. “God with us.” Since Adam and Eve’s exile from Eden, that is what we desire and long for: for God to be with us, for God to come and dwell with us; to rescue and deliver us from exile. An exile, a separation, isolation from the God who loves to dwell with his people. By the curse of sin we were cut off from God. Exiles in a fallen, broken world.
And then along comes Advent, a yearly reminder that God is the God who dwells with his people. God sends us His Son, Jesus. Emmanuel. God with us.
We often think of Christ appearing and dwelling with us at Christmas. And rightly so. Christ was born for you. And it’s also true that Christ is active and present and dwelling with his people long before he takes up his nine month stay in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
From the very beginning, the Son of God has been intimately involved with His people. The Scriptures say that all things were created through the One who is the Word, that is Christ. And Christ, God the Son, appeared to His chosen people in a preincarnate form throughout the Old Testament before He became man.
The Son of God descended to this earth at various times to be with His people Israel, to speak His Word to them, guide them, and deliver them from their enemies. All of this, of course, was a glorious preview of the time when Christ would descend to earth in a far greater way by becoming man. Emmanuel. God with us.
Last week, we heard of how Christ came down to earth and appeared to Moses in the burning bush to announce the release of the Israelites from their slavery to the Egyptians. In today’s Old Testament reading, the Israelites have been freed, and travel in the wilderness.
And, what does God do? That’s right…God dwelled with his people. This time in the form of a cloud that filled and covered the tabernacle. The tabernacle was like a mobile temple, a sacred, liturgical tent the Lord gave Israel for worship, sacrifice, and atonement of sin. Within the tabernacle was the Most Holy Place, where the ark of God was located. The ark contained the two stone tablets of the testimony, which God had given to Moses, and on it was the Mercy Seat, where the Lord was present to meet with and dwell with His people through the blood of the sacrifices. As God was present in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, so too, He was present among His people as a cloud in this tabernacle. When the cloud rose above the tabernacle, the Israelites would journey. When it remained on the tabernacle, they would stay put.
In John’s Gospel we’re reminded that although no one has ever seen God, Christ, the only begotten Son of God has revealed Him. This cloud was a visible revelation of God in His Son. It was the real presence of Christ, the Creator entering into creation for the sake of His people, to lead them to the riches of the Promised Land. It was a living prophecy of how the heavenly and the earthly would come together in forever in the conception of Jesus and His birth in Bethlehem.
“The Word [that is, the Son of God] became flesh and dwelt among us.” That word, dwelt, is a fantastic word in the Greek. It’s a form of the word for “tabernacle” or “tent.” John is declaring that: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Jesus “set up His tent” in our midst.
The same Lord who dwelt in a tent made of animal skins has taken on our human nature—bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. The glory of the Lord dwells in human skin in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
In the wilderness, the cloud would occasionally arise out of the tabernacle. But in Christ, the divine and human natures are an eternal communion. God the Son is and always will be true man, our brother, just as he is, and always will be true God. The human tabernacle which He now inhabits is His dwelling place forever. This is why Jesus said, “Destroy this temple (referring to His body), and in three days I will raise it up.” God and man dwell together forever in Christ.
This is the joy of Advent and Christmas. God is the God who dwells with his people. Always has. Always does. Always will.
Though we were cut off from His life through our sin, in His incarnation, Christ bridged the gap between heaven and earth and brought us back to God. In Christ, we are reconciled to our heavenly Father. God and man are reunited in Jesus. In Christ, we are restored to His holy fellowship.
This holy fellowship is foreshadowed in the cloud that descended on the tabernacle in the wilderness. And in the cloud of Jesus’ transfiguration as well. When Jesus revealed His glory to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, a cloud enveloped them. When Jesus ascended into heaven, a cloud hid Him from the disciples’ sight. When Jesus returns, Scripture says, he will come riding the clouds with great power and glory. Then the words of Jesus in John’s Revelation will come to pass.
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
God is the God who dwells with his people. Always has. Always does. Always will.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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