End Times For Advent, Want Can We Do, How Can We Prepare?

This sermon was delivered to Holy Trinity in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland on the 28th November 2021;

a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.

The readings for today are: Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Psalm 25:1-9

Main Reading: Luke 21:25-36

Prayer: My I speak in the name of the father, son and holy ghost, and let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Amen,

Introduction.

Were those readings not depressing? … Jeremiah and Luke … both of them full of doom and gloom.

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth; distress among nations … People fainting from fear, and the foreboding of what is coming upon the world … for the powers of the heavens will be shaken”.

In these strange ‘virus’ times, that really cheers us up? … And it is the first Sunday of advent as well … I like advent, I love the run up to Christmas, … so I am determined not letting these reading spoil it.

Advent

As you know, the word Advent comes from the Latin ‘adventus’ which means “coming arrival”, … and in the New Testament, this term denotes:

1. the physical nativity in Bethlehem, it also denotes

2. the reception of Christ in the heart of us believers, and it also depicts

3. the actual Second Coming of Christ himself.

Advent therefore is the time to celebrate Jesus coming into this world 2000 years ago, born as a baby, fully human but also … fully God.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah called him Immanuel, which means: “God is with us”, and I like that … it is saying that God is not somewhere away out there in the ether, he is right there in us, right in our very hearts. … That he is a God not of this world, but a God who actually lived in this world; enabling him to relate to our own personal experiences … which is good, but we must also not forget that advent too is a time to remind us that Jesus will come again in the latter days.

Life goes on.

Speaking of the latter days, over the last few years, I have heard many people say we are presently in the latter days. … Sorry I disagree … yes, I believe we are heading towards the latter days, and the latter days are getting closer, but not yet, … There are so many signs, written in the bible that are still to happen, before we reach those days … and I personally, don’t believe I will see those days.

Yes, they are coming closer, revelations 13:16 for example tells us that there will be one currency, and yes, we can all imagine it, but not yet. … We can also imagine the mark on our right hand or even our foreheads, being chipped to buy and sell goods, … because we are all use to dogs and cats nowadays being microchipped; with a microchip smaller than a grain of rice; but not yet.

And as for the rise of Rome, well I see no any signs of that yet, although I am concerned with the whole Brexit thing and its consequences, but again, not yet. … There are many other signs in the bible predicting the start of end time, and most of them have still to happen.

The prophet Jeremiah.

With this in mind, let us look at our Old Testament reading this morning, which came from the book of Jeremiah, and Jeremiah by the way, was one of the saddest, unhappiest and gloomiest prophets of any age, with a message of doom.

However, his message was for the Israelites, you know, the ones delivered from Egypt and given the land of Israel, and if that wasn’t enough, there were promised a Messiah who would bring them even closer to God himself.

So, were the Israelites grateful, did they respond with hope and celebration, no way … in fact they constantly turned their backs on God and worshipped false idols as many do today? … The Israelites also, turned their backs on Gods his prophets, one after another, refusing to heed their words of warning; thinking only of themselves.

And with their stubbornness to act on their selfishness, God finally sent them Jeremiah, the ultimate prophet of doom, to preach the truth unto them one last time; … and the truth was that their actions, had consequences … and these consequences unless they changed, were going to be severe. … Jeremiah said, “that the harvest they were about to reap, would be the worst disaster the nation would ever go through, ending with them in exile for 95 years”.

Did they listen, no … and just like today, the cares of this world over overshadowed any good thoughts they may have had: … and so it came to pass, as they refused to listen, Jerusalem and the great Temple were destroyed, and the people, (all of them), were dragged into exile by the Babylonians for nearly one hundred years. (A whole country, about the size of our west countries, suddenly disappeared.