Only Jesus Can Tell Us To Look Up On The Last Day
Luke 21:25-28 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and
stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring
and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming
on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these
things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near."
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Experts in body language will say you can tell a lot about a
person by their chin. They say that the
neutral position of the chin is the horizontal position. If the chin is lifted
above the horizontal, it means the person is displaying superiority maybe even arrogance.
Some say that by lifting the chin up, the person is trying to increase their
height so that they can ‘look down through their nose’ at someone.
When the chin is positioned down below the horizontal, it can
signal that the person is sad or dejected. It's an unconscious attempt to lower
one’s height and status. This is why our heads 'hang' in shame and don't 'rise'
in shame. Tonight in God’s Word Jesus
tells us to lift our chins- to lift up our heads when we see the signs of the
end of the world around up. Sadly there
will be plenty of people hanging their heads on Judgment Day. Only Jesus can
tell us to lift up our heads on the last day.
I have to say that my alarm sounds pretty harsh when it goes
off in the morning. But it is telling me
that it is time to wake up. Jesus’ words
to those who were making plans to kill him might sound harsh to us but they are
meant to say wake up! On the Tuesday of
Holy week, Jesus announced the judgment to come for those who were lifting up
their chins to look down their noses at Jesus and at other people. Jesus said, "Woe to you, teachers of the
law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! . . . You snakes! You brood of vipers! How
will you escape being condemned to hell?" Jesus wanted them to wake up. Jesus
made it clear that a day is coming when chins raised in rejection of Jesus and
noses in the air to look down on others would come crashing down. If
they remained in their unbelief, there would be no escape from condemnation.
After sounding the warning to the religious leaders, Jesus
and his disciples left the temple. As they were walking away from Jerusalem to
go back to Bethany for the night, they must have come to a spot where they
could take in the beauty of Jerusalem and the temple. His disciples marveled at
the beauty of the and the architecture of the temple. Jesus chose this moment to tell his disciples
about some traumatic days ahead included in His words was comfort for Jesus
about the Last Day. They could and
should keep their heads up.
"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the
earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of
the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the
world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” But Jesus has given us signs to watch for.
Those signs can be put into three categories. First, there are signs which
remind us that Jesus IS coming. Second, there are signs which remind us he is
coming SOON, and finally, there are signs which will tell us HE'S HERE.
Jesus gives us the signs that remind us he is coming in Luke
21, "When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These
things must happen first, but the end will not come right away" The Lord Jesus also speaks of earthquakes,
famines, terrible plagues, and fearful events in nature. Reading history books and watching the news
tells us that all of these prophecies have been taking place-from the time
Jesus ascended into heaven down to the very present.
So if things things have been happening right along we might
ask ourselves, “Why did Jesus speak of these signs?” He gave us these signs so
that when we see these terrible things happening in the world, not only to
others but also to us, that we wouldn't lose hope and despair. "Stand
firm!" Jesus says. "Hang on!" Jesus says. "Because I will
not forget you. I will come again. I will come for you."
These signs certainly tell us Jesus will come, but they
don't tell us when- in other words Jesus does not give us a timetable. There
are other signs that tell us he will come soon. Matthew 24:14 says, "This
gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all
nations, and then the end will come." ls there a continent or nation where
Christ has not been preached? On our WELS connection videos, we hear about the
good news of Jesus being preached all around the world. Again in Matthew 24, Jesus says, "Then
there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until
now-and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one
would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
" Some days we might wonder if the
world can get any worse. Perhaps it
will. But it sures seems like God will
not put up with the evil much longer and Jesus must be coming soon. All these signs say Jesus is coming soon.
Then there is the third set of signs in our text- signs that
will say, “Jesus is back! "There will be signs in the sun, moon and
stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring
and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming
on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will
see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory"
(vv.25-27). I cannot point to these signs, because we have not seen them. Those
alive on earth will see them on that last day, when Jesus comes again in all
his glory.
Have you ever
thought about what you want to be doing when Jesus comes again? Will I be able to lift up my head? Or will it be like that time when mom told
you she did not want you eating cookies before dinner and when came walking
back up the stairs unexpectedly there you munching cookies with cookie crumbs
on your shirt? I’m not able to say, “I
will lift up my head when Jesus comes because I’m always in the right place or
always doing the right thing or always thinking the right thing or always
saying the right thing.” I can’t lift up
my head because I know the truth about me and the truth about you. God’s law forces our chins down to look at
our dreadful sinful hearts where bitterness too often simmers, it forces our
chins down to see the hearts we have stepped on by careless sinful words and
actions. We heads would rightly hang in
shame when Jesus comes again.
But Jesus who
knows all of these things says, “When these things begin to take place, stand
up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." He
knows our sins because he carried them-carried.
The Bible says, “"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the
cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his
wounds you have been healed." Jesus
bowed His head in death so that we could lift up our heads on the last day. Our own actions, our own righteousness
brought us nothing but “chins down” on the last day. Only Jesus could do that only Jesus could
tell us to lift up our heads on the last day.
What a
comfort! We don’t have to worry about
what will happen to us on Judgement Day! "Christ was sacrificed once to take away
the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but
to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him". Our Jesus has made
things right with God, so Judgment Day will be a chin up day for us rather than
a chin down. So now what do you want to
be doing when Jesus comes again? Let’s
lift up our heads. See the people God
has put into our lives- our friends, our families. Let’s be about serving them
when Jesus comes again. Let’s lift up
our heads and see the work God has given us to do and when Jesus comes again
let’s be about “Serving wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not
people.” Let’s lift up our heads to look
above this wicked world, remembering the words of the little songs we learned
long ago, “be careful little feet where you go, be careful little feet where
you go cause the Father up above is looking down in love, o be careful little
feet where you go.”
Are there gloomy
things in your world right now that have you down? Chin up!
Only Jesus can make us look up on the Last Day. Jesus and only Jesus
shed his blood to wash us from sin. Live today aware that he is coming soon. Carry in your hearts his forgiveness and his
righteousness and give it away to others.
And be ready-ready to look up
when he comes! Amen.
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