“THE DAY OF THE LORD”
Saint Matthew 24: 15-28
3rd Last Sunday: 6 November Anno Domini 2016
Father Jay Watson SSP
You should be daily praying (multiple times) “have mercy upon me O Lord, for I am in trouble.” You don’t. Why not? “Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations.” It is the “abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand[ing] in the holy place.”
What does this mean? If you see only weird millennialistic heresy and the end-times voodoo of many protestant sects, you’re sinfully deluded. If you see an academic dissertation on the use of Aramaic in the book of Daniel and pontificate about recent archeological evidences that buttress this argument and support this supposition about exilic Judah, you’re trapped in Satan’s amber jar of intellectual assent at the expense of true repentance and belief.
It matters not what political entity or personage of power first “temporarily” fulfilled The Lord’s prophecy. What matters is that The Word of The Lord endures forever. And His word of Law and death for all things sinful and unclean endure until His second coming. The end is near. The final trump is about to be blown and the heralding angels will come to gather and tie the chaff—the unbelievers, mockers, blasphemers, liars, adulterers, fornicators, and killers into bundles to be burned in unquenchable fire. Repent. Stand fast. Take heed that after all that has been done for you that you do not reject The Truth.
Too long and in too many places, the heirs of the Reformation have lounged (wallowed) in cheap grace and ignorant bliss. The Gospel has rescued you from these spiritual maladies and does not wish you to return to the devil’s gaol of guilt and debauchery.
Your “old Adam” is an abomination to the Holy and Pure Trinity. It will be your damnation, your desolation if not repented of, fought against—by The Spirit’s direction and constant deliverance of The Word made Flesh, and endured under the Cross until His reappearing. If you don’t think, and feel in your bones and sinews, how hard it is to be a Follower of the Bleeding Lamb, then you run the risk of falling away to sinful self. Again, REPENT…the day is drawing near.
You are the elect and your days will be shortened. That is a blessing of Grace bestowed upon you from your Father through His Son, your Lord. Your stay in the fiery furnace and the ravaging lion’s den of Satan’s temptations will be for only a while. You will not be given more than you can bear up under for it is not you who will do the bearing, but He Who lifted all your evil from your shoulders and wore your trespasses as His yoke of servitude and servanthood on the Tree. The Paraclete calls you by Jesus’ tender words of Peace, gather you at the Water of + rebirth and slakes your thirst for your long journey to the mountains…the mountains of splendor—which you approach only through the Hill of Calvary and its Object of Salvation—The Body and Blood of God. You need not, and must not return to your “house” to gather your mammon or past indulgences and “winks” at sin! Fight the Israelite temptation to lust and yearn after the missed carnal delights of the Egyptian bondage of your past life of presumptuous sin. Fight to love your neighbor and the Spirit will do the lifting. Fight the enemies of The Faith—both foreign (outside of you) and domestic (you and your heart) You need to “old Adam” garments because you are now dressed in the Blood White robes of The Lamb Who was slain!
Not only is this the 3rd Last Sunday in the Church Year, this may well be your last day in the Church Militant. Only The Lord knows. So be militant. Fight the good fight of faith. Run the race with perseverance. Fight evil and do good. And all of the preceding IS DONE in Christ, when you the eagles are gathered by The Holy Ghost around the carcase which is cadaver no more. He was dead. He now lives and reigns to all eternity—which is at hand. Repent and believe. Take and Eat. Take and drink.
In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
Email the webmaster.Contact Augsburg Lutheran Church: (913) 403-6194