Art Thou He That Cometh?

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Matthew 11:2-10

“Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples and said unto him, ‘Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

O Gracious and Merciful Lord + Jesus Christ, Who by countless signs and wonders hast shown Thyself to be the true Messiah that was to come in whom alone we should trust and not look for another, we give Thee thanks for the true knowledge of Thee from Thy comforting Gospel, and beseech Thee, keep us steadfast in Thy Word, lest, being offended in Thee, we be led by worldly pleasure or the malice of men to depart from Thee, Who art our only Savior and Redeemer, blessed forever.  Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Now when, my dear friends, the Lord God in Deuteronomy eighteen promises the Prophet Moses that He will raise up a Prophet like Moses from the Israelites and would put His Words into His mouth, we are invited to compare Christ, the Prophet Who is promised by the Lord God, with Moses. As it has been said in the Gospel of St. John, chapter one, the Law came by Moses; grace and truth came by the Lord + Jesus, the Christ. The doctrine of the Law came by Moses through which the heart is led to terror and fear upon the wrath of the Lord God. This is shown by the miracles that the Lord God did through the Prophet Moses. The miracles of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, however, are the opposite. Christ came not to bring terror and fear, like the Old Testament prophets did. He came to bring comfort and peace. His miracles are loving and comforting.

The Prophet Moses changed water into blood. The Christ changed water into wine. Moses’ miracle caused terror and fear, while the Lord’s miracle produced comfort and love. Moses brought forth all kinds of insects and grasshoppers which ate up and destroyed the crops of the Egyptians, causing starvation. Our Lord + Jesus twice fed many thousands of men, plus women and children, with just a few small loaves and a handful of fish. The miracle of Moses brought terror, the miracle of our Lord brought comfort. Moses brought forth evil, small, black boils upon the Egyptians, and they were tortured because of them. Our Lord + Jesus healed the people of Israel of all kinds of epidemics and illnesses by which they were plagued. The miracle of Moses brought fear, the miracle of our Lord brought comfort. Moses brought darkness over the whole land of Egypt. But our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, brings light and truth into the world. He is the Light of the world. Whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will walk in His light.

The Prophet Moses also announced to Pharaoh that all the first-born of Egypt would be slain by the angel of death. Our Lord Christ, on the other hand, raised up the dead, as He testifies in the Gospel reading from the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew. The miracle of Moses is terrifying, and the miracle of our Lord brings comfort. In fact, our Lord + Jesus did not want to perform any of the terrible miracles that Moses and the Old Testament prophets performed. He even rebuked His Apostles who wanted to call down fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritans, just like Elisha called out the she-bears to attack and devour the boys who mocked him for his baldness. Our Lord expressly tells them that He did not come to destroy mankind, but to save them.

Therefore, Moses is the prophet who brings the Law with all of its terrors, and our Lord + Jesus brings the Gospel with all of its comfort. The Prophet that our Lord God promises to raise up in the stead of Moses is not One Who brings fear and terror, but He brings comfort and peace. Our Lord did not come with the Law to destroy; He came with the Gospel to build up and enlighten. The Law, with its terrors, is meant to drive men into repentance; to see their sin. When we see the things in this life that bring terror and fear, they are meant for us to see the terrible consequences of what sin does in our world; they are meant for us to see what terrible consequences are in store for us if we continue to live openly and unrepentant in our sinfulness. The Law is meant as a mirror for our sinfulness, to drive us away from fear and darkness to our Lord. 

The Gospel shows us our Savior. It shows us what comfort and peace we have in the Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Our Lord Christ by His miracles shows us that He did not come to destroy but to draw all men to Himself. He came to be the Light of the world. He came to give sight to the blind, and make the lame walk, to cleanse the leper, and raise the dead. He came to preach good news to the poor in heart. He came to preach into our poor, miserable sinful ears, that in Him is life and forgiveness. In Him is salvation from sin and death. He came to destroy our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. He came to war against the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. He came so that we do not have to turn to the Law which kills if we do perform it perfectly, but that we may turn to Him, Who perfectly fulfilled the Law. He came so that we do not have to endure the Lord God’s eternal wrath and displeasure on account of man’s unbelief, but that we might live with Him forever and ever in eternal peace and comfort in heaven.

The Lord + Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed One of the Lord God, the Prophet promised to Moses, did not come like the Prophet Moses with the Law and death and fear. He came with the Gospel, with life and comfort. This is why the disciples of St. John the Baptist question their teacher about this new Prophet that was increasing in popularity after St. John’s popularity was decreasing after he was put into prison by King Herod. The Lord + Jesus was the Prophet promised by the Lord God to be raised up in the stead of Moses, but He was not like Moses. He brought comfort and peace, and not terror and fear. This led to confusion by some to ask, “Art Thou He that cometh?”

Our Lord + Jesus answers by pointing out His works. He brings sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing for lepers, and life to the dead. These are the same works that the Prophet Isaiah proclaims about the Messiah in chapter thirty-five of the Book of Isaiah. The Old Testament prophets performed terrible signs and wonders, but they also prophesied about the Messiah would bring comfort and peace to the people of Israel. The Israelites were expecting a Prophet like unto Moses, who would bring terror and fear upon all their enemies. But the Prophet raised up in the stead of Moses came to bring comfort and peace. 

St. John the Baptist, who is the forerunner to the Christ, began this change in focus from the terrifying miracles of the Old Testament prophets to the comforting miracles of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. He is the one, the messenger, who was sent to go before the face of the Christ to prepare His way. He comes in the form of the Old Testament prophet, but his signs and wonders do not include terrifying miracles, but instead, he brings baptism. His baptism was just a symbolic washing away of sins, but his baptism was a foreshadowing of the true baptism, the Holy Baptism, by which we have all been washed. Holy Baptism is a spiritual washing away of all our sins. It implants in us the Holy Ghost, Who creates in us faith in the Lord + Jesus, the Christ. For by Holy Baptism, we are buried with Christ in His death, so that just as He was raised again from the dead, we too, now walk in newness of life. We are a new creation. We were a creature plagued by terror and fear, but now we are a new creature. We are creatures that enjoy comfort and peace; one that enjoys forgiveness of our sins.

The terrors of the Law can no longer harm us. Moses has been replaced by the Lord + Jesus. The Law gives way to the Gospel. Terror gives way to peace and comfort; to forgiveness. Death gives way to life. Blindness gives way to sight. Deaf and muteness gives way to hearing and speech. The leprosy of sin gives way to a cleansing away of sin and death; it gives way to a new creation. The poor in spirit are changed into a people who are not reeds shaken in the wind, but who stand steadfast in the grace and mercy of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ.

This is what our Lord + Jesus says about St. John the Baptist. This season of Advent is sometimes referred to as the season of St. John the Baptist, because this season prepares the way for the coming of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. St. John the Baptist was not a reed shaken in the wind, he was not a prophet that wavered from persecution, or the threat of death. He was not a prophet that blew to and fro to whatever false doctrine, and socially acceptable moral stance, was blowing his way, much like many of the false prophets today. He was a tree planted by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in due season, and whose leaf does not whither, like Psalm one confesses. In other words, my dear friends, St. John the Baptist is a picture of us. He is a picture of those who in faith cling to the Christ.

We are not bruised reeds blowing in the wind. We are not blown about by every false doctrine that our society throws at us. We are like trees planted by rivers of water with roots deep in the ground that give us a firm foundation. For we are rooted in the Prophet promised by the Lord God to the Prophet Moses. We are fixed to the One Who brings us the comforting and saving Gospel. We find our sustenance in the One Who has perfectly fulfilled the Law, the Law which tortured and killed us all the day long. For by Him we are no longer trapped in sin and death, but are brought out of darkness into His marvelous light that leads us into eternal life.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us not be offended by the Christ of the Lord God. For He did not come to bring terror and fear. He did not come to send plagues and drought and famine, but He came to bring us comfort and peace. He came to lead us out of death into life. He came to be the Light of the world. By Him are men enlightened in the dark world to see that there is no salvation in the keeping of the Law. It only brings death. We are enlightened by Him to see the Gospel; to see that in Him and His works and merits, we are granted life and salvation. In Him we have been baptized, we have been washed clean of all of our sins. What St. John the Baptist began, the Christ has perfected. St. John in prison began to decrease in popularity and influence, so that the One Whose way he prepared might increase and be for all mankind the Light and the comfort of the world. 

Is He the One Who cometh? Yes, He is, and we should look for no other. For He is the Prophet promised to Moses, Who has come to bring us comfort and peace. Let us wait for and expect Him to come to us and fill us with forgiveness, life, and salvation. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!