“Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight” (Matt 3:3).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Tis the season for preparation – the season of great anticipation.

Days off from work and school are on the near horizon –

days of cookies and feasting, of family and visiting, of gifts and celebration…

What do YOU look forward to the most?

What is your longing throughout this Season of Advent, and how are you preparing for it?

“IN THOSE DAYS,” as we hear in our Gospel reading this morning,

John the Baptist came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:1-2).

And IN THOSE DAYS, the people would have been very excited about that…

Because in THOSE days, people did not think of the Kingdom of Heaven as some place you went when you died…

No, for them, the Kingdom of Heaven was about the reign and rule of God here and now –

it was about the action, the activity, the “kinging” of the King of kings who “kings” over ALL things visible and invisible.

For them, salvation was never about “dying and going to heaven,”

but about the “Kingdom of Heaven” coming for us.

Which is why in THOSE days,

the people were actually waiting and watching with eager anticipation for their Messiah who would break into this world, conquer their enemies,

and restore them to peace.  

And now, according to John the Baptist, that Day had come: “The Kingdom of heaven IS at hand” (Mat 3:2).

Indeed, the people could hardly believe their ears, because they knew what this meant.

They knew this meant the Day of Promise, the moment they had been waiting for and watching for, had finally come.

They knew that in the same way that God had once broken into history to deliver their ancestors out of Egypt by His mighty deeds,

the Day had finally come when the whole world would now be delivered to everlasting peace.

The present age of Satan’s dominion and his reign of terror and death was coming to an end,

and a new age, a whole new creation – the stuff of lambs lying down with lions, was about to take its place.

Yes, their King HAD come, which means the time had now come to meet Him!

And the great Advent question remains, “How shall we meet our King who comes for us?

“O Lord, how shall we meet You, how welcome you aright” (LSB 344)?

Today, John the Baptist gives us the answer:

“Repent!” he says,

“The One you’ve been waiting for and watching for has now come…

and if you want to stand in His presence and escape His terrible wrath, then repent!”

Wow… Just like that, things turn kind of ominous, right?

I mean, what is this business of wrath and unquenchable fire that John speaks of? What is this business of repentance?

What is this preparation that the people, you and me included, are being called to?

In the words of many who have gone before us, what must we do to be saved?

In answer, John provides an extraordinary object lesson:

He calls sinners back to the Jordan –

back to that water where their life with God in His kingdom first began.

If you’ll recall, after God had delivered His people from slavery in Egypt and provided for them throughout their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness,

He delivered them to the Promised Land through the water, right?

He literally opened the way through the Jordan for Israel to enter into this new life in this new world as His newly rescued and restored people to live under Him in His kingdom.

            He would be their King, they would be His people,

and it would all be good once again, just like Eden…

But it was not good, for the people of God soon wandered like sheep without a shepherd.

They all went astray (Isa 53:6), ordering their lives entirely in relationship to the pagan world around them, shopping for gifts, partying,

and literally making a kingdom for themselves while divorcing themselves from God’s Word, God’s Communion, and the life that God had called them to.

They separated themselves from their Creator and from the relationship that began with that passage through the water,

and in the end, they suffered His judgment as the unquenchable fire utterly destroyed the kingdom they had been given.

Good thing nothing like that would ever happen to us, right?

I mean, none of us would ever lay aside God’s Word, put our partying before our Communion with God,

or get wrapped up in the pleasures and pursuits of this pagan world without a thought about how we should be ordering our lives in faith toward God or in love toward one another…

Well, perhaps you’re not making those mistakes,

but I certainly am, which is why I’m really interested in what John has to say this morning.

For John has been sent to prepare me… to prepare you…! to prepare the way of the Lord. How?

By pointing us BACK to the water!

If you’ll notice, John calls the people BACK to that place where their new life in God’s kingdom began –

BACK to that place where God had made them His own and delivered them to new life in the promised land.

And by returning to that water of the Jordan,

they were not only being turned away from their sin and the kingdom that they had made for themselves,

but were in fact turning back to that water and to a new start through the forgiveness of sins.

And to this day, that is what repentance is.

Repentance is the ongoing return to the new life you were given in the water of your Baptism –

            the daily turning from your sin and returning to God’s forgiveness –

confessing your sin, your wandering, and your endless devotion to yourself,

and taking your place once again under your King in His kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that this call to repentance is a call to self-righteousness, as if you could ever be “good enough” or “obedient enough” to stand by your own merits.

For repentance is NOT about turning inward on yourself to walk the straight and narrow,

but about returning to your King who credits you with HIS righteousness.

After all, the consequence of the sin which has clothed us from our conception is that we can never BE good enough –

we can never BE righteous enough or obedient enough to stand before God in His kingdom.

Only Jesus could do that…

Only Christ is righteous, and it is His righteousness alone that covers your sin –

His righteousness alone that gives you peace with God –

His righteousness alone that He pours out for you through the water of Holy Baptism.

And that is where John points us today:

back to the water –

back to the forgiveness of sins and that place where your new life began –

back to that place where God graciously ushered you into His kingdom by clothing You in His Son’s righteousness.

That was John’s message then, and it’s John’s message now:

Your King HAS come! The Kingdom of Heaven IS at hand! [Altar]

Repent!

Confess your sin, receive the forgiveness of Him who comes for you in His body and blood,

and get back to ordering your lives in obedience to your King who gives you heaven and new life here and now.  

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Preached by Pastor Holowach

Sermon Text: Matthew 3:1-12