Complete Sermon -> Advent 2, Luke 21:25-36. Christ’s Second Coming: or the Signs of the Day of Judgment; and the Comfort Christians Have from Them
51. Pure words of comfort are these. He does not put forth a parable from the fall or winter season when all the trees are bare and the dreary days begin; but a parable from the spring and summer season, when everything is joyous, when all creation buds forth and rejoices. By this he clearly teaches that we are to look forward to the last day with as much joy and delight as all creation shows in spring and summer. What is the meaning of this parable if in it he does not teach us this? He could have found others that were not so joyous.
52. In applying it, he does not say your hell or condemnation is at hand, but the kingdom of God. What else does it signify that the kingdom of God is at hand than that our redemption is near? The kingdom of God is but ourselves, as Christ says, Luke 17:21, “For lo, the kingdom of God is within you ;” therefore, it draweth nigh when we are nearing our redemption from sin and evil. In this life it begins in the spirit; but since we must still battle with sin and suffer much evil, and since death is still before us, the kingdom of God is not yet perfect in us. But when once sin and death and all evil are taken away, then will it be perfect. This the last day will bring and not this life.
53. Therefore, my dear hearer, examine your life, probe your heart to ascertain how it is disposed toward this day. Do not put your trust in your own good life, for that would soon be put to shame; but think of and strengthen your faith in order that the day may not be a terror to you as to the damned, but be your joy as the day of your salvation and of the kingdom of God in you. Then when you think or hear of the same, your heart will leap for joy and earnestly long for its coming. If you do not wish to pronounce judgment upon yourself, then do not think that you would be able to stand in that day even with the meritorious deeds of all the saints. “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
54. Why does the Lord so fortify his Word and confirm it beyond measure by parables, oaths, and tokens of the generation which shall remain though heaven and earth pass away? This all happens because, as was said above, all the world is so secure and with open eyes despises the signs to such a degree that perhaps no word of God has been so despised as this which foretells and characterizes the judgment day. It will appear to the world that there are no signs; and even though people should see them, they will still not believe. Even the very elect of God may doubt such words and tokens, in order that the day may come when the world is never so secure and thus be suddenly overwhelmed in its security, as St. Paul said above.
55. Therefore Christ would assure us and wake us up to look for the day when the signs appear. We are to realize that though the signs be uncertain, those are not in danger who look upon them as tokens, while those who despise them are in the greatest danger. Hence let us play with certainties and consider the above-named signs as truly such lest we run with the unspiritual. If we are mistaken, we have after all hit the mark; if they are mistaken, it is a mistake for eternity with them.
56. Jesus calls the Jews “this generation.” This passage, therefore, clearly indicates that the common saying is not true which holds that all the Jews will become Christians; and that the passage, John 10:16, “And they shall become one flock and one shepherd,” is not fulfilled when the Jews go over to the heathen, but when the heathen came to the Jews and became Christians at the time of the apostles, as St. Augustine often explains.
Christ’s words in John 10:16 indicate the same, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock and one shepherd.” Note that he speaks clearly of the heathen who have come to the Jewish fold; therefore the passage has been long since fulfilled. But here he says, “This generation shall not pass away” till the end come; that is, the Jews who crucified Christ must remain as a token. And although many will be converted, the generation and Jewish character must remain.
57. Some have also been concerned about how heaven and earth will pass away, and they again call Aristotle to their aid. He must interpret the words of Christ for them, and he says, that heaven and earth will not pass away as to their essence but only as to their form. How much they think they are saying! If they so understood it that heaven and earth will continue to be something, they would indeed be right. But let us suffer the blind to go, and know that just as our bodies will be changed as to their essence, and yet be remade according to their essence, so heaven and earth at the last day with all the elements will be melted with fervent heat and turned to dust, together with the bodies of men, so that there will be nothing but fire everywhere. Then will everything be new-created in greatest beauty; our bodies will shine in brilliancy, and the sun be much more glorious than now. Peter speaks of this day, in 2 Peter 3:10-13, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness?
Paul also testifies to the same in 1 Corinthians 3:13, that “the last day shall be revealed in fire.” And Isaiah 30:26, “ The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” Likewise Isaiah 65:17, “For, behold I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.” Therefore this passing away is not only according to form but also as to essence; unless it be that you do not want to call it a passing away, if things turn to dust until no trace of them can be found, as the burned body turns to ashes and passes away.
58. But where do our souls dwell when the abode of every creature is afire and there is no earthly dwelling place? Answer: My dear hearer, where is the soul now? Or where is it when we sleep and are not conscious of what is taking place in our bodies and in the world around us? Do you think that God cannot so preserve or hold the souls of men in his hand that they will never know how heaven and earth passed away? Or do you think that he must have a bodily home for the soul, just as a shepherd has a stable for his sheep? It is enough for you to know that they are in God’s hands and not in the care of any creature. Though you do not understand how it happens, do not be led astray. Since you have not yet learned what happens to you when you fall asleep or awaken, and can never know how near you are to waking or sleeping, though you daily do both, how do you expect to understand all about this question? The Scripture says, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and so let it be. Meanwhile there will arise a new heaven and a new earth, and our bodies will be revived again to eternal salvation. Amen. If we knew just how the soul would be kept, faith would be at an end. But now we journey and know not just whither; yet we put our confidence in God, and rest in his keeping, and our faith abides in all its dignity.
III. THE SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION OF THESE GOSPEL SIGNS.
59. Finally, we must find also a hidden or spiritual meaning in this Gospel.
The sun is Christ, the moon is the church, the stars are Christians, the powers of heaven are the prelates or planets of the church. Now these earthly signs surely signify what has long since taken place and is now taking place among Christians; for they follow the service of sin and threaten and manifest the punishment resting upon them.
60. That the sun is darkened no doubt signifies that Christ does not shine in the Christian church; that is, that the Gospel is not preached and that faith is expiring from the lack of divine service. This has come about through the teaching and works of men. The pope sits in the churches in the place of Christ and shines like dirt in a lantern — he with his bishops, priests, and monks. It is these that have darkened the sun for us, and instead of the true worship of God have set up idolatry and image worship with their tonsure and hoods and vestments and pipes and lutes and singing and playing etc.
Oh what darkness! What darkness!
61. From this it necessarily follows that neither the moon gives any light; that is, when faith died out, love had to die out also, so that no real Christian deeds are any more seen, no example is found in which one Christian serves another; but all the people have been led into idolatry, and .image worship, and there have been instituted mass, vigils, altars, chapels, purifications, bells, and impostures. Again what darkness!
62. I interpret the falling of the stars to mean the falling of man who has been baptized and become a Christian and then became a priest or monk.
Whoever wants to believe me, may; whoever does not want to, need not do so, but I know what I am talking about. I do not say that they will all be lost; God can save even from the fire whom he will. But this I say, whoever becomes a priest or monk in the belief that he is taking up a holy estate falls from Christian faith into unbelief; for the falling of the stars does not signify the gross forms of sin, murder, adultery, theft, but a falling from faith. Priests and monks (unless God does wonders) are by virtue of their position renegade and apostate Christians, worse than whom no people dwell on the earth.
63. The Turks also are no Christians; but in two senses they are better than the Papists: first, they have never been Christians or stars, therefore have not fallen from the faith; secondly, they do not sin against the sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood. But the Papists make a sacrifice out of the mass and a meritorious work and do it daily and continually. This is certainly the most sacrilegious perversion upon which the sun has yet shined. In short he who desires to become holy and be saved by works and holy orders, falls from the faith, falls from heaven; for the blood of Jesus Christ alone is able to save us. Therefore, whenever you see a star fall, then know that it signifies some one has become a priest, a monk, or a nun.
64. That men’s hearts failed them for fear signifies the torments which the pope’s saints and fallen stars suffer, for while they do great things their consciences are never at rest. The Scriptures say they are weary and heavy laden.
65. The roaring winds and seas are the worldly estates, both high and low.
There is no ruler or land at peace with the other, no faith or trust in one another, everyone is looking only to his own interests. Neither is there reproof or discipline or fear upon the earth; and the whole world is so engaged in eating, drinking, unchastity, and the lusts of the flesh, that it moans and roars.
66. The powers of heaven are our planets, our spiritual squires and tyrants, popes, bishops, and their companions, the universities, which are all so deeply sunk in worldly affairs, property, honor, and pleasures, that they think they are not planets, that is, errorists, for planeta in Greek means an errorist, one who does not travel on the right way, but travels backward and to both sides as the planets also do in the heavens. This the Germans express in a proverb, the more learned, the more perverse; in other words, the spiritual government is only planets. But now when the Gospel shines forth and shows them their virtue and colors it with its own hue, and shows that they are unlearned idolators and soul-deceivers, they get angry, begin to move, and form a constellation. They gather together, try to shelter themselves behind bulls and edicts, and threateningly predict a great flood.
But it will do them no good, the day will come and its light cannot be placed under a bushel like a candle.
67. The parable of the fig tree seems to me to signify that the fig tree is the Holy Scriptures which have so long been hidden in obscurity. They are now budding forth and taking leaves, their word is breaking forth into fruitage. For twelve centuries it has not been so well known, nor have its languages been so well known. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that the Scriptures are a fig tree which is easily preserved. It was fig leaves with which Adam and Eve covered their nakedness; for the old Adam always uses the Scriptures to adorn himself. Therefore the book must come forth, its leaves must become green, in spite of all the movements of the planets. The summer is not far distant — would to God that the fruit would also follow the leaves. I fear that there will be nothing but leaves, for we talk much about true faith but bring forth no fruit.
68. Enough has now been said concerning these signs; if anyone desires to consider the matter further, to him has been given here the impulse and a start. But the planets with their factious spirit will not believe in them, in order that the Scriptures may still be true in this, that they give these people great security and contempt for the word, works, and signs of God.
