SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT

(Series B)
DECEMBER 10, 2023
Sermon Text: 2 Peter 3:8-14
“What Kind of People?”

Dear people looking forward to the day of God, and to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness
dwells: “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2).
The words of today’s Epistle Reading should have sounded familiar to you. We have on this second Sunday of
the new church year a repetition of the warning from the Last Sunday of the old church year a fortnight ago. To the
repeated verses from Second Peter are added the words telling us that the present heavens and earth will be destroyed
at the coming of Jesus. The promise of the Lord’s return is coupled to the promise of the destruction of the world as
we know it.
That sparks a little bit of fear, doesn't it? For today we do not hear “what a friend we have in Jesus,” but what
a Destroyer. Our God is an awesome God who will rain fire and brimstone down from above. This is the part of
God’s Word we like to forget about or ignore because there is fear in these words of destruction on the Day of the
coming of the Lord.
It is like how we don’t want to talk about death. Instead of saying that grandma has died, we say that she has
‘passed away’ . . . and we say it with a whisper. It makes us uncomfortable and even scared as if talking about death
might be the thing that makes it happen. Even when people are terminally ill in hospital, we won’t mention death.
But isn’t that when we should most especially talk about it?! It is strange that we do not.
Now, we fear death because that day does come. The Day of the Lord comes for the terminally ill patient and
reminds us, as such, of what the Word of God says about the Day of the Lord when the heavens will pass away with a
roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. So we hush the child who innocently says to his
great-aunt, ‘You’re going to die soon, aren’t ya!’
It is the same fear that makes us uncomfortable with the Book of Revelation. It speaks of many things that will
happen in conjunction with the Day of the Lord and the coming of Jesus. Yet, that book of the Bible has a most  

comforting message. Still, most people don’t want to talk about it because of the anxiety that comes along with
contemplating what will happen in the last days.
And this fear that we have concerning the last days is due to false teaching. It is due to those who have spoken
of things they do not understand. They do not understand that the end of the world cannot harm our salvation.
They do not understand that the day of our death is no different than any day of our lives as we carry about with us
the promises of God’s deliverance.
And so, St. Peter, in today’s Epistle Reading, asks the question that needs to be asked: “Since all these things are
thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be” (2 Peter 3:11)? Since we know “the heavens will be set on fire
and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn” (St. Peter 3:12), how then shall we live?
Should we talk openly about that Day, or only whisper about it? Should the pastor preach about it in church,
or should it be reserved for small group study and only for those who can ‘handle’ it? Is it fair game for Sunday
School lessons, hymn themes, and Vacation Bible School programs, or should we keep it hush-hush, lest talking
about the coming Day of the Lord makes it happen?
St. Peter tells us to look forward to the Day of God and even speed its coming. But is there nothing here to
fear, no reason to push it off as long as possible? Is this not something we should be discreet about? Apparently not,
for the entire Bible points forward to this day – the day when our Lord Jesus will come to judge the living and the
dead.
In the Old Testament Reading, the prophet Isaiah is told to comfort the people concerning the coming of the
Lord. With reminders like “all flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower
fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass” (Is 40:6-7). What kind of comfort is there in
that statement of the coming of the Lord? The people will wither and fall when the Lord blows upon them.
Isaiah speaks of a voice crying out to prepare the way of the Lord. Preparing the way for His coming in
judgement is to proclaim that He is indeed coming. To prepare the people of the coming of the Lord is to tell them of
all that is encompassed in His judgement.
And the comfort in this cannot be found in the strength of mankind to stand up to the charges that God
brings. For they wither and fall as He blows upon them. The comfort cannot be found in hoping that the day will
not come. It surely will. The comfort cannot be found in refraining from talking about it. The comfort is only in the
mercy of God who declares that all the sins of His people are paid for by Christ's death and resurrection; that the
Lord, as a shepherd, gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart.
John the Baptizer prepared the coming Day of the Lord. He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy as the voice in the
wilderness. He hastened the day by baptising and preaching. He didn’t keep it hush-hush. He spoke about it. He
spoke publicly. In Holy Baptism God makes us His lambs. He gathers us in His arms and carries us close to His heart.

Moreover, John hastened the Day of the Lord by preaching of the coming of the One more powerful, at
Whose coming “the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved” . . .
the One who is able to bring forth a new heaven and a new earth when the old has passed away.
The Lord is not slow concerning this promised coming. Rather, He is patient . . . wanting you to be saved.
Christ is patient and we are to hasten His coming. He is waiting on us. He wants you to come to repentance just as
He wanted the people of Isaiah’s day to come and confess their sins so that they could be gathered into the Good
Shepherd’s arms. The Lord Jesus wants you to remember your baptism in ‘daily contrition and repentance, drowning
all sins and evil desires, so that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and
purity forever,’ as we read in the Small Catechism.
As St. Peter put it in today’s Epistle Reading, this is being diligent “to be found by Him without spot or blemish,
and at peace” (v. 14). Removing the fear and apprehension from the coming Day of the Lord is not accomplished by
putting it on the back burner and finding other more pleasing things to talk and sing about. It is not accomplished by
avoiding the parts of the Bible that talk about the dissolution of this present world.
Rather, the fear and anxiety of the coming of the Lord is removed the same way that the fear and anxiety of
death is removed. By being “diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” You could stand
before the Lord Christ in judgement if you were without any spot or stain of sinful thoughts . . . if you were without
any unsightly blemish of immoral and unloving actions . . . if you were at peace with God knowing that His anger
and wrath against your sin had been reconciled in love. You would have nothing to fear and nothing about which to
be anxious. You would have no reason to try to hold off that day, but would welcome it, no matter how unexpected
His coming will be.
Well, that is exactly how you are – “without spot or blemish and at peace.” You are that way because of Him
who came unexpected to Mary and Joseph; whose coming surprised the shepherds, King Herod, and the world. We
are spotless through Him who departed from this life when He cried out with a loud voice and breathed His last on
the cross. We are without blemish in Him who rose on the third day in victory and ascended into heaven to prepare a
place for us. And because of which, we are at peace with Him who has promised to come again to gather us into His
arms.
And so, we exercise diligence to be found without spot or blemish, and at peace by confessing our sins and
receiving the forgiveness and absolution that Christ has secured for us on the cross. We diligently gather to hear His
Word. We deliberately remember our Baptism through daily contrition and repentance. We desire to receive the
peace of the Lord by receiving His body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
The Lamb without spot and blemish has washed your sins away. He cleanses you and purifies you. During the
Advent season and always as you await the coming Day of the Lord, be diligent to be found by Him awash in the
gifts of grace that He provides. Take every opportunity to be at peace with Him, and your fear and anxiety will pass
away, leaving you to speak freely and joyfully of the coming of the Mighty One.

“To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.” Amen.

Sermon From (Elder) John Cox