With Priorities Straightened, We Find Safety in Christ
Jesus said, “When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or one a Sabbath.
Beginning last week, a horrible wildfire that has been named “the Camp Fire” has ravaged through North-Central California.
As of yesterday, 71 have already been found dead and more than a thousand are still missing. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes.
One of our local pastors, Jeff Ware from All Saints, and his wife, Alicia, have family who lived in Paradise, CA, a city that was primarily a retirement resort of a city, that is now all but ashes. Alicia’s brother is a pastor of an LCMS Church with a daycare in Paradise and he lived there with his wife and kids and congregation.
Their family is safe, but not all the church members or families connected with the daycare have been accounted for. Remember it was a retirement community. Not all could get out fast.
The fire came fast, not as fast the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west,
but it came fast. And not all could get out fast enough.
The groups who can’t move fast are prone to being caught.
And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days is a reference to the armies attacking Jerusalem and an alas for those who can’t get out fast.
The fire destroyed most everything. The church building is gone. The pastors house and all the congregations’ houses are gone.
Christ, have mercy.
It was reported from them and from many others on the news that as the fires got nearer, they knew what to do. They grabbed their families and they left to find a safe spot.
The fire shaped their priorities. Stuff? What’s stuff when there’s a fire? My wife. The kids. Mom. Dad. My neighbor. The kids from the daycare. They matter. Grab and go and if possible get to a safe spot.
In our text for today, Jesus is teaching three things, but they are all connected to each other. And they are all help clarify our priorities.
He teaches about the destruction of the temple and the ransack of Jerusalem. This happens about 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
He teaches about the end of the world. This has not yet happened.
And He teaches about His death. This is the central point of all history.
They are all judgments. And when we begin to hear of God’s judgments, this changes our priorities.
The judgment upon Jerusalem is a result of the Jews’ rejection of the Messiah.
The judgment upon the world that will be destroyed by fire is a result of Adam and Eve’s rejection of God and of the fall into sin and all other sins in thoughts, words, and deeds that has been committed since.
And the cross of Christ is a judgment. Jesus takes on your sin and the sin of the world and the sin of Adam and Eve and is judged and condemned,
rejected for it,
so that you are at peace with God and hear the promise that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ,
you are accepted and will be accepted by God into eternal life on the day of your judgment day.
This above all things for the Christian, the knowledge and peace that comes from the judgment that we are not guilty, but righteous in God’s sight because of the death and resurrection of the Christ, changes our priorities.
One of the most written about and debated about passages in the Bible is the passage the mentioned the abomination of desolation, or abomination that causes desolation. “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place.”
But for many pastors and Christians of history, especially those who see Christ at the center of Scripture (John 5:39; Luke 24:27), understand this passage as pointing to the moment when our Lord Jesus Christ brought the sin of the world that He carried in His body into the presence of God to be judged by them.
That is to say, dears saints, there is something that God abhors, an abomination, something that offends God in the very place that is the most holy. In Christ, who is the Holy One, who is very God of very God, who is the presence of God as the temple – Jesus said, “19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” … 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body – in that temple was sin, your sin, my sin, the sin of the whole world, and God abhorred it, God hated it and destroyed the temple which was the body of His Son, His only Son, whom He loves.
In His body, your Jesus, in Himself, became a curse and became sin and said, Into you hands God judged Him for it.
All so that you can be redeemed and be declared righteous and come into God’s presence not bearing the abomination of your sin, but being clothed in Christ.
You as a Christian know this is the center of human history and the center of the preaching of Christ’s Church. So you did something today. You made being here a priority.
You gathered here. Jesus says, Where the corpse is, there the vultures are gathered
and you have gathered here around the preaching of Christ crucified, once dead but now living for you.
There’s so much going on for you right now – family, health, the world, work.
But you grabbed your family. You grabbed the children, some of you grabbed children you didn’t birth yourself because you knew how important it is to be here, and you came to the safe spot – the safest spot in the world – you came so that you and them might be comforted with that truth they, that you, are in Christ.
There is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1).
In You, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In Your righteousness, deliver me; incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily!
Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
That passage means you give to God everything and trust Him with everything,
from the beginning of your life to the end,
from the beginning of your day to the end,
from the beginning of the world to the end,
for He alone is true, He alone is sure, He alone is faithful,
we put not trust in our merits, our prayer of the day said,
and we know He has us and can protect us from the most harmful things in our life, sin, death, and the devil.
With that as your center, priorities become clear.
Stuff? Ehh!
Family problems? Pssh
Health? It’s ok.
Resentment and bitterness you thought was important? Not worth it!
When an army or fire is at the door, when the end of your life or the end of your world is near,
priorities become clear.
God help us see our stuff clearer, and our family and our health and the silliness of what we think should be our priorities, a little clearer.
We are easily deceived by our sinful nature, the world and the devil because Jesus has not yet come back.
The people of God who had just been rescued by God from the Egyptians and their bondage were deceived by their sinful nature, the world and the devil to entrust themselves to something else, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” during the time, as the text from Exodus said, the people saw that Moses delayed to come down. (Exodus 34)
Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. (Matthew 24)
Gather around His voice. Listen to Him. Hear Him. Trust His Word. Not what you see, great signs and wonders, but what you hear, let the reader understand. See, I have told you beforehand.
He’s coming back again. He’s coming back again. He’s coming back again for me. One day when I was lost, He died upon the cross. He’s coming back again for me.
God help us, as we hear, to see suffering and our days more clear.
God help us to live our days worthy of the calling to which He has called us, as people of hope.
Days that could be the end of the world.
Days that could be the end of our lives.
Or just days that call us to live in faith, hope, and love.
Into His hands we commend ourselves, our body and soul and all things, and those hands have been nailed to a tree for me. Those are good hands to be in.
He’s coming back again for me.
And if we lose our homes, or lose our stuff, or lose some of our health, or even lose our friends and family, we know when He comes, He’s going to make everything all right.
We don’t grieve as ones who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep
[And] we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.