“Wearing Out”

A Sermon on Isaiah 51:4-6

In the Name of Jesus, who is king forever, dear fellow redeemed:

            Some things just don’t last. Look no further than the noble sand castle and you’ll see it’s true. Whether it’s your little brother, other kids on the beach, stray volleyball or the tide, your sand castle will certainly be destroyed. No matter how tall your make it, it will fall. No matter how big your sand civilization becomes, it will be brought to ruin—swiftly and suddenly.

            You can expect things like that with a sand castle. And according to God’s Word before us this morning; you can expect this of the earth itself. Isaiah doesn’t sugar coat it: the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like old clothes. Jesus adds in our Gospel reading:

"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

(Mark 13:24-25)

All the people of the earth will die like flies (as other translations say).We don’t mind being compared to animals. Even professional athletes are sometimes given animal nicknames. Kids may try to mimic the trumpeting of an elephant or the roar of a lion, but no one pretends to be a fly. You might call your teammate “Moose” or “Tiger” but no one calls anyone they like, “fly” or “gnat.”

            Yet that is what we are. We may try to dodge the comparison, but we know that we aren’t going to last forever. We can fool ourselves into thinking we are invincible, but we are not. We are all at least a little bit scared of death.

            Just think about how your body is wearing out. Adults see this more and more every day. Our bodies wearing out give us a reminder that the whole creation is fading away. Wars and rumors of wars, as we heard last week, are reminders that the earth itself is on its way out.

            Why don’t we last? It would be a cruel world if God had created us just to die. He didn’t. He made us to live. Death is an interruption in God’s plan. We brought it in when we rebelled against Him. We die because we sin.

            We have no more lasting power than the shirt that wears out, the puff of smoke that blows away, the fly that lives only a few days or the sandcastle that will be destroyed quickly.

            But notice that God uses this half a verse to make a comparison. Sure the heavens, the earth, and humanity won’t last but God’s salvation and righteousness will last forever!

            Everything we’ve talked about so far is temporary and wearing out. Everything else in this passage is eternal. It’s eternal because it’s all God’s action! Notice how many times the word “my” is used. Here’s the list; “My people, my nation, my justice, my righteousness, my salvation, my arms, my arm, my salvation, my righteousness.” All of these things are things that last.

            More importantly, these are all things that God uses for us and gives to us freely. Take the example of God’s arm or arms. He says, “My arm will judge the peoples; and the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.” God is a spirit. He doesn’t have an “arm” per say. The Old Testament often talks about the LORD in very concrete ways in spite of this.

These personifications of God point to Jesus’ incarnation. In other words the Old Testament talks about God having hands, an arm, or even a nose. But in the New Testament we see it actually happen. God takes on human flesh and is born. He who gave me my eyes and ears, mouth and nose, my reason and all my senses has those same things too.

If you want to see God’s arm, look at Jesus who has two of them. What does Jesus’ arm do? It reaches out in love to heal the sick and raise the dead. His arms are bound as He is arrested and charged with false accusations. Again, His arms are restrained as He is scourged repeatedly. His arms carry your cross to Calvary. His arms are stretched out and nailed to the cross for you.

Just two chapters later in Isaiah we hear about this very thing! Remember these words from Isaiah 53:

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:1, 4-5)

God’s arm was revealed through the humility of Jesus Christ. God exalted Him by raising Him from the dead. His arms still bear the marks of the nails driven there for you. We sang about it in the hymn:

Those dear tokens of His passion still His dazzling body bears,

Cause of endless exultation to His ransomed worshipers.

With what rapture! With what rapture! (here rapture means being carried away by overwhelming emotion) Gaze we on those glorious scars.

(Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending LSB 336)

Jesus’ wounds bring us righteousness and salvation. We are rescued from death and declared innocent of our sins. His washing of water in Baptism makes us His people and His nation. He has done it. He has connected you with Jesus. So what God has joined together, no one can tear apart.

The good news is this; God changes things from death to life, from decay to renewal, from destruction to restoration.

For the past several weeks, we’ve been praying for my Grandma, Jean Ellis. Grandma Jean, as we’ve always called her, is on hospice. The days of her life here on earth appear to be very short.

Grandma always loved butterflies. Her cane, her walker, her cups, and as many things as possible were covered with butterflies were in some sort of butterfly motif. It made it really easy to get something for Grandma for Christmas.

But now as she approaches death, the image of a butterfly is incredibly comforting. Her body is just plain worn out. I can’t help but think of St. Paul’s words in Philippians 3:20-21

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

Butterflies start out as caterpillars—unattractive little grubs that spend their whole lives munching on plants. But they don’t stay that way. They are wrapped up for a transformation—and it’s one of the most incredible of all God’s creation.

The ugly little grub that gets wrapped up comes out as a magnificent butterfly. It is the same creature but completely changed into something with a completely different degree of glory. Could it be that God created butterflies this way just to point to Jesus’ resurrection and our own?

Paul writes in the passage above that Jesus is going to do the same thing to Grandma Jean. He’s going to do the same thing to you and the same thing to me. We know it is true because it has already happened to Him. His body will never wear out again. When He calls you from the grave, your body won’t either.

The perishable must put in the imperishable and the mortal must put on immortality. Then the saying will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

They are gone because Jesus has won. As He says in our Gospel reading, He’s going to send out His angels to gather His elect—that’s you—and bring you to Himself.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus’ promise to you will not go away. He will keep it for sure. So as you see the world or you won body wearing out. Remember the renewal that God has promised and cling to it.

This weekend, we got our first day of wintery weather. Some of you are already hoping for spring. That’s the sort of attitude God wants us to have as we think about the end of the world. Things will get worse as the world wears out. But we know that God promises to bring life. It’s just like we know that winter is coming, but spring must follow winter. And indeed it will.

May God keep you in this promise forever.

Amen.