“THE MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT”
Malachi 3. 1-6
Advent Midweek Vespers III: 15 December Anno Domini 2004
Fr Watson
You can read Malachi's prophecy as well as the next guy. You, with your clever, literate, cultured and knowledgeable old-Adam selves don't need to be read to, preached at, explained to. You can read (or not read if you're too busy) this 2,400 year old piece of Hebrew text (translated for you, of course, into the English). You can read; so can the Baptist, Disciple of Christ, Mormon and Atheist at Time, Newsweek and P.B.S. You can cram your "noggin" full with more head knowledge. Why with the right "Bible instruction course" and all the latest maps, commentaries, and archeological dictionaries you can wind up "knowing" more about Malachi and his times, than Malachi ever knew.
But, this is Adventide, not first semester. You are lambs not research chimps. You are children at your Father's table not students trying to wreck the curve with your brilliant over-achieving. Just "understanding" the story, the prophecy, what it means and how it was fulfilled is not what the Lord Jesus wants you to have this evening; it's not what He wants you to take away with you as you drive out into the December night. No, even the demons understand at the surface level what's being said. You all know that John the "baptizing one" is the Messenger of the Covenant, the human herald who finishes the proclaiming revelation begun by the heavenly heralds on that night over the Judean hills. Enough history.
I now declare to you living truth and reality. Is means Is.
The Covenant is the Covenant-or. The Covenant is the Law, and the Law is God's perfect will, counsel and commands for you. The First Covenant, mistakenly but commonly called the "Old" Covenant, or "Old" Testament is that you MUST love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and that you MUST love your neighbor as yourself.
You don't. Look into your heart; examine the festering open sore at the core of your sinful nature.... You don't love God and your neighbor perfectly. This is not just a minor defect in you, it is an endemic, systemic Trojan-horse virus; a bug that shuts down the system so thoroughly, that the only place Perfect Justice and Righteousness demands you be placed, is in hell...away from the Holy Trinity.
Of yourselves, that's how you sit in these make-shift pews before me this evening. Lost and condemned.
I now declare to you more living truth and reality. Is means Is.
You are not of yourselves, you are not alone. The Lord Jesus Christ is with you. He is in you and for you. He has given you a new covenant, or better yet, a second and super-ceding covenant. The Covenant is the Covenant-or. The Covenant is better termed a "Testament," the last-will and testament of Jesus. The testament doesn't ask, demand or require you to do anything, but to receive the gifts of the one who makes it; of the one who gives it. The Covenant is the Body and Blood of God; the Covenant is the Real Presence of Christ; the Covenant is the very message that brings you the reality. The words are not just sounds made in the air; the Gospel message, the Words of What was, and is, and is to come, are the reality themselves. Jesus inhabits these words of release and peace as sure as He inhabits the bread host and the wine in the chalice.
Yes, you need to be told the Scriptures are true; yes you need to be told that Jesus loves you and will take you to be with Him in heaven one day; yes you need to celebrate with thanksgiving the anniversary date every year of His original Nativity.
But now I declare to you the ultimate living truth and reality in this room right now. Is means Is.
"Behold, brothers and sisters of Augsburg, even as I once sent John, I now send My messenger Pastor Watson. He now prepares the way before Me. He uses My Law to slay you, and My forgiveness to resurrect you, and to comfort you. I am in this Temple you call Faith Village chapel, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church here at this time and in this place. I have refined you in the fire of faith. I have had you washed in My blood in your Baptisms, I have had you buried with Me in your daily confessions. You are clothed in the gold of my heavenly chasubles. You are wearing Me, and you are royal priests, My brothers and My sisters."
Beloved children: your Savior Jesus died for you on Calvary. He gave up His Body for you and shed His blood for you. He rose from the dead on the Third Day to declare you pure, righteous, and innocent in Him, through Him and with Him. He has told you this through His words which I repeat to you. The Holy Spirit has called you by these Words, by This Bodily Presence of the God-Man and has given you Faith. You believe; and you have Life!
The Message of the Covenant:
By the Lord's Death on the Cross, By the Lord's giving you His living Body and Blood in your Baptism, in your Absolutions and in your Eating's and Drinking's of Him as the very pledge, I again with a joy that passes understanding Forgive You all your Sins in the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost.