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August 23, 2026
Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 2026
Isaiah 51:4-6
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The text for our sermon today is our First Reading from before, Isaiah 51:4-6: 1 “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. 3 For the Lord comforts Zion; He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. 4 “Give attention to me, My people, and give ear to Me, My nation; for a law will go out from Me, and I shall set My justice for a light to the peoples. 5 My righteousness draws near, My salvation has gone out, and My arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will never be dismayed.”
Lord God, heavenly Father, sanctify us through Your truth; Your Word is truth. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ,
When one thing begins, another ends. When a church season or church year ends, we mark the time by changing the colours on the altar and on the pastor. The music, the hymns we play, reflects a new emphasis, a new focus on the Word of the living God. In just a couple of short months, the season turns purple as we enter Advent.
We love to mark the days as they go by. Can you imagine living as if tomorrow will never come? Maybe you would indulge in whatever activity seems fun at the moment, or turn into a useless blob, crying on the floor and waiting for the end to put you out of your misery. Humans are designed to live with the understanding that life is an ongoing concern. We live with what God promised Noah in Genesis: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).
Today, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that a different day is coming. He tells us of the day when Christ will “come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.” We may describe this day as “When He comes, everything goes.” Everything humans covet, fly, drive, sail on, or fight over will be gone. The earth and everything in, on, above, over, or under it—all time, space, and matter—will be gone.
This is not like cleaning out the shed, where you can get rid of all the stuff you have, but it’s not really gone. You can take your stuff to the tip or the recycling plant to cash it in, but it isn’t really gone; it’s just not in your space anymore. It’s either been sent to landfill or has become someone else’s problem.
But the day Isaiah describes is one when everything goes away. He says, “for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner.” Things in our lives wear out, and we replace them—cars, dishwashers, computers, hips, and knees. But this is a day when the earth goes hollow and dry, like an old piece of paper. It just falls apart.
On that day, a day of ultimate endings, everything that seems so solid in this world blows away like useless chaff. On that day, we’ll find out what “gone” truly means. There’s a difference between sky and nothing overhead, between space and nothing, and between time and nothing. That day will make that difference plain.
For today, though, we look around us, take another breath, and go about our business. Today, a time of ending seems far off, even far-fetched. As twenty-first-century, enlightened, educated people, we’ve come to rely more on ourselves than on the Word of the living God. Instead of lifting up our eyes, we lift up our telescopes to the heavens. Even in the face of the universe’s wonder and vastness, we dare to think, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” Astronomy is a beautiful science, and if anything, it shows us how small and fragile we human beings really are.
The universe is vast beyond our comprehension as we lift our eyes to the heavens. As we look to the earth beneath, the wonders never cease. The miracles of rainforests and oceans are still being explored, and we still don’t know it all yet. It is all so complex.
Without a doubt, we take the heavens above and the earth below for granted. Maybe human arrogance even believes we’re in control of it all or that we can bend it to our will. Instead, we should wonder at the stability of God’s preservation of all things for us. His hands contain the whole universe, and no nation, no person, and even no hell-bent terrorist group can change that. Nobody with a bomb controls the future. God does. That stability should strengthen us.
And yet this world is so fragile. How stupid we are to forget that! Our world and everything in it are held together by God’s powerful Word. All the while, we sin and invent new ways to break His commandments. We giggle at the idea of holiness: “What do you mean, no sex outside of marriage? Nobody lives like that anymore. Come on, you only go around once.” God the Father keeps the oceans in place, keeps asteroids from pounding us into the ground, and keeps the very breath in our lungs. We dare Him to call our bluff of unbelief. Isaiah reminds us that we are ripe for the end of it all.
Our fallen world of sin, death, and shame will meet its end one day. God Himself will come with His justice and righteousness to this sin-beaten world. As the day draws nearer, we would do well to remember that what we confess with our mouths and what we believe in our hearts will determine our eternity before Him who judges with perfect righteousness and justice.
On that day, it is the justice of God that prevails, not human strength, wisdom, bombs, or bullets. On the Last Day, it is the righteousness of God that will win. The things of this earth may disappear like smoke or fall apart like an old garment, but the Lord goes on to say in our text, “but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will never be dismayed.”
This is truly uplifting news! Even after the Last Day comes to pass, God’s salvation remains steadfast. His righteousness, enduring beyond the sky, land, and sea, is always there for you. To truly understand what God’s salvation means, just picture this: everything that has ever gone wrong—God will set it right again. Broken lives will be restored, addictions overcome, relationships healed, and bodies that are sick or broken will be renewed.
Violence will become a thing of the past, and holy lives will flourish. Sin is no more, and people’s spirits will live forever. This message is full of hope and promise for everyone.
Sounds good, right? The same power that brings the world to its end will bring about a new beginning. A new beginning for remade humanity. That new beginning seeks us out and brings us the salvation of God as a gift. It seeks us out and finds us even when—especially when!—we are lost and hurting over our sins.
Jesus has come near to us. He is the Word that holds all things together, and He is the One who has died for you and for me. His blood was shed, and His body was broken for sinners. In Him, every sinner has a new beginning. We don’t have to fear God’s justice; Jesus fulfilled it. No longer do we have to fear any person, fear that our sins will remain, or even fear the end of all things. Christ has died, and Christ has risen from the dead; all of this has been done for you and for me. God’s own righteousness given to you and God’s salvation promise sealed in the blood of the Lamb will last forever.
Out of love, joy, and thanksgiving, I pray that you be renewed daily in your Baptism. Every day, God’s mercy is new. Every day is grace; every breath is a new beginning in the life of faith. The name of salvation is Jesus.
So until the end, we wait in hope for His coming. Jesus says in Mark 13:37, “Stay awake”! Stay awake in your life of faith. Don’t let the enemy lull you to sleep. During times of trial, don’t lose heart. God does not change, and His salvation is forever. Take to heart those words from Jude who says, “But you, beloved, (build) yourselves up in your most holy faith and (pray) in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; (and) to others show mercy” (Jude 20-23).
Dear friends, who knows what triumphs or tragedies are just around the corner? Some things in our lives will remain, and some will go. We may enjoy times of stability or endure trials that shake us to our very core. But know this: Our world is passing away, and one day it will come to its end, yet God’s salvation in Jesus Christ has no end. The salvation of God, the righteousness of God, lasts forever. We have a new beginning every day that will last forever. His name is Jesus Christ, and He is for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.