"Reflections on the End of the Millennium"
Sermon on Psalm 90: 1-4, 9-10
Dec 31, 1998 & Jan 1, 1999
Saint Mark's, Watertown
Pastor Karl Walther
Introduction: Nineteen Ninety-Nine Has Us Reflecting On the Millennium
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Amen.
God's Word -- which will serve to usher us into the final year of the millennium -- is Psalm ninety, verses one through four and nine through ten. This is on page nine hundred twenty-nine of the pew Bibles, and I encourage you to turn to page nine hundred twenty-nine-- because we will be considering these words from God verses by verse.... This is, as you see:
A prayer of Moses the man of God:
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."
For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
The length of our days is seventy years -- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Dear fellow Christians who are both short-lived and everlasting:
Anno Domini, the Year of our Lord, Nineteen Ninety-Nine. One thousand, and nine hundred more, and ninety, and nine years since the birth of our Savior. Or to put it another way: one year short of two thousands of years. That sort of an expanse of time has a way of making people reflect.
So, we're standing at the end of one of only six or seven millennia of human history. We're also standing at the end of one of the most remarkable centuries of human history. And tonight is an especially appropriate time for us to reflect upon it.
Theme: Reflections on the End of the Millennium
God's Word to us tonight leads us
to do exactly that. It gives us some
* REFLECTIONS ON THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM. And a sober
reflection on the end of this millennium and on the end of this
century has us concluding:
(1) WE ARE SHORT-LIVED, BECAUSE OF OUR SIN. But to our great
comfort:
(2) THE LORD IS ETERNAL, AND HE IS OUR DWELLING-PLACE.
Part One: We Are Short-Lived, Because of Our Sins
So, what leads us to these conclusions-- that we are short-lived, because of our sin, that the Lord is eternal, and he is our dwelling-place? Well, it's the Word of God that leads us to these conclusions. Specifically, it is this Word of God-- Psalm Ninety, which identifies itself as: A prayer of Moses, the man of God. And if anyone is qualified to reflect with us on the end of the millennium, it is this man of God, Moses-- the very first written prophet, and a man who himself lived a hundred twenty years.
• Take a look at what he says about the end of the millennium, in verse ten. He writes: The length of our days is seventy years -- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Moses is right, isn't he?-- in fact, exactly right! To this day life expectancy, even in these United States, is seventy or eighty years: seventy-six, I guess to be exact. Even in a large congregation like ours, more than three thousand people, there's not a single soul who was born outside this twentieth century.
Think of it this way. One of the most remarkable men of the sixteenth century, Christopher Columbus, lived fifty-five years and then he didn't live anymore. One of the most remarkable men of the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton, lived eighty-five years-- and then he didn't live anymore. One of the most remarkable men of the eighteenth century, George Washington, lived sixty-seven years-- and then he didn't live anymore. One of the most remarkable men of the nineteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte, lived fifty-two years-- and then he didn't live anymore. One of the most remarkable men of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein, lived seventy-six years-- and then he didn't live anymore.
And with lack of money and lack of love and disappointment and grief and sickness and death, all those years for all those men -- and all us women and all us men -- are exactly what Moses says here: trouble and sorrow. That's the story of our century, the narration of our millennium.
• Why? Why only seventy or eighty years, years of trouble and sorrow? Moses answers in verse nine: All our days pass away under your wrath, O Lord; we finish our years with a moan. So it's God's wrath against us, finally that makes us groan our last-- God's answer over our transgressions.
You see, it's not just the Saddam Husseins, the Maos, the Stalins, the Hitlers, and the Mussolinis that God can't stand. God is angry over our sins-- our lies, our greed, our lust, our anger, our rebellion, our ignorance of him. That's the story of our century, the narration of our millennium-- that's what Moses is telling us here.
• And then what? After seventy or eighty years, years of trouble and sorrow, years lived under the Lord's wrath-- then what? Take a look at verse three: You, Lord, turn men back to dust saying, "Return, O sons of men."
And so, because of their sins, even the greatest of people have died and gone to dust. Columbus, Magellan, and Lewis and Clark have died and gone to dust. Galileo, Newton, Edison, and Einstein have died and gone to dust. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt have died and gone to dust. Napoleon, Bismarck, Churchill, and DeGualle have died and gone to dust.
And you and I and everyone here will die and go to dust.
Part Two: The Lord Is Eternal, and He Is Our Dwelling-Place
So you see, at the end of the millennium and at the end of this century, some overriding things are obvious. People only live so long. Their lives are sorrowful; their lives are sinful. And then they die and fall into the hands of an angry God. This is true, too, for you-- and for me. So, do we have any hope?
° Well first of all, let's recognize that there is somebody whose life is not short and sinful and ended by death. Moses writes about him in verse four. He says: Lord, a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
How about that! According to Moses, according to the Lord, to God: a thousand years (like those which we are drawing to a close)-- they're like a watch in the night. A whole millennium is like one of those little four-hour stretches into which the Old Testament people divided the night. To God, then, a thousand long years are like four little hours.
In other words, to God: this century (within which all of us were born)-- this century began twenty-four minutes ago. To God: Columbus explored this new world about two hours ago. To God: Christ received his human nature only eight hours ago. God flooded the entire world some eighteen hours ago. And all of this world's history could fit within about one day, according to God.
° To underline all of that, look at what Moses says in verse two: Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Before those massive mountains, that seem to pre-date all things, before God gave birth to this world eternally ago (More than trillions upon trillions of years ago), God was. And after those massive mountains, after God concludes this cosmos, eternally into the future (more than trillions upon trillions of years hence), God will be. And if, somehow, we can connect with that God-- we will share his future eternity.
° Is that possible? Is it possible to connect to the Lord? Consider the way Moses starts his psalm in verse one: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Moses was saying, "Lord, you invited our first parents, Adam and Eve, to make you their dwelling-place-- when you promised to crush the serpent's head. Lord, you invited our forefather, Noah, to make you his dwelling-place-- and he did so in the ark. Lord, you invited the father of all believers, Abraham, to make you his dwelling-place-- when you promised him: I am your shield, your very great reward.
And you and I say, "Lord you made yourself our dwelling-place: when you baptized us and brought us into the household of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Lord you made yourself our dwelling-place when you have banqueted us with your Son's body and blood."
"Lord you make yourself our dwelling-place-- when you promise us: You are built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. On Jesus' forgiveness of our lies, our greed, our lust, our anger, our rebellion, our ignorance of him-- on his forgiveness of these: we rely. Of Jesus' truth, his selflessness, his purity, his love, his obedience, his great wisdom-- of these: we make confession."
And at the end of a century, and at the end of a millennium, and although we are short-lived because of our sins-- that's the way the Lord is eternal. And friends, he is our dwelling-place.
Conclusion: Nineteen Ninety-Nine Has Us Rededicating Ourselves
To Pondering and Proclaiming God's Word
Of course, if Christ is our eternal dwelling-place, now is the time to get connected to him more fully. This new year, starting tomorrow, is the time to pick up your Bible and read yourself a chapter (probably a chapter of the New Testament, at first) every day. This new year, starting this coming week, is the time for you to begin sitting in on a Bible class and getting to know God better. This new year, every new service is the time for you to be in church.
And this new year is also the time to start reading that word to your children. This new year is also the time to bring your family members to Bible class. This new year is exactly the time to invite your friend, your co-worker, your classmate, or your neighbor to worship. That way, the Lord Jesus will become their eternal dwelling-place, too. Amen.
The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Amen.