The Friday after the Last Sunday after Trinity Sunday

12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks.” Monday our Lord told us to “Watch.” We are to be observant of the events going on in this world and see to it we “do not refuse Him who speaks” to us through Holy Scripture. Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, and so on only serve to keep us on our toes. We are called by God to look beyond this world because this world is going away, and with it all its corruption. God’s call is for His people to look to that which He has promised, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea” (Rev. 21:1).

That which is new cannot be shaken for sin is gone, and all the heartache and sorrows that sin brings with it. The blood Jesus shed on the Cross speaks to God the Father on our behalf. It covers over our sins and hides them from the Father’s eyes for all of eternity. Having our sins forgiven for Jesus’ sake allows us to look beyond our time in this world in anticipation of an eternity with Jesus free from tears.

Collect: Absolve, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy people from their offenses, that from the bonds of our sins which, by reason of our frailty, we have brought upon us, we may be delivered by Thy bountiful goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.