Judgment in the Wilderness
A sermon preached at St. Margaret's Anglican on Dec. 9th, Second Sunday of Advent. Scriptures: - Baruch 5:1-9 - Malachi 3:1-4 - Luke 3:1-6 Prayer: “We are made for you, O God, and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in thee.” (St. Augustine) Intro (Background) On the 2 nd of September, in the year 31 BC, Gaius Octavius finally defeated the armies of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Over the next couple of years, Octavius would go on to finish pacifying the realm, and in 29 BC he closed the Gates of Janus in Rome, and naming himself Caesar Augustus, signaled the beginning of a peace that would last for the next two centuries and become known as the Pax Romana. Critical historians have repeatedly pointed out that the “peace” of the Pax Romana was, at best, an imperial and hegemonic peace. It was a peace guarant...