Church Sermon - November 7, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Revelation 21:9-27
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon Text; Isaiah 26:1-21

Some years ago, when I was a younger pastor, a pillar of the congregation died. He was a man who had been a real rock in the congregation. He had been a true leader in the congregation. And, I was very sad. I began to wonder to myself, "How are we going to keep going? How is the congregation going to make it through this, when we lost such a strong leader?"

As I was talking to an old pastor about my concerns, worries, fears, and sadness, he put his arm around me, and said to me something that I will never forget. He said, "Mark, when a member of your congregation dies in faith in Jesus that is a day of great victory for the Church. It is a day of awesome victory!

Why do those people come to your church? Why do they bring their children there to be baptized? So they come to faith, so they believe in Jesus, as their Savior, and so they can be in Heaven one day.

Why do they bring their children to Sunday School? Why do they bring their children to hear the Word of God? Why do they bring their children to confirmation? So that they stay in their faith, so they grow in their faith, so that their faith cannot be taken from them, and one day when they die, they will be in Heaven.

Why do they come to church on Sunday mornings and gather around the Word, to hear the Word of God, the Word of Jesus? They come there so they stay in their faith, because the ultimate goal of their faith is the salvation of their souls. It is Heaven.

Why do they go to the Lord’s Supper? There, the church gives to them the very body and blood of Christ, to assure them, personally and individually, that their sins have been paid for by Jesus, so that they stay in their faith. And, one day, they will be in Heaven.

Mark, remember, whenever, whenever a Christian in your congregation dies, it is a day of great victory for the Church, because your goal has been accomplished. That soul is now utterly, utterly safe for all eternity in Heaven itself!"

Today is All Saints’ Day. It is the day we think about those who have passed away, during this past year, and many, many years before that. And, we always want to see the death of believers in Christ as a great victory, a great victory for Jesus Christ and His Church!

If you could come with me right now, as scripture peels back just a little bit, so that we can peer into Heaven, what would you see? There, as you peered into Heaven, you would see the great walls of that city, the strong walls, the impenetrable walls, which no evil can ever, ever, ever enter again. It is absolutely impossible.

All of this showing us that what we consider on this earth to be wealth is simply used as construction materials in Heaven, because the wealth, the spiritual wealth of Heaven is far beyond our imagination!

There you would see, what scripture describes as that "sea of glass", absolute calm, absolute peace, because there is absolute harmony in Heaven. Those who are in Heaven have been made perfect. There is no more sin. There is no more jealously. There is no more envy.

And there, as you look into Heaven, you would see what scripture describes as "a great multitude that no one could count". As far as the eye can see, you would see that great body of believers, who have died, and now stand in Heaven. Scripture says, "There is a great multitude that no one can count. They are dressed in white robes. They are from every nation, tribe, people, and language, from all over the reaches of the earth. They stand before the Lamb and in front of the throne."

They stand before the Lamb, who was slain for them. They stand before Jesus. They stand before the One who sacrificed Himself on the cross. At a huge price, with His own life, He purchased them. He paid for their sins. He washed them clean, in His blood. God, on this earth, saw them as holy, for Jesus’ sake.

There are people there, from all different descriptions of life. There are people in Heaven right now, souls in Heaven right now, who were baptized almost the day that they were born. They came to faith in Jesus. All of their lives, through the day they died, believed in Jesus. They knew that even though they were Christians, there was still much wrong with them, much desperately wrong with them. They knew that they still had wicked thoughts. They knew they still said things that they should not say. They knew they still did things that they were ashamed of. But, they clung to Jesus. They clung to His forgiveness. They clung to His salvation. They clung to His holy life. And now, they stand, by grace (they knew it was by grace in this life and they know that it is by grace now) they stand before the throne in Heaven.

There are others in Heaven, who went down a different path, most of their lives. They went down the broad path, the easy path that leads to destruction. They walked away from faith. They walked away from their Savior. And yet, by grace, in the last few days of their life, or on the last day of their life, or even the last moment of their life, by grace, the Holy Spirit brought them, (perhaps there on their deathbeds) to repent of their sin, and see that their sin would lead to eternal destruction. They repented of their sins. And, they clung to Jesus’ forgiveness, just like the thief on the cross, who, at the last minute, came to repentance and faith. And, at that moment Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "Truly, truly I say to you, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise."

By grace they stand before the throne, and in front of the Lamb, for all eternity, safe forever, before Jesus.

There are little children, who died when they were very young, only a few days old. They were baptized and came to faith in Jesus, as their Savior, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Their souls stand before the throne.

There are those who died when they were 99 years old, believing in Jesus, as their Savior, standing before the throne.

One thing that binds them all together is that they all trusted in Jesus alone, in His holy life alone, in His blood alone, as their salvation.

They did not trust in themselves,

but in Christ, alone.

And so, they stand before that throne. And with a mighty voice, the sound of mighty rushing waters, as all of those voices join together, they sing praise to the Lamb who saved them. In the words of our text, we can hear them shout on the distant air, "We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, the LORD, the LORD is the Rock eternal."

They have a strong city, now for the rest of eternity. There will be no more trouble for them, ever. The Lord has made salvation its walls. They trusted in Jesus in this life, and now Jesus will forever defend them.

Is that a victory that you want to share? Is that a victory that you would like for yourself? Is that a victory that you would like - to be able to stand there, before the throne, in front of the Lamb, one day and shout with the mighty host? "We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and its ramparts!"

Then, today is the day. Today is the day to be prepared. Salvation is available to all. It is available to everyone, young and old, male and female, slave and free, brilliant and those who know hardly anything, rich and poor. Salvation is available to all! The Bible tells us that Jesus died for the sins of all. The Bible tells us that Christ has satisfied God’s anger against all sin, of all people, of all time. That means you and that means me.

The Bible tells us that whoever repents of their sin, whoever says, "I don’t want those sins. I know that they could condemn me for all eternity. I am sorry for my sins" ….

And, whoever believes in Jesus, and trusts that "God, for Jesus’ sake, will never see my sins. He sees me as holy, as a free gift, for Jesus’ sake" has eternal life.

The Bible says whoever believes that has eternal life. Oh, how dearly we want that eternal life. Our scripture says, "Yes LORD, walking in the ways of your laws, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you."

That is the salvation we long for. That is the day we look forward to, as Christ’s people. The awesome thing is that we find our comfort knowing, knowing that our loved ones, in Christ, are safe in that strong city, for all eternity! We find comfort knowing Jesus promises to us that one day we, too, will be there, by faith in Jesus, as our Savior! And, we will be reunited.

Scripture gives us an even more profound comfort. Listen to what it says, in our scripture reading. "But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You, who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead."

What an awesome promise God makes to us there, (and many other places in scripture)! It is the awesome comfort God tells us to give one another, in the book of 1 Thessalonians, when one of our loved ones dies in Christ. It says, "Comfort each other with these words." Then it says, "The Lord Himself will come back with the mighty trumpet, with the shout of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will be raised."

Our scripture reading for today uses such a beautiful picture. "Your dew (talking about the resurrection from the dead), Your dew will be like the dew of the morning." What in the world does that mean? Did you ever go to bed at night and it was dry outside? And, when you woke up in the morning, in the darkness of the house, with the curtains pulled, you walked up to the curtains, pulled them back, and the sunlight streamed in. There, out over the yard, you saw millions, and millions, and millions of little beads of water - the dew on the grass. The sunlight was shinning on those beads of water and they were reflecting the glory of the sun! What a beautiful sign of new life and freshness! So, scripture says that on the Day of Resurrection your dew will be like the dew of the morning. God, Himself, in the darkness of this world, will peel back the curtains of time, and we will peer into eternity. Then, the dead in Christ will be raised. There will be a multitude, (millions and millions who have died in Christ), standing up out of the grave, at the trumpet call of God, at the command of Christ, when He says to the dead, "Dead come forth." And they will. They will shine with the reflected glory of Jesus! The Bible tells us that our bodies will be changed to be made like His glorious body. There, we will see our loved ones in Christ, raised from the dead! They will reflect the absolute glory of Jesus, Himself! Their bodies will no longer have any of the effects of sin that they had in this life.

All the trouble, pain and sorrow of this life will be removed, our bodies will be restored, and we will be made to be like Jesus! And, we will be forever together in Heaven! What a great victory scripture promises to us, along with those who are already in Heaven!

Scripture closes with these words, "Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until His wrath has passed by."

The Day of Judgment is coming. That is the day when God comes with all of His wrath and anger. He pours out His anger on this world, against all of the sins that have been committed against Him and committed against His people. But, there He promises you and me safety. He says, "You go hide in your rooms and shut the doors until my anger has passed by." God promises to His people that He will not hurt or harm us on that Day of Judgment. We have a place of safety. That place of safety is Jesus, the arms of Jesus, the Word of God, the promises of scripture.

And so, we look forward to the day when we will be in Heaven, with those who are already there. We look forward to the Day of Resurrection, when we will be fully restored. And, we look forward to the Day of Judgment, when God will bring this all to culmination, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

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