It seems that people have a fascination with death. It seems that everywhere you look; in culture, in art, in music, in literature, in pop-culture there are always and continually discussions about death. Movies and television approach the topic all the time. News reports seem to focus on reporting murders, accidents, not to mention the death toll in Iraq. There is a whole sub-culture of young people that call themselves Goths that dress in black and paint their faces white to mimic death. There are entire television series that are devoted to the topic of those who are dead and those who supposedly have the power to interact with them. Death is everywhere. It interests us and at the same time frightens us. We can't stop thinking about it but at the same time are afraid of thinking about it too much. Death is everywhere. It is inescapable.
If you think about, our faith is really all about death. The Christian faith, and really, about any other faith, is about preparing you to die. Faith in general is all about getting you ready, it is all about what needs to be done before it is your time to die so that you will be ready to die when your time comes. Faith is about making certain those necessary preparations are made so that is no question about what has happened to you after you are dead and gone. Faith and religion tackle the all to present question of your mortality.
That can be a difficult topic to tackle. Many people question what happens to us after we die. After all, there is no scientific way to measure what happens to you. We believe by faith that we live on in heaven, yet there are those that believe that you simply cease to exist. It is not something that we can know for sure. After all, you only die once. People don't go through it multiple times. Certainly there are those who have been resuscitated and have told stories, but how believable they are is up for question – after all their mental and psychological state is influenced by drugs and pain killers, by the trauma of the event. By other factors. How reliable are they going to be? For many people it would be nice if there were some expert testimony, someone who had witnessed with his own eyes what happens to those who are dead. Who saw them and talked to them. Then we would have evidence. Then we would have a credible witness. They we could know for certain.
That is exactly what God has given to us through the testimony and the witness of John the Evangelist. John was taken in the Spirit into heaven and he saw those who have died. He was taken to the place where our deceased loved ones are, he was able to see them and hear their voices and even talk with a few of them. John saw the dead. And this image that John witnessed was not horrible or frightening. IT was not morbid, nor was there a bright light for that matter. John saw angels. John saw apostles. John saw God and then John saw people. A vast ocean of people. It was too big to even begin to count. It was filled with people of every nation and race. It was filled with the voices singing one common confession of faith, with one voice to one God. John saw those who have died and are dying and John has written it down to tell us about it.
What John saw was amazing. John saw a great multitude that served God in his presence day and night, before the throne of God. They were under God's protection, he sheltered them and he cared for them. And he protected them so that they were granted the hope that they would never see or experience any suffering ever again.
Last week, our sermon text was from Revelation 5. We talked about the destiny of the church on earth as all of creation waits for the last day to come. This destiny involves great suffering. It involves death.
Chapter 6 of Revelation is famous for its four horsemen. Last week we talked about the 7 seals on the scroll that the Lamb took from the hand of God. As the Lamb opened each of these seals, there was a new calamity that was poured out on the earth. At the first four seals, were these four horsemen. There was a white horse who rode out into the earth to conquer. This white horse brought with him tyranny and dominance. The next horse and rider was red. He brought with him murder and bloodshed.
The third horse and rider were black, he held scales in his hands and dictated a high price for grain – this horse and rider represented the presence of scarcity and famine in the earth. The final horseman, the fourth horseman was pale in its color, John tells us that this horseman's name is death.
As the end of days plays out, the earth will be plagued by tyranny, by bloodshed, by famine and the result of all of these things will be death and the grave. Death will continue to ravage the earth until its final end.
On a national scale, powerful nations will rise up to dominate the earth. On an individual scale spouses, employers, educators, even people in the church will abuse their authority to gain for themselves power that they will abuse. People will be dominated and abused by sinful men. In addition there will be murders and killings, certainly by those in authority but also in the streets and ally ways, in homes and in schools. There will be hunger. The world will experience famine. There will be those who are poor and impoverished, who die from lacking the basic necessities of life. These things are examples of the truth of this prophecy.
History has demonstrated this truth over and over again. There have been empires that have risen to power under the promise peace and stability and freedom and wealth. Not one has been able to deliver. Our own United States now stands as its own empire, with wealth and military power that has been unmatched throughout human history. Yet with all of our military might, have we been able to stop bloodshed? Have we been able to erase hunger and disease? Have we come up with a system of government that is immune to corruption? Far from it. We can see the hoof prints of the four horses as they run back and forth throughout our great nation. Despite the promises that are made by men, there is no end to the injustice and the starvation and the bloodshed.
All of these things lead to death. The result of all of these things is that people die. Death continues to be unavoidable. It continues to occupy our attention and it continues to be for some an obsession. The more we see these events occurring all around us the more we are forced to wrestle with the question of our own death and with the death of those we love.
Part of the job of being a pastor is that you sometimes have the opportunity to go into hospital rooms where people are near to death. You have the opportunity to visit with families of those who are preparing for a loved one to die, you have the opportunity to pray with those who have just lost a loved one. You have the opportunity to witness the struggle that people go through as they near the end of their lives. That struggle can be difficult, both physically and spiritually. (Both for the one who is dying as well as for the ones who are watching them die).
However, it is also amazing to see the peace that comes over the faces of those who are staring death in the eye and who see right through it. It is amazing to be in a place where death is soon to come or has already come and see the effects of this expert witness and testimony that we have from the Apostle John. As I have had opportunity to spend time with families of the deceased this very text has become one of my favorites. It's message has so much power in the face of death and in the hopelessness of the loss of life.
Again, as we have already said, John was granted a vision of heaven. He saw in heaven all those who have died in faith. John saw a vast multitude of people, a multitude that was too large to be counted from every nation, tribe and race. John saw them. He heard them sing.
The elder came to John and asked “Sir who are these.” John answered, “Sir you know.” The elder responded, “These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.”
John saw heaven. In heaven, John saw those who have washed their robes in the blood of the lamb and made them white. The Lamb, Jesus has dressed the assembly of the righteous in heaven cleansing them with his own blood. Sins no longer trouble them. As those who are dying remember their sins they hear of the cleansing blood of Jesus and they are reminded that they are forgiven. When they look back at the sins of their life they know that they have all been washed away. They know that because of the blood of Jesus, their suffering is soon to end. They know that they will soon be in the care of Jesus. They know that they won't ever suffer any pain or discomfort or sadness ever again.
For those who have lost a loved one, they know that their parent, their brother or sister, their friend is in heaven. He is standing before the throne of God and serving him in his temple. She is singing with the saints and angels. Together with all the saints they are enjoying the love and the warm embrace of God himself as he protects them and shields them so that nothing will ever harm them.
It is true that people today have a preoccupation with death. It is true that death unsettles them and because of sin it should. But it need not. Because of the blood of the lamb we have been cleansed. We have been washed clean. Our sins are washed away. Because of the blood of jesus we have the hope and the comfort that all those who die in faith are in heaven under the care and the protection of Jesus. Jesus has overcome death. He has taken away death's injury and sting and he has promised us life.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment