Sermon 8-12-18 Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Upon Death In John chapter six we read that Jesus had a huge discussion with the crowd he had miraculously fed with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. In the course of the discussion, he said a number of memorable things. First is what we saw last week in John 6:28-29, 28 Then they [the crowd] asked him, What must we do to do the works God requires? 29 Jesus answered, The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. Of course, the Law requires us to do the works of God to love Him with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves. And it was the Law the crowd was thinking of. But Jesus gave them a new law that was really gospel. All they had to do was to believe in Him that He was and is the suffering and victorious Messiah. This was more difficult for them than we might think. Even after the miraculous sign of the loaves and fishes they were having real trouble believing Jesus was the Messiah. For without Lord Holy Spirit it s impossible for anyone to see that the mortal day-laborer from Nazareth could even be the long promised immortal Messiah. And the same thing is true today. Without Lord Holy Spirit no one can believe in the Jesus of the New Testament. Either they don t believe at all, or they believe in a false Jesus who is not the Jesus of the New Testament. So, what should anyone believe about the Jesus of the New Testament? Well, if you noticed, in today s gospel reading Jesus made the same promise three times. Here are the verses. John 6:39-40, 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. So, three times Jesus promised that on the last day of history He would raise from the dead those who believe in Him. This is a most important thing to believe about Jesus. Remember last week we discovered what happened when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? They gave up the righteousness of the image of God for being like God gods of their own, making their own decisions about good and evil over against Yahweh s determination of good and evil. And for this great evil, they received as a judgment against them not only the right to determine good and evil for themselves, but they received the monster we know as physical death. And because of their sin, Adam and Eve received a further great judgment. All their descendants would inherit the right to determine good and evil for 1
themselves and would inherit the curse of death. That s us. And this is why the promise of Jesus to raise believers up on the last day is so important. It s the one and only antidote to physical death that exists. But there s another question that often arises. What is the condition of the soul between physical death and the resurrection of the dead? The problem with answering it, however, is that the Bible doesn t give us much information about the subject. Instead it primarily directs our attention to the Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and eternal salvation. Nevertheless, we can discern much from the information the Bible does give. Most of this information comes directly from Jesus. And this makes sense. First of all, Jesus is co-eternal with the Father and Holy Spirit as one God and was there at the creation of all things. He is the Word of God. So, as it says in John 1:1-3, 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made. In addition, speaking of Himself, Jesus said in John 3:13, No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven the Son of Man. Therefore, if anyone knows anything about the condition of the human soul after death it would be Jesus. So let s see what Jesus said. First, we turn to the confrontation Jesus had with the Sadducees in Jerusalem during Holy Week. The Sadducees were the wealthy and sophisticated. In the time of Jesus they were the main administrators of the temple in Jerusalem. Like modern Orthodox Jews, they only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament as authoritative. However, unlike modern Orthodox Jews, they rejected both the oral tradition and the resurrection of the dead. Representatives of the Sadducees came to Jesus with a parable intended to show the absurdity of the resurrection. Jesus answered their parable and then proceeded to say this in Mark 12:26-27, 26 Now about the dead rising have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the [burning] bush, how God said to him [Moses], I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken! Here Jesus used an incident from one of the first five books. In Exodus chapters 3 and 4, God initially appeared to Moses on the slopes of Mount Sinai in a bush that was ablaze with a supernatural fire. The bush appeared to burn but was not consumed. Yahweh called to Moses to come near and introduced Himself saying in Exodus 3:6, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now, these three patriarchs of Israel had lived hundreds of years before Moses and were buried in the land of Canaan. So, how could Jesus conclude that this verse proclaims them alive? The answer is in the tense of the verb. If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not alive to Yahweh, Yahweh would have said, I WAS the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But Yahweh said, I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As we know, I AM is also Yahweh s Name: I AM WHO I AM. So, Yahweh s very Name indicates not only that He exists, but that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still exist to Yahweh. Their souls were not annihilated upon death. Their souls live still and they will be resurrected in righteous bodies in the image of God on the Last Day. As we heard Jesus say, He will raise them up on the last day. 2
Next we turn to the thief on the cross. We know from the testimony of the eyewitnesses that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. Luke s gospel testifies that at some point before Jesus died, one of the thieves addressed Him. We read in Luke 23:42-43, 42 Then he [the thief] said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 43 Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Remember, as we saw above, the work of God is to believe in the one He sent. It s clear from the thief s confession that He believed Jesus to be the Messiah. The amazing thing is that Jesus crucified right next to him did not stop the man from believing. That was a gift of faith from the Holy Spirit. And that s why Jesus responded to this man as He did. As Jesus was bleeding out, His very blood was atoning for the thief s sin and his original sin. But notice paradise. The Greek word here translates out literally as a park, a garden, as Eden itself. That s where Jesus was headed for that Good Friday when He died, and He would be there to welcome the forgiven thief upon the thief s death. Eden and human beings have a strong connection. For Eden is the place God intended those made in the image of God to live in His presence. Therefore, the statement of Jesus to the thief is huge. In Jesus the way back to Eden is now open. The gate of death must be passed through to get there, but the way is open to those made righteous by the blood of Jesus. Therefore, from Jesus words we can conclude two things about death as it concerns those born again in Jesus Christ. First, those who die in Jesus are immediately in the most blessed presence of the Lord Himself. That s the most important part. Second, those who die in Jesus are immediately with Jesus in nothing less than an Eden existence. This is not yet the Eden of the re-created new earth, but the experience will be Eden restored in the righteous image of God. Now, in confirmation of Jesus words we also have the testimony of St. Paul. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows. 3 And I know that this man whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. The paradise Paul speaks of is the same Greek word. Paul visited paradise/eden in a vision either in body or out of body. Additional confirmations of Jesus words can also be found in the Revelation given to St. John. It s filled with what the apostle saw in heaven, the paradise of God. This includes the souls of those made righteous in Christ. Therefore, the Bible prophesies that upon death Christians will immediately experience the Eden of God. There will be no annihilation of the soul. The experience of existence will not suddenly end. In fact, the Bible prophesies that even the existence and experience of the condemned will not end. For, Jesus told this parable. Luke 16:19-24, 19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's 3
side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. There s more to this parable, but you get the picture of the agony of those who die merely in the likeness of God rebelliously having insisted on deciding good and evil for themselves. Now, Scripture is full of teaching about the Day of the Lord and what will happen afterward. The dead will all be raised and together with those alive at that time all will stand before the throne of God. We re told in Revelation 20:11-12, 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. This sounds like righteousness by works, right? But remember what did Jesus say in John 6:29, The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. Therefore, the lives of Christians will be justified before the throne of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace He bought for us. These are the ones whose names are written in the book of life. After the judgment two things will happen. First, Revelation 20:13-15, 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the existence in which the hideous rebellious likeness of God will be fully consummated for all eternity by both angels and humans. Second, we re told in Revelation 21:1-5, 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5 He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new! Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. This new earth under a new heaven is the eternal home, the eternal Eden of all those resurrected in Jesus Christ. Raised up by Jesus on the last day and fully restored to the righteous image of God, the resurrected will enjoy their Creator and Savior forever. Do you remember several years ago that at the height of its power ISIS was regularly posting videos of gruesome beheadings? Some of those beheaded were Christians. In order to avoid being beheaded all those Christians had to do was bow down and confess out loud that there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is his prophet. But they would not, and so died horribly. Why didn t they save themselves? I assume that most of them knew that if they died in Jesus they would immediately be out of this cursed world and in the blessed 4
presence of the Savior. I also assume that for most of them, they were not about to give up the promise of Eden that the suffering and victorious Messiah has bought and paid for us. That s why they wouldn t renounce Jesus for the false god of a false prophet. This is how it also was for the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity. And here much closer to the end of time, this is how it will be for many, many more. For Satan hates all believers, and the big smash up of the last days is coming. However, the hope of the church is sure. The Apostle John heard Jesus say in a vision in Revelation 2:7, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. And we read in 1 John 5:5, Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the holy and most blessed destiny that Christians have. We preach it with confidence to the entire world. This is the purpose of Trinity. Amen. 5