Other than working on that, I did go sit in the stand Friday and Sunday evenings. Did not see much though as it was cold and windy both times. I still enjoy just sitting in nature and being outside. Between times of working on this project, I worked on learning my sermon. I got it down pretty well, and my preaching was pretty smooth both services yesterday. I am still struggling to find my "preaching niche". That certain style of delivery that just works for me and engages people. However, I think it will come with time and practice. Here is my sermon manuscript from yesterday. Blessings.
Grace mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today comes from the reading from Revelation, specifically from verses 9 and 14. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. AND These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
All Saints Day is a beautiful bitter sweet Day in the church year. We add the procession into the church carrying the cross of Christ for all eyes to gaze upon as we begin the service. We heard the beautiful voices of the children sing “I am baptized, salvation is free lasting to eternity!” We heard the beautiful horns play along with the Hymn of Praise. It’s a celebration, a joyous celebration as we are reminded of the gift of eternal life we have in our Lord. And yet here shortly as the names of the departed are read with the tone of a bell struck for each one, we are reminded of the ones who are no longer with us. We are reminded of the good times we had with them and how much we miss them. It makes us a little sad, maybe even make us a little teary eyed as we hear their name again. Our emotions are twisted as we know it’s a celebration of the sweet gospel, and yet a hint of sadness hits us as well. It is OK to be a little sad at the fact that our dear loved ones who we cared so much about are not here with us anymore. It’s OK to feel these mixed emotions.
I imagine there were mixed emotions for people on May 8th,1945. May 8th, 1945, is known as VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day. When the Nazi’s officially surrendered, and the fighting in Europe was done. I imagine there was abundant joy as the soldiers who had been fighting for years, enduring some of the hardest most horrific times of their lives heard the news of victory. The victory was won but it had cost a hefty price. Over 400,000 Americans died in World War II. These men did not get to experience the Victory. Then to make matters worse, as these men and women were torn between the joy of victory and the sadness of losing so many fellow companions, they had to face reality that the fighting wasn’t over. The war was still going on in Japan. Joyous victory mixed with sadness for the fallen comrades mixed with anxiety of more fighting, this is the difficult mess these soldiers were faced with.
And yet it is not that far off from what we are faced with today. We have the joyous victory of life after death mixed with sadness of our loved ones who have departed into that eternal life mixed with the reality that more loved ones are going to keep dying. The only thing that keeps these mixed emotions in check is that the joyous celebration of victory trumps the other two. The victory trumps the sadness and worry, and that’s why this day is a joyous celebration. It all comes down to the victory of our Lord.
Looking at our text for today it is hard to see anything but the joyous celebration of this victory. We see this great multitude standing before the throne of God where He and the lamb are present. This multitude is too many to count, ringing back to the covenant the Lord made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their descendants would be too many to count, as many stars as there are in the sky or as many grains of sand on the sea shore. This is the multitude standing with the angels all shouting out praises to God. “Salvation belongs to our God, and Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever Amen!” I just love how the second shout of praise begins and ends with Amen. This is the picture we see of this joyous victory celebration. There are three very specific details to this picture that point directly to the victory being the cause of the celebration.
The first detail in the picture that points to the victory is what is in the hands of this great multitude. Did you catch it when Pastor read it the first time, or when I reread it as the text for this sermon? At the very end of verse 9 which is describing the great multitude, it says with palm branches in their hands. Now palm branches do not mean much to us here in the US, especially in South Dakota. You do not see too many palm trees growing around here, and even down in Florida where my brother lives and you actually do see them growing in people’s front yards, they don’t have the same significance they did in Biblical times. In the Old Testament palm branches were used for the festival of booths, a special day in the tabernacle. King Solomon used carved images of palm trees in the temple also. They were a special symbol used with special holidays or celebrations in the tabernacle and temple. It would be kind of like our advent wreath or Easter lilies. However, when you look in the New Testament palm branches are only seen in one other place than this text from Revelation. The only other place we see palm branches in the New Testament is in John’s account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. When Jesus comes in riding on a donkey into the holy city of God’s people, and all of the people come to line the streets and shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel,” as they hold palm branches. These people shout praises to the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel as they hold palm branches. They praise him holding these branches as a celebration of the victory that he has come to be their king! They will of course change their shouts and attitudes towards Him as they shout out, “Crucify Him!” less than a week later. However, it is only through this crucifixion and His resurrection that He actually becomes the TRIUMPHANT King of Israel! Through His death and resurrection He has won the Victory that they thought they were celebrating when He entered the city, and just as they honored their victorious king with palm branches as he rode into Jerusalem, now this great multitude that knows salvation belongs to their God is truly celebrating the victory of their king and John gives us the connection of them holding palm branches again. These simple branches point directly to the fact that Christ is our King, He has always been our King, and will always be our King, and even more importantly our king who has won the victory!
The second detail of the picture that shows us the victory of our Lord comes from verse 14, when the identity of the multitude is questioned and the answer is, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.” We know we are living in the end times ever since Jesus ascended into heaven, and the tribulation is this sinful world we are left living in until He comes back. These are the ones coming, present tense with an ongoing result, out of the tribulation and into the presence of God. These are the ones who were part of the church militant and are now joining the church triumphant. That’s who this multitude is. Malcolm Forbes is quoted as once saying, “Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.” For the ones in this multitude, the victory they are celebrating, holding the palm branches, is the sweetest, the most sweetest! Each and every one of them has known defeat! They lived in the great tribulation just as you and I are still today. We have all known defeat! We have all known times were it seems the Devil has won and God seems to be doing nothing about it. Christians are being actively persecuted in Egypt, churches are being burnt down, ministers and their families are being threatened and killed, and faithful people claiming to be a Christians are being jailed or beaten all around the world, traffickers sell woman and children as if they are purely possessions to be used for sex or slaves, predators rape and molest children, men walk into schools, movie theaters, and malls and open fire killing innocent children and victims, natural disasters leave whole towns homeless and looking for survivors, the tragic death of a young child whose smile could melt your heart, a couple who has been trying to get pregnant for years finally gets pregnant only to have a still birth three months in, the child or grandchild you have tried so hard to teach the importance of faith to turns their back on God as if it is no big deal, or cancer leaves a parent or grandparent who has been so strong and independent all their life utterly and miserably weak and sick!
We have all known defeat and times where we wonder, “What is God actually doing?” Why does He seem to be letting the Devil run rampant having his way in so many places? We have all felt that feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, but this is what makes the victory we see in this picture that much sweeter! You cannot know how truly amazing God’s love is, you cannot know the fullness of the Gospel unless you know the fullness of sin, the true horribleness of the great tribulation. The victory of our Lord is what gives us the strength to continue on through the tribulation, the cross going before us as our banner is what gives us the confidence to remain faithful even in the worst of times, knowing that the victory is won, the victory is ours, and we will join in with the great multitude in the FULL celebration of that victory in eternity. The ones coming out of the great tribulation, now holding palm branches, are celebrating the sweetest thing they have ever known, the Victory!
The final part of this picture that points us to the victory of our Lord is included in both verses 9 and 14. In both of these verses the multitude is pictured wearing white robes. You see as the church militant we wear a special uniform in order to be ready for the attacks of the devil. Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. This armor includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. These are our battles clothes as the church militant; however, this great multitude that is now the church triumphant is no longer under the attacks or schemes of the devil, so therefore they no longer need the armor of God. The white robes signify not only has the battle been won, but the war is completely over. They are at rest in the peace of the victory celebration. They have shed the armor and now stand in the presence of their God in white robes, their victory garments! You and I wear these same white robes claiming us as the chosen people of God, under our armor of God! And one day we too will be able to shed the armor of battle, when we come out of the great tribulation and into His presence. We will shed the armor exposing our white robes, and we will exchange the sword for a palm branch. Our battle cry will become a rejoicing shout of praise to Him who has given us His victory as our own.
This is the picture we get of the FULL celebration of the victory. And all details of this picture point to that victory. But what does this mean for us today as we celebrate all saints day? Well we can be a little sad as we miss our loved ones, but we still rejoice that in the victory they are a part of this great multitude! We know more loved ones will continue to depart from this earth until Christ comes again, but we hold fast to the victory that is ours and theirs so that we all will one day be a part of this great multitude. Finally, as we continue to live our daily lives here in the great tribulation, wearing the armor of God we let the cross of Christ go on before us as our banner, giving us the confidence and strength to remain faithful to Him, knowing it is by His grace, mercy, and might that we are part of the chosen people, part of the uncountable multitude who all celebrate the victory of our Lord with palm branches and white robes. This Victor of our Lord trumps and triumphs over all sadness, worry, fear. The victory of our Lord trumps and triumphs sin, evil, the Devil and even death itself! His Victory is ours, His Victory is yours, today, tomorrow, and for the rest of eternity!
In the name of our Victorious King, Jesus Christ, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment