Sermon for the First Sunday after All Saints: November 7, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝
While the world quickly ditches all the Halloween candy and costumes, it hurtles inevitably along toward its breathless bustle of Christmas decorations and preparations. The Church year seasons, however, aren’t quite ready for that yet. We haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving! Advent is still 3 weeks away. There is still one important theme that we should explore in the Scriptures before we join in to welcome the birth of Jesus the Christ Child. The Last Days, the Second Coming of our Lord, the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the New Creation of heaven and earth—these are all in the emphasis for this last portion of our church calendar.
The Last Days are frightening, uncomfortable. There are many fearful signs of the end that we seem to witness all around us. We never feel its sharp sting more strongly than we do when a loved one dies. How do we comfort one another? What do we say? Sorry for your loss. We say they’re looking down on us, even though the Bible teaches us that they do not. They are at peace. God wanted them with Him in heaven so we should be satisfied with that. We place their dead bodies in cushy caskets or their ashes in lavish urns, as if that’s going to help them somehow. Some have even thought that it would bring comfort if they wear a loved one’s ashes in a ring or a necklace. None of those quite do that good a job at comforting us, if you’re completely honest. The truth is simple. We hate to see death. It’s ugly, and unnatural; definitely not a part of life. It fills us with fear. We know we are powerless in its grasp.
Yet in the Creed we can still say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” A bodily resurrection from the dead is one of the basic teachings of our Christian faith. Even in the Old Testament, we find Abraham believing God could raise the dead even if he had gone through with sacrificing his son Isaac. Job said he KNEW that after his skin was destroyed that with his own two eyes he would see God. At a Christian burial the Pastor says, “We commit this body to the ground; ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
How could that be? From the ugliness of rigor mortis to the decay of the flesh, if you have seen the uncomfortable ugliness of death, a resurrection of that body seems impossible. So how can we honestly say that we believe in the resurrection of the body? Paul points us to Easter’s empty tomb and declares, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”
So, do you believe that Jesus died and rose again on the third day? Of course you do, or you wouldn’t be here. None of us doubts Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then none of us should doubt the second part: God will bring those who sleep in Jesus.
And notice what God calls the death of one of His saints, His believers. He calls it “falling asleep.” How many of you were afraid to lay your head down on your pillow last night? Just as you do not fear your bed at night, the saints of God do not need to fear death. Just as we close our eyes at night expecting to awake in the morning, we can close our eyes in death knowing Jesus will awaken us at His return.
This is exactly what Jesus promised. “Because I live, you will live also.” (John 14:19) Because Jesus rose, all believers will rise to life as well. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul ties Jesus’ resurrection to the believer’s resurrection to life also. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” (vv. 20-23)
At beginning of harvest time in Israel each Spring, the Jews celebrated the festival of “First Fruits.” At this feast, they were to bring the first part of their harvest to the Temple and wave it before the LORD in thanksgiving. The first-fruit of their harvest was a reminder that God had once again supplied for their fields and there would be more to harvest after those first harvested fruits.
Jesus is the “firstfruits” of those who have fallen asleep—or died in the faith. His resurrection means that the saints who are asleep in Jesus will rise as well. It has to be that way. There can be no other possibility. “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
What will happen on this great resurrection day at the end of the world? Paul takes us step-by-step, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, only a handful of people were aware that the Savior of the world had been born. When Jesus returns it will be no secret. He will return with a shout, with the voice of a mighty archangel, which will resound around the entire planet, no, all over the universe. The trumpet of God shall sound to announce the return of the King.
Now, on that Day, the Bible tells us that ALL the dead will rise—both believers and unbelievers. Other readings about the end times will address that in greater detail. But in this section of Scripture Paul is trying to comfort the Thessalonians who were confused about their fellow believers that died before Jesus returned. That is why Paul focuses specifically on the resurrection of the “dead in Christ.” They will rise first and the magnificent resurrection harvest will begin.
We learn more about that resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul writes, “The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we (that is, those of us alive to see Jesus’ coming) we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” When the trumpet sounds and the dead rise, the resurrected believers will be changed—as will be the living believers. There will be no more stiff joints or bad eyesight. With these our own two eyes, in perfect 20/20 vision, we shall see God. From Adam, Abraham, Job and King David, to the Apostle Paul, and Betty Crickon, when Christ returns on that Last Day, all the saints who are dead in Christ will rise and be glorified. “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Heaven and the coming resurrection are difficult for us to comprehend because these are unlike anything we have ever experienced here on earth. It’s hard to imagine the timelessness of eternity, let alone everlasting joy with no sorrow—ever. One widow wanted to be sure she would know her husband. One grieving son wanted to know if he would be able to kiss his mother again. While God doesn’t tell us ALL the details of the unimaginable joys of the life of the world to come, He does tell us what we need to know. And what He tells is comforting for all saints.
After our Savior returns and the dead are raised, Paul continues, “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” After the return and the resurrection, there will be a reunion. First and foremost it will be a reunion with our Lord—the Lord who chose us from eternity to be His own; the Lord whom we had only seen by faith up to that point. Then we will personally meet the Lord whom we believed was nailed to the cross to pay for all of our sins, with the nail prints still in His hands; the Lord who died to purchase us for Himself as His own special people. The Lord who shed His blood to cleanse us from our sins and make us saints. We will meet our Lord in the air.
We will also be reunited with our fellow believers who were asleep in Jesus. Paul says it without doubt: WE will be with the Lord! Our loved ones had closed their eyes to this world upon death and they will be awakened by their Lord at His return. And we will be caught up together with them in the clouds. Together we will meet our Lord in whom we placed our hope. Together we will see Him face to face as we are glorified with the risen Lord’s glory. Together we will worship the Lamb who rescued us from the eternal judgment and gave us eternal life as a free gift. Thus we shall always be with Him. “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Death is pretty uncomfortable—it is uncomfortable to look at, think about, or talk with others about. But for all the saints of God, for those who have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, we do not mourn as those who have no hope. We have hope. Our unwavering, certain Hope is based on the accomplished fact of Christ’s resurrection and God’s unbreakable promises. Because Christ rose, we too shall rise and be with our Lord and our fellow believers forever in heaven, and soon our bodies will all be raised and glorified together. This is what Jesus died and rose to give us. Therefore comfort one another with these words!
In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Readings:
Ex 32:1-20 when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain
or Job 14:1-6 few of days and full of trouble
Psalm 14 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
or Psalm 102:13-18 You will arise and have mercy on Zion
I Thess 4:13-18 the dead in Christ will rise first
Luke 17:20-30 as the lightning that flashes…so also the Son of Man will be in His day