10/31/2021 - God's Saints Live and Reign with Him

ALL SAINTS DAY

If you strain ever so carefully, you can hear it — the joyful music of the heavenly triumph song sounding in the distance, and people are singing with gusto. Christ is coming!

Today Christ's Church pauses to remember that we are pilgrims on earth, and Jesus is returning to take us to heaven. Heaven is our home; that's where we rightfully belong, and that’s what God is preparing for us who believe. That truth may be lost during the day to day grind, but not today. Today’s service has no intention to drag God down to us, but every intention of lifting us to God.

At the heart of God's Word today is the central truth that God's saints - all believers - will enjoy a resurrection to a heavenly afterlife. They will live and reign with Christ from the moment they enter heaven. John’s language in Revelation reveals the fulfilled satisfaction believers will enjoy when we get there. Our main satisfaction derives from the presence of the Lamb of God at the center of the throne.

By way of contrast, this world is a cesspool of sin and a vale of tears. On earth, Christians carry patiently their crosses and endure second class treatment from the world. Christ’s future reward will be worth the wait. In his first epistle, John plainly says “we will be like Jesus.” God is preparing something much better than this earth for his elect.

Virtually all of us know a friend or relative who has been taken from this earth. We miss them; we mourn their loss. This Sunday, though, cheers our hearts with heavenly guarantee to all who believe. Our loved ones are home with the Lord. We’re headed there, too. Stay the course. Stand firm! Let nothing move you! Heaven is worth the wait.

God bless your worship!

READINGS:

FIRST READING: Isaiah 25:6-9 God acts to destroy death and save.

SECOND READING: Revelation 20:4-6 Saints rule with the Gospel.

GOSPEL: John 11:32-44 Jesus raises the dead.

PSALM: 149

SERMON TEXT: Psalm 84

SERMON THEME: “Our Forever Home Awaits!” (Preacher, Vicar Justus McKenzie)

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