Revelation 21:1-2

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Brides are really careful with their dress. If you’ve ever watched a bride on the day of her wedding, she is watching like a hawk to make sure no little kids, no one, stains her dress. She wants that dress to remain pure and white. She wants to look her best for the bridegroom. John saw an image coming down out of heaven in the book of revelation, chapter 21.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea no longer existed. 2 And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2)

John saw a fantastic representation of the church, this new Jerusalem, that’s all who believe in Jesus the Savior. And he specifically saw that she was adorned, dressed, as a bride for her husband. So that image of the bride dressed in a white dress is very fitting for Christians to consider. If you then are a bride, figuratively dress for Jesus the bridegroom, how careful have you been with your dress?

I know that I have often rolled around in the mud of sin with my lies, my laziness, my greed, and smeared myself with the mud of those sins. It’s just like Isaiah said, all of us have become like one who is unclean.

Notice in the image, though, that John saw the bride is adorned for her husband. Something has happened. If we were to read more of the book of Revelation, we would see that this New Jerusalem, the people that belong to the church, have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

The bridegroom sacrificed himself, shed his blood to cleanse the bride of all of her sins. That’s what Jesus was doing on the cross. He was taking the grime of your sins and actually claiming it as his own. Suffering and pouring out his blood in payment to cleanse you from all your sins.

So now God has a challenge for you. And that challenge is not to dwell on your sins, not to see yourself with all of your guilt, but to keep your eyes fixed on the bridegroom, Jesus the Christ. To see yourself as he sees you. Washed clean in his purifying blood.

Then you can be confident that you are part of this new Jerusalem. You are the bride adorned for the husband.

Your sins are forgiven because Jesus has washed them away in the flood of his blood. May God bless you and increase your faith so that you live out your life as the Bride of Jesus, the Christ in His name. Amen.

[This devotion is part of our series on The Apostles’ Creed, you can find all the videos in there series on our Apostles’ Creed Page. The devotions will be added as they are posted.]

Luke 14:15-24, Hebrews 11, 12, Revelation 21:2-23, Luke 23:43, Isaiah 11:6, 65:25, Revelation 7:14-17

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I believe in the life everlasting. How do we know that heaven is real? Well, I love to use the example C.S. Lewis once used where he said that where there’s a desire or a yearning for something, there is a real tangible fulfillment for that desire, or their yearning. People experience hunger. Therefore there is such a thing as food. People experience thirst. Therefore, there is such a thing as water. We experience sorrow. Therefore there must be a perfect joy. We experience brokenness. Therefore, there must be a perfect wholeness.

As Christians, we believe that all of that is fulfilled when God brings us safely into heaven. And though we can use logic to support or defend our idea of heaven, what better place to turn to than the Holy Scriptures? The Bible is full of beautiful pictures that it paints about eternal life and what that will look like for you.

For instance, in some of his parables, Jesus describes it as a banquet. (Luke 14:15-24) In our terms today, we’d say that’s a party. Why do I love parties? Because I’m together with my friends, my family, the people I love the most. When you look forward to eternal life in heaven, yes, there will be relationships. You’ll have your relationships with your family and loved ones who all believed in Jesus in this life.

Another picture of heaven is given in the book of Hebrews, where he describes heaven as the city of God. (Hebrews 11, 12) The Book of Revelation also describes this city. (Revelation 21:2-23) If you think of all the things that you love about a city, the busy life, the arts, theater, music, sports, all the things that you love about a city without all the things that you fear about a city. The darkness, the crime, the danger. Here heaven is described as a perfectly safe place where we can dwell forever.

Another picture of heaven Jesus gives when he’s dying on the cross. To the thief on his right, he promises him today you’ll be with me in Paradise. (Luke 23:43) The word Paradise refers to a garden. You might think of the garden that God created in the first creation. Well, the Bible tells us that after the resurrection of the dead, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, a new creation. And part of that new creation is a new garden. The prophet Isaiah describes it as a place where the lamb and the lion, the wolf and the ox and the small child can all live together in harmony. They will not harm nor destroy on his holy mountain. (Isaiah 11:6, 65:25)

Jesus will also describe heaven as a wedding. When I think to my own wedding, it’s one day, not only do I remember it so vividly, but it’s one day that I can always look back at and say, I wish that day never ended. When the Bible describes the church, it calls us the Bride of Christ, and it paints the picture of us wearing white robes that picture the purity that you have, because through faith you have washed your robes in the blood of the Lamb, in the forgiveness of sins given through Jesus.

Heaven is a picture of perfect purity, a joy that will last forever and ever without end. The best picture of that joy is in Revelation chapter seven. John describes a ten fold blessedness of those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and he ends with the phrase, the Lord will wipe every tear from your eye. (Revelation 7:14-17) Those ten fold blessings all revolve around one figure Jesus, the Lamb who was slain. That’s where you and I find our perfect fulfillment in heaven is the perfect relationship with Jesus, your Savior and the Triune God you were created for.

As often as you confess these words, I believe in the life everlasting. May God fill your heart with joy and hope and yearning for eternal life with him. Amen.

John 1:29, Revelation 5:6

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My three year old daughter went on a field trip to a baby goat farm, and she loved it. The entire time she was just saying “they’re so cute” and wanted to run around and try to pick them up and hold them.

Baby animals are universally recognized as cute. They’re small and fluffy and innocent and adorable. What’s there not to love? An interesting title and picture that we have for Jesus in the Bible is that he is the Lamb of God. John the Baptist cried out.

Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

But what does that mean? Is Jesus just a cute, fluffy, innocent animal?

We also see Jesus displayed as the Lamb of God in the book of Revelation. But there the pictures may be a little freaky.

The lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which is explained as the seven spirits of God that have been sent into all the world. (Revelation 5:6)

Okay, but what’s more interesting is that the lamb seemed to have been slain. That’s an odd image. If a lamb had been slain, why is it walking around and doing stuff? Was it a botched slaughter? No. But in this odd image, we see a rich picture for Christ. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But how does he do that? By being sacrificed.

Jesus is not just the innocent little baby lamb, he is the sacrificial lamb. By the shedding of his innocent blood sins are forgiven. Jesus took our place, the innocent, for the guilty and endured the death that we deserve. Jesus was slain, but he did not remain dead. He rose to new life, but still bears the marks of his passion on his hands, his feet, and on his side. Jesus is the lamb who had been slain, who died but now lives, whose sacrifice atones for the sins of the world. Amen.

Revelation 7:14, Isaiah 64:6, 1 John 1:7

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Blood is not a very good detergent. In fact, it leaves some of the worst and most difficult stains. I have an undershirt that still has little specks of faded orange on it, from a nosebleed that I had over a year ago. If you wash something in blood, it’s not going to be white.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John has a vision, and he sees all the believers in heaven, and they’re dressed in white robes, and he is told

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14)

That’s an odd image, but see what it tells us. Isaiah says,

All our righteous acts are like a filthy rag. (Isaiah 64:6)

Standing on our own before God were dressed rather shoddily. We are stained by our sin, but we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb. As John writes in his first epistle.

The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

Jesus shed his innocent blood for us as he suffered, and he died so that our sins might be forgiven, his innocent blood for ours. And Jesus blood not only washes away the dirt of our sin, it also bleaches our garments, makes them white. We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We are covered in his merits. And that’s a blood stain that you’ll never be able to get out. No matter how dirty we are or how filthy our sin is, we are washed in the blood of the Lamb and made pure and white and clean.

That’s why most pastors will wear a white robe called an alb, from the Latin word for white, as a reminder that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. That’s why babies, when they’re baptized, will usually wear a white robe, a baptismal gown, as a picture of the forgiveness that they receive in the sacrament. We baptized Christians are clothed in white, covered by Christ and His righteousness and his blood. Amen.

Revelation 20:6, John 5:25, Ephesians 5:14

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As we discuss Revelation chapter 20, there’s one more part that often throws people for a loop. When you read it, it will say,

Blessed and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them. Instead they will be priests of God and of Christ. And they will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)

What is that talking about? Why does it talk about two different resurrections? And this often throws Christians for a loop. For instance, my friends who believe in the rapture would say that Jesus will come back first, once secretly, and then there will be a secret resurrection from the dead, and then he’ll come back again later, and then there’ll be another resurrection from the dead. Thus you have two resurrections from the dead. However, the simplest and easiest way to take these words is the truth that you’ve already participated in the first resurrection from the dead. In fact, it’s what Jesus promises in John chapter five when he says

A time is coming and is here now when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will live. (John 5:25)

You see, faith and coming alive through faith is a real resurrection. Worked by the Holy Spirit. We are dead in our trespasses and sins, and God makes us alive through faith in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul says,

Awake, you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. (Ephesians 5:14)

That’s so important to understand because as Revelation says, blessed are they who partake in the first resurrection.

What it’s saying is that we only have one life to believe in Jesus Christ. We only have one small window and that’s it for you to come alive through faith in Jesus. The second death, eternal death in hell, has no power over you, but you will reign with Christ forever. And on the last day when Jesus raises the dead, he’ll raise you with a glorified body to inherit a beautiful new creation. However, for those who don’t believe in Jesus in this life, they too will be raised from the dead. But they won’t be raised in honor, but they’ll be raised for everlasting shame.

You see, God has made you a participant in the first resurrection. He’s forgiven your sins through faith in Jesus and made you a priest of his kingdom, so that you may participate in this first resurrection. The miraculous spread of faith and the true awakening and the true resurrection caused when a soul trapped in sin hears and believes the gospel. And for you and me to understand what a privilege that is, that we get to participate in this work, that our prayers, our offerings, our time spent in church, your talent shared with your pastor and with your church have an effect on the Kingdom that God uses you in powerful ways to participate in the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit as he continues to spread the Gospel.

As Christians who live in the end times, we look forward to Jesus second return. We know that day is coming and we know time is short. It’s all the more reason why we must urgently take up our calling to live as priests with Christ and His Kingdom. May God give you strength to this end. Amen.

Revelation 2:17

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My favorite Bible passage is Revelation two, verse 17. It goes.

Let him who has an ear hear with the spirit says to the seven churches. To the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone. And on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)

What I like about this passage is it answers some of the basic questions of life. As Lutherans, we’re really good at answering one of those questions, which is sort of how do you sleep well at night? How do you have peace with God? And we’ll tell you that nobody can stack up enough good works. We’ll do enough evil that we can’t really properly be called good. We can’t earn that favor. But Christ has lived a perfect life and died in innocent death in our place to win forgiveness and righteousness for us. And he gives that to those who believe that he’s done it for them.

And so that’s kind of resolved. We can stand before God in righteousness. But a sort of question that follows, that is, why would you want to? What’s the point of salvation? What is it for? What are our lives for? That’s the question, the Christians in Pergamum to whom John wrote this letter were struggling with. They had teachers among them who were saying, yes, God has reconciled us through Christ to himself, but that now we’re just sort of left to find meaning on our own. God doesn’t really care what happens to us after that point. And so these people, they’re going to the pagan temples, they’re eating the nice meat. They can eat there. They’re sleeping with whoever they feel like. They’re just generally looking for meaning in whatever they can grasp, whatever fulfills their desires.

And I think for us, that’s a pretty relatable instinct. We live in an age of abundance. If I want food, I’ll go get whatever I feel like at fast food. One of six different varieties. If I want to gratify my desires of any kind, you know you’ve got the flashing screen that can do it for you. And so I think we’re similarly tempted to find meaning and identity in all these things around us. But God doesn’t want us to do it that way. He cares about how we live and what we do because he, I mean, he died on that account. He died to pay for the evil in what we do. He doesn’t want us to return to it. And so he does say to the Christians in Pergamum and us that if we don’t repent, he will send his sword, the sword of his mouth, against us to drive us back to him.

But he doesn’t just say repent. He also gives these people who are hungry for meaning something to latch on to. He says, I will give to the one who conquers some of the hidden manna, and that hidden manna is Christ Himself. It is the God who is the source of meaning in the flesh, who on the day he returns to us, we will see with our eyes. And when we look at him, who is the source of meaning, we will really have fulfillment, satisfaction from the God who made all of the individual things that please us in this life. And that’s the sort of proper source to look to. But even more than that, even more than looking at the source of all meaning God promises to give to each of us the reason for our own existence. He says, I will give to the one who conquers also a white stone. And on that stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

This new identity, this righteousness, is something we do have now. Christ covers us in our baptism, and yet at the same time, that righteousness that covers us will one day be our entrance to God Himself. That’s how we get that vision of the source of all meaning. And when we do so, when we look on the God who made us in his image, we will see what image we were made in. We will see what aspect of God we each individually reflect. When I look on God Himself, what I’m hoping to receive is my own name. The reason I exist. The way I’m intended to reflect God. The name which no one will know except for me when I receive it. And that same hope is laid up to you, to the glory of God, from whom and through whom, and for whom are all things. Amen.

Revelation 20:3

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Last week we talked about the thousand year reign of Christ. However, if you look at those verses very closely in Revelation chapter 20, you’ll see that a time will come when the devil is unleashed. (Revelation 20:3) He is set free from his chain, and he is once again given power to deceive the nations.

Well, as people look around them today. They often ask, well, has this happened? And I can promise you, you’ll find no shortage of preachers on YouTube that will tell you that, yes, you know, the devil has been set off his chain. And of course, their goal is to create fear because fear drives up views just like it does on the news, right? But what’s interesting is the book of Revelation was not written in order to scare Christians. The book of Revelation was written in order to comfort Christians.

The comfort that you have victory through Christ. And one of the great comforts comfort in the book of Revelation is actually an understanding that Revelation doesn’t so much talk about the future as much as it just describes the natural patterns in history. For instance, we see that God has worked the same way throughout time, time, and time again. That the gospel will come into a land and it will seem as though the devil is chained. His power to deceive the nations has been limited, because the gospel grows and spreads, and hearts eagerly receive and receive it with joy. But that season of plenty lasts for only a short time, and in time what happens is that Christians will become apathetic. They lose interest in the gospel. They sell the inheritance they have in Jesus for a life of pleasure and comfort. And so how does God respond to this?

Well, it seems like he lets the devil off the chain, or at least gives him some slack on the chain. Suddenly that culture will rise up and turn against the Christian faith. You’ll see how the home is attacked and the church is attacked. And Christians in that land and in that culture will face persecution. And what will inevitably happen is that the church will pick up roots and move somewhere else, and the process starts all over again. There’s nothing new in history. That’s what Revelation teaches us.

In fact, as you look at your own life, how are you facing persecution? Is it difficulty at work, or is it challenges at school being made fun of for your faith? Is it the pressures and the social pressures that come with a culture that has embraced athletics but rejects the church? Is it persecution from your own family or persecution from false Christianity? We oftentimes throw up our hands to God and say, why? Why are, why these changes in our culture? Why these changes in our lands? Why would you allow persecution? And the answer is always the same. Because persecution is God’s answer to lukewarm Christianity.

We can’t afford to sit on the fence when the world and the culture we live in rises against us. We have to choose a side. We have to either be hot or cold as we face trials and tribulations in our life, whether they’re physical or spiritual, let these do their God intended work, which is to drive us to Jesus. To drive us to the comfort we have and the forgiveness of sins. The assurance of eternal life in heaven. And let that fire burn hot in your heart. So the God will use you and me as witnesses, as witnesses, that he is coming back. We pray, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

Revelation 20:1-5, 2 Peter 3:8, John 18:36

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Last week we started looking at Revelation chapter 20. We saw how God had bound the devil with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. So now we want to ask to what effect? To what purpose? Well, those passages go on to tell us that the devil has been bound for a thousand years, and that Christ will reign with his saints for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:1-5) As we talk about the thousand year reign today, that’s oftentimes a point of controversy in Christianity.

Just what is this 1000 year reign? Is it literal or is it figurative? Well, some important things to remember about the Bible is that as it uses numbers, the number ten oftentimes represents fullness or completion. That’s because, well, if I’m counting on my fingers, I have ten fingers, so I can’t go much higher than ten, can I? Ten is the number of completion. Three is the holy number of God for the holy, Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So what you have with 1000 is you have ten times ten times ten. Which when you take it together, is a thousand years. A number that represents a holy completion.

In fact, there’s one other time in the Bible where God mentions a thousand years. It’s in the book of Second Peter. When Peter is talking to the church, he’s telling them to be patient as they wait for the Lord’s return. Because to God, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8) The thousand years is a figurative number that represents just the right amount of time. So be patient.

The second question people often ask with the thousand year reign of Christ is what type of reign will this be? Many Christians today are tempted to look at this as a political reign from Jerusalem, that Jesus will return in person and set up a kingdom in Jerusalem, and there he will reign for a thousand years. Others might look at this as the progression of history as the church progresses and as the world governments all become Christian theocracy that we’ll be able to establish an order of peace and security that will reign over the world for a thousand years. Both of these views see the thousand year reign of Christ as a physical, worldly kingdom.

And there’s an allure there. There’s a very human desire for us as Christians to have our time on top. To have a world and a government that makes sure that everything goes my way. I get what I want, and I get to be on top of the pecking order. Though that’s certainly tempting to want to believe that, God never works that way in the Bible. Jesus confessed to Pontius Pilate, a worldly ruler, saying, my kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36) In fact, Jesus’ kingdom, Jesus’ thousand year reign has already begun. It began a long time ago, as we confess in the Creed, Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. That statement in the Creed confesses that Jesus is seated on the throne in heaven, that all things are under his power and under his control. And as Jesus sits and reigns from the right hand of God the Father Almighty, that means he’s governing over everything for the good of the church. For your good and my good. So that his kingdom can continue to spread.

No, his kingdom is not a kingdom of worldly governments or worldly rulers or powers or empires or military. His kingdom is a kingdom of hearts that have been captured for the love of Christ and captured by Christ’s love. Who have been freed by the forgiveness of sins, and reign with Christ through your prayers and petitions. Today, as we think of the thousand year reign, that’s something you and I as Christians get to participate in through our prayers, through our offerings, through our ministries, and our personal witnesses. You and I get to help share and spread that kingdom. Amen.

Revelation 20:1, Revelation 1:18, Job 1:6-12, Romans 16:20

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I want to spend the next couple of weeks with you looking at some of the most controversial verses in the Bible, which for me is always fun. If you open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20, verse one, you see this moment where God describes this great dragon, the devil. And John, the author of Revelation, sees this angel come down from heaven who has these keys to the abyss. And the angel takes the dragon, and he chains up the dragon. And this picture is a picture that is meant to comfort God’s people.

What does that mean when we see that the dragon, the devil, has been chained? Well, this chaining of Satan is a limiting of his authority, a limiting of his power. You might picture a prisoner in a cage. Or a dog chained up on a leash. It limits his sphere of influence. We have examples of this in Scripture. In the book of Job, (Job 1:6-12) the devil has to go to God and ask for God’s permission in order to reach out his hand and cause any harm to one of God’s children. God very carefully sets the limits on the devil’s power and tells him, this far you may go and no further. Because ultimately God ensures that though the devil might attack believers, God ensures that you and I will not be overthrown by his power. He lets us be tempted and tested just enough, but no further and never past our breaking point.

The second question, though, is, as we think of that image of the angel chaining the dragon, just who is that angel? Well, we have to go back to Revelation chapter one, (verse 18) where we first meet Jesus. He appears and says to John, I am he who was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. This angel that John sees with the keys is none other than Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven to bind the dragon. And this binding of the dragon, of Satan, by Jesus, it happened on Easter morning. When Jesus rose from the dead as your victorious Savior, the first thing he did is he descended into hell. Into the very kingdom of the devil. And he bound the devil.

Now, as I mentioned before. God has always had authority over the devil. The devil has always been bound in a certain sense. So what makes Jesus on Easter morning, what makes his binding of the devil so important? Well, what makes it so important is that this is a man. It is the God man who has now bound the devil and made the devil captive to his power and his authority. This is your brother in human flesh, Jesus Christ, who holds the leash on that powerful dragon and keeps him at bay. And why that’s so important for you is because one of the devil’s worst lies is he wants us as Christians to think we’re the captives. He wants us to think that we’re the ones bound in a prison of obedience to God, or that we’re bound in this prison of sin, or that we’re on his leash. And nothing could be further from the truth.

The forgiveness of sins through Jesus shatters that chain and breaks every single prison wall, just as it broke Jesus free from the tomb. You are truly free in Christ Jesus. You are truly free of the devil and free of his power, and free to not have to listen to him anymore. Through your Savior, Jesus, you exercise powerful authority over the devil. One day the Bible says you too will crush him under your feet. (Romans 16:20) Until that time, we exercise authority by calling him out as a liar and by forgiving sins. Through that forgiveness of sins he is bound and can harm you no more.

Revelation 7:10

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[This devotion references Pastor Mayer’s previous devotion titled I Really Believe This.]

Last time we were together, we were talking about the certainty of faith. I use that picture of finding the two by four beam in your wall. God wants us to know that we are anchoring our faith in the right place. And why that’s important is because if we don’t hit that beam, if we don’t hit the solid ground of faith. What happens is the moment we have to trust that screw or that nail and actually hang any kind of weight on it. Well, you probably know what happens. It pulls right out of the wall. It crumbles away. It doesn’t have the strength to hold us up.

As Christians, we can know all sorts of important things about God. We can trust that Jesus is alive from the dead, that he’s your risen Savior. But honestly, it’s so easy for us to anchor our faith in all the wrong places. It’s so easy for us to put our faith in our family and friends and loved ones. We tell ourselves if we’re to surround ourselves with enough loved ones, then they can carry us through anything. We put the faith in ourselves, our own strength, our own ability to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We tell ourselves we can problem solve through anything. Maybe we trust in money. If I could just make enough. If I could just make enough, then I could finally be happy.

Well, as you know, none of these things really have the strength to carry us through. Loved ones die. I get crushed with anxiety, the more I try to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. And doesn’t matter how much money we have. You can never buy happiness. You can never buy fulfillment.

When there’s so much in life that’s uncertain. The apostle John takes us behind the wall. He gives us a glimpse of something today in Revelation chapter seven, verse nine, he talks about seeing all the hosts in heaven. All those that have gone into heaven before you and before me, who are wearing white and holding palm branches in their hands. Who do you see there? Whose face do you know, that’s there?

And what’s really neat is, as John witnesses this, he describes their song of victory. They all shout out together,

Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb. (Revelation 7:10 EHV)

What are they saying? Well, they’re telling you the one place, the one place where they anchored their faith was in Jesus. They trusted in him. They trusted in his life, his death. His resurrection. That Jesus could carry the weight of the world, and he carried that when he hung on the cross, and they hung their sins on Jesus. And Jesus didn’t disappoint them. They’re there in victory now. And even today they’re calling out to you, encouraging you, place your faith in Jesus. He’ll carry you through. Amen.

Hebrews 11:1, Revelation 1:18

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You really believe that, don’t you? His question came out more like a statement. You see, his mother was on her deathbed, and her son had asked me to come in and visit with her. So as a pastor, I came in and shared with her the comfort that Jesus had died for all of her sins, the certainty that she had that Jesus has risen from the dead. And because Jesus has risen, she too will be in heaven. Afterwards, your son came up to me and asked. You really believe that, don’t you?

The Christian faith is all about certainty. In fact, we’re told in the book of Hebrews.

Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is about certainty of what we don’t see. And just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. So for instance, that two by four that’s in a wall. We call that a stud. You can’t see where it is, but there’s different ways you can come to be certain of exactly where that stud is. You can use a stud finder, you can use magnets. You can even do a knock test on the wall based on the echo, to find where that beam is in the wall. And I love that picture for faith, because God wants us to drive that nail of our faith home in a place that we’re certain. A place that we know will be able to hold us. To carry us.

And why that’s important is because so many people today actually live on what we call blind faith. Faith that isn’t really investigating, faith that believes things without really searching out the truth. So many people today believe in reincarnation that once we die, we come back as an animal, like a red cardinal on the windowsill. And even though it’s a very cute, touching picture, it’s not very cute after the neighborhood cat pounces. Beyond that, though. How can we be certain? How can you actually prove that someone comes back as an animal? You can’t.

Other people like to put their faith in science. What people have been able to investigate and research, and we’ve looked into the stars and we haven’t seen a god up there. So that must mean there is no God. We’ve looked at the human being and we haven’t seen a soul, so that must mean there’s nothing that happens to us after we die. We just simply blink out of existence. Well, I like to ask those people, how do you prove that? How can you be certain that that’s the case?

God wants you to be certain. He invites you as his child to investigate these things for yourself, to read His Word. And in God’s Word you’ll find Jesus who promises that

I am he who is dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:18)

He was dead. And he is alive again for evermore. He’s been to the other side and he’s come back. And he promises you the way is safe. I believe that. That’s where I pound my nail. How about you? Amen.

Revelation 2:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21

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Well, it’s that time of year again where there’s a lot of confirmations happening in the Lutheran church, and maybe you’ve even been invited to a confirmation party, for a family member or friend from church. And it’s a wonderful time for our young people to be able to say that the faith of their baptism, the baptism that they had when they were a baby, is their faith. They can profess and confess that before the church and before the world, that it’s their faith. And they promise even to be faithful to their Christian faith and to their Lord Jesus till death. It’s quite a promise.

Typical Bible verse that we often hear in conjunction with confirmation is Revelation chapter two, verse ten. And there Jesus, the risen and ascended Lord, speaks to, John and the revelation. He says to his Christians,

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 EHV)

And we think about what a beautiful promise that is from our Lord Jesus. We don’t deserve the crown of life. Not one of us deserves to go to heaven. We’re all of us sinners. If anything, we deserve the crown of shame, not the crown of life. So how is it that we will receive the crown of life by faith in God’s heavenly kingdom one day?

Well, for that, for the answer to that question, we have to think back to what kind of crown Jesus wore while he was on this earth. And we think about that crown and we’re reminded as he was put on trial, as he was suffering and nailed to the cross, Jesus was forced to wear the crown of thorns, the crown of our shame. We’re reminded right after Adam and Eve sinned at the beginning of time, our first parents, when they sinned, part of the curse of sin, Adam would have to deal with thorns and thistles that the earth would bring forth for him. That he’d have to work hard by the sweat of his brow to be able to provide for his family. That was part of the curse of sin. And so when we see Jesus wearing the crown of thorns for us, we can see that as a beautiful picture of the fact that Jesus bore our sins for us, that the sins of the whole world were heaped upon Jesus. Jesus was made to be the king of sinners for us, so that he might save us and make us his holy people.

Saint Paul tells us that

God made him [Jesus], who did not know sin, to become sin for us, (2 Corinthians 5:21 EHV)

Jesus didn’t have any of his own sins. He was perfect in every way. And yet your sins and my sins and the sins of the whole world were heaped upon him. And there on the cross Jesus paid for, atoned for every one of those sins, so that you and I can be confident that we are forgiven, that we’re loved by God, that God sees us as his dear sons and daughters through faith. And of course, at confirmation, we’re reminded how we really are God’s sons and daughters, that he’s made us his own in the waters of Holy Baptism.

And so we think about that crown of life, then, that the Lord Jesus will give to us in heaven one day. How unworthy we are of that crown. What amazing love our Savior Jesus has for us, that he wore the crown of shame for us so that we might wear the crown of life. All glory be to Jesus. Amen.