Give praise to Christ your King! (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

November 20, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Louis Albert Banks tells of an elderly Christian man, a fine singer, who learned that he had cancer of the tongue and that surgery was required. In the hospital after everything was ready for the operation, the man said to the doctor, "Are you sure I will never sing again?" The surgeon found it difficult to answer his question. He simply shook his head no. The patient then asked if he could sit up for a moment. "I've had many good times singing the praises of God," he said. "And now you tell me I can never sing again. I have one song that will be my last. It will be of gratitude and praise to God." There in the doctor's presence the man sang softly the words of Isaac Watts' hymn, "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath, And when my voice is lost in death, Praise shall employ my nobler power; My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures." [1]

Though we may not be facing the prospect of losing our ability to sing or praise the Lord our God, today as we have gathered in worship on this Christ the King Sunday, we have gathered one more time to give praise to Christ our King.  We have gathered to give praise to the Lord our God and Jesus Christ who is our Savior and our King because he is the one who has freed us from sin and death by his death and resurrection from the dead.  We have gathered to give praise to Christ our King because he is the one who has promised that through faith in him we will be given the gift of eternal life by his side forever in his heavenly kingdom.  We have gathered to give praise to Christ our King because we know that on the Last Day, when he returns in glory and judgment, he will raise our bodies from the ground, glorify them, reunite our bodies and souls and take us, once again, to live with him forever in his heavenly kingdom.

In fact, these are the very things that the Apostle Paul is writing about in our lesson today.  So if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open your Bibles with me to our lesson in 1 Corinthians 15 beginning with verse 20.  Now, as you are turning to 1 Corinthians 15, let me set the stage for you.  As Paul wrote the words of our lesson today, the Christians in Corinth were having a little bit of trouble with the concept of the resurrection.  You see, the Corinthians were still rather new in their faith and they were having a bit of a struggle getting past their Greek logic, which told them that there was nothing after death, because death was simply the end of a person.  Because of this, they were even having a tough time understanding and holding on to the idea that Jesus had risen from the dead.  It was because of this that Paul writes as he does in our lesson today.  “20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”(1 Corinthians 15:20–28, NIV84)

In such a beautiful, simple, and straight forward way, the Apostle Paul assures us that we have every reason to praise Christ as our King because he is the one who was raised from death to the glory of God the Father.  Not only is he the one who was raised from death to the glory of God the Father, he is the one who will also awaken each and every one of us from the sleep of death and raise our bodies from the ground on the last day.  He is writing to assure us of this very simple and very important truth, because you and I are really no different than the Corinthians of Paul’s day.  We too, are living in a sin-filled world which is constantly seeking to convince us that we only go around once and after that, we die.  We are living in a world that is doing everything it can to convince us that there is no afterlife, that there is no resurrection, and that death is the end of everything. 

But as Christians, we know that death isn’t the end of everything.  We know and believe that death is only the beginning of our eternal life with Christ, and that is why Paul’s words are so comforting to us this morning.  They are so comforting because they assure us that even though death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  They assure us that even though we will all die because we are Adam’s descendants, in Christ, we will all be made alive.  They assure us that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also will Christ our King raise us up on the last day!  Though one day we will all close our eyes in the sleep of death, our Savior has promised us that our souls will be carried to his side where we will live with our King forever.  Though one day our bodies will rest in the earth where they will decay and return to the dust they came from, we know that when our Savior returns, He will raise our bodies from their graves.  We know that in the same way a car enthusiast will resurrect a rusted frame from a junkyard, Christ will raise our bodies from the ground.  In the same way that the enthusiast will work on that vehicle, refurbishing and restoring it until it is in better than mint condition, so also Christ will restore our bodies to their perfect sinless condition.  Then, when our King has glorified our bodies, he will reunite our soul and body, and in that day he will destroy death forever.

Take a look, once more, at those beautiful words in our lesson today, beginning with verse 22:  “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:22-27, NIV84)

What greater reason could there be for us to give praise to Christ our King than the assurance Paul gives us that he who has freed us from sin and death by his resurrection from the dead, will also, one day, completely destroy death on the day he returns!  As Christians, this is the day to which we are looking forward!  We are looking forward to the day when Christ our King returns and destroys death forever.  We are looking forward to it, because death is still the enemy, which gives us the most heartache and grief.  Death is the enemy that makes us look up to the skies and cry out in sorrow: “Why, Lord?  Why have you taken my loved one from me?”  Death is the enemy that makes us long for our Savior’s return.  Though we have grown accustom to death because death has become a part of life, death it is not something that our Savior ever intended us to face.  Rather death came into this world as a result of sin, and because of sin we all must face it one day.  But even though we will all close our eyes in death one day, we can take comfort in the knowledge that Christ, our King, has already conquered it.  For as Paul tells us a little later on in this chapter, “ ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’  ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).

This is the victory which Christ, our King, won for us when he went to the cross.  For on that cross Christ endured the anguish and torment of hell itself in order to pay the price of our sins.  On that cross, satan bruised Christ’s heal as Christ fulfilled the Scriptures and feed us from the power of the devil.  On that cross, though it seemed that death had finally been victorious and conquered the Son of God as Jesus cried out, “It is finished”, Jesus actually defeated death by giving up his own life.  During those few days when Jesus body lay in the tomb and we thought that all hope was lost, Jesus was proclaiming his victory over the devil and all his evil angels.  Then, on the third day, Jesus shattered whatever victory death might seem to have had by doing what no other human being has ever been able to do.  On that day, Jesus took back his life and rose from the dead.  Though death will still give us grief and sorrow, because of Christ’s victory we know that it is nothing more than a sleep from which we will awaken in heaven.  Though it will still hurt to say farewell to our friends and loved ones when their times come, we know that death is nothing more than a doorway from this life to eternal life.  Though death is still an unnatural event that our Lord never intended us to face, because of Jesus’ victory we are looking forward to the last day when he will destroy death forever. 

Yes, on that day, Christ our King will place all power and all dominion under his feet, destroying them forever, as our lesson tells us beginning with verse 24, “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.(1 Corinthians 15:24–26, NIV84)

What a great day that will be, the day when our Savior-King returns in his glory to take us to be with him forever!  For on that day he will raise our bodies from the grave, glorify them, and reunite them with our souls.  On that day he will bring the end of all powers, authority, and dominion as he finally and completely destroys death forever.  So, as you leave here today, remember this fact.  As you go through the week making all your Thanksgiving preparations give praise to the Lord.  When Sunday comes again and you are getting ready for church, remember how your Savior will raise you up on the last day when he destroys death forever, and give praise to Christ, your King.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

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[1] Copied from: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/praise.htm Accessed November 19, 2011.

Prepare for Your Savior's Return! (Matthew 25:1-13)

November 13, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

So, what were you doing at 11:11:11 AM or PM on 11/11/11?  This was a question that Kyle asked of us as we were getting ready to retire on Friday evening.  Though I don’t know exactly what I was doing at that exact moment of the day, I have some great memories of 11/11/11.  I have great memories of taking my kids to the Pops concert that evening, and watching them enjoy all the music and dancing, even though they were tired from a long day.  I remember talking with my kids and they being surprised that it would be another 100 years until we saw 11/11/11 again.  But the thing I remember the most was hearing the different tributes on the radio about Armistice Day—the end of World War I—and how that day eventually became Veteran’s day.  I remember hearing that and thinking about how I am simply not old enough to remember what happened during World War I.  Though I had an uncle who fought in the War and lived to be 111, though he would tell me stories about it when I was a young boy, I did not experience it for myself.  The same is true for World War II.  Though I studied it in history class and wrote papers about it in grade school and high school, I am not old enough to know about it firsthand.  Yet, of all the things I studied about WWII, probably the most prominent thing I remember is the promise that General Douglas MacArthur made just before he left the Philippine Islands in 1942.  Though he had boasted that his men could repel any invasion, he suddenly found himself forced to leave the Islands.  Yet has he left, he made his immortally famous promise that he would return.  Though this famous promise was a very powerful promise for the people to whom General MacArthur made it, it is definitely not the most powerful promise ever made.  For we know an even more powerful promise to return that was made by our Savior on numerous occasions before he was even crucified.  In fact, as we study our lesson today we will take a closer look Jesus’ promise to return for us in the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins.

Now if you haven’t done so already, I invite you to open your Bibles to our lesson today from Matthew 25.  As you are turning to Matthew 25, let me set the stage for you.  As Matthew 25 opens, it is Tuesday of Holy Week.  Jesus had spent his day in the temple, teaching the people one last time, answering all the challenges of the religious leaders, and setting into motion the events that would lead to his arrest and crucifixion.  At the beginning of Matthew 24 we learn that Jesus has just left the temple and is sitting on the Mount of Olives when his disciples come to him and ask him about their Savior’s return and the end of all things.  After telling them all he does in Chapter 24, he then goes on to emphasis the promise of his return and our need to be prepared with the parable of the Ten Virgins.  Take a look at verse 1-5 of our lesson:  “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. (Matthew 25:1–5, NIV84)

As I’m sure you remember, in Jesus’ day, weddings were a whole lot different than they are today.  In those days when a couple was engaged, or betrothed, they were considered to be husband and wife in every way except that way which produced families.  In other words, even though they were considered to be husband and wife, they still lived separately until the day of the wedding banquet.  After the betrothal the bridegroom would go back to his home and make preparations for the wedding.  Then, on the set day he would go from his house in a procession of his friends and travel to his bride’s home and escort her to the wedding feast.  Along the way, the bridesmaids would be waiting for this group so that they could light the way to the groom’s house with their lanterns.  As it was, there were times when the bridegroom’s return would be a long time in coming so those who were waiting had to be well prepared, and in Jesus’ parable only half of them were.  Only half of them had planned ahead and brought plenty of oil to make sure their lamps would be ready no matter when the bridegroom would arrive.  The other half were as foolish as I was a couple of weeks ago when I ran out of gas half way between St. Peter and Le Sueur, all because I didn’t pay close enough attention to the gas gage!

Well, in the same way that is very important for us to be prepared with a full tank of gas, especially when we are driving during this time of the year, we also need to keep our spiritual tanks filled with God’s Word!  We need to keep our spiritual tanks filled with God’s Word because it is God’s Word that fuels our faith and prepares us for the day when our Savior will return.  Though we know that he will be returning soon; though we can see all the signs in the world around us that he will be returning before we know it, we still do not know when that day will be.  He hasn’t phoned ahead to tell us or even given us a time to put in our weekly planners.  So until the time comes and our Savior returns we need to continue to prepare ourselves for his return.  We need to continue preparing ourselves for his return by reading and studying his Word for the Strengthening of our Faith.    We need to continue preparing ourselves for his return by gathering with each other in worship so that we might be built up on the assurance that our Salvation is found in Christ alone.  We need to keep ourselves prepared for his return by being in his Word because when he does return, there simply won’t be time for us to get prepared.

Take a look at what Jesus tells us beginning with verse 5:  5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:5–13, NIV84)

When the cry rang out that the bridegroom was coming all the virgins woke up and got ready, because he would soon be passing by.  But when they lit their lamps in preparation to lead the procession, the lamps of the foolish bridesmaids started flickering and sputtering.  They started flickering and sputtering because they did not have enough oil to fuel them.  They had not prepared themselves and because of that the foolish bridesmaids tried to rely on the preparedness of others. 

Sadly, there are many people in our world who are doing just that.  There are many people who are acting as foolishly as the foolish virgins in our lesson today.  For how many people don’t you know that are water, rice and dirt Christians?  How many people don’t you know who talk about how they were baptized in a church, married in it, and some day they will be buried from it, yet they simply don’t take the time to step inside it to build up their own faith?  How many people don’t you know who are the Creester (Christmas and Easter) Christians?  How many people don’t you know who simply grow lazy in their preparations for Christ’s return and simply slip away from gathering for worship?  How many people don’t you know who are relying on the fact that their parents were members of a particular church is preparedness enough for when Christ returns?  But what does our Savior tell us?  Take a look at verse 10:  “While they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ 12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ 13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:10–13, NIV84)

As Christians, this is what we need to be doing for our Savior.  We need to keep watch because we don’t know when he will be returning to earth.  Though keeping watch for our Savior may not be as exciting as keeping a watch on the different scores of NFL on a Sunday afternoon, if we do not keep watch we will not be ready for the day when our Savior does return.  When our Savior returns that will be the final whistle for the game of our life.  When our Savior returns we will not be able to run around looking for someone to give us faith, because the clock will have run out.  When our Savior returns we will not be able to rely on the faith of others, or our membership in a particular church, because the thing that our Savior will use to judge our preparedness is our faith in him.  We who rely on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who has forgiven our sins will be welcomed into the halls of heaven.  But those who do not believe in Jesus as their Savior will be locked outside of the kingdom of heaven, just like the foolish virgins in our lesson today.

As Christians who have gathered to worship the Lord Jesus our Savior, we are prepared for that day.  We are prepared for the day that when our Savior will return because we believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  We are the wise virgins whose lamps are well trimmed and burning.  We are the wise virgins who continue to feed our faith with the fuel of God’s Word.  We are the wise virgins who are relying on the works of Christ our Savior.  Christ our Savior, who lovingly cleansed every crevice of our hearts with his own blood.  Christ, our Savior, who healed even the deepest of our wounds with the salve of his grace.  Christ, our Savior, who has promised to be with us always, who has promised that through faith in him we will have eternal life; who has promised to return for us to take us to be with him forever in his heavenly kingdom. 

This was the promise that Jesus our Savior made centuries before General Douglas MacArthur was born, and this is the promise that Jesus our Savior will one day keep.  Though we do not know the day or the hour, we know that our Savior will one day return to take us to be with him forever.  Continue to grow in your faith as you read and study the Word of God, so that you will always be ready for the day when our Savior returns.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 9:24-28)

November 6, 2011 

 

Dear friends in Christ.

Believe it or not, the Letter to the Hebrews is one of the few books of the Bible to which we do not know the author.  Though there are many people who believe that it must have been the Apostle Paul who wrote it, there is more than enough evidence to support the idea that it was written by Apollos or even Barnabus.  But whoever wrote this letter was one who had both the solid conviction of salvation through Jesus Christ alone, and knowledge of how Jesus completely fulfilled all foreshadowing of the Jewish religion.  In fact, as the author writes in our lesson this morning, he shows us in no uncertain terms how Jesus is, in fact, our High Priest. 

Now, in order to understand just how Jesus is our High Priest, we have to look back into the Old Testament so that we might see what the duties of the High Priest were.  In those days the High Priest was the one who acted as a representative between the people of Israel and the Lord God, as he was the one who presided over the worship lives of the people.  Though there were quite a number of priests who took care of the temple courts and offered the daily sacrifices, it was the High Priest who took care of the inner sanctuary and offered the sacrifices required for the great Day of Atonement.  On that special day, the High Priest made atonement for the sins of the people as he carried the blood of the sacrifice into the most holy place and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.  On that special day, all sins from the previous year were purged away by an offering that foreshadowed the sacrifice that would be made by our Savior.  For on that day the High Priest was to take a bull and two goats for the sin offering.  He would take the bull, sacrifice it on the altar for his own sins.  Then he would cast lots for the goats, and sacrifice the one that had been chosen by lot.  He would then take the blood of the sacrifice and carry it into the most holy place where he would sprinkle it on he Ark to atone for the sins of the Israelites.  After this had been done, he would come back out, place his hands on the remaining goat, confess all the sins of the people over the goat, and when this was completed, someone would lead that goat out into the wilderness where it would be left to die, symbolizing the departure of Israel's sin and their right relationship with the Lord.

In such a vivid way the Lord foreshadowed exactly what Jesus would do for his people as our High Priest.  For the writer to the Hebrews tells us: "For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people;" (Hebrews 9:24-28)

In the same way that the High Priest sacrificed the Sin offering for the sins of the people, so also Jesus, our High Priest, sacrificed himself for our sins. In the same way that the High Priest would offer the blood of animals sacrificed on the altar for the sins of the Israelites, Jesus, our High Priest offered his blood which he poured out for us on the altar of the cross.  And, as we discovered in Bible Class this past Wednesday, it is very possible that in the same way that the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant, so also Jesus sprinkled his own blood on the Ark of the Covenant in payment of our sins.  Though I cannot prove what I just said, as we learned in Bible Study on Wednesday, it is possible that the Ark of the Covenant was hidden in a cave that was directly under where Jesus was crucified.  It is possible that the blood that Jesus shed and that poured out from him when the soldiers pierced his side flowed down through the crack that opened when the earth quaked at Jesus’ death and dripped down on to the ark below.  Though I cannot prove that things happened this way other than to the testimony of a man named Ron Wyatt, whose discoveries we looked at in Bible Study, considering how God the Father orchestrated the perfect time in history for his Son to be born, die and rise again so that Jesus could completely fulfilled all of God’s law, it becomes completely plausible that the Lord could have made certain that our High Priest’s blood fell on the Mercy Seat of the Ark for our atonement.

Though I realize that this is conjecture and there is nothing in Scripture that clearly says this is the way it happened, we can take comfort in the fact that Scripture does tell us that through his offering, Jesus, our High Priest, made us perfect in the eyes of the Lord our God. Through his atonement, Jesus, our High Priest brought to an end the daily sacrifice.  For even though the Lord had commanded the slaughter of animals for the forgiveness of sins, by the simple fact that those offerings had to be repeated show us that the blood of animals could never take away sins once and for all.  But when Jesus, our High Priest appeared, he sacrificed himself once for all!  When Jesus cried out, "It is finished!" we knew that our salvation was complete!  We knew then that through Jesus' sacrifice our sins have been forgiven and our guilt has been washed away! 

This is the beautiful truth that the writer to the Hebrews is proclaiming in our text today.  For when he wrote these words the Christian Church was feeling the pressure of persecution and the hardships of suffering for the name of Jesus.  Because of this, there were many Jewish Christians who were simply lapsing back into Judaism rather than remaining true to the Christian faith.  Though there was undoubtedly some comfort and assurance that the Jews found in all the rituals and sacrifices that they had grown up with, those who lapsed back into Judaism were giving up so much more than they ever realized.  For those Christians who gave up Christianity for the safety of Judaism were actually giving up and letting go of their eternal Salvation.  This, in fact is what the writer to the Hebrews tells them as he writes: "For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."  (Hebrews 9:24-27).

You see, it was with these words that the writer was telling the people that Jesus was their High Priest who had not only sacrificed himself for their sins, but that he was now sitting at the right hand of God interceding on their behalf.  As we know, after Jesus rose from the dead, he stayed around on the earth appearing to his disciples and many of the faithful believers during a period of forty days.  But after that time, Jesus returned to his Fathers throne in heaven where he now sits at the Father's right hand interceding for us.  But he does not do it as the High Priests of the Old Testament did.  For when they interceded for the people, they came before the throne of God only one time each year and then only with the blood of the sacrifice.  When they did so, they sprinkled that blood on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant where the two cherubim stood.  It was there, at the mercy seat of God, that the priest who carried the sins of the Israelites before the Lord interceded for the people with the blood of the sacrifice.  But, because that blood could not do away with sin once for all, the High Priest had to offer that same sacrifice annually and approach the throne of God to make intercession for the people of Israel.

Jesus, however, did not need to do this.  For when he had sacrificed himself, once for all, Jesus entered heaven once for all so that he might sit at the Father's right hand and make intercession for us.  Now, whenever God the Father looks down on the earth and sees our sins, Jesus does not need to offer his blood again and again to intercede for us.  He does not need to sacrifice himself again and again, as some churches believe, to cover our iniquity.  Rather, Jesus simply points to that single moment in time.  He turns to God our Father and says, "Yes, they are sinners.  They do deserve your wrath and punishment.  But remember the sacrifice you sent me to make.  Remember how I willingly gave my live and shed my blood for their sins.  Remember how I earned the forgiveness that they could not, and made them right in your sight."  It is then, that through Jesus intercession on our behalf, that God the Father turns away from his anger and sees our sins no more.  For through the intercession of Jesus, our High Priest, our God is continually reminded of Jesus' sacrifice made one time for all people, and we are credited with his righteousness and look forward to life forever with him in heaven.

Yes, this is what we as Christians are looking forward to even today.  Though there are times that our sinful natures get the better of us and make us fearful of death, death is something we never need to fear!  We never need to fear it because we have been made right through faith in Jesus Christ our High Priest.  He is the one who sacrificed himself on the cross in order to save us from our sins.  He is the one who sits at the Father's right hand and intercedes on our behalf, and he is the one for whom we are waiting.  For one day, not long from now, Jesus our High Priest will return proclaiming our salvation.  This, in fact, is what the writer to the Hebrews assures us of when he writes: "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:27-28).

This is the day that we are waiting for!  For on that day when the last trumpet sounds, if we are still living on the earth, we will look up to heaven and see our Savior and High Priest returning in the clouds.  We will watch as the bodies of all who died before us are raised from the earth, their souls are reunited with their bodies, and all are gathered before Jesus Christ for Judgment.  For in the same way that the Old Testament High Priest was often called on to decide guilt or innocence in criminal trials, Jesus will decide the guilt or innocence of all who have ever lived on the earth.  For on that day, Jesus will separate the believers from the unbelievers as easily as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.  Those who did not believe in Jesus will be sent away to eternal punishment, but he will gather those who believed in him to himself and take them to his heavenly kingdom where we will live with him forever.

But even if we don't live to see that day from the earth, we do not need to worry.  For when we finally do close our eyes in death, Jesus will send his angels to carry our souls to his side in his heavenly kingdom.  There will live with the Lord forever, returning to the earth only briefly on the Last Day to collect our bodies from the earth.  For on that day when they are raised from the ground Christ will transform them into the glories bodies that we will have in heaven from that time on and forever.  Though on that day we will be gathered before the Lord with all people we will have nothing to fear, because we will be among the believers on his right hand to whom our High Priest will say, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the beginning of the world."

This is the super sufficiency of Jesus Christ our High Priest.  Though all who served as High Priest in the Old Testament fulfilled the roles the Lord would have them play, they were only shadows of what was to come in Jesus Christ our Lord.  For Jesus is our High Priest.  He is the one who sacrificed himself for our sins.  He is the one who entered heaven as our intercessor, and he is the one who will return to give salvation to all who are waiting for him.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN