What Death is Not

"One of the seven angels... came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper… (Revelation 21:9-11 NIV)

Two old men who had been life long baseball fans were talking last week after watching their beloved Cubs and Red Sox lose in the playoffs. Soon the conversation turned to death and heaven. They wondered if there would be baseball in heaven. So they made a promise to one another, that whoever died first would come back and tell the other whether there was baseball in heaven.

Well sure enough one of the men died that very night. At the funeral the other man was standing at the graveside after everyone else had left remembering his dearly departed when all of the sudden the dead man appeared and stood in front of him. The dead man said, Listen fast, I only have a minute, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there is baseball in heaven, and I’m pinch hitting for Babe Ruth next inning.”

“That’s incredible,” said his friend, “What’s the bad news?”

“You’re pitching tomorrow!”

Death is something we would rather not talk about. So we make jokes and tell stories to attempt to easy our discomfort with the topic. We are surrounded by death. It is everywhere that we turn, in our newspapers, news reports, movies and on TV. We talk about it at work in school at home. Death and dying are so thoroughly ingrained into our culture and life that it takes a tragedy to make us stop and give thought to what has happened. Every day the news reports that 1 or 2 or 3 more soldiers are killed in Iraq; when a car accident kills a couple of people we say how sad and move on; occasionally we are reminded that thousands of babies are killed every day by choice and we say that’s to bad and move on. Death has become such a regular part of our existence, that unless it’s someone we know personally, we don’t give it much thought. Our familiarity the death has led to a kind of apathy about what it is and what it is not. This morning I want us to consciously and intentionally think about death. What are those things that we associate with death? Hospitals, accidents, sickness disease, pain, sorrow funerals and cemeteries…

Today on the festival of All Saint’s the church calendar turns her eyes to those who have died. However, it is not a morbid rehashing of the good life they lead; this celebration is not a group eulogy. For those who die in faith death is less like a funeral than it is a heavenly wedding. That’s the way it’s described in Revelation 21. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”" (Revelation 21:1-4, NIV)

Satan the great deceiver and father of all lies desires for us to believe that death is limited to grief and sorrow. And in one sense death is about a certain grief. There can be no doubt about the overwhelming sense of loss anyone of us feels when someone we love dies. It doesn’t matter if is our 96 year old mother or a 39 year old father of 3 or a 3 month old baby. It hurts and this pain in our heart is real and can not be easily removed. Even Christ himself felt that sting of death when Lazarus died, he cried.

But the legitimate grief and bona fide sorrow that accompanies the death of some one for whom we care is not the sum total of what death is for the believer. Because Jesus has purchased us back from death and has won for us victory over death we have a hope unlike the rest of the world. We can say with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 "“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 15:55-57, NIV)

For us who believe and are baptized, death has more in common with a wedding than a funeral. A wedding is when the bride comes to the groom and they are united until death parts them. Verse 9 of our epistle texts says: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb”. Several times in the Bible, believers are called the bride of Christ. That is you and me! We are the bride of Christ. All people who believe in Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, in this world and in heaven, are called the bride, or wife, of the Lamb, Jesus. All people who believe in Jesus are also called saints. We are saints. Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day. Today, we celebrate ourselves as saints and as the bride of Christ; and especially, we rejoice in our Bridegroom, Jesus.

I can not help but remember Walter and Myrna Binnebose when Walter died the first words Myrna spoke when I arrived at the bedside were, “He lived His whole life for this day!”

There is no doubt about the love of your heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus. We are the wife of the Lamb. Our name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. Our Husband is the Lamb who was slain for us. The scars in his hands, side, and feet are a reminder of how much he loves us. Moreover, he was willing to sacrifice himself for us so he could have us. We remember the measure of his love every time we say “for you” in the Lord’s Supper. Listen for it as the bread and wine are consecrated. “This is my body, which is given for you ... This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins”

Marriage and family are continually under attack physically and morally. Every husband who loves his wife rises to her defense when she is threatened. He prepares a safe home for her. The home our Bridegroom has prepared for us is amazing. “On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there” (v 25).

As in ancient times, we have gates around our cities for safety, although we call these gates policemen. When it gets dark evil comes to attack us and our “gates” protect us. The gates of heaven need never be shut. “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (v 27). In our heavenly marriage, “the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (vv 23—24). There are no electric bills because our Husband owns the city.

Like most marriages there is to protect one another from those things that would cause hurt. So to our groom Christ has made provisions or our protection by removing death and mourning and crying and pain. And all other things that we bring upon ourselves because of sin. He took them to the cross and there he left them. And like many newlyweds our groom is giving us a new home; a heavenly Jerusalem that has been prepared just for us His Bride. A home with many rooms and the best of meats and the finest of aged wines are served on a banquet table. And we will dwell with Him forever.

In the wedding ceremony the pastor asks the bridal couple to pledge their faithfulness until death parts them, but in this spiritual union death has been defeated and we shall reign in the wonders of God’s New City for all eternity.

The Festival of All Saints is not about remembering our dead like pulling the scabs of old sores only to hurt once again, but this is a reminder of that we are the bride of our heavenly groom. Because we believe, we know that death is not the end, but is the beginning of a beautiful life together with Christ forever. We can say with all those who have gone before, “We lived our whole life for this day.”