I
can't watch surgery shows on TV. I'm sorry. I know that what the
surgeon is doing is healing, but that's hidden under all the knives
and the cutting (which seem like the very opposite of healing.) John
knows a thing or two about that. John sees all the glory of the
heavenly Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God. But where does he
see this vision? He himself tells us: “I,
John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and
the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called
Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
(Rev
1:9 ESV)”. John is given such a vision of the
comfort that belongs to all Christians, even if it is hidden under
suffering and persecution.
The good gifts of God for the Church are hidden on earth but still
real, and not hidden in heaven.
Rev. 21 and 22 describe the reality of the Church that isn't seen
but is real; but we're attacked by what we can see. What we can see
is our uncleanness/unholiness, our sickness, and our being in the
dark. John writes that nothing unclean will ever enter the heavenly
Jersusalem. But we see our uncleanness. Our uncleanness/unholiness
is from an unholy nature performing unholy acts. And yet we try to
work our way up to holy. No one has yet succeeded at that.
John writes that the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing
of the nations. And we do see that the world is sick, that we
ourselves are sick. Our sickness is from a sick nature performing
sick acts that cause more sickness. And yet we try all sorts of
'home remedies' that never work, which are all idolatry – that we
look to ourselves for our highest good,
John writes that in the heavenly
Jerusalem “night will be no more.” But we see that we ourselves
are in the dark. Our being in the dark is from fleeing from the
light of God's Word. And yet we attempt to think our way to
enlightenment outside of God's Word, which only leads to darker and
darker stuff (genocide in war and abortion along with the rest of the
list in Rev. 22:15 “Outside
[the heavenly Jerusalem] are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually
immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and
practices falsehood.”
None of those sound very enlightened to me.)
Transition: As sinners we can see our sin, though only clearly
through the Word. Our holiness is hidden from us, because it doesn't
come from us. But the Church is always tempted to prefer what is
visible rather than what is hidden.
The Church is attacked by the temptation of what we can see rather
than what's real. The Church is attacked by the desire for physical
signs of success that we can see. We can see only danger. But that
can't be right. The Church is full of glory, so we should be able to
see that in the Church. Tell that to John, who doesn't see success
and glory when he looks at the Church. He sees the danger of
persecution and exile.
Success is hidden in Christ and his work, and not in the work the
Church does to make itself presentable to Christ (through virtue of
her Baptism, she is already declared a success, that she is Christ's
kingdom). The Church is always tempted to say “Look at us. Look
at all we're doing.” Who are we selling ourselves to? God? He
always says, “Look at Christ. Look at what he has done for you.”
The world? It's hard to sell yourself to the world when you're not
even displaying the goods – the things that God has done in Christ
to bring about and preserve the Church. But again, those are the
things that have a hidden glory.
The Church is attacked by the desire to look with our eyes rather
than our ears. To see with our ears is to believe God's Word rather
than what we can see.– 'The Church is dying' v. 'The Church lives
because Christ lives'. 'The Church is boring' v. 'The Church speaks
forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body and life everlasting,
which you can't get anywhere else'. God's Word is so wonderful that
it's more real than what we can see.
Transition: And here's what God says about the glory of his Church.
The glory of the Church will be
seen at the end, but is real now because Christ's cross and
resurrection are real. Only at the end of all things will what we
see with our eyes line up with what we see with our ears. In heaven
we will see that Christ lives when we see the living Christ face to
face. In heaven we will see the resurrection of the body when, at
the end, we will look at our resurrected bodies. In heaven we will
see the life everlasting when we see that we keep on living and will
never die. We confess these things now, and they are real know, but
we see them with our ears now. But in heaven our eyes and ears will
agree.
In heaven we will see the holiness of the Church, our healing, and
the light that shines on us. But they are still real now. We will
totally see the holiness of the Church that it is from God. We will
totally see the healing that comes from Christ's cross which has won
forgiveness for us. We will totally see that we have no need of
light for the glory of God will be our light, and the Lamb our lamp.
We will totally see all these things clearly and gloriously. But
that doesn't mean they're not real now.
Nothing common enters the heavenly Jerusalem. Common is the word
for the things that weren't set apart as holy for use in the temple
in the Old Testament. Where God dwells, that's a place where only
holy things can be, as he himself is holy. So how is it that nothing
common will enter the heavenly Jerusalem? Aren't we poor, miserable
sinners? How can we enter the Church on earth and in heaven?
Because Christ imparts his own holiness by the forgiveness of sins by
which you are justified by faith not works. And that's real now.
In Revelation 21 John sees the tree of life. That sounds familiar
from Genesis 1, the Garden of Eden. But it has a feature not
described in Genesis 1: “The leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations.” Even the leaves of the tree of life are
good for healing, because God is so good at giving life, because he
alone is the source of life and healing as the only true God (take
that idols!). And that's real now.
[Aside – The Triune God is the
only and true God. Therefore he alone is to be praised. Praise is
real, a true worship of the only Lord will be seen in heaven and is
seen now (but perfected in heaven). It's the only thing we do on
earth that we'll do in heaven.]
Revelation 22:5 ends “They
will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their
light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
We sing: Christ is the world's light, he and no other.
Born
in our darkness, he became our brother. If we have seen him we have
seen the Father: Glory to God on high!
And the only glory is the glory that is founded upon the death and
resurrection of our Savior. We can't find his glory apart from his
mercy, apart from his saving Word.
In the Church now, the glory of the cross, the power of the means of
grace, and our own holiness is hidden, but at the end won't be. And
these things are hidden that you may trust in God and not yourself.
At the present time, these are hidden under their opposites (glory
under danger, forgiveness under water, words, bread and wine,
holiness under daily repentance - the glory of the cross under the
danger of confessing Christ crucified; the forgiveness of sins given
to you under ordinary physical elements. And our holiness is hidden.
We can't see each other the way that God looks at us in Christ,
perfect and spotless. But this is so that we may confess that the
holiness is not from us, but from God in Christ, and the only way to
know that is to hear it in the Word.).
Finally, even in death our life in and from God is hidden, that we
may trust in God alone and not avoid the issue [Pres. Semmler made
this point powerfully and multiple times during Synod. He said,
“When you bury me, don't say I “passed away”. I died. If you
say 'passed away', I'll come back. He said it because he won't avoid
the issue of death because he won't avoid the issue of the
resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting and the New
Jerusalem coming out of heaven from God, which we will see clearly
then, but is real now. It also refers back to a quote from old
Lutheran pastor Claus Harms. At the time of the Prussian Union, from
which some of our ancestors fled, he wrote “Don't do this [Union]
over Luther's bones, or they will come to life, and woe to you!”].
Conclusion: This is a comfort.
But when it comes to this Word, when it comes to this comfort, and
all that is hidden in the life of the Church on earth, it's good to
let Dr. Luther have the last word:
“we can profit by this book and make good use of it. First, for our comfort! We can rest assured that neither force nor lies, neither wisdom nor holiness, neither tribulation nor suffering shall suppress Christendom, but it will gain the victory and conquer at last.
Second, for our warning! [We can be on guard] against the great, perilous, and manifold offense that inflicts itself upon Christendom. Because these mighty and imposing powers are to fight against Christendom, and it is to be deprived of outward shape and concealed under so many tribulations and heresies and other faults, is impossible for the natural reason to recognize Christendom. On the contrary, natural reason falls away and takes offense. It calls that “the Christian Church” which is really the worst enemy of the Christian Church. Similarly, it calls those persons damned heretics who are really the true Christian Church. This has happened before, under the papacy, under Mohammed, indeed with all the heretics. Thus they lose this article [of the Creed], “I believe in the holy Christian Church.”
This is why natural reason cannot recognize it, even if it puts on all its glasses. The devil can cover it over with offenses and divisions, so that you have to take offense at it. God too can conceal it behind faults and shortcomings of all kinds, so that you necessarily become a fool and pass false judgment on it. Christendom will not be known by sight, but by faith. And faith has to do with things not seen, Hebrews 11[:1]. Christendom joins with her Lord in the song, “Blessed is he who takes no offense at me” [Matt. 11:6]. A Christian is even hidden from himself; he does not see his holiness and virtue, but sees in himself nothing but unholiness and vice. And you, stupid know-it-all, would behold Christendom with your blind reason and unclean eyes!
In a word, our holiness is in heaven, where Christ is; and not in the world, before men’s eyes, like goods in the market place. Therefore let there be offenses, divisions, heresies, and faults; let them do what they can! If only the word of the gospel remains pure among us, and we love and cherish it, we shall not doubt that Christ is with us, even when things are at their worst. As we see here in this book, that through and beyond all plagues, beasts, and evil angels Christ is nonetheless with his saints, and wins the final victory.”
Amen.
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