1.
Please pray with
me. May the words of my mouth and the
meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. Dear Judy, Lori, Scott, and all these loved
ones of our beloved brother in Christ, Bud Keller: May God’s grace and peace be
to you as we commemorate the homecoming of our departed brother in Christ to
the place prepared for him in our Heavenly Father’s house. The message today is taken from Revelation
7:9-17, and is entitled, “The Blessed Vision,” dear brothers and sisters
in Christ.
2.
Bud Keller was a
great man. A great Dad, Husband, and
Grandfather and he was such a wonderful guy to me, his Pastor these last 5
years. Bud was always trying to look out
for his family and friends and trying to do right by them. He loved to hunt, fish, and shoot his gun at
the range outside of town. In fact, I
learned a thing or two about Sturgeon spearing from Bud on Lake Poygan in my
Pastoral visits with him and Judy when I came by to give them God’s Word and
the Lord’s Supper. Bud was a devoted
layman who was always involved with fixing things here around the church. In fact, there’s still a file cabinet with
his name on it here in our Church library.
3.
Bud and Judy have
been members of this community here in West Bloomfield and of our Church at
Christ Lutheran for some time. They even
owned a Bar and Grill here in town for a while.
I remember when I was first installed as Pastor here at the Dual Parish,
I was coming back from my installation at Calvary Waupaca when there was a
major accident outside of what was then, Goodie’s Bar. Highway 49 was completely blocked off. My family was waiting in the minivan and I
remember Bud and Judy invited us into their home for awhile and made us feel
welcome as we waited for the road to open up again. I can also still see Bud on his big red
tractor cutting the lawn here at Church.
One other memory of Bud was when we first installed the hearing loop to
our Church sound system. When he was
able to use it for the first time Bud was overjoyed. He said to me, “Pastor the new hearing
system is wonderful, I could hear you breathing, your footsteps, the ruffling
of your clothes, and every single word you said.” After that, I was really careful on what
I said under my breath now that the new hearing system was put in.
4.
Dear friends you
heard the reading from the Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John the Apostle.
Jesus revealed, and St. John looked,
and what did he see? “Behold,” a blessed
vision, a great multitude that no one could number, a crowd so big, clothed
in white robes, standing before the throne and the Lamb. Standing there, with
him! And what did John hear? Crying . . . but a joyous cry, the kind of crying with no tears!
5.
Now we are looking, and what do we
see, and what do we hear? We see the cremains of our
loved one, Bud Keller. A sad reality
before us, and so crying, the kind with tears. For we see death this side of heaven, in this valley of sorrow. We see where
bodies grow weaker, where our bodily powers slowly leave us and our systems
shut down. If we’re wise, we also see our own end and learn to number our
days—that there is death because of our sin. There is burial to come. We wish
we could make “manage” it somehow, make the sting not so sharp. But we
can’t. Here is death among us. You see it and know it. Not John’s beautiful
vision revealed from Jesus, but ours this afternoon
before our eyes. We weep, we cry.
6.
What can we do with death, with the sin that brings death, the death we
carry in ourselves, in our bodies that still give
every appearance of life and living? What can we do? We can do nothing . . .
but cry, shed tears. Cry and repent of our sins. Cry for salvation from death and sin and the curse. And we do! For as
Christians, we’re not like those who have no hope. But, with confidence, a
certainty, the kind Bud had even as his time drew closer: his readiness, his
hope, his Christ.
7.
St. John “looked”
there and saw the blessed vision. Now you look
too! Behold, it’s real! And the cry—listen to them standing around the throne
before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. They
cry out with voices loud and firm with the worship of heaven’s glorious song
and chorus, their confidence: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!” (v 10), they say. It belongs to Jesus . . . and he has given it to us!
And all of heaven joins in—the angels and all the rest, the whole host of
heaven worships and “cries out” their happy “Amen! Blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever
and ever! [Yeah!] Amen” (v 12). A crying out with a loud voice, an eternal
exclamation of joy . . . because the Lamb was slain—he
died. Jesus knows the sting of death you know, the
sting today, and the blood he shed from the cross
washed Bud and you, the whole host arrayed in white: ransomed, healed,
restored, forgiven.
8.
For Christ the
Lamb was slain for you, for our dear brother in Christ Bud!
Jesus’ chest was “still” after no more reaching for air, pinned to the
wood of the cross. No breath. No pulse in him. That’s what the crowd on
Golgotha saw. Now that seems like the worst, most
horrible, vision of all, that there’s no hope at all! “O sorrow dread! Our
God is dead,” as the Lenten hymn (LSB 448:2) puts
it so bluntly. But, let St. John preach this Revelation vision right! John
writes, “Salvation belongs to our God,” and he gave it to Bud, baptized
into Christ’s death and resurrection.
9.
In one of his
Epistles in the New Testament the same Apostle John writes, “Dear friends,
now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is.” (1 John 3: 2) As a Pastor, people ask me all the time, “What
will heaven be like?” From what Scripture tells us, heaven is a place of
perfect joy and happiness. It’s interesting to note, however, that Scripture
often speaks of heaven in terms of what won’t be there. This is because we’re
sinful human beings living in a sinful world. We have not experienced perfect
joy and happiness, and we can’t imagine what that will be like. Scripture
speaks in terms of sin with all its sorrows being absent from heaven. This
gives us a picture of what our heavenly existence will be. St. John received a
revelation of the new heaven and the new earth. He described it as a place
where all sin is removed. Death, mourning, crying and pain will be things of
the past. Believers will live eternally in the presence of their loving Savior.
John said of those in heaven, “They are before the throne of God and serve
him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his
tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The
sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center
of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living
water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:
15-17).
10.
In heaven we will
be confirmed in holiness, freed from the corruption of sin so we may serve our
Lord forever in righteousness. We shall have the same bodies, but they will be
glorified, patterned after the glorious resurrection body of Jesus. What glory
we have to look forward to! What joy will be ours! Yet, this joy also serves us
now. In this life our eyes are often clouded with tears. Because we live in a
world corrupted by sin, we experience pain and heartache.
11.
When we become
burdened by the problems of this life, we need to remember the words of John, “Dear
friends, now we are children of God … But when he appears, we shall be like
him.” We have joy that makes life worth living. We have hope that takes the
fear out of dying. Praise the God of our salvation for the hope he has given us! So St. John looked, and behold, a great
vision. And real. Bud has it, for he has Christ, or better said, Christ has him.
You’ve heard it. And you will see it too.
As the hymn writer puts it, “O sweet and blessed country, the home of
God’s elect! O sweet and blessed country that eager hearts expect! Jesus, in
mercy bring us to that dear land of rest, Who art, with God the Father and
Spirit, ever blest.” (LSB 672) Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all
understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life
everlasting. Amen.
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