The Vision We See and Song We Hear :: Revelation 7:7-19; John 11:11-27, 38-53 :: Funeral of ElDean Wachs
Dear Curtis and Steve ... dear family and friends ... dear brothers and sisters in Christ ... all of you who have gathered today to commemorate ElDean Arthur Wachs: Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
You heard the reading from The Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the apostle. In chapter 7, Jesus revealed ... and behold, Saint John saw ... a great crowd that no one was able to number ... [a great crowd] out of every nation and tribe and people and tongues ... Behold, this great crowd was standing before the throne and before the Lamb! And behold, they were clothed in white robes!
And what did Saint John hear? ... He heard crying and singing ... He heard the kind of crying that has no tears ... the kind of crying that is an exclamation of joy at the full realization that Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb! (v 10). He heard the eternal song of Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen! (v 12)
To use the Word of God through the Prophet Isaiah is being fulfilled here that ... Behold ... I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people (Isa 65:19). The sound of weeping will be gone! The cries of distress will be gone! The song of the saints will ring and sing forever.
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Yet now we are looking ... And what do we see? ... what do we hear?
We see the sting of death ... the casket of our beloved ElDean. We see a sad reality if only for today. Death has taken our joy. It has silenced on earth the beautiful bass of ElDean’s voice. We see a body that had been crippled ... that had become so weak he couldn’t stand any more. ... We see how our bodies shut down. And if we are wise, we see our own end and learn to number our own days.
We wish we could make death and burial softer. We wish we could “manage” it somehow. We wish we could dull its sting. But we can’t.
Not yet.
What we see and hear isn’t Saint John’s beautiful vision revealed by our Lord Jesus. We see only a shadow of it. So we weep. What else can we do?
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Our Lord Jesus came from heaven above to earth below for this reason. He came to see what we see and to hear what we hear. Jesus saw the death of his loved ones. Jesus loved Lazarus (11:5). So he wept (11:35). Behold, Jesus saw, and heard, and felt what sin does to us. As Saint Paul writes in 1 Corinthians and Philippians ... For our sake, he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself, having taken the form of a servant, born in the likeness of me. ... He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Pp 2:5-7).
Yes, Jesus knows too well what sin does to us.
Thus, our God in the flesh not only has sympathy and empathy for our plight, he has compassion for us, too. Christ died with your sin so that you might live forever with him.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was seen (1 Cor 15:1-5a).
Now ... because of Christ’s compassion ... we too can cry out, I know that he ... yes, even ElDean ... will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Why? Because as Jesus said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me though he die, yet will he live (Jn 11:24-25).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have ... like Martha and our brother ElDean ... a confidence in Christ that grows stronger each time we hear the Gospel that God has come to us, that God redeemed us, and sanctified us in Christ. He has come to give new life to ElDean and even you. ... He has come to give us the white robes of his righteousness. Our Lord Jesus Christ has lived for you, suffered for you, died for you, risen from the dead for you, and ascended in the heavens to prepare a place for you. We have seen him and heard his voice, and can now testify to this one truth. As Jesus asked Martha, Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? ... And having lifted his eyes, Jesus said Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around, I spoke in order that they may have faith that you sent me (Jn 11:40-42).
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, we do not suffer like those who have no hope. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He who has faith in him will live forever. And we know that ElDean beheld the Gospel and heard the Gospel. We heard him sing the Gospel. And now he sees the Gospel. We have heard him sing the song of the saints ... that Hallelujah! Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
Behold ... Jesus gives us life!
Hear the cry of those clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
Listen to those standing before the throne.
THERE IS FOR ELDEAN, AND FOR ALL THE BLESSED DEAD, THIS VISION OF SAINT JOHN FULFILLED.
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Then one of the elders addressed [John] saying who are these clothed in white stoles, and from where have they come? [And John said], Sir, you know. And he said ... These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation ... that is, those on this side of heaven, those in this valley of tears. They are like ElDean ... one of the baptized in Christ ... who knew this Baptism now saves you (1 Pet 3:21). They are the ones rejoicing. They are the ones serving God day and night in his temple. They neither hunger nor thirst.
As Saint Paul tells us in Galatians: I have been crucified with Christ. Now it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. And now the life I live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Rm 2:19b-20).
And so it is with ElDean today. And someday soon his body will rise too ... released from the cords of death that envelope us. And we will see with eyes wide open in the resurrected life ... hearts that have long stopped beating again in the resurrection of the body. We will see the Lamb coming on the clouds from the right hand of God. For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Rv 7:17) ... In Jesus’ name.