All Saints Day November
4, 2012
Revelation 7:9-17 No
More Tears
Dear fellow redeemed,
Johnson & Johnson wants bath time to be a pleasant experience.
So they designed “No More Tears” for young children and
babies.
* I guess buying
this shampoo is the mother’s way of saying, “don’t cry.”
“I’ll take care of
you. You don’t have to be sad.”
* But how realistic
is this? Won’t they see the water and
make the same connection they
made before. “Bath time means soap in the eyes.”
* “At the very
least, dragging me to this tub means I’m done playing.
It means I’m going to
have to go to bed soon. No More Tears?!“
Sometimes we may question how realistic God is trying to comfort
the believer.
* We’re told he’ll “wipe away every tear” from our eyes.
There will be no
more hunger, no more thirst, no more scorching
heat.
In heaven
everything will be perfect. Weeping and crying will be a thing of the past.
* Really? “Well, I appreciate what you promise me,
God.
“But is that supposed to
help me quit my crying at this time?”
“Somehow I’m not feeling especially comforted by it.
Look at what’s going on with my health, my family, my business, my
country.”
Do you feel you have good reason for crying today?
To be perfectly honest, crying is a part of our lives. Everyone
cries at some point.
* Unless you’re
extremely strong emotionally or maybe detached from others, sooner or
later you find a reason for
shedding a tear or two.
* Some may explain
it saying certain hormones are affected by certain nerves stimulated by
the brain. This is brought on by undue sadness, pain or
fear.
* Or we might
explain it on the basis of Scripture.
“There is a time to weep .
. . a time to mourn” Solomon writes.
* That is to say,
because “the wages of sin is death,” weeping and mourning are inevitable
for every single one of us.
* So why would God try to console us talking about a time when
there will be NO More
Tears? Again, is he suggesting we can stop our
crying right now?
Meanwhile, some will point out that it’s a good thing to cry.
* For one thing, it
offers relief. When a love one dies it’s
unhealthy to keep your grief
* bottled up. Psychologically you need to release what’s
inside.
* That’s what my
family and I did seventeen years ago today when our father, and mom’s
husband, Dr. Robert Preus, died
of heart failure.
* Crying also shows
we’re human. We’re vulnerable just like
everyone else.
* Some would like to
think that crying is unmanly. But if
your wife is like mine, she loves
to discover your feminine side
when you’re watching some gushy movie on t.v.
* Just when you’re
sure if your eyes tear up any further it’s over, sure enough that’s when
she grabs a glance from you,
spotting that single tear rolling down the cheek.
* What’s more, crying
can be a means of showing empathy and support.
In some cultures,
weeping out loud at a funeral,
and quite loudly I might add, is an important tradition.
* Remember when Jairus’s daughter
died? The people were wailing so loudly
that
Jesus had to send them outside before raising the girl from the
dead.
It’s possible they were
hired. Professional wailers were the
in-thing.
It’s not that God would argue against crying. The Lord encourages
a good cry.
Crying can be quite therapeutic.
* But that’s not the only reason we cry. God has more in mind than crying over life’s
situation. We cry on account of life’s sins. Crying demonstrates that we are
contrite.
We’re sorry for
transgressing God’s Law.
* Joel writes: “Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart,
with
fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning.”
* It’s good to cry.
Like everyone else on earth, we do not meet God’s
requirement for perfection.
Because of our sin, in fact, we fall short in fulfilling
our obligations to every single
person we serve.
* Everyday we sin against God and
against one another. So we cry, we
mourn.
It may get to the point where it seems like our crying will never
end.
* David states in Psalm 6: “I am
weary with my moaning; every night I flood my
bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.”
* And we too
are weary. We’re weary because it’s come
to our attention the many sins
we’ve committed against our loved
ones and our our neighbors.
And we wonder,
“Why do I keep hurting those who mean so much to me?”
* And we’re weary on
account of our sinful nature, the wages of sin which eventually cost
us our life. After the latest
fall, the latest issues with our heart, the latest surgery, the latest
therapy, the latest bout of cancer,
chemo and radiation, we’ve had it!
* The older we get
the less endurance we have, the less strength or incentive to hold on to
life. Each year we get a little weaker until
finally one day we concede: “Okay, death.
You win!”
For some, it would seem that day comes prematurely.
* If you know
someone who’s ended their life through suicide, you may remember your
first thoughts upon hearing the
news. Why couldn’t he hold on just a
little longer?
* It’s something few
may truly understand unless you personally have suffered from major
depression or a depressive
illness of some kind.
* As much as you may want to think about a better day, your
illness prevents you from
focusing on anything except
what’s wrong with you and your life.
* Others may be heard asking you, “Why are you feeling so
hopeless, so sad?”
“Look at your
wonderful life. Aside from what you
perceive this day, look at the children
you have, your friends, your
spouse, your parents!”
* But if you’re
suffering from the disease of hopelessness, you have a different perspective.
In your mind, your life or your condition will never get
better. Death is imminent.
* Many, in fact,
believe they deserve to die. “I’ve
utterly failed those I love. I’m the
scum
of the earth and no one should
have to put up with the likes of me, not even God!”
* That’s how my first wife Jean felt â before she took her
life.
As you may imagine, some will ask whether it’s even
possible for a Christian to think this
way, focusing only on the
negative. How could he do this? Why
would she do this?
The answer is very simple.
Sin’s effects each of us, our natures, in
different ways, and how we’re
effected sometimes it’s very difficult to predict.
* But, in as much as
every one of us has been conceived in sin, there’s a better question to
ask than “how?” or “why?” regardless
of how a loved one is taken from us.
The question is:
“who?”
* Who will deliver
me from my sinful nature? Who will restore me to health?
Who will give me
hope, in light of my deteriorating condition; my heart disease, my
osteoporosis, my emphysema, my Alzheimer’s, my cancer?
Who will rescue
and save me?
* “Wretched man that I am!” Paul exclaims. “Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25a).
And what a day that will be: to see only what is holy without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing!
* Instead of seeing
this wicked world where we can’t help despising ourselves
even more
than our enemies, we’ll see a
great multitude of saints from every nation, tribe, people
and language.
* “Who are these, clothed in white robes? . . . From where have they
come?”
“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.”
* “Coming out” is a
reference to those who are still standing in the end.
They’ve survived their persecution and their tears.
And the color white represents holiness in the sight of God.
* Keep in mind these
robes are not white by nature. They are
made white, and the
cleansing agent is Christ’s blood; his death which removes
every symptom or mark of sin.
“They have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb” we’re told.
* We’re speaking of
those who believe in the atoning death of their Savior.
Regardless of the many things sin throws at frail human beings, by
faith in Christ,
they survived their tribulation.
Instead of looking down, by God’s grace they looked
ahead to the day which has now arrived.
In addition to mentioning white robes, St. John speaks of palm
branches in their hands which
represent the believer’s victory over sin, death and the devil.
* Scripture’s first
image consisting of palm branches depicts a humble King marching into
war and his own death. But here
we see a glorified King who permits us a share in his
victory.
* And there’s more we can see. Instead of persecutors intent
on destroying God, we’ll see
angels surrounding every corner of the throne worshiping God.
* Instead of man with his arrogant boasts about saving a
corrupt and decaying earth, we’ll
see the Lamb in the midst of the throne, our shepherd
guiding us to springs of living
water.
* Instead of
poverty, disease, starvation and death, we’ll see a land where we “shall hunger
no more, neither thirst anymore;
(where) the sun shall not strike (us), nor any scorching
heat.”
* Instead of having
a reason for shedding tears, our God “will
wipe away every tear from
(our) eyes.”
If you think about it, wiping away our own tears is a way of concealing
our sorrow.
But wiping away someone else’s tears is a way of comforting
that person in their sorrow.
* That’s God’s plan
for those who have come out of the great tribulation, except that when
God wipes away our tears it will include the last
tear of sorrow ever shed.
* Sometimes we may
doubt that. How do I know God’s words
are any more relevant than
the latest shampoo commercial for
kids?
* It’s been said
that to be human is to err or to sin.
One may deduce
from this that in heaven we will continue to get into trouble, unless
we’re no longer human in the true
sense.
* But that isn’t really true.
Were Adam and Eve truly human before they fell into sin?
Sure they were.
* It may be more appropriate to say: to be human is to cry.
No. We won’t weep because of life’s tribulations,
or because of death and sorrow.
In heaven there will be No
More Tears of this kind.
* But we will weep for joy.
Our tears will represent the fact that sin, which is the cause of
every type of grief, is a former reality.
* In the words of
John from Revelation twenty-one: “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.” Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Preached at St. John’s,
Corcoran, MN
