“Fear Not…even when death do us part!”                             (Wk 4 in series : Sermon: 1.31.10; Wellspring Church; Rev. J. Moschenrose )

John 14:1-7, Hebrews 2:14-15, Rev. 21:1-7

We are in week four of our six-week series on learning to exchange fear with faith.  We’ve learned that the root of our fear is a lack of trust and faith in God, so our goal is to increase our faith and trust.  We also talked about our fear of not mattering to God, and were reminded that God loves us completely, unfailingly, and unconditionally.  We matter so much to God that He has ordained our every moment of life, and knows how many hairs are on our heads.  Or our ears, if our hair has relocated…

Last week we confessed our sin regarding our distrust of God’s unconditional forgiveness.  We know we’ve disappointed God too many times to count, and when we cannot fully forgive ourselves and others, there’s a part of us deep down that doubts that God fully forgives us.  This is another example of us making God in our own image….

And today we talk about our fear of the inescapable end of our lives.  We cannot avoid death, though we try to do so in a myriad of ways.  Jesus didn’t, of course…  Jesus spoke openly and frequently about his death toward the end of his life, because he wanted us to understand that his death would take the power out of the Enemy’s control over our death.  Hebrews 2:14-15 teach that by embracing death, taking it into himself, Jesus destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.”   Or as the King James Version puts it, Jesus delivers those who through fear of death spend their lifetimes subject to bondage.  Fear is bondage, isn’t it?

Do you know anyone like that?  Do you know anyone who cowers through life, scared to death of death, held in the bondage of the fear of death?  My next-door neighbor Mrs. Steketee was like that after she turn 75.  Everyone in her family had died by the time they were 80, so when she turned 75, she figured her number was up any day.  My family members older than my parents’ generation also died young, so my mother talked many times with our dear friend and surrogate grandmother Mrs. Steketee about how to be assured that she would go be with Jesus when she died.  But there was no convincing Mrs. Steketee.  She never was a church-going person, but her image of God was fearsome and vengeful.  We always thought her father must have been a mean man in order for her to have such fear of God.  And it didn’t make any sense to her that there was actually a place called heaven that had streets of gold.  Proof for her of the fallacy of this belief was the NASA space program’s findings when they showed photos of space and the moon.  “Where are these streets of gold?” she’d ask with a blend of fear and mockery in her voice.  “The astronauts didn’t run into them, and they saw everything that was out there.”  

So Mrs. Steketee lived the last fifteen years of life in bondage to her fear.  She never ventured past her front porch, until at 89 years of age she fell and broke a hip, and was carried out of her home and ended up in an even more confined space, half of a room in a nursing home.  

Mrs. Steketee’s fear resulted in a very limited life, sadly.  And even though she may be an extreme example of those whose fear leads to physical confinement, many people share her distrust of an actual place called heaven, and have nagging concerns that death of their bodies may indeed be the end of them in every respect.

We can’t cover every Biblical passage today that deals with death – there are many that say essentially that to be absent in body is to be present with God.  But let’s look at the chapter in the book of Revelation that most vividly describes heaven, Revelation chapter 21.  If you have your Bibles open to Revelation 21 beginning with verse 10, you will notice that what is popularly referred to as heaven is actually described here as the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.   The streets of gold, the radiance, the walls of jewels such as sapphire, agate, emerald, and onyx, and each gate made of a single pearl and so forth are actually describing what God will bring to earth at the end of the age, when God’s kingdom shall be brought forth and reign in all its fullness.  John is not trying to tell us here where we will go when we die.  This is not the first heaven – it’s the second heaven, which will come at the end of the age, as we know it.   

Let’s read this chapter from it’s beginning to get a better understanding of the vision John was given, and a better understanding of the afterlife.  For indeed, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  Follow along as I read, Revelation 21 beginning with verse 1.  (READ)

Even though John is here describing the second heaven, that is, the reality that will exist when God brings forth His kingdom on earth in it’s fullness and glory, we can still discern key elements of the experience God’s people will have immediately after death.  Because as Jesus promises, and is reiterated several times in the Christian Testament, Jesus will take us unto himself upon our passing from this life, even if that first heaven looks different from the second heaven, as described here in Revelation.  There are at least four theological themes in John’s vision that we can trust will be present in our experience upon our deaths.

I was greatly enlightened this week by an article by Harold T. Bryson titled, “An Authorized Look into the Life Beyond”1.  Bryson notes that in the new heaven and earth, “…all of the impediments to life with God and his people are overcome, and all of the obstacles to intimacy are removed.” 

In verse 2 “John saw the New Jerusalem ‘coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.’ “  The symbol of a bride and groom portrays “…the greatest earthly intimacy between two human beings on a life of pilgrimage together.”  Just think about that.  Everything that now comes between us and God – everything that prevents perfect relationship, that hinders pure intimacy with God – are gone upon our deaths.  Our sin, our self-centeredness, our misconceptions of God, everything that blocks us from perfect relationship – are done away with.  One element of the afterlife is intimacy with God.

A second element of life after death is genuine community.  Verse 2a says, “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem.”  This is a phenomenal city, which meets our every fantasy beauty wise.  In addition to the physical characteristics, however, Bryson notes that it is also “…a city filled with people, and its newness is in the regard to the redemption of human relationships.  Suspicion, disagreements, alienation, arguments, slander, and hatred characterize relationships in the ‘old earth,’ where we live now.  Court rooms are crowded with litigants over human conflicts; no matter how hard our leaders try, peace eludes them.  In the New Jerusalem, however, redeemed people live together harmoniously: they love, respect, care, help, and encourage each other.  It is a genuine community where everyone shares Christ as Savior and has been changed by him.”

Life in the presence of Christ will have a new order of transformed relationships.  Those of us who experience constant strife in our relationships in this lifetime – be it at work, home, school or otherwise, surely look forward to being part of this redeemed community, don’t we?!

Not only will life with Christ be one of perfect intimacy and community, we will also experience complete wellness in the afterlife.  Revelation 21:4 says, “God will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”  Wow.  Can you imagine?!  No more tears.  No more sorrow.  No more illness, or pain, or stressful waiting for test results?  I don’t care if the streets are actually paved in gold in the first heaven – I will be completely content with perfect relationship with Christ, perfect community with everyone else there, and total wellness, with no more physical struggle or painful loss of those I love.

And finally, John’s description of the New Jerusalem includes a profile of the population.  Verse 7 says that the population will be comprised of God’s children.  Verse 8 describes those who will NOT be there, and John makes it clear that all evil will be absent from heaven.  Bryson notes that “At times people think they have found earth’s idyllic place and experience.  But they soon discover that life on earth is never ideal because of the continual presence of self will, self trust, and self assertion in everybody's life.  These qualities make life on earth lack fulfillment.”  But we will be made perfect by Christ.  “The life beyond for believers involves the experience of sinless perfection.”

Perfect relationship with Christ.  Perfect community with others.  Complete wellness – no tears, grief, loss, pain, or illness.  Sinless perfection.  Sounds heavenly, don’t you think?  May we trust that Christ indeed has gone ahead and is preparing such a place for us, and will come again and take us unto himself.  If you know him as Lord and Savior, you have nothing to worry about.  Let’s pray about these things.   

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