HEBREWS 11:32-40
THE
SAINTS OF GOD LONG FOR A BETTER HOME.
In
the name + of Jesus.
“I believe in the holy, Christian
church, the communion of saints” (Apostles’ Creed). That phrase, “the communion of saints,” is a
reminder that there is one Church of God.
There is one group of saints.
Many of the saints have gone before us and dwell in the Church Triumphant. They have departed from this world and have
received the eternal rest, peace, and glory which was gained for us through
Jesus Christ.
The kingdom of God is not something that you
will enter one day. You dwell in the
kingdom of God now. You are the Church,
although you are not in glory yet. You
are in the Church Militant. That means you
and I have to do battle every day.
We
do battle against the devil who tempts us to sin, who tries to seduce us away
from Jesus with fine-sounding arguments, and who accuses us of sins from our
past. The devil is stronger and more
crafty than we are. The weapon we have
to fight against him is the word of God.
If we take Jesus’ words to heart, we are kept safe in his kingdom.
We
also do battle against the world and its attitudes. The world assures us that there are great
rewards if we abandon chastity, decency, morality, sobriety, honesty, and so on. The world celebrates abandonment of
self-control. Anyone who upholds God’s word
as the only source of truth and guidance in life is mocked and condemned. One of the reasons the Lord brings you into the
Church is so that you can be sure you are not fighting the battle alone. The Bible reminds us, “The grace of God …
trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed
hope, that is, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ” (Titus 2:11-13). The saints
of God gather regularly to receive this grace and the strength to stand firm.
We also do battle against our own sinful
flesh. You are a new creation in
Christ. He has created in you a clean
heart and renewed in you a right spirit.
It is this spirit which acknowledges that God’s commands are good and
right. You are eager to know and to do what
God desires you to do. But there is another
part of you that remains rebellious.
Your new nature knows that when someone sins against you that you should
forgive him just as, in Christ, God forgave you. But another part of you wants to attack,
vilify, and humiliate that person. This
is the part of you which you battle against every day. This is life in the Church Militant.
Your life in the Church Militant is no
different than the saints of the past.
The Church has always had to face the same enemies, although the attacks
have often been more intense and the consequences of fighting for the faith
have been more severe. The writer to the
Hebrews spent the entire 11th chapter speaking about this communion
of saints. While their struggles varied,
their goal was all the same. It is the
same as yours: God’s saints long for a better home.
The writer to the Hebrews reminds us of
the saints of old. Sometimes they were
blessed with divine aid which saved those who were steadfast in their
faith. He said that “by faith they …
shut the mouths of lions” (Hebrews 11:33).
This brings to mind Daniel. Late
in Daniel’s life, a decree went out that no one should pray to anyone but the
king of Persia. Daniel went home to pray
to the Lord about this. He continued to
practice his faith, not caring about the consequences. The consequence was that he would be thrown
into a den of lions to become their lunch.
God, in his mercy, shut the mouths of the lions and vindicated Daniel’s
innocence.
The writer
to the Hebrews also mentioned those who “by faith … quenched
the power of fire” (Hebrews 11:34). This
brings to mind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to worship the idol
Nebuchadnezzar had built. The consequence
of failing to worship this idol was to be thrown into a fiery furnace. The three men remained steadfast in their
faith. Nebuchadnezzar even taunted them,
“What god will be able to save you from my hands” (Daniel 3:15)? Their response was amazing. They replied, “Our God … is able to save
us from the blazing fiery furnace. …But if he does not, you should know, Your
Majesty, that we will not serve your gods, and we will not worship the golden
statue that you set up” (Daniel 3:17-18). They did not presume that God would save them
from the fires of the furnace. But they
were sure that God would save them from the fires of hell. They would suffer anything rather than lose
their Savior. Once again, in his mercy,
God preserved these faithful men.
We like these
stories about God’s people because they come out unscathed. But recognize that these men were willing to
die for their faith because God’s people long for a better home. They could have gained the favor of powerful
kings if they had played along. But the
saints of God don’t desire to build a kingdom in this world for themselves. They are eager for the kingdom of peace and glory
that Jesus Christ is preparing for them.
God’s saints long for a better home.
While we
are inspired by the saints whom God miraculously preserved, those stories are
the exceptions, not the rule. In the
early Church, the Christians lived under a government that demanded that they worship
Caesar. Everyone in the Roman Empire was
to offer a pinch of incense at an altar and confess, “Caesar is lord.” To refuse was treason. Treason meant death. I suppose those Christians could have just
pretended—go through the motions and mouth the words. After that, they could go and worship Jesus
as they pleased. But they did not. The Christians refused to worship at Caesar’s
altar. They refused to confess, “Caesar
is lord.” They held steadfastly to the
confession, “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3). In these cases, God did not shut the mouths
of the lions. Many Christians were
mauled in the Colosseum to the amusement of the Roman crowds. Nor God did quench the power of fire. Nero doused many Christians in pitch and used
them as human torches to light the streets of Rome at night. Why would the saints of the past do
this? Because the saints of God long for
a better home.
The writer
to the Hebrews commented that some of God’s saints in the past “who were
tortured did not accept their release, so that they may take part in a better resurrection”
(Hebrews 11:35). That’s not to say
that they earned their glorious home. They
could have enjoyed a happier life on earth if they had renounced their
faith. The world would have rewarded
them and praised them if they had. They
refused. They preferred torture over worldly
pleasure, scorn over worldly praise, and a better home with the Lord more than
a happy life without him. God’s saints
long for a better home.
The devil still offers you the same deal
he has offered the saints of the past. He
will make you popular. He will let you
gratify your lusts—if not with a partner, then with porn. He will show you that riches can be gained
through conning, fraud, and theft. He
will assure you that intoxication guarantees a good time and inspires great
ideas. He may keep it even more simple
than that. He may tell you that Sunday
mornings are for family time, sports, leisurely breakfast, or sleep. While those things are not evil of themselves,
the devil will have you pursue them to avert your attention from Jesus. If you neglect hearing God’s word and receiving
his sacraments, your faith will suffer.
It may even die while you are convinced that you are doing good
things. Beware. The battle in the Church Militant does not
end, and the strategies of the devil’s attacks are clever.
In the Church Militant, we can become
tired, lose focus, or even despair. The
Lord is our strength in the battle, and he is our refuge for comfort, hope, and
assurance. That is why we flee to
him. He reminds us of the end goal. “And when the fight is fierce, the warfare
long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again
and arms are strong” (For All the Saints, stanza 5). The Lord keeps us focused on the end goal,
which is everlasting peace, rest, and glory.
God’s saints long for a better home.
This is the home Jesus Christ has won for
us. He has rescued us from the empty promises
made by a dying world. He has delivered
us from the devil who torments souls. He
has delivered us from the curse of death which terrifies the hearts of
all. He has done this by restoring us to
the status he always intended us to have.
God created Adam and Eve to be holy and blameless. God has made you a new creation, to be holy and
blameless before him. His innocent blood
has purified your minds and hearts. His
resurrection means victory over death and the devil. Jesus has made you partakers of his victory. By your baptism, he has clothed you with the righteousness
you need to enter the heavenly kingdom.
From this altar, Jesus feeds you with the body that has overcome
death. God’s saints long for these gifts
because this is how the Lord delivers his salvation to us. Here, he sets you apart for eternal life. Here, he strengthens you for the battle.
Our Lord has always sustained his saints in
the true faith. He has even blessed some
to endure suffering, pain, torture, and death because God’s people recognize
that there are things worse than death. Dying
apart from the Savior tops the list. Our
goal is not to die comfortably, but to die in the faith. Many who die comfortably do not die in peace. God’s saints, no matter how they die, depart
in peace; for God’s peace rests upon them.
And God’s saints do not fret departing from this world. If this life were all we had to live for, what
a sad and bitter death it would be! But God’s
saints long for a better home, and Jesus Christ assures we will have it.
“I believe in the holy, Christian
church, the communion of saints” (Apostles’ Creed). We are united with all the saints in
heaven and on earth. We all confess the same
Savior, and we all long for the better home he has secured for us. When we come to the altar as guests at the
wedding feast of the Lamb, we feast together with Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel, all the prophets, and all the saints who have gone
before us. They now rest in glory. We fight the battles that they had once
fought. We all rally to the same place
for refuge, for relief, and for release from our service—the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has promised us a better home,
and we long for him to take us there.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
