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Who We Are - Sermon, Sunday, 16, 2003 "Saints Triumphant"
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Mark 13:24-27 as follows —
(Jesus said,) "But in those days, following that distress, "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens."
Trouble Today, Triumph Tomorrow — Guaranteed
Dear saints in Christ, God's elect,
It was the week before Super Bowl III, back in 1969. In the first two Super Bowls, the National Football League champion had easily defeated the American Football League champion, and everybody expected the same thing to happen again. But the quarterback of the AFL New York Jets publicly predicted that his team would defeat the NFL Baltimore Colts. In fact, Joe Namath "guaranteed" a victory for his team. That caused quite a stir, but he turned out to be right, as his Jets upset the Colts, 16-7. Just a few weeks ago, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end did the same thing. Simeon Rice predicted that his team would beat the Carolina Panthers that Sunday. He told reporters, "I guarantee a victory — write it down!" They wrote it down, and a lot of people heard about it, but in spite of his bold guarantee, Mr. Rice's team lost the game.
We know that when it comes to a sporting event, it's pretty foolish to guarantee a victory; there are just too many things that can affect the outcome. In general, there are very few things that you or I can personally guarantee. It's quite a different story when God guarantees something; that you can take to the bank! Here in Mark 13, Jesus said there are two things that we can be sure of, two things that are absolutely certain for God's elect, his chosen ones: TROUBLE TODAY and TRIUMPH TOMORROW are GUARANTEED!
Trouble today — by "today" I mean now, the present time, as long as we live in this world, as long as this world stands. In one grand sweep, on the Tuesday before he died, Jesus viewed all of human history from that moment until the end of the world. He described it in some detail, but in our text summed it up with one word, the word "distress," or, "tribulation," or "Trouble" with a capital T. There is a whole lot of trouble in this world, distress that people experience simply because they are living as sinful human beings among other sinful human beings in a sin-cursed world.
In this "speech" to his disciples, Jesus spoke about the major causes of trouble, such as disturbances in the natural world — earthquakes, famines, pestilence. People the world over suffer untold trouble because of natural disasters and seemingly countless diseases. There are disturbances in human society, too; he mentioned wars and rumors of wars. Conflict abounds, and it's not just nation against nation, fighting and saber-rattling and threats. There's plenty of conflict in on the local level, pitting person against person, neighbor against neighbor, race against race; plenty of conflict in relationships and in families — and it causes just so much trouble!
Add to that, all the distress people experience in the realm of spiritual things. False Christs and false prophets abound, just as Jesus said they would, and countless souls are deceived and confused and troubled by them. In the natural world, disasters and disease. In human society, unrest and conflict. In matters of the spirit, deception and confusion. All these cause distress for people all over the world, trouble all the time. On top of all that, if you are a Christian, one of God's elect in Christ, and if you are standing up for Jesus and letting your light shine, guess what? You're in for even more trouble. Our Lord said, "All men will hate you because of me." Trouble on top of trouble is guaranteed for Christians. Like everybody else, we live in this sin-cursed world; in addition, we are living as disciples of the One whom the world hates.
And then (permit me to add one more source of trouble that Jesus did not mention there), if I'm NOT living faithfully as one of God's saints, I'll be piling more troubles on myself! That's because sinful behavior has distressing consequenc our fellowship with God is restored, there are often lasting and unhappy consequences.
Later that week, on the night before his death, Jesus told his disciples, "In this world you will have trouble." His apostles echoed that, telling their fellow Christians, "We must through many troubles enter the kingdom of God." That is most certainly true, but enter it we will, dear friends in Christ! The kingdom of glory lies ahead, after today's troubles are over and done. The day of triumph is coming; the Word says (Heb. 9): "Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; he will appear a second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
He will come a second time and his appearing will be awesome beyond imagination and, for those who do not believe, terrifying beyond description. He tells us, "But in those days, following that distress (after today's troubles), "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'" This present creation will come apart at the seams; all that exists will be melted down in the supernatural flames of the last day. Peter wrote: "The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up."
As awesome and terrifying as that will be, the attention of the human race will quickly be focused on something else: "And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory." Who will see him? Everybody who ever lived! Rev. 1: "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him." The people who belong to the earth (and not to God) will wail and wish they could hide when they see the power and glory of Christ the Lord.
But our Lord wants us to understand this: "And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens." His elect! His chosen ones! The ones who believed in him as their Redeemer and Savior, as their sacrifice for sins and their righteousness, as the Way, the Truth and the Life! The ones who believed because by his grace, God chose them to be his own and brought them to faith by the power of the Gospel.
They will be gathered by his holy angels to share in the triumph and glory of the Lord. Paul wrote in 2 Thess: "He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Listen to this promise: "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." This is most certainly true for all who are God's saints through faith in his Son — we will share in his glory. Triumph is guaranteed — triumph tomorrow, triumph soon, triumph on that day when Christ comes again.
Back on that night when Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble," he went right on to say, "But take heart! I have overcome the world." He knew that his victory was already in hand; by his death the next day he would overcome the cause of all the troubles in this world. He would remove the sins of all people, suffering hell itself in place of the guilty ones. His rising to life on the third day would prove his triumph over sin and Satan, death and hell, would prove that forgiveness was in the bank for sinners. His ascending to heaven 40 days later would cap it all off and demonstrate just how final and complete the victory was. And from there he will come again in glory to share his victory, fully and finally, with his elect. Listen to it again, "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
Therefore, as God's elect, his saints in Christ, we will be fully and finally victorious, on the last day. Until then, as long as we live in this world, it's not going to be easy. Trouble today is guaranteed! But if we trust in God, and cling to Christ, and flee from sin, and continue in his Word, and persevere in any and every distress, there's no doubt about the final outcome. Trouble today is guaranteed, but so is triumph tomorrow! Victory is a sure thing for God's elect — troubled saints now, yes, but triumphant saints when Jesus comes again! Amen.