Lent - Day 40 (April 4, 2015)

Larger Catechism – Day 40 of Lent

Question 90:  What will happen to the righteous on the judgment day?

Answer:  On the judgment day, the righteous will be caught up with Christ in the clouds and placed on his right, where they will be publicly acknowledged and acquitted. They will join Christ in the judgment of reprobate angels and men and be received into heaven. There they will be completely and forever freed from all sin and misery, filled with unimaginable joy, and made perfectly holy and happy in body and soul, in the vast company of each other and the holy angels; they will be particularly blessed in the visual presence and enjoyment of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, forever. Such is the perfect and complete fellowship the members of the invisible church will enjoy with Christ in glory at the resurrection and judgment day.

Today is the 40^th and final day of Lent for 2015.  I hope that our journey through the Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith has been theologically stimulating and personally challenging.  It is not easy looking squarely at how and why people were created, how original sin has corrupted all aspects of each person, that sin is real and that there is a penalty for that sin and that we are totally dependent of God’s grace for justification, sanctification and glorification.

Question 90 of the catechism as about glorification—that which is going to happen to Christ’s followers throughout all eternity.

In a few hours there will be a celebration of the life of a person.  This lady’s life on earth ended a couple weeks ago.  The death was expected, the exact time of the death was a surprise.  There is GREAT news!  You see, this lady came to know Jesus as Savior and Lord later in her life.  She experienced the forgiveness of sins that comes through Jesus.  She was clothed with Christ’s righteousness.  She was a daughter of the King!  Today’s service will focus on Jesus and her eternal home.

Take a few moments and re-read the answer to question 90 of the catechism and then read Philippians 1:21.  The Apostle Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  To live for Christ should be our attitude about how we go about living each day.  Jesus was all about truth and love—hold fast to the truths found in God’s word and love people in light of those truths.  But remember, when we die it is a huge gain.  Family and friends will (hopefully) be sad and miss us.  Those family and friends that know Christ will also know that in death we gain the ultimate victory—being with Christ forever.  That is what the Apostle Paul referred to as “gain.”

Our journey through Lent has been about taking a quick glimpse at the salvation story.  It has been about a God who loves us more than we can imagine and wants to spend all eternity with us.  Tomorrow we will celebrate Christ’s resurrection which secured God’s victory and our eternal destination.  Have a great resurrection Sunday worshipping the risen Lord.  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!!

Lent - Day 39 (April 3)

Larger Catechism – Day 39 of Lent

Question 87:  What must we believe about the resurrection?

Answer:  We must first of all believe that at the last day there is going to be a resurrection of all the dead, both the righteous and the wicked.  When that happens, those who are still alive on earth will be instantly changed, and the very same bodies of the dead that were buried will be reunited with their souls and raised up by the power of Christ.  Through the Spirit of Christ and by virtue of his resurrection, as their head, the bodies of the righteous will be raised in power, spiritual and imperishable, and made in the likeness of Christ’s glorious body.  Christ will raise up in dishonor the bodies of the wicked, who offend him as judge.

I few years ago did a lot of blogging concerning the denomination of which I was a part at that time.  Online, I came across another pastor from that denomination that was a prolific blogger.  It boggles the mind to think that the two of us could have been a part of the same denomination.  I believe that Jesus is the only way to God and he doesn’t believe it.  I believe that Jesus did many miracle and he does not believe it.  I believe in the virgin birth and he doesn’t.  I believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead and he doesn’t.  I believe that we will be raised—some with Christ in a glorious resurrection in heaven and some---well, shall we say a resurrection to a crisis for all eternity.  The other pastor believes that when we die on earth it is the end.  Nothing after that.  I will give him this much (even though I think he is wrong), his personal beliefs match his theology.

Jesus’ resurrection is THE pivotal event in human history.  Jesus’ resurrection is where victory over sin and death takes place.  Jesus’ resurrection makes it possible for us to experience a resurrection.

There is a “memorial service” at our church tomorrow.  The service is actually a “Witness to the Resurrection” and a celebration of a person’s life.  We are going to talk about the peace that we have when we know that a person had Christ in their life.  We are going to talk about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  We are going to talk about the hope of the resurrection and our spending eternity with our Savior and Lord.  You see, we have hope—and a glorious hope it is.

Take some time today or tomorrow and read 1 Corinthians 15.  Reading that chapter you will learn about the resurrected Jesus, his appearances to various people and the resurrection that people will experience.  Yes, we are going to experience a resurrection.  We will have a new body.  We will be with Christ.  It will be glorious.