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᛭ INI ᛭
Alleluia! ΙΗϹ Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
“The sheep that are Mine listen to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never ever perish forever, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
That’s a pretty good funeral sermon all on its own, but as satan, sin, and death abound today, there is more to say to show exactly how Christ, the Good Shepherd, holds the keys of death and hell, and that He uses them to open the kingdom of heaven to all believers, opens the gate of the eternal sheep pen for His beloved sheep, who lived a life listening to His voice.
Death stings. Well, maybe more than stings! “The sting of death is sin.” (1-Cor 15) In fact, “wages of sin,” the due payment for sin, “is death.” (Rom 5) So it has been since our first parents, Adam and Eve. “Death spread to all men, because (ἐφ᾽ ᾧ) all sinned.” (Rom 5) It’s not that one particular sin necessarily brings the consequence of worldly struggle, sickness, and even death. It’s that our human nature is such that we sin, we get sick, we eventually die.
And Christ comes to make right the whole thing! He comes that His sheep would never ever perish, and certainly not forever. Oh sure, death may reign for a bit. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1-Cor 15) But for Christ death is nap, from which He will wake His sheep that they might rise unto everlasting life with their Shepherd.
Death is nap for Christ for two reasons. First, “He is our great God and Savior.” (Tit 2) “All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Me,” (Mt 28) Christ says. He holds the power over death. And will come on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead, rendering to each according to His deeds. Not only is Christ almighty God, “our great God and Savior, [He] gave Himself for us, to redeem us from our lawless deeds, to set apart a special people for Himself, zealous for good works.” (Tit 2)
He has power over death because He went through death Himself. He shed His blood. He died on the Cross. Then, He rose from the dead. Job prophesied true and faithfully: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the Last He will stand upon the earth.” The “eternal life” that Christ gives to His sheep, is none other than the resurrected, everlasting life He Himself did! “I am the resurrection and the life,” says the Lord, “Everyone who believes in Me will live, even though He dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (Jn 11)
The devil rages against this, “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1-Pet 5) The demonic spirits at work in our age hate this, too—“Their might a joke, a mere façade, God is with us and we with God, our victory cannot fail.” (LSB 666) The all were working furiously against Paul, to shipwreck his faith. As Christ promised, so it was for Paul: “The sheep that are Mine listen to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never ever perish forever, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
Paul listened to the voice of His Shepherd. He rejoiced over Christ’s voice, as it echoes on each page, in every Word, of the Bible. Christ’s Spirit inspired every Word. Such joy for Paul! Paul rejoiced in the Name of Christ given him in Holy Baptism, for Baptism promises resurrection, because it delivers Christ’s resurrection, which faith receives. Paul rejoiced in Communion—Christ’s body and blood for him. The very body given into death and raised was for Paul’s eternal life. It was the medicine that worked even when all other medicines failed. As Christ Himself promises: “Whoever believes in Me has eternal life,” and to those He says, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will resurrect Him on the Last Day.”
This was the comfort Paul had. It’s like I told him when I talked with him last. Whether you live here or you depart to live forever, either way: you are Christ’s and He is yours. He fought with the confidence that he was fighting a battle that was already won for him by Christ. “Whether we live or die we are the Lord’s.” (Rom 14) “For there’s one Mediator between God and man, the true Man Christ ΙΗϹ, who gave Himself as a ransom for all,” (1-Tim 2), “for He is over all, the eternally blessed God” (Rom 9), who is Himself “resurrection and life” for His Sheep, who listen to His voice.
“The sheep that are Mine listen to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never ever perish forever, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
So it is that the devil is defeated, death is undone, and perdition’s power is vanquished! The devil did his worst to destroy Paul’s faith, but it was just a façade! “Death at last has met defeat.” (LSB 477) Sin’s accusation is now silenced, for he who’s died has been set free from sin, for “he who’s died has been set free from the Law.” (Rom 5) And “the power of sin is the Law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord ΙΗϹ Christ.” (1-Cor 15)
All this is Paul’s, not because he was great or because he was humble, not because he fought hard, not because he kept the faith, but because he is Christ’s. “Our great God and Savior ΙΗϹ Christ” (Tit 2) has brought Paul to Himself. He’s given Paul to enjoy the eternal life that Christ Himself has. He “purchased and won [Paul] from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with holy, precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death, that [he] may be [Christ’s] own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.” (SC II)
So it is for all who have loved Christ’s appearing, the sheep that actually listen to His voice, His holy Word.
“The sheep that are Mine listen to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never ever perish forever, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
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