14th
PENTECOST Sunday
Rev. Norman F. Seeger
Isaiah 66:18-24
18 “And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am
about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my
glory.
19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those
who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as
archers), to Tubal and
22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will
endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants
endure. 23 From one New Moon
to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down
before me,” says the LORD. 24 “And
they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against
me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be
loathsome to all mankind.”
Isaiah 66:18-24
"WHERE DO I APPEAR IN GOD’S BIG PICTURE?”
1. Destroyed? Dead
Forever? No…
2. I Will Share Our SaviorWith All Nations
3. I Will Worship God in His New Heavens & Earth!
Dear Disciples
of Christ,
Where is Waldo?
Turning the pages of a Where is
Waldo? book, we search pictures showing lots of people & lots of
details in various locations or situations, trying to find Waldo in his red
& white striped shirt…just the way I naturally look to see where I fit into
a big picture God is painting as our world develops. Honestly, if we google an earth map showing
the city of Sioux Falls, do we just sit back & soak up the big picture? No, we tend to start searching our section of
the city, trying to pinpoint our parsonage.
If a school I attended writes a history celebrating a hundred years of
graduates, I almost immediately turn to the years I was in school to see where I
fit into the big picture.
Where in the world is
Waldo? Paging through his book, do you ever use a
magnifying glass to try finding him? Where
am I? Am I even in this world’s
picture? If I look at the world from
God’s perspective, if I scan six thousand years of history involving billions
of souls, I seem invisible. Now, if we
grab a magnifying glass -- if we limit our view to
God’s eyes, fortunately, are much better than mine. Looking at history’s big picture, God sees
every individual. God sees me; sees
you. God sees every detail of our daily
lives…sees my sins; most importantly, God sees the Savior he specifically sent
to redeem my soul...the Savior God prepared to rescue you from sin’s death so
you & I can praise him forever in a new heavens & earth he promises to
prepare for us because we are precious in God’s sight. Where
is Waldo? Where do I appear in God’s
big picture? God’s magnifying glass can
show us where we fit into our Lord’s plans as Isaiah notes the destruction, the
Savior & the eternal glory God is producing.
Where do I appear in God’s big picture? Will I ultimately be destroyed? Will I end up among the ‘living dead’ who
burn in hell’s fires forever? Isaiah
repeatedly warns God will punish anyone & everyone who laughingly ignores
his instructions, yet
Jesus’ appearance as the one Savior for every soul – “the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”[JN 1] – will not only produce forgiveness & give eternal life
to everyone who believes Jesus is lifted up on a cross to be sacrificed for our
sins, but will also condemn every soul who does not believe in Jesus as our
Savior. Looking ahead to see Jesus
lifted up on a cross dividing souls who faithfully follow him from souls who
forsake him, Isaiah pictures God not only punishing people who reject him in
time but also in eternity. So, do I see
myself among the living ‘dead’ – one of these souls buring forever in hell
where “their worm will not die nor their fire be quencehed?” No…
No, thankfully, I do not see myself among “dead
souls who rebelled against the Lord” because you & I are souls “God
chose to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit & through
belief in his truth”[2 THES 2] --
the truth that “Jesus was put to death to pay our sin’s penalty & was raised to
life to declare us forgiven.”[ROM
4] Do you see where we fit into
God’s big picture as Isaiah zooms in on a few Jewish souls who would not reject
Jesus but would cling to Christ’s cross for their redemption & rejoice in
Jesus’ empty tomb as a guarantee God is giving us eternal life instead of
death? Not only apostles like Peter
& Paul who publicly preach to crowds in other countries, but individuals
like Priscilla & Aquila who privately tell their friends about Jesus are
pictured as the Lord promises, “I will set a sign among them – I will raise Jesus as one Savior for
every sinner – I will send some of those who survive to the nations – to Tarshish, to
the Lybians & Lydians (famous archers), to Tubal & Greece & to
distant islands that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.”
Where do I appear in God’s big picture? New testament believers being spread out as
our Savior’s witnesses “in Jerusalem, in Judea & Samaria; to
the ends of the earth”[ACTS 1]
– Gentiles as well as Jews being brought into our Lord’s family of faith from
around our earth appear as our Lord promises, “They will proclaim my glory
among the nation & will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to
my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord – on horses, in
chariots & wagons; on mules & camels they will bring them as Israelites
bring their grain offerings to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean
vessels.” Drawing upon familiar
pictures from his ceremonial laws for Israel – laws Jesus fulfilled for us –
the Lord shows us missionaries bringing to the Lord souls like ourselves, souls
whose guilt was washed away by Jesus’ blood, souls who were declared ‘forgiven’
or ‘clean’… souls who are set free from sin as someone tells us the good news
about Jesus; as the Holy Spirit leads us to trust Jesus’ death as full payment
for our sins… leads us to rely upon Jesus’ perfect life as our righteousness.
Where do I appear in God’s big picture? I pray we see ourselves first being led to
hear about & to believe in our Savior.
I pray we see ourselves now being led to tell other people about our
Savior as our Lord promises, “I will select some of them also to be
priests & levites.” Gentiles
in the temple were unthinkable under
Do I see myself telling friends, relatives, acquaintances &
neighbors how Jesus’ death redeems all their sins while Jesus’ righteous life
covers them with his holiness? It might
take an extremely powerful microscope to see myself witnessing our Savior today, but I want you to
know Pastor Gensmer -- as he prayerfully considered his call to become our
associate pastor – excitedly saw hundreds of Christians able to work together to
share our Savior’s truth with our community.
I urge you to look through our Lord’s eyes to see God’s plans for our faithful
lives & thankfully tell other souls how Jesus has saved us so we may
worship him forever in “the new heavens & new earth he will
create” as our Savior returns
at the end of time.
Where do I appear in God’s big picture? With Isaiah’s inspired words picturing the
future, our Lord not only lets us see our New Testament times – what we call
the ‘present’ – our Lord also allows us to see our future, allows us to look
all the way ahead to the end of time. In
the end, in eternity, details are undeniably indistinct, but an inability to
clearly see what is coming will not lessen our anticipation of living in God’s
heavenly glory.
Is his “new heavens & new earth” going
to replicate “the heavens & the earth God created in the beginning?”[GEN 1]
Will we work the way Adam worked in the garden of Eden, taking care of
God’s creation? Will green grass cushion
our feet? Will fruits & vegetables
feed our glorified bodies? Specifics are
not pictured for us in Scripture. Will
snow freeze our toes? Will music amuse
us? All questions are hypothetical,
unable to be answered accurately by any human being. Our loving Lord simply assures us we will
enjoy living in his “new heavens & earth” where we will worship our Savior continuously. Rather than waiting for the Sabbath to arrive
each week or a new moon festival to occur each month – celebrations prescribed
by Israel’s old ceremonial law – all of us believers, gathered by the Spirit
from every nation under the sun, “will bow down before the Lord from one new
Moon to another; from one Sabbath to another” we will endlessly praise
& serve our Savior.
Scriptural details of our Lord’s “new heavens & new earth” are
sketchy, at best -- “Now the dwelling of God is with men & he will live with us,” John
is allowed to understand in his “revelation of what must soon take place.” “We will be his people; God himself will be
with us & be our God. He will wipe
every tear from our eyes. There will be
no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has
passed away.”[REV 22] In God’s Scriptural picture of eternal glory it
is impossible for us to see all the specific little details I might like to
question, but I unquestionably see myself in heaven rather than hell -- I
indisputably see myself enjoying our Savior’s eternal life rather than
suffering sin’s eternal death.
Where is Waldo? Where do I appear in
God’s big picture? Jesus – the “sign”
of salvation Isaiah shows us being raised to give us life even as the Lord
delivers death & destruction to souls in Israel rejecting his saving truth
– Jesus, the one & only Savior the Holy Spirit leads us to faithfully
follow today – as he turns us to look all the way into our eternal future,
Jesus promises us forgiven sinners, “I am going to prepare a place for you in my
Father’s house…if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come back to take
you to be with me that you also may be where I am”[JN 14]…you may be living with me forever, joyfully worshipping me
in this “new heavens & new earth I will create.”
Amen.