Bishop Ogles’
Sermon
St Andrew’s Anglican Orthodox Church
27 April 2014,
Anno Domini (In the Year of our Lord)
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The
First Sunday after Easter.
The
Collect.
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A
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LMIGHTY Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our
sins, and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the
leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve thee in pureness of
living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall
see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall
wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which
was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Rev 1:7-8)
The Lord shall return in the clouds! This is not such an unreasonable
revelation considering that He was in the Pillar of Cloud that followed Israel
in the Wilderness; He was in the cloud that obscured His appearing on the Mount
of Transfiguration; and He was received up into the Heavens at His Ascension by
a cloud. Clouds are not solid masses, but semi-transparent and elusive. The
clouds that obscured our God of the Wilderness Tabernacle, and Jesus on the
Mount of Transfiguration suggest that there shall always be some mystery that
surrounds our Lord until we are joined with Him in eternity. The Word of God
itself, despite the petty claims of theologians, is fraught with mysteries that
cannot be fully comprehended, but must be fully believed. Tantalizingly, the
closer we get to our Lord in wisdom and knowledge, the more the cloud of
mystery is lifted to expose more and more of His glorious Person.
Today’s lectionary text is taken from the Book of Revelation – a book that most
men refuse to address for the mystery that it seems (to them) to contain.
Truly, it will always be a mystery until the Lord wills that those mysteries be
revealed fully; however, the title of the Book itself suggests that God desires
that we study the book diligently to derive the glimmers of truth that are the
object of its revelations.
At the outset of our deliberations of this text, we should recognize that our
Lord conquered death, Hell, and Satan on the Cross by His own death, burial,
and resurrection. He died once a physical death. All who are sheltered in the
Ark of Christ shall die only once that same physical death; but be advised that
the soul NEVER dies of either good or bad. Those who have rejected Christ, even
by professing Him falsely, shall die a double death – the latter being a
relegation to the death of Hell which is made the greater pain for being
separated from God. There are no smiles in Hell. No mercies in Hell. No
friendly words in Hell. These are all characteristics of grace, and there is no
grace in Hell, either. It is the second death to which the saints of God are
not subject. He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt
of the second death. (Rev 2:11) Jesus was buried in a borrowed Garden Tomb so that
we, too, may need only a borrowed tomb.
Those who believe on the
Name of Jesus Christ and are the called according to His purpose shall NEVER
die in reality. . . . . the
dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who
gave it. (Eccl
12:7) And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:26) I hope you read this last
verse from John 11 with deep thought: All, both wicked and just, shall be
believers at the Second Coming; but the Child of God must believe while he yet
lives in this life. Once death comes, there are no more decisions of faith or
hearing the call of the Lord to repentance.
The Revelations were given
to John, the Apostle, as stated at the 1st verse: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. (Rev 1:1) The purpose of Revelations, according to
this introductory verse, is to reveal – not to conceal – the glorious
prophecies of God.
The striking future event prophesied in today’s text, and repeated throughout
the Scriptures, is the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ – the Lamb of
God! Just as He was received by a cloud at His Ascension, He shall return in
the CLOUDS of Heaven. And when he had spoken these things, while they
beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while
they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by
them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:9-11) There
is one subtle difference between His ascension and His return: A cloud received
Him at His ascension, but He will return in the CLOUDS. He is not returning
alone, but with the hosts of the Armies of Heaven. “Behold, he cometh with clouds.”
We will examine the following topics related to the
return of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1.
Who will see the Lord at His return?
2.
What
will the response of the world be at His appearing?
3.
What is
the disposition of those who have known Him as Lord and Savior?
4.
How different
is His return from His ascension?
What does the title, Alpha & Omega, mean?
Every eye of every
man, woman, and child, then living, or who have ever before lived upon the
earth, shall behold Christ’s return; for every grave shall be opened. Those who
have trod underfoot His grace and truth shall see Him in terror and great
regret. They will know their guilt for His cross – that they were the ones who
called for His death and crucifixion by their rejection and sin. That at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:10-11) These include men such as Caligula, Nero,
Muhammad, Tamerlane, Adolph Hitler, Stalin, and, yes, Barack Obama (unless he
comes to Christ)! They will all confess Jesus Christ is Lord, but too late to
save their souls!
All who die in
the Lord shall arise from their graves, as Christ did at Easter, with a glorified
body that is not subject to pain, sorrow, or death. When we were children we
may have had days when we played so hard that we were exhausted at bedtime. We
were put to bed, and the lights were extinguished. We closed our eyes and
seemingly opened them immediately to the morning glow of the sun. We could not
believe that we had slept all night, but we had. The same will be true at the
death and resurrection of the people of God: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is
sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:52-57)
The Great Cloud of Angels that shall
accompany the Lord at His return will fill the Eastern sky, and cover the
heavens from East to West. It will be sudden, and without warning. The old
Hebrew wedding custom of the Groomsman (Gabriel, perhaps) of the Bridegroom
(Jesus Christ) shall stand and sound the trumpet, and the Bride (the church)
must be ready for immediate flight to the Wedding Party. “. . . . at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” The Lord Jesus Christ shall be
seated upon a white charger armed for the purpose of judgment. He came as a
little child at Bethlehem, but He returns with all power and great glory: And
I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a
name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies
which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he
should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS. (Rev
19:11-16) This is not the man on
the white horse of Rev 6, but the final appearing of Jesus Christ as Lord!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega,
the Great I AM, and the Ancient of Days (without beginning or end). Often we
have discussed His titles. Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the
Greek alphabet (in which the New Testament manuscripts are written), define our
Lord as the Whole WORD from beginning to end. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made
that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4) He is the first Word, and the Last Word, and
every Word in between. He is the first and last letters of every alphabet –
Hebrew, English, French, Korean, Chinese, Urdu, or Arabic and every letter
between. He exists in the Eternal Present. Not confined, as we are, to
the Space-Time continuum, He is ever in the present. He is I AM six thousand
years ago, two thousand years ago, today, and eternity future. Our Lord
was with God the Father as the Ancient of Days in the Eternity Past before
there was a heaven or an earth. Here is love and grace: He was mindful of you
and me even then in eternity past! He agreed, even then, to die in redemption
of our sins. God knew that Adam would fall. He knew that Adam would bring death
and hell upon all his progeny ……unless provision was made for a Savior. That
provision was agreed to in Eternity Past by our Lord Jesus Christ. This should
make each of us mindful of the great value of our salvation, and the love which
purchased it at so great a cost.
Are we?
