Rez Lasagna

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the 20th chapter.

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On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the

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Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

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And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the

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Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the

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Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven. If you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.

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Now Thomas, one of the twelve called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

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So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side,

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I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them.

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Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.

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Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.

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Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me?

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Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book.

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But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

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Hear again these words from our intro it today. Like newborn infants long for pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the

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Lord is good. He is risen. Hallelujah.

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Why did the women do that and not the men? What was that? Do over. Gotta get everybody involved.

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He is risen. Much better. You've redeemed yourself men.

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So it's the second week of Easter. Easter is more than a day. It's a whole season in the church year and every year we have opportunities to look at texts regarding appearances of the resurrected

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Jesus. In years past I've made a point of preaching from the gospel text on these resurrection appearances, but I've decided to preach on this text from Revelation.

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And let me kind of set this up for you. Taste indeed that the Lord is good. This text breaks every rule as far as like if I'm to preach on this.

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Everything they tell you in seminary. Keep it simple. Find a single point. Don't stray off onto multiple topics.

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Yeah, it's not gonna work this time. So we have to come up with a metaphor, a way of understanding this text.

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And let me steer into one of my favorite comfort foods, shall we? Lasagna.

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Uh -huh. This is lasagna. We all know what a good lasagna is like. It's multi layers of heavenly richness that just makes you go, right?

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And then you follow it with a good Chianti and you're having a heavenly experience, right?

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We will experience the ecstasy of this lasagna text, this resurrection appearance of Christ.

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It's multi -layered. We're gonna be all over the place, but it's absolutely wonderful and comforting and assuring for us because Christ has risen from the grave.

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There are implications here. You're gonna note that what John says here in the opening passage of the book of Revelation so wonderfully mirrors the same themes that we heard in the gospel text today.

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That Christ comes and says, peace be with you. And he proclaims him to be our Lord and our

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God. Same thing happens but with different words. It's very fascinating. Grab your Bible and then grab a spoon or a fork or a knife.

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Let's dig into this lasagna, shall we? John to the seven churches that are in Asia.

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Now a little bit of a note. When you read the book of Revelation and you get to that section very early on where Christ has

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John write to these seven churches. Well, those churches are exemplar churches.

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They still exist today. Not in the real sense where they're there currently and have been there since they were established.

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But the idea here is that each and every congregation in one way or another experiences the same strengths and weaknesses of the different churches that Christ has letters written to by John.

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And so even the one that is really great at finding false teachers and false apostles, the church at Ephesus, Christ gives a very stern warning and calls them to repent because they had lost their first love.

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And so only one of the churches gets like a passing grade as far as you know that is concerned.

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Every one of them has something to repent of in one degree or another. But that's for another sermon. So keep this in mind because although it's addressed to the seven churches that are in Asia, this still applies to us.

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And then listen to these opening words and don't let them go by too quickly. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.

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We read those at the those same words at the beginning of all of these epistles. Kairos kairini, grace and peace to you.

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Note here, don't let this go by so fast like a Harley Davidson right outside your house.

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You ever have that happen with the windows open and it just goes by and all you see is a blur and the thunder and all that kind of stuff.

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Don't let that happen with this. Grace to you and peace. Jesus said those same words to the

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Apostles when he appeared in the upper room. Peace, shalom to you. This is all because Christ has bled and died for us sinners.

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So grace to you and peace. This is coming from God himself and this is from the one who is, who was, and who is to come.

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He's the one who is. It's just great. It's kind of a play on words if you would of the actual

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Hebrew name of God. Yahweh, the one who self exists. He is the Izzer of all time.

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He's the one who is and because he is, we is. That's bad English but you kind of get the point. So from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth.

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Last week we noted that Jesus was the firstfruits of the new creation. Here John, building off that same theme, says that he's the firstborn of the dead and if he's the firstborn of the dead, well we all know that should

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Christ tarry and we find ourselves sleeping outside the church over there in that yard, that do not worry.

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Although he is the firstborn of the dead, he's not the lastborn of the dead and that he, when he returns, will call us from the grave and then the next sentence or part of the sentence is beautiful.

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He is currently, presently the ruler of the kings on earth. Jesus is not in heaven sitting in some chair or stool next to God the

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Father going, dad when do I get to rule? When do I get to reign? No, he's presently ruling and reigning which means there is no government official from the trash collector all the way up to kings and princes and presidents and members of Parliament and all of that that do not get there without Christ's approval.

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He's in charge. Next layer of the lasagna. Let this one roll around on your palate for a little bit.

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To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

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This is a good layer. This is a great piece of lasagna and we must never forget that although because of our sin we have true anxiety, true fear of God, true fear of his judgment and his wrath because we've earned that but because of what

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Christ has done for us we again are over and again assured that of God's great love for us because God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners

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Christ died for our sins and because of this he has freed us from our sins and he's done this and accomplished this by the blood that he shed on the cross and now he has made us a kingdom.

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Now we Americans are bad at kingdom stuff. We haven't gotten along with monarchs since the Revolution but we got to put all that aside and understand that the kingdom of God is not a representative republic.

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We don't get to vote for kings. It's kind of a mighty python text but you get the point.

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Jesus is king of kings and Lord of lords and he because he has called us out of the dominion of darkness, washed away our sins, he has now made us a kingdom with him as king and our function in this kingdom presently is that we are priests to God the

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Father. Priests? What do priests do? Well they offer prayers, check, and we pray.

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The priests also offer sacrifices but what's important to note then that there are no sacrifices left that we could offer for the forgiveness of sins.

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That's not what our priestly sacrifices are for now. So what is our sacrifice? Well Paul reminds us that our sacrifice is our living bodies.

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We offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God and to whom do we then offer our bodies?

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Well to our neighbors and our good works. So when we are doing our good works and serving others in doing so because we have offered our bodies to God as living sacrifices, note then that that's the sacrifice that we priests give.

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And to him be the glory, dominion forever and ever.

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Amen. Next layer of the lasagna and this is this is a spicy layer.

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Behold, he's coming with the clouds. Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.

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All the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. So in the midst of all of this peace talk, we get the reminder that Christ is returning in glory to judge the living and the dead and for us who are waiting for and anticipating his return, this is good news.

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But to those who persist in sin and unbelief, they will see the Lord with their own eyes and they will weep and they will wail on account of him.

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It's a little bit of a tough layer to swallow and so John says well even so, amen.

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That theme comes in and out it goes. And now the next layer talks about the deity of Christ.

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Christ now speaking says, I am the Alpha and the Omega. Alpha, the first letter of the

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Greek alphabet. Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Jesus is all in all. He's the beginning.

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He's in the end. He's the first. He's the last. He's the Alpha, the Omega. He's the one who is, who was, who is to come and just punctuate the fact he's also the

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Almighty. Jesus is our great God and Savior, the

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Son of God in human flesh and we would be remiss to forget that. We should not forget that at all.

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We must keep that in mind as to who is our Savior. He's the Son of God and he's the

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Son of Man. Next layer. So I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the isle of called

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Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. So a little bit of a note here.

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How many of you have read those left behind books? We can leave those behind by the way.

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Just, you know, we should just obey the title and leave them behind. But really bad eschatology has this idea that the tribulation is something we're looking forward to in the future.

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Now granted, at the very end it gets really wacky, haywire crazy and the devil has his season.

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But the Great Tribulation began when Christ ascended and you'll note that 2 ,000 years ago here

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John the Apostle says, I'm a partner with you in the tribulation. Huh.

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And he's a partner with us in the tribulation. Have you noticed that Christianity and holding fast to the confession of Christ, believing that you received the forgiveness of sins from Jesus through the sinful mouth of a pastor or in bread and wine or in the waters of baptism.

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Oh and you believe these things that Christ has promised, the devil is out there like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

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Maybe even you, maybe even me. And so living in this life is tribulation and we go through, we go through this life with many trials, much suffering.

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And so John says he's a partner with us in that and that we then like him are called to the patient endurance that are in Jesus.

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In fact he was on the Isle of Patmos because of the Word of God. We learned from the church historian

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Eusebius in his church history that the Apostle John was exiled to Patmos for a little bit of time because somebody got into the ear of the

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Roman Emperor and basically said those Christians, they're following King Jesus and they're planning an insurrection.

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They refuse to bend the knee to you because they're planning to overthrow you.

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So the Emperor listened to this person, rounded up the remaining leaders of Christianity and made sure they experienced some good suffering, sent

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John off to the Isle of Patmos. But Eusebius also tells us, this is a little bit of a fascinating note, that the half -brother of Jesus, Jude, was given an audience with the

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Emperor himself to explain what Christians believed. And Jude said, well

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Jesus's kingdom isn't of this earth. And the Emperor said, oh, oh, that's a horse of a different color.

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So he eventually let John go, but while he was there that's where he received the revelation itself.

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So he says he was on the Spirit on the Lord's Day and he heard behind him a loud voice like a trumpet.

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Lord's Day, by the way, is Sunday. Keep that in mind. The Jews would go to synagogue on Sabbath, on the

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Shabbat, on Saturday. That's when they would go and hear the Word of God and discuss things related to the

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Scripture. But you'll note that in our Gospel text Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room on the evening of the first day of the week, which is the eighth day, which is the first day of the new creation.

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It's kind of funny how that all works. And then, of course, Thomas misses the meeting and says, I'm not gonna believe that he really rose from the grave unless I see for myself the wounds.

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And so Jesus appears eight days later, which again puts it on Sunday. And you'll note that Christian worship then, when the church gathers to hear from Christ, is established by Jesus, the

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Lord's Day, the day of the resurrection. So that's why Christians historically worship on Sundays. And so here's what happens.

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Jesus appears to him, loud voice behind him like the sound of a trumpet, write what you see in a book, send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

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And like anybody would, if you hear a loud thing behind you, a loud voice behind you, you're going to turn around to look, watch what happens.

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So I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands.

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And in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe, with a golden sash around his chest.

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A little bit of a note. As we work our way through the book of Exodus, we've worked our way through Exodus, we're into Leviticus, and we'll eventually get into Numbers, we're going to note that when

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God gave the command to Moses to build the tabernacle, which eventually would become the temple there in Jerusalem, that part of the sanctum, when you get inside the temple, into the tabernacle itself, there were seven golden lampstands.

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Those were copies of the real things. And so here, John, in this vision that he has, he turns around and now he sees

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Jesus in the real temple, with the real golden lampstands, and it has something to do with the churches.

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And so he's wandering through these lampstands. And then the hairs of his head, oh, white like wool, as white as snow, his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

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This is almost duplicate appearance of Christ like we saw on the

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Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus, God, and man together as one hypostasis.

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That's a theological term, but we'll leave that for another time. Now the glory of God bursts forth and is there in full view of John.

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And by the way, when sinners like you and like me, although we are forgiven, redeemed, and regenerate, we still have a sinful nature when we come in the presence of God in his glory that usually doesn't go well for us.

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Doesn't go well. Think of like Superman and Kryptonite, but like way worse. This is what we're talking about.

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So in his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp two -edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

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And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. And there it is.

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Always fascinates me, these wingnuts who claim that they soak in the glory of God.

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You know, weird charismatics on TVN and stuff like that. And they always say glory, you know, with multiple syllables.

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Glory. There we were. The atmosphere was charged with the glory of God.

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I just sat there and soaked it in. No you didn't. If the glory of God showed up in your church, you'd at least get a sunburn after you fell down dead.

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So yeah, this is just nonsense. So here John, sinner that he is like you and I, still with a sinful nature like we have, in the glory of God falls down as though he's dead.

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And Christ in his mercy laid his right hand on him saying, fear not.

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I am the first and the last and the living one. I died.

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And behold, I live forevermore. And I have the keys of death and Hades.

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What great words. Fear not. Fear not. And so Jesus comforts him in this moment of fear and anxiety where he falls down as though dead and says,

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I died and I'm alive again. And I live forevermore. I died for you,

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John. I died for you, Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. I died for you, O world. I died even for the pastor of that church.

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And I live forevermore. And because I live, you too will live. And he assures us, I have the keys of death and Hades.

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And that's a big deal because remember what Jesus said in our gospel text today. The sins you forgive will already have been forgiven,

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Jesus says. The sins you retain will be retained. This is referring to the forgiveness of sins, the office of the keys.

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And Christ is the one who has the actual keys himself. And because he has those, because he's loosed us from our sins, used the loosing key to open up our cell doors, we are no longer bound to stay in death and Hades.

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We are free to leave in Christ. And so we are assured of the forgiveness of our own sins.

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What a great passage. What a wonderful text. And you'll note that this is written to the church during a time of great persecution.

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Great persecution had broken out and this was designed to comfort them.

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So as we experience the tribulation that we have been called into to participate in the sufferings of Christ because of our testimony, because we believe in Jesus, because we call on his name, because we proclaim to the world that there is no other name given by which men must be saved than Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen

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Savior of the world, the one who lives and reigns currently, presently, now, the one who is, who was, who is to come.

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That this gives us great comfort in the midst of all of this because when he comes in glory he's not coming to judge us.

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Our sins have already been accounted for. Our sins have already been forgiven. The keys of death and Hades, our cell doors have been opened.

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So we have nothing to fear. And so instead this vision of this glorified

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Christ helps us so that we recognize that no matter what befalls us during this tribulation, that he's in charge.

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He's the one in control and he is the one who will bring us all through it. So fear not.

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Jesus is the first and the last, the living one, the one who is, who was, who is to come. He died.

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He died for you. He died for me. And behold, he is alive forevermore. He's alive for you and for me.

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And because he's the firstborn from the dead, you too will rise from the dead. So take heart.

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These things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you have life in his name.

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I know that my Redeemer lives. I truly do. And we will all walk with him and see him with our own eyes on that day.

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In the name of Jesus, Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. And again that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support.

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