WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.280 But we're going to look at a verse from Revelation this morning, Revelation chapter 14 and verse 13. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:11.599 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:15.880 Write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:25.440 Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:34.240 And I want to look at that verse today from Revelation in the light of the sad news that we heard yesterday 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:40.480 about Elizabeth, sad news that is also tinted for us as believers with joy. 00:00:40.480 --> 00:00:49.280 Because how do we react when someone we love dies, someone that we're close to, someone that maybe is a 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:57.920 big part of our family, either our physical family or our spiritual, our church family? 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:06.400 We grieve, and rightly so. And we want to be around people that we love. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:12.799 We gravitate towards the people we love, the family and friends that we love at a time of sadness. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:22.079 That's why the pandemic is such a difficult time for people who are grieving, people who lose loved ones. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:29.679 And we recognise that and we seek God's help to take the family through this time, 00:01:29.679 --> 00:01:37.280 not least in the limited numbers that are able to attend the funeral of a loved one. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:41.920 And so it reminds us of the grief and the pain and the suffering many people are going through 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:47.760 during and throughout this pandemic. But at a time when we grieve, we also want, 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:55.599 and I think we all love, words of comfort from family and friends. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.240 And as Christians, we look for words of comfort from our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:06.960 And that's no different for us today, and that's exactly what we hope to do. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:12.479 We've lost someone very dear to us, and we've lost her very suddenly, really. And many of you 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:17.680 who are tuning in today will be shocked by the news of Elizabeth's passing. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:29.120 She was core to St. Columba's in so many different ways and much more to her dear husband, Billy, 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:37.599 and to her family. But a fantastic example to us, and I know that she would want me to focus today 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:45.840 on the truth that changed her heart and life forever, as the only hope 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:55.520 for every living soul that is in this universe. So today I want you to listen to words of comfort, 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:02.719 not my words, but the words of God himself from Revelation, from that passage we read in Revelation 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:09.520 14. Now Revelation is a huge mystery of a book to most people and to many Christians, 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:14.879 including myself. There's much that is difficult. I find difficult in the book of Revelation. 00:03:15.600 --> 00:03:22.400 And it's full of imagery and of symbolism. And that imagery and symbolism reflects a type of 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:27.840 writing particularly found in the Old Testament. So Jewish believers who knew their Old Testament 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:36.000 would be really quite at home with the language of Revelation, with the symbolism and the imagery. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:42.000 Much of it is taken from some of the prophetic books in the Old Testament. But we remind ourselves 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:50.159 in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 1, which tells us exactly why it's given or where it comes from. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:59.599 This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave John to show his servants the things that 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:06.400 must soon take place. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's a specific kind of genre of 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:15.599 literature and apocalyptic literature. But it's writings which speak about Jesus Christ. And 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:24.399 give us a heavenly perspective on history in the light of its final outcome. In other words, 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:28.959 it's looking forward, for the most part, it's looking forward to the fact that Jesus knows 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:37.040 what's happening. And Jesus knows the end from the beginning. And it was written to real people. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:42.240 It was written to churches in Asia, churches that were Christians that were struggling, 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:45.920 that were persecuted, that were going through difficult times. And it was generally given to 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:52.160 comfort them, to warn sometimes, but generally to comfort and to remind them to keep going. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:57.199 And that God was sovereign and in control, and that his purposes and plans were being worked out. 00:04:59.280 --> 00:05:03.759 And if you read through Revelation, it kind of feels like when you read it, it's very allowed 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:11.199 and very powerful. But every so often, there are whispers of beauty and comfort to encourage us. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:17.680 And to remind us what really matters, which is faith in Jesus Christ. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:27.360 So just a few thoughts on this verse, verse 13 of chapter 14. So who's speaking in this verse? 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:35.839 I heard a voice from heaven saying, so it's God. The message is from God of very God. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:41.039 The voice comes from heaven to John. And there's so much for us, even in that statement, 00:05:41.039 --> 00:05:48.560 that is so powerful and makes us think. Because it reminds us right away that this is not all that 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:56.159 there is. This world and our lives today, and all that we experience physically and what we know and 00:05:56.159 --> 00:06:04.879 what we can examine and what we can explore, everything in this world is not all that there is. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:14.159 That there is. There is a voice from heaven. Everything we believe, everything we teach, 00:06:14.159 --> 00:06:19.920 everything by grace that we try to live is in the light of this fact that there is more 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:26.480 to life than what we just simply experience and what we see. And in a sense, this feels like a 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:33.439 triune testimony. This mysterious God who reveals himself as God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:40.399 It's as if the voice comes from God, the Father in heaven. I heard a voice from heaven saying, 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:48.480 and he's talking about the blessing of those who die in the Lord and reminding us of the work and 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:57.040 the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it's confirmed that blessing is confirmed 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:04.080 and powerfully by the voice of the Holy Spirit here. Blessed indeed says the Spirit. And there's 00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:13.840 this system, the way of God's whole triune character comes together to affirm this amazing truth. 00:07:14.400 --> 00:07:21.759 And it's a truth that is almost the focus, the distillation of everything in the Bible, 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:25.600 the story of the Old Testament that we're looking at usually in our morning worship, 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:31.280 to the person of Jesus Christ, his person and work, his death and resurrection as ascension, 00:07:31.280 --> 00:07:38.320 the acts of the apostles as they brought this message to the people of the world and the church 00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:44.800 was born and to the teachings of the epistles right through to Revelation. It's as if this reality 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:51.200 is the summary, is the focus of all of it, the voice from heaven that says, blessed are those who 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:59.519 die in the Lord. And it's a truth that breaks into humanity's ideological locked door, 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:07.839 which says there's nothing out there. We're alone in this house. This is just the world that we 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:14.800 live in. It's a transcendent voice. It's a voice that reminds us there is something beyond what we 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:24.560 know and experience and what we measure. There's a living God, a God in whose image we are made, 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:32.000 a Creator God, a God who because of our own sin we are estranged from and need reconciled to, 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:40.720 to whom we will give account every single person and before whom everything else finds its rightful 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:49.519 place in his shadow, in the light of his character. So there's this amazing reality that heaven breaks 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:56.000 into our experience, even our experience, maybe especially our experience at a sad time like this. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:04.480 What's he saying? What's he saying? Well, he's saying, write this. John, he says, write it down. 00:09:05.040 --> 00:09:10.560 Not just for yourself, John, not just even for the seven churches to whom you're directly writing, 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:17.039 but write this as part of the revelation of God, as part of Holy Scripture, as the last book of 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:24.959 Holy Scripture revealed truth, dictated to John, recorded for posterity, for our learning and 00:09:24.959 --> 00:09:32.639 understanding and insight into the character and nature of God in his work. He wants to share it. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:40.559 John, write it down. Write it down so it's recorded. It's simple, it's short, it's concise, it's clear. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:48.080 And isn't that true? Isn't the most, the more important things are in life, the greater our 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:59.600 ability to communicate these things simply and concisely and clearly because it's a matter of 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:06.240 life and death. It's important and it is significant. Write this down, he says, and he says, blessed 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:15.200 are the dead who die in the Lord. Wow. What a statement, a strange statement in many ways. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:19.279 If I was to go and read that out in the street on the Royal Mile, well, I'd probably be reading it 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:25.279 to myself just now because there's so few people around. But normally, if you read that to an audience 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:34.879 out in the street, they would wonder what you meant by that. Because blessed is really just 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:45.759 another word for happy, truly happy. And it's in the Bible particularly, it's connected with a 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:54.159 relationship with God. But it means it really is speaking about the kind of happiness that every 00:10:54.159 --> 00:11:00.559 person that I would speak to on the Royal Mile, or every person in this church, or every person 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:09.199 around us are looking for, want, but so few experience. We talk about being in your happy 00:11:09.199 --> 00:11:18.879 place and we all have our happy place. But even our best happy place is very best, it's only a 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:27.519 shadow of what this word means and what lies behind this word from God. It is very much connected with 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:36.080 the peace of being reconciled with God through Jesus. It's the peace of God's friendship, 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:44.879 of almost of saying, oh, I get it now. I know who I am. I know why I live. I know, 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:54.639 I understand why sin and why wrongdoing is so perverse and has separated me from my God. And I 00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:01.679 know that I can't put that right. But Jesus put that right. And there's just this deep seated healing 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:07.519 and power that comes from that. When, as in any broken relationship, when that relationship is 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:13.039 put right, there's that sense of, oh, that's great. It's great to be friends again. It's great 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:20.480 we've made up. And it's the blessing that flows from that most fundamental and most basic human 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:31.039 relationships, our one, our relationship with the living God. It's blessing. And I'll just say two 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:37.120 things then about that. The first is that we would never normally associate being blessed with death, 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:43.279 would we? No, it's crazy. It's crazy. It's the most radical and it's the most counter-cultural 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:49.919 message you will ever hear. And it simply isn't, as I said in the prayer earlier, it's not fanciful. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:13:00.799 It's not wishful thinking. It's not vague hope upon hope to have this sense of blessing even 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:08.000 in sadness. Because we all know every believer knows, every Christian knows, every person knows 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:17.439 that death is brutal, that death is an enemy and we rightly recoil from it. And we grieve when it 00:13:17.439 --> 00:13:27.839 comes close. We absolutely do and rightly so. Because we know in our grief that death means 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:35.759 separation, separation from a loved one, separation and the end of someone's unique life and all 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:42.879 the experiences and the intertwining love and laughter and joy and the experience that went with that. 00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:48.639 And we recoil from death because we know it's often associated with pain and suffering. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:53.759 What is blessed about that? What on earth can bring happiness through that? 00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:07.120 Well, naturally, nothing. There's nothing happy about death, naturally. Nothing. If you face death 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:13.759 alone, and by that I don't mean with family and friends, I've just been going through the experience 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:21.279 of death alone, there's nothing blessed, there's nothing good about that. If Christ is not with you. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:30.639 Because that's the statement that is made here. It's not just in general that death is blessed, 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:35.279 we all know that isn't the case. It is blessed are those who die in the Lord. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:47.279 And that's very significant. Death, biblically, God reveals in His word that death is a consequence 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:53.759 of our sin. It's not a natural thing. It's a spiritual consequence of rebelling against the 00:14:53.759 --> 00:15:01.360 author of life, the giver of life. It's been separated from the Lord. And it's first a spiritual 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:07.039 problem. There's a spiritual separation, a spiritual death that we're ironically born with, 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:13.759 but we go on to experience. And then physical death comes and physical death confirms that 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:22.399 spiritual separation and that continued separation under God's eternal justice. 00:15:25.439 --> 00:15:28.960 And I don't think we appreciate that and the seriousness of that and the reality of that. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:32.960 We've been brought up to think that death is natural and this world is naturalistic and it's 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:38.879 just part of what happens. But there's much in this universe and there's much in our lives 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:46.639 that shout out to us, if only we will listen, that death is an enemy. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:54.559 And many things that shout out to us and point us to the person and work of Jesus. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:01.919 So we would never normally associate being blessed that deep seated of all happiness is 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:09.439 associated with death. But we recognize the importance of associating being blessed here 00:16:10.079 --> 00:16:16.639 with being in the Lord. And the Holy Spirit in that lovely confirmatory 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:26.799 message of emphasis says, blessed indeed, absolutely blessed in the Lord. And that's why we read 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:33.120 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13 and 14. Yes, we grieve today at the loss of Elizabeth and yes, 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:37.599 the family hurt greatly today in their loss, but it's not without hope. 00:16:41.199 --> 00:16:45.279 And that makes a great difference because blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:49.120 Why is that the case? And it takes us to the very crux of our faith. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:57.679 The first is because the Lord has experienced the death of every believer before they die. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:08.480 On the cross, he experienced Elizabeth's death first. He removed its sting. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:15.119 He took the punishment for her sin and for all who believe in him, for all our sins, 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:21.919 he took the justice and the judgment of God. You know, sometimes we talk about 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:30.879 sin lightly and we talk about faith lightly. And yet what we see in the cross of Jesus is that God 00:17:30.879 --> 00:17:38.319 Himself, in the person of His Son, as we've been looking at in the flesh and blood Jesus series, 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:45.599 He needed to take on flesh God Himself, the author of life in order to pay the price to 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:52.879 satisfy His love for us and want to redeem us and His justice and His holiness against sin and all 00:17:52.879 --> 00:18:00.879 the death that it brings into humanity and into the universe's existence. But He took the grave, 00:18:00.879 --> 00:18:06.799 He took the punishment of sin. He experienced the death of every believer before them removing 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:12.399 its sting. And in relationship to Him, as we confess our sins and entrust ourselves to Him, 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:22.319 then we are in the Lord. So if a person dies in the Lord as a Christian, you live on with the 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:29.919 resurrected Savior in glory. You never go through death alone. Isn't that the most remarkable truth? 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:36.320 Your soul goes to be with Jesus until that day when your body is raised on that last great day to 00:18:36.320 --> 00:18:41.519 inherit the new heavens and the new earth that Jesus will usher in. That's the great hope of every 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:48.560 believer. That is what utterly transforms our heart, our perspective and our life. And that's 00:18:48.560 --> 00:18:53.279 why we want to share it with others because it's not a religious thing, it's not a cultural thing, 00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:00.960 it's not a race thing, it's a humanity reality. It's a universal reality. Not only is there 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:07.279 personal redemption, there's going to be universal redemption. That is the hope that shone from 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:19.519 Elizabeth's faith. It's the hope that inspired her life and her motivation. She lived in the Lord. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:28.639 She loved Jesus because he died for her sins, for her sins and she served him so faithfully 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:43.519 and so beautifully and with such dignity and such humility. Therefore, we can say of her that she 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:52.639 is blessed because she lived in the Lord. She also died in the Lord. He never left her for one second 00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:02.639 through that process and she is with him now happy above and beyond what we can even 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:11.759 contemplate or think about in her life. That is why for the family, for Billy and the family and for 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:18.319 ourselves and for others who knew her and loved her, as Christians we don't grieve as those who 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:26.240 don't have any hope because as I think it's so beautifully stated in Thessalonians, those who 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:36.559 have died in the Lord have fallen asleep in Jesus. This thing is gone and it's as gentle and positive 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:42.319 as falling asleep. There's nothing better than falling asleep. The older you get, the more you 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:47.279 love falling asleep. You fall asleep in front of the telly and you fall asleep. When you go to bed 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:52.960 there's nothing worse than the disruption of not being able to fall asleep. It's such a lovely picture 00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:00.799 and she has fallen asleep in Jesus. The sting has gone. She's with him. She is with him 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:11.919 and we worship him today. Very briefly, it also says, blessed indeed says the Spirit that they may 00:21:11.919 --> 00:21:18.799 rest from their labours for their deeds follow them. So in death the believer also rests and again 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:26.240 rest, falling asleep image continues is a beautiful thing. There's renewal, there's recuperation, 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:32.000 there's refreshment and the Christian life, we know that. The Christian life is a battle. It's a 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:37.920 struggle. There's much toil, there's much joy as well, we know that and there's life to the full but 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:43.759 it is still a time of battle. There's spiritual opposition. We struggle with our own battles, 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:50.640 our own failure, our own sin and we know that today for Elizabeth her battles are over. Her 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:57.280 struggles, her fear of dying, her struggles with illness, weakness, pain, maybe the internal struggles 00:21:57.280 --> 00:22:04.160 of the life of faith for her, of prayer, concern and love and fear for others. It's all gone 00:22:05.040 --> 00:22:10.080 because she's at rest and that's the hope that we have as Christians for ourselves 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.240 and it says their deeds will follow them. I love this last section 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:23.200 because it reminds us that our ordinary, undramatic, seemingly unimportant lives, 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:29.920 certainly at least in the world's eyes, God knows and in the Lord everything we do 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:36.960 as we do it, motivated by the love of Christ and for God's glory has significance. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:44.799 Not one cup of cold water that you've given or whatever that might symbolise in your life 00:22:45.360 --> 00:22:55.440 is wasted. Not one kind word, not one text. Nothing that you've written or spoken of said 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:02.960 in love and grace in the name of Jesus is forgotten, is worthless, is a waste of time. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:14.000 God remembers it and God honours it. That is great in a harsh and disinterested world who 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:25.600 will forget us long before our time is remembered by one or two. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:33.279 God, I think, in glory will have to remind us as Christians of many things that we've forgotten, 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:39.919 things we didn't even realise were particularly valuable, deeds that we've done in love for him 00:23:39.919 --> 00:23:47.119 and in his name. The fruit that we've borne will be remembered and honoured and our deeds 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:53.199 will follow us. That's great, isn't it? That gives our lives great motivation. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:59.920 It also challenges about how we're living. What are our priorities? Will the labours, 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:05.759 the deeds of your life and of mine, will they follow us to heaven? I just asked to make your 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:11.039 ambition to live in the Lord and to bear His fruit and to be well-rooted, as we've talked 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:15.279 about here over these last two years, well-rooted in the living water so that we'll bear fruit, 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:21.279 even in drought, whatever that fruit is, make it your ambition. Think about how you're going to 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:27.759 spend your time as I must think about how I spend my time remembering that our last day comes much 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:36.240 sooner than we ever expect. May it live in the Lord so that we will also die in the Lord and be 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:44.799 blessed forevermore. The gospel is really far too important to relegate, to ignore or to pretend it 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:53.279 isn't real. And as Christians we mustn't live as if Christ is just an appendage and an added part 00:24:53.279 --> 00:25:00.559 of our lives, a shadow. But nor must you live as someone who knows about the gospel but is never 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:08.480 given your life to Jesus Christ. That is an unspeakable, an everlasting tragedy. Remember that 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:15.440 for yourself and we remember as Christians for the people we pray for, the mission of this church, 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:24.880 which is to reach the lost, to disciple people for Jesus Christ and to bear His fruit. I pray that 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:33.519 today, even on this sad day that Jesus will use His word and Elizabeth's testimony to be the means 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:41.920 of bringing you to Christ, or at least yes bringing you to Christ and up on top of that bringing us 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:50.319 all closer to Jesus Christ today. Amen. Let's pray. Father God we ask for your help and for your grace. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:57.599 We ask for your word to be powerful in our hearts. We thank you for it. What great comfort it brings 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:04.319 us today as we listen to your words, not empty, sentimental, meaningless words 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:13.039 that bring hope where there isn't any. But it's the hope of the risen Savior, the hope of the 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:19.519 historical Christ who died and who rose again, God in the flesh, God who came to redeem us. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:29.519 May that be our hope today. Amen.