Mayfest was last night. It took much planning, time, and effort, but it was worth it to have people come together to celebrate and support Lutheran Education at Martin Luther School. I’m going to Grand Forks for the District Pastoral Conference next Monday-Wednesday and staying at the farm at Niagara. The People Matter Community Carnival is this Saturday. While Mayfest was heavy on Denise’s heart for the past six weeks, my focus has been on the Community carnival. To promote the carnival I will be on KFYR radio on Tuesday morning, KNDR on Thursday and the Townsquare Media stations on Friday morning. I’m also told that the Tribune is planning to do an article promoting it and local television stations have been informed. Bismarck’s mayor and police chief along with two school principals will splash into the dunk tank. We have about 45 organizations planning to share their information along with inflatables, free food and some fabulous door prizes including bikes and a guitar. Our goal is to connect help agencies in our community with people who need the help. We are hoping for more than 1500 participants. I hope you can be a part of the day across the street at Wachter Middle School. I have discovered that I an event driven person. When one event draws to a close I’m already thinking about how to improve it the next time around.
We all have events activities to which we look forward. The ultimate event that will be the end all of events to celebrate is our eternal life in heaven. People have some very interesting ideas about what heaven will be like. Most of the speculation is based on likes and wants rather than on Scripture. I hear people say for example, “Grandpa is fishing,” or “Grandma is putting together a quilt” in heaven. These ideas are based on likes from this life. While I’m not saying that those things can’t happen in heaven, the important fact to remember is not as much we will do, as much as in whose company we are.
The apostle John transports us to a vision of heaven. In Revelation 5, we read:
“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads or myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen! And the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev. 5:11-14)
What is the focus? Worthy is the Lamb who was slain! The Lamb is Jesus. Remember the words of John the Baptist who declared, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” How can you tell that this Lamb was slain? He has the marks of one who has been brutally killed. This lamb is the unblemished, perfect Lamb who, out of love for us sinners, willingly laid down His very life in the slaughtering house called Calvary. It was a painful, messy, death as He was slain and His blood was shed.
The text tells of a giant choir of angels who with one voice declare, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” Angels. We’ve seen angels before. Angels were there to sing the praises of this same Jesus on the night when Jesus was born. A great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13-14) This wasn’t just any baby boy. He was sent to be Savior. The angel told Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)
The angels play a significant role and they point to Jesus. When we arrive in heaven, Jesus will be the center of our attention. We won’t be concerned about our petty interests. We will be offering thunderous applause to Jesus, who rescued us, body and soul, from the torment and suffering of hell.
The 10 Commandments were given to us creatures by our creator so that we would know how to live the joy-filled life in God’s way. As creatures made in His image, we are called to seek His good and gracious will. We do so by looking to His Holy Word of truth. When His clear standards seem too rigid are hard to meet, we tend to change the rules to fit our own needs. We can come up with any number of excuses to ignore God’s will. It’s too expensive to live separately while we are engaged, so we’ll just move in together. Marriage was designed by God to be one woman and one man for their mutual support and for the procreation of children. Redefining marriage will not change the way that God designed this wonderful gift.
The more that we examine the law and see how we break it in thought, word, and deed, the more we appreciate the fact that our loving God provided the sacrificial lamb for us. We speak of others in ways that would bring deep hurt if we heard others talking about us in similar ways. Many times we are too ashamed to tell others of Christ as we hide our faith. We are not like Paul who boldly proclaimed Christ and was willing to be tortured and die for the faith. We are quick to destroy the reputation of one who doesn’t see eye to eye with us and who may be a threat to us. We are lazy when it comes to expressing gratitude to the Lord for His continual care for all of our needs. We are rarely content and often grumble about our miserable circumstances. We agree with God’s Holy Word that we are poor miserable sinners.
As we admit and confess our sin, the Lamb who was slain, freely and fully forgives our sins. Now, we can anticipate and look forward to spending eternity in His presence rather than fearing the punishment that we deserve for our sin.
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” 7 things are listed here. Seven is the number of completeness. The creation was complete after the seventh day when the Lord rested. We are not worthy to receive any good thing. Only through faith in Christ have we been made worthy to receive forgiveness and life. When we arrive in heaven, we will give it our all when it comes to praising Jesus.
These words may be familiar to you. This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia. Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God. Power, riches, wisdom, and strength, and honor, blessing, and glory are His. Sing with all of the people of God, and join in the hymn of all creation: Blessing, honor, glory, and might be to God and the Lamb forever. For the Lamb who was slain has begun His reign. This is the feast of victory for our God.
He is worthy because He is the perfect, unblemished Lamb, the God- Man Jesus Christ who never once sinned. He died, the innocent for the guilty, in order to appease a just and holy God. He was slain and bloodied for you, so that you might live in His presence forever. Yes, the Lamb who was slain is the living One. We saw Him alive in the Gospel reading as He provided and prepared breakfast for His disciples, the third time that He shows Himself alive after the resurrection. He continues to reign in your life as He gives you His gifts, food and shelter and family. Even greater are the gifts of forgiveness and life given in your baptism into Christ and as you hear that your sins are forgiven in the absolution. This morning He comes among us to again feed us not on fish and bread, but on His very body and blood for the forgiveness of sin and as a foretaste of the event that will truly be epic, eternal life in the glorious mansion that He has prepared for you. During this blessed Easter season, we continue to rejoice in the truth that the Lamb who was slain has been raised to life and because He lives, we shall live with Him forever.