Jesus - The Man Who Dies For Rebels

Audio Player

What do you believe about history? What is your philosophy of history? A famous Professor of History at Cambridge was talking about coming to a view about history and he said this: "It is our decision about religion, about our attitude to things and about the way we will appropriate life. And it is inseparable from the role we are going to play ourselves in that very drama of history."

The Bible's philosophy of history says that history had a beginning. A personal God created this universe of space and time. It wasn't an accident. And the Bible says this universe is finite. One day it will come to an end. That end will be when Jesus Christ returns and comes a second time. Some Eastern religions claim that history is like a wheel or a circle, with a cycle of rebirths and reincarnations. But the Bible teaches that history is like a line. It is linear, with a beginning and an end.

But it is not just the shape of history that is important. It is how you analyse the problem of history. You say, "what is that?" Well, it is the fact that the world as it is, is not the world as it ought to be. Things go wrong. All religions and all philosophies admit that. History is not a smooth ride. Some of you here tonight know that only too well from first hand experience. And you only have to turn on the TV or Radio or read the newspaper to see that the world as it is, is not the world as it ought to be. This morning you heard of a rocket attack on a hotel in Baghdad where the US deputy Secretary of State was staying, with one American killed and others injured. So much of the news is about what ought not to be. But how do you account for all the evil and suffering and sadness?

The Bible says that the underlying problem is that people ignore or defy God their maker. The Bible says, in the Old Testament, that God chose one particular group - the Jewish people - to whom he taught lessons about life and history. And he so clearly taught that he blesses his people when they obey his will in their private and public lives. But when his people ignore his will, they experience judgment. So when they indulge in sexual immorality and degenerate to the level of their Baal-worshipping neighbours, when they neglect the poor and those in need, there is personal and social disintegration. But when they obey God's law there is peace and prosperity.

Yes, God allows his people to suffer - but that suffering is under his control. In his providence he can make it beneficial. Job, you read in the Old Testament, had to learn that. He suffered as an innocent man. But the exception proves the rule: and the rule was this "rhythm" of blessing and judgment.

Of course, there are other accounts of what is wrong with the world. Marx said that the underlying problem is economic. Darwinian evolutionary optimists say, "it is just a lack of time; time itself will solve all problems." A Freudian analysis of history says the basic problems are due to the frustration of human drives for power, nutrition and sex. And there were other accounts in the world of the New Testament.

The apostles soon after the resurrection of Christ that first Easter preached the Christian faith to non-Jews - the Greco-Roman people who lived round the Mediterranean. They did not share this biblical view of history. So the apostles had to teach it as background along with their teaching about Jesus. This famously happened in Athens. So when St Paul preached to the Athenians he preached a philosophy of history along with the rest of what he had to say. You can see that from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 17.26,30-31):

From one man [God] made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth ... In the past God overlooked [their] ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

So why should you believe this biblical philosophy, or view, of history and not some other view? Answer, because God raised Jesus from the dead. If you have never examined the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus, you must. You will then be convinced - if you are genuinely opened minded. In the period of the French Revolution, a certain M. Lepeaux tried to found a new religion. He had no success. So he talked to his friend, the French Bishop Talleyrand. "There is one plan you might at least try," said Talleyrand. "Why not be crucified and then rise again on the third day?"

Well, with all that by way of introduction I want tonight to look at a verse from the book of Revelation - Revelation 21.27:

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

And I want to pose three very simple questions. First, WHAT IS the "IT" in that verse?; secondly, WHO WILL NOT ENTER "IT"? and, thirdly, WHO WILL ENTER "IT"?

So first, WHAT IS "IT"?

If you have your Bibles open, you can see that "it" refers to the "Holy City, the new Jerusalem". This is talking about what we call "heaven". And it refers to the result of Christ's return and God's ending of history. Look at verse 1 of chapter 21 where John, the writer, is speaking about his vision:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

There is going to be a totally new order when Christ returns. There is going to be a new creation. Nor is this some world of clouds and beings looking rather silly - like men in a space capsule experiencing weightlessness. There are some echoes in this last part of the Bible of the first part of the Bible, the book of Genesis, and the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden saw the first man and the first woman defying God's word and suffering as a result. But here we see God completing his process of undoing that Fall. There is now a wonderful perfection. The "new Jerusalem" is described poetically as "a bride beautifully dressed for her husband" (verse 2). And look at verses 3-5:

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!

That is heaven. This life and this existence is the shadow. Heaven is the reality. Until recently the reality of heaven captured people's thinking - certainly in the West. Christians know that one day they will have a transformed and recreated body; they will be with people from all races and places. And they will be in the immediate presence of God. So there will be no unfulfilled desire at all. All, literally, will be well. The Bible says:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2.9).

So why do people, including even some Christians, not think about heaven and eternity so much now? It is not because people disbelieve in an afterlife. In yesterday's Guardian we were told from one survey that in America 76% believe in heaven and 71% believe in hell. But they still don't like to think about, or talk about, death - the gateway to the afterlife. That is so foolish. As George Bernard Shaw once said: "Death is the ultimate statistic; one out of one dies."

Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, once wrote: "The question of the meaning and the worth of life never becomes more urgent or more agonizing than when we see the final breath leave a body which a moment before was living."

But you rarely see a person die these days, except on TV. Until recently most died at home with their family around them. Now people usually die out of sight in some hospital. And people fear death. Someone has said: "the fear of death is so natural that all life is one long effort not to think about it."

I once referred to death in a school service. I referred to a young Chinese school girl, a member of this congregation, who was tragically knocked over and killed by a bus in Sandyford Road behind the Civic Centre. There was an uproar from some of the staff. I had mentioned the unmentionable, in talking about death. 50 years ago you would have had that reaction if I had talked about sex in a school service. Today sex is talked about ad infinitum. It is death you don't talk about in polite society. But young people can be worried about death and they need answers. Here are the concluding words of a verse from a young poet:

It makes no sense the end of life being death.Just a memory and then nothing.Absolutely nothing, just nothing.

There is, however, good news for the young and the old. For heaven is real and Christ has overcome death through his cross and Resurrection. The Bible says he ...

... has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel/ (2 Tim 1.10).

What, then is "it"? "It" is heaven.

Secondly, WHO WILL NOT ENTER "IT"?

Look at verse 27 again:

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful.

It would be nice to believe that everyone entered heaven at the end of the age, when Christ returns and there is that cosmic recreation and final judgment. But there are problems with that idea. For one thing, it makes nonsense of our God-given faculty of free will and human freedom. If you are now free to reject God, why should God force you to accept him ultimately? But most importantly it makes nonsense of Jesus' teaching.

He taught so clearly that one day there will be a judgment to come. You are then either eternally with God or eternally separated from him. You say, "but this is the one bit of Jesus' teaching I can't believe in - his teaching about hell and eternal fire and outer darkness?" Why not? Of course, it is picture language, as is much of the book of Revelation is picture language. Yes, fire and darkness are visually paradoxical. But as metaphors for the human imagination they are hugely powerful. They speak of something awful. If what they refer to is not a reality, then Jesus would be like the worst kind of school teacher. You know the sort of man or woman who can't make their subject interesting. So they resort to threats they never carry out. But Jesus was a man of honesty and integrity. He was certainly not that sort of a teacher. You see, God allows you to choose to live either ignoring him or defying his will. And his judgment underlines your choice. C.S.Lewis said: "There are only two kinds of people in the end; those who say to God, 'Thy will be done', and those to whom God says in the end, 'Thy will be done'."

By nature we are all guilty before God. Humanity, by nature, is in rebellion as we saw, in this church, two weeks ago - Romans 3.10-11:

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away.

If you are honest you know that is true. By God's standards of purity, we are all "impure". In one way or another, we are all "shameful" or "deceitful". And as we saw last week (and as we are seeing again tonight), God gives us what we ask for. So our verse says,

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful.

Where, then, is there hope? To answer that we must read on and answer our third question.

So thirdly, WHO WILL ENTER "IT" - heaven?

The answer is in those last words of the verse:

those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

The "book of life" is mentioned elsewhere in Revelation and in the Old Testament. If you like it is God's register of the citizens of his kingdom. At this time of year you are sent a form through the post asking you to fill it in, so that there can be a correct electoral register. This is like the electoral register of heaven.

But how do you get onto that register? How many of you have noticed the verses that are below the galleries of JPC. It is in gothic lettering and from the Authorized Version of the Bible and not very easy to read. But they say this - I'm reading the NIV version of Hebrews 10.19-23:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

The entrance is through the blood, or death, of Christ on the Cross. We enter, says that text, "by the blood of Jesus." In our Bible reading tonight we had a reference to people ...

... who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7.14).

Again you have got picture language. It is visually paradoxical - blood makes things red not white. But as a metaphor for the human imagination this, too, is hugely powerful. It speaks, however, of something not awful but wonderful -

they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

White stands for complete purity. The blood of the Lamb stands for the death of Christ on the Cross. There he shed his blood as he died for human rebels - such as we all are - to make us pure in God's sight. Yes, this is a mystery. But the Bible makes it clear enough. Peter in his letter puts it like this:

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3.18).

A few verses earlier he says in 1 Peter 2.24:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

Christ died in your place and mine, bearing our guilt. You see, the big question in the Bible is not "is hell fair?" but "is forgiveness fair?" How can God be just and acquit the guilty? Answer: because of the Cross. For God to say, "I'm not bothered with sin and evil" is a contradiction of his holiness. No! He says sin and evil must be punished. But Christ bore that punishment for you and me so that we can be free.

That is why the Cross is at the heart of the Christian faith. That is why the Cross was made the Christian symbol. That is why the four Gospels spend a disproportionate amount of space on the account of Christ's death and resurrection. That is why the central ritual of the Church is the ceremony that reminds us of the Cross - Holy Communion. And the Cross is what distinguishes Christianity from all the other religions.

Islam rejects the Cross. The Koran sees no need for the sin-bearing death of a Saviour. Five times it declares that "no soul shall bear another's burden." And denying the need for Christ' death, it denies the fact of Christ's death. But if one thing is certain it is that Christ died - secular historians will not doubt that. However, what secular historians can fail to see is what Paul says is "of first importance" - namely - "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15.3).

John Stott tells of one Muslim student who was brought up to read the Koran and say his prayers. Some friends brought him to church. He then read the Bible where he learnt that Christ died for sins to be forgiven. "For me the offer was irresistible and heaven sent", he said, after he had committed his life to Christ. "The burden of my past life was lifted. I felt as if a huge weight ... had gone ... I knew that God had forgiven me, and I felt clean." He found Islam's missing dimension: (I quote) "the intimate fatherhood of God and the deep assurance of sins forgiven."

By contrast Hindus can accept the historicity of the Cross, but they reject its saving significance. Ghandi, the founder of modern India wrote: "Christ's death on the Cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it, my heart could not accept."

And modern atheists despise the Cross. A.J.Ayer, the Oxford philosopher, whose lectures I went to as a student, wrote that he considered Christianity one of the worst religions. Why? Because it rests, he said: "on the allied doctrines of original sin and vicarious atonement, which are intellectually contemptible and morally outrageous."

Nothing changes! It was the same in St Paul's time. He says

we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews [the religious people] and foolishness to Gentiles [the secular intellectuals], but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1.24).

I must conclude. And I do so with a question.

Who is God calling tonight? If God is calling you, remember that God is love. The Cross proves the love of God.

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3.16).

So God's call is always for the best. The Cross on the other hand proves that sin is so serious and the consequences are so serious. It took the sacrifice of God's own Son to save you and me from an eternity separate from him. Sin must be serious.

Perhaps you think that you are too bad for Christ. Nonsense! Some people think that Christ death will not pay the price for their sin. On Thursday I had to have a haircut. When it came to paying I found I had not enough money in my wallet or my pocket. It was so embarrassing. I added all my money together and I was one pound short. Some people think Christ's death is a bit like that - it is not sufficient for their sins. Nonsense! John 3.16 says that "whoever - [and that includes you] - whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

No one is too bad to be saved; and no one is too good not to need saving. So if you have never done so before why not by faith thank God for Christ's death for you. Accept his forgiveness. And pray for the power of his Holy Spirit to give you new life. God wants heaven to start for you now. Then when you die, it is just going to be a continuation on a much more wonderful plane of something already started.

Yes, there is a cost. It is not always easy following Christ. But he will never leave you nor forsake you. And remember the hope of heaven and that biblical philosophy of history.

Back to top