Easter 3 Revelation 5:11-14

Easter 3 Revelation 5:11-14

April 14, 2013

Not everyone sings in a church choir. Some don’t like to sing or aren’t blessed with musical ability. Many feel uncomfortable or self-conscious singing around others. “I don’t have a good voice. I can’t carry a tune. I don’t want others to hear me sing.” Some members don’t even open the hymnal to follow along with the order of worship or to read the hymn verses. Then there are those who aren’t bothered by those things. They sing with all their heart.

Every church can always use more voices in their choir, but this morning we aren’t recruiting. We’re attending a choir concert in heaven.As we prepare to take our seats, though, we see something very unusual. There’s no one in the audience! In fact, everyone at this concert is a participant! This is a concert of praise to the Lamb of God, andEVERY CHRISTIAN SINGS IN THE CHOIR! Last week our theme was Keep Your Eyes on the Son. That’s even a good title for the whole book of Revelation.This week wehear the response of those whose eyes are on the Son, including you and me.

1. Learning the words of triumph in heaven!

Through the eyes of his apostle, John, God gives us a peek into heaven. It is breath-taking, way beyond anything we’ll ever see on earth. What John saw was given to him in a vision and used many visual aids to help us understand heavenly things that words just can’t describe. But the message is always clear: God has done great things for his creation, and the greatest of these is love: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

It’s so easy for us to say those familiar words and take them for granted, but what did it take to accomplish our salvation? On Good Friday we saw God demonstrate his love for sinners through the death of his Son. It was a terrible sight of blood and pain and agony and darkness, but Jesus did all the dirty work to pay for our sins. The Lamb of God was slain for us. On Easter morning we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection with beautify, clean white altar cloths and songs filled with alleluias. Jesus’ empty tomb proves that his payment for sins was enough and that our last enemy, death, has been overcome by life. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, his God. The old song of guilt and gloomy despair has been replaced by a new song of forgiveness and glorious joy!

If you listen carefully to what John heard, that’s what all the singing in heaven is about! “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Those words of triumph are sung by thousands upon thousands of angels. But that’s only part of the choir. The rest of the mass choir is made up of everything else in God’s creation: all the living creatures, every Christian, and all the rocks, trees, mountains, stars and everything else God made. “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Everyone and everything that has been touched and moved by God’s love sings the praises of Jesus. He deserves to be honored and worshiped by all creation for who he is and for what he has done. He is worthy to be praised for his mercy and kindness to mankind, who rebelled and turned away from him. By his death and resurrection Jesus has made life and immortality a reality for everyone who was doomed to hell. That’s what all the singing in heaven is about!

One of our hymns, “For all the Saints” calls this “the distant triumph song”. It is the faint background music in the hearts and minds of all believers in Jesus. We hear the heavenly choir whenever we listen to God’s voice in his Word and make his Word our own. We hear it in the words and sing in to the melodies of countless Christian songs and hymns. We are learning the words of that triumph song, too, and one day we will be singing it with the heavenly choir. Meanwhile, we are…

1. Practicing our parts with hope today!

It’s no secret that I love to sing. I don’t know why, but ever since I was a child I’ve been singing songs I heard on the radio, humming commercial jingles, and just about anything with a tune. When the first opportunity came for me to join a choir, I jumped at it. I learned that each singer in a choir has a part, but no single voice is more important than the others. No two voices are exactly the same, either, so each voice adds its own tone so that when they blend together they make one beautiful sound. And for that to happen it takes practice. Even the most skilled singers practice their parts over and over so they know them well.

Whether you feel you are a good singer or not, one day you will be thrilled to have a part in God’s heavenly choir and you will love it. In fact, you already have a part, and you already love to sing your part. You know the Lamb of God, who took away your sins, and it is sweet music in your ears every time you hear his name. And it is sweet music in Jesus’ ears whenever you confess your sins to him and thank him for being your Savior. You are practicing your part in the choir.

But the song we sing now is not always put into words. Our song is what we express with our lives – everything we say and do in love for our Savior. Sometimes our song on earth is laced with tears and sadness. Like everyone else, we feel pain and grief. We experience losses and heartaches. But because we know and believe in Jesus, we do not mourn or grieve like those who have no hope. We turn to Jesus. We have heard the “distant triumph song” of heaven. We’ve heard Jesus’ promise to be with us all our lives. We’ve heard his promise to deliver us from this life of sin and take us to himself in heaven. As we turn to Jesus in his Word and Sacrament for strength, others will “overhear us” practicing our parts. Fellow Christians will be encouraged. Others may ask us how we can do that and will want to know more.

Many times our song on earth is brimming with joy. As we hear and reflect on the countless blessings God has given us, we turn to Jesus with humble thanksgiving and praise. We do not chalk up oursuccesses to “luck” but to God’s undeserved love. We have heard the “distant triumph song” and know that all things serve God’s eternal purposes. So everything God gives is ours to manage for him to use for his glory. As others see us practicing our parts by using his blessings to serve him and others, some will wonder about the God we serve and ask about the reason for the hope that we have.

Yet the best way to practice our part is to do what the choir in heaven is doing: talking about the Lamb who was slain for all people. Just about everyone knows the song, “I Love to Tell the Story.” One of the verses goes like this: “I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory I sing the new, new song, ‘twill be the old, old story that I have loved to sing.”

You see, we’re just practicing our parts for the choir in heaven. We already know the song.And every Christian is in the choir! Amen