[Tenth in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: When Jesus’ disciples asked him for signs of the end of the age, the first sign he gave them came with a warning not to be deceived. (Luke 21:8) The Lord warns us that two things will happen. First, there will be people who claim to be christ. Second, others will tell you the end is near, but it is not. ( Luke 21:8, Matthew 24:5 , 11, 23-28) But Christ will not return secretly, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach, or by birth, as Sun Myung Moon claimed when he declared himself the second coming of Christ, or as a prophet who came after Christ, like Muhammad and Joseph Smith, or many others. Christ will return from the sky with all his angels and the saints who have gone before us to Heaven. Every eye will see him. In addition to these, in almost every generation, some false prophet or another would appear and announce they knew what even the Son of God did not know — the date of the Second Advent.
Like all of the Biblical signs of the end, these signs were fulfilled during the lifetime of the Apostles and every generation since. These describe our times, not specific events to be checked off. False Christs show how desperately the devil wants to take God’s children away from Him. It tells us, as do the other signs, that the age is coming to an end and that Christ can really return at a time we do not know.
Instead of false Christs, their fake miracles and promises, we seek Christ where He truly is. He is with us until the end of time already — in his word purely proclaimed, in baptism, and especially in the Lord’s Supper. There he comes to us to give us his body to eat with bread and his blood to drink with wine. There, he offers what he earned for us on the cross — the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. We look forward to the day when he returns from Heaven to bring an end to sin, death, and the power of the devil. On that day, he will wipe every tear from our eyes and bring us to his new Heaven and new Earth forever.
[Ninth in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: The second sign that Jesus gave to his disciples to show the world is coming to an end is that there will be wars and rumors of war. (Matthew 24:6-7, Luke 21:9)
The first time we read this prophecy, it strikes us as kind of strange. After all, there is nothing unusual about wars and rumors of wars. In fact, this is a constant problem for people seeking to determine the year of Christ’s coming. The way they cope with it is to admit that, yes, there have always been wars. But they will get more and more intense as we get closer to the end. They do have a point there, since Jesus describes these signs as labor pains. At first, labor pains come far apart. The closer you get to birth, however, the more frequently and more intensely they come.
The difficulty with this kind of sign, however, is that wars sometimes come one after another, and at other times, years pass with few happening. So, most Romans at the time of Jesus did not experience war. The peace of Rome kept things quiet in most places. Yet, in thirty years, the Jewish people would see war in full measure as the Roman legions crushed a revolt in the Holy Land. In our day, the two worst wars of all time happened in the early and middle of the twentieth century. Nothing like that has happened since, thank God. The wars we and other powers have waged were much smaller.
So, for the purpose of pinning down when the end will come, they do not help much. So, why did Jesus give them? This sign is about helping us to see that all is not well in the world and that it will one day come to an end. He did not want us to do what Christians sometimes do. When they suffer in war, they worry that everything will come to an end right away, and they will suffer more. Or they may be convinced that this would be the war to end all wars. Instead, we should take them as a reminder that Christ will indeed come again and to encourage us to cling to him in faith as we look forward to the New Heavens and the New Earth, where war will cease and we will live in the peace of God that has no end.
[Seventh in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: Before the world comes to an end, Jesus told his disciples, there would be earthquakes, famines and pestilences. Fearful things and strange signs in the heavens would appear. (Luke 21:11, Matthew 24:7) As with wars and rumors of wars, these signs aren’t of much help in predicting the Second Coming of Christ. After all, disaster is part of the curse that Adam and Eve received for committing the first sin. St. Paul describes creation as subject to futility, groaning like a woman in childbirth. (Romans 8:20-22)
Pastor Hans Fiene observes that, because of the fall, the creation is cursed, having been turned from harmony with us to being hostile towards us. The world is trying to kill us with extremes of heat and cold, disease, floods, forest fires, famine, and other disasters. Human beings need to exercise dominion over it to survive.
These signs were present from the very day Jesus predicted them would be. Even as Jesus died on the cross, an earthquake struck the Holy Land and the sun went dark during midday. Famine struck during the dark days of the AD 60s and 70s. Throughout the millennia that followed, many natural disasters have destroyed many lives.
Many Christians have concluded that these events will become more and more frequent as we get closer to the Second Advent. Perhaps. The problem is we will never know for sure that such indicates the return of Christ in our generation. The key to understanding what these events tell us is to realize they describe the time from the Ascension to the Second Coming. They are not like the prophecy of the Virgin Birth, the town of Bethlehem or the precision of Psalm 22 describing the crucifixion. What these signs do is remind us that the world is cursed and will one day fail. It keeps us from getting too comfortable in our sin and warns us to repent and cling to Christ.
Encore post: Yes, we are living in the last days. All the signs of the return of Christ have been fulfilled. Jesus may return any moment now. So be ready! He is coming for you!
Now, to be fair, it has been the last days for nearly 2000 years now. The signs of the Second Advent were fulfilled before the New Testament Scriptures were written down. That is why the Apostles and every generation since their time fully expected to greet Jesus. Just like a child thinks a day lasts forever while days clip by ever faster as adults grow older, so two thousand years are to God short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun. (2 Peter 3:8-10) Even if the end of days does not come in our day, the end of our days will come.
So, the end times are not a complicated weave of events, hidden in riddles recorded in the Book of Revelation. It is already here, ushered in when Jesus died, rose and ascended into heaven. Jesus is quite clear that “no one knows the day or hour” that he will return suddenly, like a thief in the night. It will be like the days of Noah. He doesn’t tip us off so we will remain alert, rather than relax and grow lazy.
In fact, the way Jesus tells us about that day is very simple and straightforward. He will return suddenly, accompanied by the angels and the saints. It will be sudden, complete and final. The angels gather us before the judgment throne. We are judged and the righteous live forever, the unrighteous thrown into hell with Satan and his demons.
For a Christian, this is greatly comforting. God will live with us forever. There will be no more sorrow, crying, grief and pain. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
Encore Post: Martin Chemnitz was a gifted churchman. He reformed churches, examined and taught pastors, preached, and brought doctrinal unity to regions he supervised. As a skilled ecclesiastical diplomat, he helped to settle disagreements between theologians. As a careful, well-read, and thorough author, he clarified Martin Luther’s teachings and forged bodies of doctrine for Lutheran territories. Most importantly, he led a team of theologians in crafting the Formula of Concord and gathering the chief confessions of the Lutheran church into one volume, The Book of Concord.
Martin Chemnitz was born in Treuenbrietzen in Brandenburg. Saxony, Germany, on 9 November 1522 to Paul and Euphemia Chemnitz and baptized in St. Mary’s Church. His father died when he was eleven years old. To help support the family, he first became a weaver’s apprentice and later worked for his brother in the family business. When he was twenty, he began his university studies, interrupted by the need to work to finance his education, teaching school, and collecting local taxes on fish. He briefly attended the University of Wittenberg, where he studied under Philipp Melanchthon, and heard Martin Luther lecture and preach.
After the death of Luther, Chemnitz attended the then-new University of Königsberg, where he served as the librarian for the Duke of Prussia and the University. He used the time to read widely and begin his study of theology. He returned to Wittenberg in 1554 to study under Melanchthon and lecture on the reformer’s Loci Communes.
Martin Chemnitz was ordained in November of 1554 by Johannes Bugenhagen to become co-adjutor of Joachim Mörlin, who was ecclesiastical superintendent for the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and a leader in the Gnesio Lutheran movement. In 1566, he succeeded Mörlin as superintendent, in which office he served until his death.
[Eighth in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: As winter approaches in many areas of the world, plants and animals begin to prepare for the change in the climate of their home. In the American Midwest, the leaves on many trees change color and fall from their branches. The Canada geese first fly in circles and then most head south for the season. The juncos, small sparrow-like birds, are the last to leave where I live and the first to arrive in spring. When these things happen, you can expect winter weather, and cold will not be far behind.
The date of Christ’s return is unknown to us. Jesus taught that even he did not know when it would happen — only the Father in Heaven. (Matthew 24:36) Yet we do know Jesus’ return is near. He told his disciples that they know summer is near when the fig tree starts to grow leaves. They knew — and we know — that time is growing short because we see the signs of the times that the Lord gave them.
Yet the signs of the times are not specific events, nor are they like variables in some prophecy algebra problem — you know — insert the invention of television, the establishment of the modern nation of Israel, the identity of the anti-Christ, and the use of bar codes, and then you know the year of Christ’s return. These signs are like those that identify the season — they tell us the kind of times that we live in. These signs tell us the world is passing away.
Since Jesus told his disciples they would see these signs in their generation, what is taking so long? Over two thousand years does not seem like soon — at the very gates — to us. St. Peter explains this to us. The return of Christ is not measured on our human calendar. It is on God’s scale. For the Father, a thousand years pass like a day passes for us. (2 Peter 3:8-9)
We had a similar experience. When we are on a long trip with young children, they often ask: “Are we there yet?” We say, “soon.” But while an hour or two is soon for us, it is very long for the children! He waits for the last person who will be saved to repent. And we should be glad for it — it includes us!
Yet still we remain alert. We do not know when that day will come, and the great marriage feast of the Lamb will begin. We want to be ready for that party!
[Seventh in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: The question that most haunts our lives is the question of life after death. What will it be like? Will our spirits wander the earth, becoming the ghosts of popular imagination? Will they gain new bodies to work off negative karma? Merge with the whole universe or become a spiritual guide for others for a while? Will they go to a dark underworld forever? Will they go to a place to purge their remaining sins before being fit for heaven? Or will they cease to exist entirely when our bodies die? The Scripture tells us firmly “no” to these things. None of these fates awaits us or our loved ones.
It may come as a complete surprise, but Scripture tells us very little about what happens to us when death rips our souls apart from our bodies. Most of the passages that speak about the end of things focus on the second coming of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the bodies of all people, the glorious transformation of our bodies into our eternal, spiritual bodies, the last judgement, and eternal life for the saints and eternal death for the damned. The few things it tells us are often vague, sometimes speaking of their intermediate state (the theologian’s term for the time between death and the resurrection), and other times of our glorious bodies. There is even some doubt whether there is an intermediate state at all from the perspective of the soul.
No matter which description fits a Christian at the moment of death, for a Christian, eternal life begins before death, when God adopts that person as his own son or daughter. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, even if he dies, yet shall he live. And he who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26; see also John 3:26, 5:24). They commend their souls into the hands of God. (Acts 7:59, Luke 23:46) For those without faith, death brings with it eternal separation from God, a prison for spirits (1 Peter 3:19) until the Last Judgement, after which eternal punishment in Hell with Satan and his angels awaits.
So, what can we conclude about the life our loved ones who departed in Christian faith enjoy now, while waiting for the resurrection of their bodies? They are with Christ in paradise (Philippians 1:23, Luke 23:43). The angels carry them to be with him and others who died in the faith. (Luke 16:19-31) There, God will comfort them and dry every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:16-17, 21:4) They are at rest from their labors, as Christ rested in the tomb on Holy Saturday. The deeds they did with faith in Christ will follow them. (Revelation 14:13) They are free once and for all from the Old Adam or Old Eve that plagued them in this life, and their sin are purged from their souls. (2 Timothy 4:18) They will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father (Matthew 13:43).
What is certain is that, as glorious as life is in the presence of Christ now, the best is yet to come. When their souls return with Christ at the second advent, he will raise their bodies from the grave, reunite them with their souls, and transform them to be fit for eternity. Life in the world with Christ is good, at rest with Jesus better, but by far the best is yet to come. On that day, God will once again look at all he had made, and now redeemed, and say, “Look! It is very good!”
[Sixth in a series of posts on Last Things]Encore Posts: In Holy Baptism, Jesus unites Christians with his death and resurrection. Our sins are drowned in its waters, washed away forever. His death is our death, and his resurrection guarantees our resurrection. In his wounds, we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) Yet every Christian will suffer and get sick. Except for the Christians alive when Christ returns, all people alike, rich and poor, evil and saintly, will die and their bodies decay. Jesus promised Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) So, why do all Christians — including Mary, Martha, and Lazarus — still die?
The answer is very simple, but not very satisfying. The wages of sin is death. (Genesis 2:17, 3:17, Romans 6:23, Romans 8:10, James 1:15) God’s wrath punishes our rebellion with physical death (Psalm 90). Sin infects us through many means. We inherited original sin when we were conceived. Just as DNA is passed on to us, from parent to child, ultimately from our first father, Adam, so also is original sin passed on to us. (Romans 5:12) So, we continue to sin much daily. God’s sentence for this rebellion is that the soul that sins will die. (Ezekiel 18:4)
Our old Adam and old Eve, the sinful desire within us, called by Scripture the flesh, fills us with emotion and overcomes even our common sense. The world calls on us to fit in and thus abandon God’s will for us. Finally, the devil tempts us and tries to intimidate us into looking to our own interests. Baptism saves us but does not free us from the sinful flesh. The struggle between these forces on the one side and our new nature on the other lasts as long as we live. Only our death or the return of Christ ends this lifelong battle.
For those who suffer the death of loved ones, there is no tougher trial than the grief that follows. So, let there be no illusions: death is no friend. It is the last enemy to be defeated. (1 Corinthians 15:26) So, why does Scripture tell us: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15)
Because Jesus died and rose again from the dead, the seal of the grave is broken forever. Now, for a Christian, death is the gateway to everlasting life. (John 5:24) Suffering comes to an end for them. Sin is removed from them. Their sorrows are turned to joy forever. (Isaiah 51:11, Isaiah 26:19) He wipes every tear from their eyes. (Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 7:17, 21:4) No one can snatch them from his hand. (John 10:27-30) They see God face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12) and live in the arms of their savior. They rest from their labors (Revelation 14:13).
So, Christians still die because they still sin. For them, however, death brings the blessings of eternal life. So we who miss them greatly grieve, but not as though without hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13) The musings of Dr. Martin Luther at the death of his daughter say it well: “I am joyful in spirit, but I am sad according to the flesh. The flesh doesn’t take kindly to this. The separation troubles me above measure. It’s strange to know that she is surely at peace and that she is well off there, very well off, and yet to grieve so much!” (AE 54: 432, no. 5498).
Encore Post: In a previous post, I explained that death is the violent separation of our souls from our bodies. The body itself decays and returns to the ground in one fashion or another. God’s sentence on all human beings is fulfilled: “To dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) For the souls of Christians, it has become the gate to paradise. For the souls of those without faith in Christ, it leads to hell.
Atheists and many pagan religions see death as the complete end of human life. They believe what their senses and the instruments people have created tell them. They cannot fathom a world without decay and death. “Change and decay in all around I see,” (Abide with me, stanza 2) seems to be reality. Eastern religions believe the universe is god and that souls are reborn until they work off their negative karma. At that point, they believe, the soul ceases to exist, merging into god. Mormons believe souls go to one level of heaven or another, ultimately growing into being gods themselves.
Yet God, who made the heavens and the earth, begs to differ. Souls continue to exist after death. Jesus declared of Christians, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25–26), “Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:25–26) The same thing is true of those who do not trust in Christ. (Job 19:25-27, Luke 12:20, Matthew 25:12, 30, 46) So, the souls of Christians, children of God that they are, go to be with Jesus in Paradise, waiting for the day of the Resurrection of their bodies.
Even our bodies, which decay, will rise to life again. When Jesus returns in glory, the souls of the saints will be with him. He will call them from the grave, transform them into a transformed, immortal body. (Philippians 3:20-21, Colossians 3:4, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) There is a great deal that remains a mystery in the intermediate state, which theologians refer to as the period when souls are separated from their bodies. We should expect this, since we are sinners and the saints in heaven are purged from sin. The saints in heaven have every tear dried from their eyes, and we live in the valley of the shadow of death, filled with suffering and tears. Time no longer exists for them, and time is our constant taskmaster. Mostly, they see Jesus, and much about him is beyond our understanding. (see John 5:24, 1 John 3:2-3)
Because we love deeply our parents, spouses, friends, and children, it is hard for us to be parted from them in death. It is also difficult to be satisfied with what we can understand about their current state. Many of the things we say about them cannot be found in Scripture. Most of the time, these thoughts are harmless and comforting. We are better off, however, being content with what we do know. Our Christian dead are with Jesus. They left their sins in the grave, for they were baptized into Christ, who paid for them on the cross. Jesus greeted them home with joy, drying every tear from their eyes. Soon enough, we will join them. Unless Christ returns first, we will rise from the grave with them and be transformed to be like Jesus.
So, then, we are comforted as those who have a sure and certain hope. We grieve, but we eventually receive the peace of God. Their death teaches us to number our days and tighten our grip on his promise that those who believe in him will never die.
Personal Note: This encore post, first written a year before we knew my wife Kris was in her last days, captures my thoughts well today, as I now focus on the joy I have that she is with Jesus today. Permit me to share it with you today:
For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!
On this All Saints 2025, a flood of thoughts and emotions occupies my thoughts. Six years ago, on Reformation Day, Evangeline Charissa Keller was baptized into the name of the Triune God by her father in the NICU in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her entrance into the world was dramatic, and the shadow in the back of my thoughts was the remote possibility that she, her mother, my daughter, and her father would be at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb by that day. The Lord had mercy and blessed the work of doctors, nurses, and many others to perform near-perfect procedures. They all came through nicely and thrived as I preached at my son-in-law’s All Saints’ divine service that year. It was as if the Holy Spirit whispered, “Not yet, not yet.” This year, all is very well with them, and a very bright six-year-old joins her nine-year-old sister in delighting and challenging her mother and father.
Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might; Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true light. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Then my thoughts turn to those who are now at the Feast, resting from their labors. My own grandparents and grandparents-in-law, who lived and prospered through incredibly hard times, kept the faith in their own … unique … ways, who were often living examples of saints and sinners at the same time. I remember my grandmother Smith reading from the big KJV family Bible to me on her lap as a child. Also, my grandmother Schneider and her aunt, who gave me my first Greek New Testament as a confirmation gift. My parents- and parents-in-law, troubled in troubled times, yet still kept their faith. My father, that bruised reed, the Lord did not break. And now, in 2025, my beloved wife, Kris, who loved me, her children, and her grandchildren through constant pain all her life, produced endless beautiful and practical crafts that blessed many. Her straightforward, rock-hard faith was an inspiration to me and to many. All at rest with their Savior, two grandchildren whom the Good Shepherd folded in his arms while still in the womb, along with others. Fathers and brothers in the faith that taught me and many others, and laid the same stole of ministry on me as I have now laid on my son-in-law and spiritual sons. I am thankful for them and for their confessions, praying to be faithful to the Lord as they were.
O blest communion, fellowship divine, we feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in thee, for all are thine. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Eleven years ago, I struggled with a massive infection in my heel. Several times, I told my pastor that I still believed what I had taught and confessed for these forty years as I went to surgery. Later, I was told that I was on the threshold of attending the Marriage Feast myself. It was as if the Holy Spirit said, “Not yet, not yet.” In those few years, I have continued to preach, to teach, cared for my home congregation when our pastor was on the threshold himself, presided at the weddings of all of my children, seen all my grandchildren save one baptized with the same baptismal shell with which their parents and others were baptized, passed the baton on to four of my spiritual sons, welcomed two pastors to our home congregation, and, with them, mentor vicars and fieldworkers. God has blessed me more than I deserve.
The golden evening brightens in the west. Soon, soon to faithful warrior cometh rest; Sweet is the calm of paradise, the blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!
And now I reflect: I was blessed to celebrate All Saints’ Day with my wife 34 times, thankful for each day we were together. I pray to thank the Lord for those who are safely home. I pray, after receiving the Lord’s Supper, to thank him for my late wife, for my ever-growing list of grandchildren, for my children, and for their spouses. I will rejoice that this year I can still hold their hands, speak with them through the ether, and see them all once in a while. Soon, all too soon, the angels will come for me or one of them, to join those at the Feast as the Holy Spirit no longer says, “not yet,” but the Lord Jesus says to one of us, “Welcome to the joy of your Father.”
But lo! There breaks a yet more glorious day; The saints triumphant rise in bright array; The King of glory passes on his way. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Yes, all too soon there will come to this vale of tears that day, whether we are here to see it or at the side of our Lord, when Jesus will return, destroy sin and death forever, call us all from our graves, make new the heavens and the earth, and dry every tear from our eyes. Lord, should you tarry beyond the end of our time, let at last your angels come to Abram’s bosom bear us home, that we may die unfearing. Come, Lord Jesus, come!
