What Does This Mean?

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.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2022 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com.

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!

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Revised this All Saints’ Day,
the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Twenty-Five

©2020-2025 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@mmn.com

[Second in a series of posts on Last Things] Encore Post: This is one of a host of throwaway platitudes we may say at the death of a Christian. We’ve inherited … Or, more correctly, we’ve been infected by the language of a faithless culture around us. In the absence of the faith, in the absence of the certainty of the resurrection promise of Holy Baptism, the pagan world speaks from ignorance to sloppily salve suffering in grief.

None of these words comes from an evil intent. It’s honorable and good to try to speak peace to those in grief. But we’d do better to stick to the words and themes of the Bible.

“Heaven needed another angel.”

No, we don’t become angels when we die. Heaven’s angels are fixed in number. They are created heavenly beings. (Colossians 1:16) They are the messengers of God. The angels are His army, His mighty host. (Joshua 5:14-15; 1 Samuel 17:45) The angels are fearsome in appearance. (Luke 2:9-10) And God has charged His angels to protect and defend us from the minions of the Evil One.

The Evil One, Lucifer, the Devil, was also one of God’s angels. (Luke 10:17-18) He and one-third of the angels in heaven rebelled against God. They were cast out. (Revelation 8:10-11; 9:1-3) Satan and his demons (angels) now dwell in hell apart from God and make war to separate us from the love of Jesus.

God didn’t send His Son to suffer and die to redeem the fallen angels. He did that for us. We are loved and have been redeemed and forgiven in a unique way. Saying that we will become them denigrates the angels. It diminishes God’s love for us to deny that our path to eternal salvation remains human and regains our flesh on the last day. Not angels–fully perfected human beings.

“He’s gone. She’s in a better place.”

Where’d he go?! Is she in a better place, like Antigua? He was hooked up to an awful lot of machines the last time I saw him.

The science-y view of nothingness beyond death leads to language like passing away. They are “gone” in that there’s nothing more. When we say someone has gone to a better place. We’re agreeing that we don’t know where. It’s a grief-softening move for those without hope. But we have great hope and a tremendous promise.

We Christians have more to say than that. We can speak the words of the scripture to console and correctly locate our loved ones. The blessed dead in the faith are at rest in Christ. The better place to which they’ve gone has a name. They have gone to heaven! We should leap at the chance to name the place where they are. That’s true, consoling, faithful, and beautiful.

The scriptures say that someone has died. (see all of Genesis 5). If we’re still uncomfortable saying someone has died, the scripture still gives us softer words. These softer words contain and still confess the hope we have.

Gained Heaven

We can say that they have “gained heaven.” “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

At Rest

We should say they are “at rest.” “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” (Revelation 6:11)

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Rev 14:13)

If you go through an old Lutheran churchyard (cemetery), you’ll see a curious thing. When the gravestones switch from English to German, the common phrases switch too. “Loving mother/father and beloved child” give way to something else. You’ll see things like: “Hier Ruhet.” “Ruhet in Gott,” or “Ruhe’ in Christi.” These mean: here rests, rest in God, and rest in Christ.

Let’s stick with the language and imagery of the Bible.

Hang on tight—what happens when we die? Comes next.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2022 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com.

[First in a series of posts on Last Things]Encore Post “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” quipped Benjamin Franklin. He was right about death, at least. In 1997, a satirical online newspaper ran this headline: “World Death Rate Holding Steady At 100 Percent.” They were right. All but two people in the world’s history have died — including God in the person of Jesus Christ! Yet all people fear death because it means that, in the end, they will lose control of everything. We do everything we can to extend life, and, in our age, we have done quite well at it. Yet still, all people will die, and some quite young.

Physically speaking, death is a process that happens as our vital organs cease to function. Practically speaking, medical science pronounces death when the heart stops without the possibility of reviving it or when brain waves cease.

Yet, death is much more than the end of our physical life. It is the judgment of God on sin. Since sin cuts us off from the source of our life, God himself, we will die. When God forbade Adam from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he warned: “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17). When Adam fell, he pronounced his sentence — and ours. “You return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)

There is also another aspect of death that is not about the end of physical life. The essence of our life, our spirit, our soul, is violently separated from our bodies. For Christians who are redeemed by the atoning death of Jesus, the soul separated from its body by death is cleansed of its sin, relieved of pain and grief, and lives in paradise with Christ and the souls of all who are redeemed. There, they wait for the second coming of Christ. On that day, the Lord will call their bodies from the grave, reunite their souls and bodies, transforming them to be fit for eternal life.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2022-2023 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

[One hundred and fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Ever since Jesus ascended to Heaven, Christians have wondered when He would return. We look forward to the day when He will bring an end to sin, sickness, sorrow, grief, pain, and death. Every day, horrible things happen, and we wonder whether this could be the day He comes back.

In every generation, some people thought that they had figured out the secret. They read the prophecies of the Bible and try to match events in their lifetime to the symbols in them. They do the math and come up with a day. But the Bible is not a giant math problem where you plug in the right events into the equation and get a date. In fact, all the signs of the end of days were fulfilled at the time the last books of the Bible were written. We are in the last days and have been for 2000 years.

Jesus warned us about such dreaming. He told us that no one knows the day or the hour of his return. So, we are to be ready for him. He will come for us — at the end of time or at the end of our times. We do not know which will come first or when it will happen. The reason we do not know when He will return is that God wants us always to be ready. He wants us to love Him and take care of each other every day, not just on the day we think is the end of time or the day we will die. When things are hard in our lives, Jesus wants us to know that He will fix it all one day. We can then face these things, knowing it will not be forever.

Instead, the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead comforts us. On that day, sin will be removed from us forever. There will be no more grief, sorrow, sickness, or pain. At the voice of Jesus, we will rise from the grave, body and soul reunited, our bodies transformed into a glorious body like the one Jesus has, fit to live forever. It will be as God intended it forever. It is why we join the church of all times, places, races, languages, calling out, “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2021 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

[One hundred and third in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Timothy was one of the very first Christians to grow up in a Christian family. His grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, had faith in Christ before Timothy was born. His father was a gentile, so he was not circumcised. He always had faith in Christ and grew into a strong young Christian leader.

Paul met him in his hometown of Lystra, probably on his first missionary trip. The apostle saw the gifts God had given to the young man and immediately took him along on his journeys. Before traveling with Paul, Timothy was circumcised so as not to offend Jews.

Timothy would be sent on increasingly essential missions, including delivering some of Paul’s letters to churches. Paul would eventually leave him in Ephesus as a pastor to deal with heresies and misunderstandings that had arisen there. Paul would call for him when imprisoned, perhaps for the last time. Later, Timothy found himself in prison and was released. He would accompany the author of the letter to the Hebrews on a journey. According to church tradition, Timothy was bishop of Ephesus and died as a martyr on 22 January 97 A.D..

Timothy has become one of the favorite fathers of the early church to seminaries and students studying to be pastors. Paul’s advice is very practical, even today. He was one of the important second-generation leaders, who passed on the teaching of God’s word to a new generation — and us!

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2021 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

Campus Ministry Sermon
Psalm 24, 1 Samuel 10
October 25, 2023

            Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

          The theme is this: Saul points us to Jesus as the Prophet, Priest, and King.

          Last month, we began this series recognizing that Jesus is the King of all. This month, we focus in on the very first king of Israel, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. There are many stories you have probably heard about King Saul, but today we will only look at Saul’s anointing to become king. At Saul’s anointing, we notice that he foreshadows Jesus, who will be the Prophet, Priest and King for us.

          First, we hear in the reading this evening, “Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. Anointing with oil is not a common practice anymore in the world or in the church. We hardly have kings anymore; parliaments and presidents are much more common. But in the days of Saul, becoming a king was a religious experience. It was the church who anointed the kings. It was God who established the government authorities. Israel truly was a godly nation at that point in history.

          But oil on the head only set Saul apart from the people as their king. What was it that confirmed that he was the king? Samuel prophesied a few signs. Our reading says, “And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ First, Saul has to go to Bethlehem; he had to journey to Rachel’s tomb and there he would pick up some donkeys. It is no small detail that the kings of Israel began to reign in Bethlehem. Before Bethlehem was known as the City of David, before David was even a king, Bethlehem was known as the City of Rachel, the burial place for Rachel, the wife of Jacob.

But more than Rachel, more than Saul and more than David, we all know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and was given gifts by three kings, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. It was at Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem that He was named the King of the Jews. It was in Bethlehem that He laid among the donkeys and other farm animals.

But donkeys? How can forget to mention the donkeys? It is shocking that Israel’s kings rode on donkeys. No movie shows a king riding on a donkey. No nation wants their kings riding on donkeys. Can you imagine instead of Air Force One that the President of the United States would ride into town on a donkey? What about the King of England? No, kings do not ride on donkeys. But here Saul is on the search for donkeys and he will get them.

And Jesus, the king of all, will ride on donkeys too. Jesus will ride on a donkey with His mother Mary as they journey to Bethlehem. Jesus will ride on a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday too. Saul, the first king of Israel, shows us what it means to be king, to ride on a donkey. And because of that, Jesus too is truly a King.

But what else is in this story? Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. This second sign for Saul demonstrates the work of the priests. From Bethlehem as king to Bethel as a priest, Saul now sees a sign of three men, three goats, three loaves of bread, and some wine. The priest with the goats will make a blood sacrifice. The priest with the three loaves will make a grain offering. The priest with the skin of wine will make a thanksgiving offering. All of these things proclaim and confirm the kingship of Saul.

How does this point us to Jesus as a priest? Jesus will make a blood sacrifice, not of goats’ blood, but of His own blood. This is what John means when He proclaims, “Jesus the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” Not only this, but Jesus will make a grain offering, feeding 5,000 and 4,000 souls by the Sea of Galilee, doing a grain miracle just like the manna in the wilderness. And Jesus will take the cup of wine, and He will declare to the disciples, “This is the New Testament in my Blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Yes. Jesus is a priest. In fact, He is the High Priest. He makes the sacrifice for the earth to cover all sins of all people.

But wait. What is the final sign? Our reading continues with these words: After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

First, we saw that Saul was to be the Bethlehem king. Then we saw that Saul was to be the Bethel priest. Now, Saul will be a prophet. In the midst of the Philistines, Saul will begin to proclaim the true God to unbelievers. What a miracle that was! This passage shows us so much more than establishing the kingship of Israel. It is way more than oil on the head. In this reading, we recognize what godly kings are supposed to be like and what they are to do.

Saul’s anointing as king over Israel foreshadows to us that Jesus will be the true King of Israel. It shows to us that Jesus is the King, the Priest, and the Prophet of God Most High. Saul was the first king of Israel, but his life turned out that he was not the best of the kings of Israel. Yet Saul’s anointing reminds us and helps us look forward to Jesus’ anointing.

Jesus the King lives and reigns over all of creation. Jesus the Priest sacrificed for the whole world. Jesus the Prophet proclaimed the Easter victory over sin, death, and the powers of hell. What Saul could not accomplish, Jesus has accomplished for us.

Long live the King, the King Jesus! Now let us live forever with Him.

In the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

©2025 James Peterson. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com