Rev. Arturo Mendez

May 15 2022

Text: Revelation 21:1-7

Theme: “Thanks be to God and Rejoice in His Promises”

     

  Grace and Peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be to all of you Amen!

   21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.

Today is a day of celebration we all are celebrate the 122th. Anniversary of the Foundation of this Church, and the 20^Th. Anniversary on His Call of service here to Pastor Bogs. but also we celebrate that God Himself is taking care of this church, as he has promised to all of us in His Word and His Sacraments as well, in this Chapter of the Revelation of John.

The apostle john had a vision that God Himself reveal to him and also, he has revealed to us as well in the scripture of the context of the second coming of the Lord to this world. We read how John see new heavens and earth, and it is some opinions of the theologians regarding of this account, regarding if the whole world where we live is going to be destroyed, and after this a new heaven and heart it will be new. But we can see this context as is write in (Isaiah 66:22 and 2P3:13) but the importance is not on how it will be these things happen when the time come. The importance here is to see how God is so Faithfull to His People, first of all because He has sent His Only begotten Son to the World to Full fill The Scriptures, We are the creation of God, and unfortunately by the disobedience of the Adam and Eve the whole Humanity is Born and conceive in Sin because they’re Disobedience of God to not eat of the forbidden Fruit. But God in His Love of His Creation promised to them a Forgiveness of their Sin and a Savior of this transgression, He sent during the Old Testament as we read in the Bible, Prophets to proclaim to His People the Promised Messiah to the World, so to all who believed in the Promised Messiah will be save by faith in Him, as well all of us Believers, he Sent His Son Jesus Christ and he Full Fill to all of us what God was saying before to Adam and Eve, First of all the forgiveness of Sins by Faith in Him, and by His Dead and Resurrection we are secure in the Promise of eternal Life in Heaven by Faith in Him, so when we hear in this account of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven and the Bride adorned for his Husband, is the Church of God, base in this context, is referring to all of us who had being believed in the Promised Messiah in His Son Jesus Christ, is all who had believed in Him and has pass away from this world, we can see this scripture as the apostle Paul was written. (1Ts 4:14) so we  see the same language of this vision of John, but what it is, great is that God has being washes out our sins in our baptism and has given us Robes of Righteousness and Justice in His Son Jesus Christ, God has Promised to us his care.

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.

John hear from His Throne the Voice of God, “Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.

God promises to dwell among us, among his people, as he has done as well with Moses when he appeared to him in the burning branch, and then rescued them from the slavery of Egypt, likewise God has dwelt among us, after the people of Israel was rescue from Egypt, in the desert He dwell with them in the cloud by day and in the cloud of fire by night,  in turn, when God give to Moses  the tablets of the covenant, God himself continues to dwell among his people, making them a tent for God to dwell among them. And this is how the promises of God are still fulfilled today among us, he Sent his son Jesus to redeem us from the death and slavery of sin and give us his life in atonement for ours and we may have eternal life in Heaven together with him through Faith,  And this is how we rejoice among ourselves, because God remains Faithful, and cares for us eternally in his promises, He has been faithful to us his people for more than 2000 thousand years, and still continues to do so, because he has cared for us during these 122 years in his church in St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Westfield, with his love and care sending faithful pastors to his call and to the care of his church,  and today we celebrate, that care and that love for his promises to us, we rejoice and rejoice that today we celebrate the 20 years of Pastor Bogs, who for 20 years has been faithful to his call and proclaimed the Gospel of the Lord for his people and through that call of faithful Pastors to his church, God has led them to dwell with us through his eternal promise through his Son Jesus Christ and the proclamation of his word, the holy Baptism, the forgiveness of sins and the partake of the lord's table, where he remains among us when we eat and drink of his body and blood,  He dwells with us eternally and we are partakers of that Love towards us his Church, He dwells with us that is his eternal promise, and it is pore so that He reminds us through his Servants Pastors that He has sent to this church, and we rejoice and thank God because He always keeps his word this is what God promises us,  through his proclaimed gospel, that we will be his people, that God himself will be dwelling with us, and that he himself will be our God and we will be his sons through the gift of faith in his Son Jesus, that is the eternal hope that God gives us in turn of all these years the eternal promise of salvation he has manifested himself to us through his servants during these 122 Years and in these last 20 years of faithful service of his servant who has called his Church Pastor Ron Bogs has nourished us with the word of God through his sermons he has fed us spiritually with the word of God, this is how God has been faithful and always fulfills his promises never to leave us alone and to dwell among us. We rejoice and give thanks to God for His love and care.

⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ⁷ The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

 God has promises to all of us believers that one day it will be no more tears in our eyes, not death, pain or crying, the Lord has being faithful to all of us, even though we live in a sinful world and in sinful flesh, we are still during this sorrows of sin death tears and pain, because is our sinful nature, but rejoice because the Lord Love us so much that’s why He Sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that everyone who believes in Him have eternal Life  by Faith in Him that’s the eternal promise, the one who is seated in the Throne tells us Behold, I am making all things New, and he said to John to write this things because are trustworthy and true, He said to John it is Done and also say to all of us He had completed it is already fulfill in His Son Jesus Christ he has paid in the Cross in His Sacrifice, in His death and resurrection He has conquer to all of us the eternal promise of everlasting life, He is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the End, is God Eternal, and His Promises are Eternal too, He promises to all of us the ones who are thirsty he will give us from His water that overflows and without payment, because He has done everything for all of us, He still and continued taking care of His Church and fulfilling his covenant to all that he will be dwelling in us Sending Faithfull Pastor To His Church and to St. Matthew of Westfield that those faithful Pastors continued sharing the Gospel of the Lord and Nourishes to his people and feed them with His Word and Sacraments, that all of us and the people whose still keep coming during the years and heard the Proclamation of the Gospel, remain Faithfull as well, until the Lord come back again for those who has conquer will have the Heritage, in His Kingdom, and be able to dwell eternally with God our Father and Savior and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, One Triune God forever and ever Amen!!

 

May the peace of God who trespasses all understanding  keep your mind and Heart to the life everlasting Amen !!