Day of Justice, Day of Salvation
Rev. Richard A. Bolland

Isaiah 26:19-21
(November 7, 2004 Sermon Transcript)

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        From the great gospel preacher of the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah, these words.

        Hamid Pourmand is a protestant minister in the nation of Iran. Since September, he’s been held prisoner in an undisclosed location, and he may well be executed for the crime of converting to Christianity, which is known under Iranian law as apostasy against Islam.

        He is a 47-year-old man, married with two children, and who also serves as a colonel in the Iranian army. He was arrested with 86 other Christians who were leaders of his country, and, like many before him, there is a good likelihood that he will simply die in prison. His cause of death with undoubtably be listed as an accident, or as a result of some contracted disease. But I must tell you that will not be the truth, for those who have died before him did not have an accident, did not have a disease.

        Rev. Pourmand is suffering for the faith of Christ, as have millions of others before him. Indeed, from the Roman coliseum to the killing fields of Sudan, it becomes very clear that Christians are persecuted and murdered for the cause of Christ Jesus, and it is simply a brutal part of the fabric of living by grace in a world that does not like Jesus Christ.

        On this All Saints’ Day, it is necessary and it is good to pause to remember how our gracious and loving Lord sustains His children, even in the midst of persecution, even in the face of death.

        We are the fortunate ones. By God’s grace we are blessed to live in a land where such persecution does not seem to be known in such brutal forms. Indeed, in our country it is more subtle. Our temptation, I suppose, is to think of our situation as normal, because, of course, we live in it.

        But let it be known that, on a worldwide scale of things, this is abnormal. And that which is happening to Rev. Pourmand is indeed that which is normal in most parts of the world.

        Once again let us give witness to the reality that, as we speak, there are 200,000 Christians a year who perish for the sake of the faith.

        This word from our Old Testament reading is a word of hope. It is a word of justice. It is a word of life. And it is a word of hope for a day when such persecutions will be known no more.

        I suppose we might be puzzled at the world’s reaction to our faith. But we ought not to be. We are tempted to despair, I suppose, when people call us fools and infidels. Indeed, Christ does not look like much of a model after which to guide one’s life. Ridicule is often offered for those whose faith is placed in a man who died 2000 years ago. And, I suppose, from the world’s point of view, that might be somewhat understandable. Especially when people place their faith in a man who looks like such a, well, loser. After all, this is a man who ended up being executed in a very cruel way. Hardly a note of success in this day and age, or then.

        After all, Jesus never wrote a book. He never ruled a nation. He never commanded an army, nor a navy. He was not a sports star, He didn’t live in a house, He didn’t even own a television set! So, how very silly Christians must look in the eyes of the wisdom of the world.

        So, of course, those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and who center their lives on Him, are the targets of scorn, and sometimes persecution and even violence.

        But, we are respectable Lutherans, are we not? So therefore, the world must view us somewhat better. Well, I would suggest not. For, as Lutherans, we follow someone whose life looks like a loser as well. Consider Martin Luther. There was a man who started out as a successful lawyer, but gave it up to be a monk who had no salary at all! And what’s more, this is a man who did not know how to be politically correct in the face of the Roman Catholic church. And as a result, he ended up being declared an outlaw, sentenced to death, and condemned. He ended up hiding in a borrowed friend’s castle, hiding from all the authorities. And he died a poor man, of multiple heart attacks, leaving a legacy of nothing more positive than the 30-years war in Europe.

        How can you possibly then be pleased about being Lutheran? So, we’re sort of in a double whammy here. We are Christian Lutherans. Doubly fools, if you will, in the eyes of the world. And from a human point of view, from a point of logic and human reason, well, we ought to be despairing of our own stupidity. From the standpoint of human logic, from the standpoint of human reason, from the standpoint of human wisdom, we all deserve everything, and anything, that comes our way.

        But our viewpoint is not that of the world. Nor is our logic, nor is our wisdom, for we are people of faith in Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified, the one who was raised from the dead.

        In hearing the word of God, we are moved by the power of it to faith, so that we have faith in Him who has turned the seeming foolishness of this world, into divine wisdom. Hear the word of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. He asks, Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

        Strangely, the Lord seems to use weakness to express His wisdom. No wonder the world doesn’t understand it! It was also true of how He taught, so frequently, in parables. From the gospel of St. Matthew, our Lord speaks. This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'

        Once again let us remember that it is the precious gift, divinely given, of faith, which enables us to see, to understand and comprehend spiritual truth. And it is unbelief which disenables people to see, to hear, to understand.

        We know, as God’s people in Christ, that our hope is only in what the world understands as foolishness. We trust in the foolishness of the cross, for there we are redeemed from our debt of sin.

        We look and trust and know with a certain hope that our debt against God for our sins has been canceled through the blood of Jesus Christ, and His suffering and Golgotha’s hill.

        We trust and know that when we die, and are laid in our graves, that our debt of sin has been canceled, and that we are not at the end of life, but at the very portal of heaven.

        We trust and know without any doubt that when, gathered at the fount of Holy Baptism, we find there that plain water, connected with the word of God, cleanses us from all sin, and seals us as a child of God forever.

        We know that when we gather at the rail of the altar to receive there the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, that that ordinary bread and wine is mysteriously and wondrously filled with His body and blood, the very purchase price paid for your sin, and for mine, and through which our sins are forgiven and faith is strengthened.

        Yes, we have a far different viewpoint from that of the world, for we look through the eyes of faith. The world, of course, will never understand such a thing. But the Lord will use every act of persecution and violence against His people to further advance His kingdom. Listen to the words of St. Paul as he writes in the 8th chapter of Romans these words. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-- more than that, who was raised to life-- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

        Every time I finish reading that passage I just go, "WOW!" Nothing can stand against those who are kept in the faith by Christ! Nothing!

        And so, therefore, when your children or grandchildren head off to the state university, and they are ridiculed in the classroom for their faith, or when they are graded down for making their testimony of faith, know that God is at work in them through the witness of your children to extend His kingdom.

        And every time a fellow Christian in every part of the globe is imprisoned or persecuted, or punished, or killed, or ignored, God is at work to bring His wisdom to this world’s foolishness.

        But I want you to know there is an end to this. Even the world will finally, ultimately, get the picture. Not only do we have faith in what Christ has done and accomplished for us, but we have faith also in what He has promised He will do in the days that are yet to come.

        God, through justice, brings us His response. With God, justice delayed is not justice denied. For God’s people will suffer in this life. Indeed, we sing our hymns of the church militant to underline and underscore this point, but they will not continue to suffer forever.

        From our text. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.

        There is no act of evil perpetrated against God’s chosen ones that will be forgotten or unanswered. There is no act of persecution or ridicule that will be overlooked by the Lord God Almighty, who remembers all things, except our sins.

        No wonder the scriptures speak with such terrifying reality when, in the book of Revelation, these words are inspired. A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

        Justice is coming. Justice will be obtained. Hell is the final and ultimate justice for all evil perpetrated against the Lord’s people, who suffer in His name. Once again from Revelation, these words. After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants." And again they shouted: "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever."

        We also have more than the promise of justice. For we have the promise of God’s divine life, and life in Him, forever. Listen to the words of the promise of life in the 19th verse of our text. But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

        We will live, no matter how we die. The promise of life is given those who were slain will live. Those whose blood was shed will shout for joy!

        When the wisdom of the world is exposed for the foolishness it really is, when the people of God will see what God has prepared for them, then all things will be set right. Listen to God’s certain promise about the new home that we shall have and know. Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And 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!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

        Listen to God’s certain promise that is intended for you, and for all who bear the name of Christ. God is just. And God will and has kept His promises.

        Rev. Hamid Pourmand is suffering for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though unbelievers around the world consider him a fool and an infidel, there will come a day when all the wrongs done to him will be completely set right. On that great day, we will have the blessed opportunity to call the children of the coliseum, and the killing fields of the Sudan, and Pastor Pourmand, a brother in Christ forever, and together we will shout for joy. It will be a day of justice, and it will be the day of our salvation.

        In the name of one who is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Christ of God. Amen.