Christmas 1                                                                                29 December, 2024

Revelation 7:7-13                                                                 Pastor Nate Bourman

“O Come, Key of David”

+++Locked Out!

 It’s happened to me too many times. Ruth can tell you all about it. It’s almost like a bad habit or character trait. I lock myself out of my car. It usually happens like this. I’ll be on the phone when I get to my location. Don’t worry, I am usually using car play so it is a hands-free phone call. But once the car is parked and turned off, I pick up my phone and take the keys out of the ignition. As I finish up my phone call, I often start getting out of the car while the keys are in my lap. My keys will fall out of my lap or onto the seat. Sometimes I’ll drop them somewhere else. At that point, I’m still paying attention to my phone call. My normal habit when getting out of the car is to hit the lock button. So, there we go. I locked the car door, the keys are inside, and I’m on the outside looking in. It’s okay if I’m just a few miles away from help. But if I’m in Waukesha, in Hartland, or Hartford, it isn’t quite so fun. There I am staring into my locked car, locked out, wondering how I’m going to get my car keys out and get myself into the car. It’s no fun getting locked out.

The same is true at home. Now, we have digital locks on our home – they are also keyed – so this hasn’t happened to me for a long time. But it’s no fun getting locked out of your home either. Especially when it is brutally cold or stinking hot or you’re in a hurry or hungry or tired… it’s no fun getting locked out. You want to get into the place that is yours, but, at the moment, you have no way in.

I think it would be even worse if you showed up to a house party, showed up to a gathering of people you know and like, but the door was locked and they didn’t let you in. Can you imagine that? The party is going on inside. The people that you know and love are inside having the time of your life. Laughing and smiling. And you’re locked out. It’s no fun getting locked out, especially from a party.

That’s the image that Matthew 25 gives us. We’ll look at this text on New Year’s Eve. It’s the parable of the 5 foolish virgins and the 5 wise virgins. And what is the image given at the end of the parable? There they stand on the outside of heaven’s party. The door is locked so they knock at the door and say, “Can we come in!?!” But the answer given to them is, “I don’t know you.” That’s even worse! Locked out of heaven’s party. The door is shut and locked. It would be no fun to be locked out.

+++The Fear

That’s a scary thought. In fact, verses like these are the verses that fill me with the deepest sort of fear. Can you just imagine that – clawing at the door, banging on the door, but all the time you are locked out! I wonder if that is the sort of fear that filled the hearts of the church of Philadelphia. Of all of the seven churches, this is one of the churches about which Jesus has nothing negative to say. He has no rebuke for them. In fact, he says a few things about them. First, he says, “I know that you have little strength.” They were battling something. It was some long, strenuous, difficult, painful battle. It was hard and their strength was dissipating like the morning mist. They were weary and wrong. But they kept Jesus’ word. They were holding and keeping it true and pure. They were keeping it close to their heart. AND, they were not denying the name of Jesus. They were facing some sort of heavy and hard persecution or hardship because of Jesus’ name.

This persecution likely came from those who belonged to the synagogue of Satan. These were people who were claiming to be Jews, yet they were not. They were claiming to be children of God, but they were not. These liars, these people who belonged to the synagogue of Satan came after the people of Philadelphia just like their father, the Devil did. They said things to them like, “Jesus must love not you. Jesus does not love you.” Surely, just like their father, the great Accuser, these people from the synagogue of Satan came after them like a vicious pit bull to accuse and attack and condemn.

That’s exactly what the Devil did to Joshua as recorded in Zechariah 3. He stood at Joshua’s right side to accuse him. He stood in God’s courtroom and leveled accusation after accusation at Joshua. He listed off all the wicked and evil and sinful things that Joshua had ever done. He accused him and condemned him. He even, likely, looked straight at Joshua and said, “God, can’t love you! He won’t let you in. You’re locked out.”

Isn’t that our greatest fear? Isn’t that what the Devil whispers in our ears and even deep in our hearts? Isn’t that how he comes after us? “Because of what you’ve done, God can’t love you! He won’t love you. He doesn’t love you.”

It’s a terrifying thing to think that we will be locked out!

+++The Promise

But here comes Jesus to speak to this beleaguered and weary and persecuted church. He comes with promise after promise. You can tell it is a promise when he says, “I will!” This is no soft or weak word from Jesus. Offering up to them what he will try to do. This is Jesus’ solemn and serious declaration to them: “I will do this…” Just glance at these promises.

I will make them come and bow down at your feet. I will keep you from the hour of trial.

I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God. I will write my name on you.

I will. I will. I will! This is what Jesus says he will do for them and for us in the days to come.

Those who accuse us and tell us that God can’t and doesn’t love us. He will make them come and bow down at our feet and they will know that “I loved you.” Jesus will make it very clear to everyone that we are the people loved by God. They will know that I loved you! Those who accuse and abuse us will not get away with their hateful, spiteful, wicked, lying words.

Jesus will spare us from the hour of trial. And even if we face some trials, we will be overcome. No matter what trial or hardship or test we face, he will strengthen us by his Spirit so that we will overcome. Yes, these days will grow more and more severe, more and more opposed to Christ. But he will keep you from that trial. And, if, in love and wisdom, he deems it good that will endure the hour or trial, he will keep us during that hour of trial.

 Then, he promises to make us a pillar in the temple of God and to write his name on us. I will do this! We will a pillar, a stone, an integral and immovable part of God’s eternal temple, the city of our God, the new Jerusalem. In other words, Jesus says, “I will make you an eternal part of my kingdom, an eternal part of my holy city, an eternal part of my family.

“I will do all of these things for you. So, stop listening to those lying voices that say you aren’t loved. Stop listening to those lying voices that tell you that you don’t belong. Stop listening to those lying voices that say you’re locked out and that you can’t come in.” Not only will you come in, but you will be an eternal and permanent member of God’s house.

+++The Hope

That’s the promise, but how do we know he’ll keep it? How do you know he’ll do it? Because he already holds the keys. That’s what this antiphon is all about. He holds the keys of death and Hades. He holds the keys of heaven. What he opens no one shut. What he shuts no one can open. He holds the keys. They are his alone and he doesn’t lose them. He doesn’t share them. He doesn’t drop them on the floor of his car. He holds the key of David. “What he opens no one can shut; and what he shuts no one can open.”

And this is what he who holds the keys has done. “I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” This is why we have no fear of the future. This is why we have no fear of being locked out because he holds the key of David and he has opened the door for us. By baptism, he opened the kingdom of heaven to us and no one can shut it. By his Word of forgiveness, he opens daily to us the kingdom of glory and no one can close it. By his Supper, he helps us imagine and get a foretaste of the banquet that no one can take from us. The door is open to you and no one can shut it. You will go in and eat with him and he with you.

The door is open up. It is not locked.  Thanks be to God! Amen? Amen!!