Certainty in Death

Titus 3:5-7: “He saved us—not by righteous works that we did ourselves, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs in keeping with the hope of eternal life.” When we think of “all saints,” especially of those who are dead, God has given us no command to do anything for them. The idea of “purgatory” is a foreign idea that came mostly from the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees, where souls are supposedly working hard to burn off the last of their sin, and where they could use all the help we on earth can give them. But this is all a doctrine of uncertainty. You don’t know whether a person is in heaven or not! You don’t knowthat purgatory doesn’t exist! You don’t know how much sin they’ve got to burn off yet! You don’t know whether you’ll be considered good enough when you die! Against this is the doctrine of God’s Word, which in no uncertain terms tells you that your place in heaven doesn’t depend on how good you are. It’s grace. This is given by Jesus, who earned everythingfor you. And you don’t even have to come up with the strong faith you need to hold onto that grace. That’s a gift from Jesus, too, when he speaks his Word to you, and when that Word is connected to the waters of Baptism and to the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, making those elements also your Savior’s body and blood. Jesus is your Savior, causing you to be reborn a heavenly creature, a child of God, a saint.