Revelation 21:3-4 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. ⁴ 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."

What is confirmation? The definition of confirmation is "a strengthening given in directed Bible study, after which an individual confess faith in Jesus and unity of faith with a body of believers." However, when I recently asked one of our youth confirmands what is confirmation, the student responded, "Two years of pain."

In preparation for this sermon, I asked our five confirmands a number of questions. After you hear their responses to all these questions you will understand the fun we had together, as well as what I had to put up with these past two years.

I asked the confirmands to recall their favorite – and least favorite – memories of confirmation class – a dangerous question, I know. An all-time favorite was when I asked for the six chief parts of the catechism. The answer should have been: the Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Lord’s Supper, and the Keys and Confession. They got the first five right but struggled with the last one, so I helped them by saying, "The Keys and …" and one student finished … "the Doors."

Another favorite was asking for the names of the gospel writers and the response I received was "Peter, Paul, and Mary." One confirmand wrote that "during class I sometimes like to dream that I will soon get my own mailbox in the Friendship Room with my name on it." It’s there. They also seemed to like going to the gym to play dodgeball after a test. One student seemed to enjoy getting me out in dodgeball. I don’t remember that happening too often.

One student’s favorite memories were playing in the gym and sleeping. Daniel! Another student’s favorite memory was "sometimes when we watch movies I get some extra sleep in that I didn’t get the night before." Joshua!

All five wrote that their least favorite times were taking quizzes and tests. I found that odd since I sure liked giving them quizzes and tests. They seemed to whine an awful lot that they had to go through two years of study with homework, memory work, journals, quizzes, and tests while the adults only had to go through sixteen lessons without quizzes or tests. Although Jenna and Pat, our two adult confirmands today, could attest that they had some marathon classes lasting an hour and a half to two hours. They always had their homework done. And they never fell asleep.

(Jenna and Pat have two more lessons, yet after talking with them this week, I think they may need a third lesson. I think that as new Lutherans they need to learn how to play sheepshead. Don’t you?)

As newly confirmed Lutherans, all of our confirmands understand that they will be serving the Lord in his Church. Both as adults and youth, they want to serve him with their musical abilities by playing the guitar or trumpet, serving as usher or greeter, putting out doorhangers, teaching Sunday School, and being involved in our prayer chain. One wrote, "Knowing that my church has many Youth Group activities for younger people like myself is a fun and reassuring way to serve the Lord. Being a part of Sunday school and helping out with the cleaning committee are other ways to help our church." Another wrote, "Of course the best way to help the church is to be a good neighbor and to introduce people to the faith." Another wrote, "I would like to have a hand in directing the church’s direction. I plan to join the church council when I’m 60."

In our sermon text, John received a revelation of the saints before God’s throne in heaven. He heard a 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. ⁴ 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."

It’s night. Outside there are only peaceful night sounds. But inside it is anything but peaceful. A tiny baby is crying - crying so loudly that everyone in the household is awake. The parents make every effort to calm the child down, to silence her crying, to put an end to her tears. If only they knew the reason why she was crying, then they would remove the source of her pain or displeasure and wipe away her tears.

Why do people cry? It may be because of pain, or fear, or sorrow. Sometimes people cry for shame. They’re ashamed of the mistakes that they’ve made, the sins that they’ve committed, the homework left undone, or Bible passages not committed to memory.

What a relief it is when a tiny baby stops crying in the night and drifts off into peaceful sleep. Whatever was bothering her isn’t bothering her any more. How we also long for that peace!

Our text speaks of a time when there will be no tears and when whatever tears were being shed will be wiped away. It speaks of heaven, where there will be no pain, no cause for fear, no reason for sorrow, and not even a reason for repentance - for there we will have the perfect peace that comes from the fact that all of our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.

But as Christians we don’t need to wait for a future time and place to have lives filled with peace. Such lives are ours already, as followers of the Lamb, our Savior Jesus Christ. We may still wince in pain, but God is our help. We may tremble in fear, but God is our strength. Life sometimes hurts, but God is our comfort. We still sin, but Jesus is our Savior. In this world we shed tears, and may do so right up until our dying day. But though tears flow from our eyes, peace fills our hearts. It is the peace that God gives. It is the peace that comes from knowing Jesus: the helper of the helpless, the worker of miracles, the payment for our sins. God comforts us when we cry, and he will wipe away our tears.

At our baptism, Jesus came to set up his kingdom in our hearts. He is Immanuel, "God with us." In heaven, though, that relationship will change. It will then be "us with God" – for good, forever, to live and work and worship him for all eternity.

In a few minutes, our confirmands will promise to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from their baptismal faith which they are confirming on this day. That is a big time promise. Why are they willing to face death? "When I see a rainbow after a storm, or the buds on the trees I know that God made it all. When I see the smiling faces of my family I know they are a gift from God. When I’m in church and I hear how my sins are forgiven, I know that God is watching over me. I know that only the true God could save me from my sins and bless me with such wonderful things. I believe that God has saved me and blesses me every day. I believe that he is watching over us all at this very moment. I believe that God is my shepherd and savior and that he guides and protects me every day of my life. Therefore, dying for my faith and going to heaven (it’s called paradise for a reason; it’s nicer than earth) is better than falling away from [this] faith."

"I was born and raised in this church, and the thought of changing churches has never occurred to me once. This is all I have ever really known, and the day that I learned that there are other people who don’t believe in Christ was a shocking day for me. Christianity just makes too much sense. I believe that the pure truth, the purse sense of our religion will keep me in line, in faith, in the church."

"I am willing to face all, even death, because I know that even in death the faith I have in Jesus Christ as my Savior from sin will bring me to my home in heaven to be with Jesus and his saints. I also know that if I was to die with a lost faith, I would be eternally condemned to hell for the sins I have committed in my life and that is something that I do not want."

"I am willing to face all, even death, because when I die I know I’ll go to a far better place than this world could ever take me. That would be heaven. Since I’m a Christian, I’ve been taught that death is a blessing because in the end I know that I will go to heaven. Sure I’ll miss all the fancy video systems and those fancy universal remote controls, but that’s something I’m willing to give up for my Father in heaven."

"My faith is not something that I can just give up easily. Having the faith that I have means that I believe that Jesus is always there, watching over me, keeping me strong. As pastor taught us in one of our lessons, God is a curb, mirror and guide for us in our life. He keeps us on the right path to heaven, shows us our sin, and guides us in all we do. I feel safe knowing all that is true and so, how could I give up such a magnificent thing over something earthly and powerless. With Jesus there I can face anything."

What fantastic testimonies from our young people. God is their God right now. They are making that public confession of faith before all of you this morning. Why do it publicly? "Because I want people to know and understand my faith. By the end of this confirmation, I want people to walk out of this church knowing that I’m a Christian and that I’m also a good role model as one."

"I want to confess my true Christian faith publicly because it is the faith I have trusted in my whole life and know through my confirmation. I have been given the opportunity by God to confess my faith to the family of believers at Epiphany Lutheran Church."

"I want the congregation to not only see me as another confirmand who will be taking communion with them, but as a sister in Christ, who now understands her full duty as a Christian. I want to confess my faith publicly to show that I am proud to be a believer in Christ. By the end of my examination and confirmation, my congregation will know that I am in unity with them and we are one in Christ and as a congregation."

Confirmation, whether it is sixteen lessons or two years, may seem like pain, but as you have heard and will soon witness, it is giving people the opportunity to learn God’s Word, experience his grace, and express their unity.

God is your God. God is their God. As so many of you have publicly confessed your faith before this very altar so many years ago, so we have seven people today – two adults and five teenagers – who are uniting with you in faith and confession. They are proud of their faith and proud of their God, just as you are. They are ready and eager to be active, dedicated, committed members of this congregation, our Wisconsin Synod, and God’s kingdom.

God is our God now, but here on earth we wander and stray and move away from God. That will not happen in heaven. God will take our confessions of faith we have made before his altar and make those confessions permanent before the throne of God.

Then we will have the eternal confidence: ""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." Amen.