AL: Sooner or later every Bible student learns two phrases. One is the “Church militant” ...
JONI:. ..That sure describes us. Christians are in the middle of spiritual warfare... we've got our armor on... the battle is not done.
AL: ... And then, of course, there's the “Church triumphant” ... believers for whom the battle is done; they've hung up their armor and gone on to glory.
JONI: And the ranks of the Church triumphant have swelled, haven’t they? In the last few months some great Christians have graduated to heaven...
AL: Like Ruth Graham... I know that you and Ken attended her funeral...
JONI: You know, Al, one of the hymns they played at her service was, "For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest." And when we got home, I sent that hymn to Ray and Anne Ortlund.
AL: Ray was a noted author, Bible teacher, a former host of "Haven"...
JONI: ...and mentor to Dr. John Piper. Anyway, I sent him those words to the hymn, "and when the strife is fierce, the warfare long; steals on our ear, the distant triumph song, then hearts are brave again, and arms are strong... hallelujah!"
AL: Hallelujah, indeed! Margaret and I are good friends of the Ortlunds, and I know that line from that hymn really encouraged Ray and his wife, Anne. Then, not but a few days later, he literally heard that triumph song when he, too, passed into heaven and joined that glorious throng, the Church triumphant.
JONI: And just a short time ago Major Ian Thomas went home to be with Jesus. He was the founder of Torchbearers, an international Bible movement out of which came Stewart and Joe Briscoe.... Torchbearers has study centers around the world, including one in Capenwray in Great Britain. Well, anyway, Major Ian Thomas, who was 92 years old, was recently rushed to the emergency with his lungs half filled with pneumonia; and there he was on his hospital bed, struggling to raise up every time another nurse walked in, so he could preach the Gospel to whoever came through that door. It's like he didn't want to let earth go until he told one more person about Jesus. Finally, a hospital worker came in and, during the course of conversation, she happened to share she had a son who was heading to college, "Oh, someplace in England called Capenwray." Little did that nurse know the founder of Capenwray Study Center was right there in bed; and with that, knowing the torch had been passed, Major Ian Thomas breathed his last.
I tell you, Al, that so inspired me. Going out in a blaze of Gospel glory. I thought of Major Thomas and Ray Ortlund and Ruth Graham this morning as I was praying; I had a strange feeling of being surrounded by them in a great cloud of witnesses, watching and encouraging us on. And, Al, you know what? They very well could be, couldn’t they?
AL: And thanks, Joni, for reminding us about these wonderful folk who are now in the presence of our Savior. I have an idea that it won’t be too long before we’ll be meeting not only them, but also our Savior, face to face.
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