Amen Pastor Sean. To know God is to love Him. And when we understand what was accomplished at the cross and the purpose for our suffering, we appreciate and love Him even more. In the opening of today's reading we find why it is that Jesus came to this dark spot of the universe to suffer and die and why it is that bad things happen to "good" people.
In the beginning the Father and the Son had rested upon the Sabbath after Their work of creation. When "the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them" (Genesis 2:1), the Creator and all heavenly beings rejoiced in contemplation of the glorious scene. "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7. Now Jesus rested from the work of redemption; and though there was grief among those who loved Him on earth, yet there was joy in heaven. Glorious to the eyes of heavenly beings was the promise of the future. A restored creation, a redeemed race, that having conquered sin could never fall,--this, the result to flow from Christ's completed work, God and angels saw. With this scene the day upon which Jesus rested is forever linked. For "His work is perfect;" and "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." Deuteronomy 32:4; Ecclesiastes 3:14. When there shall be a "restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21), the creation Sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay at rest in Joseph's tomb, will still be a day of rest and rejoicing. Heaven and earth will unite in praise, as "from one Sabbath to another" (Isaiah 66:23) the nations of the saved shall bow in joyful worship to God and the Lamb.
Not only did angels understand, but we too may understand and rejoice when our loved ones die in Christ.
Glorious to the eyes of heavenly beings was the promise of the future. A restored creation, a redeemed race, that having conquered sin could never fall,--this, the result to flow from Christ's completed work, God and angels saw.
"Having conquered sin." Some will interpret this falsely, but we may understand just what it says. And having this witness that those who live in sinful flesh will learn to accept the love and power of grace and will conquer sin, is a powerful witness to the unfallen worlds that they too will never see sin again in the entire universe. Yes, we are the lesson book for the universe. What a God we serve! He will restore the universe and a secure foundation and there will never be another rebel such as Lucifer, yet all will retain a free will to choose!