The memorial service for my former colleague Jon Dybdahl was a moving and powerful event.1 But in my view the most moving lines came from his son Paul, who played a key role in the service.
He had read the official obituary, which said that Jon had died at home, surrounded by his family. But in his conclusion Paul said that he wanted to make a correction to the official version.
After an emotion-laden pause, he simply said, “Not home yet.” “Not home yet.” And he stepped away from the podium to go sit with the family.
Any Adventist will know what he meant. This is a people who have often been disappointed. But the flame of hope continues to burn brightly.
In Romans 8, Paul puts it this way: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom. 8:24, 25, NRSVUE2).
All Adventists know about hope, beginning with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who said to their mysterious Companion: “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Note that the disciple used the past tense.
Luke’s other book, Acts, gives us the precious quote that embodies the Advent hope for us today: “While they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven’ ” (Acts 1:9-11).
Believers have been waiting “patiently” for his return ever since. I say “patiently,” because that is the ideal. After all, it was the apostle who said, as was noted earlier, “we wait for it with patience.”
But when believers have been waiting for hundreds, yes, thousands of years, it’s hard to be patient. We can take heart, to be sure, in the first lines of Hebrews 11: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1, ESV). And Seventh-day Adventists can take courage from the thrilling lines at the close of The Great Controversy:
“And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold; and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
“ ‘And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.’ Revelation 5:13.
“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.”3
Now when the apostle said in Romans 8, “For in hope we were saved,” he spoke in the past tense. But that past event is what gives us hope for the present and the future. And I sense that Paul, Jon’s son, is ready to speak more emphatically of the present: “Not home yet.” “Not home yet.”
1 The entire service is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY9T-YRufww.
2 Bible texts credited to NRSVUE are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
3 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 678.
