"A confessor is constantly standing at the boundary between time and eternity." Sasse

Whoever makes his confession concerning Jesus as Christ and Lord is putting his entire earthly existence at stake, is literally, risking his life. That is the normal state of affairs. But he is not merely standing before an earthly judge, but before the Judge of Heaven. A confessor is constantly standing at the boundary between time and eternity, between eternal life and eternal death. The Confessors of the Ancient Church knew this well. And they knew something else. As a confession of faith reaches from time to eternity so the confession of faith made here on earth finds its continuation in heaven. The Author of our faith (1 Timothy 6:12, cp. Hebrews 3:1) is also its Finisher: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32, cp. Revelation 3:5). This confessing of Christ transcends all human understanding, as is indicated by the “Blessed art thou” which He addressed to the first Confessor. Just as there is not only a praying on earth, but a prayer of the Lord of the Church before His Father in Heaven (e.g. John 17), so also there is not only a confessing of the Church on earth, but also a confessing of the Lord of the Church in heaven. Only when we shall have heard this Confession, and shall know what it means to be included in it, only then will we know fully what the Confession of the Church on earth is, the answer of the Church, the great “We” that embraces heaven and earth, to the Gospel of Christ.

Hermann Sasse

Letters to Lutheran Pastors II