november 6 2022
November 6th 2022 All Saints Day
Old Testament: Revelation 7:9-17 “God will wipe away every tear”
Psalm: Psalm 149 “To execute … the judgment written”
Epistle: 1st John 3:1-3 “We shall see Him as He is”
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12 “Blessed are … you”
Sermon Text: Revelation 7:9-17
Sermon Title: “Salvation Belong to our God”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account … for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. (Matthew 5:11-12) “Who are these clothed in white robes … these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation”. (Revelation 7:13b-14a) “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb”. (Revelation 7:10b) “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. (Revelation 7:17b)
Though there are many who would argue otherwise, according to Holy Scripture, the word saint simply means someone who has true faith in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. It does not refer to someone of exceptional holiness of life or extraordinary good works done in service to God and others, but rather a person is made a saint by God working in them through the means of grace. So, Luther wrote in the Large Catechism, “the Word of God is what makes us saints”. (L. C. 3rd Commandment)
This is (also) what we confess in the Apostle’s Creed; “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints …”. What does this mean? “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith”. (Small Catechism, 3rd Article, Explanation)
So, if it is the Holy Spirit who alone that does these things through the Gospel, the Word and Sacrament, how can you justify staying away from these means of grace? How can you say (as some did in the recent voters meeting) “its too late to reconcile or to admonish” those who are not coming to hear the Word? Unless you are the Holy Spirit, you do not know when it is “too late”.
The word “saint” in the Old Testament is used primarily in the book of Daniel and in the Psalms where it reads, “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”. (Psalm 116:15) In the New Testament, the word is used most frequently by Saint John in the Book of Revelation and over 40 times in Saint Paul’s letter/epistles. Interestingly our text from Revelation does not use the word “saint”, but the reading is clearly about those who have been set apart, called by God, to faith in Christ, through His Word and Sacrament.
Our text this morning is perhaps the most beautiful picture of eternal life to be found in Holy Scripture. John begins, “After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands”. (Revelation 7:9)
This is obviously a picture of heaven (new heavens and new earth) and it is clear that those around the throne of God are those who have believed in Christ, not only from all parts of the world, not only Jews and Gentiles, but all believers from the beginning of time until Jesus’ Second Coming. It is a fulfillment of what the Lord promised to Abraham, that the people of God would be as numerous as the stars in heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. (See Genesis 15:5 and 32:12)
Practically speaking, this means that all those we love, who have died believing in Jesus are there; and so are we who believe in Christ; as are all who will believe in Him in the future. As we confess in the communion liturgy, “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, (the saints) we laud and magnify Thy glorious name”. Those around the throne of God are “crying out with a loud voice; Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb”! (Revelation 7:10)
Salvation belongs to the triune God alone. But what is salvation? In Holy Scripture, salvation is God delivering His people from their enemies. For example, in the Old Testament, God delivering the people of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. “Moses said to the people, Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today”. (Exodus 14:13a)
In the New Testament, salvation is the Lord’s victorious deliverance of His people from the power of sin, death, and the devil, through the death and bodily resurrection of Jesus; “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. (John 1:29) This Jesus, who is rejected by most in this sinful world, is the only way of salvation, as we heard on Reformation Sunday. “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved”. (Acts 4:12) “There is one mediator between Gid and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all”. (1st Timothy 2:5b)
The Apostle John continues; “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and they worshipped God saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen”. (Revelation 7:11-12) Because God has delivered His people from all their enemies, He is indeed worthy to receive all of these things. He has delivered us by the shedding of His precious blood on the cross, as John now declares.
“Then one of the elders addressed me saying, Who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come? And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”. (Revelation 7:13-14) “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”. (Revelation 5:12a)
We have been delivered from the consequences of our sin, “by the “blood of the Lamb”; who has also given us His perfect righteousness as a gift at our baptism, or when we came to faith in Jesus. As the Scriptures declare, “the blood of Jesus His Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1st John 1:7b) and Christ “made peace by the blood of His cross”. (Colossians 1:20b)
The angel also told John that all the saints are “coming out of the Great Tribulation”. Many Christians think this is a time near the end of the world, when things will get progressively worse for the church on earth. But this cannot be the case, since (in our text) these are believers from all times and places in the history of the church. This indicates that all Christians, all who trust in Christ alone, will suffer tribulation in this life for their faith. The life of the Christian and of the church, is not one glorious triumph after another.
This is made clear by Jesus in the Gospel reading for today, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil falsely against you on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. (Matthew 5:11-12) God’s Word declares this over and over again. Paul wrote, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted”. (2nd Timothy 3:12) Jesus declared “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you” (John 15:20b) and “in the world, you will have tribulation”. (John 16:33b) Peter wrote “do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you”. (1st Peter 4:12a)
We are blessed in all these difficult circumstances, because we know that whatever tribulations and hardships we face in this life, Christ our Lord has promised to be with us (“I am with you always”) and to bring us through them all, and to take us home to be with Him forever and ever. Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled … In My Father’s house are many rooms … I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am, you may be also”. (John 14:1-3)
In his letter to the Roman churches, the Apostle Paul asked “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ”? (Romans 8:35a) He then gives some potential answers; “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword”. (Romans 8:35b-36) All of these things certainly threaten to separate us from God, and yet Paul’s answer is; “No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us”. (Romans 8:37)
Notice that Paul doesn’t say that we will not have to go through these stressful things; yet he is still confident that despite them all, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39) who has triumphed over them all.
John now further describes the life of the blessed saints in heaven; where none of these things will bother us ever again; “They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. (Revelation 7:15-17) All the pains and sorrows of this world will be gone; forever. As Jesus promised in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”. (Matthew 5:4)
Knowing God’s gracious and precious promises to those who trust in Him alone for the forgiveness of sins; and seeing John’s vision of what awaits all these saints of God; including all of our loved ones who have died in the faith; “and since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely to us and look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of God”. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Amen.
The peace of God …