november 5 2023
November 5th 2023 All Saints Day (Remember those who died in the prayers)
First Reading: Proverbs 8:32-36 “Blessed … who listens to Me” (record in bulletin)
Psalm: Psalm 116 “Precious … is the death of His saints”
Epistle: Revelation 7:9-17 “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted”
Sermon Text: Matthew 5 and Revelation 7
Sermon Title: “Blessed are You”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thus says the Lord, “Blessed are those who keep My ways … blessed is the one who listens to Me … for whoever finds Me, finds life”. (Proverbs 8:32-35a) “You have delivered my soul from death … precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”. (Psalm 116:8a, 15) “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. (Revelation 7:17b) Jesus said, “Blessed are you”. (Matthew 5:3-11)
“Blessed” is the word that Jesus used over and over again in our Gospel text this morning to describe the state of those who believe in Him. They are blessed because of what He has done for them by His atoning death and bodily resurrection. He has won forgiveness of sins, rescuing them from the fear of eternal punishment and has promised eternal life to all who continue in His Word, for the Word (and Sacrament) is where we receive His gifts, for God promises to work through means.
So, in the first reading for today, King Solomon declared “Blessed are those who keep My ways … and do not neglect it … blessed is the one who listens to Me” (Proverbs 8:32-34a), says the Lord. We also recently heard the Psalmist say, “Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law (Word) of the Lord”. (Psalm 1:1-2a) “I will call on Him as long as I live”. (Psalm 116:2b)
They/we are blessed for He gives us these things even now by His grace, through faith, and we will enjoy them fully in the new heavens and the new earth; unless we fail to continue in His Word. For we heard Jesus’ word last Sunday, “if you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples”. (John 8:31) Elsewhere, Jesus also taught, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life”. (Revelation 2:10b)
Jesus exhorts us in many other places in Holy Scripture, including Matthew’s Gospel, to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven … for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. (Matthew 6:20) The Apostle Paul wrote, “let anyone who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall”. (1st Corinthians 10:12) The author of Hebrews also declares, “Take care … lest there be in any of you an unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God”. (Hebrews 3:12)
Now, getting back to the Gospel text for a moment, blessed here does not mean “happy”, at least not in the sense that most of us understand that word; which is about our feelings/emotions, etc. Rather, we are blessed” even living in the midst of this fallen/sinful world; with all of its trials and tribulations; sickness, poverty, persecutions, etc. Jesus said, “blessed are the poor in spirit … blessed are those who mourn … blessed are the meek … blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … blessed are the merciful … blessed are the pure in heart … blessed are the peacemakers”. (Matthew 5:3-9) This is the total opposite of what the world calls “blessedness” isn’t it?
Jesus even declares “Blessed are you when others revile you, and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account … for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. (Matthew 5:11-12) We are blessed because Scripture promises, “I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us … nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:18, 39b)
Among those things that cannot separate the believer in Jesus from God’s love is death as the Psalmist today declares, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”. (Psalm 116:5) Also John in the book of Revelation exhorts those who are suffering for their faith; “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints … blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on”. (Revelation 14:12-13) “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and eternal punishment for the unbeliever, but for the Christian, “death has been swallowed up in victory”. (1st Corinthians 15:54b)
On this All Saints Day, perhaps we should (next) define what is a saint? A saint is not as many believe, someone who has done some extraordinary good works in their life or who has a stronger faith than most. It also does not just include those who have died believing in Jesus, but also all who are alive, for Scripture also defines the true believers in Christ who are alive, as saints.
So, we see the Apostle Paul in virtually all of his letters, greet the people by saying “to all the saints in” whatever place he is writing to. The book of Psalms and the book of Daniel both refer to God’s people as saints in several places, as do the New Testament books of Acts and Revelation. The word saint literally means “holy one”, one who has been set apart by God, not because of their own righteousness, but one who has been declared righteous through true faith in Christ who died and rose again for the forgiveness of sins.
In our reading from Revelation 7 (which I use in one form or another in every funeral service), we see a picture of heaven, which includes a “great multitude, that no one could number, from every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying with a loud voice; Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb”. (Revelation 7:9-10)
A few verses later, the question is asked, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come? … 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 7:13b-14) “of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. (John 1:29b)
So the Scriptures declare, “In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace”. (Ephesians 1:7) “We were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot”. (1st Peter 1:18-19) “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood”. (Revelation 1:5)
As we heard last Sunday from the Apostle Paul, “there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. (Romans 3:22b-24) All who have trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and not in their own works and remain faithful to the end of life, have the promise of the eternal life described in our text this morning. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10b)
In the final words of from John this morning, we hear a bit more of what heaven is like. The saints (again, these include both us who believe in Christ and our loved ones who have died in the faith) “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 will not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall 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)
Elsewhere in the book of Revelation our Lord promised, “Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, behold, I make all things new … for these words are trustworthy and true … I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end”. (Revelation 21:4b-6a)
In the coming weeks, the end of the church year, we will as always, focus on the second coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord; of His coming Judgment. We confess this truth in the Creeds of the church saying, “I believe … Christ will come to judge the living and the dead … I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”. (2nd and 3rd articles of the Apostle’s Creed)
But, in closing this morning, on this All Saints Day, I would like to focus in on one question from Third Article in the Small Catechism. Question # 190 asks “To whom does God give eternal life”? Answer, “On the last day, God will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ”. (Explanation of 3rd Article of the Apostle’s Creed, Small Catechism)
Therefore, from this confession and from Holy Scripture we draw (at least) three conclusions. First, that eternal life is a present possession for the believer in Christ. Notice the present tense in the following verses. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has (present tense) eternal life” (John 3:36a) and “Whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me, has (present tense) eternal life” (John 5:24a) and “Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the Last Day”. (John 6:54)
The second conclusion we can draw is that at the time of death, the soul of the believer is immediately with Christ Jesus is heaven. We know this, for Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “today you will be with Me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43) The Apostle Paul also wrote of his “desire to depart (die) and be (immediately) with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23) and “we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord”. (2nd Corinthians 5:8)
The third conclusion, and one of which we will hear more in the coming weeks, is that on the Last Day, the Day of the resurrection, the Day of Judgment; the body and souls of all believers will be reunited and we will begin to enjoy fully the place Christ has prepared for us. (See John 14:1-3) “For I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”. (Philippians 1:6)
On that Day, Jesus will say, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”. (Matthew 25:34) “For in Your presence, there is fulness of joy and at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore”. (Psalm 16:11) Knowing these promises of Christ to those who trust in Him alone, we eagerly wait for “Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1st Thessalonians 1:10b) praying, “Come Lord Jesus”. (Revelation 22:20b) Amen!
The peace of God …