Sermon: All Saints Day - 2020

1 November 2020

Text: Matt 5:1-12 (Rev 7:2-17, 1 John 3:1-3)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In the Book of Revelation, John the Apostle was allowed to see behind the veil, to witness things as they are, to see that which is normally unseen, to catch a glimpse of the Church in her bridal glory in eternity.

Of course, we don’t get to see beyond the veil in the here and now.  The Church we see still “feebly struggles” as we sing in the hymn.  The Christian Church is filled with divisions in doctrine and practice.  Even our synod can’t seem to agree on some issues that seem fundamental to what it means to be the Bride of Christ.  Even in our own congregation, we have disagreements and old wounds that emerge from time to time.  Think about your family – its own internal politics and battles.  This is certainly not what John saw on that great day when Jesus revealed the invisible to him.

For in eternity, the Church is made perfect, because each member is perfect.  All of those things that loom so large in your family, the disagreements and wounds in the congregation, the discord in our synod, and the seemingly endless divisions in the Christian Church – all shrink away to nothingness.  In eternity, we see only victory, as the Church reflects Christ’s purity and perfection. 

And while idealists look for an elusive peace between nations, “tribes and peoples and languages,” while those outside of the Church turn their noses up at us, convinced that they are more virtuous than we – it is in the Church, the Church Triumphant, they who in the words of the hymn, “in glory shine,” who are the very unity in diversity that the world has turned into an idol.

For we Christians do not worship such diversity, rather we, the Church, unify as brothers and sisters in our worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We see this “great multitude that no one could number” from every race and nationality, “standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” dear friends.

Our peace that passes all understanding and our eternal joy are  not found in ourselves and not discovered in a false worship of false virtue.  Rather, we worship the Lamb.  For Jesus is the Lamb – the sacrificial offering for the sin of the world.  He is the Unblemished One who takes away our ugliness, washing away our sins by His blood.  He is not only the Lamb, but also the Shepherd; not only the atonement, but also the priest.  It is Jesus who leads this innumerable throng of saints, who were yet sinners when they walked about this vale of tears, this fallen world of discord and death. 

And what John saw in this vision, dear friends, was us!  Each one of us who has been baptized and who believes, those who remain faithful, those who have come “out of the great tribulation,” who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  This is the Church, dear friends.  This is us in eternity.  Our imperfections great and small, our sins grave and petty, our grudges old and new, our flaws and besetting sins, our burdens and guilt – all gone, all washed in the blood of the Lamb.

And the sight is glorious, dear brothers and sisters!  We are reunited with our loved ones from whom we have been separated by death.  We are waving palm branches and singing victoriously to the Most Holy Trinity: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits in the throne, and to the Lamb.”

And we are part of the company of heaven that includes angels and archangels, all celebrating the final victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over Satan and the demons, over death and hell.  The angels, once hidden from our eyes, part of the unseen realm, are now visible to us, present with us, and resplendent in glory, “standing around the throne,” also singing in a great heavenly chorus, praising God in beautiful tones that our ears have never before heard: “Amen!  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.  Amen.”

We cannot even begin to imagine what our eyes will behold in eternity, with our destiny in Christ brought to its fulfillment.  All of the things that made us suffer in this life shall be no more.  We will be “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.”

And, dear friends, remember this promise of God, remember when you are suffering, remember when you are weak, remember when you suffer the slings and arrows of this fallen world, remember the Word of God: “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.”

Long before John had seen this vision of the heavens in eternity, he had seen the horror of the cross.  It is only in the context of the crucifixion that the full weight of St. John’s confession: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us,” makes any sense.  By the blood of the Lamb, sacrificed on the cross for our sakes, for our salvation, do we really know what it means that “we should be called children of God.”  “And so we are,” the apostle testifies.  Because our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, died in our place, we can pray with Him to His Father as “Our Father who art in heaven.”  And because we are children of God, we know Him.  The world knows neither God nor us.

But hear the Word of the Lord that John reveals to us, and listen to the comfort embedded in these sacred words: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.”  We are God’s children now, but even greater than that is the reality that there is still a “not yet” that we will grow into – the “great multitude” of saints in John’s later vision and revelation.

And as the apostle testifies: “When He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”  This promise, this hope, this revealed reality to which we are destined is how we can confess with faith that “everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.”

Our Lord gives us a picture of this purity that is ours now, but not yet.  Jesus tells us that we who are poor in spirit will receive the kingdom.  We who mourn will be comforted.  We who are meek and of no account in the eyes of the world will inherit the earth.  We who hunger and thirst for a righteousness that eludes us here will be satisfied. We who learn to show mercy will likewise receive it.  We who are made pure in heart by the blood of the Lamb will see God.  We who make peace will be the sons of God. 

And indeed, dear friends, there is a special promise for those of us in the Church Militant who take up our cross and who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake: the kingdom will be ours.  And when we are reviled and slandered and persecuted for the sake of Jesus, our Lord counsels us to “rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” 

And that reward in heaven is what John saw behind the veil.  For the Church Militant will, by her faithfulness and steadfastness – by God’s grace, through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and called by the Holy Spirit – she will be the Church Triumphant, sharing in our Lord’s victory.  And that little glimpse that John was permitted to gaze at for a moment will be our eternal life in peace and joy and praise and thanksgiving, even unto eternity!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.