THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS (observed)
“Who Are These, Clothed in White Robes, and From Where Have They Come?”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen! In today’s Epistle from Revelation chapter 7, God describes those fellow
Christians of ours who have gone before us in the faith—some of whom you know:
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… 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.
Dear Christian friends,
Today we observe All Saints Day. Today is a good day for us to remember with
joy those Christians, especially our closest and dearest loved ones, who have
died in the faith. All Saints Day seems like a good day for us to remember only
the highest and best things about our Christian dead.
• We should remember their faith in Jesus, so that we may imitate their
faith in Jesus.
• We should remember their good works, so that we may imitate their good
works.
As our Lutheran forefathers explained, “Everyone should imitate the saints [who
have gone before us], each of us according to his calling” (AP XXI.7). In order
for us to imitate them well, it stands to reason that we should think only the
best of the saints, remembering only their finest points and their most worthy
achievements.
Let’s NOT do that today. Let’s observe All Saints Day by remembering, not the
best, but the worst about the saints of God in heaven—some of whom you know. It
is very likely that you do not enjoy some of the things you remember about
them. Nevertheless God will give you comfort and joy when you require yourself
to remember all that your Christian dead were NOT!
They now wear white robes, to be sure. “They have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.” But while they were still with you, you
got to see the dirty sheets, didn’t you?
• Some of our Christian dead were a sight to behold and a scandal to
hear! Some of them let fly from their mouths all sorts of “obscenity, foolish
talk or coarse joking” (Ephesians 5:4).
• At some point or another in their lives, some of our Christian dead
willingly offered their bodies into sexual immorality and other idolatrous
acts.
• Some of them were given to fits of rage—or worse, long periods of
resolute and immoveable silence.
• Some of the saints despised the Word of God. For them, death was a
blessing because it was only in the final moments of their lives that they at
last submitted to the life-giving the Words of God.
• Some of them could be pretty bratty—even as grown men and women.
• Some of them felt proud that they were not nearly as sinful as other
people are.
• Some were just plain good people who lived quiet lives and never really
did anything too out of place.
• Some only looked innocent when they died.
You are witnesses of these things. You know full well that NOT ONE SINGLE
person in your memory deserves to be counted in that
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…
• You know full well that, if their robes are indeed white—as God says
they are—then it is ONLY because “they have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb.”
• If our Christian dead truly do “stand before the throne and before the
Lamb”—as God promises they do—it is ONLY because God has cast their sins as far
as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
• Our Christian dead hold the palm branches of Jesus’ resurrection and
life for one reason ONLY: because “God is not ashamed to be called their God”
(Hebrews 11:16), despite the mud and the blood of their earthly lives.
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.
God wants you to take comfort and joy from these things. There are many
benefits to remembering all that your Christian dead were NOT. The first and
the main benefit to remembering the weaknesses and failings of our Christian
dead is the joy of knowing God saved them anyway, despite who they were and
what they had done! Simply stated, the blood of Jesus fully covers even those
people! We have nothing to fear for their future before God, even though we can
remember their past.
There is a second benefit to remembering the sins, the weaknesses, and the
failings of our Christian dead. They have passed through their great
tribulation, but you and I still toil in our tribulation.
• God wants you to know that He covers and washes your sins with the
blood of Jesus, just as surely as God has covered and washed the sins of those
who now wear their white robes.
• God wants you to know that you will survive your hardships and your
struggles, no matter how overwhelming and destructive they now seem. You WILL
survive to eternal life, just as surely as our Christian dead have now survived
to eternal life. Your tears will be dried, as theirs have now been dried; your
labors shall find rest, just as theirs have now found rest in the shelter of
His presence; your hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied
(Matthew 5:6), just as their “hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.”
Think about your own life, my dear Christian family! Think about your
hardships; think about your frustrations; think about your resentments and your
regrets and your sorrows; think about your sins; think about the sins your
fellow Christians have committed against you. God’s prophet Elijah thought
about such things, and he rightly declared, “I am no better than my fathers” (1
Kings 19:4).
Today we observe All Saints Day. Today is a good day for each and every
Christian in earth to say with the prophet Elijah, “I am no better than my
fathers.” Praise the good name of God! Rejoice greatly that you are no better
than your fathers and your mothers! Look at what God has done for your fathers
and your mothers—and soon also for you:
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.
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