“Salvation Is the Saints’ Victory Song”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord. [Amen.]
“Sing with all the saints in glory,
Sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth’s dark story,
To the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking;
Soon the storms of time shall cease;
In God’s likeness we awaken,
Knowing everlasting peace.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
671:1)
First Reading.............................................................
Revelation 7:[2-8] 9-17 (esp. 9-10)
9After 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, 10and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation
belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Prologue: The Burkburnett Blacksox was a premier select college
prep baseball team in north Texas near the congregation that I pastored
before coming here. I enjoyed serving as its publicist for a couple seasons
and umpiring many of its games during my 21 years there. Among my memories
of that bygone era was the musical merriment played over the PA system after
home game victories. Two songs were especially popular—“Celebrate” by Three
Dog Night and “Celebrate Good Times” by Kool and the Gang.
Although November 1 is actually designated in the church’s
liturgical calendar as All Saints’ Day, we and many other congregations are
celebrating that very significant occasion this weekend. Two items
especially characterize this celebration—the announcing of the names of our
members that departed this life since last year’s All Saints’ Day
celebration and the singing of what my daughter in her childhood called
“Alleluia hymns”—hymns that joyfully praise the Lord! As we sing those
hymns let’s keep in mind that, ultimately, …
“Salvation Is the Saints’ Victory Song.”
Here’s some information about All Saints’ Day that’s contained in
the daily devotional resource book entitled Treasury of Daily Prayer: “This
feast is the most comprehensive of the days of commemoration, encompassing
the entire scope of that great cloud of witnesses with which we are
surrounded (Hebrews 12:1). It holds before the eyes of faith that great
multitude which no man can number: all the saints of God in Christ—from
every nation, race, culture, and language—who have come ‘out of the great
tribulation … who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:9, 14). As such, it sets before us the full
height and depth and breadth and length of our dear Lord’s gracious
salvation (Ephesians 3:17-19). It shares with Easter a celebration of the
resurrection, since all those who have died with Christ Jesus have also been
raised with Him (Romans 6:3-8). It shares with Pentecost a celebration of
the ingathering of the entire Church catholic—in heaven and on earth, in all
times and places—in the one body of Christ, in the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace. Just as we have all been called to the one hope that
belongs to our call, ‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in all’ (Ephesians 4:4-6). And
the Feast of All Saints shares with the final Sundays of the Church Year an
eschatological focus on the life everlasting and a confession that ‘the
sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that
is to be revealed to us’ (Romans 8:18). In all of these emphases, the
purpose of this feast is to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, that we might not grow weary or fainthearted
(Hebrews 12:2-3).” (Treasury of Daily Prayer. Scott A. Kinnaman, Gen. Ed.
Copyright © 2008 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 870f.)
So it is that on this occasion, even as we did in the Reformation
Day celebration this past Thursday, we emphasize that …
I. Saints Give All the Accolades to God Alone! (11-12)
11And 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 worshiped God, 12saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and
ever! Amen.”
Let’s never forget and always remember that great truth, namely,
all blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might belong to
the almighty triune God … alone! After all, He created and sustains all
things; He rescued, redeemed, and reconciled us to Himself; and He
sanctified and preserves us steadfast in the one true faith in Jesus Christ.
As the words of today’s Introit stated, “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me. For you are
my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me.
Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful
God.” (Ps 31:1, 3, 5 ESV)
You see, the blessed heritage of saving faith in Immanuel is His
gift to us for the salvation of our souls and bodies. He sustains and
strengthens that faith in us when we read and hear His Holy Word, when we
ponder Holy Baptism, when we hear the sweet reassurance of Holy Absolution,
and when we properly partake of Holy Communion.
All that we do in the course of the liturgical divine services
here on earth is divinely designed to do two important things. First, bring
us into the present presence of the invisible almighty God, who presents
Himself to us in His Holy Word and Holy Supper. And second, give us a
glimpse … a foretaste … of the future reality that …
II. Saints Will Blissfully Live Forever in Heaven. (13-17)
13Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in
white robes, and from where have they come?” 14I 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. 15Therefore 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. 16They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the
sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17For 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.”
The design of the liturgical divine service is not a haphazard
thing. It’s not something that was quickly thrown together with minimal
thought and prayer-less consideration driven by the I-me-my desires of our
sinful flesh. Rather, it’s a collection of carefully considered items that
the church has gathered over thousands of years and from many different
cultures of Old Testament and New Testament Christian worship. Its goal is
to point our attention to what today’s Gradual spoke, “Blessèd are those
whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” (Ps 84:5
ESV)
From the initial highly reverent “Confession and Absolution” (in
which God declares us purified by the blood of Jesus Christ and thereby
prepared to appear in His presence and during which we restrict entrance
into the sanctuary so as to not disturb that sacred activity) … to the
“Service of the Word” (in which God confronts us with damning Law and
comforts us with soothing Gospel in the course of the Bible Readings and
sermon) … and concluding with the “Service of the Sacrament” (in which God
unites Himself to us through our Savior’s body and blood that we receive in
the consecrated bread and wine for the certain assurance of forgiveness of
our sins that Jesus gained for us and strengthening of our faith that the
Holy Spirit gives us) the sole purpose of the divine service is to emphasize
that during this life God comes to us with His gifts of mercy and grace. We
gratefully celebrate the fact that Christ Himself won those precious gifts
for us with His Holy life, innocent suffering, crucifixion death, and
majestic resurrection from the dead. It’s all for the present purpose of
sustaining and strengthening us in the one true faith here in time and
preparing us for the future entrance into heavenly glory when our soul
departs our body in temporal death.
When that departure occurs, the souls of believers in Jesus … that
is, saints … will immediately enter the eternal bliss of life with Immanuel
in heaven, awaiting the future resurrection of the dead and reuniting with
what will then be glorified bodies for the continuation of forever-life with
Jesus in Paradise. Then and there saints … Christians as they were known on
earth … will be completely free from all suffering, pain, sorrow, sadness,
trials, tribulations, heartaches, and despair. Saints … children of the
heavenly Father … will no longer experience hunger, thirst, scorching heat,
and whatever else Satan uses now to try to separate us from our loving Lord.
It’s what Jesus taught in the beatitudes during His Sermon on the Mount,
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute
you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.” (St Matt 5:11-12 ESV)
Therefore, fellow saints, let’s rejoice and celebrate … celebrate
good times now as we catch glimpses of what awaits us and the glorious times
that lie ahead in heaven’s bliss. It’s what the apostle John referred to in
today’s Epistle Reading, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
that we should be called children of God; and so we are. Beloved, we are
God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know
that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he
is.” (1 John 3:1a, 2 ESV)
As we eagerly anticipate that joyful reunion with Jesus and all
saints, may this celebration-occasion remind us and imprint upon our
memories that …
“Salvation Is the Saints’ Victory Song.”
And, as we lift our hearts and voices in singing that salvation
victory song here in the formal divine service and outside in our day-to-day
lives, let’s always remember that ...
I. Saints Give All the Accolades to God Alone! (11-12)
and ....
II. Saints Will Blissfully Live Forever in Heaven. (13-17)
Let’s do so, ever praying today’s Collect, “Grant us so to follow
Your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that, together with
them, we may come to the unspeakable joys You have prepared for those who
love You … .”
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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