Festival of All Saints Day 2009

THE FESTIVAL OF ALL SAINTS DAY

1 November Anno + Domini 2009

"The Great Multitude”

Rev. 7:2-27 (1 John 3:1-3; Matt. 5:1-12)

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

What Our Lord describes in His Sermon on the Mount, St. John sees in his vision.  He sees a great multitude of the poor in spirit made rich in the grace of Jesus Christ.  Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  He sees those who were persecuted like the prophets.  They have come to their reward.  They have left behind all mourning, meekness, hunger, and thirst.  Day and night they serve the Lord in His Temple.  They are satisfied.  St. John sees the saints of God purified and gathered about the Lamb who has freed them by the outpouring of His Blood.

And notice this: he sees no stars, no celebrities.  He does not name the apostles, martyrs, or prophets.  He does not name kings or reformers or saints commemorated by the Church.  They are there, to be sure.  But he does not see them or notice them.  All he sees are saints - a great multitude all loved and honored by God.  It is not so much that they are indistinguishable.  He does notice that they are from every tribe and nation.  But his attention is firmly fixed not upon them, but upon the Lamb.  In this he is like them.  For he sees that all the saints and all the holy angels and the four living creature are adoring the Lamb.

Salvation belongs to the Lamb, to Jesus Christ, and to Him alone.  Yet He gives it away to sinners.  These saints around Him are saved sinners.  Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might are His, and they will be His forever.  But He bestows them upon sinners, sinners who hated and rebelled against Him, sinners who forgot or neglected or abandoned Him, sinners who did not deserve these eternal blessings, but received them by grace, through faith in Him.  He has brought them out of the great tribulation.  He has purified them with fire.  They suffer no more slander or false accusations.  No one steals from them, betrays them, or hurts them.

They have also been set free from gossip, jealousy, lust, anger, and fear.  They have been set free from all sin, for He has brought them out of sin.  No one sins against them and they themselves commit no sins.  The latter is the greater.  For we sinners are hurt more by our own sins than by the sins of others.  But these saved sinners in the Great Multitude are free.  He has made their robes as white as snow; they have no sin.  He has cleansed their hearts and consciences.  He has restored them to their finest essence, to their truest selves.  For in removing guilt and regret, shame and fear, He has re-made them into His perfect image.  He came down from heaven and took on human flesh in order to restore humanity to its original perfection; to return humanity to the way He created humanity to be, and St. John sees in this vision the end result:  Paradise restored; the Fall in the Garden of Eden reversed; human beings reconciled to their Creator by the Lamb, who is the Promised Seed of the woman, that they might dwell with Him in His Kingdom forever. 

He places palms of victory in their hands.  They have overcome the evil one by the Blood of the Lamb.  They reap the benefits, the plunder and the glory, of His sacrifice.  They reap where they did not sow.  They buy and eat without money or cost.  He relieves them of all burdens and bestows His own inheritance and perfect love upon them.  And of all their joys, here is the greatest:  Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, is in their midst.  He is with them.  That is the definition of "blessed" -  to be with Jesus.

This is the Lamb who was slain, but who lives.  He did not love His life to death.  Instead, He loved them to the end.  For He loves His Father.  This He shows in perfect obedience.  He does not ask, "Where is the Lamb?" as Isaac did, for He is the Lamb.  He looks for no scapegoat, no mercy, no rescue.  He lays down His life in perfect love in order to draw all men to Himself and show His love to creation.  Thus does His Father love Him and in Him He loves them.  He loves His saints, washed in Blood, drowned and raised again in water, fed with the Holy Food of the cross and the empty tomb, anointed with His own Holy Spirit.  His Name is upon them.  And, as He is holy, so then, they are holy.  They belong to Him.  Salvation is His, so salvation is theirs.  His Kingdom is theirs.  Their robes are white, no longer dirtied by sin.  The palms are in their hands and psalms of praise are on their lips.  They are His and He is theirs - forever!  They are poor, mourning, hungry, and persecuted no more.  But they remain in heaven as they were on earth:  blessed.  For Jesus is theirs and Jesus is with them.

The only difference between them and you is that they have already passed through death and you must still abide in it.  Your day will come.  Your sins will end.  Your sorrow will flee. But even now, like them, you are blessed:  Jesus, your Holy Lamb, is in your midst.  He is with you.  The Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom that is theirs, is within you, is yours.  You are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the object of angelic protection and prayers.  For you were sealed and anointed in the holy waters of Baptism with the fullest Name of God, not YHWH or Jehovah or the Lord, but the fullest Name.  You were sealed with water and the greatest and most intimate Name:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You were pulled out of those killing waters to new, everlasting life.  You are here today to receive anew the forgiveness of sins, to be absolved, to hear the Word, to pray and praise your God, and to finally join in the most direct communion, to eat His Body and drink His Blood, to have Him come inside of you, to penetrate your heart and soul, to join you to Himself.

The Great Multitude that St. John saw did not simply consist of those who had already come to heaven while He was exiled on Patmos.  If it were we could expect that St. Mary and his friends and loved ones who had gone before him, and also all the saints of the Old Testament, were there.  They were, of course, but there were more.  For St. John saw the culmination of creation.  He witnessed the Great Multitude after the resurrection on the Last Day.  When he was transported to heaven he was also transported out of time.  So he saw people who weren't even born yet, like St. Augustine, Gregory the Great, Martin Luther, and his own great-grandchildren.  And I bring this up because this means that he also saw you.  What he describes in Revelation 7 is not about "them," the saints of God.  It is about you.  These are your people.  You are there.  St. John looked and saw the American and German and French and Russian and Finnish saints, nations and tribes not yet invented at his time.  He looked and saw them all, including you, in white robes, with palm branches, singing: "Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might are His."  Maybe you didn't know this, but you - yes, you - are in the Bible.  You who are sinners made saints by the Blood of the Lamb are part of the Great Multitude St. John is privileged to see. 

This is your future, foretold in God's Holy Word and seen by St. John.  So it does not matter what happens here on earth, what they say about you at work, whether the doctor has good or bad news for you, what your enemies and persecutors do to you directly or behind your back.  What matters, what endures, is that the Lamb who was slain lives.  He will bring you home.  Yours in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Yours is blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might.  For yours is Jesus, and nothing can separate you from the love of God - not even death - which is yours in Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. 

Come, then, dear sinners made saints by the Blood of the Lamb, and receive a foretaste of the Feast to come in the Holy Supper of the Lamb's true Body and Blood.  Gather around His Holy Throne with all the saints and holy angels, for here heaven and earth come together as one.  You cannot see this reality in full yet, but the Day is coming when your eyes will be fully opened.  For you are God's children already now, and what you will be has not yet appeared, but you know by faith that when He appears you shall be like Him, for then you shall see Him as He is.  You are part of the Great Multitude in St. John's vision, for you believe in Jesus.  Blessed are you, then, for yours is the Kingdom of heaven, now and forever.  In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name.  Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.