Sermon for the Festival of All Saints
Revelation 7:2-17 + Matthew 5:1-12
We praised God a moment ago for all the saints who from their labors rest. When we Lutherans talk about those saints, we aren’t talking about a small number of really, really outstanding Christians who have died and gone straight to heaven, while most Christians have not yet reached sainthood, but are forced to enter the so-called “Church Suffering” in purgatory when they die, waiting, in pain, to one day be granted sainthood, after they’ve suffered enough for their sins. That is the papist understanding of “saints,” but not the Biblical one.
“The saints” are, literally, the holy ones. It was a favorite word of the Apostle Paul for referring to the believers on earth to whom he ministered. The saints are the believers who still labor here on earth. But they are also the believers “who from their labors rest,” as we sang in the hymn, all those who died in the faith, who finished their earthly race still clinging to Christ alone for life and salvation. We observe All Saints’ Day as a day for us to pause and remember the heavenly blessedness of the saints who have died, while also remembering the road they took to get there, which is the same road you and I are still treading.
The heavenly blessedness, and the road to get there, is the dual theme of the Beatitudes you heard this morning from Matthew 5. And it’s also the theme of the reading from Revelation 7, which will receive our focus today.
You’re more familiar, I imagine, with the second part of that Revelation reading, which describes the blessedness that the saints in heaven now experience. But we shouldn’t overlook those earlier verses describing the placing of a seal on the 144,000. That’s a very comforting part of the vision, too, if you view it correctly. It’s part of the road to blessedness.
John saw four angels holding back the destruction that they would unleash on the earth. They had to hold it back so that the 144,000 could first be sealed—kept safe from God’s judgment that’s coming upon the world. He heard the angel say that the impending destruction couldn’t be unleashed on the earth until the servants of our God have been sealed on their foreheads. Already it’s clear who is being sealed. It’s “the servants of our God.” That’s another way of saying all faithful Christians, that is, the elect.
We’re told something about those who were sealed or “marked.” There were 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. But the listing of tribes given here is not the normal listing. The order is different, beginning with the tribe of Judah—the tribe from which Jesus Himself was born, according to the flesh. The tribe of Joseph is named instead of the tribe of Ephraim, and the tribe of Dan is missing.
What do we learn from those anomalies? Well, it’s part of the figurative nature of the Book of Revelation. The tribes are to be understood figuratively. The 144,000 isn’t a literal number of people who were physically descended from each of those tribes of Israel, just as there is no literal seal being physically imprinted on their foreheads. It’s referring to the full number of the Church, which is often represented by the number 12 in Scripture, for the 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and for the 12 apostles in the New Testament. 12,000 x 12 gives us 144,000, a figurative calculation for the full number of the Holy Christian Church, the elect and believing children of God, who are the spiritual Israel, the true Israel, that St. Paul talks about in Romans and in Galatians.
What does it mean to be “sealed”? Well, this imagery of a seal placed on the forehead is taken directly from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was shown a vision of a man, clothed in linen, who was commanded by God to go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. Destruction was coming against Jerusalem, but it was not allowed to touch anyone who had the mark, those believers who mourned over all the wickedness being practiced all around them in that city. So it is here. The four angels who were about to bring God’s destruction on the earth were instructed not to harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.
So the 144,000 are the elect and believing Christians who persevere in faith until the end. They’re sealed in this life with God’s seal of protection, which preserves them from perishing together with the unbelieving world, which keeps them safe in the judgment. These are the ones who are walking on the road to blessedness, a road that is characterized, as Jesus describes in the Beatitudes, as being poor in spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, being peacemakers, being persecuted for the sake of Jesus’ name. In other words, it’s a road that includes hearing the Gospel, repenting of our sins, believing in Christ Jesus, confessing Christ before men, staying close to Him and His means of grace, praying earnestly for God’s protection and strength, and living as saints already here in the world—wearing the name of our God on our foreheads, so that people can see by our words and actions that we are His—and doing all this all the way to the end of the road.
That’s how John describes the 144,000 later on in the book of Revelation, speaking, again, in figurative terms: The hundred and forty-four thousand were redeemed from the earth… These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Such things can only be said about people who have had their sins washed away in the blood of the Lamb, people who have received, by faith, the status of saints, and who have then, in their earthly walk, begun to live like saints.
Then, in the second part of that reading from Revelation, we see the glory, the other side of the curtain, the blessed end of the 144,000, of all who were sealed in Christ in this life and persevere to the end. This vision is important, because all we see on this side of the curtain is death. Faithful Christians (that is, saints) end up in the grave, just like the most wicked unbelievers do, buried right alongside one another. What we don’t see with our eyes is what John was given to behold in his vision, on the other side of the curtain of death: that the souls of the faithful departed are, even now, celebrating their victory in the presence of God.
The vision of the 144,000 beheld the saints on earth, being preserved and protected by God. But now John’s vision is of the blessedness of heaven, and it’s now a great multitude that no one could number. That’s an allusion to God’s promise to Abraham way back in Genesis: Abraham, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” He was talking, not only about Abraham’s physical descendants, but also his spiritual descendants—all who believe in the Lord Jesus, as Abraham himself did. In any given room, or any given city, the number of believers in Christ is relatively few. But add them up, year after year, century after century, from every nation, tribe, language, and people across the earth, and you have a multitude that no one can number, children for Abraham who are as numerous as the sand by the sea and the stars of the sky. And, in the blessedness of heaven, they all stand together, not one over here and one over there, not black people over here and white people over there, rich and poor standing apart. There is no separation, no loneliness, no isolation or divisions in heaven.
See where they are gathered: standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They are standing, not lying there helpless as you might remember them on earth, not stranded in a wheelchair, or hobbling slowly across a room with aching backs and bones. They are standing.
And see how the saints are dressed: Behold, a host arrayed in white, white robes, like our white paraments today, but even brighter and whiter. Pure and sinless, no longer plagued by a sinful nature that tugs at them and drags them off into shameful thoughts and deeds. They were clothed in life with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, through faith, with robes made white by Christ’s blood, through the forgiveness of their sins. Now they’re clothed in glory with their own righteousness.
See what they hold in their hands: palm branches, like the Israelites waved at their Feast of Tabernacles when they remembered, every year, the temporary dwellings in which they lived during their journey from Egypt’s slavery to their permanent home in the promised land of Canaan, now having arrived at their true permanent home in glory.
Palm branches also recall the events of Palm Sunday, when the crowds welcomed the Lamb of God into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week and called out to him, “Hosanna! Come and save us now!” That’s similar to what the saints in heaven are saying, although now it isn’t “Come and save!” Now it’s, “You have come and you have saved!” They cry out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
The saints in glory are the ones coming out of the “great tribulation.” That’s this life—the great tribulation, not “the great vacation.” In addition to all the sickness, pain, loneliness, uncertainty, and death that happen here, your faith is under constant attack in this world by the devil, by the world, by your sinful nature. Finding the truth, holding onto faith in Christ, holding onto love in a loveless world—those things aren’t automatic for the Christian, and it’s even harder as the dear cross presses harder.
But the saints have overcome by the blood of the Lamb. They come out of the great tribulation, one by one, as death ushers them out of the great tribulation and into the great calm of heaven. They can finally rest. They can finally breathe a sigh a relief, “It’s over. We made it.” No more persecution. No more pain. No more struggling with false teachings, no more threats to their faith, no more falling into temptation.
Finally, see what God does for them as they live in his presence and serve him day and night in His Temple: He shelters them with His presence, providing for their every need, protecting them from all harm and danger. No more hunger or thirst, no more scorching heat or any threat of catastrophe. The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. After all the struggles with sin and its consequences here on earth, finally the saints in heaven reach the lap of their heavenly Father who knows better than anyone just how hard it has been, but He comforts them, “See? Now all that is done. Now you’re here with Me.”
This, my friends, is not pious fiction. This is no false hope. This is the Word of the Lord. This is what heaven is like for our believing brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep, and this is what heaven will be like for you when you fall asleep, if you remain faithful until the end.
So hang in there. It won’t be long now. God has baptized you into this race for the finish line, this race toward the heavenly goal. Jesus has blazed the path to glory for you, and won the prize for you, and He feeds and nourishes you along the way with his Word and Sacraments. Keep running the path to blessedness. You’ll make it, if you keep running. God is faithful. And when you do, those of us who are left here on earth until the final coming of Jesus will celebrate you, too, at least once a year at the festival of All Saints. Today is their celebration day, and we give thanks to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the saints who from their labors rest. Amen.
