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Sermon for the Festival of All Saints
Revelation 7:9-17 + Matthew 5:1-12
Our celebration of All Saints’ day (transferred from Nov. 1 to today) always includes the Beatitudes from Matthew 5, which is a wonderful text for such a day, because it prepares us all—all the saints on earth—for what awaits us after, if we remain faithful. And it gives us a picture of what the faithful departed have now begun to experience. I say “have begun to experience” because even the faithful departed, those souls who departed this life in faith, haven’t received it all yet. The full measure of our heavenly inheritance won’t be received until the Last Day, until the Day of Resurrection. But even before then, the souls of the saints in heaven have begun to receive the blessing that made them blessed even here in this life—the same blessing that makes us blessed, if the words that Jesus spoke apply also to us.
“To be blessed” in the context of the Beatitudes here in Jesus’ sermon on the mount means “to have a good reason to be happy.”
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The poor in spirit have a good reason to be happy. We always need to take note here of the “in spirit” part of “poor in spirit.” God has compassion for those who are materially poor and wants us to have compassion for them, too. But they aren’t the ones Jesus calls “blessed.” It’s the “poor in spirit” who have a good reason to be happy. It’s those who are humble before God, who are penitent, contrite, sorry for their sins, those who struggle against their sins, those who are humble before God, those who trust in Him, and not at all in themselves—these are the ones who have good reason to be happy, because the kingdom of heaven doesn’t belong to those who, like the Pharisees, are “rich in spirit” or “proud in spirit,” who think they have something valuable to offer God, their own decency, their own goodness. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, even now. In other words, it is assured to them, guaranteed to them. No one can take their inheritance in the kingdom of heaven away from them, as long as they remain poor in spirit. And that’s a good reason for them to be happy, even now.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Not all who mourn have good reason to be happy. Unbelievers mourn, too, and they will not be comforted if they remain in their unbelief. But those who mourn as Christians, who mourn with godly sorrow, whether over their own sins, or over the rampant wickedness they see all around them in the world, whether they mourn over the losses they suffer for following Christ or over the losses they suffer just for living in a world so tainted by sin and its consequences, they have good reason to be happy, even as they mourn, because comfort is coming, ushered in by the Holy Spirit of God, now already through the Word of God, and soon when the Lord Jesus returns to take care of every problem that causes Christians to mourn.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
To be meek is to be gentle, like Jesus. To be “meek” is not to be timid or fearful. To be meek is to not take matters into one’s own hands, but to wait for the Lord and to suffer with patience. It means to commit your way to the Lord, to trust in Him and wait patiently for Him, refraining from anger and wrath. Such people have good reason to be happy, because without lifting a finger to save themselves or to “fix the world,” they will inherit the earth, because God will worry about defeating the devil and all the wicked. Christians can remain meek, because we know that our God will fight for us, and because He does, no one can rob us of our inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Notice again, it’s not hunger and thirst for food and water that makes a person blessed. It’s hunger and thirst for righteousness. There are two ways to hunger and thirst for righteousness. You hunger and thirst for righteousness by craving to be righteous in God’s sight by faith alone in Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, who died for the unrighteous, that we might become righteous in God’s sight through faith in Him. You have good reason to be happy, if that’s what you crave, because God fills you with Christ’s righteousness even now, and then molds you into righteous people throughout this life, until He will perfect you in righteousness after this life, as the faithful departed have now been perfected.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
You remember the parable of the unmerciful servant. The king forgave him his incredibly large debt, and then he went out and mercilessly mistreated the one who owed him just a little bit. So the king threw that merciless wretch in prison until he could repay everything. God first shows us that kind of great mercy by forgiving our sins and bringing us into His kingdom. But once we have received that mercy, God is serious about wanting us to show mercy to others. And when we do, we have good reason to be happy, because God has promised to keep His mercy coming to us, so that you never have to worry about losing out because you were merciful to someone. God will replace whatever mercy you show to others with mercy of His own toward you.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
David wrote in Psalm 24, Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. A pure heart is an honest heart that genuinely fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things. Where the Gospel penetrates a heart and brings a person to faith, there the heart has been purified. There the Holy Spirit creates a new heart, from which proceeds a new kind of obedience, with new and pure motives, where the believer genuinely and gladly seeks to please God and to serve our neighbor. Having a pure heart like that isn’t a waste of time. The pure in heart have a good reason to be happy, because, although at the moment they don’t see the God in whom they so genuinely believe, they will see Him and rejoice forever in His presence.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
The opposite of making peace is not just making war, but causing discord and strife, allowing bad feelings to fester and divisions to get wider, refusing to forgive when a brother repents. But God has called us to peace, and to live at peace with people, to the extent that it depends on us, and to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those who work toward peace, and maintain peace, and who forgive those who trespass against them, have good reason to be happy, because they will be called sons of God, because in doing these things, they are imitating their dear Father in heaven.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You have good reason to be happy…when you are persecuted? That’s what Jesus says. Yes, Blessed are you, when for my sake they insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”
Rejoice when people insult you. Be glad when people lie about you. Consider it pure joy when people target you, imprison you, or even kill you. Why would anyone rejoice in the face of such evil? Only because this life isn’t all there is. There is a great reward reserved in heaven for all who suffer for Jesus’ sake. The prophets were persecuted. The apostles were persecuted. Jesus Himself was persecuted, insulted, and put to death. No one at the time of Jesus saw how that worked out well for the prophets. But when Jesus rose from the dead, they did finally see. It’s ok to be insulted. It’s ok to be killed, for the Christian. Because after Christ, our Savior, was insulted and persecuted and put to death, He came back from it and was exalted to the highest place. In Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the believers at that time witnessed the victory that awaited them after following in Jesus’ footsteps. Two thousand years later, you and I haven’t witnessed it. We’re left having to simply take Jesus at His Word that everything we suffer here and sacrifice here will be more than worth it, because of the great reward that awaits.
Will you take Jesus at His Word? Will you believe Him, that you are blessed in all of these circumstances, that you have good reasons to be happy, regardless of whatever else is going on in your life? Our fellow believers did, the ones who are now dressed in white robes, standing before the Lamb of God, with palm branches in their hands and a song of praise on their lips. That doesn’t mean they always experienced that happiness here, just as we don’t always experience it. But those who relied on God’s promises and kept the faith until the end—they did take Jesus at His word and counted themselves happy and blessed, even when it didn’t feel like it. But now, now it’s crystal clear to them, that you Christians, who fit the descriptions given here by Jesus, definitely have good reasons to be happy. Because it will be more than worth it when you finish your race here and see with your eyes what they now see, that living in the presence of this good and gracious God is better than anything that this world ever had to offer. Amen.
