Sermon “Who Are These Saints?”
Let us see you in the beauty of your mercy, Lord. Amen.
Today, on All Saints’ Day, we join with believers of every age in worship and praise to the Lord. We join in with all the saints. But who are these saints? Why are they called saints? Are we among them or are we just watching from afar?
In our reading from 1 John 3 we are called children of God by the hope in Christ crucified for us. This, in the Scripture, is what makes us saints. It is what makes anyone a saint. There is no other qualification. We are made saints by hoping in Christ. Do you hope in Christ Jesus? Do you realize with gratitude that he gave his life as a substitute for you so as to rescue you from sin? Then you are a saint.
But there’s a little more to joining with the saints than simply saying that you’re a saint and I’m a saint. How does God see these saints? We see in Revelation chapter 7 that there are four very important aspects of sainthood.
First, the saints are pictured as those who gave their lives in a time of tribulation. Tribulation is a fancy word that means persecution, opposition. And while there are some people, probably many people in this country, who look to a time of tribulation that will be a literal seven years starting sometime in the future, most of historic Christianity, and all Lutherans, according to our confessions, say that we are now in a time of tribulation. We see the Church age as that tribulation. The figure of seven years indicates a time which will be fulfilled. Seven is a number of completion in Scripture. So we have been in a time of sorrow and trouble ever since Pentecost and will continue in that time of sorrow and trouble until Christ comes to claim us again. We are both in a time of God’s blessing and a time of tribulation. Unless Jesus comes for us first, every last one of us will die in a time of sorrow. Our world is cursed, we become aged, we become diseased, we have pain, and we die. That’s God’s view of tribulation. Some of the people who die in this time of tribulation die of injury and attack, often attacks against them because they are Christians. The 20th century was the most dangerous century on record so far to be a Christian. More people died for their faith in the 20th century than in any other time period in history. The 21st century is shaping up about the same. May the Lord protect us and his other saints through this time of tribulation. And we see in Revelation 7 that he does protect his people. They may die from having their heads severed from their bodies, but they are not deprived of the eternal comforting presence of God.
Another feature of the saints in Revelation is that they have been clothed in white robes. This is God’s symbol of purity. We all know that we are impure. We confess our sin day after day, and no matter how forgiven we are, we end up in sin again. Yet the saints have been dressed by God. They have put on white robes of purity which will remain on them in eternity, never staining, never wearing out, because the saints are dressed in the righteousness of Jesus. And you and I can have confidence that Jesus dresses us in his righteousness as well. Do we need forgiveness? We look to our Lord who has purchased forgiveness on our behalf. We too are dressed in those white robes.
How about the purpose of the saints? They serve a purpose, and that purpose is that they should live in the blessing of God. Do you know why God loves you? It’s because he decided to love the whole world. Do you know why God forgives your sin? It’s because he decreed that whoever looks to him in faith and repentance is forgiven. Do you know why God keeps you around? It is because it is his good pleasure to have you live in his blessing.
So what are those saints doing in eternity? They live now and forever to praise God. This is what will consume our lives. We will have nothing to do, and we will desire nothing other than to praise God forever. Does this seem uninteresting to you? I’ve had conversations with people, especially young people, who wonder if it won’t be boring to spend eternity in worship. Let me ask you this. If God gives you a desire to do something, a consuming desire to do something, are you going to find it boring? Not at all. It will consume your interest. That’s what you’ll want to do. The fact that we find ourselves wandering in worship is explained by the fact that we are not glorified yet. We still have the sinful nature which doesn’t desire fellowship with God. But when we have been glorified in the presence of God we will no longer have those other desires. We will be wholehearted and focused on our Lord forever.
Is this a blessed life? Yes it is. Even in this time of tribulation we see that we are blessed. And we see it in our passage from Matthew 5 when we see that Jesus is our perfect peacemaker, the one who is perfectly poor in spirit, the one who is perfectly humble, the one who is described as blessed. Do we find it a difficult life as well? Of course we do. We’re in a time of tribulation. But we see that Jesus is applying his perfect righteousness, his perfect life, death, and resurrection to us, so as to make us like he is. He has proclaimed us saints. So we join in the fellowship of the saints through all the ages, bringing him praise and worship.
Our Lord, give us a heart to praise you. Draw our attention, our trust, our hope, and our worship to you as we join with all the saints, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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