All Saint's Day Observed(2023)
Trinity • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Revelation 7:9-17
Revelation 7:9-17
After John hearing the number of sealed, the 144,000 thousand of the 12 tribes, which symbolizes the people of God both of the Old and New Testament, he looks and beholds a multitude that no one could number. They hail from every nation, all tribes, peoples, and languages. What great comfort this is for John is the last apostle left alive, his brother was the first apostle to be martyred, and He has been sent into exile, but Jesus shows him this heavenly scene that the victory belongs to Him, and that He has kept His people safe through all hardship.
Who are the Saints?
The Bible refers to christians as saints.
When the term is used in Holy Scripture it isn’t connected with people who are exceptional in terms of their sanctification, it doesn’t have anything to do with those who have performed miracles, or any such requirement. It is applied broadly to Christians.
Saints comes from the word meaning holy.
God himself is Holy, it is a key part of who He is, and it is that HOliness that God has given to His people throughout history, but there were strict guidelines for doing, because as you find in the OT that if a person was unclean, His Holiness would kill them. So why does the New Testament refer to Christians in Churches as saints, the holy ones, and as those that are before the throne of God, and offering prayers as the holy ones?
They are those that God has called.
God has called them by name and set the saints apart from a world that is being given over to death, that they might belong to Him and live in his kingdom. The Saints not because of what they have done, but because God’s Word, and His Spirit have made them thus. Today we give thanks to God who has watched over those dear saints that have departed this vale of tears.
Where are they?
They are before the throne of Christ.
For that is what we see in the book of Revelation, a book that shows time and time again how the world becomes a mess, but then reminds us of the Victory of the Lamb who is seated upon His throne, how all of those that has claimed come through victorious. That’s what you see of the saints who have come through the great tribulation at the end look what they are doing.
The saints are singing the great Te Deum laudamus.
Which means to GOd we praise, we glorify him. They are singing joyfully for the work fo the lamb whose blood has made clean and holy that they might enter into paradise and be with their savior.
They stand in the presence of God.
Mankind had walked with God in the garden of eden, but after the fall there had been a division because the HOliness of God was of such a threat that they could only receive parts of God’s holiness if there was blood to cover their sins and that is why the Sacrifices had carried on for centuries, but with the Sacrifice of the Lamb, we are able to enter into God’s presence.
A Picture of Comfort and Peace
The Lord shelters them with his presence.
He keeps us safe, as He gathers us to himself that we may not grow tired or fearful or wonder what is going to happen to us, but that we might learn to trust and rely on him for everything.
They no longer hunger or thirst.
They are blessed for they are satisfied they have received all the good things that the needed in this life and went without and now they get to dwell in peace. This fulfills what Jesus had told in his sermon on the plain, and his sermon on the mount that even though the things of the world may be hard, that they are blessed through what He will do.
Their shepherd is with them.
It is John who sees this vision while he is on the prison island known as Patmos, all of the other disciples have perished and he alone is left, and he will die at about the age of 100. Jesus is showing John this for gathered in that crowd are Peter, Matthew, his Brother James, and Mary whom Jesus had entrusted to his care. Even though they have died, they are with Jesus and He is keeping them safe.
The Pain of Death
It is terrible, ask a child or a parent.
To lose someone who is so dear to you tears the heart out. You see the fearful power of death, that no amount of love or care that we have for them can keep them safe. Not even the best doctors, or nurses, or modern medicine can stop the unrelenting force that is death. But parents lay their children into the grave, and children lose their moms or dads before they’re ready to say goodbye.
Ask those who watched the strong fall.
To have someone who is a rock, who is firm and steadfast that you could always depend on begin to go down hill, and to have their mind trapped in body that feels like a prison, or to have a body that is able to move, but those who eyes lit up when they saw your face, now no longer know who you are. That is the curse of sin and death, it is the way that is common to man. We often think to separate the spiritual from the physical, but they are joined together.
In grief, Christ offers hope to the saints.
I don’t speak now of the saints that have passed, but you, the holy ones of God, set apart by the blood of Christ. It’s why we have funerals, it’s why we do flee or hide away from death and just try to get it done. The world does that because they don’t know what Christ has done. For what has Jesus promised us?
Even though we die, yet shall we live.
The Resurrection will be ours, Christ left his grave and so too shall you! Not because of the great things that you have accomplished, but because Christ has given you his holiness, his righteousness without which you would not be able to stand in the presence of God with joy.
Do you know what this means?
It means those saints that have died, are not lost to us, just as they were not lost to John, or to any Christian who has shed tears at the graveside of a Christian. We will see them again in the flesh and we will join them before Christ, and our pains, our sorrows, and all of the evil that has come on account of sin, will be over.
The Importance of Faith
The robes symbolize baptism.
That is why at Baptism we hand out this little cloth to remind us of the garment of Christ’s righteousness that covers all our sin, and so we shall stand without fear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the inheritance prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
When we are washed in the blood.
This sounds a bit off putting to our ears, but you must understand the sacrificial system of the OT to see what is happening here. Blood was need to purify, for the life of the creature is in the blood. When you were baptized, you were baptized into the death of Jesus, so that the judgment might be satisfied by His blood.
Faith clings to God’s promises.
This is important and that it isn’t once baptized always saved, faith is needed which clings to God’s promises. Faith as simple as a child’s who trusts their parents. You need
Not All Are Saints
This is when death is most painful.
Those deaths hurt. With everything that God has done for them through Jesus CHrist our Lord, God doesn’t the desire the death of anyone, and yet many perish. Consider how simple salvation is, what does Jesus tell his disciples?
whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved.(Mark 16:16)
That’s it. Faith that clings to the promise that God made in baptism, for there God calls them His own, washes away their sins and gives to them His divine and holy name. Faith is strengthened by Spirit who works through the WOrd.
We know where and how God calls them.
So if we have loved ones that aren’t believers, share with them what Christ has done for them, and how he offers it to them, and if they are not baptized, urge them to receive this gift of God, and then to continue to hear the word and prepare to receive the sacrament, that the Spirit of God might continue to strengthen their faith.
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, my dear fellow saints, today we can rejoice on All Saint’s Day that God has brought these dear saints through death to life for whoever has been buried with Christ will rise with him. We know that even though they are gone, we shall see them again and we will see them in the flesh. We hug them, and hold them close as we rejoice that they are whole. Their minds and bodies restored as the power of sin, and death are brought to nothing in the Kingdom of God. For what do we proclaim joyfully on Easter? Alleluia Christ is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed Alleluia! In Jesus name. Amen.