Observing the path to glory, and the glory

Sermon for All Saints Day

Revelation 7:2-17  +  Matthew 5:1-12

Yesterday was All Saints’ Day. Today is celebrated by some, usually in the Roman Church, as All Souls’ Day. The Roman Church would celebrate the “saints” as a special group of believers who were in a class above the rest, believers who did extra good works here on earth, or confessed Christ more boldly than others, and have now entered the glories of heaven. All Souls’ Day, on the other hand, would encompass the rest of the “faithful departed,” who were just your average Christians, who have died, and who, according to Roman theology, are still being cleansed of their impurities in purgatory. (We won’t say much this evening about the celebration called the Day of the Dead, which is also today, where the Roman Church in Mexico blended pagan beliefs about the dead with some elements of Christianity, so that the souls of the dead actually return to their graves on this day to reconnect with their earthly life, if and only if their living relatives hold them in remembrance.)

For us, in the Lutheran Church, we still observe All Saints’ Day, but not like the Roman Church does. For us, it’s a day for us to pause and remember both the path to glory and the glory itself, the path so many of our Christian brothers and sisters have walked, and the glory they now experience; the path that we must now walk and the glory that we will then experience.

That’s the theme of the Beatitudes you heard this evening from Matthew 5. And it’s also the theme of the reading from Revelation 7, which will be our focus this evening.

You’re more familiar, I imagine, with the second part of that Revelation reading, the glory 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 vision, too, if you view it correctly. It’s the path to glory.

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 be saved. He heard the angel say that destruction couldn’t be unleashed on the earth until the servants of our God—the same group of people represented by the number 144,000—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.

Then follows the listing of where they came from: 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. But did you notice something strange about the listing of the tribes? It wasn’t the normal listing. There are two notable differences, or even three. First, the tribe of Dan is entirely missing. Second, the tribe of Manasseh is listed along with the tribe of Joseph. But Joseph had no tribe named after him. His two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, became the fathers of two tribes in Israel. And third, Judah, although he wasn’t the firstborn, was listed first.

What do we learn from those anomalies? The simplest understanding is that this list is meant to be understood figuratively. It isn’t referring to a literal number of people who were literally descended from each of those tribes of Israel. It’s referring to the full number of the Church—12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10 gives us the full number of the Holy Christian Church, the elect and believing children of God, who are the figurative Israel that St. Paul talks about in Romans and in Galatians.

What does it mean to be “sealed”? Well, the first one to be “sealed” was Christ Himself. Jesus says that God the Father has set His seal upon the Son of Man, a mark of His ownership and of His approval. The tribe of Judah was listed first in John’s vision because Christ was descended from the tribe of Judah. And those who believe in Him are given that same seal of ownership and approval. Paul writes to the Corinthians, Now God is the One who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Again, writing to Timothy, The solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” John says the same thing in similar words at the end of Revelation: The hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. 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.

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 ownership, approval—and protection!, so that, as Jesus says about His sheep, “I know My sheep…and no one can pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” From start to finish, God has worked out our salvation. The path to glory is hearing the Gospel, repenting, believing in Christ, 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 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.

Then, in the second part of that reading from Revelation, we see the glory, the blessed end of the 144,000, of the elect, of all who were sealed in Christ in this life and who persevere to the end. This vision is important, because all we see here is death. People remain faithful Christians, sometimes for their whole lives, and yet they end up just like everyone else does—from an earthly perspective. We bury our fellow Christians right alongside the graves of unbelievers. But their souls aren’t in the grave (and they don’t come back to their graves on the Day of the Dead, either). What their souls are now doing we see in John’s vision.

First, it’s a great multitude that no one could number. Again, the 144,000 was never meant to be taken literally. It was symbolic of this full number of the spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. 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 that are as numerous as the sand by the sea and the stars of the sky. And 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 loneliness, no isolation. There are no 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. 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 pulls 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—those things aren’t automatic for the Christian, and it’s even harder as the dear cross presses harder. And holding onto love in this loveless world in which we live – Jesus was right when he said “the love of most will grow cold…even the elect would be deceived, if that were possible.”

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.

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 friends who have fallen asleep, and this is what heaven will be like for you when you fall asleep, if you remain faithful.

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 glory. You’ll make it, if you keep running it. 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 our celebration day, and we give thanks to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, for all the saints who from their labors rest. Amen.