The Festival of All Saints
Revelation 7.2-17 + Matthew 5.1–12
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
On All Saints Day Jesus teaches us what true blessedness is, and it is very different from the blessedness the world seeks. The world says, “Blessed are the rich are spirit.” To be rich in spirit means to imagine either God either does not care how one lives, or, that no matter how one lives, God surely approves of his decisions and lifestyle. The rich in spirit do not need to give thought to their sins. They are confident that the kingdom of heaven is theirs because God owes it to them. True blessedness is the opposite. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus says. To be poor in spirit is to be humble before God, penitent and contrite over their sins. The poor in spirit understand that, because of their sins, God does not owe them anything except temporal and eternal punishment. But the poor in spirit are truly blessed. “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” for God only gives His kingdom to those who confess their sins, their spiritual poverty and lack, and look to God for forgiveness and every spiritual blessing, including His kingdom, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:7).
The world says, “Blessed are those who are comfortable in the world, who love their lives in this world.” To be comfortable in the world is to be friends with the world and its ways. It is to conform one’s thinking to the world’s thinking, so that one praises what the world praises and pursues what the world prioritizes. The world says you are blessed if you go along with the homosexual and transgender movements, because the world will leave you alone. The world says you will be blessed if you embrace evolution, because you will be with the majority, and no one will think you are an unintelligent rube. The world promises to bless you with comfort if you just believe what it believes. But true blessedness is different. “Blessed are those who mourn,” Jesus says. This means to mourn over the state of the world, our country, and society. It is to be oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked and tormented over the depravity of one sees on television, the internet, and in others. To mourn these things is to be truly blessed because those who mourn shall be comforted,” not with the world’s comfort, nor with non-existent promise of better days of ahead, but with the fact that Christ will return to judge the world in righteousness, punishing the wicked and rewarding the faithful.
The world says, “Blessed are the ones who trust in themselves, their own abilities, strength, and ingenuity!” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.” He is quoting Psalm 37. The Psalmist describes the meek as “those who wait on the Lord” (Ps 37:11) while the wicked prosper. We are acquainted with this in our own times. The wicked prosper. Evil people oppress others. And as we mourn over this, the Psalmist tells us, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret — it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more. But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” If you do not have an office whose duty it is to right the world’s wrongs, then wait upon the Lord. He will bring justice in His own time in ways than ours.
The world says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for wealth and luxury, power and popularity.” The world promises blessedness to those who relentlessly pursue these things and sacrifice themselves to achieve them. But Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” promising, “for they shall be filled.” To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to crave Christ’s righteousness—which God gives us freely by grace through faith in the gospel—but also righteousness in our lives. True blessedness is the desire to live righteously, to act justly, to live according to God’s commandments, not just outwardly but inwardly. Righteously living only comes from being justified—declared righteous—by faith in Christ. The one who hungers and thirsts after these blessings of righteousness in God’s sight and righteous living is truly blessed because that one will be filled. The one who hungers and thirsts for wealth and luxury, power, and popularity, will never be filled, they will never receive what they seek, and if they do, it will never be enough. But the one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness will receive and be satisfied with the righteousness of God.
The world says, “Blessed are the unmerciful, those who hold grudges and keep watch over those who have wronged them.” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” Having received mercy from God, we are merciful to those who sin against us, willing and waiting to forgive them when they are sorry. Along these same lines Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Having been reconciled to God by faith in His Son and having received the adoption as God’s sons, we seek to live in peace with everyone as much as depends on us. The world says, “Blessed are the those who follow the desires of their hearts, whatever they may be!” But Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Like hungering and thirsting for righteousness, this is first the purity that God gives to us and we receive by faith, and then as a result, fighting the sin that dwells in our hearts, putting it away at every turn so that it does not lead us into further sin and impurity.
The result of living this life of faith—poor in spirit, mourning over wickedness in the world, meekly waiting for the Lord’s deliverance, hungering, and thirsting after righteousness and purity, and being merciful and peaceable—will be persecution. The world hated Christ when He walked the earth, so it hates that those who follow Christ, who forsake the counterfeit blessedness of the world for the true blessedness of faith in Christ. St. Paul says plainly in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” But even in this, whether the world mocks you, murders you, or something in between, you are blessed. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This is the life of the saints on earth. There is trouble and hardship. There is persecution and cross. These are the life of the saints in this world because they look for a better blessedness than the world offers, a blessedness which the saints experience in this life by faith alongside the poverty in spirit, the grief, the patience, and all the other fruits of faith Jesus teaches in the beatitudes. In the midst of hardship and grief, cross and persecution, the kingdom is ours.
Although we do not look blessed in the eyes of the flesh and the world, we know that is not the case. For not only do we possess true blessedness—the kingdom of heaven—now, by faith, but we will, one day, possess the kingdom of God by sight, even as the saints who have gone before us currently enjoy it. Christ shows us this sweet and blessed country in the epistle. John sees the elect, 144,000 to signify that their number is known to God, but to our eyes, and John’s, a great multitude which no one could number. He sees them in robes made white by the blood of the lamb, robes signifying Christ’s perfect righteousness and the perfect joy of heavenly bliss. He sees them with palm branches in their hands, signifying the Lamb’s victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil, which He graciously shared with them, so that they are at perfect peace, before the throne of God, serving Him day and night. They suffer no poverty, no lack, and no grief, for the Lamb leads them living fountains of water. This is the blessedness of the saints who have gone before us, and we comfort ourselves with this fact as whenever we think about our loved ones who have died in the faith. For they are among that number. And we comfort ourselves with the fact that this is the blessedness of the saints to which we look forward and for which we strive. For the blessedness John sees, which the saints in Christ’s Church Triumphant now enjoy, is the blessedness which He promises you when He says, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.” Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
