All Saints’ Day                  “This is Your Future!”

November 3, 2024                 Revelation 7:9-17

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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

           ‘What will your future be like?’   This is a question that often gets asked during the time of high school or college graduation.  Maybe it gets asked at the time of a wedding.  In the last few months,  it’s a question that’s been pushed by the media & political ads trying to scare us into voting a certain way.  ‘What will your future be like if they get elected?’

     (by the way:  don’t fall for the political scare tactics;  no one knows the future except God  alone.  I hope you have, or will,  vote for those who intend to support the morals & values  of your biblical faith;  remembering that all candidates are imperfect humans.)

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Back to the Q:   what will your future be like?   Sometimes that Q can be asked of the survivors at the time of a death in the family.  Death makes changes to this life,  & can bring  the future into question.    For an illustration,  let me share a short story as told by one of our seminary professors,  Dr.Charles Gieschen.   He says:

During my childhood,  my father was the pastor of a Lutheran congregation with a large old red brick church founded many decades before we arrived there.   I distinctly remember not only the church building  but also the large church cemetery,  which flanked   the left side of the sanctuary  and wrapped around the back behind where the altar are was.

At an anniversary service of that congregation,  my father reminded the members sitting in   the pews that their congregation was actually much larger than those people they were seeing in church that day.   The members nodded,  most of them thinking that he was referring to those inactive members.

Then pastor said that if we wanted to make room for the rest of the members,  we would need to knock out the side wall and the wall behind the altar.  He explained that even though the bodies of many members were resting in the ground outside,  these fellow saints were alive with Christ  and were a vital part of the larger congregation.

My dad reminded us that our focus is to be on continuing the Matt.28 commission of making disciples by Baptizing and teaching,  & continue Jesus’ Meal of bread & wine, body & blood,   so that Christians are reborn and nurtured in the faith in the visible church  until they join the saints in the invisible church.

He reminded us that the true size of that congregation would only be seen on the Last Day,  when the dead-in-Christ will be raised  to join with the faithful on earth,  and all believers will be together with Jesus Christ  as He restores creation to live as one church for eternity.

So,  that’s the answer to that Q:   ‘what will the future be like?’  That’s the future that supersedes all other futures.  Jesus Christ is the ‘elected one’;  the servant-king who wore the crown of thorns for us,  and who will soon return crowned with all of heaven’s glory & honor.

Your future is very bright  because you belong to Him.  Let’s think on 3 things:  we, the church, struggle;   we are cleansed;  and we will be restored.

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From the Revelation to St.John,  we heard in v.9:   “After this I looked,  and behold,   

a great multitude  that no one could number,  from every nation,  from all tribes and peoples and languages,  standing before the throne and before the Lamb,  clothed in white robes.”

This part of the vision given to the Apostle  helps us to see that the life in our Lutheran congregation  is not only about keeping the doors open year to year.   This vision helps us to  see God’s own goal for every Christian,  & for every congregation that confesses Christ.

That goal is:  to strive to remain a part of that great multitude that no one can number – from every nation, tribe, people, & language;  to stand before God’s throne, & before the Lamb slain for our sin,  who is clothed in resurrected glory for eternity.

Why do we plant & maintain congregations?   Why do we publicly preach & teach the Gospel,  seeking the ears & hearts of those that have fallen away,  and those who have not yet heard?   Why?   This takes a lot of our effort,  & a lot of our hard-earned money = is it worth it?

Why do we call pastors, build sanctuaries, bring our families & teach the Bible to young & old;    why do we give offerings sacrificially each week,  and make plans to continue doing these things in the future?     Not just because we’re commanded to;  but because God has promised to be working thru us,  so that many sinners  =from this generation & the next generation=    will be part of this great multitude before the throne of the Lamb!

God did give this vision to John to share with the seven churches named in chapters 2 & 3.  But why was John told NOT to seal up these words?  Because God knew that all the faithful saints of His congregations  had struggles in the past to recover from;  they were going thru struggles in the present to deal with;   and they would face more struggles in the future.

For courage,  all congregations of God’s people need to hear of the future.

In John’s day,  sin was alive & well in those pagan cities of the Roman Empire.

That culture had their depraved immorality & homosexuality;  they had wicked violence, …

…..  human trafficking & abuse,  the abuse of alcohol & drugs;  they had crime, riots, & crooked politicians.   In the seven letters that Jesus dictates in Revelation 2–3,  those churches were troubled by fake apostles, false doctrines, & immortality;   Thyatira had a wicked Jezebel-like priestess,  Laodicea was so spiritually lukewarm  it made the Lord sick to His stomach.

The world hasn’t changed.  Our earthly empires have the same wickedness,  & even worse because all those things bombard us at the speed of light on the world-wide-web.  Denominations of the church are confused by listening to man’s ideas rather than God’s Word on what is gender & marriage,  about whether to birth babies or kill them,  about whether parents should be allowed to raise their children  or have public schools & tik-tok influencers  do it.    This is our fallen world;  & that’s why we yearn for the courage to believe Jesus words  to His Church:  “Blessed are you when others revile you  and persecute you  and utter all kinds of evil against you  falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad,  for your reward is great in heaven.” (Mt 5:11–12).

God gave this vision of the future,  of the Church Triumphant after the day of resurrection,  to encourage us about what our future is,  both individually and together.

By the grace of Christ & the work of The Spirit,  we will be risen, & living in worship & song with God forever.   “Salvation belongs to our God who dwells from the throne, and to the Lamb!”  Blessing and glory  and wisdom and thanksgiving  and honor and power and might   be to our God forever and ever!  Amen.” (vv 10, 12).   God tells us our future now;  because we struggle with hardships.  Knowing this  encourages us to be faithful & active as His people now.

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What is the reason given, in Rev.7,  for these blessed saints being in heaven?  Are they there because they gave so much to their community,  because they were so kind to everyone,  because they were a devoted family person,  and they gave a lot to charity?(that’s what obituaries say)  As good as those things are,  there’s only one reason for their status before God’s throne:   “They have washed their robes  and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” (v 14).

Your future in His congregation,  both in the church militant on earth,  and the Church Triumphant in heaven,  is based only upon the blood of the Lamb,  Jesus the Christ;  it’s the

blood that was shed on Calvary’s cross to atone for your sin,  & for all sin!   As John the Baptist proclaimed:  “Behold,  the Lamb of God  who is taking away the sin of the world!”

Those words are in the present-tense  so that it still applies to you & me. (Jn1:29)   Being washed in His holy blood has made you a saint,  a cleansed & holy one,  in life now, & in the living-to-come.

These three words don’t seem to go together:   washed, white & blood.  It’s hard enough to get coffee stains out of those white table cloths we have;  or to get communion-wine stains out of our fine linen altar cloths.   The last thing we would want is blood stains on white robes.  But the Spirit uses this irony to make a memorable point.   The physical & holy blood that Jesus shed  cleans us, body & soul,  permanently;   because the Father takes it as the payment-in-full  for our sin.

The Savior’s holy blood is even tapped for your own assurance of forgiveness in the  Meal Jesus instituted for His Church.   Just as the angels and elders sang of the Lamb in chpt.5:

“For you were slain,  and by your blood  you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language,  and people and nation.” (5:9).   The death & resurrection of the Son of God is the   only reason we are promised a future with God.  He has cleansed His Church = His people.

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Finally,  we have a word of restoration.  Listen again to your future as Christians,  as the congregation in heaven:   “Therefore they are before the throne of God,  and serve him day and  night in his temple;  and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They  shall hunger no more,  neither thirst anymore;  the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching  heat.   For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,  and he will guide them    to springs of living water,  and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (vv 15–17).

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Don’t be distracted by those worldly thoughts  of not hearing there  about your favorite earthly hobbies, entertainments, & activities.   Life in the ‘new heaven & new earth’  of Rev.21  will include everything that our eternal paradise needs  for us to fully live in communion with our Creator.    And that means that it will include none of the hunger or thirst,  the accidents, pain, or natural disasters,   & none of the doubts or sorrows  that we live with now.

Our earthly life now is overshadowed by the guilt of sin,  the changes with age,  & the sorrow of death.   It’s hard to imagine a life without those things.  But that’s what’s promised   in Christ;  and that’s your future.

That future is already being tasted by our loved ones who have died in this hope in Christ.  That future is the chief thing that relieves us of our present fear,  and of the sorrow of saying goodbye to our loved ones when they die.   Our current trouble or distress cannot take away  that hope;   not persecution or famine,  or nakedness or danger or sword …can separate us & our congregation of believers  from the love of God  in Christ Jesus our living Lord.   He is    the future,  and we belong to Him.

His blood has cleansed us;   His name has been applied to us with water at His command;  His Spirit lives in us to counsel & guide us with His Word.   He has restored us with a new birth and a living hope in the resurrection.

What will your future be like?  God knows;  and God has given us a glimpse.   For one thing,  we will finally see the very large congregation we belong to.   As promised to Abraham,  it will be as numerous as the stars in the sky;   a great multitude  …from every nation, tribe, people, & language – who stand with us before the God we trust,  and the Lamb we believe in,  who saved us for a life in His glory that will never end.

Amen