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All Saints’ Day Sermon – The Gathering of All Companions….
The Gathering of All Companions
Rev. 7: 9-17
† In Jesus Name! †
We’re all here….
In the epistle to the Hebrews, after describing the great heroes of the faith, there the following words,
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT)
Thhat prophesy we see in Hebrews is described in the first reading, the one from Revelation 7. When people from every continent, from every culture, from every language, from every time period in history are gathered together, and God looks out on them,
and they praise Him.
Much as God has gathered us from every corner of this world and brought to this room. To celebrate the same thing we will celebrate then, that,
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
I want to hear those words, said by us all, to give us and idea of what they will sound like, in various accents, in various voices, male and female, young and old
We are here for the same reason, for the same purpose, to praise the God who comes to us and loves us.
The Tribulation
There has been much to be written and said about the answer the elder gives about the great crowd dressed in white.
Some translations talk of them coming through, or out of the tribulation. The translation we use here describes it as those who died in the great tribulation. I am not sure how it translates into Chinese, but the idea of tribulation in English has for a couple of centuries caused great fear, so much fear that theological systems have developed, not around Christ Jesus, but around when and how this tribulation occurred.
Oh, by the way, its not just any tribulation – it is the mega-tribulation. The greatest tribulation, the greatest suffering known to man, in all of history, since this passage happens at the end of time.
A tribulation that only God can bring us through, a tribulation where God brings forth all of His wrath against sin. A tribulation so great, that sin can’t withstand it, and those who are sinners are killed off by it.
All sinners, and it doesn’t matter what they have done.
For as Paul tells the church in Rome, all have sinned.
You might find it interesting, but that mega tribulation has already happened. It happened much as the Old Testament prophet claimed it would,
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck done. Isaiah 53:5-11 (NLT)
That is why the passage of Revelation mentions that the blood spilt, that causes their robes to be white is not their own, but it is Christ’s.
For it is in His death that we find life, it is united to His death, that we find our sins stripped from us, and our being brought to life. Don’t take my words for it, that is what Paul writes often,
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:11-14 (NLT)
My dear, dear brothers and sisters, what makes us family, part of the family of all Saints, is simply this, that Jesus suffered and died for us….
That’s Why We Praise Him
Because He died, we died with Him, because He has risen, we have been given new life, we’ve been born again, we’ve been quickened by the Holy Spirit, and been cleansed from every sin, and can wear the white robes of God.
That is why we can gather here, people from so many different backgrounds, and yet we are one people, God’s one people. The saints He gathers in His presence, and as we realize this, our voices cry out in praise.
This is our God, who loves us, who gathers us together, as His holy people. It is time to celebrate His love, just like the people do in Revelation.
Church, and especially the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, has been described as the Feast that is a foretaste of the feast to come….. and so the church is supposed to be is a small glimpse of what heaven will be.
So as we feast, on the Lord’s Supper, may we see that moment, when millions upon millions will gather, from many more backgrounds, ethnicities, languages than here.
But this glimpse, is a small view of that peace, the peace that passes all understanding. ..
For we are His people, gathered by Him together… gathered to live with Him.
AMEN.
WHen You Want to Run Away….should you… or not?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
12 When Mordecai received Esther’s message, 13 he sent her this warning: “Don’t imagine that you are safer than any other Jew just because you are in the royal palace. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, help will come from heaven to the Jews, and they will be saved, but you will die and your father’s family will come to an end. Yet who knows—maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen!” 15 Esther sent Mordecai this reply: 16 “Go and get all the Jews in Susa together; hold a fast and pray for me. Don’t eat or drink anything for three days and nights. My servant women and I will be doing the same. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. If I must die for doing it, I will die.” 17 Mordecai then left and did everything that Esther had told him to do. Esther 4:12-17 (TEV)
29 The limited and pitiful happiness of the selfish man, who withdraws into his shell, his ivory tower … is not difficult to attain in this world. But that happiness of the selfish is not lasting. For this false semblance of Heaven are you going to forsake the Joy of Glory without end? (1)
There are times in our lives where we want to runaway.
There are times we want to run because of conflict, and we think that peace is found in avoidance.
There are times we want to run away because of the sacrifice we know we will need to make. Sometimes it is not even a major sacrifice, sometimes it is an inconvenience.
There are other times, when we are weary, when we are afraid, when we just want some time to kick back, and rest, because the battle is to hard, the suffering we encounter is to overwhelming.
There are also times when we need to retreat, when we need to walk away and pray. There are times I struggle with this more than I struggle with staying. Sometimes it is a war within myself, as I question myself. Should we stay in place, even beyond our strength? Should we run?
We have to ask a couple of questions, even seek out a confidant to help us examine our situation. We need to ask Why and Where.
Why – am I simply running for my own comfort, my own survival? There is a point, like Esther faced, where running was a matter of selfish self-preservation. A door was opened so that she could do God’s will, in this case to save the people of God. There is a time for a rest, to be ready to re-enter the fray, that is the idea of the sabbath.
Where – This is ahar question. Do I want to run to where the grass is greener, where there appears to be more peace, an easier life? Or do I need to find cave like Elijah, a place to find respite and allow God to bring healing. (if you have encountered this before, you know that it isn’t the easier path.) Am I running from God, or to Him? We need the latter.
Ultimately, the answer isn’t found in a logical examination of our thoughts and desires. And our perceptions can be shaded, and if our lives are turbulent, our thoughts may be as well. The answer is going to found, not in whether we run or not, but whether we realize we are in God’s presence wherever we are. When we realize his unexplainable peace, a peace so different from the world, can sustain us in the harshest of times. That is the key in the times that challenge us and make us want to run, and in the times where we need to find rest and a time of prayer and communion.
Ultimately, it boils down to this: are you where you are at for such a time as this? To be there, that people would know the Kingdom of God is near, that His presence is there to pardon, to love, to heal? Are you depending on your own strength, or on His?
Then you are there for a purpose – take time to rest, ot know God’s presence… and then glorify Him as He works in your life and community… bringing hope and peace, healing and love. AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 228-230). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Vengeance is Mine! says God, but my will is…. (more we don’t want to hear…but need to!)
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day….
WARNING – If you don’t like yesterday’s post…read on.. and be challenged some more.
One of the challenges for people who claim to be Christian, is to encounter the entire counsel of God in scripture…and not just isolate passages. Here are some incredibly timely…
18 Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. 19 Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God’s anger do it. For the scripture says, “I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord.” Romans 12:18-19 (TEV)
2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself. 3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you, 4 because they are God’s servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God’s servants and carry out God’s punishment on those who do evil. Romans 13:2-4 (TEV)
In light of the recent attacks on Boston, we really, really like these verses. We want vengeance, and as long as it meats our standard, we are more than willing to let God use whoever He wants, the FBI, local police, my prefereance – the USMC – whoever.
But if we are to trust God with wreaking vengeance on these horrific sins, then we have to trust Him…(gulp) to do it in a way consistent with His character, with His will….
and that may mean… He will not get vengeance in a way that we will appreciate. Matter of fact, we may hate the idea.
A couple of other passages:
8 But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord’s sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same. 9 The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins. 2 Peter 3:8-9 (TEV)
21 It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. 23 When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge. 24 Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed. 25 You were like sheep that had lost their way, but now you have been brought back to follow the Shepherd and Keeper of your souls. 1 Peter 2:21-25 (TEV) (see Isaiah 52-53 and Romans 3-5 for more on this)
9 Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you. 1 Peter 3:9 (TEV)
I could go on and on – God did get the fullest of vengeance on these sins, and many, many more. And we have to trust Him at His word – every sin has been paid for, every bit of evil perpetrated by man. And justice has been done, as Peter noted above.
And proved that God the father is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance, to transformation, to know His love, His mercy and forgiveness.
That is, I guess – where our trust in Him has to be challenged. Could God forgive these people? Could God forgive the horrors that have been done to mankind?
I think that is why the old general prayer in the Lutheran Hymnal had us give voice to these words, “May it please Thee also to turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries that they may cease their enmity (with God) and be inclined to walk with us in meekness and peace” ( The Lutheran Hymnal p.23) I am deeply indebted to the pastor who introduced this hymnal to me, as well as the Theology of the Cross. The Theology that so tells us of the depth of God’s love and providence in our lives – that suffering becomes something where I depend on Him more, trust in Him more… and know even more that He is with me.
How many of us are ready to pray such a prayer? Whether it be about those who have traumatized Boston, or the neighbor…or maybe our boss?
Are we willing to trust God that far? Are we willing to be that bold in our faith – that we can God to God and say – Vengeance or Mercy- it is Your call God. Doing so, pouring our our pain, our anxiety at the altar.
Do we trust Him that much?
For if we can trust Him that much, how assured are we that He has done the same for us. For every one of our sins, for every one of our failures.
I for one, am not strong enough – even the strength to write this – requires that I depend on Him for it – that He will create in me the strength necessary.
And for this day… so far.. He seems to be providing that strength I need to trust Him. Even thought I don’t want it, even though I do not like to depend on Him for it, and would rather play God….
But it is there… and in Him, I can find peace.
Related articles
- When Darkness Hides God’s Face…and all hope (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Need Hope? No Answers? Come Experience Jesus, Have Hope! (evangelical catholic VI) (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Where you there when the… on Good Friday? On Easter Sunday? As much as He is here now! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- The Great Apocalypse in upon us! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- vengeance is mine, says the Lord (sharingloveandtruth.org)
