Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
We stand on this side of what will be a transformative event for the whole world! When we stand on the other side, our lives will never be the same again. Tuesday’s election may be a transformative event for the whole world, but not like the transformative event that arguably happens between the two parts of today’s First Reading of Revelation chapter 7, as the Church Militant, or what we sometimes call the Kingdom of Grace, becomes the Church Triumphant, or what we sometimes call the Kingdom of Glory. In some ways we might think of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics, which the competitors typically enter in a segregated Parade of Nations, compared to the Closing Ceremony for the Olympics, which the competitors typically enter in a mixed Parade of Athletes. In between, they have competed in their sport, as, we might say that, those in the First Reading have come “Out of the great tribulation”.
As our Midweek Bible Study discussed back in May when we studied Revelation chapter 7 at greater length, helpful to know is that this chapter is part of an “interlude” or “parenthesis” between the Lamb’s opening the sixth and seventh seals in the first of Revelation’s three sevenfold‑visions of history from the time of Jesus’s Ascension to the time of what we call His “Parousia”, His final coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. And, in that “interlude” or “parenthesis”, these visions of chapter 7 are said to promise security and deliverance to God’s people amid His judgments on the world.
Of course, because of our sinful nature and our actual sins, even we God’s people deserve God’s judgments of temporal and eternal punishment, alongside the rest of the sinful world. And, even we God’s people experience some of the consequences of sin, alongside the rest of the sinful world—things like suffering, sickness, and even physical death. Yet, some suffering apparently is worse than other suffering. God first essentially told us His people to expect a “great tribulation” through the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament (Daniel 12:1), and, in the New Testament, Jesus Himself warned of the “great tribulation’s” coming (Matthew 24:21; confer Mark 13:19; Luke 21:23), and the angel mentions it to St. John in today’s First Reading, in that case, seemingly as if the “great tribulation” were in the past. (Maybe the “great tribulation” is where Tuesday’s election fits!) Some of the other religious traditions around us in the world falsely teach that believers secretly will be raised from the dead and raptured out of the world before the tribulation, but that is not what Holy Scripture teaches. Jesus even says that the Lord shortened the days of the “great tribulation” for the sake of the elect, otherwise, Jesus says, no human being would be saved (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13:20).
As we observe it, the difference between people’s being saved or not is whether or not people, led by the Holy Spirit, are sorry for their sin and trust God to forgive them for Jesus’s sake. Those who do so repent are both, in this life, part of the Church Militant and, in the life to come, part of the Church Triumphant. In the First Reading, believers, at least those on earth at the time, are first seen as if they are at rest in their military camp or lined up for battle like the people of Israel in the Old Testament, not literally 144‑thousand but a perfect total fixed by God. Then, believers are seen arguably resurrected and glorified in the eternal worship of God, a great multitude that no one could number, fulfilling prophecy to the patriarchs, but still a perfect total fixed by God. Somewhat similarly, today’s Psalm sees God’s people with both two-edged swords in their hands and the high praises of God in their throats, and the Psalm notes that the Lord takes pleasure in His people and adorns the humble with salvation (Psalm 149:1-9; antiphon: v.4).
Indeed, in the First Reading, the great multitude is clothed in white robes, robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb, and they are worshiping God by attributing to Him salvation! The Triune God saves us sinners out of His great love, mercy, and grace for the sake of Jesus Christ! Earlier in the book, Revelation’s song praised God for creation (Revelation 4:11), and then the song praised God for re‑creation, that is, for redemption. The Lamb, the Son of God in human flesh, was slain, and, by His blood, He ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). The Lamb did not stay dead but rose. Jesus died in our place the death that we deserve, and He rose from the dead, as also we, if necessary, one day will rise. For, when we repent, then God forgives us, clothing us in Christ’s righteousness—the righteousness of Christ’s perfect life and the righteousness of Christ’s death and resurrection, all for us.
We usually think of God as clothing us in Christ’s righteousness in Holy Baptism, when we are sealed with the sign of the holy cross both upon our foreheads and upon our hearts to mark as us one redeemed by Christ the crucified, and the one Name of the three Persons is also put upon us. That seal is recalled, for example, every time we make the sign of the cross and with a cross of dust on Ash Wednesday. God’s Word with the water makes the Font, as it were, a spring of living water, a spring of the water of life. The Lamb is, in a bit of a mixed metaphor, our Shepherd, and His under‑shepherds, His pastors, hear us privately confess the sins that we know and feel in our heart, and then, in individual Holy Absolution, they forgive us in the same Triune Name. And, as we thank God for His forgiveness, in the Holy Supper, He gives us bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us, and so He also gives us the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. As we individually partake of His Body and Blood, we are united with Him and with one another and with those who have departed this life in the faith and so are presently with Him and in Him. Far better than the Olympics Closing Ceremony’s Parade of Athletes, in the Holy Supper divisions of nation, tribe, people, and language—not to mention time and place—are transcended!
We note well that in the First Reading’s vision of eternal life, the heavenly worship of God is not informal, as if we all just casually hang out with our best bud, God. Rather, the great multitude, the myriads of angels, the twenty-four elders, and the four living‑creatures all have their place and part in the liturgical worship gathered around the throne. They are engaged with their hands, voices, and bodily posture, even falling on their faces! So, too, our earthly worship is not informal but formal, with places and parts, engaging our souls and bodies. Thereby, as we heard in today’s Gospel Reading (Matthew 5:1-12), we saints on earth are blessed already now, even if we are not yet as fully blessed as we one day will be. We can rejoice and be glad even in the “great tribulation”, for we will come “Out of the great tribulation” into the bliss of eternal life with God. We do not know everything about the so‑called “intermediate state” of those who have already departed this life and are with the Lord, nor, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (1 John 3:1-3), do we know everything about what we will be like after the resurrection of the body. But, we do have the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the body and of the blessed reunion in heaven!
Whatever things such as Tuesday’s election and the “great tribulation”, if we live to experience it, might bring, the sufferings that we experience, St. Paul writes to the Romans, are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18), after the transformative event for the whole world that is the Last Day. Until then, as we will pray in the Proper Preface, God has surrounded us with so great a cloud of witnesses that we are encouraged to run with perseverance the race that is set before us (confer Hebrews 12:1). As when we come “Out of the great tribulation”, we give all blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might to our God forever and ever.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +