+ + + In Nomine Jesus + + +
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.)
When I was a boy, I had a set of army men, plastic toy soldiers about two-inches tall. As I recall, my set had soldiers of two different colors, though I do not remember what color the other side was, and so who it was supposed to be, or from what war both sides were supposed to be. What I do remember is that my friend Greg Johnson from down the street was much more interested than I was in military history, in battlefield tactics, and so in playing with my and his own more-numerous soldiers. More than a decade ago, Time magazine placed army men on its list of the 100 most‑popular toys of all time, though today many of the men would not be allowed in daycares or schools with “zero‑tolerance weapon‑policies”, and all of the army men characters reportedly were omitted from Pixar’s 20‑19 movie Toy Story 4. In the optionally‑extended First Reading appointed for today, All Saints’ Day, we hear both about 144‑thousand of the sons of Israel essentially lined up for battle and about an innumerable multitude from every nation worshipping before the throne of God. St. John reports the two distinct visions in the sequence that God revealed them to him, and we usually understand the first vision to depict the Saints Militant, or Church Militant, present believers or holy‑ones engaged in the struggle on earth, those in the Kingdom of Grace, and we usually understand the second vision to depict the Saints Triumphant, or Church Triumphant, past believers or holy‑ones at rest in heaven, those in the Kingdom of Glory, whether at the same time as the first vision or at some point in the future, especially after both the Son has come again with glory and all bodies have been resurrected. Considering primarily today’s First Reading, with the help of the Holy Spirit, this morning we realize that “Saints Militant become Saints Triumphant”.
As we heard in the First Reading, four angels with power to harm earth and sea are restrained until the full-number of the Saints Militant are sealed. The numbers are figurative, of course, not one‑thousand, ten squared, as in the Old Testament (Numbers 31:4-6), but an elevated ten-thousand, ten-cubed, from each of twelve somewhat-unexpected tribes, all together representing the complete number in the Church Militant at any given New‑Testament‑era time. Certainly, we do not see that many people here, and the world regards the Church Militant as “oppressed, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed” (Lutheran Service Book 644:3). In sharp contrast is the crowd clothed in white baptismal robes of Christ’s righteousness, with victory palm branches in their hands, not having been raptured before but having come out of, we might say “through”, the great tribulation, “trials and temptations” (LSB 770:2) that, in a sense, all Christians on earth go through. Perhaps the great multitude could not be numbered because it goes beyond the “myriads of myriads” (Revelation 5:11) or even “twice ten-thousand times ten‑thousand” (Revelation 9:16), that is, 200-million, that the numbering system of the day could count.
The saying goes that “No one gets out of the Church Militant alive”, meaning not only that, unless Christ returns first, every Christian must eventually face physical death, but also meaning that afflictions and suffering are parts of every Christian’s experience as we are in Christ. We are to follow the “marching orders”, as it were, that our Lord has given us. Not only are we to keep the Ten Commandments in thoughts, words, and deeds, which we fail to do, but also we faithfully are to confess both our sins and our faith in Jesus, in all of the different ways that such confession takes place! We speak God’s law that confronts our family members and our friends with their sin, and, when they are sorry for their sin, we speak God’s Gospel that forgives their sin for Jesus’s sake, when they trust in Him. If we are unwilling to contend for the faith and are not engaged in the life of the Church Militant, we probably need to ask ourselves whether or not we really are one of the Saints Militant. And, if we are not one of the Saints Militant, then we will not become one of the Saints Triumphant. Thus, God calls us to repent and continue as Saints Militant who then become Saints Triumphant.
As we heard in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 5:1-12), in Christ, we are blessed already now, even if we will be more fully blessed on the Last Day. What the Saints Triumphant sing then is true already now: salvation “belongs to”, or “is from”, our God Who sits on the throne and the Lamb. The Son of God in human flesh, Jesus is the Lamb of God Who, out of God’s great love for even fallen humankind, takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Earlier in the Revelation to St. John that Lamb appears standing as though it had been slain (Revelation 5:6): “Rich wounds, yet visible above,” the hymnwriter says, “in beauty glorified” (LSB 525:3). Jesus truly was crucified and died on the cross for us, but Jesus also truly rose from the grave and lives eternally. When we are sorry for our sins and trust God to forgive us for Jesus’s sake, then God does forgive us. God forgives our sinful natures, our sins of not engaging in the fight, and all our other sins, whatever our other sins might be. We have peace with Him, and we can rejoice, as we faithfully receive God’s forgiveness through His Word and Sacraments.
There is no undecided or independent party: you are with and for the Lord, or you are apart from and against Him (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23). You either are sealed with the sign of the holy cross and the Name of the Triune God or you bear the mark of the beast. We who are baptized in the Name of the Triune God receive the sign of the holy cross both upon our foreheads and upon our hearts to mark us those redeemed by Christ the crucified, as Russell did already this morning. In Holy Baptism, as we also did, Russell renounced the devil, his works, and his ways, as also will Nikki in her Profession of Faith and James in his Confirmation later this morning. When we know and feel sins in our hearts, we privately confess them to our pastors for the sake of Holy Absolution, forgiveness in that same Triune Name. And, baptized and absolved, we are admitted to the Holy Supper, where bread is the Body of Christ given for us and wine is the Blood of Christ shed for us and thus give us the forgiveness of sins and so also life and salvation. As we give thanks to God, He already now satisfies us who hunger and thirst for righteousness. God also unites us with Himself and so also with all those who have departed and who will ever depart from this life in the faith.
After God makes us Saints Militant, a war is waged inside of us, as our sinful nature continues to sin and our redeemed nature tries to march in step with God’s commands, and there, too, God delivers us from our sinful natures and gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:7-25; confer 1 Corinthians 15:57). So, we contend for the faith and are engaged in the life of the Church Militant, such as by filling positions necessary to keep the congregation operating. We know that as the end nears the devil will have more sway and there will be more persecution, but in Christ we also are victorious then, daily returning to our baptisms with contrition and faith, and so living in God’s forgiveness of sins, until we die. “Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest; Sweet is the calm of paradise the blest,” we sang in the Hymn of the Day, “But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day: The saints triumphant rise in bright array” (LSB 677:6-7). In the Epistle Reading, St. John told us that “what we will be has not yet appeared” (1 John 3:1-3), but we know that, in bodies glorified by the Triumphant Saints’ vision of God, we will not hang out with God as with a buddy at the bar, but we will fall on our faces before the throne in His eternal worship.
When I was a boy, I did not have any sort of a play set of the saints in heaven, and I do not recall there being anything like that then, although there apparently are things like that now, such as a set of magnets of wooden three-inch dolls of more than two dozen saints from around the world who are said to be in heaven. Far more importantly, this morning we have realized that “Saints Militant become Saints Triumphant”. We are inspired, encouraged, and comforted! God graciously makes us Saints Militant; God defends us in the faith until Christ comes in glory or we die; and then God makes us Saints Triumphant. Truly we trust God to, as we prayed in the Collect of the Day, grant that we may come to the unspeakable joys He has prepared for those who love Him.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +
