St. John's vision of the throne of God and the saints around it is written for our comfort. This world and this life are full of suffering. From illness to sadness to suffering and pain to persecution and hatred by those who hate Christ, Christians suffer in this life. But there is a hope of better things to come. Our hope as Christians is that our Lord has secured for us a blessed and happy eternity with Him. Because Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death, there is the hope and expectation of better things beyond this life. It doesn't mean we give up on this life. It doesn't mean we ignore what needs to be done in the here and now. But it does mean that when the troubles of this life wear heavily upon us, we have the comfort that there are truly better things to come. That's what All Saints Day is about: To celebrate that God has taken His people in the faith from their suffering and yet they are still united with us together in His holy church of all times and places.
But it when it comes to speaking about death and the life to come, we need to be careful. The world is full of ridiculous and wrong notions about the life to come. People turning into angels. People dying because “the Lord needs another angel.” Dead loved ones “being at peace” or “in a better place” because people just want them to be. Loved ones looking down or being there with us or whatever. There are lots of wrong notions about death and the life to come and Christians are not immune from picking them up and saying them too. So All Saints Day is an opportunity for repentance for thinking wrongly about death and instead learning to believe and confess what the Lord's Word teaches us about it. Most of all, All Saints Day is a reminder that if we are going to talk about death and heaven and the resurrection of all flesh and eternal life, we cannot do so rightly without speaking of the Lamb of God. That's where St. John's vision points us. We're anxious to read it and grab some details about what it's like after we die. But it was not revealed and written for that purpose. Rather, it was given to show us that at the center of everything is the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who has taken away the sins of the world and triumphed over our enemies.
From earliest times, when people made sacrifices, they used lambs. Those lambs and the Passover lamb and the lambs of the temple sacrifices all pointed ahead to Jesus, the Lamb of God. They taught that the lamb dies instead of the sinner. When John the Baptist came, he saw Jesus and preached, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus is that Lamb who was sacrificed for our sins on the altar of the cross. Every time a sacrifice of a lamb was offered in faith, the person knew, “This lamb is dying because of my sins. But it is dying instead of me.” So it is with Jesus. When He sheds His blood on the cross, the Lamb of God truly takes away our sins. He dies in our place. He dies because of our sins. He dies instead of us so that our sins don't kill us. This is why the saints in John's vision shout and sing, “Salvation belongs to the Lamb!” Those words are echoed in our song “This is the Feast.” Whatever blessings of eternal life there are, they are ours because the Lamb has paid the price for our sins and rescued us from death and the devil. That's why when we stand in eternal life, we too will sing the praises of the Lamb. And it's why everything until that time is all about that Lamb, all about Jesus who is our salvation.
But it's not just the Lamb back then. The Lamb is still saving us by giving us His blood. The blood of the Passover Lamb was painted on the door frames of the houses to cause the Angel of Death to pass over. We have been given the blood of the Lamb of God too. Who are those people in white robes? Those who have suffered and yet washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's Baptism language. At the holy font, by water and the Word, the blood of the Lamb washes us clean of our sins. All the guilt we have because of our sins is canceled, removed, wiped out and deleted. That same body and blood of the Lamb of God are given to us in His feast of salvation, the Holy Supper of His body and blood. It is the Lamb's blood that makes a person a saint. A saint is a “holy person.” And anyone who has been washed in Baptism with the Lamb's blood is a holy person in God's sight. That's the Lamb's doing. He not only is sacrificed, but His blood is also put upon us to save us. Just as the Passover Lamb was killed and its blood put on the doors and then it was eaten, so Jesus, the Lamb of God is sacrificed for us and then His blood put upon us in Holy Baptism and drunk along with eating His body in the Sacrament.
And now here is the great joy and hope and comfort of the life to come: that the same Lamb who was sacrificed for us and who washed us, is our light and life for all eternity. I know that when our loved ones pass away, we often think about seeing them again in heaven. There is a comfort in knowing that we will see those who have died in the faith again one day. But that is a small and tiny comfort compared to this one: We shall see the Lamb! When we die, we are at peace in Him. When He comes again and raises us from the dead, we shall be with Him eternally. He will be our sun and light and he will give us everlasting waters. The greatest comfort we ought to have about those who have died in Christ is that they are with Christ. The greatest comfort we have for ourselves is that we shall be with Christ forever. The Lamb who gives life. The Lamb whose salvation we sing. The Lamb whose throne shines with glory because He has thrown down sin, death, hell, Satan and all our enemies. From life to death to life again, it's all about the Lamb and what He has done for us!
On All Saints Day, we remember those who have died in the faith. We give thanks to God for bringing them to faith and keeping them in the faith so that they would be with Him forever. And as we remember them, we hold fast ourselves to the same promise of God: that He will keep us in the true faith unto life everlasting. But that faith and that eternal life are all because of the Lamb. For where our Lamb, Jesus Christ is, there is forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation. So as we gaze with St. John at the saints around the Lamb's throne, we see that Lamb in all His glory, the same Lamb who gave His life for us. He is why we are saints of God now and forever. In the Name of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Happy All Saints. Amen.
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