May God’s goodness and mercy pursue you all your days. Amen.

In our first reading for today we heard a lot of numbers. The book of Revelation is a strange book to read. It is full of Old Testament poetic imagery that can make it difficult to understand, unless you have the key to the riddles.

Now I’m not going to get into all of that today, but suffice it to say, all those 12’s and 1000’s amount to saying: The full number of saved people are in fact saved. That 144,000 in Hebrew poetry means every believer from Adam and Eve to the last faithful Christian ever to be born. They are all there. Jesus said He would never lose one of them¹ and He didn’t.

Where are all the people standing? Before the throne. The throne is in the palace at New Jerusalem. The palace of God Himself who sits on that throne. Here is where pure, perfect, pristine worship of God takes place. It includes angelic choirs singing in deafening voices that rock the very foundations of the building, calling to each other in magnificent and majestic holy praise.²

What are the people wearing? White robes. Robes that show their sins are washed away, wiped clean. They are, before their heavenly Father, as pure and perfect as the praises being sung. As they join in the throng, the Father smiles with pride and joy at His holy children.

What do they have in their hands? Palm branches. Last Palm Sunday I explained what palm branches meant to the nation of Israel. They were much like our own American Flag is to us. They were a symbol of national pride and a sign of freedom. Each holds a palm branch in his hand to wave in wonder and delight as God is worshiped and given praise for all He has done to bring the saved to this place, where sin can never touch them again. Pain, struggle, trials and death are all gone. Gone forever, never to return.

What do the people say? “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” I was at an event several years ago. At that event about 1.2 million men gathered to pray for the nation. At various points during the day-long event we sang a-Capella (without music), just the voices of those gathered that day. With all of those men singing you could feel the earth vibrate beneath your feet. Imagine what it will be like when every saved soul, from Adam to the last, all shout in praise:

Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!

What is the effect of all those faithful children of God shouting His praises? The angels bow in humble adoration of God, and worship Him by ascribing to Him seven tokens of adoration. They say, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

Just imagine what it will be like that first day of the New Creation with a new Heaven and a new Earth. Not like this Earth that groans and suffers under the weight of sin.³ There, in that place, there will be no effect of sin. No weeds, no storms, no droughts, no pain or difficulty of any kind. It will be Eden-like again over the whole land God will give to His children forever. It will be peace unimaginable, beyond our ability to grasp or fathom in this life, in this place, this side of Heaven’s gates.

That is what God has told us about what is to come. That description is just one of those brief small glimpses behind the curtain, one of those little hints of the wonders that wait for us.

This year, we had our share of funerals. Some might say too many, and from a certain perspective that might be true. Those events are always sad. We miss them. We want them back. You know, that’s not a bad thing. It is not bad to want them back. It is not selfish to want to have them here with us. That’s love. We loved those people who are not here with us today.

Here’s the good news. Love will bring us back together. Not our love. Our love can’t bring them back to us, but God’s love can bring us all to Heaven, and:

for those who believe on His name He give the power to be called children of God.⁴

In recent years books have been written by people who have near-death experiences. In those books they always talk about meeting their relatives who have died and things like that. I find those books interesting to read, but I always caution people not to put much faith in them. Put your faith in God’s Word, not some book some guy wrote, and from which is profiting well.

Like I said I find those books interesting, and in general I would reserve judgment for or against them up to the point they do not contradict what the Bible says. When they start doing that I start having problems. So often these books talk about those who have died looking down on us here, watching out for us, and helping us. Stating they are aware of all that is happening here. My problem is that these books are making the saved out to be the Savior.

It is Jesus who is watching out for us. It is Jesus who is helping us. It is Jesus who is aware of, and knows, our every need. These books often turn the people who have died into gods who help God with His work of saving and caring for His children. Where is the perfect peace and comfort if you are looking down on this sinful, sin-filled world, watching all the mess going on down here. That is God’s job, and He doesn’t need help.

These books put people on God’s throne to do God’s job. Trust me on this one: You don’t want to sit on God’s throne. Someone tried that once and it did not go well for him. In English his name is Son-of-the Dawn. He may very well be the most powerful creature God ever created. He was regal and powerful, majestic and magnificent. He was called the bearer-of-light. He commanded one-third of the entire host of Heaven.⁵ In Latin his name is Lucifer. He tried to sit on God’s throne once. It did not go so well for him.

Look to God to be looking down on you, not anyone else. Don’t push the limits of the First Commandment

You shall have no other gods.⁶

Expect: your help, your peace, your happiness, your salvation to come from God who knows what you need and is eager to give you all that you require⁷ to get you safely home.⁸

In Heaven our eyes are on God, not on the past life of struggles. Do those who have left this place want us to be with them? We can be sure they do, but the Bible says nothing about them helping us get there. In fact the only thing the Bible ever mentions them asking God is, “How long it will be before the Last Day comes.”

God’s answer is, “Wait a little longer. There are still more to be saved.⁹”

They, like us, are waiting with eager anticipation for that day when Christ will return again. This time He will not arrive in humility as the Babe of Bethlehem. He will come as the Conquering Christ, who will call all those who believe in Him to Himself, and guide them all to safety. Then the command will be given and all of creation will be destroyed. A new Heaven and a new Earth will be made, and the faithful will live in it forever.¹⁰

My own personal curiosity wonders, will we hear God say it again? “Let there be light.¹¹” Will we get to watch God’s skillful hands once again create our world for us? I don’t know. The Bible says nothing of the sort. What I can assure you is, whatever happens it will be a marvel to behold and a wonder to watch. That the Bible does tell us, in every brief glimpse we get, of all that is to come.

So what of all those who have gone before us? Are they lost to us forever? Will we never see them again? By no means! God has spoken, and God does not lie.¹² God does not change His mind.¹³ When sin came into this world God promised One would come who would fix it.¹⁴ That promise was fulfilled. Messiah has come and His name is Jesus.¹⁵ When Jesus left this Earth He promised He would return to take us home.¹⁶ That promise too will be fulfilled in God’s time, according to God’s will.¹⁷ The promise is, “Believe and be baptized and you will be saved.¹⁸”

Our prayer is that we would remain as faithful as those faithful who went before us. Our prayer is that our life would show Christ to others the way their life showed Christ to others. Some of those for whom we had funerals talked to me of their pride at seeing their children and grandchildren being taught the faith. The faith that will reunite us with them again someday. Near their end that is what mattered most.

We should have such pride in our faith. We should take, so seriously, the instruction of the young among us. Who else will do it? Who else will care for their souls and salvation? If not us, no one. The world will pull them all away. The world will tell them: God is a joke, pastors are a joke, and intelligent people don’t believe that bunk. The world will tell them it is all foolish, but who will be looking like the fool when we stand before the throne of God.

The Bible is reliable and true, and its words are clear. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord.¹⁹ Some, like us, will do so in adoration and praise. Others will do so in humility and fear. At the end no one will doubt, no one will question, no one will disbelieve the truth of God.

Don’t defy God to the end. Don’t doubt God to your death. Don’t deny God to your own undoing. Trust in God and believe. Believe like so many of those who have gone before us, who clung to their faith when they had nothing else to cling to. When Satan and the world cause you to doubt, pray. Pray like the man who met Jesus. He said, “I believe! Help my unbelief!²⁰”

Let nothing come between you and your God. Let nothing come between God and your children. Let all comers know that if they try to take God from your children they are going to have to take you out first. Stand in the strength of the Lord and in defiance against a sinful world. Stand in your white robe, with a palm branch in your hand, and shout from the mountains:

Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!

Then know in peace, that if God is for us no one can stand against us.²¹ Not the unbelieving person. Not the unbelieving world, not death, not even Lucifer himself. All of them will bow in humility and defeat on the day when our Lord returns.

That is what today is all about. That is what All Saints’ Day is for: To remind us that we are at war. The battle is for our souls and the souls of our children. Yet victory is already ours. The battle belongs to the Lord.²² The enemy is defeated. Don’t follow him to his undoing. Follow Christ the crucified. Follow Him on that narrow road, through that narrow gate, and you will see the kingdom which He has made for you.

Our victory has been won.
The kingdom ours remaineth.²³”

Amen.

=======
NOTES