Introduction – I wonder what the saints are doing today. You ever wonder about that? I wonder what my mom and dad are doing up there. I wonder sometimes what my son David is doing. You must wonder. I think most Christians do. And we certainly don’t need All Saints Day for that.
But that’s really want All Saints Day is for. We think about the saints on All Saints Day. Christians have been observing November 1 as All Saints Day for hundreds and hundreds of years, even before the Reformation. Of course, we Lutherans don’t pray to the saints and we don’t count on the saints to transfer some of their good deeds to our account. But we think about them. The man who wrote to the Hebrew Christians said: Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. So we remember what they did when they lived down here and it’s natural that we would think about what they’re doing up there.
The trouble is we know a lot more about what the saints did down here than we know about what they’re doing up there. We remember how our parents prayed with us when we went to bed and showed us how to be faithful in church. We remember how our pastors taught us the catechism and counseled us when we had troubles. We can read what the theologians wrote and we can sing the great hymns. We know what the saints did when they lived down here but what are the saints doing now? Wouldn’t you like to know?
This morning we’re going to find out what the saints are doing right now, the famous saints and the not-so-famous ones. We’re going to walk with St. John into the throne room of heaven. John actually saw the saints there. He was an old man and a prisoner on an island in the Mediterranean. He was ready to die when all at once the Lord Jesus sat him down and said, Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the churches. That’s what John did and what he wrote down we call The Revelation. John saw a lot more than the throne room of God and the people who have come to Bible Class over the last weeks have seen most of what John saw. But today is All Saints Day and we want to see the saints in the throne room of God. So listen to John: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count standing before the throne and before the Lamb. If you want to know what the saints are doing right now:
Look into the Faces in the Crowd
The first thing we’re going to notice is that the faces are different. There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, John wrote, from every nation, tribe, people, and language. Black faces, brown faces, tan, olive, and white faces. Flat noses, hook noses, pointed noses. Narrow eyes, round eyes, brown eyes, and blue eyes,. Straight blond hair and black hair with tight curls, English faces and Ethiopian faces, Chinese faces and Chilian faces, American faces and faces formed by the sun and heat of the Amazon. Their faces are all different, but their faith is the same. Somewhere and somehow at some time they heard the story of Jesus’ forgiveness and the Holy Spirit led them to believe it. And now they are all standing in the throne room of God. So many different faces.
The different faces are easy to spot. Now we have to look more carefully, We are also seeing reverent faces, respectful faces. Along with all the angels they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. If you look at the face of Tom Brady when he holds up his sixth Lombardi trophy, you see pride. If you look at the face of a politician who wins by a landslide you see arrogance. We are seeing none of that in the throne room God today. The saints fall down on their faces because they know God is greater than they are. They know they were born with the deformities of sin. They know their faces were covered with the blotches of rebellion. They were beautiful to their mothers but they were ugly to God. They are not in the throne room of God because they were born pretty. They are around the throne of the Lamb because God put them there. God deserves their respect. They say, Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen! And right now the saints are kneeling in the throne room of God with reverence and respect on their faces.
Look once. Look at all the faces in this crowd. I’m sure you can see it. Their faces are glowing! Their eyes are shining and their smiles are gleaming. John saw this: They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. We’ve seen glowing faces: the bride on her wedding day, the parents with their first baby, the teenager with his driver’s license. But this glow is brighter and more profound. These saints realize that they have been rescued from the deepest hellish depths and rewarded with the greatest heavenly glories because of one man, a man who was also God. This God/man was Lord of all but he became the Lamb of God to cure the deformities of sin and the blotches of rebellion. The Lamb had to bleed to do it, he needed to offer his perfect blood in place of blood contaminated by sin. But his blood paid the price. These saints with the glowing faces? They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus’ robes were stained with blood; their robes are white with Jesus’ purity. When they were baptized they were clothed with the Savior’s own purity and righteous and by faith they are pure and righteous before God. They know it and their faces are glowing.
I’ll tell you that these saints didn’t have an easy time of it on earth. You can tell: their faces are weather-beaten. One of the elders asked John. These in white robes—who are they and where did they come from? John answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. There were enemies down here wherever they looked and wherever they lived. Satan, obviously, trying to convince them that God expected more and would never forgive them. There were people they knew and people they didn’t know seducing them with temptation after another. Then there was their own sinful nature which they still had down here, urging them to go their own way and do their own thing. Life with God was good down here, but they had to work at it. They had to resist and fight and say no to their friends, they had to endure sickness and tragedies and deep disappointments, they had to pray and worship and study their Bibles. Sometimes their lives were like a type-5 tornado and more then once they wondered if they could weather the storm.
Not anymore. Now—and this is what John saw--they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. That’s what the saints are doing right now. We can see all their faces through John’s eyes: different faces, reverent faces, glowing faces, weather-beaten faces. Our moms and dads and sons and daughters and friends and neighbors, all there right now. Adam and Eve, Abraham and Jacob and all the patriarchs, David and Solomon and all the good kings of Israel, Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the prophets, Peter and Paul and all the apostles, Martin Luther and Paul Gerhardt, all there right now, all in the throne room of God. Can you see it? Can you see the joy on their faces? The thrill, the pleasure, the delight? You know why there’s joy on their faces? He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. I can’t describe this for you. Think of everything in your life which brought you joy—this is better. Think of everything in your life that robbed of you of joy—and it will never happen again. We sing at Christmastime: “Joy, O Joy beyond all gladness! Christ has done away with sadness.” That’s what the saints are singing today in the throne room of God and you can see the joy on their faces.
On this All Saints Day, God has given us a glimpse into the throne room of heaven and we’ve looked into the faces of the crowd there. God doesn’t tell us everything about heaven; we couldn’t handle it all. But God doesn’t promise us a crown of life without letting us see the sparkle of the crown. He doesn’t urge us to long for heaven without showing us its walls and towers. He doesn’t invite us to anticipate eternity without letting us see the faces in the saints: different, reverent, glowing, weather-beaten, and joyful. And someday, their faces will be ours. Oh, that we were there! Oh, that we were there!
