Rejoice in the feast of salvation.

Sermon for All Saint’s Day, November 3, 2019

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.  Amen.

Isaiah 25:6-9  ⁶On this mountain the Lord of Armies will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of aged wines, with the best cuts of meat, and the finest wines.  ⁷On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.  ⁸He has swallowed up death forever!  The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.  He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth.  For the Lord has spoken.  ⁹On that day it will be said, “Look, here is our God!  We waited for him, and he saved us!  This is the Lord!  We waited for him.  Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!” (EHV)

Rejoice in the feast of salvation.

Dear friends in the Living Savior,

            Death surrounds us.  That is a bitter pill for mankind to swallow.  The human nature feels that it was created to live, yet it also knows that death is constantly stalking us.  Death is evident in the storms that assault us, the ground that moves and shakes beneath our feet, sometimes enough to change the course of rivers and roads or to knock buildings and bridges down.  Death is evident in how quickly we move from looking forward to becoming an adult to dreading the day our grandchildren do. 

Death is evident in the way people can be scared into believing that if we don’t do something right now, the world will end as we know it.  And the supposed world-ending threat changes depending on the whim of the antagonist.  Death even shows its ugly presence in the fact that everything in this world is wearing out, wearing down, gradually, or not-so-gradually, moving toward destruction.  Every piece of property, equipment, or toy we own is just one more thing that will break down, wear out, or fall apart.

In his visions, Isaiah was surrounded by death.  He was shown the destruction of all the surrounding nations, his own country, the great city of Jerusalem lying in ruins, and finally the judgment and destruction of the whole world.  It is in the midst of those visions of judgment, death, and destruction, Isaiah was also shown God’s plan to bring life to His people as He gathers them out of this world of death.  Thus, as we listen to Isaiah’s words, Rejoice in the feast of salvation.

Today, we celebrate All Saints’ Day.  It is a day we remember those fellow believers who have left us behind as the Lord called them out of this world.  Days like this often leave us mournful as we remember those we love and miss.  Yet, as St. Paul wrote, we “do not grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)  Because of the fulfillment of what Isaiah saw, we have a sure and certain hope.  We have every confidence that those fellow believing Christians who have gone before us are enjoying life in a far better place where there is no more destruction, decay, or death.

The ancient Hebrew language doesn’t have a lot of words to describe the less concrete ideas of the world.  Therefore, God often spoke to His prophets in pictures, showing us that what He has prepared will be the best of the best of the best.  Rather than trying to describe the peace and glory He has prepared for us in heaven, He simply gives a picture or the most fantastic wedding celebration any of those ancient people could imagine.  “On this mountain the Lord of Armies will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of aged wines, with the best cuts of meat, and the finest wines.” 

No expense would be spared in preparing this feast for His people.  Today, with the benefit of hindsight, we see that the mountain upon which Isaiah stood in his vision is Jerusalem.  God was promising to prepare this heavenly banquet on the hill where Jesus died.  The cost for our peace and joy was the lifeblood of God’s own begotten Son who took on human flesh to fulfill His Father’s plan to save us, a plan intended to benefit every sinner who ever lived on this earth.  Of course, not every sinner will be willing to be covered by God’s loving gift of salvation, but that’s another story.

From the vision we hear both the prediction and the fulfillment, for whatever God declares is as good as done, “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that covers all peoples, the burial cloth stretched over all nations.  He has swallowed up death forever!”  As God warned of judgment upon those who refuse to trust Him, He also promised to end the death that has troubled us for as long as any of us can remember.

The verdict has been repeated time and again throughout the history of the world: “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  Sin initiated in Adam and Eve caused them to die as well as every soul who has descended from them.  Sin and the curse it brought upon this world is the reason our bodies wear out and fall prey to disease and accidents.  The curse for sin is the reason equipment breaks down, land erodes, plants, animals, and people get sick and die, “For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Romans 8:20-21)  Yet, for those whom God has called to faith, there is a sure and certain hope, because “the undeserved gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)  Isaiah was looking at the future results of that undeserved gift of our God.

On the mountain of salvation, Jesus swallowed up the curse of death.  He bore our sins as they nailed Him to the cross.  He suffered for our guilt, bearing our shame as He hung there naked, bleeding, dying.  He suffered the rejection by God and the death we each had earned, but for what purpose?  So that God’s Son could destroy death’s hold on us.  “He has swallowed up death forever!” 

When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, the power of death was destroyed.  Death no longer was an eternal banishment from God’s presence, and don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that those believers who lived before Jesus were suffering in hell.  God’s gift of salvation and eternal life, earned in time, is granted to believers outside of time.  Thus, no matter when a believer has lived, when he or she dies in the faith, that person is welcomed into heaven.

With Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, our sadness at the loss of a loved one is changed.  Yes, no doubt we grieve our loss, yet we celebrate their gain.  Isaiah reported, “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.  He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth.  For the Lord has spoken.”  Our shame is the sin that so corrupts and troubles us.  Our shame is that we could not serve God as we were created to do, but Jesus took away our shame by living for us the perfect life God’s people desire and by dying to take the death we actually deserved. 

But now, look at what God has granted to us and made available to all people—He has wiped away our tears.  That is true especially for those who enter His heaven through the doorway of physical death.  Never again will those believers suffer.  Never again will grief or shame or temptation or sin trouble the glorified believer’s soul.  Never again will the anguish of losing a loved one trouble those who enter heaven because death has no place there.  The Lord God says, “Look!  God’s dwelling is with people.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them, and he will be their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Not only has God taken away the tears and suffering of our fellow believers now living in triumph above, but He has eased our pain as well.  Yes, as we think back on those who have gone home before us, we do so with great longing to hold them again, but like them, we will one day be raised up to glory with our Lord and Savior, and we will see them again in a place where love and peace rule forever, where no one will ever again deal with suffering, decay, or pain. 

And, On that day it will be said, “Look, here is our God!  We waited for him, and he saved us!  This is the Lord!  We waited for him.  Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”  Who will say these wondrous words?  That would be you and me and every believer as we are carried home by the angels of our Lord to be with Him forever in glory.

That truly is the message of All Saints’ Day.  The sorrows of this world will come to an end.  The joy and peace of heaven, though, will go on forever.  And while we feel a tinge of sorrow as we remember those who have gone on before us, we rejoice that their God has saved them and delivered them into His glory.  Furthermore, we rejoice because the witness our dear ones made to us, when sharing the Good News of Christ’s salvation, or witnessing their trust in the God who loved us all enough to sacrifice His own dear Son so that we could live has been the means through which the Holy Spirit worked saving faith in our hearts.  And that means that you and I who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will with those saints of God forever and ever, Rejoice in the feast of salvation.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.