What We Will Be

All Saints’ Day

Revelation 7:9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

“What we will be has not yet appeared” (1 John 3:2). 

All Saints’ Day. If someone asked you about this celebration, how would you explain it? Why do we remember this feast day each year? What’s the point of it? Well, there’s a lot we could say, but I’d argue this here is the perfect summary: “What we will be has not yet appeared.”

It comes from our Epistle, where John speaks of something beyond our understanding, beyond anything we could imagine. Listen to the astonishment in John’s voice, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1). 

It’s shocking enough that God does not visit us in anger for our rebellious sin. He pours out His wrath upon His Son at the cross, instead of you. That is amazing enough. We would be forever grateful if God only made us His slaves. If God made us servants, that would be far more gracious than we deserve, and we’d still rejoice. We’d celebrate that. But no. The Father doesn’t call you “slave,” He doesn’t call you “servant.” He calls you “child.” Paul says it this way in Romans 8, “we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17). That’s why John is so shocked here: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us.” We’ve never heard of such love. We’re not merely called children of God, John says, “and so we are.” He makes this point emphatically clear. 

Then, after establishing that we are not just called children of God, we are children of God, he goes on to say, “we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:2). Do you see how important this detail is for John! You’re not a child of God at some point in the future, not when you die, not someday. Now you are God’s child. Now you have the forgiveness of sins. Now you have the righteousness of Christ. Eternal salvation, peace, reconciliation with God, blessed rest… it’s all yours now. That’s certain because you are baptized into Christ. Galatians 3, “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). You are God’s child now, John says. Well, what does that mean? He tells us, “what we will be has not yet appeared.”

We don’t see it yet. We don’t see what Jesus is talking about in our Gospel. The poor in spirit don’t seem to be blessed. Those who mourn keep on mourning. Those who are meek don’t seem to inherit anything, let alone the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness continue to hunger and thirst. Those who are merciful receive something other than mercy in return. No one’s pure in heart. We do not see what Jesus is talking about. In fact, we see the opposite. 

We see Christians divided. We witness tragedy, and shootings, and funerals, and sorrow, and illness, and grief. The division and despair and anxiety of the world creep into the Church. Just look at our prayer list. It’s anything but short. And that’s just the public list. There are many of you who ask for private prayers because there’s something you’re suffering, something that’s just too hard, it’s too piercing to have people ask you about it. You don’t want the despair to rise to the surface again when someone asks about your suffering. So you tell the pastor to pray, and that’s good, but the point is, we could fill up the prayer list with every single person in here. You all know what John is saying: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, but what we will be has not yet appeared.”

And yet that is our joy. We stand here today and remember those who have gone before us, the great cloud of witnesses. We remember St. Peter and Paul, St. Augustine and Luther, but also the many saints you know. We remember parents, and siblings, and dear friends. Maybe a husband or wife. Some of you remember children who have gone ahead of you to the Church Triumphant. Soon, we’ll mention some of them by name. But you also heard them mentioned already in the first reading. You get to see them through the eyes of St. John. They’re “standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and singing with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Rev. 7:10). They’ve come out of the great tribulation of this age, the tribulation you still endure. But notice the description we get. We can’t imagine what it will be like, so to show the life of the Church at the Resurrection, God describes what is NOT there. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat” (Rev. 7:16). “The Lamb… will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17). 

That’s the picture of the Church you should have in your mind. See it with your ears. The saints are secure. The Church is at rest. She’s not suffering anything. There’s no more agony to endure, no mourning or sorrow or anxiety! Christians aren’t divided with other Christians in any way. There’s no quarreling in this text, no disputes; the saints are not worried about anything. Some of you wonder about being in heaven with someone you don’t like. Do you see that as a problem here? John doesn’t tell us that some of the saints were avoiding others. Grudges don’t exist there. Nothing of anxiety will remain. The Lord is their blessed repose in every way. 

But don’t misunderstand this. Remember, it’s not some future reality. “[You] are God’s children now.” This text shows what Christ has made you to be. Not the frail, weak, splintered mess you see with your eyes and feel in your groaning heart. No. This. The assembly of God’s sainted children gathered before the Lamb. And that image of what you will be, of what has not yet appeared, that gives you strength to endure. 

All Saints’ Day is not merely remembering those who have gone before us, not like remembering some historical event. This is how today’s Collect says it: “Grant us so to follow Your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that, together with them, we may come to the unspeakable joys You have prepared for those who love You.” 

Those who have died in the faith have already endured the griefs and sorrows you now face. They’ve already borne the heat of the day. They’ve hungered and thirsted, and wept. They now rest from their labors. But you still have those labors. You have trials still to endure. And yet, you’re not washed in a different blood. You’re not part of a different Church. We use these words “Church Triumphant” and “Church Militant,” but it’s really just one Church. This image is your reality. And that changes your life now. You live now in practice for the age to come. All Saints Day reminds you to live now as you will then. 

Not that you won’t face division in this life, but you face division as if love has indeed triumphed at the cross. You endure grief and sorrow, but you do so as if Christ has actually overcome death on Easter morning. Bear the difficulty of fighting against your fallen flesh as if you actually wear the righteous white robes of Christ in your Baptism, because you do. Deal with your despair and your anxiety and all of the frustrations that threaten you, as if those threats are nothing more than a foolish lie that you don’t even consider. If I came to you in a panic about something ridiculous, you wouldn’t even consider it. If I were convinced that the coffee hour cookies are going to grow legs and walk away, you wouldn’t entertain that seriously. Treat satan’s lies as even more ridiculous. You are God’s child now. You live in the reality of the joy you see in this text. Christ is your blessed repose now. 

Sure, life is full of agony. The Church looks weak and dying. But so did our Lord when He hanged on the cross. We’re not pretending that the fight is not fierce. We’re not pretending that the warfare isn’t long. Rather, when the fight is fierce, when the warfare is long, that’s when you remember the joy of All Saints’ Day. That’s when you recall this text, and the song of those gathered around the throne. Then “steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong” (TLH 463:5).

Only, that distant triumph song is not as distant as you might think. We sing it here when we come to this rail with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. You join with the saints who have gone before you—Your loved ones—because here the one Church is united in the same Lamb of God before whom they sing. So as you wait for what has not yet appeared, the Body and Blood of Christ trains you now to live as you will then, keeping your eyes set on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith.

In ☩ Jesus’ name. Amen. 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.