Sermon Audio

These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

A brief look at the Beatitudes reveals that those who are blessed in the eyes of God and His Christ are those seen as cursed or lowly by the world. The poor, the mourning, the hungry, the persecuted, the reviled—these all as seen by worldly eyes seem cursed, downtrodden, and lowly. There is no blessing in these conditions, as the world would define blessing.

Blessing in the eyes of the world would be living in comfort; and this, not merely contentment, but having more than enough of anything and everything. If you are blessed, then you won’t be poor but well-to-do, you won’t mourn but be happy all the time, you won’t be hungry but always filled, you won’t be persecuted or reviled but respected, loved, and adored. These are the marks of blessing in the eyes of the world.

But, not in the eyes of God. In the eyes of God, one who is blessed will be poor, mournful, hungry, persecuted, and reviled. And, let’s be clear, these are not the conditions that lead to being blessed by God, but these are the conditions that accompany the blessing of God.

You may recall from way back during the season of Epiphany when we first encountered the Beatitudes this church calendar year, that one is blessed because of Christ. The blessing, plain and simply stated, is Christ, is being in Christ, is being Baptized into Christ, being covered with the blood of His sacrifice, thereby receiving the forgiveness of all sins, life, and salvation—for where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. When one is in Christ, He is a new creation, and the world rejects them.

In the eyes of the world, the devil, and one’s own sinful flesh, being in Christ is a curse. And for one in Christ, these are always at work against the new creation to convince him that he is cursed.

So, along comes poorness, and here it isn’t having little or no money, but being “spiritually destitute, without resource, without what one needs in the spiritual realm.” One who is blessed by God recognizes their poorness in spirit and cries out, “Lord, have mercy.” And God responds, “I am, in the person of my Son, whom I sent to take your place upon the cross. He has supplied all the richness you need.” The world, the devil, and your own sinful flesh seek to convince you that you have enough in you so that you are not poor in spirit; therefore, this sense and knowledge of poorness of spirit is really a curse.

Along comes mourning, and here it isn’t over the loss of loved ones, but over one’s own spiritual condition—over one’s sinful condition, to put it bluntly. Yes, mourning goes hand-in-hand with poor in spirit. “Not only am I spiritually destitute, but my condition is so horribly sinful; I am that which is counter to being spiritually resourceful, and I am mortified by it.” One who is blessed by God recognizes this and cries out, “Lord, have mercy.” And God responds, “I am, in the person of my Son; therefore, ‘Comfort, comfort, my people,’ you have received double for your sin (cf. Isaiah 40:1-2) for your iniquity is pardoned, and your life is spared.” The world, the devil, and your own sinful flesh seek to convince you that you are not dead in your trespasses and sins, that God is a live-and-let-live being.

Along comes hunger, and here it isn’t for a want of food, but for righteousness. One blessed by God recognizes their sinful condition and need for righteousness not from themselves. This goes hand-in-hand with mourning and poorness in spirit, for spiritual destitution reveals a lack of righteousness over which the blessed one mourns, and so there is hunger. One who is blessed by God recognizes this and cries out, “Lord, have mercy.” And God responds, “I am, in the person of my Son, whom I have sent to be your righteousness; He is your fill, indeed, your cup runs over.” (cf. Psalm 23:5) The world, the devil, and your own sinful flesh seek to convince you that you are righteous in and of yourself—that you are not poor and have no need to be mortified, for you can be good and God is pleased with you for what you have done.

Along comes persecution and revilement, and here it is plainly and simply because one is blessed. The ones that the devil, the world, and sinful flesh convince contrary to God’s blessing—those who live and revel in sin—persecute and revile those who live and move and are contrary to their culture. Once again, the persecuted and reviled cry out to God, “Lord, have mercy.” And He replies, “I am, in the person of my Son, for in the same way they persecuted and reviled Him so they now persecute and revile you. Behold what manner of love the I have bestowed on you, that you are called a child of God! The world does not know you, because it did not know Me. (1 John 3:1, paraphrased) Take heart, however, this will not last. These will fling their darts and arrows at you for only a moment, but you will be with Me after a time for eternity.” The world, the devil, and your sinful flesh seek to convince you that you should escape this persecution and revilement by renouncing God and His Christ; then, things will go better for you, now—that you don’t need worry about that afterlife stuff, because it’s probably just a myth.

But God points you to today’s first reading where the angel shows John the multitude of those who are blessed. “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; those who, being blessed, recognized their poorness of spirit, who mourned over their sinful condition, who hungered and thirsted for righteousness, who endured the persecution and revilement and now wear the crown of life, seated at the heavenly banquet of the Lamb in His Kingdom, having washed their robes in His blood. They now rest from their labors and suffering, having received true peace and comfort from the God of all comfort—that for which we still look forward.

This is the very thing St. Paul referred to when he wrote,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

Who are these arrayed in white robes? These, dear saints at Christ Our Savior, are the saints who have gone before you, such as the prophets that Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel, the Fathers in the faith—such as Peter and Paul, Luther and Chemnitz, Walther and Pieper—and even even our dearly departed, for whom we may still morn, such as Gladys. These are all now in Christ for eternity. They have that for which we still endeavor, and by faith we know that we will one day join them, for the Word of God has promised it.

That’s blessing in the eyes of God, but not in the eyes of the world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh. No, quite the opposite. And be warned, the opposite is preached to us and appealed to us, not only by those who do so openly against God and His Christ, but even by many who claim to do so in the name of Christ. You may have heard of men like Oral Roberts, Joel Osteen, and T.D. Jakes—men who, in the name of Christ, promise blessings and riches simply for believing in Jesus, going so far as to teach and preach what has been derogatorily referred to as “name-it-and-claim-it” theology. These and others all preach a word counter to what we have heard in our three lessons today—that riches and comfort, as the world desires them, will abound when one “gives their life to Jesus,” and that suffering, persecution, and revilement will end, all the while hold up and thumping their Bibles as the source of their revelation.

And so, that little voice in the back our heads is always whispering, “If this tribulation is happening, is God really blessing you?” Yes, even as we cry out against prosperity theology and those things counted as blessings by the world, the devil, and our sinful flesh, we are still attacked on all sides by such things, simply because we bear on our foreheads and hearts the mark and seal of Christ crucified—a blessing for those who believe, a curse for those who don’t. Still, these all cause doubt and unbelief, sin over which we are to mourn. But do we?

By faith and by grace, by the blessing of God, we recognize it, and we are wont to cry out, “Lord, have mercy.” And our faithfully gracious and merciful Father, as always, replies, “I am, in the person of my Son. See Him hanging on the tree. That was the place meant for you, taken by Him in your place. He has died your death. Now, your robe is washed clean in His blood, and a new place is prepared for you—a seat at the heavenly banquet with all my saints. Why? Because you are baptized into Christ—because you have been given faith in Him and trust solely in Him for your righteousness—I made Him who knew no sin to be sin for you, that you might become My righteousness in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, paraphrased)

“Therefore, sing with all the saints in glory, being assured of the same: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’ Be assured, because I have sent that salvation to you; look again to my Son crucified and see there your salvation.

“Be on guard, however, for those same forces that are at work seeking to convince you that my blessings are curses will also seek to convince you that death is a curse. Death, for the sake of my Son’s death on the cross, is now nothing to be feared. ‘Death is a fact that, for all its finality, is not the final act’ but is the captive enemy which I now use to free you, once-and-for-all, from the temporal curses of the world, the devil, and your own sinful flesh. That place prepared for you at the heavenly banquet is yours to take by way of your death in Christ, into whose death and resurrection you have been baptized. Therefore, for His sake, I will raise you and all My saints up at the last day and give you eternal life and a place at My banquet. And it is for His that that you receive this blessing, again and again: you are forgiven for all of your sins.”