Sunday, November 1, 2026
All Saints’ Day
Text: Revelation 7:2-17
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. – He 12:1
Lead In – Every year, high schools and colleges celebrate Homecoming. This is a tradition that brings alumni, students, and the community together to renew old connections and celebrate school spirit. And then there is the Homecoming game. It is quite an honor for athletes to play in front of the very alumni they admired, the trailblazers who originally inspired them to play the sport. Naturally, you want to play your best. In much the same way, we can look at All Saints’ Day as the Church’s own annual Homecoming Celebration.
- At Least Two Reasons to Be Excited by This Festival
Lutherans gladly celebrate All Saints’ Day, even as different church traditions vary in how they regard it. While we acknowledge that certain Christians throughout history especially demonstrated God’s grace and gifts, Lutherans do not teach that we should pray to saints or seek their intercession. Instead, our Confessions identify three distinct benefits to honoring them: we give thanks to God for His mercy and the faithful examples He has given us; we find inspiration in their witness; and we are encouraged to imitate their faith and virtue. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
In addition to being an inspiration, All Saints’ Day offers comfort to those mourning the loss of loved ones. The pain of separation at death is sharp. The passing of time usually brings a measure of healing, but the void never completely disappears. And yet we do not grieve without hope. As 1 Thessalonians 4:13 reminds us: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” We certainly grieve, but our sorrow is shaped by the promise of what is to come. Paul goes on to speak of our shared hope in a resurrection like Christ’s. He reveals that the dead in Christ will rise first when our Lord returns, followed by those who are alive. Ultimately, we will be caught up together with all the saints to meet the Lord in the air. What a glorious reunion that will be when we finally behold our Savior and enter His eternal presence!
- It Is Important That We Know Who Are the Saints
Before I go any further, we first need to understand who the saints actually are. We often think of them as historical figures with ‘St.’ before their names—like St. Peter, St. Paul, or St. Francis of Assisi. While these are certainly saints, they are far from the only ones. While Homecoming often spotlights the championship quarterback, the star soloist, or the valedictorian, they are no more alumni than any other student who has ever been enrolled in the school and walked the school’s halls. So, what actually makes someone a saint?
We also often speak of someone who has put up with hardship as being a saint. We say, “She’s a saint to put up with that.” But here we are merely hinting at a possible aspect of being a saint, but we are a long way from defining it from a Christian Faith perspective.
So where do we learn what a saint is? We learn it from God’s Word! We turn to the Bible. And we have a beautiful picture in our First Reading. The saints are pictured in one of the visions given to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation. We read in Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” The key here is the white robes. And how are their robes white? Catch a load of this! We read in Revelation 7:14 “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
All this is to say that a saint is a baptized believer set apart by God though faith in Jesus Christ. The Greek word for saint is hagios. It also means ‘holy’. We often think of holiness as having a moral quality, and indeed it does. But it also indicates being set apart for a special purpose. Concerning the moral sense, it has to do with being without sin. And sinful man is made holy by having his sins removed. But first they need to be atoned for. Jesus’ death atoned for the sins of the world. Because Jesus’ death on the cross involved the shedding of blood, Scripture speaks of the baptized believer having been washed in the blood of the lamb. Robes made white having been washed in the blood of the Lamb is a way of picturing this.
So, you can see that there are many saints. Our First Reading says that it is a great multitude that no one could number. I like that! At the same time, we read in Luke 18:8, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” That seems to imply a more negative assessment. This assessment can beneficially keep us from being complacent. But the image of a multitude beyond counting can keep us from despair.
- The Goal of the Baptized Believer in Christ
I think an exciting part of All Saint’s Day, and the appointed readings, is in considering the goal of the Christian life. Not infrequently it is compared to an athletic event, particularly a footrace. Take for example 1 Corinthians 9:24-26: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” The imperishable prize is nothing short of eternal life, which involves more than just endless time. It also describes an exceptional quality of life.
Another example of the goal described as a footrace comes from Philippians 3:13-14. There the Apostle Paul writes, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
And as yet one final example, there is the passage from Hebrews 12. There the description indicates a long-distance run. Think of a Marathon. The encouragement in Hebrews 12:1 is to lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, so that you might run with endurance. I personally like sprinting. A quick burst of speed and power. But the Christian pilgrimage calls for endurance, for perseverance, for going the distance. And while all that is true. We are to fix our gaze on Jesus whom Hebrews 12:2 describes as the founder and perfecter of our faith. He alone ran the perfect race. And He did so on our behalf. He has already won the victory for us. That said, we still need to stay in the race. Although the prize has been won on our behalf, running in the race builds strength and endurance.
The goal of the Christian life is also described in our Second Reading as seeing Jesus as He is in all His resplendent glory. It is known in the history of the Church as the ‘Beatific Vision’. We read in 1 John 3:2-3, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” Jesus spoke something similar in His Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Here we see the goal as becoming Christlike. As the Incarnate Son of God is the perfect image of the Father, so sinful man originally created in the image of God, but then corrupted by sin, needs to be restored to the image of God. Presently the man who has faith in Christ is covered with Christ’s righteousness. He stands pure and innocent in God’s sight. He is by God’s grace a saint. In the meantime, God’s grace goes to work to redeem and restore the man to God’s image.
Another way of speaking of the goal of the Christian life is to speak of our hope beyond the grave. I speak of the resurrection of the body to life eternal. It is in resurrected bodies that we will dwell with our Lord in the new heavens and earth. This is the hope we speak of in the Christian Burial Service when at the Committal we say, “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”
In the meantime, brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a race set before us. We run as we wait for Christ to return and appear at the end of the age. It is then we will see Him as He is. We run with perseverance in the face of hardships and persecutions. Jesus warned His followers of this. Hear again the words from Matthew 5:11 from our Gospel Reading this morning: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” Such is the lot for the Church Militant in this age. So, what good news that one of the ways the Lord fortifies us is with the unseen presence of the Church Triumphant. These are those who have run their race and finished the course. They include many of our loved ones. And they stand as our supporting witnesses to cheer us on the course, as together we look forward to the fulfillment of our heavenly prize.
And now for a Final Word – The Book of Hebrews speaks of the faithful as a “great cloud of witnesses.” This morning, during Holy Communion, we will echo this truth in the Preface: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name.” The Church Triumphant is close at hand. They surround us, not just as onlookers, but as a testimony to God’s enduring faithfulness. While we grieve their parting, we also find deep comfort in their spiritual closeness. Their lives serve as a powerful inspiration as we run our own race. Our ultimate focus remains on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Yet, on that day when we finally look upon Him and gather in His presence, we will also behold Him with all the Saints. May this Homecoming Celebration today be a joyful anticipation of that ultimate reunion. Amen.salvation. Here we stand! We cannot do otherwise. So help us God. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.