St. John Lutheran Church

Revelation 7:9-17

“Open the gates of heaven”

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

This past week marked the first anniversary of my father’s death. I would be lying if I said that it didn’t weigh on my mind. In fact thoughts of my Father and his words inspired the sermon title and theme. Thinking about him, as many of you also think about your own loved ones on this All Saints Day, lead me to share with you words of desire, confession, and reality.

Отвори врата неба (Otvori vrata neba) “Open the gates of heaven.” These words describe the desire that all Christians have. They are words of desire and hope; the desire and hope to be with Christ and all the saints in paradise. The desire to be at peace. The desire to be free from sin, death, and the devil. The desire to be free from harm and trouble, sickness and disease. The desire to be with Jesus. These are words of desire both for those who are dying and for those that are watching their loved one dying. They are truly words of hope in Christ our Savior; hope in our Savior; hope in the resurrection described in these words:

         “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. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

Because our hope is found not in ourselves or other sinful men but in Christ Jesus our Lord our words of hope are also words of confession. Open the gates of heaven. These are words spoken with confidence as a confession of faith. They are words spoken by the faithful that know their sins have been forgiven and will enter God’s kingdom by His grace as he promised. This promise was made ours in Holy Baptism. In Baptism our old sinful nature was drowned and raised again. In Baptism we were washed in the blood of the lamb. In baptism God made us His children and heirs of heaven. This is our hope and our confession.

       “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)

      “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Revelation 22:14)

Open the gates of heaven. These are our words of hope and our confession of faith. More than that they are words of reality. They are words of reality for all the saints that have died in Christ.

      “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, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!…Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10, 13-14)

Open the gates of heaven! At each of their appointed times, [Adam, Norbert, Marlene, Tim, Bruce, Kenneth, Helen, Willis] saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. They found themselves no longer living by grace but now in glory. They saw that there was no temple in heaven, just the Lamb of God in full splendor. They now see that the gates of heaven are never shut because saints are filing in one by one. They know fully what we only know in part. They see now what we can only imagine – a river of life clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God down the middle of the great street. On either side of the river stands the tree of life bearing fruit in every season.

Open the gates of heaven! This is our hope. This is our confession. And this is our reality now; right now! “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17)

This place. This Church is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! The doors are flung open. The Lamb is on the altar; His throne. And we are surrounded by angels, archangels and all the company of heaven. It is with joy that I may say that I worship with all my loved ones that have passed away. I still worship with my Dad. When we worship with all the company of heaven we worship with all the Saints that have left this world to be with Christ right now. That is our hope, our confession and our reality right now!

As Christians we lead lives that tempt us often, that make us struggle, that try to destroy us. Yet by faith we proclaim with all the company of heaven the joyful news that the gates of heaven are flung open by Christ who died, rose and redeemed us from sin. We are forgiven people loved by God our Heavenly Father. We are His beloved children. The gates of heaven are open for all the saints; for you! Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.