“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

Who are these that are pure?  Well, that’s also the question that we hear in our reading from Revelation 7.  “Who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come… 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” (Rev 7:13, 14).  That’s who they are.  Notice here that the answer is singularly focused on what God has done for them—those who are pure are marked by His grace, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Though their sins may have been like scarlet, they are now white as new snow. This is what Christ does for His saints who die the blessed death.

We celebrate All Saints Sunday today, remembering the purity that those who gone before us had because of their hope in Christ.  We remember what how for many of us, our parents or grandparents brought us up in the faith.  We remember former pastors who taught and preached the Word of God.  We remember what God has done for them in Christ Jesus, and that is encouragement for us.

Since God keeps His promises to them, and uses them regardless of their shortcomings, He keeps His promises to us and gives us the hope of the relationship we have through our adoption as children of God.  Christ uses sinners, for Christ is for sinners.  He purifies sin by His blood, and purifies your works to be holy and blameless before His eyes. He gives us hope in Him because He has made us pure, washed us white in the crimson blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. This is the eternal Gospel, the Good News of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins that we focused on last week as we celebrated Reformation Sunday. And it is the same message that we hear again today.

The Reformation is known for the warnings against a theology too enamored with Christian works. Nothing is wrong with works per se. Do them. Admire them, if you will. But in the end only the works of God will last. The saints around the throne do not cry out, “Faithful were we! Great sacrifices did we bear! Admirable virtues did we cultivate!” No! It’s “salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! . . . Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen!” When all is said and done it is only the Word and work of God that is worthy of celebration. The saints know this. They now stand before God and His lamb, face to face. 

Such is life under the cross. It is all faith, all the time. We have nothing but claim all things in Christ. Bereft of goods, fame or spouse, the Kingdom ours remaineth.  When we recognize our own spiritual poverty, when the Lord leads us to hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, when He makes us pure in heart so that we seek to worship on the true God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – then we are blessed, now and forever, with the blessed sight of the Lord.

1 John 3:2 “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.” To you, pure in heart by the blood of the lamb, this is your future, this is what awaits your eyes. Blessed sight indeed!  We shall see the Lord as He is! Is there anything more wonderful than that?  Being able to see God, face to face, purified of sin because of the blood of the Lamb who was slain!

In the meantime, while we await Jesus’ return, eyes of faith still behold Christ.  We don’t just wander around in the dark. We don’t have a blind faith that cannot see the Savior. We see God in Christ, who is the image of God, as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4b–6 ⁵For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We see Him in humble and lowly forms.  I’m not talking about the sunset, or nature, or the birth of a baby or something like that. No, that’s paganism. No, we see Him where He has promised to locate Himself, where our God promises to be for us – in His Word and Sacraments.

Do you want to see God? He is here, right now, in our midst. Not in some fuzzy spiritual way.  But Christ is really here, in a sacramental and tangible way.  You hear His voice in the Words of Scripture.  You see Him acting in the waters of baptism. You partake of His body and His blood at the altar. This isn’t some subjective experience. It isn’t based on your emotions or how well you pay attention or how sincere you are.  This is based upon the very Son of God and His promise.

Jesus speaks the Good News to you who know what it means to seek the true and living God, to hear the Word of the Lord, and who have hearts purified by the blood of Jesus, and eyes of faith to see the God of Israel in Immanuel, God with us. He blesses in the present time and for the Last Day, those to whom God has revealed Himself. So that one day, you too will stand alongside all the saints of God, all those made pure through faith in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, praising forever the Lamb who was slain. Amen.