All Saints (Observed); First Reading, Revelation 7:9-17         

Revelation 7:9-17

Revelation is often sought out as the “Book of the End.” While there are wonderful truths shared about the consummation of the world and the triumph of God, its purpose is to encourage God’s people as Jesus is put on full display for the church and the world to behold.

We find that in the first reading for “All Saints.” And it is appropriate as we find saints gathered “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:9) around the throne of God. These are those who have come through the great conflagration of world history and have clung to the Savior from whose grasp they have never been separated. These, not from the bloodline of Abraham, but the children of the larger promise extending to all, for “in you (Abraham) all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3b).

This is a scene of exaltation and it is Abraham’s God, indeed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ receiving glory through His Son, through the saints. It is our future and our hope. God be praised!