Salvation Belongs to Our God and the Lamb

Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Pinetop, Arizona

Rev. Michael “Mick” Mathews

All Saints Day – November 1, 2026

Sermon: “Salvation Belongs to Our God and the Lamb”     Revelation 7:9–17

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

The history of celebrating All Saints Day stretches back to the fourth century – the 300s AD. It had long been tradition among the early Christians to remember the martyrs – those who had died giving witness to their faith in Christ – by commemorating the date of their death. With the rise in the number of martyrs, especially in the persecutions of the early 300s, it became expedient to remember all the martyrs together on one day during the year. The practice eventually spread to other areas, with different areas holding the commemoration on different dates. And the commemoration was also eventually expanded beyond the martyrs, to include all those who had died in faith in Christ. Then in the 800s, the date was standardized in the Western Church on November 1. So our fellow Christians before us have been celebrating All Saints Day on this day for around 1200 years, with celebrations on other various dates stretching back another 500 years before that. We are in good company to celebrate All Saints Day.

Christians remember those who have died in faith in Christ because we trust that the dead in Christ are not lost to us. They are not dead and gone forever. We believe that when believers die, their spirits are alive in the presence of God as their body rests in the grave, and that because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, their bodies also will be raised again to life at the Last Day. As Jesus Himself explained:

31 “And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31–32)

God is still the God of those who trusted in Him in this lifetime, because He is the living God who gives eternal life to His people.

Toward the end of St. John’s earthly life, God gave him a glimpse into heaven where he saw the multitudes of believers surrounding God’s throne in heaven. God commanded John to record the vision for us in the Book of Revelation. John saw people there in heaven from the nation of Israel as well as from all other nations and languages. They were dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands (Revelation 7:9). As first, John didn’t know who these people were, but an elder in heaven told him that “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 7:14). That Lamb is Jesus Christ, the one that John the Baptist called “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus willingly shed His blood on the cross for us, “and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Just as the multitude in heaven rely on Jesus’ blood to cleanse them from sin, their white robes also come from Him in their baptism: “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:17, NIV). As the prophet Isaiah put it: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). The multitudes of heaven have relied on Jesus for their cleansing and their covering.

The multitudes proclaim all this when they are crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10). The host in heaven have not would up where they are because of anything that they have done. It all depends on the work of God the Father through His Son dying and rising and through the Holy Spirit bringing people to God in baptism and giving them faith. Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb. He planned it, and He brought it to pass, not us.

That’s why it’s wrong to think of the saints in heaven as those who have earned a place with God by their own good works. The saints that John saw in heaven aren’t giving themselves any credit. All the glory goes to God and to the Lamb. And all the angels agree by saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 7:12). It is wrong to take the credit that rightfully belongs to God and give it to any creature.

For these same reasons, it’s also wrong to pray to the saints in heaven or to look to them for help. In Revelation, John was rebuked when he began to worship someone other than God:

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (Revelation 22:8–9)

Just as the angels are our fellow servants of God, so too are the saints in heaven. We do nothing to claim credit for ourselves. We want all credit and honor to God alone. As St. Paul put it, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

So how do we rightly remember and honor the saints who have gone before us? The author of Hebrews says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:7–8). Remember those who taught you God’s Word – parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, pastors, Sunday School teachers. Remember them. Remember their way of life as they lived out their faith in Christ, Imitate them. Live the way they did. And remember the outcome of their faith, where their life of faith has taken them when they passed on – into the very presence of the God who saved them through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. What He did for the people of the past, He will also do for you – and for the people who come after you, until He comes again.

So if we’re truly going to remember all the saints today, we also need to remember ourselves. You don’t just become a saint when you die. You become a saint – a holy person – now in this life when God makes you holy by faith in Jesus. When you are baptized and clothed with Christ, God makes you His saint. Your sin is washed away, covered by the righteousness of Christ. Just look at how often Paul in his letters described the people that he wrote to as “saints”:

Romans 1:7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

1Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Ephesians 1:1 ...  To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Philippians 1:1 …  To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi

Colossians 1:2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Philippians 4:21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. 22 All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.

2Corinthians 13:13 All the saints greet you.

It is especially in the celebration of Holy Communion that the liturgy reminds us of our place with all the saints, because there were participate in the salvation that belongs to our God and to the Lamb. As we partake of Jesus’ body and blood while eating the bread and drinking the wine, we are united to our Savior. And then through our unity with Jesus, we are united to everyone else who is united to Him. We are united with those who kneel or stand at the altar with us today. We are united through Jesus with all other Christians in the world today who partake of Jesus’ body and blood. And through Jesus we are still united with those who have departed this world and are now waiting in heaven for the resurrection of their bodies. That is why we say in the preface to Holy Communion: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heave we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying: Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth – Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.” That is where we join with all saints in heaven and on earth – under the blood of Lamb and in the salvation that belongs to our God.

And the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Revelation 7:2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

Revelation 7:5           12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

      12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

      12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

6   12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

      12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

      12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

7   12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

      12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

      12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

8   12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

      12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

      12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

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, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Revelation 7:13   Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 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 7:15         “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 shelter them with his presence.

16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

              the sun shall not strike them,

              nor any scorching heat.

17  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

              and he will guide them to springs of living water,

      and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

1John 3:1   See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 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. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Matthew 5:1   Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Matthew 5:2   And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Matthew 5:3   “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:4   “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:5   “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:6   “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:7   “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Matthew 5:8   “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:9   “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:10   “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:11   “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.