The Saints Follow Jesus through Tribulation into Glory
All Saints Day| Matthew 5:1-12| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| November 1, 2026
On All Saints Day we focus especially on our dearly departed loved ones who kept the faith and now rest with Christ in paradise. It can be an emotional day of remembrance as widows and widowers remember their spouses, as we remember our parents and grandparents who instilled the faith in us before departing to live with Christ. We miss them, yet we rejoice in their salvation. We thank God for those who have gone before us and now rest from their labors. Yet, you do not become a saint only when you die and go to heaven. A saint is a holy person. To be holy means to be set apart by God, to be sanctified. We confess in our Small Catechism that the Holy Spirit has sanctified us and kept us in the true faith. So, all believers in Christ are saints.
The entire Christian Church is made up of saints. We confess in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.” That means that we believe that the Christian Church is a community of holy people set apart by God through faith in Christ Jesus. Yet, saints dwell in two realms: the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. There is only one Church, but the Church exists in two places. The Church Triumphant is the Holy Christian Church in heaven, where the saints have come out of the great tribulation. Our first Scripture lesson from Revelation seven speaks of the Church triumphant when it says that they will hunger no more neither thirst any more, for the Lamb will shelter them. The Church Militant is the Holy Christian Church on earth, where the saints are still going through the great tribulation. Our Gospel lesson from Matthew 5 is known as the Beatitudes, because Jesus tells us who are blessed. The Beatitudes teaches us about the Church Militant, because they describe the saints who are currently going through the great tribulation. They are blessed even now with the saints triumphant.
The Beatitudes are known for their great reversals, because Jesus says they are blessed who bear the cross, because their cross will be lifted. The mourners will be comforted, the hungry will be satisfied, the persecuted will be rewarded. Since the saints in the Church Militant only know that they are saints through faith, it is important for us to recognize ourselves in the Beatitudes, so that we don’t get discouraged by the cross.
Yet, before the Beatitudes describe any Christian, they first describe Christ Jesus. Jesus was poor in spirit, as He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) Yet, He is Lord of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus mourned for Jerusalem soon to be destroyed for her unbelief, but He is now comforted as He reigns in the heavenly Jerusalem. Jesus was the meekest man on earth, humbling Himself before men, receiving blows and mockery and even death without retaliation. Yet, He is the possessor of the heavens and the earth (Colossians 1:16). Christ’s hunger and thirst for our justification was so strong that He bled and died on the cross to achieve it for us. And He was fully satisfied in His resurrection when He won righteousness for every sinner. Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker, making peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20). Christ has the purest heart, devoted solely to His Father’s will. And so, He is not ashamed to look His Father in the face. He made peace between God and sinful mankind, reconciling us to our Father in heaven. When He rose from the dead, He declared that peace to His disciples and gave it to them to give away through the forgiveness of sins (John 20:19-23). So also, in His resurrection He was declared to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4). And no one suffered more for righteousness than Christ Jesus, who was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3), yet He has received His reward as the Father has highly exalted Him above every name (Philippians 2:9-11).
The Beatitudes describe Jesus before they describe His Christians, because Christians are to follow Jesus and be conformed to Him, so that they may share in His joy and blessedness in heaven. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) So, to be truly blessed, we must ever walk with Jesus. Yet, this walk entails bearing a cross. This is why we must listen to Jesus’ words to know what it means to be truly blessed. The world looks at the saints and thinks they are anything but blessed, because of their cross. But the saints hold fast to Jesus’ Word and take comfort in their cross, knowing that it is a sure sign of their eternal blessedness.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” To be poor in spirit does not necessarily mean to have little money. There are some who don’t have a cent to their name, yet they remain rich in spirit, because their hearts are full of greed. But to be poor in spirit means to not treasure any earthly thing in your heart, but rather to store up treasures in heaven, as Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21) Those who trust in Christ learn to value only those things that can be deposited in heaven and to think little of the wealth of this world.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” This does not mean that Christians should always be sad. St. Paul himself tells us to “rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). But this means that we should not rejoice in what the world rejoices. And for that reason, the saints often mourn as the world rejoices, as Jesus says in John 16, “you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (vs. 20) This is why Jesus says in Luke 6, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” (vs. 25) The poor in spirit and those who mourn are alike, just as the rich in this world and those who laugh now are alike. The former keep their treasures in heaven and rejoice in the Lord, the latter treasure the things on earth and have chosen their pleasures now, as Abraham says to the rich man in hell, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things…” (Luke 16:25)
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek often do not succeed in being successful business men and politicians. Yet, Jesus teaches His Christians to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecutes them. We are not to seek revenge, because it is God who avenges injustice and who will judge the wicked on the Last Day. Now, this meekness describes how Christians are supposed to deal with others in their private lives. It is not a command for the government or others in official offices, who must punish wrong doers, protect the vulnerable, or carry out justice. Such offices demand a person to be the opposite of meek, even if personally he is a Christian. A Christian judge does not sin if he condemns a murderer to death. However, a Christian is forbidden to use his office for personal vengeance, but must remain personally meek, even if he must carry out justice which involves punishment. Christians do not need to fear being meek, because they trust in God to make right every wrong, if not through His servants in the Church and state, then by Christ the judge on the Last Day.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to desire the reign of the kingdom of God. In God’s kingdom everything is made right. So, we hunger for our own justification, that God would not hold our sins against us. And we hunger for wrongs to be made right and for justice to be carried out. Our hunger and thirst will be satisfied. And every time we say Amen to the Gospel proclamation and eat and drink Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament, we get a foretaste of that satisfaction when our hunger and thirst will be quenched forever.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We forgive because we are forgiven. We show mercy, because God has shown mercy to us. When we show mercy, we confess God’s mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The one who is pure in heart trusts in God and His Word. Everything is made holy through the Word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:5). One receives a pure heart only through the forgiveness of sins given by the Holy Spirit, as the Psalmist cries, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11) St. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (vs. 5) I believe the first “and” in that sentence should be understood as “that is,” Love issues from “a pure heart, that is, a good conscience and sincere faith.” A pure heart is a good conscience that comes from having your sins forgiven. Sincere faith produces love toward God and your neighbor. And so, the pure in heart will see God, because they are like Him.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Children imitate their father, for better or worse. God is our heavenly Father. He made peace with us through the blood of Jesus’ cross. In that blood we find forgiveness of our trespasses. So, we forgive others their trespasses, even as God has forgiven us in Christ Jesus. Saints do not hold grudges. They do not withhold forgiveness from the penitent. Rather, they forgive. And every time you forgive the one who sins against you, you confess that you are a child of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” To be persecuted for righteousness’ sake is to be persecuted for Jesus’ sake, as Jesus goes on, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” St. Paul warns us, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).
We in America do not feel the full brunt of this persecution, as our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world do. Just this past month, over sixty Christians were murdered by militants in Ethiopia. Yet, Christians are maligned for the name of Jesus even here at home. We’re called stupid for believing that God created the world and other miracles in the Bible. We are called bigots for calling sexual perversion sin. We’re called arrogant for believing that Christ is the only way to heaven. The Gospel that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from our works is hated by those who bulk at faith in Christ. And both young and old, pastors and laity are pressured to compromise on the truth and are hated when they do not follow along with the world.
Many immature, lukewarm Christians (Rev. 3:16) desire to avoid this persecution. And so, they compromise their faith, don’t practice it openly. In fact, they avoid all the crosses described in the Beatitudes. They’ll say things like, “I have faith. So, I do not need to put up with suffering or any discomfort for Christ. I can be saved by my faith alone.” But they should remember the words of Jesus, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Matthew 25:29) Christians who in faith bear the cross and follow Jesus will be greatly rewarded. Though they be poor, mourn, swallow their pride, and suffer on account of Christ, they will receive a great reward in heaven. But those who shirk the cross, who store up their treasures on earth, who cling to their pride, who refuse to forgive, who compromise God’s Word to avoid suffering for the truth, they not only will lose their reward, but they will lose the faith they think they had and the salvation that it holds. Christ not only gives His saints salvation as a free gift to be received through faith alone, but He also richly rewards His Christians who cling to this faith as they bear the cross.
Faith alone saves, because it not only clings to Christ alone who is our Savior, but it continues to cling to Christ’s promises of blessedness through the tribulation until we join the Church triumphant in glory. Happy All Saints Day. Amen.