Blessed Are Those in the Great Tribulation
All Saints Sermon| Matthew 5:1-12| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| November 2, 2025
In our first lesson from Revelation 7, St. John describes a vision of heaven, a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, language, and tribe, standing before the throne of God and singing praise to God, clothed in robes bleached white in the blood of Christ. They neither hunger nor thirst anymore, nor suffer in any way, and God has wiped away every tear from their eye. In that crowd are all our loved ones, who confessed Christ even unto death. This is the goal of every Christian, the prize we must never take our eyes off, lest we be distracted in this life and lose it. This host of saints is coming out of the great tribulation, never to suffer again. And more are coming out of the great tribulation every day to join this mighty throng.
Yet, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus addresses the saints who are still in the great tribulation. He speaks to us and our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. And yet, He says very unexpected words, especially if you are thinking in a worldly way. Anyone can see that the great multitude in heaven coming out of the great tribulation is blessed. But Jesus says that those who are still in the tribulation are blessed. “Blessed are those who suffer for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Jesus says that those in the great tribulation, who are suffering for His sake are blessed. This means that our brothers and sisters in Christ in Nigeria and in Sudan, who are being murdered, whose churches are being burned down, whose children are being kidnapped are blessed. This is contrary to how we think. We think a person is blessed to have a good job, to have a large nest egg for retirement, to live in America where we enjoy peace and prosperity. Christian folk in America think they are blessed because they have material wealth. Yet, Jesus tells us no. That is not what it means to be truly blessed. Rather, we should look at our brothers and sisters in Christ, who are suffering for Christ’s sake and consider them blessed.
Thousands of Christians have been murdered in Nigeria over the past few years. Dozens are murdered every day. Yet, until recently, most of the world did not know. And the Nigerian government and much of the media have lied about it. They claim that these killings are not targeting Christians, because Muslims are being killed by terrorists too. But the overwhelming majority of killings in these regions are Christians and those doing the killing are radical Muslim jihadists like Boko Haram, who have declared a jihad against Christians. It’s like claiming that the Nazis didn’t target the Jews, because they also killed other people. Yet, even though governments and media lie and try to silence these martyrs, God in heaven sees. And He says that they are blessed.
And it is important for you to see too, so that you may call them blessed. It is important for you to recognize that these persecuted Christians are blessed, so that you remember that your inheritance is not in this life, but in the life to come. It is important for you to be reminded that Christ is worth losing everything for, as Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)
When you see that Jesus calls these poor people, suffering unspeakable hardship for the sake of the Gospel, blessed, then it should cause you to realize that remaining faithful to Christ is more important than what school you go to, what job you work, how much money you get, the sports you play, or any other thing in this life. If you consider yourself more blessed than these suffering Christians, because you have more money, more safety, more leisure, then you are not thinking the way Christ thinks. Jesus calls these people blessed in the middle of tribulation, so that you will recognize what it truly means to be blessed. Those are truly blessed who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. And suffering for the sake of the Gospel is a sure sign that you are blessed.
This does not mean that all suffering is a sign that you are blessed. St. Peter writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1 Peter 4:12-16) Jesus promised us that the world would hate us, even as it hated Him. Jesus told His disciples, “Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” And St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Not all Christians will be murdered or suffer equally for the sake of Christ. Yet, all Christians should recognize that the world is at enmity with Christ, and should expect to endure hardship for Christ’s sake; and should be willing to endure it. Those who seek to escape suffering for Christ’s sake risk losing Christ and His inheritance.
This Gospel lesson is called the Beatitudes, which means, blessings. Christ repeats the word, “blessed” nine times in this lesson. The world does not recognize those described in the Beatitudes as blessed. Yet, the Beatitudes describe Christians, because they describe those who live according to their faith in Christ.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” By poor in spirit, Jesus does not mean those who have few earthly possessions, but rather, those who do not consider their earthly possessions as their true treasures. The case has been that many poor have treasured earthly riches in their heart, while many rich have considered their earthly riches as nothing for the sake of Christ. And the case has been that God uses those with material wealth who store treasures in heaven to do much good for the poor and for His Church on earth. Yet, Christ’s warning remains, “It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” You cannot have two masters. You cannot serve God and money. It would be better for you to lose all your money and property than to lose your faith in Christ. And so, if you are poor in spirit, you recognize that you are not wealthier than those poor Africans who have lost everything for Christ’s sake. Because though they are physically poor, they have immense wealth stored up in heaven.
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” As with the poor in spirit, those who mourn do not necessarily weep all the time. Rather, they do not rejoice in the things of this world, as Abraham said to the rich man in hell, “You in your life had your good things.” They that mourn weep over the sinfulness of the world and its coming destruction. Their joy is in heaven. The meek are blessed, because they let God fight for them. This is a description of the Christian spirit. God commands differently of governments of the earth. Jesus commands His Christians to turn the other cheek, and to pray for those who persecute them. Yet, God gives the government the sword to punish wrongdoers, to exact an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth (Rom. 13). If the government turned the other cheek and failed to carry out justice, then we would soon be overtaken by evil people. Yet, when Jesus sent His disciples into all the world to make disciples of all nations, He armed them with nothing but His Word and Spirit. Though they were the meekest people on earth, turning their cheeks, praying for their persecutors, forgiving those who maligned them, Christ’s kingdom advanced more than any military or government on earth. The meek inherit the earth, because the Gospel conquers the earth for them. The meek receive it through faith.
Christians are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Of ourselves, we are not righteous. But we receive Christ’s righteousness through faith. Yet, having been justified by faith, we desire the world to be righteous, but it is not. Even in our own flesh we still see our sin (Romans 7:18). We hunger and thirst for our complete renewal and the renewal of the whole world. Jesus promises that our hunger and thirst will be satisfied. We will live without sin in a sinless world.
The merciful forgive others as Christ has forgiven them. Every time you forgive those who sin against you, you confess the Gospel that Christ has forgiven you, and so, you are blessed. To be pure in heart means to ponder what God says and to replace your own ideas with the Word of God. The pure in heart will see God, because through faith in God’s promises, they will become like God (1 John 3:2). The peacemakers will be called sons of God, because sons imitate their father. Our God is a peacemaker. He sent Christ Jesus into the world to suffer and die for the sins of the world, so that we may have peace with God. And so, when we forgive our enemies and seek to be reconciled, we honor our Father in heaven and demonstrate that we are His children.
Only those who have faith in Christ Jesus live as the Beatitudes describe, because people do not imitate that which they do not love and do not willingly suffer for that which they don’t believe in. The Beatitudes describe Christ, who did not consider the wealth of this world nor its joys and pleasures, but meekly suffered for our sake, so hungry was He for us to be righteous like Him. His heart desired solely what God desired, so He died according to God’s will. He proved Himself to be the Son of God by making peace by the blood of His cross and rising from the dead. Those who have faith in this Christ recognize that what Christ died for is more important than all the treasures of this life. Only those who have faith in Christ are willing to suffer for the Beatitudes.
Those who suffer as the Beatitudes describe are blessed now and, as Jesus says, will be rewarded in heaven. But what does Jesus mean that we will be rewarded in heaven? Isn’t salvation a gift from God received through faith alone? Yes, indeed, salvation is a gift from God. We do not earn our salvation by our works, but rather, eternal life is a reward earned by Christ and given to those who have faith. Yet, a Christian who has received salvation through faith alone will do good works prepared by God beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). And God rewards His Christians for their good works and for their sufferings both in this life and in the life to come, as Scripture repeatedly states (Luke 14:14; Matt. 10:42; Mark 10:29-30; Gal. 6:9; Eph. 6:8; Heb. 6:10).
It is as Jesus says, “To the one who has, more will be give, but to the one who does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.” (Luke 8:18) So, Christ encourages us His Christians to be willing to suffer the loss of all things for His sake, knowing that we will be sufficiently rewarded in heaven. Yet, if we try to escape suffering by denying Christ or by rejecting His Word, we not only lose the reward but we risk losing our eternal salvation as well.
So, let us not be ashamed to suffer for Christ’s sake, but recognize it as a great blessing to lose anything here on earth for righteousness’ sake and for the sake of the Gospel. In this way, we will not lose sight of the goal, and we too will rejoice as we come out of the great tribulation. Amen.