Washed and Dressed and Blessed! Revelation 7:13-14, Matthew 5:10-12

Dear Saints in Christ, grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God our Father, who blesses us, and our Lord Jesus, in whom we are washed clean and dressed for eternal glory.

On this All Saints Sunday, we’re going to talk about being Washed, Dressed and Blessed, taken from our Epistle, “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.

And from our Gospel, 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 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. 

When we suffer, and are persecuted, and ridiculed, and excluded because of what we believe, and Who we believe in, we stand in good company, for the prophets and apostles, and the faithful who lived before us, were treated in the same way, and even more severely.

Even today, in some unfree lands, the faithful in Christ are persecuted, sometimes imprisoned, and even killed for the Lord they love, and the Gospel they refuse to renounce.

Yet in our Gospel Jesus calls them blessed, and us blessed, and all who persevere in faith and do His will, are blessed.

Washed and dressed and blessed. Washed in blood, dressed in white, and blessed in glory.

What an interesting thing the angel said to John in our Epistle: “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.

The saints, the faithful and forgiven in Christ, are washed and made clean by the blood of God’s Son. 

I’ve been having some nose bleeds lately. I had it checked out and it’s more an inconvenience than anything else. I’ve had to wash some shirts with red stains. 

Our blood stains, but the blood of Jesus cleanses; it dresses us in white, so to speak.

Some stains are harder to get out than others. 

I spilled some Olive Oil on my gray suede tennis shoes. I put some stain remover on them and washed them and it didn’t do anything. 

I scrubbed them up good with Dawn soap and washed them, did it a few times; it got most, but not all the stain out.

Way harder to cleanse than that, is the soul from sin, and the heart from selfishness.

We can only be cleansed in the most expensive way, not with any amount of “silver or gold”, as Martin Luther writes in his Small Catechism, and as Scripture teaches, but by something worth far more, with Christ’s “holy precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death”.

Jesus won the forgiveness of our sins by shedding His blood for us; and so we are cleansed us by His blood; and by the Holy Spirit, we’re washed with water and the Word in our baptism. 

As severely stained as we are by sin, even more are we made pure and clean by the blood shed on the cross, and by baptism, the washing of regeneration, Titus 3:5 says.

Jesus clothes us with His perfection righteousness, to live by His grace on earth, and His glory in Heaven.

Our Epistle says, We know that when He [Jesus]  appears, (on the Last Day) we shall be like Him, (He’ll raise us in glory) … And everyone who thus hopes in Him, purifies himself as He [Jesus] is pure.

Heaven is so grand and perfect in glory; imagine the purity it takes to make something that glorious; the complete holiness it takes for us to gain entrance. 

It takes perfection to inhabit an entirely holy and glorious place. 

Only One has ever had total perfection on earth. 

By suffering the punishment for our imperfection, our sin, Jesus won the right to give us His perfection, His holiness and righteousness to count as ours, so that we can live in His mercy on earth, and in His glorious joy in Heaven.

What a banquet, what a party there is in Heaven, a celebration that goes on and on as ever more faithful souls, redeemed and made holy by Christ, are added to the Kingdom of Heaven every day, and join in the glorious celebration.

And so in Heaven, the reason to rejoice never ends.

Every soul, and after the final day of the resurrection, every soul and body that rises to Heaven, will be dressed for the occasion, robed in righteousness, Scripture says. 

That’s how we’re rightly dressed to live in God’s perfect presence and magnificent glory forever.

It’s the holiness Jesus won for us on the cross, and gives to us in Baptism, and that He will raise us with on the Last Day, that makes us fit to live forever in a perfectly loving, holy, happy place like Heaven.

So will we literally be wearing white robes in Heaven?  

White is the color of purity and victory. Purity or holiness is the victory over sin and evil, and so white, the color of holiness, is also the color of victory.

John’s vision of the people wearing white robes in Heaven is God’s way of telling us that there we will live in complete victory over sin and death and grief and suffering of any kind.

As our text says, 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore… 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.”

We’ll be eternally clean by holy love, dressed with holy glory, and blessed with heavenly joy.

Our dear departed sisters in Christ, Gladys and Bonnie, and our dear departed brothers in Christ, Ron and Daryl, and all the faithful departed, are adorned with the godly love and perfect righteousness that makes all things beautiful, and makes all the citizens of Heaven so happy and content.

As the Lord looks upon his dear children in Heaven, He sees the perfect love they’re clothed with, the perfect harmony they live in, and the joy they glory in…

They’re so happy to have been made pure; so happy to be where they are in such splendor; so happy to be with and to see their faithful departed loved ones who were waiting to greet them – God sees His children in Heaven so happy to be with Him and see Him at last.

As He looks from His throne, and sees the thankful and cheerful faces of the faithful ones, His heavenly saints, it fills His heart with glory and joy; He’s so happy to pour the full store of His heavenly blessings upon them every day for all eternity.

This is the way life is now, and always will be for Daryl and Ron and Bonnie and Gladys, and for all the faithful, all the redeemed in Heaven.

And this is the way life will be for us someday, and forever, if we persevere in faith, and don’t give in to the devil, and the fallen world, and our own sinful nature and desires, which despise the Gospel, and hate the One who died for the world.

So let us rebuke the world, and love and trust Him, living as His saints on earth, His dear, faithful, baptized children, who strive to do His will. 

Let us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, sincerely try to be the kind of people Jesus blesses in today’s Gospel: the merciful and the meek, the peace-loving and the pure, and the faithful who persevere. 

Let us live by the beatitudes, these blessings Christ pronounces on His people. 

In Him we are washed, dressed and blessed; washed of our sins, dressed in His perfect righteousness; and blessed for everlasting glory. 

How happy we’ll be on that glorious day, when we will see our beautiful Savior, and rejoice with our dear, faithful departed loved ones.

Until then, let us live and rest and rejoice in the peace of God, which surpasses our understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whom we are blessed. Amen.