November 5, 2024
For All the Saints - Part 2
Revelation 7:11-12
11/05/2024
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.'' (ESV)
The traditional hymns for the Feast of All Saints, hymns
such as ``Behold a Host Arrayed in White,'' and ``Jerusalem, the
Golden,'' and ``For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest''
speak of everyone in heaven joining in song with the angels. Our
communion liturgy includes the phrase, ``Therefore with angels
and archangels, and all the company of heaven'' praising God by
singing ``Holy, holy, holy!''
Saint John saw and heard this heavenly song:
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, saying, ``Amen! Blessing and glory and
wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.''
Truly the song of the angels, the song of heaven, declares
the glory of God, even as the shepherds heard the same
proclamation on the night Jesus was born. All of heaven declares
that the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, receive all
praise and worship. Christ Jesus, the only-begotten Son of the
Father, reveals the Father, and we believe the words of the Son
because of the working of the Holy Spirit who has given to us the
gift of faith.
What comfort we have as we sing the same words once recorded
by Saint John, the words recorded by Isaiah, the words sung even
now by the saints and angels who surround the throne of God. The
voices of the Church Militant, the Church on earth, join with the
voices of the Church Triumphant in this everlasting praise of
God.
May our Lord grant us the faith which holds to His promise
of life everlasting. Amen.