What is a Saint?

On or about November 1 every year the church throughout the world has, from ancient times, celebrated All Saints’ Day. It has been a common practice on that day to remember not only the great saints, but also those of lesser fame who have died in the faith: someone’s grandmother, father, sister, friend, or child. The November 2 festival of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed developed with just this difference in mind. While individual circumstances and gifts may differ, the faith that saves is the same in every Christian’s heart. And because we all share the same faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, all believers are Saints who live now and who will live forever.

But if you can imagine someone you know addressing you as “Saint Robert” or “Saint Janice,” you understand most peoples’ reluctance to believe the comforting and joyous promise of our Lord that describes us all as saints. Last week, Jesus told the crowds that servants have no place in their master’s house, but the Son does. And today, in our epistle from first John, we are described as “children of God.” Co-heirs with Christ, and we need to believe that what God tells us is true. Believe the Son of God when He tells you that He came to deliver us from death to life, and to rescue us and set us apart as His holy ones, His saints. God has judged you to be worthy of the title of “saint,” worthy to receive eternal life, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, to be worthy of the forgiveness of sins right now through the blood of Jesus. Jesus calls you His brother, sister, and friend, and there is no judgement against you now for His sake. Believe the Words of God that speak forgiveness and peace over you because the Word of God is powerful, and we should never forget its power!

In the beginning God created everything out of nothing by the power of his Word alone (Genesis 1; Heb 11:3). So let’s take some time today to reflect upon what that same creative Word tells us about God’s work to save us and the promises He makes for our comfort and encouragement.

We all know that it wasn’t long after God’s creation work was completed that Adam and Eve sinned against God’s Word of command and ate the forbidden fruit. At the that point, God’s wrath came upon mankind, and we were all judged to be unworthy of God’s love. But the Son, sent by God’s love, has set us free, and we are now judged to be true sons and daughters again. Jesus came to be the one and only perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying God’s wrath against all sin. His bloody death on the cross was death’s undoing as His resurrection from the grave proves. So now God’s judgment of us is the same as that spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jer 29:11 KJV). And as the apostle Paul said, “He himself is our peace” (Eph 2:14).

And because He is the Son of God, the crucified and risen Savior, Jesus says, “whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life” (v 24). For God’s word is all about the forgiveness of your sins on the basis of His atoning death for you. Forgiveness means we are now holy, that is, saints. By faith, a person who believes in Jesus as Lord has crossed over from death to life. This happens by the simple hearing of his Word, through which the Holy Spirit creates saving faith in the heart.

And as we celebrate All Saints’ Day, we rejoice in the truth and promise that many of our loved ones have also been counted among the saints and are awaiting the great deliverance of the Last Day. The resurrection of those who have found their eternal rest in Christ is the great hope of the Christian faith. We anticipate that day when the Son of Man returns “with power and great glory” with his angels and a loud trumpet call (Mt 24:30–31), “and the dead in Christ will rise . . . and so we [also] will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess 4:13–18). In that day, says the Lord, “those who have done good,” that is, who have believed and lived by faith in his Word, “will rise to live.” But “those who have done evil,” that is, who have rejected his Word and relied only on their own self-chosen works of unbelief, “will rise to be condemned” (v 29). These are the final promises of comfort that God delivers to all His saints, living and departed.

It is by the Word of God alone that faith is given and strengthened and that hope endures, even in the face of death and everything that speaks against it. Today, as we remember those who have gone before us with the sign of faith—both the more famous and the more personal saints—we comfort one another with the fact that they are with the Lord. And we rejoice that, having heard the Lord’s Word, we “know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3), and “that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn 20:31). To you, His saints—set apart from sin for his worship and service—He says again today, “Depart in peace.” Amen.