Power in the Blood

 Jesu Juva

Revelation 7:9-17                                      

 November 1, 2026

All Saints’ Day    

Dear Saints of Our Savior~

        Every Sunday morning your pastor does something reckless and risky.  Every Sunday morning, I vest myself in white.  A white alb, or a white chasuble, or a white stole, or a white surplice—there’s always something white to be worn when you’re a pastor. And white is risky, of course, because white is the most stainable color. 

And white is also the color for this day—All Saints’ Day.  Today we remember the saints who now rest from their labors—all those made holy through faith in Jesus—who are now with Jesus.  This is the church’s Memorial Day.  On this day we name our dead before the Lord with tear-filled eyes, but firmly believing what is said about them in the Scriptures:  They are blessed.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

        Today’s reading from Revelation seven gives us a sneak peek into heaven—gives a glimpse of the glory which the dead in Christ now enjoy.  St. John sets the scene:  After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.  Gathered around God’s throne is a crowd too big to count—a crowd that dwarfs the hundreds of thousands who gathered in downtown Milwaukee on Friday.  This is a diverse crowd—different languages and nationalities—but a crowd united as one in their worship of the Lamb who was slain. 

        But it’s what this heavenly host is wearing that always grabs my attention:  They are wearing white robes.  White—because they have been covered in the righteousness and holiness of Jesus.  White—the most stainable color.  Keeping a white robe white is a full-time job (in my experience).  Everything stains it:  a drop of wine, a smudge of make-up from some huggable member, or even just the grit and grime from two hundred handshakes per Sunday.

        But let’s take this talk about stains to a deeper level.  Stained clothing is an unfortunate occurrence.  It happens to the best of us.  Like spilled milk, there’s no use crying over stained clothing.  But there is a different kind of stain which is a crying shame.  The worst stains we bear are hidden from the naked eye.  You can’t see these horrid stains; but you can feel them.  The greasy smudge of sin disfigures us right down to our core.  Our idolatries leave a mark.  Our adulteries leave a spot.  Our loveless living leaves us soiled and sullied.  The hurt and harm we dish out leaves behind an area of discoloration.  The gossip that we slop around in taints and tarnishes everything and everyone.  Our sin contaminates and corrupts us to the core.   

        The stains that sin creates are the most stubborn of stains.  Good luck getting rid of those stains.  You can work and scrub and scour and soak and bleach.  Like Shakespeare’s murderous Lady Macbeth, we claim a white heart even with blood-stained hands:  Out damned spot!   We know her plight (and her fright!)  The stain of our sin carries consequences.  It has the potential to separate us from God—to deaden our faith—to keep us on the outside of the pearly gates—which is a dreadful place to be.

        So let’s look again at those saints who dwell on the inside—so that we who bear sin’s damning stain might one day join them.  Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”  I said to him, “Sir, you know.”  And he said to me, “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.

        Every white-robed resident of heaven—every saint of our Savior—has come through what is called “the great tribulation.”  Some see that “tribulation” as a reference to the intense suffering to be endured by Christians who are still living in this world’s final days.  That will certainly be a “great tribulation.”  But please notice that the elder who speaks is referring to all the white-robed residents of heaven.  All these “are coming out of” the great tribulation (present tense).  This tells us that every saint of God in heaven has endured some dimension of this “great tribulation.”  We all have our share in this suffering.

        This great tribulation is the battle you wage daily against sin.  It is the persecution, the temptation, the suffering, the crosses you carry because you are one redeemed by Christ the crucified.  This tribulation often leaves you with a weary heart, and tear-filled eyes, and, inevitably, a sin-stained soul.  But rejoice and be glad, because every white-robe-wearing resident of heaven has experienced it.  This life can be filled with terrible tribulation—things that are unfair, unjust, and painful.  This tribulation is real and unavoidable.

        This is why we celebrate All Saints’ Day.  This is why we dare to turn our gaze inside heaven’s gates. Because we need to see how that multitude has gone through the great tribulation you are now enduring.  The difference is: They have come out.  They have exited.  They in glory shine.  They are finished with sin and its stain—finished with tears, finished with death.  How?  Based on what?  How did they get from here to there—from tribulation to jubilation?  From sorrow to eternal joy?  Sir, you know.  Madame, you know.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

        On its face, it sounds ridiculous that something could be made white through blood.  In our experience, blood creates stains; it doesn’t remove them.  But not so with the Lamb—the Lord Jesus Christ.  For the blood of this red-blooded man was shed in sacrifice for you—for you and every stained sinner.  The blood of Jesus removes the stubborn stains that nothing else can erase.  Sin’s damning stain can only be cleansed away by the blood of Jesus. 

So, confess those stains.  Repent of those blemishes.  Wash your robe!  Let the blood of Jesus shed on His crucifixion cross do its cleansing work in you.  Let yourself be whitened and brightened in preparation for that day when you too will leave behind this great tribulation to shine like stars in the kingdom prepared for you since before time began.

        The blood of Jesus is THE perfect stain remover.  Not even a trace of sin’s stain is left behind where the blood of Christ has carried out its cleansing work.  His blood can make the foulest clean.  There’s power in the blood—wonder-working power.  And that precious blood of the Lamb—with its wonder-working power—is poured into your sin-parched lips right here for the forgiveness of sins.  Real blood, for real sins, for real cleansing, and real life that lasts forever.  Here at this altar you are whitened and purified in the blood of the Lamb in His Holy Supper.

        Blessed are you on this All Saints’ Day.  Yours is the kingdom of heaven.  In your struggle against sin, be comforted:  Your sinful stains are lifted away in the cleansing blood of Jesus.  Your time of tribulation is nearly over.  (The exit is just ahead.)  Rejoice and be glad.  Great is your reward in heaven.

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.