Richard Davenport

November 5, 2023 – All Saints’ Day

Psalm 31:1-5 – Introit

            The introit for today is a psalm that cries out for safety and protection.  In ancient days, when one was out travelling at night and came up on a castle or walled city, it wasn’t unusual to find the gates closed and locked for the night. Night was when bandits prowled. Night was when an army could sneak up unseen and unheard.  Night was when it was safer to simply seal every entrance and wait for morning so enemies can’t cause trouble before the city can rouse the defenders. 

            King David and those who have prayed the psalm since are crying out to God to open the gates and grant entrance to those who are seeking shelter from the night and all of its dangers.  We call on God to protect us all of the evils that are chasing after us, whether they are outright violence or something more subtle, some underhanded dealings that threaten your livelihood, or perhaps some sneaking temptation from Satan who seeks to lure you back out into the darkness. Whatever it is that’s chasing you, God’s mighty fortress will defend you from all of them.  This idea is what we see throughout Luther’s own hymn.  God defends against every sin and every wile of Satan. 

            It’s a rather appropriate notion for All Saints’ Day. All of the faithful who have gone before us have called out to God for protection.  He opened the doors for them and they have entered in.  All of the dangers and evil, lurking things of the night are banished and shut out forever.  Inside is only safety and light.  The saints are forever defended against every enemy and will live safe and secure in God’s fortress forever.

            It’s especially appropriate to find this idea in the introit.  The introit, coming from Latin and referring to entering, is that point in the service when the pastor, acting in his priestly role, enters into that space before the altar, the place where God makes himself known to us, the safe place. God opens his doors and allows us in. We call out for salvation as we confess our sins and God opens the gates and brings us into his gracious presence. The pastor leads the congregation into God’s mighty fortress, leading them into safety for a while as Satan clamors at the gates hoping to find a way in. 

            We are still a part of the world though.  The saints before us never suffer again, but we have to return.  We venture back into the night, into the darkness, back to our lives.  We are not yet free from sin and it plagues us every day. One day we will be welcomed into God’s fortress and be numbered with the saints in glory who never see night again. 

            But that leads to an uncomfortable thought.  Like the psalmist, you seek out God’s fortress, you stand before the gates and cry out to God for protection, for safety, for salvation.  You call out to him to open the gates, praying for him to save, and mercifully, the gates open.  We give thanks for his salvation throughout the worship service, give thanks for being able to enter in, as we do in the introit. 

            All of this hinges on a couple of things though. First you have to want to look for God, and second, you have to know where to find him.  That explains many of the people in the world who have no interest in God.  Of course they aren’t going to be saved, they don’t even want to be saved.  Maybe they think they can get good enough at hiding in the darkness that everything will pass them by.  Maybe they are one of those evils lurking out in the darkness, preying on others.  Maybe they enjoy it.  Whatever the reason, they clearly have no hope because they don’t even want it.

            But what about those who do want to find God? Where are they supposed to look? The obvious answer is the Bible. The Bible is God’s map, God’s guide book.  It tells you everything you need to know about how to find God.  It tells you what will open the gate and what will keep it shut. It tells you what’s really hunting you out in the darkness and what kind of safety you can find in God’s fortress.

            Even with that though, many people never do find it. What else do you need?  We’d say, “Well, you need faith.”  That’s true, you need to trust that what the Bible says is actually from God and that it really will guide you where you need to go. There’s something troubling that Luther says though.  “I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him.” 

            Even if you want to find God and even if you have the Bible, God’s mighty fortress will never appear if you look for it, assuming you even could.  The best you can manage is endless, aimless wandering in the night, looking for any kind of shelter you can discover, but finding none. 

            That isn’t just the heathens out there in the world who know nothing of God, that means you.  Your sin has blinded you so completely that all you will ever do is wander in the dark forever.  Sin has blinded you so completely you think you can get where you want to go under your own power, but all you’re doing is walking in circles.

            You hear it in many other denominations.  “I found God!”  “I accepted Jesus into my heart.”  “I made the decision for Christ.”  We turn our nose up at these other denominations and their bad theology, but we fall into the same trap.  I, I, I…  I did it, it was me all along.  I found God. I stood before the gates.  I called out and he opened to me.  We talk about finding God but all we do is follow the trail we’ve set for ourselves, a big circle going nowhere, with God and his fortress forever out of reach.

            We have trouble figuring all of this out and of seeing our way to God because we get it backward.  Luther had it right all along.  We cannot go to God.  We will never find his fortress on our own.  No, the only way we find safety and salvation is if the fortress comes to us. We do not wend our way through the sky, up through the clouds and beyond the stars to God’s heavenly kingdom and call out to him there. No, he brings heaven down to us.  Right here is where we find him, not because we have gone up, but because he has come down.

            Christ himself is just one example of the activity of God throughout history, always coming down here where his people are, coming where he is needed to save them from the evils of the world.  The tabernacle and temple as God’s sanctuary, where salvation is found, then later as Jesus Christ, the moving fortress whose very presence defends against every conceivable danger to body and soul as he provides both forgiveness and healing to those in need.

            For us to find safety in the sanctuary and fortress of God, we have to abandon the notion that we can find it, that we even have the power to find it.  The only answer is to sit here and wait for him, to call on him.  We don’t need to call on him to open the gates, for they are always open to those who trust him.  We need him to defend us here, to bring his fortress here among us and save us from our enemies.  We need him to save us from ourselves.  We need him, finally, to save us a place to dwell in his fortress forever.

            We come in to God’s house here and everything looks rather mundane.  Sure there are some signs of God’s glory.  The cross of Christ at the front, the reminder of how he died but also of how he triumphed over sin, death, and Satan.  The altar with the symbols of the Trinity.  The banners rejoicing in God’s presence and his gifts.  What our eyes don’t see and what our ears don’t hear is what’s going on behind the scenes. 

            Christ is and always will be our king.  He gave up everything on the cross and now has risen up to be above all things.  He rules all creation from his fortress and rather than sit in his fortress and beckon his people across the darkness they cannot pass through, he picks up and brings it to you.  He comes here to where you are and brings all of his might with him.  When Christ comes to us in the Word or in his Body and Blood, his heavenly fortress is coming with him, crashing into our world to the sound of trumpets and shouts of praise.

            Looking at this text on All Saints’ Day reminds us of something very important.  Once God’s fortress comes to you, you never really leave.  God’s protection and saving power are surrounding you all the time, defending you from the worst Satan can dish out.  That also means those who have gone before us are still there. God gathers them all together in one place and they go where he goes.  When Christ our King comes here in our midst, they are there as well.  He sets a table for all the faithful and invites us to feast together with all other Christians who have ever been. 

            All Saints’ Day is a day for all saints, a day that celebrates the grace and power of God to defend his people from all evil, to save them from their lost state, to bring them in out of darkness into his glorious light.  We celebrate that he has saved us and brought us all together as one.  He gathers us in his shelter while sin and Satan rail against him to no effect.  God’s protection starts here, but it doesn’t end here.  In fact it never ends at all.  God will prevail.  The enemy’s might is already broken.  Christ will purge the last remnants of sin’s darkness from the world and then he will throw open the gates and send his glorious light and his glorified people out into the world again.  We praise God today that we are all saints and have been saved by him.  We dwell securely with him now and always and we share in his light and his grace forever.  Take comfort that he has heard your cries and that he has seen your plight. He has found you wandering the darkness. He has brought you into the sanctuary of his fortress.  Christ himself has swept your sins away and is defending you from every enemy, just as he has for all of the saints who have gone before you, and he will continue doing so eternally.