A Two-sided Holiday

1 Cor. 15:51-54

 

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

 

When October 31st rolls around, I generally think of Halloween.  Actually, there is more to it than that.  The name “Halloween” actually comes from “All Hallows Eve,” designating the night before “All-Saints Day.”  “All Saints Day,” November 1st, is a religious holiday celebrating the Church triumphant – those believers who have been called home by their Lord and Savior and who dwell, even now, in His presence.   The activities and objects of Halloween are a holdover from the winter festival of the pre-Christian pagan cultures of Europe.  It is interesting that the focus of both celebrations is death.  For the Christian, however, death is swallowed up in victory!  (1 Cor. 15:54).

 

But even that isn’t all there is to it . . . October 31st is not only Halloween.  It is also – and I believe more importantly – Reformation Day.  It was on October 31st, 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the church door in Whittenberg.  The consequences of that act were far more far-reaching than Luther could have anticipated.  He wished to stir intellectual debate.  Christ, however, used that small act of faithfulness to restore the purity of His gospel – Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone - to the teaching of His church.

 

Pastor Keith Andrews