When you lead bushwalks sometimes you might meet spider webs or snakes! I’ve seen lots of spiders webs and spiders on my morning walks recently. And there’s also been skeletons and orange pumpkins around. Next door there was a witch in the garden. And the local paper mentions ghost stories and spooky craft for children. Halloween has taken over the neighbourhood.
Halloween is like Christmas eve – it preceded a celebration. In the Middle Ages it heralded a period of remembering the dead. It was called, “All hallows eve”, the evening before “All saints day” on 1 November. So, today is All Saints Day.
The Lord’s prayer begins, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Mt. 6:9 ESV, NIV). The Greek word for “hallowed” (Strongs #37) means to make holy, to set apart. The Bible calls Christians “holy people” or “saints”. The NIV Bible translates this word as “believers”, “the Lord’s people”, “God’s holy people”, or “God’s people”. So Halloween is All Saints Eve.
In AD 837, the Pope decreed that all Roman Catholics celebrate “All Saints Day”. Today some people still remember the dead in church services and put flowers or candles on graves. About 200 years later, “All Souls Day” was added on 2 Nov, when people prayed for friends and family who had died but had not yet reached heaven. Roman Catholics teach that their sins are forgiven by the prayers of the faithful on earth. They need this assistance on their journey to heaven via purgatory.
But according to the Bible, purgatory does not exist, and there is no reason to pray for the dead because their destiny has already been fixed at the end of their lives.
The practice of trick or treating dates back to the Middle Ages when poor people would go door to door begging for food and money in exchange for their prayers for the dead.
Halloween can trivialise and joke about death and the unseen spiritual realm, and celebrate darkness and evil. What a contrast to the message of God’s Word! Scripture speaks soberly about death, judgement and eternity. But it also reveals a wonderful hope for those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When deciding what to do on Halloween remember that the Bible says, “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
31 October is also Reformation Day – when Martin Luther is said to have nailed to a church door statements against the sale of indulgences that promised to reduce punishment in purgatory for sins. It led to the Protestant Reformation and the belief that salvation is by trusting in the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf and not by any good works that we may do.
Salvation is found in Christ alone: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12NIV).
Because Jesus is our intercessor with God, we don’t need to intercede for others. He is a mediator and a “great high priest”
– “there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).
– “we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (Heb. 4:14-16; 7:24-25).
Prayer
Father God, we thank you for the salvation you have provided through Jesus. Because of this we are assured that believers who have died are “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). So death is a doorway to heaven for them.
And we appreciate your care for us though the unseen spiritual realm of angels and the Holy Spirit.
We thank you that Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant (of God’s grace) and the high priest that intercedes for us all.
We thank you for His sacrificial death that enabled our sin to be forgiven and us to be reconciled with God. And we thank you for His resurrection back to life which was a great victory over death, sin and Satan. Amen.
G Hawke
