The text this morning is from the Revelation of John, the seventh chapter:
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel... 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, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 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. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
John has got to be amazed as he is in the middle of this revelation from God. First, he seems to be taken from where he is, sitting in exile on the island of Patmos, and taken up to witness the largest, grandest, loudest, more joyful divine worship service he has ever seen. That’s right, what John is witnessing is akin to what we do each and every Sunday when we gather; incidentally, that’s a reason why we do what we do. John has witnessed it happening in heaven, we continue to do it on earth.
But beside that, John has got to be surprised and amazed. He sees so much in heaven, but so much that seems to be beyond the languages he knows, and so he writes what he can, putting it in a way that we only scratch the surface of.
For instance, take the 144,000. Now does that mean that only 144,000 will be saved? Of course not. But to get 144,000, you multiply 12 by 12, 144, and then by 1000, a prophetic age, and you end up with John’s number. Here this is signifying the church under the time of the 12 tribes of Israel, and then the church under the time of the twelve apostles, which is still today, and then the full completion of time.
Notice why this number is mentioned. Here are those who are saved, those who have been sealed upon their foreheads, those who have been set apart as servants of God. The 144,000 isn’t supposed to be an exact number for us to figure out who is saved and who isn’t, it’s supposed to say, “Hey, that’s me! I’ve been sealed! I’ve been saved! I’ve been marked by Jesus Christ Himself!” And indeed you have, for this mark upon your forehead is the mark made upon you in your Baptism. Hearing this makes you know, makes you confident, that our Lord has made you His own, and you are His, just as are His all those who were marked in the time of Israel, and those who have been and will be marked in this time of the apostles.
See, eternity is a weird concept. You have to remember, John was taken out of time into a place where there is no time at all. How do you relate that to people? I mean, he could have said what I just said, but he didn’t. He listed off the tribes of Israel and some numbers. He’s trying to make sense of it all. But, in the confusion, what comes through clearly? Salvation is from the Lord who restrains even the angels from coming and beginning the resurrection from the dead, the new creation, too early. Our Lord is having mercy even on us by giving us the wonderful gift of faith, else if He had started His new creation even 100 years ago, none of us would be here to be saved. That we are here is His mercy, that we are sealed, saved, and servanted, is also His mercy.
And this is amazing, and John must have felt this, too, for we are chosen from every nation, every tribe and people and language. And with this great multitude, in fact, a group so large no one could number it, John watches all of the Church before the throne of the Lamb and cry out in worship together. Remember when I said eternity is weird? Think about it this way: John watched you cry out, sing to the Lamb of God. You who are saved in Christ, you who are redeemed, you who are His, John has seen you and he’s watched you and he’s written about you in this book.
We sometimes take the Bible and rip things out of context, looking for something that says where we are in the Scriptures. But, here John writes about you, specifically. And what are you doing? You’re not trying to figure out the next step of your life. You’re not trying to plan, you’re not trying to go, you’re not trying to do, you’re just there, and the Lamb is before you, and you’re wearing your white robes, waving your palm branch. And you cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
You cannot help but worship God in spirit and in truth. You cannot help but to cry out His praises. You cannot help but to cry out to the one who has done such marvelous things to and for you. And this should, indeed, be our attitude today. Faced with the awesomeness of God, we should not be able to limit our praise. We should cry out with a loud voice, we should sing, we should pray, we should give praise. That’s what this is all about. Our gracious God has done such marvelous things for us that we cry out to Him in praise and thanksgiving. And when we do, the angels do. And when the angels do, you can almost feel the heavens shake. Yet, even we continue to worship with the same words of the angels. We echo them and they echo us. And this worship then becomes never ending. What a glorious sight!
But, we aren’t done. One of the elders, the elders who have been elected out of the whole history of the Church, comes to John to give him even more information. These people come out of the great tribulation. They come out of this life, right now, the life that burdens us, taxes us, changes us, ages us, and brings us to our death, he tells John that these people have endured that tribulation, and still, through it all, are worshipping their God. Indeed, there is great hope in this, for here he tells John that their robes are made white in the blood of the Lamb. This is baptismal language. Here he tells them they neither hunger nor thirst anymore. This is Lord’s Supper language. He tells him neither the sun nor any scorching heat will strike them. This is dead-and-in-the-ground-waiting-for-the-resurrection language. And he tells him that the Lamb will be their shepherd and there will be no more tears. This is resurrection language.
You see, here is the whole of the Christian life. Baptism. Lord’s Supper. Death and burial. Resurrection. This is what the Christian life is. Why do we talk about it so much? Why? Because it is what the Scriptures talk about on every single page in Christ Jesus.
For indeed, the one who is our shepherd gave Himself over to sinful men so that He would die, in our place, for our sins, and that He would be resurrected, giving to us the promise of the resurrection. This is what everything is about. From Jesus’ death, we are washed and buried into His death in Baptism. Through Jesus’ death, we are given His broken body and shed blood in the Supper. Through Jesus’ death, we arise from the waters with a New Adam and we see that death has been defeated and it will hold us in the ground only so long as it takes for Christ to return. And in Jesus’ resurrection, we have our own resurrection. Because when the resurrected Lord comes back to claim His people, all things obey Him, including sheep who have been waiting for their shepherd.
What an awesome sight this will be. Imagine the Lord descending to earth and commanding that each and every grave spew forth those they have been keeping safe until His return. That’s what the baptized and Lord’s-Suppered Christian life is all about, awaiting that day. There is nothing greater. There is no life, no lifestlye, no joy, no pain, no grief, no trouble, no complaint, nothing that is greater than this great hope for whose completion we await.
And those who have already died in Christ, they know this. Whatever they are doing right now, they are with their Lord, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth, as we are gathered to do. They are doing what we’re doing. And we’re gathered together with them, even now, by the mystical workings of the Holy Spirit, as He brings together the whole Christian church on earth, in heaven, and even those who are to come. This is the communion of the saints.
John must’ve been amazed to see it. By faith, he knew what the communion of the saints was. But, by sight, it must have been overwhelming. Can you imagine? All of the saints of Christ, millions and millions of people, young and old, rich and poor, black, white, tan, and everything else, gathered together, worshipping Him before His throne, in numbers too large for us to count? I can’t. But I can’t wait to see it. I hope you can’t wait either. For see it you will, for you are in Christ, the one who has given Himself for you, to save you, to bring you to His throne, to guard you, and to seal you with His mark, that Baptismal mark, that we all share forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment