The text this morning is from John’s Revelation, the seventh chapter:
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,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And He is the Good Shepherd, who guards over His own sheep, and He shall not lose one, not even of the great multitude. Our Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays His life down for the sheep. The sheep hear His voice and they follow Him, even unto the heavenly places.
I mean, really, the picture is beautiful in John’s Revelation today. It hearkens back to Palm Sunday, when the people of Jerusalem streamed out to meet Jesus and welcome Him with palms in the hands and their cloaks on the ground. And what did they cry out? Hosanna! Hosanna is a Hebrew word that means save us now, or save us, please. They cried out for the salvation of the Lamb and these John saw received it. They, in fact, cry out the same thing, not that Jesus would save them now but that He has saved them!
When it says salvation belongs to our God, it’s saying, God, our God, has saved us with His salvation. He has listened to our cries and has sent the Lamb to bring us to where He is. And when all of heaven hears this, they fall on their faces and worship God. They are amazed at this mighty deed. 1 Peter tells us this: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
The prophets were told of the salvation coming in the Christ, looked for Him, wrote everything they knew down for your sake so that it could be preached to you. It also says the angels longed to study these things as well, curious about how the very Son of God who created them would come into this world, take on flesh, and save all of creation. And here, the angels hear the words of those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, their curiosity is sated, and they fall down in worship over these things. They cannot help but worship the God who orchestrated such a salvation, a plan they had been observing for millennia, and finally, when they come to the culmination of it all, they are amazed at the God who made them and saved humanity.
But then one of the elders comes to John and asks him to tell him what he’s seeing. But John doesn’t know. He doesn’t quite understand everything. It’s not that he doesn’t understand the actions taking place. It’s that he doesn’t understand the symbology. He understands the salvation of Jesus; he lived it. He knows that he lived through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but he still doesn’t understand what he’s seeing with the great multitude.
It’s that he’s seeing you and me (yes, we are in the book of Revelation) standing there with the saints from all space and time worshipping at the feet of the Lamb. This sight is so overwhelming, it’s like he can’t understand, can’t believe it. The first time I remember feeling like this was when I had gone up to visit Concordia Ann Arbor during their Christmas Boar’s Head festival. There I sat in their chapel, surrounded by a couple hundred people, in the midst of festival and pageantry all around me, and we all sang together. You feel an overwhelming sense of love and unity, you feel just overwhelmed. It’s amazing. Now, imagine you’re John and you’re surrounded by literally every Christian from all time, from Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to David, to Micah and Malachi, to Matthew, Mark and Luke, to Paul, to you great-grandparents, to you, to your great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids, and what that feels like. Imagine you realize the enormity of the Savior’s sacrifice. Imagine you can see each and every person for whom Christ died and who have grasped onto His grace. Just imagine.
It’s an incredible scene, and it’s one in which we are promised the life which is to come. Through the blood of the Lamb, we shall be welcomed into the resurrection, for He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! We are welcomed into eternal life through Him who loves. We shall serve Him, we shall not hunger or thirst, we will not be burned by the sun or any heat. He will be our Shepherd and will guide us to streams of living water, and there we shall drink our fill. There shall be no more grief, for there will be no sin to cause it. There will be no more sorrow, for there will be no more sin to cause it. There will be no more sadness, for there will be no more sin to cause it. What a beautiful thing.
And John sees all of this. He sees this for you. He sees just the beginning of it all for you. But to get there, you must come out of the great tribulation. Yes, this is what those wacko Christians grab onto and preach about the rapture, and the antichrist, and the tribulation. And they’re all wrong. No one in all of Christendom believed any of that, except for the last 100 years or so. But the tribulation, John says, is now. You are living in the tribulation now, the time when the devil is the prince of the world and the whole place is going to pot.
The world attacks you in every which way, demons try to lead you stray when you’re trying to choose right from wrong, good from evil. Your sin within you desires you to avoid and reject God. Even your very own nature wants to choose the evil. And you do. We do not have the strength to make it on our own. You just don’t. You’ll still choose evil and that’s because your nature is evil; you are evil.
Yet, you are a saint in Christ, you have washed your robe and made it white in the blood of the Lamb. It’s not your blood, not your sweat, not your tears that make your clothes sparkle with purity, but the blood shed by the Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary makes you clean. It sets you free. It gives you a promise. Even though you may be lead astray by sin, even though you might be troubled, might be grief-stricken, might be sad, even though you have chosen evil over good, the Lamb promises to you the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith, that you might come out of this time of tribulation and enter into eternity. The Lamb promises He will make you clean. The Lamb promises you forgiveness. The Lamb promises you life, the very life that He has, the very life that He won. And he can do it, for He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! 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.
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