Revelation 7:2-17
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, 3 saying, “Do not harm the
earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on
their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the
sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were
sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
9 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, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 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, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me,
saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
14 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.
15 “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.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 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.”
A Great Multitude
How do you imagine a multitude of people?
-
Progressive
Field – 35,000 people Huntington Bank
Field – 67,000 people
-
The
Horseshoe – 103,000 people The Big House – 108,000 people
-
Biggest
stadium in the world – Narenda Modi in India – 132,000!
None of
these even comes close to the multitude of people in heaven. The number:
144,000! And that’s only part! But we should talk about this number for a
moment. It is symbolic – remember that the reading says that these are the
people who are “sealed” as God’s people. That’s a reference to baptism. (People
freak out about the “Mark of Beast” but this is God’s mark upon His people.)
Well, there have been way more than 144,000 people who have believed in Jesus
over the centuries. So, where does 144,000 come from? Well, in the Old
Testament, the people of God are the 12 Tribes of Israel. In the New Testament,
Jesus chose 12 disciples. 12 x 12 = 144. Then the 1000. This number meant a
huge amount of people. Today we might use “millions” or “billions.” So this
number is saying that the whole number of God’s people – Old and New Testament
– will be many.
And to
emphasize this, v. 9 shifts the view beyond this 144,000 number. It speaks of a
great multitude of people. They’re from every nation, all tribes, peoples, and
languages. They stand before the throne of God and the Lamb; that’s Jesus, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They’re dressed in white robes
to symbolize their holiness, and they’re holding palm branches as symbols of
peace and victory and worship and praise. And this great multitude of people is
worshipping and praise God – specifically for His victory and salvation – and
even the angels are joining in.
It’s a
glorious vision, but the reading raises the question: Who are these people?
“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.”
Okay … what
is this “great tribulation”? It’s life. In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this
life you will have trouble … but take heart, I have over come the world.” That
word “trouble” is the same word as “tribulation” in this verse. Jesus was
talking about the struggle of the Christian life.
We keenly
feel that struggle when we fall short of the glory of God. We feel the
frustration of temptation’s pull on our lives. We echo Paul’s feeling in
Romans, “The good I would, I don’t …” And on top of that, even when we live
well, reflecting Jesus’ love and holiness, the world resists the faith – and
often there is persecution and prejudice.
And these
people have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Isn’t that a strange image? Blood stains clothes. It doesn’t whiten them! But
these robes are symbolic of the people’s standing before God. They are white
because their sins have been washed away. They are washed and cleansed by
Jesus’ blood – the only thing that can take our sins away. He is the eternal
sacrifice that has taken away the sin of the world.
The great
multitude that no one can number from all over the world – these are the
saints. It includes everyone who is holy because Jesus’ blood has cleansed them
of their sins … and that number includes you!
This vision
is of the whole church across all time in worship before God. So, it includes
all those who have gone before us in faith … and those who will come after us …
and it includes us. And this is what we confess in the Apostles’ Creed. This is
the communion of the saints.
We have
divine unity in Jesus. Despite the denominational divisions we see all around
us, we are united in Jesus’ washing. And we have unity with all believers
across all time and around the globe because Jesus has saved us. So we are
united in the song of praise, “Salvation belongs to our God, and to the Lamb!”
So we are
gathered in worship – receiving Jesus’ gifts – especially this gift of
salvation. He gives them to us in the Word and the Sacraments. In this moment,
heaven touches earth. We are never nearer to those who have died and gone to
heaven than here, where God meets us and feeds us. They are at the eternal
banquet in glory, and we are receiving foretaste of the feast to come … and
Jesus and his salvation are our connection.
Even now,
Jesus is doing what He does for all the saints.
“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. 16 They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor
any scorching heat. 17 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.”
We get
tastes of this – moments while we live in the great tribulation. But the day
will come! Jesus is shepherding us, the Lamb is leading us, to that great day
when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
But for now
we still weep. We weep at the world’s injustice. We weep at the suffering we
see and feel all around us. We weep at our guilt and sin. And we weep for the
loss of those we love.
We’re going
to read the names of people connected to our congregation who have died in the
past year. Out on the tables, there are remembrances of others – people on our
hearts that we miss. And we long for the day … the great Day when Jesus will
raise the dead and wipe every tear from our eyes.
But … even
now we live in Jesus … and so do they. We cling to the hope of what they fully
know. Jesus’ blood washes us and the filth of our sin away, and they are washed
and entirely without sin.
We long for
the day that the tribulations ends with all the suffering, sorrow, struggle,
and shame. But we live with hope and even joy because God will see us through
that Day. We are His saints, with the saints who rest in glory. Amen.
Comments