Sermon

May 6, 2001
4th Sunday of Easter
Revelation 7:9-17

Behold a Host, Arrayed in White

1. Who Are They?
2. What Are They Enjoying?

It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, of all the books in the Bible, there are few which paint as many pictures for our minds' eye than the book of Revelation. Revelation is a book filled with literary illustrations, symbols, and figurative language describing events in both the present and future. It is in Revelation, for example, that John offers us a picture of God's throne in heaven, the New Jerusalem, the River of Life. In Revelation we find a description of the Four Horsemen, the Beast that comes out of the Sea, the Beast that comes out of the earth, and the dragon that is thrown into the Abyss. In previous sermons, we've discussed many of these images, what they mean and what they don't mean.

This morning, we want to take up another picture recorded for us in the Book of Revelation, the picture of the Multitude Dressed in White Robes. Or, in the words of the hymn we just sang,

Behold a Host, Arrayed in White

In our study of the Word, today, we'll seek to answer two questions:

1. Who Are They?
2. What Are They Enjoying? 

Our text begins with the words, "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb." John begins with the words, "After this." In the verses previous to this John had just seen a vision of all the believers living on the earth. Now, God grants John a vision of all the believers in heaven. He says that it was a multitude was more than anyone could count. Kind of like the promise that God had made to Abraham that his descendants would be as countless as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

The multitude contained people of every nation, tribe, people and language, reminding us that the Holy Spirit plays no favorites. Just as Jesus instructed his disciples to take the gospel out to all nations, so also the Holy Spirit uses the gospel to work faith in the hearts of every different race, color, and language. All are gathered around the throne of the Lamb. The Lamb of course is another name for Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the lamb who was slain, the lamb who is worthy of praise and honor and glory, the lamb who rules with the Father from the heavenly throne.

And what was this multitude wearing? They were all wearing white robes. White is the color of purity, holiness and the radiance of glory. Remember how the angels at Jesus tomb were also dressed in white robes, symbolic of their holiness? And yet, this multitude that John sees here in Revelation was not made up of angels. These were humans, humans who at one time had been entirely sinful. How was it that they are now dressed in the robes of holiness? John answers that when he records these words, "These are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." In other words, these people were not holy and righteous in and of themselves. They had been made holy by the blood-that is, by the death-of the Lamb of God. In fact isn't that exactly the point John makes in his 1st epistle when he writes, "the blood of Jesus, God's Son, purifies us from all sin."?

So this multitude dressed in white represents all the men, women and children who over the course of history have put their trust in Jesus as their personal Savior from sin. Now they are in heaven, dressed in God's holiness, and carrying in their hands palm branches, the symbol of celebration and victory. These are they who are gathered around the throne celebrating Jesus' victory on their behalf.

And yet, even though these believers are now enjoying a kind of celebration that we can only dream about, still I want you to notice one other thing that Scriptures says about these sainted Christians. The Elder describes them with these words, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation."

The great tribulation. Hmmm. What is the great tribulation? Well, like many of the other images in Revelation, the tribulation is interpreted in many different ways. Many of the people who believe that Jesus is going to return to establish a physical, millennial kingdom here on earth often identify the tribulation as that period of time after Jesus raptures all the believers up into heaven. Others say, "No, the great tribulation will occur just before the Rapture. In either case, these people are defining the Tribulation as a seven year period during which the earth will undergo all kinds of cataclysmic occurrences. They say that during the tribulation, the Anti-Christ will be revealed; Israel will be protected and then persecuted and the Battle of Armageddon will take place. The Tribulation will be the darkest days in the history of the world.

Is that interpretation of the Tribulation-namely, a seven year period of terrible events still to come-is that interpretation consistent with what the rest of Scripture says? The answer is, "No, it's not. At least, not entirely."

Granted, Scripture does speak about a time at the end of this world's existence when things are going to get really bad. In Revelation, chapter 20, fore example, St. John speaks of a time when Satan will be set free for a short time. He will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth. Jesus describes those last days with the words, "Then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened" (Mt. 24:21,22)

The point is this: Scripture makes it clear that as the Last Day approaches, our society will become more and more ungodly. There will be widespread apostasy, persecution and national disaster. And right at the end it will get even worse. But Scripture does not say that it will only last seven years, or that all true believers will be somehow exempt from the tribulation. Let's face it. Many of the things which Jesus says will characterize the Last Days, are already occurring right now. The signs of the end which Jesus shared with his disciples 2000 years ago were already evident then and even more evident now: Listen to how St. Paul describes those last days, "There will be terrible times in the last days. {2} People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, {3} without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, {4} treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-" (2 Tim 3:1-4)

Who can say that those words are not describing the world in which we live today? All around us there are Christians being abused for what they believe. Around the world, Christians are being tortured and put to death for their allegiance to Christ. And even in our own lives, our faith is constantly under assault by Satan and his evil forces. We have to fight to maintain our hold on the truth of God's Word. It's a battle to keep our lives pure and our minds focused on things above. Day after day we suffer the effects of sin in our bodies and in our world. Whether it's sickness or heart ache, whether it's disobedient children or overbearing parents, whether it's friends who forsake us or co-workers who mistreat us-the fact is, God never promised that our lives on this side of the grave will be easy. No, quite the opposite. Scripture says, "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God."

In fact, that's one of the reasons why God included this vision in his Revelation to St. John. The book of Revelation is written to Christians who were undergoing persecution, who were enduring difficult situations. Just as you and I still are enduring it today. And in order to give them and us hope, and the will to persevere, God was holding before our eyes what our future holds. Life in the presence with God. When you see, when you behold this host arrayed in white, remember that by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, one of those people will be you.

So, now that you know who this multitude in white represents-namely, all the saints in heaven above-maybe we should ask, II. What are they Enjoying? In other words, what does John's vision tell us about Life in Heaven? Here in our text, John offers a list of 10 things which characterize the perfect paradise that all believers will enjoy in heaven.

John describes the saints with the words, "They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.." In other words, when we are in heaven, we will be in the presence of a holy God. We will dwell with him and he will spread his tent over us, that is, he will reside with us and care for us. While we are with him we will serve him day and night. In other words, our existence will consist of more than laying around in a hammock drinking Pina Colada's. No, God in love will give us all the chance to do what we were originally created from the beginning. And that is, serve God in perfect love and thankfulness.

Exactly what God will have us do to serve him, I don't know. But I think it's interesting that the work that John used for serving God in heaven is the same word which Paul used for our lives of worship here on earth. In Romans, 12:1, Paul writes, "In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-which is your spiritual worship." In other words, God says that we don't have to wait until we're dressed in robes of white to render our thankful service to God. We can already offer that right now, by our words of praise, our deeds of love, our sacrificial gifts of our time and talents to God and our fellowman.

St. John goes on to describe the life that the saints in heaven will enjoy: He says, "Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat." Ever since God cursed the ground because of Adam's sin, mankind has had to sweat and toil to provide food and shelter for himself. Hunger and thirst, which were easy to satisfy in the Garden of Eden have become a common source of suffering in our fallen world. The sun, which was originally created to serve man, often becomes a source of discomfort and even torture. But in heaven, all those discomforts in a sinful world will be taken away. We will leave in complete comfort and refreshment.

Finally, after describing what heaven will not be like, John goes back to describing what heaven will be like. He writes, "For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe every tear from their eye."

What a beautiful conclusion to this glorious vision of heaven and a fitting reminder that the very same Good Shepherd who makes me lie down in green pastures and leads us beside quiet waters through his Word and Sacrament here on earth, will be the very same shepherd who will lead us to springs of living water in heaven.

You see, the vision which God allowed John to see and record for us here some irrelevant pipe dream which has no bearing on our lives today. No, God saw fit to have this glorious picture included in our Bible for our benefit. As difficult as our lives can be, as trying and painful and cruddy as life on this side of the grave may sometimes seem-still because Jesus lived and dies in our place, because Jesus rose triumphant, because Jesus sits all glorious at God's right hand, so you and I can be sure that by the faith which God planted in your heart, there is a place prepared for you and me among the heavenly host arrayed in white. God keep us in his care until we join that glorious multitude above. In Jesus name. Amen.