Revelation 7:9–17

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

⁹After 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, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" ¹¹And 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, ¹²saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." ¹³Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" ¹⁴I 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. ¹⁶They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷For 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."

Somewhere on the Isle of Patmos, around the end of the first century, the apostle John, loved by the Lord, was in worship on the Lord's Day. Like many of us as we come to worship today on the Lord's Day, he, too, has had a rough time. He's been in exile and for some time now imprisoned with little freedom on the island of Patmos. While worshipping the Lord, he heard a loud voice like a trumpet speaking to him. He turned to see the voice that was speaking to him. In turning, he saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow and his eyes were like a flame of fire. It was the Lord himself. And when he saw him, he fell to the ground as though dead, but the Lord laid his hands on John and said, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."

This was the beginning of a series of revelations in which John is shown from the perspective of heaven what is taking place on earth from right now until the return of Christ. A door opens and John steps through the doorway into heaven. A voice like a trumpet blast invites him to see what is to come. And suddenly, he's before the very throne of God and one seated, whose appearance leaves him breathless—a vision of sparkling elegance surrounded by the brilliance of a heavenly rainbow. Hard to take it all in. One could easily miss the twenty-four elders, their thrones and crowns, but there they are. Only to be overpowered by flashes of lightning and claps of thunder directing one's attention to the seven spirits of God appearing as blazing torches. Then suddenly, you're facing four living creatures. And in spite of their frightening appearance, the creatures are unceasingly praising God, as the elders bow before the eternal God, also praising God's magnificent glory (Rev 4:1–11).

Quickly, the mood changes, as John sees in the right hand of God a scroll, the blueprints of God's eternal plan for his people, sealed with seven seals. These scrolls contain what is going to take place for the church of God from now until the Last Day. But no one in heaven is found worthy to open the scrolls. And since the mighty voice of the angel finds no one in heaven or on earth worthy to open the seals, John is now weeping (5:1–4). God's people are in peril. Who will put his plan into action? Hope has been dashed! Who will save and shepherd God's people? Is all humanity to fall victim to the consequences of sin and be consumed by the darkness of death eternal? Are we all to wander aimlessly as lost sheep without a shepherd in a world of ravenous wolves?

John, however, is quickly comforted by the voice of one of the elders directing his attention to the long predicted conquering Hero, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," who is able to open the scroll and its seven seals (5:5).

Here we are today as we gather in worship standing with John, surrounded by God on his throne, living creatures, angels, and elders. If God were to open our eyes right now to see the spiritual world that surrounds us, this is what we would see. And here in the midst of it all is a Lamb who appears to have been slain but who now stands in our midst (cf. Jn 20:19). As the Lamb takes the scroll from the One on the throne, worship resumes, and we're surrounded by the magnificent, unrestrained melody of joy as the four creatures and the elders sing a new song: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" (Rev 5:12). And with a thunderous crescendo they're joined by the whole host of heaven and earth in rapturous praises of the worthy Lamb who was slain (5:6–14).

With scroll in hand, the Worthy One begins to break the seals, and, in what seems only a moment, the life of the New Testament Church flashes before our eyes as each seal is broken. With a voice of thunder, the tribulation unfolds, as the conquering victor rides in on his white steed, followed by a red horse unleashing war and death. Then a third steed, black, lets loose famine and economic chaos. Not far behind is a pale horse charged to kill one quarter of all mankind with all manner of violence, hunger, disease, and ravenous beasts (6:1–8).

The fifth seal could be compared to Ebenezer Scrooge's second visitor, who reveals to him the faces of ignorance and want beneath his cloak. We're given a glimpse under the altar of heaven at the souls martyred for their faithful testimony to the Lord. All this culminates with the sixth seal making known the end, when all of creation collapses in on itself as kings and generals, the powerful and the slave, seek to hide from the coming wrath of God on the Day of Judgment (6:9–17).

But all is not lost, for John is comforted . . . and so are we. For those who are left to do battle, carrying out the Lord's mission, are sealed. Sealed and preserved as we walk in this valley and shadow of death, that we might soon join the white-robed Church Triumphant, worshiping and praising our God together with the four living creatures and the elders in a symphony of joy (7:1–9).

Who are they—these in white robes? The movement stops (pause) as John asks one of the elders. These are they who have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. They are those who have by faith followed the Lamb and persevered in the midst of all this fallen world can dish out. The Shepherd has led them through all the consequences of sin that each of us has inflicted and encountered in this earthly pilgrimage: hatred and anger, broken relationships and broken bodies, lust and greed, hunger and thirst, scorching heat and freezing cold, death and tears. At the Shepherd's leading, they have come out free and clear. Washed clean in the blood of the Lamb—robed in white by the grace of God and the Shepherd, the Lamb who leads us.

Jesus, the Lamb and the Shepherd,

Leads Us, Along with the White-Robed Multitude,

to Streams of Living Water,

living water washing over us with eternal life, destroying death and wiping away all the tears of mourning.

Yes, here in the center of our worship is a Lamb who is also the Shepherd. You might see a shepherd with a black sheep in his arms. The black sheep of the family. The black sheep of humanity. But then you look deeper and see that that black sheep is the Shepherd himself who became a black sheep in order to save you poor, miserable black sheep. Who took upon himself all the dark sinfulness of humanity and bore it unto death on a cross. Taking upon himself the full wrath of God that our enmity with God deserves. And again, it is the Lamb who was slain who rose again to shepherd his people to eternity, gathering us into the unnumbered fold of heaven, where God will wipe away every tear of mourning from our eyes. The tears of sin and the tears of death will be wiped away forever. Depart today led by the Shepherd/Lamb and with the vision of your eternal future. Amen.