Revelation 7:2–5, 9–17

The First Reading, a portion

Revelation 7:(2-8) 9-17

²Then 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, ³saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." ⁴And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: ⁵... 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."

Two visions. One church. The first is the church militant, like a mighty army, rank and file, in formation, ready for battle. These are 144,000 sealed with God's name and protected by God's word and Sacraments. Twelve divisions lined up, 12,000 soldiers in each division: and army of 144,000; a complete number representing total perfection. This is the church militant; God's mighty army; soldiers of the cross marching to the anthem, "Onward Christian Soldiers." This is you, the church on earth, equipped with the whole armor of God that you may withstand in the evil day. Ready to be deployed to all nations, making disciples by baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Standing firm with the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod with the gospel, having the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6). This is the church on earth, standing against the schemes of the devil. We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Here on earth we are doing battle. We live in tension as both saint and sinner. Here we vacillate between faith and doubt, sacred and profane. We are in the midst of constant warfare. We are poor in spirit, meek, hungry, and thirsty. The sun bears down on us and scorches us. Our eyes are filled with tears of sorrow and mourning. We need the presence of our God. We need the shelter of his tent. For the battle is fierce; the tribulation great.

We are the army of God, standing in the front lines of the battle. We will be shot at with the fiery arrows of the evil one. We will be wounded in battle. We will be injured. Some will fall. And all of us will be killed in the end.

But the church will be victorious. The victory has been won by our resurrected Captain and Lord who leads us into battle. And standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, all clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands is the church triumphant. There we are: Victorious, clothed in white robes and crying out with a loud voice: "Salvation is from God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb."

Not two churches; but one. Here are two visions of the church in two different estates, but it is one, holy, Christian and apostolic church. "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Eph 4:4-6).

Today we are there in that multitude. When we gather in the name of Christ around word and sacrament, we join the saints in heaven to worship before the throne of God. This beautiful vision of the eschatological church triumphant includes us. In the Divine Service we join them in their liturgy, in their song of praise. We join the entire church of God, the church militant still on earth and the church triumphant in the heavenly realms as together we worship our God and the Lamb.

Open your hymnals to page 208 and take a look at the large paragraph in the middle of the page. The last sentence reads: "Therefore with angels and archangels..." and it goes on, "...and with all the company of heaven." Stop here. Just what John sees in this vision. The angels surrounding the throne and the multitude of people wearing white robes. That is all the company of heaven. And what do we do when we join that great crowd in heaven? Read on: "...we laud and magnify your glorious name..." Put it together it says that together with all angels and all the company of heaven we praise God. We are not alone on Sunday morning. We are not just a small, isolated, group of old, tired, weaklings. But we come together with the entire church on earth and in heaven, both now and through all the ages. Those who are still on earth and those who have departed from us and gone ahead of us, as well as angels and archangels, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, and together we are singing the eternal liturgy of the church which goes on day and night. That's why we use a liturgy in our worship services; it joins us to the same song of the saints in heaven. Still on page 108 how does it continue after this paragraph? With the singing of the Holy, holy, holy.

Now we turn to the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 4, starting in verse 8 we read, "...the four living creatures...day and night never cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty." We join the company of heaven singing the same song, Holy, holy, holy. Then the response sung by the 24 elders, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things..." But this worship does not stop here. It continues all through Revelations. It picks up again in chapter 5: "and they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God." It is sung antiphonally, by angels, saints, elders, and by cantors, the response is sung by the angels "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." Then come the voices from the church on earth: "and I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever." The worship continues in our text in chapter 7: the great multitude cries out, "salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." And so goes the continual worship service all the way to the end of the Book of Revelation. A worship service we join every Sunday morning in liturgy and hymn for a short time span, and a worship service which we will one day join forever when we pass from the earth to the heavenly realms.

A worship that centers on the Lamb and the mighty acts of God. It is not an unspecific worship of a generic God. It does not praise him because he is good, or because he loves me, or because he blesses me. It is not vague generalities about God or Jesus. It is not sentimentalism and feeling. It is worship and praise based on what he does and has done. It is centered on creation and salvation. It praises the God who created all things. It worships the Lamb who was slain and who ransomed people for God by his blood. It blesses God because salvation comes from him. We worship God and the Lamb because they have saved us from the evil one. Because God is a saving God who by might and power has clothed us in the white robes of purity and righteousness, and has saved his people from the punishment of sin.

Yes, and this is our God. They cried, "Salvation belongs to our God." And "Blessing and glory and power and might be to our God forever." It is not just any God. It is not a god who is distant and far off. It is not the god of someone else in a far away land or on a distant planet. He is not some strange, distant God to us. Other religions have their own gods. The Hindus have over a million gods, they are their gods. The God we worship is our very own God, our possession. We are not some strangers to him. It is our God. We have a close relationship with him. He is our God, not someone else's god. We are his people, not just anybody. We possess him; he possesses us. We belong to each other. He saves, but who does he save? His people! We are his people because he is our God. He belongs to us in order to save us. And he can save us because he is the God who created heaven and earth. He is the God who made himself one of us so he could make himself sin for us and die in our place. He is the God who saves his people by dying for them on a cross. He is the God who saves!

Who are these clothed in white robes? They are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. On earth we are the church in the tribulation. We face difficulties and uncertainties in our life. We are troubled with sickness, and poverty, and fear, and worry. We suffer from hunger and thirst. The sun scorches us with its heat. The winter freezes us with its cold. We face disappointment and sorrow. We feel pain when our loved ones leave this earth. Tears fill our eyes.

But this multitude that John saw worshipping in heaven are those of the church who are leaving the church militant on earth and entering the church triumphant in heaven. The ones coming out of the tribulation. One by one we are departing this tribulation and going to stand in front of the throne of God and of the Lamb. One by one those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb depart from among us and enter into the full presence of God. There they worship him day and night in the liturgy, the liturgy of service to God. There God places his tent over them and they dwell in his tent in the shelter of his presence. Here we hunger and thirst; there we shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Here the sun strikes us and we faint from its heat. There the sun shall not strike and we shall not be scorched by the heat. Here we sorrow and mourn, there our tears will be wiped away.

One by one, on the day when we are called, we depart from the tribulation and enter the presence of God. This year some of us have departed and gone to join this heavenly multitude: Ida Gran, Evelyn Diehl, and Barney Clow. In the years to come more will pass from here to join the multitudes in heaven, until one day we will all be there and the total number of the saints will be complete. Then we will all join our voices together in the eternal liturgy singing: Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.