There You Are!

Revelation 7:9-17

All Saints

 

Rev. Michael A. Trask

 

One of the hurdles that a lot of people presume stands between them and taking the Bible Seriously is that it it talks about people who have long since passed away and therefore seems irrelevant to our modern lives. But this is simply not true. The Bible talks about me; it talks about you. Let me show you.

In Today’s text John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, in his old age was allowed to see some things; things that are normally hidden from view. The Lord came to him and said “John get your pen and paper ready and write down what I am about to show you.” John obeyed, and that’s were we get the aptly named Book of Revelation. For in it the Lord reveals what has happened, in the past, what is happening right now, and what will happen in the future. It reveals in great detail the final victory we have in Christ.

And today, we are considering one of those sections of Revelation where you put in an appearance. Yes, When John looked over the mass of people in White Robes standing before the throne of the victorious Christ, when he saw people from every nation, tribe, and language, there standing among them, was you. What were only stars to Abraham when God initially promised to make him a great nation here is quite literally fleshed out!

This is the Holy Christian Church in totality, This is the communion of Saints. This is all believers in Christ from every time, place, and nation! And there you were among them, rubbing shoulders with the ancients; standing together with those for whom you now now grieve; reunited with your long lost mother, father, sister or brother, wife or husband who died trusting in Jesus. There you are, with them, singing what they sing, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel. There you were; and there you will be. Yes, John saw you on that day.

How do I know that was you? Look at the description of the crowd that the elder gives to John! There are two things that he mentions. We’ll take them one at a time. First he said “These are they who have come through the great tribulation.” Now of course that word might cause some great problems for you. There has been a great misinformation campaign on that word put forth by some. Some have said that there is going to be seven years of tribulation before Jesus returns. There are other who have said there will be seven years of tribulation after Jesus returns. Truth is however, there is no number seven here or in any part of scripture connected with any hardship mentioned at all. Whenever you read something about seven years of tribulation it is simply not scriptural.

So if it’s not that, what does our Lord mean by tribulation? He means troubles and hardship. We simply must not miss the point the elder is making here! He is saying that these people, these people in white robes are those who have endured trouble and hardship and have remained faithful to Jesus to the very end.

And isn’t that what you have endured thus far? Yes, some Christians have been tortured physically and that was part of the tribulation, but that’s not the only sort of tribulation that there is. Has not the world been begging you constantly to question the existence of God? Hasn’t the world been encouraging you to doubt his goodness? Hasn’t the world been encouraging you to trust your money or your luck or skills or anything but God? Have there not been times, sad times, down times, depressing times when you have heard the ungodly echo of Job’s wife ringing in your ears? She’s the one who said to her husband in his lowest moment “Why don’t you just curse God and die”? These are tribulations! You cannot live your life without having them. You have endured them so far and you still believe in Jesus. Right now, you already fit the elder’s description.

The very first week that I was a Pastor, summer 1986, I was called to the house of man who was in the final two weeks of his life. His body was riddled with cancer....and it was before the idea of hospice had taken hold so they refused to alleviate his pain for fear that the dying man might get addicted. As I saw him there sprawled out on the couch wincing through pain that seemed to come in waves. I said “it hurts pretty bad doesn’t it.” And he replied, “Yes it does, but it’s nothing like what Jesus went through for me.” He get’s a white robe! He passed through the tribulation and drew closer to the Savior instead of away from him.

That’ the first half of the elder’s description, of the people in white: “They’ve come through the tribulation” now the second half....and the suffering man I visited clearly understood this. ..... “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb”. In other words, it wasn’t their blood and their suffering that earned them the right to stand among this chorus of the redeemed....it was only by the blood of the Lamb; only by the suffering and death of Jesus who made it possible to cleanse them from all sins and made them worthy to be his people. Those saints stood there not on their own merits, not because of what they had done, but because of what Christ had done. The white robes symbolize God’s great gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. And again, isn’t that you? You who confess your sins and appeal to Jesus for your forgiveness? You’re getting it now, aren’t you? This passage of scripture is talking about you in the present and you in the future. What it describes are things you will see with your own eyes; the things that have already been happening in your life.

But there’s more, The elder continues. “He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.” That means he will take care of our needs. This is why the elder is able to say; “never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them nor any scorching heat.” Under his tent, Instead of worrying about making a living, we can actually start living. And it won’t come as result of making the proper investment choices, it will come as a result of a God who has fully invested himself in our eternal future. How much of our lives on earth is spent in freaking out about how we will keep ourselves alive? A lot. All that fear and dread and toil will be gone. We will no longer do battle with the forces of nature to stay alive. Nature will support life rather than threaten it. If you like nature now, just wait till you see what It’s like when it is redeemed along with us!

The elder continues: “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 eyes.” Oh, I can’t wait for this. Haven’t you noticed how the longer we live in this world the easier it gets to cry? When I was young, I used to never get teary eyed...ever. But now I do, often. You see, my eyes have been changed by what I have seen. At the age of 20 I lost my father and two of my sisters in a single accident; that changed my eyes. Now I’ve seen my mother afflicted with Alzheimers; this has changed my eyes too. I’ve seen children unloved and rejected by their parents. I’ve seen too many widows or a widowers forced to say goodbye to their partner in life. You’ve seen the same thing haven’t you? But in Jesus God is going to wipe those tears away! There will no longer be any reason to cry. No more sorrow, no more bitter disappointment, no more devastating losses. We will never bury someone we love again. End of story. Do you get it? It’s your story....the story that you became a part of by the grace and mercy of your Lord who brought you into the knowledge of His Son. AMEN