Let me begin by wishing our mothers a happy Mother’s Day. We are glad you are here and we rejoice in your most blessed vocation of being a mother.
Thus, we might say how fitting is our text for this morning as we continue our look into heaven. We see, again, the enumerable number of people in heaven, not only the four creatures, the twenty-four elders, the enumerable number of angels, but also the enumerable number of Christians. We see them wearing white robes and holding palm branches. We hear them sing. We see how, even John, is unable to answer the question from God concerning what he is seeing, so he refers the question back to God answering, “Sir, you know.” John’s answer reminds us that we do not need to know all the answers to all the questions about God or about the Bible, rather we need to realize that God is so much bigger than we are and He does know all the answers. Which in turn encourages us to continue steadfast in the Apostles’ Doctrine to learn more about Him and be strengthened in our faith.
Our text begins with John telling us that he sees “a great multitude that no one could number.” These words remind us that the reference to 144,000, mentioned in the verses at the beginning of this chapter, as being the number of people in heaven, is not a counting figure, but is a symbolic figure. The 144,000 means the Old Testament believers from the twelve tribes of Israel times (X) the New Testament believers from the twelve apostles times (X) the number of completion, ten, cubed (v.9-10). In other words, the number 144,000 is what John is seeing, that is a great multitude, all believers who ever lived, from Old and New Testament times. Everyone who believes in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is included in the great multitude, and in the 144,000. We, you and I are included in that 144,000.
Their song reminds us that salvation is given by God to those who believe. Salvation is not something we get. It is not something we earn. It is not something we claim for ourselves. Salvation belongs to God. It was earned by Him and it is given out by Him. It is given by His grace through faith in Jesus. And it is given out through the means of grace, His Word and sacraments.
The song of the great multitude is followed by a song by the angels, elders and four living creatures and it is again a sevenfold song of praise. We are told that “they fell on their faces before the throne” (v. 11b). They fell down in fear, in awe and in respect. In the Old Testament we are often told of people falling prostrate before the Lord, or a king or whoever. To fall prostrate means to fall on your face, completely flat, face down on the ground. This falling is a posture of complete submission. Thus, even the angels, elders and four living creatures recognize Jesus as Lord and fall down in complete submission to Him. And they sang another sevenfold song of blessings, something like the song in last week’s reading, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (v. 11- 12).
They worshiped and said “Amen!” They spoke the word which reminds us that God is faithful. In His faithfulness He remembered His promise to send a Savior, Christ the Lord. In His faithfulness Jesus came to earth to live perfectly. In His faithfulness Jesus fulfilled all God’s laws and prophecies, perfectly and completely. In His faithfulness Jesus took our sins, your sins and my sins and the sins of all people, on Himself and He suffered and paid the price for our sins. In His faithfulness He gave His life for ours on the cross. And in His faithfulness He rose from the dead, victorious over sins, death and the devil. In His faithfulness Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith, to give us faith, and to keep us in faith until He comes again.
John is then questioned by one of the elders. He asks, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”(v. 12-17). John rightly answers, “Sir, you know.” John does not know and so he turns the question back to the man who asked so that he might get an answer. The answer is that they are those who have suffered for their faith. The word in our text that is used for tribulation is the same word that Jesus used when He said that we would have trouble in this world, but we are to take heart, because He has overcome the world. This trouble, this tribulation that we suffer is what we have suffered since the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. To be a Christian means that you inevitably suffer trials and tribulations.
You might think of it this way, the devil does not spend as much time working on those he already has. Why should he if they already belong to him? Instead, he spends his time working on those he does not have. Which means that if you are not suffering from the trials and tribulations of the devil you might want to take a hard look at yourself to make sure that he does not have you already [smile :)]. And yet, we have to admit that we do daily fall for the lies and temptations of the devil. We daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. We daily become the means and instruments the devil uses, not only for our own sin, but for the sin of others. Here again, that is why we come to Divine Service every Sunday, in order to confess our sins and hear our Lord’s most beautify words of absolution, that our sins are forgiven.
The elder continues by saying that these are they who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” It is faith in Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, the shedding of His blood that brings the white robes of righteousness. By faith in Jesus, we stand before God in His perfection, in His white robes of righteousness.
“Therefore,” the elder says, meaning, as a result of Jesus redeeming work, because Jesus shed His blood on the cross, by faith in Him, therefore, salvation comes to those who believe. The perfect bliss of the redeemed people of God is described in the next series of ten statements. Remember too, that the number ten is the number of completeness and perfection and so we are reminded by these ten statements that there is complete release from all evil and complete fullness of joy which is ours, given to us by God in heaven.
The first three lines describe the blessedness of the redeemed who stand in the presence of God spending their days and nights in service to Him. Their service is a worship service, time spent in praise and adoration to Jesus.
The next four lines speak about the freedom we Christians have from the effects of sin. The curse which was placed on all creation in the Garden of Eden is now broken. In heaven there is no hunger, no thirst, no begin beaten down by the sun.
The final three lines describe heaven in positive terms. We are reminded first that Jesus is the Good Shepherd as we read in the Gospel lesson for today. Jesus compares us to His sheep and He is our Shepherd. He leads us beside the quiet waters as we read in the Psalms. Jesus is the living water. We are Baptized into faith through water. We need water to live. Jesus is that living water for us. And with God there will be no suffering, no more tears. Heaven is a place of complete and unending joy.
This morning we get another glimpse of heaven. We are reminded that heaven is a gift, given by God, earned by Jesus’ death on the cross and the shedding of His blood. We are reminded that heaven is a place of forever joy. And we are reminded that heaven is a place of forever worship.
Again, the question we might ask ourselves this week is “are we ready?” If you ask young people “are you ready to go to heaven?” Many times you will get the answer, “Yes, I am ready, but I would rather grow up before I go.” How often do we find ourselves answering in like manner. “I think I am ready for Jesus to come again, but I would rather get done doing the things I think I need to do here on earth.” I think that begs the question even more. Are we ready? Are we ready if we believe that there is more for us to do on this earth than to get ourselves ready for Jesus’ coming? And maybe spending time getting others ready. I wonder if we are ready as we continue to keep our focus on the things of this world instead of focusing on things heavenward.
To help us know if we are ready, perhaps we would do well to ask the question, why are we here? Why are we here as a church, even as a Christian congregation, St. Matthew Lutheran church? Are we here to be self-serving? Are we here to only to be an outreach post? Might I suggest that we are here for a three-fold purpose. We are here for the sake of encouraging and building up each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, in other words, we are here for our own faith and to be strengthened in our own faith. Of course that means, as you hear me so often say, making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, being in Divine Service and Bible class, every Sunday, in order to be strengthened. We are also here to extend God’s kingdom in this place. We are here as an outreach post in order to invite others, our unchurched family and friends and the community to come and see the Lord, to come and be given faith, to come and be a part of His family. And we are here to give praise and glory to His holy name. As we go about the business of being the church in this place, perhaps at every meeting, and concerning all the decisions we make we should ask the question, “How is what we are doing encouraging and building up the body of Christ? How is what we are doing helping to reach out to share the Gospel with others? How is what we are doing giving glory to God?” And if we cannot answer those questions or if we cannot answer them in a God pleasing way, them maybe we need to rethink what we are doing? Our time on this earth is short. Now more than ever is the time to be about the Lord’s business.
When I was attending the Seminary, one of my classes followed chapel. Every morning we had chapel at 9 a.m. It was a short service in which we heard the Word of God and sang some hymns. The professor in our class that immediately followed chapel, noticed that some of the men from our class were not making it to chapel, but were missing for some reason. He chastened us one morning by using the following words, “Gentlemen, receive the gifts.” So, too, I come to you and as I come to you I ask you to share these words especially with those who are not here, those who are rejecting the gifts. Ladies and gentlemen, receive the gifts. Because it is only through the gifts God gives, the gifts of His Word and Sacraments and the gifts given through His Word and Sacraments that He can prepare us for Jesus’ coming. And now more than ever is the time to be prepared. And, as the angels and elders and the four living creatures say, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (v. 12). Amen.
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