After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7: 9-17 NRSV)
Good day, dear Friend! I pray that this finds you and yours doing well. I also pray you would read this passage again slowly, paying attention to all its details. As we pray this morning, lift up a prayer of thanksgiving for Donna Hisey's recovery. Her surgery went well and she is recovering at the hospital. I do not yet have word on Ms. Mariscal's surgery. Pray for one another and for for yourselves.
On a Sunday morning when he would normally be in his home church, a faithful believer in Christ Jesus was overcome with the Spirit Who led him to the presence of God. Exiled as a punishment for his faith, John the disciple, had a Sunday morning experience that is unmatched by any other. The Roman emperor, Domitian, started a persecution against Christians and John was sent to Patmos for punishment. The sadness of not being in his home church was replaced by the euphoria of THE church worship in Heaven. What an experience and what an honor to be told by Jesus Himself to write an account of all he saw and experienced. In today's passage he notices a great crowd of people that he could not count. Compare that to the crowds in most churches today. John notices that in this church, again sadly unlike most churches, there were people from every nation (I"m guessing if they were seated they had sat in their own pew!). These are from every tribe and peoples and languages. Okay, they were standing! And in a perpetual Palm Sunday attitude, they were worshiping the Lamb, crying in a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" These were joined by all the angels around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures, who also worshiped Jesus by saying, "Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!" Then John is asked by one of the elders as to who the people in the crowd were. John replied that the elder asking knew, and the elder replied, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship Him day and night within His temple, and the One who is seated on the throne will shelter them." And here comes the might of this message. The complaint of a blazing sun for those whose livelihood outside in fields or ranches has been eliminated. Hunger is gone as is thirst. While alive on this earth, clean water may have eluded many; in heaven they have had their thirst satisfied. A scorching heat is now a thing of the past. The Lamb seated on the throne is their Shepherd, and this is the shepherd who "will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The Easter message continues. Easter is a time of new life and it is also the earthy reminder of the life yet to come. The blessing of God to have allowed John to write this scene from the future should serve as an encouragement and hope for every believer. Though the temporal challenges of the earth may seem severe, even brutal, they are just that, temporary. The eternal is shared here; and thus our reason to rejoice and be glad.
PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for Your promises and glimpses into what is to come. We thank You for the faithfulness of John and this awesome picture he has shared with us. Lord, help us to help those who need us to help them face the challenges of today, and let us share a hope for the greater day yet to come. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be one who shares hope with all!
Blessings of love,
Eradio Valverde
Heaven by Randy Alcorn is perhaps the best and authoritative book on the realm of Glory. At FUMC Gonzales we had a class on this book and we were blessed. Here's a link to buy your own copy if you'd like:
