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Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these clothed in white robes, and from where have they come? And I said to him, Sir, you know. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Dear saints, we’ll consider maybe three things today on this beautiful epistle lesson from Revelation chapter 7. The first is what is going on with the book of Revelation and what the Lord is up to. We have some hints about that in the text, and then we’ll consider these white robes that the saints are given in the passage and what that means for us, and then we’ll consider what it means to remember and to celebrate the blessed dead and what the gift of death is for the Lord’s Christians.
But first, the book of Revelation, I was talking to a couple people this week who told me that they used to go to a church that refused to talk about the book of Revelation, refused to open it, study it, or even mention it, and I suppose there’s a lot of Christians that have fear and trepidation for this, because this collection of visions that the Lord Jesus gave to St. John does have some confusing stuff in it and some frightful stuff. But there’s hints about what the Lord is up to there. And even the first one, I think, is in our text, that the Lord will often give us two different perspectives of the same thing for us to consider.
So, for example, in our text, it lists the 12,000 from all the 12 tribes of Israel. I don’t know if as you were listening to it, you know, there’s 12,000 from Zebulun and 12,000 from Naphtali. And then you got down to Benjamin and wondered if there was going to be like 11,400, but there’s not. 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes. It’s just perfect.
144,000. This is the doctrine of election that everyone who the Lord calls is in his church. It’s beautiful. But after he’s heard the number, he looks and he sees an uncountable multitude from every tribe and tongue and nation and those two things which seem to be the opposite the 12,000 from each tribe of Israel and the incountable multitude from all the tribes are the same reality described in almost opposite terms it’s a description of the church a description of all those who the Lord calls into the fellowship of the forgiveness of sins it’s absolutely beautiful this happens over and over in the book of Revelation the same kind of idea.
My favorite is when John is weeping because no one is found worthy to open the seals. This is a couple chapters earlier. And he hears someone say the lion of the tribe of Judah is able to conquer. And you have the sense that there’s John waiting to see the lion come into the throne room, but who walks into the throne room, but the lamb who has been slain. That’s what he sees. So he hears lion and he sees lamb. And you can’t imagine more opposite pictures.
I mean, there’s no more opposite to a lion than to a lamb, a conquering lion and a slaughtered lamb, but both are descriptions of our Lord Jesus. So you’ll hear something and you’ll see something, and there’ll be two ways of describing the same thing. And the reason why the Lord is doing this is because the revelation is revealing to us the truth of the Lord’s, the beauty of the Lord’s kingdom and the counterfeit of the devil’s activity.
So in fact, you have this theme running through the whole thing. Here’s the Lord Jesus, who is the slain lamb, and there you see the devil, who’s the beast. Or the Lord Jesus, who is the lion, and then the devil shows up as the dragon.
And there’s the Lord’s church, the bride of Christ, and then you see the prostitute. and you have the lord sealing his people to protect them this is the gift of holy baptism and then the devil’s marking his own with the mark of the beast i mean all the way through you see the beautiful uh glory of heaven and then you see all this destruction on the earth and so you see the devil is is trying to make this distorted image of of what the lord has created already in the beauty of the church and all of this is to reveal to us jesus remember that’s what the revelation is of it’s the revelation of jesus christ who is the the lord and king and ruler of all i’ve been thinking and i think we’ve talked about this in bible class and i might have even mentioned it here from the pulpit this idea that it’s captivated my own imagination that that if you could imagine in the morning maybe tomorrow morning you walk out of your house and you walk out the front door, and there, I don’t know, 30 feet in the air in front of you is a window into heaven, and it’s open, and you can look through that window, and you can see the throne room of heaven, and you can look and see that, in fact, Jesus is still sitting there, that he’s there ruling and reigning all things for the sake of his church. You know it because you can see, even as he sits on the throne at the right hand of the Father, you can still see the wounds that he has on his hands and his feet. Now imagine how different your day would be tomorrow if that happened. Maybe some of you will walk out and just check, and you’ll still see the clouds, and you won’t see, because that window is closed for us, and according to the Lord’s will, it’s closed for us. That’s what Hebrews 2 is talking about. We don’t yet see all things under his feet. We see Jesus made lower than the angels, crucified. We see Jesus raised from the dead, but we don’t see Jesus sitting in glory, but that’s what the book of Revelation is. It’s like the window is just pulled back for us through the writing of John so that we get to see that there on the throne is Jesus.
He is ruling and reigning still, right now, today and tomorrow, and even on the election day and the day after. He’s there on the throne, and this is very practical for us because we’re always tempted to forget it. especially you know on Wednesday this temptation will come to forget that Jesus is in charge or when you get the hard phone call or when you get the bad news from the doctor or when whatever when the bad things happen the rough times come and the tribulation is there and the sorrow and the sickness and the dying and the poverty and the affliction and the and the fighting and the warfare and all of it and we’re tempted to forget we can’t see through the window and we’re tempted to forget that jesus is not in charge but this is what this is the gift of the revelation of jesus given to saint john he glimpses up there when it seems like you know when the the streets are full of blood up to the harnesses of the horses and when a third of the rivers are turned into blood and a third of the people are are destroyed by famine and affliction and you’re tempted to think that jesus isn’t on the throne and then the window opens and he’s there the one who was slain for you is the one who’s in charge. This is the gift of Revelation and it’s for us. And especially the one who was crucified for you is the one who’s in charge.
That gets us to the second thing that we want to think about and that’s these robes. I don’t think there’s maybe a more beautiful picture of salvation than these white robes in Revelation 7. John sees it in the vision. He sees all of these people lined up And you can see it in your own imagination.
And they’re coming out of the great battle. The elder asked John, who are all these people lined up to get into heaven? And John says, this is great, you know. I almost hear him saying, I hope you know. Better tell me.
And he says, these are those coming out of the great tribulation. And so they’re in these robes that are just filthy. Just covered in. I mean, can you imagine what you would look like after coming out of a battle? And this is the picture of us in our own lives. So just to think, if you were born wearing a robe, I don’t know exactly how that would work, but you have a robe on your whole life, and every time that you sin, it’s stained. And every time you’re sinned against, it’s marked. And every time you’re in tribulation, it’s torn. And every time there’s trouble, it’s shredded a little bit. Imagine what the robe looks like by the time you get to the end. I mean, you’re saying, Pastor, imagine what the robe looks like by the time I turn 12. I mean, it’s going to be disgusting, filthy, I mean, just raggedy strings. And you’re supposed to appear before the Lord dressed like that? Not a chance.
But here’s where the hope is, is you’re standing in line in these tattered, battered up, nasty looking robes. And there, before you get to the arches of glory and the gate to heaven, there’s this bowl, a vat, a font filled with the lamb’s blood. And you take that robe of yours, that filthy, threadbare testimony of your own failure and disgust, and you dip that guy into the blood, and you pull it out, and it’s perfect. Every stitch restored. It’s whiter. It’s gleaming white. More than you could, than it ever was even to start. More than you could imagine. It’s radiant. And you put that thing on and it covers all your shame and it takes away all your guilt. That is the robe of the righteousness of Christ. That’s what Jesus does in your baptism. Remember how baptism is this washing away of sin. And remember how Paul describes it in Ephesians chapter 5, that Christ cleansed the church, washing her with the water and the Word so that she would be perfect and pure without any stain or spot or wrinkle or any such thing so that you are washed. You’re purified. Your sins are forgiven. You’re covered in that righteousness of Christ.
You received that white robe already in your baptism. The Lord washes your robe every time you hear the absolution and come to the Lord’s table so that you’re dressed in holiness. You’re clothed in righteousness. You’re wrapped in perfection. You are adorned with holiness.
Not because of what you’ve done. In fact, that robe covers up all that you’ve done, good and bad. It’s the name of Jesus that’s given to you. That’s why you’re a saint, by the way. Not because you’ve done so much successful good working that you’ve attained a state of holiness. I don’t know if you think that, but you should probably not. But I want to remind you that every time I stand up here and talk to you and call you saints, dear saints, you remember that you are saints not because you’ve accomplished a kind of standard of perfection and holiness by your own efforts. God forbid.
No, you are saints because you’re forgiven. You’re saints because Jesus loves you and you know it. You’re saints because you’re died for, because he’s washed you and clothed you and covered you and put those robes on you so that you’re ready for the judgment day by his mercy. And you’re ready for eternal life by his grace.
Now that brings us to the third point, which is maybe something like this. Pastor, if we have all of this already, then what’s the deal with dying? Why do we on all saints celebrate those who have gone before us? What’s the difference? And here’s the difference, and this is something really special.
We remember, first of all, that we were never meant to die. When God created your first parents and mine, Adam and Eve, they were never supposed to die, but they ate the forbidden fruit, they got the wages of sin, death, and they passed it on to you and I so that all of us, if the Lord doesn’t delay, all of us one day will breathe our last and we’ll die. it’s probably something we should think about every now and again because it’s going to happen to us. It shouldn’t be such a surprise. It’s a hundred percent. Well, a hundred percent minus like Enoch and Elijah. It’s a hundred percent. And so it’s coming for us too. Death is tracking us down. And death is that separation of body and soul. Now, we want to remember that sin sin clings to our body and to our soul. We know that our bodies are corrupted by sin because they’re falling apart, because they’re decomposing, because they’re getting sick and old and weak and they’re dying. And when they die, they smell and they have to be cared for. This is the sin that clings to our body. But it’s not just our body. Sin also clings to our soul. It’s why we’re inclined to unbelief. It’s why we want all the things we’re not supposed to want.
It’s why we’re full of blasphemy and rebellion and anger and lust and greed and laziness and bitterness and jealousy it’s all there that’s sin also on your soul but look what happens for the christian and this is amazingly good news because in this life we we have this righteousness by faith we believe it but we don’t see it but when we die the lord at the moment our bodies are souls are separated from one another the Lord takes all of the effects and corruption of sin and just removes it from your soul it’s gone so that when the angels carry our souls to the nearer presence of God in heaven all of the corruption of sin has been taken away from it so that what we know now by faith the forgiveness of sins we will know then by sight whatever way the soul sees that we’ll have that perfection. Now, that doesn’t yet happen to the body. That corruption of sin still clings to the body even after you die. That’s why we have to care for your body and lay the body to rest and wait for the resurrection. But that’s what happens on the day of the resurrection, the last day. The Lord will completely purge from your physical body all of sin and all of the effects of sin so that on the resurrection, your body and soul perfected or joined back together to live forever. Now what that means is that while we are here below fighting the flesh and the spirit, the old Adam and the new man, they’re fighting against each other in this life that the moment that we die that fight is over and we enter into the bliss of perfection by the Lord’s mercy and grace so that those who have gone before us into heaven are no longer touched by sin there’s no more sorrow there’s no more crying there’s no more distress just perfection and life and glory and peace that goes on and on and on that’s why we say blessed are those who die in the Lord their works follow them that’s why Paul can say it’s better I long to depart and be with Christ that’s far better that’s why he can say for me to live as Christ to die is gain and And that’s why it’s important for us to remember that in every way, the best is yet to come. Or maybe to say it this way, that the very worst thing that can happen to you. Dear Saints, I want you to believe this with all of your hearts.
The worst thing that can happen to you is the best thing that can happen to you. You’ll die and go to heaven. It’s waiting for all of us. We’re tempted to be afraid of what? that the Lord has taken this punishment for sin, death, and he’s turned it into a gift by which he brings us into his glory to rest and to wait for the day of the resurrection. Now, this doesn’t mean that we don’t weep for those who have departed. We do.
This is what Jesus did. It’s a good work. We miss them. Our grief is the shape that love takes when the object of love is absent from us. But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. for we believe that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and when he returns all those who are with him will come back with him and we’ll meet them in the air and if we die before that day the Lord will also gather us into his kingdom of blessedness and hope and peace and glory and light not because we’ve deserved it but because he’s washed those robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb and while we wait we remember that he sits on the throne and he rules and reigns all things for the sake of his body, the church. Dear saints, that’s you. So make this give us confidence in this valley of tears to rejoice and sing that the Lord is on his way and that our sins are forgiven and