Message 04-29-07
Series: Lectionary
Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17
Title: Refugee of Refugees
It’s kind of funny that the book of the Bible that seems to be the hardest to understand is called “Revelation”. What does it reveal? It reveals the nature of the future. If I was to say that it revealed the future then it would seem appropriate to spend a lot of time figuring out every little nuance of the words so that we could create a map of how the world will end. But do you remember that Jesus told us that no one is going to know the ending of the world – how and when it will be. Revelation doesn’t reveal a timetable or a map or even a picture book of the end of the world. That’s not its purpose. The purpose of Revelation is to reveal the nature of the future and the future is the victory of God.
John, the apostle of Jesus, one of his best friends, is given a vision that reveals how life culminates in the hands of God. He uses images that people from his time would understand much better than we will. He uses words that had enormous power for the people of his time, but they still let us in on the victory of God.
John lets us peek into heaven. And we see God. Part of the victory of God is God’s people coming into his presence. Poets and artists have tried to capture this glimpse into heaven in their own words and images for years. There was a song that I remember from when I was a boy that is an example of this:
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish - but naught changeth Thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render; O help us to see
'Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee!
Are you looking forward to that time and place, to getting to heaven, to seeing God and being in God’s presence? I remember reading that Mark Twain wasn’t too enamored of that. At least in the voice of Huckleberry Finn, when he heard that we were going to all be sitting around on clouds, wearing white robes and playing harps, it didn’t sound too interesting. He kept wondering about what went on in the other place.
But that’s not the picture that John paints for us.
The image of heaven is the place of victory celebration. And the victory comes right out of this place, right out of Earth. Look at the people. The people are from every land, every tribe, community and language. Who are these people? They are the people who have come out of the great tribulation.
Tribulation has become a special word in circles that study the Bible. Some people as they have interpreted what is said here have placed the tribulation as a particular time in the future. Others interpret this to be referring to the experience of the early church, the church of John’s time that went through terrible persecution. The great Tribulation may or may not be a particular time when evil reigns on the planet, but whatever happens it is clear that Christians will not escape the trouble. There is tribulation throughout all this life. True believers do not escape from heartache and persecution and trouble. It is the nature of the world we live in. And I’m not going to get into a large study of the “end times” at this point because that’s not the point today.
Today we’re looking at the people who came through the great tribulation and how they are described. This is a picture of the church. They have come through tribulation and have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb. The “blood of the Lamb” is a riveting phrase. It refers to the sacrifice of Jesus but it comes from the sacrifice remembered by the people of Israel when they were freed from slavery in Egypt. It refers to the worship experience of the people of Israel in their temple where lambs were slain for the forgiveness of sins. It refers to the understanding the people of Jesus grew into that Jesus was like a lamb – a sacrifice made on our behalf.
The doorposts of the people were marked by the blood in the story of the Exodus. The priests used to be sprinkled with the blood at the time of sacrifice in the temple and this would consecrate them and their clothes. The picture John gives us is that our clothes, the people of Jesus will be clothed in robes that have been washed in the blood of Jesus – clothes that are consecrated, clothes that are made bright. The people who came through tribulation – whose clothes should be torn and dirty and bloody from the life they lived will wash their clothes in the blood of Jesus and that will turn them bright.
We don’t really go for images like this in our day. That’s a lot of blood but John’s vision isn’t lifting up the blood. John’s vision is telling us that the church is cleansed and consecrated by the work of Jesus so that they can come into the presence of God.
The church of God is the people of God who have come through the tribulation and who have been made clean by the work of Jesus. And these are people from every background, every place, every language, people from all over the world.
We’ve had a lot of time to look at these words from John and people have tried to create clearer pictures of when everything is going to happen, but I think we miss the point if we get caught up there. The point is that the church is the people who lived as the church of Jesus. The question is not when will this all happen and what will it look like. The question is, how do I get in on it? How do I make sure I’m one of the people who is standing there in a white robe at the end?
The only way in is by being the church. The only way is by living through the tribulation as the church of Jesus.
We don’t have a real handle on tribulation here. I’m not saying that we don’t have heartache in our lives but we don’t suffer as the church very much. We don’t have the kinds of worries that Palestinian Christians have – where they are separated from their own people because of their faith in Jesus and they are separated from the people dominating their land by their faith in Jesus. We are not like Chinese Christians who have to worship underground hidden away – keeping our faith secret. We are not like some African Christians who live in countries where their children are stolen to be raised in another religion. We live in a time and place where things are plentiful and safe for us as Christians. We could miss the tribulation that is going on all around us if we stay secure and safe.
But we can’t do everything. We know there is heartache all around the world. We know there are people who are suffering for the sake of Jesus all over the world. What can we do about everything that is happening everywhere? It doesn’t take long to discover how little and how limited we are once we start trying to help. What are we to do?
We are not called to do everything. We are called to be the people of Jesus in this time and place by doing what God brings across our path. So we send people to Uganda, but more than that we send resources to Uganda to clear the way and to make it easier for the people there. We send people and resources to a little clinic in the mountains of Haiti to bring help to the people who live there. We send people and resources to Costa Rica with our teenagers this coming July. And where else have our young people gone? We have sent out from this church people to Brooklyn and Kentucky and Mexico. We have sent out from this church people to Punta Gorda and Mississippi and to the areas torn up by tornadoes just north of us here. Each spring we send off graduating seniors to bring Christ’s truth and to be the church in colleges and workplaces all over the country.
Every week we send you off to live and to work for Jesus Christ and to follow the needs that God brings across your path during your day. We can’t be everywhere, but the truth is that the people of Jesus are everywhere, in every land, in every country, speaking every language. We just have to pick up our part and do the work that God has prepared for us to do.
The way into the time and place where the people of God will be celebrating the victory of God is by participating now in the things that break the heart of God. It is by doing our part in bringing help by his guidance and through the strength he gives us. It is by hungering for grace to be felt by those who don’t know it. It is by thirsting for righteousness and justice for those who don’t have it. It is by crying over the hopelessness that some people live with every day. It is by stepping up to do what God brings across our path.
As you think about what you can do think about this. Whatever you do with your life what kind of freedom does it provide for you? What kind of freedom does your work provide you with so that you can do the work that God is calling you to do. And then, how much freedom does your work provide for others? How does God use you through the work you do each day. As you evaluate what God is calling you to do, use those questions as a guide.
Today we celebrate the variety of things that God has brought across our path that we have done. This is just a taste of the victory that is coming. There will be a day when the people who have lived through the tribulation of life will come to the halls of God and celebrate the victory of the Lamb of God.
