Easter 4 April 29, 2007
“A Snapshot of Heaven”
Revelation 7:9-17
9
After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one
could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language; standing before the
throne and in front of the Lamb. They
were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice,
“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the
throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the
throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, ‘Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength
be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
13
Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes – who are they and where
did they come from?” 14 I answered,
“Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are
they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
15
Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his
temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again
will they thirst. The sun will not beat
upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17
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 away every tear from their eyes.”
I’ve never been to
Wouldn’t you say this is
true? Even if you’ve never gone to a certain
place, you can get an idea of what it is like from pictures until you get there
in person.
Maybe you’ve been to
So what does heaven look
like? Listen to John describe the snapshot
of heaven. (read v.9-12)
The first detail in the
snapshot is that this is not a small crowd.
This is a multitude! An
astonishing number. People from every
nation, tribe, people and language; rich and poor; cityfolk
and countryfolk; third-world country natives who
lived in houses made of wood palates with dust floors as well as those who
lived in their own, beautiful house on a paved street. There’s also a host of angels as well as some
elders. All of them are wearing white
robes; all of them are waving palm branches of victory; all of them are crying
out in a loud voice. Imagine how loud
they’ll be! We’ve never seen a crowd
that big – imagine how breathtaking! You
thought it gets loud at a football game or a concert – wait until you get to
heaven! And they are all centered around
the throne of the Lamb. He is their main
focus. He is their only focus. They are all praising Him because salvation
belongs to him. That’s what heaven looks
like.
Now that we know what heaven
looks like, we are ready to hear how those in heaven got there. An elder in the vision steps out of the
vision for a moment and asks John, “Where did these people in white robes come
from?” Here’s an illustration to try to
help you understand what the elder in the vision is doing. Think of a Vietnam War veteran standing with
a teenage boy by the Vietnam War Memorial Wall.
The teenager is impressed by all the names; yet doesn’t fully grasp what
he is looking at. So the Vietnam Vet
says to the teen, “Do you know what this wall is all about?” The Vet is not asking the question because he
doesn’t know. He is just asking so that the
teen is ready to listen when he explains what the Vietnam Wall is all about.
In the same way, an elder
asked, “What’s the deal with these people in white robes – where did they come
from?” He wasn’t asking John because he
didn’t know. He was asking John so that
he could tell him exactly who those people in white robes were, and where they
had come from. (read v.13-14)
Notice where they came
from…they came from the great tribulation.
Isn’t that interesting, that people in heaven look down at earth, they
refer to earth as “the great tribulation?”
They don’t refer to earth as “the great happy place” for a good
reason. Earthly life is a time of pressure
and tension. It’s a time when we suffer
losses and shed tears. It’s a time when
we are blindsided by bad news and things don’t happen as they are supposed to
happen. We are let down; we endure
heartaches. Earthly life is a time of
uncertainty; it is a time of diseases and accidents and great tribulation. I don’t think I need to spend any more time
convincing you that the third rock from the sun is a place of great
tribulation. Some of you, even many of
you are going through great tribulation right now. And that is nothing new; this great
tribulation has been going on for centuries.
So what’s the way out? How did those folks in white robes escape the
great tribulation of planet earth? There
is only one way – their robes had been washed and made white in the blood of
the Lamb. They traded in their dirty,
stinky, lustful, worrying, drunken and arrogant sinful clothes and received
instead the beautiful, perfect, spotless robes of Christ.
That’s how they got to
heaven. They trusted that Christ’s blood
paid for their sins, and that Christ’s perfect life was credited to their
account. They washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
We’ve seen what heaven looks
like. We’ve seen how folks have been
pulled out of the great tribulation, washing their robes in the blood of the
Lamb. What do they have to look forward
to? An eternity of amazing joy. Listen to this ten-fold description of
eternal life… (read v.15-17)
Those in heaven…
·
are before the
throne of God
·
They serve him
day and night
·
He will spread
his tent over them – they are safe
·
Never again will
they hunger
·
Never again will
they thirst
·
The sun will not
beat upon them
·
Neither will any
scorching heat
·
The Lamb at the
center is also their shepherd
·
He will lead them
to springs of living water
·
God will wipe
away every tear from their eyes
Now we are in great
tribulation; then we will be in perfect peace.
Now we struggle with our
sins; then all temptations will grind to a halt.
Now we don’t know what will
happen next; then we are safe and protected, never again to be blindsided by
bad news.
Now we ache and weep because
of difficult losses; then tears will forever be a thing of the past.
Now we have seen the snapshot. Is there anything about that snapshot that
makes you say, “It might be nice to go there, but I’d rather stay in the great
tribulation.” Of course not. So why do we long for more money? Heaven is our home, not here. Why do we wade through life, tired and
depressed, forgetting that the Lord reigns? Heaven is our home, not here. Why are we consumed by worry over an
uncertain future? Heaven is our home,
not here. Luther said it this way: “Heaven
is so wonderful, I would not give up one second of that for all the riches of
earth, even if they were to last for thousands of years.”
Assuming you want to go to
Hawaii someday, seeing the pictures when you can’t go in person is OK…it’s
better than nothing… but it’s still not the same as going in person. Seeing pictures of the beaches of