Revelation 7:8-17
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 before 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 for ever 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 shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on 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.’”
A snapshot of heaven
I love looking at pictures. Growing up, we had photo albums at home that I would page through over and over. Then, we’d visit my grandparents, and they had stacks of loose photos. I spent hours looking at old photographs: parties, holidays, vacations. It’s fun to see yourself or people you know at a happy moment in life, celebrating or gathering with family, wearing clothes that went out of style decades ago. You might even have a favourite picture on your desk at work or on your fridge. Sometimes we need a bit of nostalgia to remind us of the good ol’ days. As we grow old, picture can bring back those long-forgotten memories.
By the time he wrote the book of Revelation, the apostle John was an old man. He had lived longer than any of the other apostles. Over and over, he received news that one of his brother apostles had been killed, then another one, and another, until all of them were dead, all martyred for the faith. John had survived the longest, yet he wasn’t totally spared from persecution. Exiled to the island of Patmos, he had been taken away from his congregations in Asia Minor. Separated from them, alone on an island, the last of the apostles, John had to wonder whether Jesus’ words were true.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that the meek, the poor in spirit, and the persecuted are blessed, that they will inherit the kingdom of God. But that just doesn’t seem true. Not for John and his congregation, not for the Christian church today. Are Nigerian Christians “blessed” as persecutions displace millions and thousands die every year for their faith? Are Chinese Christians “blessed” when their entire family shuns them for believing in Jesus? Do you feel “blessed” every day of your Christian life? Where is the kingdom we’re supposed to inherit?
When God’s blessings seem so long in coming, we grow impatient with him. Days, weeks, years go by, and we’re still waiting for the kingdom he’s promised us. Maybe it will never come. Maybe God is lying to us. Maybe God isn’t as good as he says he is. If he is truly good, why do his people suffer so much? You’d think an almighty and all-loving God would protect his people from harm!
Doubt of God’s goodness has been mankind’s problem from the beginning. Adam and Eve doubted God when they ate the forbidden fruit. You and I doubt God’s goodness whenever we grumble or complain about something in our lives. We think there must be something wrong with God, but the truth is, there’s something wrong with us. God originally made us like himself, pure and holy, so that we could have a relationship with him. But we have broken this relationship with God. Our doubt and distrust have made us filthy in his sight, unworthy to stand in his presence, dressed in tattered, black rags. Why should we expect God to bless us if we are constantly doubting his goodness? Our sin makes us appalling to God, and he doesn’t owe us a thing, not even an ounce of his love or goodness.
And so, we’d expect the picture of our future to be one of eternal torment in hell. But that’s not at all the picture John describes in Revelation 7. Instead, we’re transported to a throne room in a large, bright palace. You look around the expansive hall, and all you can see is people, so many that you can’t even see the floor. Out of the endless sea of faces, you recognize a few: a family member or friend who died recently. But there’s so many more faces to see. Your eyes move quickly from one to the next, and they’re all so diverse, from all over the world. You start counting the number of the crowd, but it breaks your brain and you have to keep restarting. They’re all wearing the same thing: long white robes, sparkling clean, whiter than the purest snow. They’re all saying the same thing too: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
This crowd is not celebrating their own achievements. Salvation does not come from us. On our own, we’re helpless, unable to save ourselves from the punishment our sins deserve. But God saw our helplessness. He loved us, even though we were dressed in filthy, stinking robes of sin. God wants to live with us eternally, to bring us into his throne room and share his goodness with us. So he sent Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus shed his blood for us, so that we can take our dirty robes, plunge them into his holy blood, and lift them out, clean and spotless. Salvation from sin and the restoration of our relationship with God—this is what the saints in heaven get to celebrate day after day. Jesus has won the victory!
But you don’t have to wait until you die to join in that heavenly song. God isn’t teasing us with this picture, as if we can’t experience joy until we reach heaven. It also affects our lives right now. This vision is what John needed to see. It may not have saved John from exile or ended his persecutions, but it did remove any doubts about God’s goodness. Though his fellow apostles were executed in shameful, excruciating ways, they hadn’t lost the battle: in Christ, they had actually triumphed! And so it would be for John. It didn’t matter what anyone did to his body while he lived on earth, because this life isn’t the end. This picture of heaven gave John confidence to live out his Christian faith, even in the face of persecution, because in Christ he had already won.
John wrote down everything he saw so that you could also see God’s goodness. You truly are blessed, because heaven already belongs to you here on earth. You can rejoice and be glad during trouble and hardship, because you don’t have to worry about your eternal future. Jesus has already cleansed your robes: you’re bound for heaven! When you’re tempted to feel depressed or dejected about your life on earth, remember this picture, this celebration in the halls of King Jesus. Know that you’re not alone in your faith. In heaven and around the world, saints are celebrating God’s salvation with you. Every time we hear about the death of a Christian, we realize that they haven’t lost the battle: they’re just joining the celebration in heaven! Death is only the end of our tribulation and the beginning of new life.
What a beautiful snapshot of our future glory! But the heavenly photo album doesn’t end with the throne room. After flipping through all these glorious, royal pictures and seeing an incomprehensible multitude of people standing before God’s throne, you turn the page and see just one familiar face: it’s you.
As awesome and exciting as that heavenly crowd is, now the vision focuses solely on you, on your personal experience of heaven. And we need to see that picture too. Though the Lamb has won the war over sin and death, there are still battles that we must face today because we live in a sinful world. Sin means that we get hungry and thirsty, that our desires are never fully met. Sin has doomed us to a lifetime of toil and hard work, to frustration in our jobs and relationships. We can’t even serve God as perfectly as we want here on earth. Sin brings us tears, as we suffer pain or disease or watch others slowly dying around us. Sin ruined paradise for us on earth, and we’ve been living with the consequences.
But the day will come when paradise is fully restored for us. God will call us out of this sinful world and into his loving presence. Now we’re transported to a quiet, idyllic scene. Dressed in your white robe, there’s a calm feeling of serenity. You’re not afraid or anxious about anything. You’re in God’s tents, and there you’re fully protected from harm and danger. All your desires are fulfilled; all your needs are met. It’s the most comfortable safe space you can imagine. No more sadness—just joy and peace, all the time. Best of all, you get to see God every day, to walk with Jesus. You no longer have any guilty feelings, no shame as you stand next to him. Gone is the thought, “I wish I could do better for you Lord,” because in heaven, you serve and obey him perfectly. Whatever tears you cry, he reaches out with his gentle touch and wipes them away forever. In the heavenly tents of your Good Shepherd, you finally have perfect rest.
I don’t know which picture of heaven you need today, a grand victory celebration before God’s throne or a serene walk with Jesus, but I hope they both give you the strength you need to carry on. All those saints in heaven once knew your struggles. They suffered in this world of sin too. But their tribulation didn’t last forever, and neither will yours. God will take us out of this sinful world to an eternal paradise with him.
In this way, we are blessed, even in this troublesome life. We are blessed to wash our robes in Jesus’ blood, to have peace with God once again. We are blessed that heaven is our inheritance, that we have something far greater to look forward to than our current existence. And we are blessed that God reveals these pictures of heaven to us. In them, we find the hope and comfort we need to live our lives in service to the Lamb. We offer up our praises to him with our fellow saints on earth, until the day when we join the multitude of saints in heaven. Then, it won’t just be a snapshot or a sneak peek: we’ll have all eternity to experience the real thing. So, why not start your eternity of praises now: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Amen.