11/03 – Revelation 7:2-17 – A Great Multitude Standing Before the Throne

Grace, peace, and mercy be yours in the name of our risen Savior, Jesus the Holy Christ, the Lamb of God. Amen.

We are coming to the end of another Church Year. This year the first Sunday in December is the beginning of the new Church Year. As we wind down to the end our focus changes from daily life in anticipation of our life to come, to one that centers on that day, that Judgment Day, when Jesus will return in power, glory, majesty, authority, and might. He will not return humbly like when He came in a manger with nothing. He will come on the Last Day, on Judgment Day, with all the wonder and splendor due the Author of Life.

Angels will accompany Him and like a mighty army they will go out over the whole Earth gathering all of the faithful to Christ. There will be trumpet blasts that will shake the skies and crack the Earth. There will be shouts of praise and song as seriphim sing His praise. It will be, for all who believe on Jesus’ name, a wonder to behold; an awesome day full of joy and celebration.

As we enter this time in the Church Year, where we focus on the coming Last Day, we remembering all those who have left this Earth in the faith ahead of us. They have already seen much of what is for us something yet to come. They have seen the face of God. They have heard him say, “Welcome home good and faithful servant. Enter into glory.” Their soul now waits for the Last Day when their body will be raised, made perfect, and joined to their soul again. A day when they will once again be fully and whole human; perfectly human as God first made us.

They wait, the same way we wait, though we wait in a place of sin, and they wait in a place free from those ills and trials. Sin no longer has any effect on them. They have past through death to life. They have run their race,¹ and remained faithful to the end. They are free, and for that we give glory to God because we know that God’s promises are trustworthy. We know that all those faithful whom we love are with Him now resting and waiting.

Death has never been natural. It is not part of life nor is it part of living. It is not what God designed nor is it what was supposed to happen. Death is the result of our separation from God, and it is always painful. Death is the curse for sin. If you sin you die. That has been and will always be the rule.

With that rule in mind Satan took great joy in bringing death to us. He used us to hurt God. Satan attacked us because he knew we were weak. He knew we could not resist his power. He was right we can’t. He is more powerful then you can imagine. Even the arch-angel Michael would not dare to take on Lucifer but rather always calls on God for such encounters.²

Lucifer was perhaps the most powerful thing God created. His name Lucifer, means “son of the dawn.” So majestic, so powerful, so magnificent, was he that to look at him was like looking at a sunrise. He commanded a third of all the angels in Heaven³ so great was his authority. When he fell he took a third of Heaven, and you, down with him. The beautiful magnificent creature has become the most vile and disgusting. He is the very epitome of filth. He now has names like Satan and the Devil.

That is the beast that attacks you and drags you down to the pit with him. He is too great, too powerful, for us to fight. Satan’s only goal is to destroy us and in doing so break the heart of God. Satan knew the rule: sin must bring death. Satan knew the rule: only those who are perfect can stand in the presence of God. Satan knew God would not, could not endure, loving something imperfect. What he did not know is how much God loved us.

Lucifer may have been most beautiful, powerful and majestic thing God created but not the most important. You, you are the most important thing God has created. He loves the lowest person far more than He has ever concerned Himself with Satan. Because of that love God could not endure being separated from you forever.

Now the Law is clear there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.⁴ To account for all sin perfect blood must be shed. Who of us could fill that role? All of us have sinned. All of us have fallen short of the perfection God commands and demands.⁵ Still God would not endure being separated from you forever, so He chose to fix the problem Himself. That is in fact exactly what He promised He would do.

Go back to Genesis, the very first book in the Bible. In chapter three, in the same breath that God curses Satan, He speaks a promise.⁶ A promise of One who would come to restore what Satan had destroyed. With that promise came comfort to Adam and Eve. Though the effect of sin was still on them the fear subsided. For Satan however the fear had only just begun. The thrill of victory over destroying God’s most loved was dashed on the rocks. Satan’s failure was complete.

Not only was he forever cast out of Heaven, not only would he be cast into the torment of Hell for eternity, but he would have to live with the knowledge that he had failed. He failed because God promised to wash away the sin He hates. God promised to restore us, and all people, to that perfection He demands and commands. Where we could do nothing to get ourselves right with God, God could and did do everything for us.⁷

So that brings us back here. To this day, in this place. Today, in this holy house, we celebrate a day called All Saint’s Day. A day when we give glory to God for all those who have past through death to life in faith. We give praise, glory and adoration to God because we know that even though we miss them, even though we have wept for them, we know that we will not be separated from them forever. We will see them again.

The day will come when we will once again enjoy the pleasure of their company, in a place where sin is forbidden to ever touch us again. In a new Heaven and a new Earth where the relationship Adam and Eve had with God will be restored for all of us.

In the book of Revelation we read about:

a large crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language. No one was able to count how many people there were. They were standing in front of the throne and the Lamb. They were wearing white robes, holding palm branches in their hands, and crying out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!”

Who are these people? All those saved through faith in Christ. They are holding palm branches symbolizing freedom, and wearing white robes because God has made them pure. Here we see that day when the great multitude will stand before the throne of God. They will be in the presence of the Most High. How can those sinful, sin-filled, people be there? Because God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has made them clean and sustained them, through faith, in that cleansing flood.

That flood of love that started at your Baptism. That flood of love that poured from Jesus’ Body on that Friday we call Good. That flood of love that God pours out on us every day of our lives. That flood of love that those whom we love have now realized fully, basking in the glory of Almighty God.

Remembering how God saved those faithful that have left this Earth before us, let us use them as an example. Not one of them was perfect. Not one of them claimed to be. The truth is those of you who knew them best could probably best attest to that truth. Yet they believed, and because they believed they are perfect now. Waiting for you to join them.

This is the wonder of the faith God has given to us. It will restore us. It will restore our relationship between us and God. It will also restore the relationship between us and those we love. Those who on this day we remember with love. Missing them? Yes. Yet still knowing our goodbye’s are not forever.

By God holy grace and mercy we will see them again.

Amen.

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