On September 20, 2009, 105,121 fans, the largest crowd ever to watch a regular season NFL game, watched in dismay as the home team Dallas Cowboys lost to the New York Giants 33-31.
But as big as that crows was, it pales in comparison with some other large crowds throughout history:
• On January 20, 2009, an estimated 1.8 million people attended the inauguration of President Obama
• On October 30, 2004, the parade to honor the World Series champion Boston Red Sox and celebrate the end of the famous curse of the Bambino drew an estimated 3 million people.
• On January 1, 1994, Rod Stewart drew the largest crowd ever for a concert when 3.5 million people overran the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro
• An estimated 12 million people gathered in Tehran, Iran on June 3, 1989 for the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini
This morning, as we continue in Revelation chapter 7, we’ll see a huge multitude that greatly surpasses any of these crowds – certainly in significance and probably in terms of sheer numbers as well. I’ll begin reading this morning in verse 9:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming 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 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
This morning I’m going to take a little different approach to this passage. Instead of examining the passage in detail and then drawing out some principles at the end, I’m going to begin with the big picture and then work our way back to a few of the relevant details.
If we step back for a moment and look at the overall picture painted by this passage, we discover that there are…
FIVE IMPORTANT TRUTHS REVEALED BY THE GREAT MULTITUDE
1. God does not play favorites – neither should we
Notice that the great multitude, which is so big that no one can number it, consists of people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages”. This is quite a contrast to the precisely numbered 144,000 from the tribes of the sons of Israel that we saw in the first part of the chapter last week.
John goes to great lengths to make sure that it is clear that no one who commits his or her life to Jesus is to be excluded from this crowd. We immediately notice the words “every” and “all” in the description of the crowd. We saw a very similar description back in chapter 5:
…by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…
Revelation 5:9 (ESV)
We’ll also see similar descriptions later in the book of Revelation. Although the order is never exactly the same, in each case, there is the same four-fold description that includes nations, tribes, peoples and languages. As we’ve seen earlier in our journey, the number four symbolizes the completeness of God’s creation.
The fact that this multitude comes from all people groups throughout the world should not come as a surprise since it is consistent with the promise that God made to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV)
From the very beginning, it was God’s plan to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham and his descendants. And we see the fulfillment of that promise here in Revelation 7.
The important lesson to be learned here is that God doesn’t play favorites. He isn’t concerned with nationality, religious background, social status, looks, or any of the other external factors that we often use to judge others. As we’ll see in a moment, the only thing that God is concerned with is how each person responds to Jesus and His sacrificial death on their behalf. And if God doesn’t play favorites, then obviously He doesn’t want us to do that either.
James addressed that very issue with the early church:
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?... If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
James 2:1-4, 8-9 (ESV)
Let me draw two further applications from this principle:
First, if you’re here this morning and you have never committed your life to Jesus because you feel that you are unworthy in same way, then let me say, “Join the club”. Every single one of us, regardless of our background and what we’ve done in the past is equally unworthy to enter into a relationship with God. Every single one of us is completely dependent on the grace of God and on Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, which we’ll examine in more detail in a moment.
Second, if you’ve already committed you life to Jesus, then you need to guard against playing favorites when it comes to sharing your faith with others. I know that for all of us there are people who God brings into our lives and we take one look at them and based on our initial observations, we immediately conclude that person could never come to God. Maybe it’s their looks, or their ethnic background, or their job, or their conduct, or even their religion. But if God could draw me to Him and He could draw you to Him, even when there was absolutely nothing in our lives that would have warranted Him doing so, then who are we to pick and choose those with whom we are witnesses for Jesus?
2. Real victory is achieved by serving and suffering
In this world, victory is usually obtained by power, might, position and wealth. But in Jesus’ kingdom, victory is obtained by serving and suffering. Let’s look at the two examples in this passage that illustrate this principle:
• The example of Jesus
Just as we have seen previously, Jesus is portrayed here not as the ferocious lion that John expected to see in an earlier version, but as a Lamb - a Lamb who had become victorious by shedding His own blood. Although many of His earthly followers expected Jesus to bring in His kingdom by force, Jesus repeatedly made it clear that His kingdom would be inaugurated through serving others through His suffering:
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45 (ESV)
And it is only as of a result of His sacrificial death that the multitude now stands in His presence before the throne. These are the souls of Christ followers who have lost their physical lives during great tribulation. But even though they have died physically, they live spiritually because their robes have been made white by washing them in the blood of the Lamb.
The only possible way that we can have a relationship with God is by believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then proved His mastery over death by His resurrection. We have to trust in His actions alone as the only way by which we might enter into a relationship with God and one day join that great multitude before the throne. If you’ve never made that decision, then please don’t leave toady without discussing that with me or one of the other elders. Or you can complete the information on the flap of the bulletin and place it in the offering plate and someone will be in contact with you this week, so that we can help you understand how to enter into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus.
• The example of His followers
Every single person in that great multitude had arrived in heaven before the throne because they, too, chose the path of serving and sacrifice. They chose to rely upon Jesus, rather than their own righteousness and they had chosen to remain faithful to Jesus even through the suffering that claimed their lives. But as a result, they were now experiencing all the promises of God that we’ll see in just a moment.
While He was here on earth, Jesus spoke frequently of the need to serve others. Here is just one brief example:
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
Mark 10:42-44 (ESV)
If we want to be great in the kingdom of Jesus, we must first be a servant and willing to make sacrifices and even suffer.
Developing disciples is not easy work. That’s why I’m really thankful for many here in this church who sacrifice their own personal comfort each week to help others in this body to grow in their faith. Instead of focusing so much on “what’s in it for me?” they are focused on how they can serve others.
They are the ones who watch the babies in the nursery or teach our children in Children’s Church even though they would rather be here in the worship service singing and being fed by the message. They are the teachers who prepare a lesson each week, not knowing if they will even have any students in their class. They are the members of the worship team who practice throughout the week and who show up here at 8:00 each Sunday morning so that they can be prepared to lead us all into the presence of God through music. These are the people who are so focused on serving others that they’re just too busy to stop and complain that they aren’t being fed. But what they find in that process of serving is that God is using their service not only to develop other disciples but also to mature them as well.
3. The appropriate response to tribulation is to worship in community with others
Whenever we face times of difficulty in our lives, we tend to respond in one or more of these ways:
• Complain. Most of us probably know people like this. It’s almost as if they enjoy difficult times in their lives so that they can “play the martyr”.
• Compare. A close companion of complaining. This is when a person begins to compare what they are going through to the relative lack of problems in the life of others. Their theme is “It’s not fair”.
• Compromise. If someone feels like they are suffering as a result of holding to his or her faith, then there is a tendency to compromise that faith in order to avoid the trials.
• Compress. This occurs when someone completely withdraws from everything around them and retreats into a cocoon in order to attempt to protect whatever they have left.
But in spite of what they’ve been through, notice what the great multitude does here. They all join together before the throne and they worship God the Father and the Lamb, Jesus. As life gets more difficult, there is an even greater need for us to join together with other believers for the purpose of worshipping God. We haven’t looked at this familiar verse for some time, but it is certainly appropriate here.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24, 25 (ESV)
In particular I want you to notice that last phrase - and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. We know that as the approach of the return of Jesus draws near things are going to get a lot worse. And that’s when we’re going to need each other more than ever.
And when we look at the worship here in chapter 7, it’s obvious that they’re not just going through the motions, either. They are waving palm branches and crying out in a loud voice to praise God for His salvation. Everyone is just so completely surrendered to God that it naturally results in exuberant worship that has only one audience – God Himself.
The worship service here in heaven reminds me a lot more of the U of A football game last night than it does of a typical Sunday morning worship service here in this country. Wouldn’t it be great if we got as excited about Jesus and what He is doing in our lives as we did when the football team scored a touchdown? I’m certainly not suggesting that we manufacture artificial emotion and enthusiasm as we gather together to worship God. But I guess what I am lamenting is the lack of genuine love for Jesus that naturally overflows into exuberant worship.
What is really interesting to me is that some of the most vibrant worship in the world today is occurring in those places where Christ followers are experiencing genuine persecution and even tribulation. When I see that happening, it frankly makes me ashamed of some of the insignificant distractions in my life that draw my focus away from Jesus and keep me from worshipping Him as He deserves.
4. True worship requires us to serve God continually
As we’ve observed frequently, worship is more than just getting together once a week to sing some songs and listen to me get up here and speak for 30 or 40 minutes. In verse 15, we find that the great multitude is before the throne and that they serve God day and night. The Greek word translated “serve” in that verse, can also be translated “worship”, as we see in the following verses:
She [Anna] did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
Luke 2:37 (ESV)
Here we find confirmation that worship is to be an ongoing activity, not just something that we do for an hour or two each week. Like the multitude before the throne, Anna worshipped, or served, day and night.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
In this familiar passage, we find that worship requires us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Once again that is an ongoing act of worship that requires us to serve God in every area of our lives. In his “Message” paraphrase, Eugene Peterson captures the essence of this verse quite well:
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering.
Romans 12:1 (Message)
What both of these passages illustrate is that the concept of worship and service just can’t be separated. Even the Greek word used in all these passages carries both meanings.
In his book the Air I Breathe, Louie Giglio, makes this relevant observation:
We aren’t designed to operate on a weekly worship cycle, but on a moment-by-moment connection of personal worship that’s as much a part of our lives as the air we breathe.
True worship occurs wherever God places us – in the home, the workplace, the grocery store, in our cars, our neighborhoods. Whenever we serve others in the name of Jesus, we serve Jesus, and that is worship.
Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
Matthew 25:44, 45 (ESV)
And when we all worship like that throughout the week, it will have a tremendous impact on our corporate worship as we gather together each week. Let me quote again from The Air I Breathe:
Most of my life I thought that you went to church to worship. But now I see the better approach is to go worshipping to church. Trust me, church is a lot better when our gatherings are filled with people who have been pursuing God for six days before they get there. Church as a “refill” or a “tank-up” is a disaster. Corporate worship works best when we arrive with something to offer God. As opposed to only coming to get something for ourselves from God…Church is supposed to be a celebration of our personal journeys with God since we were last together.
5. We can persevere because we have the promise of God’s protection, provision, guidance and comfort
As the great multitude worships before the throne by serving God day and night, they enjoy the final fulfillment of what Paul looked forward to when he wrote these words at the beginning of the book of Ephesians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV)
These faithful believers are now experiencing the final fulfillment of every spiritual blessing that has been given to them in Jesus.
First, they enjoy the sheltering presence of God Himself. They are permanently protected from harm.
Next, they receive God’s provision. They will never again hunger or thirst because God will provide for all of their needs – physical, emotional and spiritual.
Third, they have the benefit of the guidance of the Lamb as Jesus leads them like a shepherd. We’ve previously seen that part of that guidance will involve being taught face-to-face by Jesus Himself during His millennial reign.
Finally, the will experience God’s comfort. There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears.
I’m convinced that this great multitude was sustained, at least in part, by the knowledge that this is what God had in store for them. In a sense, this is the ultimate fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to His followers shortly before He died on the cross:
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13 (ESV)
As we’ve discussed before, salvation has three aspects – past, present, and future.
At the very moment we committed our lives to Jesus, we were immediately saved from the eternal consequences of our sin and were made righteous before God.
In the present, we experience salvation each day as we journey through life, living in obedience to the commands of Jesus in order to experience the abundant life He has in store for us. That life is not always easy – that’s for certain, as we’ve seen consistently in both the Old Testament prophets and Revelation. But as we endure by holding fast to Jesus and serving Him every day, we can find meaning and joy regardless of circumstances.
And as we endure patiently day by day, we can look forward to the future aspect of salvation, the one we see here in Revelation 7. Then we will get to enjoy for eternity the protection, provision, guidance and comfort of God. And it is that future hope that ultimately provides the endurance to persevere each day.
