To the saints at Glenelg: grace mercy and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen.
When artists have been commissioned to produce special artworks, their work is usually revealed at a formal ceremony. A specially commissioned painting or sculpture in a gallery is concealed behind curtains, or under sheets. When the sheets are removed, or the curtains drawn open, the work of art that’s present—but concealed from sight—is then revealed. From that moment the audience can see for themselves the work of art and appreciate it.
This is like what God has done with the Book of Revelation—God has drawn open the curtains to reveal to us the unseen reality of his victorious Kingdom. It is not a book of revelations—of different things, but God’s revelation of Jesus Christ. The Book of Revelation can seem confronting and somewhat unsettling, with its graphic imagery and so many strange symbols and numbers. But God’s intention behind the Book of Revelation was to encourage the Apostle John and the early church in the midst of suffering, trial and persecution.
For the early Christians, their faith in Jesus was literally a matter of life and death. Remember how, on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, his disciples had gathered in a room with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. Anyone found pledging allegiance to Christ would be put out of the synagogue—the umbrella of protection for Jews under Roman rule. To be excommunicated from the synagogue meant being thrown out to the mercy of the Romans. Jesus’ followers risked suffering the same way as Jesus himself for honouring him instead of Caesar.
John himself had been persecuted. He had been exiled to Patmos—a small, remote island off the west coast of modern day Turkey—probably to put an end to his preaching to the churches in the empire and influencing the people with God’s word: “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (Rev 1:9).
It was while John himself was exiled and suffering persecution—and to human eyes looked as though God’s kingdom was sliding to failure and defeat—that God gave this revelation of Jesus to encourage him, and the early church who would read this letter. It was to encourage them that their trials, suffering and persecution were not signs that God had withdrawn his favour from them or abandoned them. It was to encourage them that even though it seemed as though evil was reigning, it was really God who had triumphed. It was to encourage them that they still could and should have confidence in what he promised to them by faith, even though to the human eye it looked as though the church would be snuffed out. It was to give encouragement, hope and joy to those who were faced with death that nothing could snatch his people from his hand. It was to give them the certain assurance that God was in control and would grant eternal salvation to all who trusted in Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And so, like an artist at a gallery who draws open the curtains to reveal their picture so that it can be seen and adored, God unveiled the unseen heavenly reality to John—that the Kingdom of Heaven is already victorious and God’s saints share in the triumph of Christ. God unveiled this to John that he might share the revelation of the saints triumphant and at rest with the angels around the heavenly throne of God—to encourage the church on earth, when openly preaching the word was difficult. Whereas to the natural eye it looked as though the might of the Roman empire with their oppressive, exploitative power persecuting Christians was winning the day, God unveiled the unseen reality already playing out in heaven to John with seemingly strange symbols, characters and numbers, giving John a kind of picture book by which to preach Christ triumphant over the kingdoms of the earth, including Rome, without raising Roman suspicion.
God’s unveiling to John of the otherwise unseen heavenly reality is nothing other than the fulfillment of what Jesus had preached in his Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12).
- Those whom God has blessed to recognise their own spiritual poverty before him have received the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Those whom God has blessed to mourn over the bondage of their will to sin and a sinful world bent on selfishness and destruction shall be comforted by God himself.
- Those whom God has blessed to be meek shall not be ultimately destroyed by political powers and military might of those who try to take the world by force, but they shall inherit the earth, for Jesus has overcome the world and triumphed over Satan on the Cross.
- Those whom God has blessed to hunger and thirst for righteousness rather than the vain, material things of this life, will be satisfied, for Jesus has come to give fulness of life to all who would come to him.
- Those whom God has blessed to be merciful to others will receive mercy from God the merciful One.
- Those whose hearts God has purified will see the Holy One.
- Those whom God has blessed to be his peacemakers will not finally be destroyed by hostile powers, for together with Jesus they are sons of God, with the same standing before God the Father as Jesus himself. Even though the grass withers and flowers fade, they are inheritors with Jesus of all the blessings and riches from the storehouses of heaven.
Jesus is not saying if we suffer and endure persecution then God will give us an extra dollop of blessing. He is saying that even though his people suffer, have trials, know hardship and are persecuted as they live as his representatives in the world, these very things show we are already God’s blessed people, who will certainly see their reward in heaven if they keep the faith.
Because God’s word is not bound to particular times or cultures, but living and active, this revelation of the saints sharing in Christ’s triumph in glory is what Christ preaches to us, to encourage us, his people here at St Paul’s in 2024. And that’s good, because the world hasn’t changed. Like the saints of old, we too know grief, struggle, trial and persecution ourselves. We still live in the midst of a fallen world blowing itself to bits, where powerful leaders so often work for hostility rather than peace, and God’s people are still persecuted with ferocity. We still live in the midst of a world infatuated with unrighteousness rather than seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. We live in a society that is so devoid of mercy, where people scramble for domination, control and power, treading over one another to reach the top, rather than prizing humility and meekness.
God gave this revelation of the triumphant Christ with his saints for our blessing too. By the Book of Revelation first given to John, the Holy Spirit unveils for us God’s great picture of heaven to encourage us. He shows us the 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. These are those of all times and places who confess faith in Jesus: those who cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (v10). The Palm branches they hold remind us of the crowd jubilantly welcoming Jesus as King to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This heavenly revelation joins Jesus’ suffering and death with his resurrection, ascension and exaltation; the One before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).
The innumerable multitude join with the angels in worship of the Lamb. The angels are naturally arrayed in brightness—but the multitude have had to wash their robes to be white—the colour of purity and holiness. They are those who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
But how does blood make white? Blood stains garments. But the blood of the Lamb—the once-for-all sacrifice to take away the sin of the world—is purifying. If we clothed ourselves with our Sunday best, and put on our best outward appearance, we would still not be pure enough to come into the presence of a holy God. But as John says in 1 John 3:3: “everyone who has this hope in him purifies themselves”. We might be well aware of our failings. We look at the key figures of the faith in the Scriptures, then look back to ourselves and know we have fallen well short. Like the Apostle Paul, we struggle and lament: “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19).
We cannot make ourselves to be saints. Holiness is not achieved by pious worship, or generous giving, performing miracles or special works of service. But the Lamb at the centre of the throne has shown God’s mercy to us. He has descended to us to share his own holiness with us. The Communion of saints are holy because they share in the holiness of the Holy One. That is how their robes are washed.
We too who worship Jesus and place our trust in him are among the uncountable holy ones, and our departed loved ones who put their faith in Jesus are too. Jesus has purified us. Our robes have also been washed by his precious blood. That washing comes to us in Baptism and Holy Communion, and every time Jesus declares us absolved from this sanctuary to wash away our guilt and cleanse our conscience. That is why, together with the great multitude, we too will belong to the Lamb forever. We are among those poor in spirit who have been made rich in the grace of Christ. We too who suffer on earth are promised the Kingdom of Heaven. We have overcome sin, death and the Devil by the blood of the Lamb.
Our departed loved ones who held to the faith have gone before us. They are no longer persecuted for bearing Christ’s name. They no longer mourn because God has wiped away every tear from their eyes. They are no longer tired from their labours because they have come to their permanent place of rest, serving God, day and night in the heavenly temple. They are no longer hungry and thirsty for the Lamb at the centre of the throne, our Good Shepherd, has led them to springs of living water. This is what is promised to us too!
The triumphant Lamb of God is with his saints in the heavenly sanctuary, and he is with us again today in this sanctuary on earth. That is why today can be a day of joy! No matter what your trials are, no matter what crumbles on earth around us, and no matter what our grief is, or who we grieve for, God has washed our robes that we might join in the faith and worship of God with the angels and all God’s people in heaven and on earth [saying together]:
“Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honour
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
