Following the Lamb

 Here are some thoughts on Sunday's lesson from Revelation. It is All Saints Sunday. This will be sent to the people of St.Timothy Lutheran Church. 

 First Reading: Revelation 7:9-17

⁹After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
 “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
¹¹And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²singing,
 “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
 and thanksgiving and honor
 and power and might
 be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
  ¹³Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
 ¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of God,
  and worship him day and night within his temple,
  and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
 ¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
  the sun will not strike them,
  nor any scorching heat;
 ¹⁷for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
  and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
 and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

 

This passage is in answer to the question asked in 6:17, “Who is able to stand?” The writer gives the faithful the assurance of God’s protection and a vision of victory.

 

This is a very inclusive group of people who are worshiping. They are not only Jews or Gentiles, rich or poor, but “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” And it was not exclusive as to the number of people. It was not a case of “us four and no more.” It was a multitude. God’s love embraces all, desiring all to come to the knowledge of God.

 

They are standing before the Lamb, not a lion. The main symbol of power, the One who conquered is the Lamb. Not exactly an image of great strength, is it? But this Lamb is our Lord Jesus Christ, who conquered death and the grave, rising victorious.

 

It’s interesting that one of the elders asks John about who these people are, who are robed in white. I love the response, “Sir, you are the one who knows” (v. 14). Then the elder that asked the question answers it. It sounds like these are those who have been martyred for their faith. Although not mentioned in this passage, other places speak of witnesses to the Lord (John 1:7; Acts 1:8, 2:32, 3:15). The word in Greek for witness is martyria, from which we get the word “martyr.” For many at that time, to be a witness for Christ did lead to death.

 

We don’t know exactly what the “great ordeal” in v. 14 was. But even as God rescued his own, bringing them through that ordeal, God rescues us today in our circumstances, no matter what they may be. Hunger, thirst, sunstroke, sadness? God, our all in all, takes care of it all, “for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their [your] eyes” (v. 17).

 

Will we give ourselves over to Jesus as those in Revelation did? Are we willing to follow the Lamb wherever He leads? (Revelation 14:4). May it be so.

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