VII.
We’ve spent time this week noticing what this passage has to say about praise, worship and salvation.
As we spend time with it today, pay attention to the closing words of the passage and see how they complement what is written about praise, worship and salvation.
For 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.They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;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 eyes.
VIII.
Revelation 7:9-17 (NRSV)
After 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. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And 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, singing,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I 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.
For 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.They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;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 eyes.”
IX.
f As I approach the Book of Revelation I come to it with the understanding that it was written for disciples of Jesus in the late first century and early second century who were being disadvantaged and even persecuted for their claiming Jesus as their Lord and refusing to bow to the lordship of any other. It was written to offer them encouragement and hope. Can it do the same for us who stand some twenty centuries apart from those disciples? Do we still need one to shepherd us? Do we still need one to guide us to springs of the water of life? Do we still trust that God can wipe away every tear? Can we trust that his shepherding us, guiding us, and consoling us is not something that is postponed to the other side of the grave, but can be something we experience even now? I pray so. I also pray that we can find the way to be part of that shepherding, guiding and consoling for one another even today. charles
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}