In the sermon 'Before the Throne and the Lamb,' Scott Brown explores Revelation 7:9-8:1, focusing on the vision of a great multitude before God's throne. These people, from every nation, are clothed in white robes, signifying their purification through the blood of the Lamb. The sermon emphasizes the connection between heaven and earth, urging believers to fix their eyes on heavenly realities to better navigate earthly tribulations. Brown discusses the Abrahamic covenant's fulfillment and the significance of symbolic imagery in Revelation, such as the Feast of Tabernacles and the role of suffering in the Christian journey. The sermon encourages believers to view earthly experiences as reflections of heavenly truths, fostering hope and spiritual growth.

Revelation chapter 7 and go to verse 9. This is the inerrant all-sufficient sweeter than honey word of God. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations tribes peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying amen blessing in glory and wisdom thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Then one of the elders answered saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to them, sir, you know. So he said to me, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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 dwell among them they shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore the Sun shall not strike them nor any heat for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Then proceeding to chapter eight, verse one. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Let's pray. Lord we are so thankful for these images to teach us what is true about the world that you made and our part in it.

Lord we're so amazed at the beauty of it. I pray that you would help us all to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Amen. Please be seated. As we enter this passage of Scripture I pray that the Lord will use it in such a way to make us a church with eyes fixed on heaven.

There are those who have been said they're so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good. I haven't ever really known anybody like that. Those heavenly minded are always the most set free to do the will of God. So I pray that we would be equipped this morning maybe in a new way to have our eyes fixed on heaven to have heaven inform us. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Heaven informs earth and earth points to heaven. That's what we find in this passage of scripture. So I pray that it would be a helpful, equipping, sanctifying, purifying thing for us to be in this passage. Well you've been following with us and we've covered the six seal judgments that are in chapters six and seven. They began with the four horsemen galloping across the world and wreaking havoc in the world, bringing the judgment of God.

We've been seeing this in every generation and see it now even today. So in Revelation seven, when we get to verse nine, we continue to read about the sixth seal. We're still in the sixth seal, taking us a while to get through it. But with verse 9, we shift from a scene directed toward the earth, 144, 000, who are being persecuted in the world. And the shift is from earth to heaven.

And I believe that these are the same people, the same group of people, but seen from different perspectives. You remember Revelation is pictorial theology. You have symbols, you have pictures, and It shows pictures of doctrinal truth. And so in these verses, the doctrine of heaven is pictured in symbols, painted in very rich and beautiful colors that are reflective of what John saw. And so we have this continuous way to understand revelation.

They are pictures. But beyond that, what's here is really part of the answer to a question. And that question is asked by terrified unbelievers. They want the rocks to fall upon them. They are so terrified at the wrath of God, literally they do not want to see the face of the lamb.

They do not want his face. And so they're crying out to God or rather the rocks that they would fall on them. And the question at the end of chapter six is who can stand? Chapter seven is an answer to that question who can stand and The first part of the chapter is the ones who stand are those who are sealed Who have the mark of the Holy Spirit? Who've been sealed for all eternity.

They're protected. There's nothing that can snatch them from God's hand. They are sealed. They're absolutely firmly and eternally sealed. So that's the context of where we are in Revelation.

So this is about heaven. People have been asking me, how are you doing Scott over the last few days? I've always said the same thing, I've been in heaven. I've been looking at heaven and as I was preparing to preach on heaven from Revelation 7, I opened up a book that I've had for many years about heaven called The Saints Everlasting Rest written by Richard Baxter and I pulled out an old copy that I have of that book and then I stumbled on J.I. Packer's summary of what Richard Baxter faced in his life.

It's very sobering. Baxter wrote Saints Everlasting Rest after losing everything and he had lost his church, he had lost everything that he owned because he wanted to continue to preach and the government would not allow him to do so. And so he is in seclusion and he writes the Saints Everlasting Rest. He wanted his view of earth to be from heaven and he felt like he needed to see heaven in order to walk in this wilderness wasteland that he was walking in. Maybe you feel the same way.

I hope you do. Here's what J.I. Packer said about Richard Baxter. Of all the great Puritan sufferers, and the Puritans as a body were great sufferers. None had a heavier load of pain and provocation to endure than he did.

He suffered throughout his adult life from a multitude of bodily ailments, a tubercular cough, frequent nosebleeds, bleeding from his fingertips, migraine headaches, inflamed eyes, all kinds of digestive disorders, kidney stones and gallstones and more. So that from the age of 21 he was as he says quote, seldom an hour free from pain unquote. He expected death constantly through the next 55 years of partial disablement before his release from earth finally came. Then after 1662, he suffered a great deal of hatred and harassment because he was a prominent nonconformist leader. This led to several arrests for preaching, some spells in prison, the confiscation of his goods to pay fines, including on one occasion the very bed on which he was lying, sick, and finally a trial, if it could be called that, before the appalling Judge Jeffries.

That's J.I. Packard describing Richard Baxter's life. In 1667, Saint's Everlasting Rest was published. And Baxter, during his exile, wanted to fix his mind on heaven and I want us to do the same thing. Another Puritan pastor, John Janeway, wrote to a friend that he was very much helped by Baxter's book.

He said that it helped him to dispel melancholy. You know what melancholy is? Well, it's discouragement. And there's nothing better for the soul to dispel discouragement than to get a vision of heaven. And so I know we, you know, people in our congregation struggle with different degrees of melancholy at different times in life.

Maybe you're going through a time of melancholy now, maybe it's deep. Thankfully we're all not going through melancholy at the same time, so that we can weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice as every church really ought to do. He said, John Janeway, he writes to his friend and he says that if we could walk with God, even one hour a day contemplating heaven, It would change our whole lives. So maybe that could happen here. Maybe the Lord has this before us for that reason.

You know as I was looking at Saints Everlasting Rest and I've gone through it at different times, You know back when Jenny Krauss was dying I found myself in Saints Everlasting Rest and trying to send her words out of that book. But Baxter uses a really striking example, an image to help us to understand how we can think about this life and how we respond to life's trials and the disappointments of this world. And he he pictures Moses, Moses on Mount Pisgah. You know, Moses in the very last day of his life God told him to write a song and then he went to Mount Pisgah to look over the Promised Land and he looked over the promised land. God was not gonna allow him to go into the promised land because he had sinned earlier.

Moses wanted to go to the promised land so badly he begged God numerous times, please let me go into the land and God wouldn't let him go. He's standing on Mount Pisgah and he looks over the land and that's the image that Baxter wants us to have in our minds and so he he pictures Moses going up to that mountain where he could see the wilderness behind him in other words he could see his life behind him and all of the trials and tribulations of the wilderness wanderings. And yet to turn around and see the promised land, to see the place that his people would be going. So Baxter says picture yourself like Moses and you're on Mount Pisgah and you're looking back on your life. I want you to do that this morning.

Look back on your life. Look back on the wilderness wanderings you've had so far but don't stay there. Turn around and look. Look at the promised land. You know one of the most remarkable parts of that narrative in Deuteronomy 34 is that Moses looks out on the promised land that he so longed to go to.

And then God took him to heaven. He took him there. He wanted to go, but he took him there. So Baxter writes, to stand on that mount where we can see the wilderness and Canaan both at once, to stand in heaven and look back on earth and weigh them together in the balance. Can you do that this morning?

Can you stand up on that mountain and look back on that journey that you're still on? Have your eyes fixed on heaven. Well I want us to do that today. You know, when you look back on your life, a real Christian has mixed emotions. They're so thankful that God has carried them so far.

So thankful that God has protected them from many things, but also there's sorrow and grief about the things that have happened and sins. You know, I had a person recently in my office really grieving about a sin of the past, long past, and I was studying this passage and I said well why don't you transport yourself ahead and I read in this text this is where you are This is where you're really going. Go there. Put those things behind you. Your robes are washed white and here before the throne of God.

So go up to that mountain, look back, look in front of you. And now, okay, I want to keep talking sort of globally about this passage. What is heaven like? Now we've just read about it, we'll continue to look at it more carefully but let's be very clear about something heaven is not a ghostly existence heaven is not an otherworldly non-physical existence Heaven is not just a mental state. Don't think of yourself like a ghost flying through the air.

Well, we don't know exactly what this looks like, but it's not only a spiritual state, it's a physical state, and that physical state has connections with this world. You just read about many of them. Heaven is not only spiritual, it's concrete. There are things that you see, things you touch, things you feel, you feel things. It's solid, It's visible.

There are multitudes of people there, people with new bodies. It's their own bodies, new bodies, but it's the body that they had only made new somehow. Things in heaven taste. Thirst is slaked in heaven. It's solid.

It's visible there is succulent fruit there there are beautiful trees there do you like to look at trees there's water there there's a real material natural environmental world that is heaven So don't think wrongly about heaven in that sense. And what the Lord has done is he's given us physical handles in the world, in the earth, to wrap our minds around heaven. And it's a land, it's like Canaan's land. And the descriptions of heaven in the Bible are very graphic, very physical, even emotional. And Baxter reminded me the imagery about heaven is designed to stir up our emotions and to enliven our senses about these kinds of things.

So let these images that we're about to go into jump start your emotions, help them you know really stimulate your imagination about God's kindness and you know enliven your thoughts. You know let your mind run about these remarkable images that are here. You know, fire up your emotions. Well, that's how Richard Baxter described this imagery. It should fire you up in that sense.

And he gives us pictures in order to do that. It's interesting, you know, you have these fruit trees that bear fruit in heaven, you know, every month. That's an image, you know, that's a picture. There's this, the sweetest, most succulent fruit is there. You know just yesterday downtown Wake Forest I went out and I and I bought a honeycomb.

I bought a honeycomb. Because I'm gonna cut it up and I'm gonna give my grandchildren pieces of it next week. Because the word of God is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Well, God has given us all these images on earth, really to point to beautiful, beautiful things. Now also you'll notice he uses what Baxter calls condescending language, but not not condescending language in the sense of arrogant or egotistical or patrony patronizing language, condescending language in the sense that he comes down to our level.

So God in describing heaven comes down to our level and he talks about things that are on our level, things that we already know about. And you know again God describes heaven by the things that we already love. Things like water and food and treasures and diamonds and crystals and singing and happiness. He's luring us. He's luring us from earth to heaven by giving us this array of beauty everywhere that we can look.

So heaven is like the earth but oh my so so so much better And he's given us these things on the earth. There's a proper love of the earth. There's a godly way to love the world. And there's an ungodly way to love the world. If your love for the world and the things that are in it draws you to heaven, then it's a godly love for the world.

Okay, let's get into the text. Let's do that. So you see this multitude before the throne, and verse 9, After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations peoples and Tongues standing before the throne and before them. Okay. This is a picture.

This is pictorial theology There are multitudes just picture yourself with multitudes of people. This is a visual, physical, you know, almost relational image that's here. And John is telling us what he saw. He's showing us pictures. See these words?

After these things, verse nine, I looked and behold. This is like a movie picture, okay? And he's telling us about these pictures. This is very characteristic of apocalyptic literature. In chapter one, verses one through three, we learn that you interpret the book of Revelation by looking at the symbols.

They are symbols. They're not necessarily literal. You have to understand that they are symbolic. And that's why at the beginning of this series we said Revelation is like a children's picture book of theology so I hope the children really get these pictures they're just absolutely remarkable I did hear someone say you should never preach on Revelation because there are too many scary characters there in that book. Well I don't agree with that at all.

I don't think you scare children with those things. You inform them of theology. So now I want to make an observation here about the verses that are ahead. I counted 25 things in heaven in this chapter, in this section that are common to earth. And In these, in just these few verses there are multitudes, nations, tribes, peoples, language, languages, clothing.

These are all common on earth. White robes, palm branches, loud voices, elders, all these are also on the earth. Living creatures, faces, robes, blood, all these are on the earth and heaven. Garments washed, garments clean, day, night, temple, hunger, thirst, heat, fountains, tears, All these things are on the earth and all of them I want to suggest to us as a congregation Let's learn how to look at all those things whenever they happen and think of heaven You see a tear Look up toward heaven You see blood be reminded that there's something greater here. So the things on earth are common to heaven and God gives us these things on the earth to point us toward heaven.

Oh that we would learn it. Oh if we were just more observant wouldn't we be so much happier if our eyes were more open just to see the wonders that God has placed before us to draw us not to worshiping the earth, but heaven and worship the worship of God in heaven. So God gives us all these things in the world for this purpose and these things are designed to activate our emotions to excite our thinking and to see the road signs that are placed in the world everywhere. The Lord wants us to know about heaven. And so he's placed all these things in the world.

You know, the Lord Jesus Christ so desired that his disciples would be with him in heaven. That's why, remember when we were in John 17, you know we were in the book of John just before this, and in John 17 the Lord Jesus Christ is praying out loud in front of his disciples. His disciples are hearing this prayer and he says, Father I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am That they may behold my glory Which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world The Lord Jesus wanted his disciples to be in this scene that's here. And notice they are before the lamb. These have delight in the face of the lamb.

Remember in chapter six at the end of it, those who wanted to flee from the face of the lamb, these are those who don't want to hide from his face. They want his full face. They want everything that he has. And so they love his appearing. And then you have this, it is a multitude which no one could number.

And then you have this language of all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues standing before the throne. Now there's a lot to say about this and I'm just gonna race through it but first it means first of all this means that the gospel is more powerful than any culture to save. The gospel is more powerful than any messed up family to save. The gospel is more powerful than any astray nation. God saves people out of every tongue, tribe, and nation.

Praise the Lord for that. He saves souls. You know, whatever your culture, whatever your family, whatever your language, whatever your shade of color, how you grew up, God can save you. He's not constrained by anything in this world, and He saves from every tongue and tribe and nation. There's no culture, there's no nation, there's no one that's out of the reach of God.

Another thing too is that this really means that the Abrahamic covenant, the promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 and just 15 it was successful the prophecy was fulfilled now you have the multitudes and you know Genesis 16 10 Genesis 32 12 Genesis 13 16 I'll stop right there but this promise has been fulfilled in Hebrews 11 will be in Hebrews 11 next week with Paul Carrington preaching. Hebrews 11, 12, therefore from one man, and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore there's not one culture not one language not nothing that will can restrain the saving power of Jesus Christ in Genesis 22 7 blessing I will bless you 22 17 blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice." Well, this is the multitude that God has assembled throughout the whole earth.

I love that song. I love that line in that song. Oh Lord, I wanna be in that number when the saints come marching in. And the Lord will gather his people. You know, they are a multitude, but the Lord knows every one of them.

2nd Timothy 2 19 this is nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands having this seal the Lord knows those who are his the Lord knows and you ought to know as well are you his so when you see this multicultural community around the world when you walk through this world and you see nations and tribes and peoples and tongues think of heaven think of heaven and then what what what do they look like before the Lamb? Look at the end of verse 9. There are two distinguishing marks. Both of these distinguishing marks in heaven you see on the earth. White robes and palm branches in their hands.

Those two things. That's what they look like. And they are clothed. God put clothing on them. This is what God does.

He clothes with robes of righteousness. Here these are white robes. You know back in the garden God put clothes on Adam and Eve. Why? To cover their shame.

There's a doctrine, there's a theology of clothing. Clothing is designed to cover your shame, not to expose it. And in the Bible, actually, Christians are marked by their clothing, even in heaven. Isn't that remarkable? Clothing has a double meaning.

Clothing adorns the gospel. If you want to check it out, go to 1 Peter 3, 3 through 4, 1 Timothy 2, 9 through 10. Clothing is an adornment of the gospel. Don't get dressed without thinking of the gospel. You're not dressing for your own glory or to please your friend.

You dress to please God. But in heaven, God clothes you with his robes of righteousness. In Isaiah 61 you find this, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with jewels.

I love that. I love that verse in Psalm, in Isaiah 61. When you see clothing, when you see a white robe, think of heaven. You'll see that on earth. You might as well think about heaven and be made happy by it.

And this is a picture of the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. You know I was thinking about that song Rock of Ages. Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress helpless look to thee for grace foul I to the fountain fly wash me Savior or I die wash me Savior or I die Well these are living before the throne of God they didn't die they had their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. They also have palm branches in their hands.

This is a picture of the Feast of Tabernacles. Palm branches in the Bible are symbols of victory in the Feast of Tabernacles which this is a picture of. This is Old Testament terminology. Leviticus 23 verse 40 is critical, Nehemiah 8, 15, Zechariah 14. This imagery is drawn directly from those passages of scripture in the Old Testament.

And of course, the Feast of Tabernacles was for the giving of thanks to God for his faithfulness in feeding them and giving them fruitful harvests and also from delivering them from Pharaoh, the abuser of their souls who never let them rest. The Feast of Tabernacles was for that and they went camping and they built booths. And I'm sure it was quite an experience. But they were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and God rescued them. And so they were commanded by God to have a feast called the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Booths to celebrate it.

So when you see a Christian who's rejoicing and has had a victory, It's as if with a palm branch in his hand. Think of heaven. Have you ever seen anybody rescued from the jaws of the devil? That happens on earth and you can rejoice in heaven. And what were they saying, verse 10?

Not just what they look like, what were they saying? Verse 10, well they were crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. So they're using this word, salvation. We throw this word around all the time. We have all this Christian lingo, you know.

We don't even think about it. Are you saved? Well, this is an act where God rescues you from peril. He snatches you out of a situation you couldn't get yourself out of. He delivers you from a direct threat and He brings you into a safe place.

That's what salvation is. Salvation Belongs to our God. That's what they're saying and the multitudes are singing it All they can think about is just how they've been rescued And that's what you'll think about in heaven. You'll see how God rescued you. And then there's a response in heaven.

You should have an outline in front of you and you can see how I've divided this. The multitudes are before the throne. That's verses 9 and 10. We just covered that Now we move to verses 11 and 12. This is the response of the heavenly beings so you have the multitude the people and then you have the heavenly beings and This is their response verse 11 all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures And fell on their faces before the throne.

They heard this and they fell on their faces And they and they said amen blessing and glory and wisdom thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever Amen, they're so excited. They can't they can hardly contain themselves because all these people have got saved They see just how good God was to rescue sinners and they can't contain themselves they're happy forever about it they're just amazed at God and this documents the heavenly response to the multitude who were saved And so who've you got before this throne? You have the people, you have the multitude, and then you have the angels, that's another category of being, and then you have elders and the creatures. And by the way, the people are not angels when they get to heaven. You know, you have people who say, well, my grandmother died, God needed another angel in heaven.

No, God did not need another angel in heaven. He created all the angels He needed and He made people. They're called multitudes. Angels are not the multitudes in this case here. And they are they are saying these things.

Now in verse 12, I want you to notice this, this is really interesting. There's a very unusual sentence structure that's found here. It's the only place in the Bible where at the beginning of this kind of doxology is the word amen and it's also at the end. That's one thing about it. It's at the beginning and the end.

No other place. And they are just saying, yes Lord, and then yes Lord to all these things. But notice you have this blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever. Well, in your Greek New Testament, the definite article appears before each one of these. But it's not in, and I don't know why it drops out in almost all the translations I looked at.

But the definite article is there. So you might just put a little asterisk before blessing. The blessing, the glory, the wisdom, the Thanksgiving, the honor, the power, the might. So these are very specific beautiful things that are being spoken of, of God. Blessing, that's to speak well of.

To glory, that's to have a high opinion of renown. For wisdom, it's knowledge and insight. Some children are named Sophia. It's wisdom. Thanksgiving, That's the word Eucharistio, which means to give thanks.

It's the word that's used for the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 10, 16. It's the cup of blessing with which we bless, with which we give thanks for. It's honor, the high appraisal of God, power, the capability of God, the might, the capacity of God be to our God forever and ever. And what a wonderful affirmation. Do you say that in your heart?

Does that resonate with you? That's what you want to say about God. Or are you running from God? There are really only two places to be. But when you, okay, so you see all these things that are on earth that are also in heaven.

So when you think of angels, and by the way We're told in Hebrews 11, don't forget to entertain strangers for by doing so, some of unwittingly entertained angels. When you see strangers, when you see elders, when you see living creatures on earth, think of heaven. Fix your eyes on Jesus who is before the throne. Someday you'll be there. And then one of The elders explains what has happened to the multitude in verses 13 through 17.

And there's an explanation of where this multitude came from. Then one of the elders, verse 13, answered, saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him, sir, you know, I think that was just a rhetorical question. So he said to me, these are those who came out of the Great Tribulation. So we learned that they came out of difficult times.

They passed through the Great Tribulation. Now this indicates that John believes that the tribulation has already begun. And there are many, I think, pointers to that, is the Great Tribulation different than the use of the word tribulation? I don't think, I don't, I'm not convinced there's a difference. I do think that as you get toward the very end, just before the Lord comes, there's an escalation of tribulation.

But I don't think he's talking about the last seven years of history here, when he talks about the Great Tribulation. They come from the tribulations that have always been on the earth. And John does believe that the tribulation has already come. We know that in John 16 33, Jesus warns his disciples that tribulation would be the normal experience of his people. He said, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

He said that recorded in John 16 33. In Acts chapter 14, the Apostles, they were preaching the gospel from city to city and there were many disciples, lots of persecutions and things like that. Paul's stone left for dead outside of Lystra. They were strengthening the souls, exhorting them to continue in the faith and Here's what the apostles said to them. We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.

That's the normal experience of the church. There will be many tribulations that will be part of your entry into the kingdom of God. In 1 Thessalonians 1 verse six, we learn that the experience of the Thessalonian church was an experience of tribulation, having received the word in much affliction and joy in the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 24 verse 21, Jesus warned his disciples, there will be great tribulation such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time. In other words from that time forward there will be greater greater tribulation and This is very easy to see in the letters to the churches.

You know, if you go back and look at the letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three, these were churches that were experiencing tribulation. Some were being killed. Many of them were not able to keep their jobs because the guilds would not allow them to because they worshiped Jesus Christ and they wouldn't play the game of Caesar. So this intense pressure is the normal experience. This is all prophesied in Daniel 11 and 12.

I'll just quote one line out of Daniel 12, one. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even at that time. And at that time, your people shall be delivered. So it's a picture of God's people being delivered. I don't believe people God's people are going to be raptured out of the world to be kept from trouble.

That's never happened and I don't think you can find a single shred of evidence in the Word of God. I'd like you to bring me a verse about that if you think that is the case. But when you experience tribulation, when you hear of tribulation, then think of heaven. Those who experience tribulation will be in heaven. And now not only have they come out of the great tribulation there's much more.

Again we return to clothing. They're clothed in a very distinctive way. They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And this is very striking, very unusual. You know, how do your clothes get clean from blood?

How does that happen? Well, this is the blood of the lamb. And let me just give you a quick, super quick theology of blood in the Bible. I'm going to give you five parts to the theology of the blood of the Lamb. First, it speaks of redemption.

Ephesians 1 7, we learn that we're released from our slavery to sin and redeemed by his blood. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. The Lord has mercy on sinners and he forgives them. Second, peace. In Colossians 1-21 we learn that his blood caused sinners to have peace with God For it pleased the father that in him all the fullness of the fullness should dwell Having made peace through the blood of the cross Thirdly purchase not just peace but purchase In Acts 20 28 we learned that the purchase price for our filthy souls was the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

He purchased us with his own blood. Acts 20 28. Fourth justified, Romans 5 9. We learned that we were judicially made not guilty and we were saved from the wrath of God by his blood. Much more than having now been justified by his blood.

We shall be saved from wrath through him. Fifth, washed. In Revelation 1-5 we learned that it was his love for us that made him wash us in the blood of the Lamb, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. This is wonderful. Redemption, peace, purchase, justification, washing.

And so that's what these garments are all about. They are a picture of his cleansing blood. You know, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? You know, Jesus said, apart from me you can do nothing. It's only the act of the sacrifice of the Son of God that anyone can be saved.

Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Wash me Savior or I die. Now there's a remarkable picture of this in Zechariah chapter 3 we won't go into it you might want to read it where you have the accuser of the brother and Satan he's opposing the high priest Joshua and his garments are filthy. And the Lord rebukes Satan. Take away the filthy garments from him.

See, I have removed your iniquity from you and will clothe you with rich robes and I said to him let him put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and they put clothes on him and the angel of the Lord stood by. This is what God does. He makes the filthy clean. All of your past, you know, think about your sins of the past. He makes them clean, they're clean.

He puts them as far as the east is from the west. He puts them in the bottom of the ocean. He throws them behind your back. He stomps them with his foot. That's what the Bible says about what God does with your sin.

So let them go. We're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper soon. And what a celebration it can be to celebrate such a blessing of the blood of the lamb. When you see filthy clothes, when you see clean clothing in this world, think of heaven. It's a picture of heaven.

And then what are they doing, verses 15 through 17? What in the world are they doing? They are before the throne. 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 dwell among them They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore the sun shall not strike them Nor any heat for the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

So there you have it. They are before the throne. That they and they are in his temple. Do you see that language in his temple? Oh that's a big subject.

A temple means this word here means to dwell, means dwelling place. A tabernacle, it's the same idea of a tabernacle, a dwelling place of God. When God sent his son, he tabernacled among us, he pitched his tent, he dwelt among us. He was here. So that's the reality of heaven.

He is there. The most loving, the most wise being in the entire universe is there. And you're before him. The Lord, and then it says, and the Lord is with him. He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

So you also have God the Father. This is a picture of the temple where there's the dwelling of God. Now the church is also called the temple of God. It's a place where God dwells. When we gather together, it's so important that we gather together because the Bible says that we are the temple of God.

We are the dwelling place of God, both individually and corporately. And so you have this very same kind of image. It's quoting Ezekiel 37, my tabernacle shall be with him, Ezekiel 37 verse 27. Indeed I will be their God and they shall be my people The nations also will know that I the Lord sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst Forever and when we get to Revelation 21, you'll see this awful. You'll see all these images fulfilled.

It's so remarkable It says and they shall serve him that means that they worship him This is the set. This is the the language of the worship of God your religious service of worship It's the way that you worship God. And then there's no more hunger or thirst. What in the world is that all about? You have no more hunger or thirst but yet you also have this fruit that's there and this water.

So I don't know if we can understand all that. I don't think we have to. When you read, they shall neither hunger nor thirst anymore, you know what that means. It's amazing. It's just something remarkably beautiful and good.

When you feel hunger or thirst, think of heaven. There's this thing that you have every day called hunger. I think it was put in you to point you to heaven. So you think about this right here. This is the reality of the universe.

The exact same language is found in Isaiah 49 verse 10 where the Lord, he's talking to his people and he acknowledges they used to be prisoners and they used to be in darkness. So that's what Isaiah, he's acknowledging that. And then he says what he's done for them. He says, They shall feed along the roads, their pastures shall be on all the desolate heists, they shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them. For he who has mercy on them will lead them even by the springs of water he will guide them.

I will make each of my mountains a road and my highways shall be elevated." Well the Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples he was the bread of life and he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. So it must be that kind of thirst that he's talking about. Jesus speaks about this again in Revelation 21. He says that he is the Alpha and the Omega in the beginning and the end. He says, I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

You find the same language in Psalm 36 verses 5 through 9. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house. And you give them drink from the river of your pleasures. For with you is the fountain of life. In your light we see light.

And then there's no more heat that's next the sun shall not strike them nor any heat when you feel heat think about heaven And then you have a shepherd for the lamb, verse 17, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them and lead them to fountains of waters. Ezekiel 34 has the same language. Isaiah 40 has the same language. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young.

Behold your God before the throne of God and this whole matter of God as our shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ as the good shepherd. You know where does your mind go? My mind went straight to Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

And you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever That's called heaven And he will not quit shepherding you once you get to heaven. When you die. You're going to die someday. And then no more tears. No more tears.

He mentioned six things, this is the sixth. Why is this the last one? Maybe it's because it's the one that hits us all right between the eyes. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. In Isaiah 25 verse 8 the Lord says, he will swallow up death forever and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces.

So have you had tears? Have you ever had to pass the Kleenex? When you see the tears or have the tears, lift up your eyes to the hills from which your help comes. Lift your eyes up to heaven. God has given us so many pointers to heaven.

And then there's silence in heaven. Verse 8, when he opened the seventh seal there was a silence in heaven for about half an hour. We'll explain this in more detail when we come back to Revelation. Whatever this is, it takes everybody's breath away and they're speechless. We'll elaborate on that later on.

So stand on that mountain, get up on that mountain like Moses. Look back, look back on your wilderness wanderings, But don't stay there. Turn toward Canaan's land. Look out after that beautiful picture of the presence of God. When you're preaching you're always trying to figure out what you're not going to say.

Let me just wind this up with something that Philip Dodridge said. He once told a friend that he had a dream of heaven. Then he wrote later on, he wrote, May I pass through earth with my heart and hopes set on heaven. I feel the attraction stronger and stronger as I approach nearer and nearer to that center we seek until that happy moment comes, when every earthly object disappears from view, and the shining glories of the heavenly world will fill my improved and strengthened sight. So take to heart the promises, And when you see the hills and the valleys and the clusters of grapes and you see the tears and you see the water and you see the bread and the milk and the honey and the gates, Think of heaven.

God has put all these things here for us. So I pray that our time in this section of scripture that describes heaven would make us more heavenly minded and abundantly more earthly good. And that God would use all the things in this world, not that we would make them idols and cling to them, but they would make us cling even more to the Lord Jesus Christ and his Father in heaven. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, we thank you for this vision of heaven. We thank you for giving us these very tangible and real things to teach us what is real for all eternity. We're so amazed at the way you've constructed the world and how you have saved sinners through the blood of your son. Lord, make us such a happy people in the sight of heaven. Amen.