Heaven | Revelation 7:9-17 | Sermon by Pastor Colin Smith

last week I had I think the toughest assignment that can ever be given to a preacher to speak from the Bible about hell and this week I have the greatest joy that could ever be given to a pastor and that is to speak to you from the Bible about heaven in in a strange way one finds oneself with a similar sense of overwhelming aw as hell is almost too awful to describe heaven is almost too wonderful it is beyond what we are able to truly comprehend and yet certain things are told to us and they are told to us because we need to lay hold of them and to live in the light of them your future life will not be as it is now think of it this way your life today is a kind of middle life that's what it is because all of us are on the way either to something that is infinitely better or we are on the way to something that is infinitely worse people sometimes in our culture like to talk about living your best life now think about that living your best life now that is only possible if you are going to hell that is only possible if you're going to hell if hell is your future your best life is now better make the most of it but if heaven is your future your best life is still to come my friend for a person outside of Christ this life is as good as it's ever going to get but for a person who is in Christ your pain in this world is the only pain you will ever experience your struggles in this world are the only struggles you will ever endure this is as tough as it gets for you because your future is absolutely glorious think of it this way without Christ without Christ this world is as near as you'll ever get to heaven the best you'll ever see with Christ this world is the closest you'll ever get to hell it's the worst you'll ever see because ahead of you lies that which is absolutely glorious and I want you to open your Bible with me at revelation and chapter 7 so that we can look at it together now just to remind you as many of you know these things while already the Apostle John who penned this revelation that was given to him was suffering in a brutal prison on an island called Patmos and on a particular Sunday he tells us that he was in the spirit that is God's Spirit came upon him and the Spirit of God gave to him this glorious glimpse of heaven itself God as it were pulled back the curtain for this man who was suffering so much and opened heaven itself and God gave this revelation that John recorded as he saw it in in the book not only for this one man in his prison on Patmos but he was told to write it down because God was giving this revelation for us and that is why he has preserved it even for us today so I want us to join John as we open the Bible and to look at what he saw verse 9 of Revelation in Chapter 7 he saw a great multitude after this I looked and behold a great multitude try and picture this now as John saw it a great multitude and it's so many that no one could number them and they come see their faces from every nation and from every tribe and from all peoples and from all languages now think about this John must have felt so alone in that prison one believer and he's worked so hard in evangelism he's labored for a long time in the church that was at Ephesus that town where there was so much adore I da Latorre so much resistance to the gospel not easy to plant a church in Ephesus and God did a great work but after a time you know that the first love of the believers at Ephesus it began to go cold and and so here were Christians with a low spiritual temperature and there's so much to discourage John and here he is on the island prison this is the Alcatraz of the ancient world folks in prison on the island and the risen Christ comes near to this man who has endured so much and Christ is saying to men effect now John I've got something you have to see you have to see this and John looks and what does he see there is this vast crowd of people he says that no one could number and they come from every nation friend if you are the only Christian in your family and you often feel alone you need to see this if God has made you a light in a very dark place that are not so many Christians around you in your place of work or in your place of study you really need to see this if you have been laboring in the work of evangelism laboring in the cause of mission and sometimes you get discouraged you need to see this this vast crowd and where are they they're standing before the throne and before the lamb this vast multicultural crowd of people who've been redeemed by Christ through the gospel they are in the presence of Jesus and he sees something else he notices that they are clothed in white robes and they have palm branches in their hands so John is struck not only by how many they are but he's also struck by how when they are white robes not a stain not a hint of a spot on any single one of them and they have pan broken branches which are the sign of joy and victory so this is a scene of celebration these people were told verse 10 they're crying out with a loud voice they're singing they're shouting salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and as John looks at the scene and I hope you're trying to picture it in your own mind as you look at the Bible in this very moment he sees at the center of this vast crowd that no one can number he sees at the center of the one who is called the Lamb of God and his glory is inexpressible and immediately around him at the center of this great scene that are the angels and then there are elders and then he tells us there are four living creatures and all of them are caught up in the joy of this worship that rises from the vast crowd and then suddenly out of the picture one of the elders close to Jesus speaks to John that must have taken him completely by surprise you know he's watching he's spectating he's an observer and then suddenly someone comes out of the picture as it were and speaks to John and he asks him a question and he says who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come you get John sense of shock in that verse he says one of the elders were speaking to me I mean as if I knew and so John takes a page out of Ezekiel's book do you remember in the story of Ezekiel in the Old Testament God showed a vision to that man a vision of dry bones and asked a question can Kandi's bones live and Ezekiel said well God you know and so when John was asked the question he does exactly Sammy takes a page out of Ezekiel's book and verse 14 he says sir you know and that leads the elder who is right next to Jesus there to become the voice that tells John and therefore tells us who these people are who are in heaven that's something we all desperately need to know and what that experience of heaven is actually like and it's all here for you in Revelation in chapter 7 let's look at the people in heaven we learn two things about them here's the first that they have been crushed that's the first thing that John is told who are these people there are people who have been crushed they are the ones the elder says coming out of the Great Tribulation now it may be that there is a reference here to 7 years of tribulation that take place in the end times but it cannot possibly be limited to that because God's people endure tribulation trials suffering affliction in every generation John was experiencing it while he saw the vision jesus said in John chapter 16 and verse 33 he said while you are in this world you will have tribulation that's what he said now all of us know what it is to face trouble in this world and therefore this immediately connects with us here's this crowd that they're full of joy but John the elder says to John the first thing you need to know is that every one of them have come out of crushing experiences in life just as you may be experiencing crushing things in your life today they've been crushed so important for us just in this one congregation this one congregation one church in the last few weeks we have wept with parents who have lost a six-year-old child we have wept with middle school and college student whose mother died after a cancer diagnosis just six months earlier we've seen people in the prime of their life struck down with terminal cancers and we ask the question why is it that so many bad things seem to happen to so many good and wonderful people and I cannot give you an answer to that question but I can tell you that the most godly people sometimes endure the most terrible suffering look at Jesus utterly unbearably crushed the holy son of God but Jesus is not in the crusher now see that's what the book of Revelation is about Luke John look at Jesus not on the cross not with nails through hims hands and through his feet he's at the center he's on the throne and he's sharing the joy of this vast vast vast company of people he's with them and they are with him and every one of the people in this crowd in heaven they've all been crushed but none of them are being crushed now now listen you may be facing a time of great crushing in your life today and this is why you need the book of Revelation some of you face responsibilities in your work that way heavy upon you other people don't easily understand the weight that you carry you feel sometimes like you are tied to a whipping post and it feels crushing some of you struggle with depression you might be surprised to know how many others in the Congress and share that with you a darkness comes upon you and it just will not seem to lift your mind is always troubled you feel crushed by the weight of this for some of you you face great pain and great difficulties in your home a husband wife children home used to be the place for you where you would go and rest now the only time you find rest is when you're away look at this vast crowd of people in heaven all of them have been crushed that's the first thing the elder tells John none of them are crushed now all of them have come out of Great Tribulation but they are now before the throne of God and they're singing and they're full of joy and they are adoring the lamb and one day John as you languish on the Isle of Patmos you will be there too that's the point isn't it and one day my friend is you face that great pressure in your work one day as you're facing and enduring and honoring Christ through that great difficulty in your family one day as you go on struggling through the darkness that you may have to bear for a time one day you will be there too they've been crushed but look at them now here's the second thing that John learns from the elder not only have they been crushed but the people who are in the presence of Jesus they're they've been cleansed look at verse 14 they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb now here's the second really important thing you need to know about people in heaven they are all people who needed to be washed every one of them they've washed their robes in other words all of them came to a place of knowing and understanding that they needed in some way shape or form to be washed now I try and connect this back to John on his Island prison he was confined to what would have been a grubby cell and I don't suppose for a moment that the Patmos Penitentiary had much of a laundry service what do you think so what kind of clothes do you think that John was wearing as he saw this glorious vision and the brightness of this pure white and these robes that covered these folks from head-to-toe there John is in his own filthy clothes on a Sunday morning and God opens a glimpse of heaven to him and he sees the people of God and they're dressed in this marvelous white pure white brilliant pristine from top to toe the robes of course speak of purity john sees and recognizes immediately as you will see that this is saying that is not a hint of a stain on even one of these people in the presence of Jesus and this is a marvelous picture of what Jesus Christ does for our souls so our souls get steamed they get soiled they get grubby you get grubby in this world because of our sinful thoughts and because of our sinful deeds and our souls get messed up in so many ways and they make you feel don't they like you really don't belong in the presence of God and you say in your more honest moments though in this country so many fancy themselves in heaven you say in your more honest moments I find it difficult to think of myself there I know my own heart and here John sees these folks and they've been washed notice how they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb this is very important they did not wash their robes in the tribulation is he think about this soft some people have the idea that suffering makes you pure and holy you know suffering in and of itself doesn't make anyone pure and holy suffering may bring out the best in you suffering may bring out the worst in you suffering sometimes can reveal hidden sins and secret resentments they did not wash their robes in their own suffering there's nothing purifying about suffering in and of itself no one gets perfect through pain how did they wash their robes they wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb what does that mean Jesus is the Lamb of God the Bible says who takes away the sins of the world and when he hung on that cross his blood was shed and when a person comes to Christ as you could come to Jesus Christ today if you have not come already when a person comes to Jesus Christ in faith and in repentance the shed blood of Jesus gets applied to that person's life and here in the miracle of God the shed blood of Jesus will make you clean that's the promise of the Bible now this is an extraordinary thing because blood normally Sting's doesn't it I cut myself bloodstains but this blood the blood of the Lord Jesus client Christ cleanses from every sting and these white robes then are a wonderful picture of the purity that will be yours in heaven that belongs to every person who is in Jesus Christ right now when you come to faith in Jesus the guilt of your sin is removed that's why there's no condemnation for you you don't need to live in fear any longer right now when you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the power of sin is broken here's what that means there is no sin there is no temptation that you cannot overcome with the help of the Holy Spirit this week I'll say that again the power of sin is broken what that means is this there is no sin there is no temptation that you cannot overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit this this week but friends you don't need to be a Christian for terribly long and you don't even need to know yourself terribly well to know that sin itself remains present in every Christian throughout our life in this world but not forever now forever we need to be washed now who does the washing now watch this in the Bible because the answer might surprise you who does the washing answer we do that's the answer here they have washed their robes now of course Christ is the one who washes the soul Christ and his blood is the one by whom our souls are made clean and the Bible speaks about how Christ washes us again and again and again but here we're told something else that all of us need to know they have washed their robes that means that everyone who is in heaven has done something about their condition they saw that they needed to be washed they realized that even at their best their attempts at living a life that would be pleasing to God are not going to amount to very much more than filthy rags they came to believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the means by which he takes it away is through his shed blood being applied to a person who is bound to him by faith and therefore the kinter they came to him and all their guilt and they came to him in repentance and they came to him in faith and they prayed like David prayed in Psalm 51 he said this purge me and I shall be clean wash me and I will be whiter than snow now here's what John is discovering every person in heaven has come to Jesus Christ in that way which raises the question if you come to Jesus Christ in this way they washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb that's how they made the robes white that's why they're in the presence of Jesus they washed their robes in the blood of the lamb is that something you have done or not now at this point you must be clear and if you're not clear plead with you to become clear by coming to Jesus Christ tonight is this something you have done have you come to see your own need of a savior have you come to recognize that Jesus Christ is the savior that you need have you come to him in faith and in repentance and with whatever is in your life and asked in to cleanse you ask him to make you his own and is there the evidence in your life today that you have done this are you pursuing a holy life which is the evidence that a person belongs to Jesus without that what right have you got to claim that your is my friend don't be passive they washed their robes they did not simply feel bad about themselves they did something they came to Jesus other people around you are washing their robes in the blood of Christ why not you why not you they've been crushed these people in heaven and they've been cleansed so two things you need to know about the people in heaven and now that at home verse 15 he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence there that in the shelter and the shelter is God himself God as it were spreads his wings over them so that they are included and they are under his fatherly care in his protection forever and forever literally this verse says God Himself spreads his tent over them isn't that great picture you go to the campsite you spread out the tent and the tent comes over you you are inside you're not outside you're included jesus said that heaven is my father's house and if God is your father then heaven is your home and there may be some times when you don't feel at home on earth or some folks don't feel at home in their own bodies I'll tell you if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ you will be at home in heaven some folks may find at times that they they just don't feel completely at home even amongst other Christians you wonder about that tell you if you're in Jesus Christ you will be at home in heaven heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people and those who were washed in the blood of Christ will feel at home in his presence so here are the people John says there's a vast vast company off them now what are they doing what is this life the beyond the many troubles and the crushing experiences that you may go through life in this life if you're washed in the blood of Christ and you finally arrive in your heavenly home what can you anticipate that now look at what it says it's it's marvelous this is three observations number one in heaven you will serve God as you always wished you could verse 15 they are before the throne of God and they serve Him day and night in his temple friends every Christian serves Christ but no Christian serves Christ as we would want to serve Christ none of us does every Christian knows what it is to worship but have you ever really worshiped as you would like to worship don't you find that there is this great conflict within you don't you find yourself at times asking why is my heart so sluggish why is it that when the mercy and grace of God is poured out to me in such abundance that sometimes my response is so restrained so calculating why is that you know that we find in this life a conflict within ourselves and it's always going on the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and we throw ourselves into serving Christ and living for Christ we get tired we get discouraged we get bogged down in our unsolved problems and in our unanswered questions and we live below the level that even in our own hearts we would want to live for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ but it will not always be so in heaven you will serve God as you always wished you could look at it day and night there's no tiredness there and here we go through seasons of feeling distant from God we have times when we say oh I longed for a new and a fresh experience a fresh touch from God but here in heaven you will be before his throne and you will be with and you will enjoy him and it will be forever in heaven you will serve Christ as you always wished you could then notice this that in heaven Christ will lead you into ever-increasing joy I'll try to take this in look at what it says verse 16 the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd and he will guide them into Springs of living water now you may think well heaven is a wonderful place what I'm going to discover all kinds of marvelous things be very reasonable for you to think that John is saying to you it's much better than that because what's missing in saying heaven is a wonderful place and I'm going to discover all kinds of wonderful things what's missing or rather who's missing Jesus and you see at the very center of the life of heaven what John is telling us here the Lamb himself will be their Shepherd the active involvement of your Lord Jesus Christ who you trust and love and worship and serve right now the active and imminent involvement of Christ in your life he's the shepherd he's your shepherd now if you belong to him and he'll be your shepherd forever that's why the people in heaven are never hungry verse 16 and he leads them he feeds them what Christ does for us on earth he will do in new and wonderful and glorious ways in heaven the lamb will be their Shepherd and notice what it says he guides them to Springs of living water in other words the great joy of heaven will be that the Lord Jesus himself will lead you into ever-increasing delight he'll lead you into it so what is being described here is not a static kind of experience but a living relationship and the life of ongoing new fresh discovery that's why you can never be bored in heaven maybe you have found a place that you like to go for a vacation and because you like it you go back and then you go back and every year you go back and 20 years later you've gone back every year and and now you just about know everything that there is to know about that place you still go back because you enjoy it but there's no rest wrong that you've not been to no shop you've not bought something no hotel you've not stayed in you will never get there in heaven heaven will be an infinite world of new discoveries and Jesus Christ will unfold them to you sinter Thomas Boston I have a couple of quotes here that have helped me and I want to give them to to stretch your imagination in a biblical way today Boston says the divine perfections that's all of the perfection of God all that God is will be an unbounded field in which the glorified shall walk eternally seeing more and more of God since they can never come to the end of the infinite they may bring their vessels to this ocean every moment and fill them with new waters you see that's what it's saying here to Springs of living water I'm always in a fresh way experiencing the one God of the universe and yet like a spring of living water it's always fresh and always new donald McLeod who spent his life teaching in a seminary and noticed that there were a lot of Christians who seemed to have the idea that heaven was going to be a kind of eternal seminary where you did nothing but study books of theology and just to help people get delivered from that kind of misconception this great Bible teacher pointed to the Garden of Eden and he says of the garden it was no mere seminary think of this the Garden of Eden it offered scope for art and science and technology as well as theology the same he says will doubtless be true of the world to come not only the Creator but the creation to will be an object of wonder to the redeemed it will challenge their intellects it will fire their imaginations it will stimulate their industry the scenario he says is a thrilling one brilliant minds powerful bodies and a transformed universe that's what lies ahead of you and this joy will go on increasing forever you see how is that possible well just think about this I can't explain how it's possible but think about this you take out a photograph album or you review your photographs they're on on your computer and you look at things that happened years ago and they were wonderful things and even looking at the pictures of them your memory is stirred and you still derive joy from things that happened a year ago or 10 years ago or 20 years ago they're part of the fund of joy that God has poured into the richness of your life here in this world now says Jonathan Edwards do you think that it would be any less in heaven there is an accumulation of ever fresh discoveries of the joys and the glories of God and of his new creation Jesus Christ leading you into ever unfolding new delights of his glory and Edwards ask this question think about what that will be like after a million million ages cumulatively then I quote their knowledge will increase to eternity and if their knowledge then their holiness for as the increase in the knowledge of God they will see more of his beauty and the more they see of his beauty the more they will love him and the more they love God the more delight and the more happiness they will have in him you see what he's describing he is describing exponentially increasing joy what will that be after a million million ages in heaven you'll serve God as you always wished you could in heaven the Lord Jesus Christ your Shepherd will lead you into ever-increasing joy and then heaven lastly all your wounds will finally be healed verse 17 God will wipe away every tear from their eyes every tear notice that it's one word I underlined I you want to underline just about all the words in this passage every T and literally what this says is every tear out of their eye as if not only were the tears being removed but the dots as well the the source that produces the tears is now being wiped out of their eyes that's why I say here in heaven all your wounds will finally be healed all that produces tears in this world as far as you are concerned the baggage that you carried and you sought to make progress by faith through your life in this world but in some sense there was baggage that you carried and you never quite completely shook it off no baggage there it's gone the temptations that you battled you made progress sometimes you had great failures that caused you such disappointment no battles now the pain that you suffered the questions you faced john sees the glory of heaven in the presence of jesus and the glory of the new creation but like a drumbeat alongside the description of that glory you have in the scriptures this almost relentless statement of what will not be there no death no mourning no sins to confess no temptations to overcome no sickness to suffer no depression to bring darkness no pain to endure no crosses to carry no fears for you to face all your questions answered all your doubts resolved these people have been crushed but look at them now that's the point you look at them because if you have been washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ it will not be long until you are there - and that's what gives you strength to endure when you're stuck on an island prison or whatever it is that is the most crushing experience of your life today God will wipe away all tears from your eyes also look at what lies ahead of you and it will help you to live today Donnell MacLeod one more quote reminds us that heaven is our father's house and he says this I find it helpful what a grief it must be to God that so few of his children want to go home here we are in enemy territory amid the sufferings of the present time beset by sin and seeing our fathers name dishonored all around us and yet we want to stay he recalls Paul's longing to depart and to be with Christ which you remember he says in Philippians is better by far and then Paul says yet I got to be building and I've got to be ready as someone who's been given responsibilities as all of us have been given responsibilities by God in this world that got to be ready to stay and continue and to serve the church until the day when he calls me home and McCloud says this surely is the healthy Christian attitude willing to stay for the sake of the work still to be done but longing to get home willing to stay for the sake of the work that still needs to be done where the God still has for you to do but in your heart of heart with a taste of heaven longing to be home serving Christ in will be your great delight in heaven so find joy by serving him now following Christ will lead you into Springs of living water in heaven so find life by following Christ now Christ will be the one who wipes every tear from your eye so find comfort by drawing near to Jesus Christ now father please help us to absorb just something of the glory that lies ahead of the redeemed for the sake of Jesus in his name we pray and everyone said you

Channel: Unlocking the Bible

Views: 23,449

Rating: 4.7156396 out of 5

Keywords: unlocking the bible, colin Smith, sermon on heaven, sermons on heaven, heaven, bible heaven, holy, Bible, heaven and hell, sermons, Jesus, Christ, God, what is heaven like, where is heaven, is heaven real, what is heaven, what does bible say

Id: CZVEcZHG7d8

Length: 46min 0sec (2760 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 09 2012