Revelation 7:2-17
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,saying, “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, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have 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 shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The first reading for All Saints Day comes from Revelation chapter seven, verses two through 17. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God. And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, Do not harm the earth, or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad, 12,000 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Isa car 12,000. From the tribe of Zebulun 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice. Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worship God saying, 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 clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation, they have 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 shelter them with his presence, They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Here ends the reading. This first reading is from Revelation, and it's for the readings for All Saints Day, All Saints Day is a day when we remember all the Christians who have gone before us all those who have died and the faith, which is why we have this reading about all nations gathered around the throne. I think the first thing that is interesting and possibly confusing, is the number of people who are sealed. And being from the tribes of Israel, we see this number of 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. And then it goes on to say 12,000 from each tribe Judah Rubin, gab, Asher, Naphtali, Manasa, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. We have to remember that in the book of Revelation, it's something called apocalyptic literature. And so the numbers and ideas and images and visions we see all represent other things. In the Bible, the number 12 is the number of wholeness or fullness. And so we get this 12,000, which is the number 12 times 1000 from each tribe, which means we get 12 times 12,000, or 144,000. And so it's not just it's not a number, that is to say, only 144,000 are saved, but something very simple and wonderful. The whole fullness of God's people. It's the full number 12 times 12,000, which is the full number times 1000 To make the full number, a massive, complete everything number of all of God's people who've been gathered together around the throne. And we see again that they come from every nation as it were beads. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, and from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. And so on All Saints Day, we celebrate that God gathers all his glorious people together around the lamb, from every nation, that these are all people in history, every nation, tribe, language and people. And to reminds us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about the your ethnic origin, or skin color or anything like that. It is all about the gospel. And it breaks through all of these barriers to gather us around the throne of the Lamb, and addresses us in white robes of Christ's righteousness. And everybody sings and shouts, they say Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Later on, we see one of the elders go up to the author, John, and it asked him a question, Who are these clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The Great Tribulation, well, that's life. These are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation, we are all facing the Great Tribulation, the challenges and difficulties of facing a world filled with sin, death, and the devil. And all of us who have been baptized into Christ had been baptized into our Savior, which means that we have washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. Jesus has come to save us. And so all of our loved ones who have died in the faith that we remember on this All Saints Day, all of them go on before us and have made it out of the Great Tribulation, they stand around the throne of God, and they wait for the day that Jesus will return. And that is what this final song ends up pointing us to. It says, 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 shelter them in his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. And he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Now, many of you know that I came from northern Wisconsin, and I didn't really understand the biblical allusions to the sun being scorching until I moved to California. Out there we get we get clouds, it must be like 300 300 days a year, it feels like sometimes. And so when the sun comes out, we love it and we go out and we bask in it, we enjoy it. And if, if you're going to be out there all day, you start to put on sunscreen, but here in California, the sun is out to kill you. Like I put on sunscreen every single day. And I think that's what I'm thinking of when we we see this, this look forward to the day that Christ returns. And it's not just the sun, but there's no hunger, no thirst, no scorching heat. And God will lead us to springs of living water and wipe away every tear from every eye. Both those who are in heaven around the throne of the lamb right now and we who's who are waiting for his return. Know that that is what's coming when Jesus returns on the last day. That's it for this reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai