Who are these in white robes? A Meditation on Revelation 7 for All Saints Day

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great

multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and

kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,

and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms

in their hands…

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and

have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood

of the Lamb.

At various times in my life, I have found it too easy to be absorbed in my own temporary problems.  For whatever reason, it seems a perennial mark of the whole human race to think that they—whatever group of individuals, in whatever time or place they find themselves—are the focus of all meaning in the universe.  If my day goes badly, the coffee is missing, the beer is poor, I missed my breakfast, had a cold or flu, or whatever it was that captured my attention, my temptation is to call out to God and ask how such calamities should befall me, and then beg His divine intervention to save me from the troubles which beset me.  Somehow, in my little brain I see the issues of my life as paramount in the world around me, and the key to understanding the whole scope of the world’s current tumult. 

But of course, this is insanity.  It refuses to see the greater swath of the current moment across all time and space, or to see the current moment in the broad sweep of history.  It fails to note that I am one small person amongst billions in the world at this very moment, and amongst uncounted masses who have populated the earth from its beginning to its end.  When taken together in the context of what is happening to people across all the continents and nations of the world, what is the significance of my particular cup of coffee?  When measured against the whole host of nations which have ever risen or fallen, what is the significance of my car problems, or traffic patterns, or my property value, or my fraternal associations, or my retirement account?  The twisted reality of my sinful nature causes me to always see the world and all creation through my own distorted lens.  I, like every fallen human being to populate this world, tend to see myself at the center of creation, and the summit of God’s interest.  In fact, my selfishness and pride have a deep root in my fallen nature, and reveal that I am more inclined to worship myself than the only true God.

On a more positive note, however, our personal calamities have a way of cutting through our delusions.  When we are sick, or persecuted, or slandered, or oppressed by forces we cannot resist, we are brought to know the limits of ourselves.  When we are throwing up in the bathroom, wasting away from disease or chronic malady, scorned by friends and enemies, we must see ourselves as we really are:  broken, finite, fallen, and dying.  Ultimately we are reminded that we did not come into the world by our own will or power, and nor shall we by our own will or power remain.  We are not in control of the world, or the great rolling river of history.  We are not the center of the cosmos, and we are not the measure of whether things are going well or poorly in it.  We are but brief wisps of smoke in the maelstrom of time as it passes upon this globe, like the flowers which bud and fade by season.

This would of itself be enough to drive anyone to despair.  If we are but a short burst upon the stage, what point is there to life at all?  Why bother building homes, or cities, or civilizations, or even propagating the human race, if we know that all our efforts are shortly fated to destruction?  It is a word of eternal law to us, that the holiness and righteousness of God’s eternity is incompatible with our sinful, prideful, selfish delusions of grandeur, and the judgment of that law upon us is cast in the inescapable script of death.  To escape our delusions of self deity and self importance, only to find ourselves stripped bare, facing death and eternal judgment before the only true God, is no solace.  Neither the delusion of our own making, nor the holy law of God’s own speaking, is a comfort to suffering and dying people; one drives off the cliff of eternity blindly, while the other is pushed over the cliff against its will, but both find that the only inexorable end of our sinful condition is death.

But thanks be to God, there is another Word He has spoken to us.  It is a Word He has been speaking since our fall into sin, and a Word He brought forth in the Person of His Son—a Word made flesh to dwell among us, to be the propitiation for our sins, and to restore to us eternal life in place of our death.  It is a Word of Gospel which declares the sinner forgiven for the sake of Jesus’ sacrificial death upon His Cross; a grace received only by faith in the Savior who has won it for us, and delivers it to us.  This Word of Gospel cuts through the delusions of our grandeur, and satisfies the curse of the law.  It restores to us a vision of life which endures forever, and which cannot be contained by death.  This Word is salvation and life, our rescue from the condemnation of time’s unyielding flow, by hiding our lives in the transcendent and eternal life of Jesus Christ.  It is a Word which makes us heirs of God’s Eternal Kingdom, and eternal citizens of His holy nation.

And it is a Word which calls together all people of every tribe and tongue, time and place, into one great throng of people saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.  It is a Word which calls, gathers, and enlightens Christ’s people into One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church which abides forever in Him as His very Body.  It is a Word which reaches down and enlivens dying sinners in the midst of their great tribulation, washing their sullied robes until they are white and spotless in the shed Blood of the Lamb.  It is a Word that endures forever, lavashing forgiveness and life upon His people, who by His Word and His grace shall also endure forever.

Rather than being victims of our own delusions, or despairing before the just judgment of death upon our sin, we are called and gathered by grace through faith in this Word of Gospel into forgiveness, life, and salvation.  By this Word of Gospel we lift our eyes and see this same great throng of every tribe and nation, their sins washed clean by Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice, and find ourselves standing among them.  Here is the patience, the peace, the victory, and the exultation of the saints—united across time and space to the eternal grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  Here the Christian takes refuge in every storm, every persecution, and even our final struggle through the portal of death.  Here the Christian remains steadfast upon the Rock of his salvation, though nations, churches, and the whole world give way.  Here we sing with one voice to our one Savior an eternal song of praise.  Hear the Word of the Lord, and the never ending song of His saints—repent, believe, and live.  Amen.