Title: You have been washed clean in the blood of Jesus!
Text: Rev 7:9-17
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 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 list of departed Saints in the bulletin is a list of active members here at Peace who are now resting in the arms of Jesus. I’d like to tell you about one, Hilda Kline.
The back corner of the church will never quite be the same. It was where Hilda sat – some time by herself and many times with her family. It is where she got up to go sing with the choir - when we had a choir - and when she was able. It is where her walker rested when she sat in the pew when walking became difficult, and it is where the wheelchair was placed when it became her mode of transportation.
I would go and visit her at Autumn Ridge – her home away from home -asking how she was doing … she would always say in mock consternation: “They’re always pushing me around!” Referring to her wheelchair and the way she needed to go. A slight smile coming across her face – like it was the first time she thought it or said it. As I would wheel her to her room or to a guest room to talk, she might exclaim, “See, you’re pushing me around too!”
Hilda was a fixture in my life here at church in many ways. Not only as pastor but for many years as a member here, singing in the choir or leading bible study that she always attended when able, or singing at her beloved home where the Christmas Caroling was made that much better because Hilda joined in to sing with us and we received some of her famous cookies.
Our first reading today gives us a picture of eternity:
9 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, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 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, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
This heavenly picture has some wonderful and awesome truths depicted as well. There is an uncountable multitude – more than you can even imagine. This multitude is made up of people like you and me … real flesh and blood people. And they come from every nation and tribe – people from around the world – dressed not in the rags of their own unrighteousness but covered in white robes, the robes of Christ’s righteousness … and carrying palm branches!
Wow! It sounds like Heaven is a very real place too. Because to speak of palm branches … we might reasonably assume palm trees, but the image that also comes to my mind is the glorious ride of Christ into Jerusalem and the waving of palm branches by the people:
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt 21:9)
Their cries of welcome led up to the cries of “Crucify Him” and the cross of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and now these cries of death are completed in the heavenly cries of glory in the gathering of the multitude before the throne of grace who have been brought to faith in this same Jesus Christ, crying:
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
What had been anticipated before the cross is now fulfilled.
What had been a triumphal entry for Jesus is now a triumphal fulfillment for you and me though the cross of Christ and though you - of many faces are many - you have been adopted into God’s family and are now His child, a child of His own choosing.
That is the good news for you too. God knows you are His child. To see you is to see Christ. Though we are born in sin and death awaits us all, we are made new, washed clean and adopted into Christ by the working of his Holy Spirit.
As I continued to visit Hilda in her final year her son Jim texted me that she wasn’t doing well one evening and I replied that I would go in the morning for a visit. When I got there at 10:45 Hilda was laboring. The aftermath of her stroke had taken her smile and banter away. As I sat by her bedside I read her the 23rd Psalm – one of her favorites and then these four Psalm passages:
Psalm 4:8 (ESV)
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
27 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 31:5 (ESV)
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
Psalm 73:26 (ESV)
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
I prayed and concluded with the Lord’s Prayer and then I said,
“Hilda it is okay to go and be with Jesus. We who remain behind will be alright. When he calls - go, rest in his arms.”
I got a text from Jim at 11:50 as I pulled into the church drive. It read:
“Marie got a call from Autumn Ridge. Mom passed away.”
“Heaven is now mom’s home.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 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.
Being brought to faith in Baptism makes you part of this great number from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and languages. And that was the good news for those early believers too. They knew that this Jesus who had died on the cross was the same one taken up to heaven was the same Jesus who said:
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Dear friends, every one of those Peace members on our insert today have a story to tell just like Hilda’s, and there are countless others who are not part of this sheepfold but have been part of your lives and mine. They have trusted Jesus just as you and I do and we honor their memory and all the saints who from their labors rest, but more importantly we are honored by our loving heavenly Father who has brought us all into relationship with him through the life, death and resurrection of his beloved Son.
15 “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.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 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.”
Behold, you are part of that great multitude that no one can number! (Rev. 7:9)
Dear Saints … the Kingdom of God is yours!
May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you now and forever.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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