“Who can stand?” That’s the question at the end of Revelation chapter 6. In that chapter, the entire cosmos rumbles and quakes to its foundation. The sun goes black, and the moon turns to blood. The stars fall from the sky like ripened figs. Even the strong and mighty, the movers and shakers of this world, cower in caves. They plead for the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. And so chapter 6 ends with this question: “Who can stand?”
The answer comes in Revelation 7. In that chapter, an angel appears, announcing the answer. Who can stand on the day of God’s wrath against our sin? Only those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Who can stand? Only the baptized, those who have been given the robes of Christ’s righteousness. Who can stand? Only those who have lived in their baptisms, those who have lived a life of daily repentance, washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb.
John also hears the mystical number of the redeemed: 144,000. He hears the number of the multitude before he gets to see it. That’s how it is in God’s Kingdom. You hear before you see. The Gospel Word creates faith in you before you get to see the wonders of God in eternity.
So, John hears a roll call of a perfected-and-completed Israel. It’s 12 x 12,000. For those of you who struggle with math, that equals 144,000. No one is missing. Everyone is present and accounted for, held in Christ’s all-redeeming death that will not let them go.
Now, for those of us still striving, the Church’s perfection is only something we hear about, but never see. It’s a matter of faith, not of sight. No matter how much we may long to see a perfect Church on earth, we never will. In this life, the Church appears as anything but perfect. She is weak, divided, and flawed. For the Church’s perfection remains hidden, revealed to us by the Word and taken on trust. But Christ has His Church, washed and adorned, robed with His perfection.
And oh what John sees! He sees a vast multitude that no one can count. He sees a redeemed humanity in all its fullness, from every nation, tribe, people, and language. He sees the Church in her triumphant glory, standing, before the throne of the Father and the Lamb, her Savior.
The uncountable multitude wears white robes, the baptismal sign of their priestly purity. It’s as Paul says in Galatians: “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The seamless robe of Jesus’ righteousness covers them. Behold a host, arrayed in white, like thousand snow-clad mountains bright!
They cry out: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And the hosts of heaven agree. They fall on their faces in worship, adding a thunderous “Amen!” Then they praise God with their sevenfold doxology: “Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Sounds like the liturgy, doesn’t it? It’s supposed to.
The book of Hebrews helps explain why the Church’s worship on earth is meant to reflect the worship in heaven.
You [we Christians worshiping on earth] have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to innumerable angels in joyful assembly, to the Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
When we gather to worship in the Divine Service, Jesus comes to us in Word and Sacrament. And where you find Jesus the Lord, the Head of the Body, there you will find the rest of the Body, the Church. Of course, we can’t see this by sight but only by faith. But by faith, we know that when we gather as Church, we never gather with less than the entire family of God. This not only includes us but those who have gone ahead of us into eternity, even the angels in the book of Revelation. They’re all there. And we’re there with them, just like the book of Hebrews says.
Even in the Old Covenant, God told Moses to make an earthly place of worship as “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven” (Exodus 25:40, Hebrews 8:5). The Church’s liturgy boldly confesses that reality. That’s why when we gather as God’s people, the liturgy tells us that we also worship with the “angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven.” With them, “we laud and magnify” God’s glorious name. Can you now see why worship is not a matter of preference but of being faithful?
Still, the angel must explain to us the vision that John sees. For now we see in a mirror dimly, and not yet face-to-face (1 Corinthians 13:12). So, who are the ones robed in white? Where did they come from to be entering heaven as they do? The answer is surprising. They are coming out of the great tribulation of death into life eternal.
Please note that, in the original Greek of Revelation, John sees them “coming out” in the present tense. God did not spare them from the sorrow and anguish of this life. They are coming out of this dark valley of sorrow and tears, led by Jesus who leads the way by His dying and rising.
What does this mean for us? It means that God does not spare us tribulation. Instead, we go through it with Jesus, and with Him we come out of it. There is no “rapture,” where true believers escape the troubles of this world. There’s only one, continuous coming out of this vale of tears to eternal life. Jesus isn’t a way around the dark valley of the shadow of death. He’s the only way through it.
Remember that truth the next time you are called to suffer. Remember that when you are called to embrace your own death. The saints come through their time of tribulation. They do not get a free pass around it.
Freed from the tyranny of time, looking into eternity, John sees the saints of heaven. Unlike us, he sees the triumphant side of Christ’s Church. We only see and experience the struggling side of her.
On earth, the Church looks weak and inept. She seems irrelevant, divided, and hopelessly out of touch. For her glory is hidden behind the cross. Here in this world, we do not experience the Church’s victory. No, that happens in eternity, in the world to come. It’s a matter of faith, not of sight.
And with John, we learn the secret of the saints’ purity in heaven. Their robes are washed in the Lamb’s blood. Only His blood will do. Their blood cannot cleanse from sin, nor can the sweat of their labors or the tears of their contrition.
There are no sinless saints, only forgiven ones. If you say that you have no sin, you deceive yourself. Temptations abound. And sin comes all too naturally to the natural-born sinner. But the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.
That’s why John sees the multitude of saints wearing robes, bleached in Lamb’s blood. These are not the sinless saints of legend. They are real sinners. But their sins have become snow white by the blood that gives to them a righteousness that is not their own. They are saints, not because of what they have done, but because of what Christ has done for them. They are the baptized, clothed with Christ, covered with His holiness, redeemed by His blood.
You have nothing of your own that makes you fit to stand before God. Your thoughts, words, and works–apart from Christ–all testify against you. Your idolatries, adulteries, murders, and lies of thought, word, and deed are your downfall. No one has a claim on God. No one may boast. The saints are forgiven. That’s what makes them saints.
Yet, the crucified and risen Lamb has enabled you to stand with all the saints in glory. That great, white-robed multitude is a picture of your future. For, in your baptism, you have been crucified with Jesus, as Romans chapter 6 tells us. That’s why you will also be raised with Him and glorified in Him.
In eternity, you will hunger and thirst no more. To prepare you, the Lamb has set a table for you, giving to you His own body and blood. The sun will not strike you as long as the deep soil of repentant faith nourishes you. The scorching heat of persecution will not cause you to wither, for you stand in Christ.
Your Lord, Jesus, will lead you to springs of living water. That’s the Spirit-filled water of life poured over you in baptism, which continues to refresh and renew you each day with His forgiveness. And God Himself will wipe the tears you’ve shed in grief over your sin, death, and the death of those whom you love.
Who can stand on that terrifying, last day when the Lamb returns? Who can stand? You can stand, even as you now stand by faith, baptized in Him, believing in Him.
You stand in Christ. You also stand with the saints who have lived and confessed and died before you. So, come now in the presence of angels and archangels and all the saints in heaven, to receive the Lamb of God in His Supper. United with the saints in eternity, proclaim with them: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Amen.
