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

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Heaven
#8/9: The Inside Story of Your Future Life
Revelation 7:9-17

February 25th / 26th 2012
by Pastor Colin S. Smith



"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" Revelation 7:10



All of us are on our way, either to something that is infinitely better, or to something that is infinitely worse. People sometimes talk about "living your best life now." That's only possible if you are going to hell. If hell is your future, your best life is now.

But if you are going to heaven, your best life is to still to come. For a person outside Christ, this life is as good as it gets. But for a person 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! Without Christ this world is as near as you will get to heaven. With Christ this world is as near as you will get to hell. It is better to suffer any illness, endure any sorrow, carry any burden and be in Christ, than it is to enjoy any lifestyle you can imagine without Him.

Today, I have the joy of lifting your eyes up to your future joy in heaven, so that you will find strength, courage and comfort to endure the difficulties of life that confront you today.

Lift Up Your Eyes and See

Please turn in your Bible to Revelation 7. The apostle John was suffering in a brutal prison on the island of Patmos. One Sunday, he tells us, he was "in the Spirit." God's Spirit came upon him and he was given a glimpse of heaven. God pulled back the curtain for this man who was suffering so much, and John saw heaven opened.

God gave this Revelation to John for us. That's why he was told to write the vision down, and that's why God has preserved it.

LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND SEE...
A great multitude in the presence of Christ
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. Revelation 7:9

The work of evangelism had been hard. He had labored at the church in Ephesus, a town where there was so much idolatry, so much resistance to the Gospel—not an easy place to plant a church. And the first love of the Christians in Ephesus had cooled. The church was filled with activist people who worked hard, but their spiritual temperature was low.

Now John was isolated on an island prison—the Alcatraz of the ancient world. He was in prison and on an island, and the risen Christ draws near to Him by the Holy Spirit and says, "I have something that you have to see...' What did John see? John looks, and in this vision, he sees a vast crowd of people that no one could number. They come from every nation.

If you're the only Christian in your family or the only Christian in your class, you need to see this. If God has made you a light in a dark place at work, you need to take this in. If you're laboring in the work of evangelism or laboring in the cause of mission and you're discouraged, you need to come here often.

John saw people who had come from different walks of life, laboring in difficult circumstances, often isolated from other believers, and where are they now? The vast multi-cultural crowd is "standing before the throne and before the Lamb" (Revelation 7:9)—in the presence of Jesus Christ!

LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND SEE...
People clothed in white robes
In white robes, with palm branches in their hands... Revelation 7:9

John is struck not only by how many people there are, but also by how clean they are. White robes, and not a stain on any one of them. And the palm branches that they carry are signs of joy and victory.

This is a scene of celebration. These people are "crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb'" (Revelation 7:10).

Then as John looks across the crowd he sees, at the center, the One who is called the Lamb of God. His glory is inexpressible. Round Him are the angels, and the elders and four living creatures, and they are all caught up in the joy of this worship that rises from the vast crowd.

Then suddenly one of the elders speaks to John. It must have been quite a shock to him. John has been watching. He is an observer, and then one of the elders right next to Jesus speaks to him and asks him a question, "Who are these, clothed in white robes and from where have they come?" (7:13).

John takes a page out of Ezekiel's book. When the God asked him if dry bones could live, Ezekiel said, "Lord, you know" (Ezekiel 37:3). So, John said the same thing to the elder: "Sir, you know" (Revelation 7:14)

The People in Heaven
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