Download 2014 07 20 Blood of the Lamb

“Washed in the Blood of the Lamb”
July 20, 2014
Church of the Valley,
Pastor Mike Clark
Apple Valley, CA
Talking about the end times: I was visiting with one of my friends the other day. Since we are both getting
older, we talked about thinking more about the hereafter. My friend told me he thinks about the hereafter
all the time. He said, “No matter where I am, in the bedroom, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the
basement, I ask myself, ‘Now, what am I here after?’”
Yes, we have been talking about the hereafter, the end times. And the message from the book of
Revelation has been very clear. God is on the throne of the Universe; not evil, disaster, disease,
disappointment, nor death. God rules over all situations, creatures, times - everything. He holds the plans
for our salvation and future life in His hands. And the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, sits on the throne
with God the Father. Our Lord conquered our enemies and washed away our sins on the cross. He is
worthy and able to complete the plan of God for our abundant, eternal life. Nothing can keep Him from
carrying out complete victory of right over wrong, good over evil, and light over darkness. We can trust
completely in our Lord.
So, we should all think more about the hereafter. We don’t live just for today. We live for a greater
tomorrow. Revelation reminds us of what we should really be praying for. The Lord taught us to pray, Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we pray, live and prepare for the
Kingdom of God that will come for us. God’s will comes soon – His great plan for the end times and eternal
life. He will remove all wrong. He will bring to justice all who willfully inflict hardship upon others. He will
remove all evil, suffering, pain and death. He will restore all right and bring His believers into His kingdom
to share His life of joy and fulfillment. Thy Kingdom come indeed!
How will this happen? How will God bring justice and His kingdom? The rest of Revelation proclaims how
this happens. In order to clearly show people what life without God is like, He will show how bad evil can
be. So God will begin to remove the restraints He has placed on evil. The contrast will become so distinct
between life with God and live with evil that no one will have any excuse for not choosing to trust in the
Lord. While evil displays its terror, God still allows opportunities for repentance so people can find freedom
from that evil. Finally, after all grace opportunities have been offered, only the final judgment remains for
those who defiantly refuse the Lord. This happens through 3 series of 7 plagues each; symbolized in
Revelation by the seals, trumpets and bowls. Each series of plagues brings increasing wrath from the Lord
against evil. The 7 seals proclaim the beginning of the judgment, as is described in chapter 6 with the
arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse – conquest, war, famine & death. Then an earthquake
shakes the whole world to get everyone’s attention. In chapters 8-9, the 7 trumpets implement the
judgment with hail & fire, destruction of 1/3 of the sea, 1/3 of the fresh water, 1/3 of the light (sun, moon
& stars), the torture of humanity by evil and then 1/3 of humanity dies. Then the 7 bowls complete the
judgment as recorded in chapter 16. All humanity opposed to the Lord becomes afflicted with disease, all
seas die, all fresh water disappears, the sun goes nova and scorches the earth, and the world is plunged
into darkness. At that moment the great last battle comes, and Christ rides to victory over evil for all God’s
people. This is the plan for the end times as found in Revelation.
We will talk about some of these things, but only the highlights over the next month. One important
passage we examine today comes from Revelation 7:9-17, in which the multitude of the faithful is revealed.
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they
cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb.” 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four
living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying:
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“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our
God for ever and ever. Amen!”
We look forward in Jesus to be among that great multitude. Here are some interesting facts these verses
reveal about the crowd of the faithful. 1st, they are uncountable. When we think of those who enter into
God’s eternal kingdom, we may think only a few will make it there. We get this idea from Jesus’ words in
Matthew 7:13-14, when He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is
the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow
the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." So it seems not many will follow the narrow road
to eternal life. However, verse 9 of Revelation 7 proclaims that the “few” are far more than we ever
thought. Jesus meant few only in contrast to the many who are foolish with their lives and reject Him. The
truth is few is a great multitude. Don’t give up on sharing about Jesus. All who diligently seek truth will
discover Him. Romans 2:6-8 affirms this great promise, God will repay each person according to what
they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality,
he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow
evil, there will be wrath and anger.
We share a message of great hope for those who seek God and desire others to know Him. Remember God
promised Abraham as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and sand on the beach. Verse 9
fulfills God’s great promise to Abraham with the great multitude. And look where this throng comes from from every ethnic people group - “from every nation, tribe, people and language”. The word here for
nation is ‘ethne’. The kingdom of God will reflect the great and beautiful diversity of all God’s creation with
representatives of every people group. By the way, this is one reason why the end times have yet to come
– there are still unreached people groups to share the Gospel with them. Unreached people groups have
fewer than 100 Christians and no church planted among them. They exist mostly in the Middle East,
Indonesia, and 3rd world countries. A recent count found 1739 unreached people groups of which 579 of
them had no known Christian church planted among them. So the need to share the Gospel of Jesus still
exists in our world.
This great multitude stands before the throne of God, a place of great honor and privilege. They dress in
white robes. The people of Rome wore white robes during their victory celebrations. In God’s kingdom,
white robes celebrate the victory of Christ as all join in praising Him. Yet the robes have greater meaning as
they convey the holiness of this multitude, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. They carry palm branches
to celebrate the Messiah. This is a second, greater Palm Sunday. They celebrate the final day of peace and
the coming of their victor Lion King of Judah. They celebrate the day of the kingdom of God prevailing as
they praise the Lamb of God.
Who are among the great multitude? How can we find our place among them? Verse 13 begins the
explanation for us, 13Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and
where did they come from?” 14I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who
have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore, “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‘Never
again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor
any scorching heat. 17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will
lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
To join this great multitude, we need to wash our robes white. How do we do that? That happens through
being washed in the blood of the Lamb. Without Jesus we are dark and stained. With Jesus we become
cleansed from wrong. Remember the great prayer of Psalm 51:2,7 Wash away all my iniquity and
cleanse me from my sin… Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be
whiter than snow. We can become one of the multitude wearing white as we let the forgiving mercy of
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Jesus wash away our wrongs. He gave His lifeblood for this to happen. The cleansing power of the blood of
Jesus efficiently brings purity to our lives.
Sometimes this is hard for us to believe. A beggar stopped a lawyer on the street in a large southern city
and asked him for a quarter. Taking a long, hard look into the man's unshaven face, the attorney asked,
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" "You should," came the reply. "I'm your former classmate.
Remember, second floor, old Main Hall?" "Why Sam, of course I know you!" Without further question the
lawyer wrote a check for $100. "Here, take this and get a new start. I don't care what's happened in the
past, it's the future that counts." And with that he hurried on. Tears welled up in the man's eyes as he
walked to a bank nearby. Stopping at the door, he saw through the glass well-dressed tellers and the
spotlessly clean interior. Then he looked at his filthy clothes. "They won't take this from me. They'll swear
that I forged it," he muttered as he turned away. The next day the two men met again. "Why Sam, what
did you do with my check? Did you lose it?” No," said the beggar as he pulled it out of his dirty shirt pocket
and told why he hadn't cashed it. "Listen, friend," said the lawyer. "What makes that check good is not your
clothes or appearance, but my signature. Go on, cash it!" We may think we are not worthy of the blood of
the Lamb shed for us, but the Bible says, "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
The victory of Christ upon the Cross effectively brings its benefits to all who follow Him. To us shed blood
suggests death; but in the death of Jesus, His shed blood brings our life. To the Hebrew mind, blood is life.
The blood of Jesus brings our eternal life in holiness. Then all the other great benefits of living in Jesus for
eternity become ours as well. There will be no more suffering or tears as Jesus wipes away all tears. There
will be no more hunger or thirst, as we will be satisfied without lack in His kingdom. The scorching heat of
the desert will be gone because the light of the World brings comfort. Evil, injustice and death will be no
more replaced by the greater good, justice and life we will experience in Jesus’ kingdom.
Evangelist Leighton Ford wrote the following about his son Sandy: “During the months following Sandy's
death, to cope with my grief and sense of loss, I kept a journal. Through a series of ‘conversations’ with
Sandy, I continued to express my grief and bring our relationship to a close. In one of those chats, I said,
"Sandy, you've been dead two months earthtime." "I feel as if I have been alive forever, Dad. It's a lot like
one big long today." "It's not a matter of time, Sandy, except that time heals. It's more a matter of
nearness. I guess I'm concerned that as our time goes on, we will lose any sense of nearness." "But why,
Dad? You're moving closer to eternity every day. You're no longer moving from, but to me! And besides,
the 'Wall' between is so thin - you would laugh if you could see it." "(Sandy) I think more of you than when
you were at (college)." "Sure! I know you do (Dad). I hear those thoughts." "Night, son! Enjoy the stars!"
"It's morning here, Dad. Enjoy the light!"
You see, the Good Shepherd leads us on to the eternal springs of life. We need to think more about the
hereafter so we can regain the right perspective on our lives. The ruling King is our serving Good Shepherd.
He will lead us to these refreshing springs of living waters. As He wipes away our tears of suffering,
sadness and grief, He replaces them with smiles of joyful laughter. A little boy was offered the opportunity
to select a dog for his birthday present. At the pet store, he was shown a number of puppies. From them
he picked one whose tail was wagging furiously. When he was asked why he selected that particular dog,
the little boy said, "I wanted the one with the happy ending." When we follow Jesus in this often sad and
terrifying world, we will find our happy ending. Have you washed your robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb? Have you allowed the saving work of Jesus upon the cross to become the promise of
your greater, joyful future?