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Revelation 7:9-17
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. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
All 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, saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
I 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. 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.
‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
For 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.’”
New International Version (NIV)
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“Will we know each other in heaven?” This is the number one question people ask me about heaven. It is a great question? How would you answer?
John who had actually been to heaven wrote about it. He paints a picture of an amazing international crowd all dressed in white having a Palm Sunday parade singing, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.” Then one of the twenty-four elders asked John, “Who are the ones in white?” I love John’s answer, “Sir, you know.” You might try that when someone asks you a hard question. The elder explains that they are people who have been through the great tribulation and have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
The only One who can help the ones wrongly slain is the Lamb who was also wrongly slain. These martyrs who suffered so much here suffer no more. They are near to the Lord. The Lamb is their Shepherd. He leads them and God wipes the tears from their eyes.
Dallas Willard once said, “The Lord is my Shepherd is written on more tombstones than lives.” The good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep leads us even through the valley of the shadow of death. His goodness and mercy pursue us for our whole lives and then we live in his house forever. Will we know each other? We will know each other better than we ever did here. As Paul put it, we will finally “know as we are known.” Because we know Christ, we will also know each other forever.
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Pray with me:
Father, we thank you for the Lamb who is our Shepherd. Lead us today to the springs of living water. Wipe every tear from our eyes. Help us at the end of this day to know you better than we ever have before, and so to know ourselves and others who are in your care. Thank you for goodness and mercy running after us today. Hold us in the hope of our home in heaven. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Join us in memorizing the Word. Scripture for this week:
Matthew 7:11-12
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
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| Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan. Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week. In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year. Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.
Joyfully,
Duane
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