Revelation 7:13-17 “Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?” “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, ‘They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in 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.”
Claudius Sextus was sweating and nervous. Tonight was the most important moment of his life, more important than when he had joined the Roman Legions and had been sent to fight the Picts out here on the edge of the Roman Empire. After months of instruction, tonight Claudius was going to undergo the taurobolium, the final initiation into Mithraism. Descending into a pit deep in the earth below the temple of Mithras, Claudius waited. Above Claudius, priests of Mithras slaughtered a sacrificial bull. The blood of the bull dripped through on to Claudius below. Claudius exposed his head and all his garments to be saturated with blood; and then he turned round and held up his neck that the blood might trickle upon his lips, ears, eyes and nostrils; he moistened his tongue with the blood which he then drank as a sacramental act. Claudius emerged certain that he was renatus in aeternum, reborn for all eternity.
The ceremony just described was the initiation for the Cult of Mithras, a very popular religion among the Roman legions. In John’s day, there were many “mystery religions” that promised rebirth and eternal life through dramatic ceremonies. Many of these religions employed ceremonies involving blood. In these verses, God has demonstrated to John that the life and death of Jesus Christ has brought purity and victory and true eternal life to all those who have remained faithful, no matter how much they have suffered for the cause of Christ.
What had these believers suffered? Cruelty and evil are not new to the human race, and the Romans and others had many highly creative ways of torturing and killing anybody who presumed to scorn emperor worship. Christians were thrown into the center of arenas to be torn apart by wild beasts or used as human torches to light Nero’s gardens. Today horrifying stories are emerging from North Korea and Southern Sudan. Persecution of Christians in China is burgeoning as well. Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian Lutheran pastor, was tortured by being beaten repeatedly on the soles of his feet. (The torture failed!) For the rest of Wurmbrand’s life, he had to sit when he was speaking because his feet were so painful when he stood. No, Jesus wasn’t kidding when he told the church at Sardis that if they would be faithful even to death, that He would give them the crown of life!
But these believers have emerged victorious from their suffering and now Jesus is rewarding them. What are these rewards?
1. They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. In life, these believers may have had to hide or to whisper their prayers and praises. Now they are before the throne of God in the spot kings would reserve for their closest friends. God is protecting them from every kind of suffering; never again will they be in agony.
Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in 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.” It seems strange to think of a lamb as a shepherd, but this Lamb is Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, whose shedding of blood at Calvary has taken away the sins of the world. Just as a caring shepherd will lead his sheep to clean clear water, so Jesus will provide for all their needs.
And all their sorrows are gone, for God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Never again will they grieve! Never again will there be any cause for tears! These faithful ones have entered into the Joy of their Heavenly Father. Is faithfulness worth it? YES! YES! A thousand times, YES!
PRAYER: Father God, help us to be faithful! Help us to follow hard after you, no matter how difficult things might become. Thank you for loving us so much that you have given us true eternal life through Jesus Christ. We bless your Name and worship you forever! Amen.
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