Bible Text: Revelation 7:9-17 | Preacher: Pastor Andrew Richard | Series: Advent 2020 | During our Advent midweek services we’ve been focusing on the Last Day: what life is like for Christians leading up to the Last Day, and what will happen on the Last Day. Tonight we’ll look at what life is like for Christians after the Last Day.
Eternal life after the Last Day will be very different from how life is now. In tonight’s reading, life on earth, now, was called “the great tribulation.” Our current life is tumultuous, seemingly chaotic, like being caught in the middle of a tempest at sea or a windstorm on land.
In John 9, Jesus says, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” Thus we hear Jesus speak of life now as work, specifically, doing the works of God. And what are the works of God? There are many of them. The work of God can be paying attention to God’s Word when it is read and preached. That might not sound like work, but consider how easy it is to get distracted. If you come into the sanctuary thinking that you can simply sit back and relax, then you’ll walk away knowing how many tiles are on the floor around the altar and have no idea what the readings or sermon were about. Paying attention to God’s Word is work.
Bringing a family to church is likewise work: getting children ready to go, teaching them to pay attention, disciplining them in a way that neither provides distractions nor makes them hate church. That’s work. Living in this fallen world is work. It is a struggle to resist temptation. It’s difficult to deal with people and overlook faults. It’s work to be wronged by others and yet set aside the desire for vengeance. It is hard labor to continue believing in and confessing Jesus as Lord in a world that worships idols and satanic ideas.
Life now is a great tribulation. It is work. In Hebrew 12, life is also called a race: “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Running for long periods of time is exhausting. And the Christian life means running for seventy years, or by reason of strength eighty. We trip, we fall, we’re tempted, we sin, and Jesus picks us up, and we keep running.
And Jesus does pick us up. He hasn’t abandoned us in this world, as much as this world is full of tribulation and work and running and sin and death and the devil. “He’s by our side upon the plain with His good gifts and Spirit,” as we sing in the hymn “A Mighty Fortress.” Jesus says in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus isn’t just talking about eternity. He does relieve us and give us rest even now in the midst of our tribulation and work and race.
Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. He is not far off, but near with his grace and mercy and peace and forgiveness. What else could keep us running but our Lord? Without him the devil would entrap us, or we’d become entangled in the world, or fall down deep holes of sin with no hope of escape. But Jesus wards off the devil. Jesus shows us the world for what it is and turns our hearts toward himself. Jesus rescues us from our sins and sets our feet on solid ground. So life is tribulation and work and a race, but its tribulation with Jesus by our side, and that’s the best life we can hope to have in this world.
And Jesus knows our frailty. “He remembers that we are dust,” as it says in Psalm 103. Who can endure tribulation forever? No one. Who can work with no end in sight? No one. Or who has the endurance to run a race that has no finish line? The very word “race” implies a finish line. You see that Jesus in his mercy gives us assurance of an end. The Last Day will come, and in church and in chapel we’ve been hearing about that. And then comes eternal life. And Jesus does not leave us in the dark about eternal life, but holds it clearly before us so that our future goal may spur us on even now.
Life in this world is tribulation, full of tears and grief and mourning. But in eternity, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes,” as we heard in the reading. What grieves you now? In eternity it will be as nothing and will never trouble you again. What worries do you have? Those worries will perish in eternity, and nothing will ever make your mind anxious ever again. You will never again be afraid or dread anything. It’s like we sing, “All trials are then like a dream that is past, Forgotten all trouble and sorrow; All questions and doubts have been answered at last; Then dawneth eternity’s morrow.” (TLH 415:6).
All labor shall likewise cease in eternity. There will be no more need to resist the devil, the world, or our sinful nature. There will be no more strife with others, no more disciplining our own flesh to make it pay attention to the Word of God. In Revelation 14 John hears a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” And the Holy Spirit himself responds, “Blessed indeed, that they may rest from their labors.” Just as the day comes to a close, and time for work gives way to time of rest, so it will be on the Last Day. Except instead of crawling into bed after a day full of toil and resting unconsciously, we will enjoy our rest in eternity will full consciousness, fully aware of our Lord and his great salvation and each other. The race will be over, and we can rest and rejoice eternally in the victory of Christ.
Reflecting on eternal life gives us endurance to run now. And endurance is very necessary. Jesus says multiple times in the New Testament, “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 24:13). If someone decides that it’s easier to give into temptation than resist it, that’s not enduring. If someone begins loving sin more than God’s Word, that’s not enduring. If someone wants to hold a grudge against his brother instead of having mercy on him as Christ has had mercy on us, that’s not enduring. He who endures to the end will be saved. He who doesn’t endure to the end won’t be. Our sinful flesh likes to imagine that everyone dies and goes to a better place. That’s not true. The images of eternal life are not a comfort for those who don’t have faith in Jesus. The images of eternal life are a comfort for us who believe, and that hope of eternal life gives us strength to endure.
This is how Jesus himself ran his race. He focused on his future joy, and endured much hardship to get to it. It says in Hebrews 12 that we run our race, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” So we likewise keep in mind the eternal joy that is ours in Christ, and we endure crosses and scorn and shame, and we will at last join our Lord at the throne of God and praise him forever as our Savior.
Now there is one image of eternal life that I have not brought up yet and with which I would like to close. This image comes up throughout the New Testament, and it is perhaps the loveliest of all the pictures of eternal life. Eternal life is like a wedding feast. The saints and angels cry out in Revelation 19, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” An angel tells John, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And as if this were not enough assurance of the glory of eternal life, the angel emphasizes, “These are the true words of God.”
It is true. Christ will have us as guests at his wedding feast. In eternity our Lord Jesus Christ, who took on the flesh of us poor mortals, Jesus, who bore our sins, though we deserved but wrath, Jesus, who stretched out his hands on the cross on Good Friday, who extended his hands in blessing to his disciples on the Day of Resurrection – in eternity our Lord Jesus Christ will spread the same nail-pierced hands to us in welcome and seat us at a feast of rich food and well-aged wine with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom, which shall have no end. “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” So to our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory now, and on the Last Day, and forever after, into the ages of the ages. Amen.