Does God See What You're Going Through?

Revelation.

Yeah, let's go.

Let's trap in.

It's been a really beautiful journey so far, and it will continue to be beautiful.

But I just want to encourage you, if you've never read the book of Revelation before, read it.

Because we won't be able to get into everything.

And it's so powerful.

And read it all together if you can.

Like listen as you're working on your deck or in the garden.

And just listen to the whole picture.

Because it's important to keep the whole picture in mind, to remember that it started with John having a vision of Jesus.

And it's a bigger vision than his mind can wrap around.

Even as he tries to explain, it's so hard to use words.

He's like his feet were like bronze.

And he falls on the ground as though dead.

And Jesus says, Do not be afraid.

And the Alpha and the Omega.

The beginning and the end, I have conquered death, and Hades, I have the keys.

That's really important to remember, especially with what we're going to talk about today.

And our posture as we come to this book is to recognize that it talks about the day of the Lord, the future, tomorrow, and it's a call to radical discipleship today.

Radical discipleship today.

There are so many bunny trails and conversations and interpretations of revelations that could be a distraction from an invitation to radical discipleship to Jesus today.

So it's this picture of our current reality.

We live in fallen Babylon and we are waiting for the new Jerusalem.

And if you go to the last book of the last page of the Bible, you see this picture, and we talked about this at the beginning of the series of everything made as it should be, everything restored.

And it's such a powerful picture, so comforting to know how the story ends.

But right now we are in fallen Babylon.

And as we've continued to explore, last week we looked at Revelation 4.

John has a door open, and he's all come up here and he gets to see the throne room.

And there is worship.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

The elders are casting down their crowns and they're bowing before the Lamb.

And it's this powerful picture.

And then in Revelation 5, which we're not going to get to together, there is a seal, there's a sealed scroll, and John starts to weep because nobody can open it.

He's like, who's going to open the scroll?

And he weeps and he weeps, and then he's told, the lion of Judah, he will open the scroll.

And as he looks, instead of a lion, he sees a slain lamb.

That's who's given the power, the authority, who is worthy to open the scroll.

So I'm going to pray for us and then we'll start to see what is in the open scroll.

God, our minds cannot comprehend the contents of this book.

We need you.

Holy Spirit, you are our counselor, our guide, our teacher.

I pray that you'd open the eyes of our hearts.

I pray that our spirits would sit up and receive everything you have for us.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Revelation 6, verse 1, and part of verse 2.

Revelation 6:1

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.

Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, come.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse.

The white horse comes with context, conquest.

It comes with conquest.

It's like represents all this war.

And the second horse comes and it's a fiery red horse, and it's given the power to take peace, judgment is flowing through these seals.

The third horse is black, is holding a pair of scales, and it represents famine, lack of food.

And then the fourth horse comes and it represents death.

It's given the power to take life from a fourth of the earth.

So John was crying and saying, open these seals.

And the seals start to be open and it's rough.

There's judgment pouring out.

These are future events, and they represent an average day in fallen Babylon.

They are the reality of a broken world.

So, fallen Babylon is this symbol of organized, a world organized apart from God.

It is where we live right now, is a normal day in the broken world we live in.

That's the reality of fallen Babylon.

We've all seen it, we've all experienced it, we've seen images across the world of these things right now.

But New Jerusalem is coming.

God's kingdom, the world restored.

So we need to keep that picture in mind as we see these seals open.

Then let's go to verse 9.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

They called out in a loud voice, How long, sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood.

Martyrs, those who've been killed for their faith.

They are under the altar, he sees them, and they're crying out, How long, O Lord?

Verse 11.

Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer.

We're not told why, but they were told wait.

Well, actually, we are told, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

We're not told why they have to be killed as well.

But they are told, wait.

It's a picture of in fallen Babylon, there are those who, for their faith, will lose their lives because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

Now, these pictures, for those who are hearing these words in the first century, there were some going through intense persecution.

John describes himself as he's studying the book as one who is on Patmos, he's in exile because of the word of God and his testimony, for the same reason as those who are at the altar here as martyrs.

So, verse 12, I watched as he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake.

The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.

The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

So these seals continue, and they are pictures of the day of the Lord, the dreadful day of the Lord, and darkness and judgment and hard things.

And then there seems to be a timeout.

As the world is unfolding with the seals, it's like there is a pause.

And in chapter 7, John says, After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.

Then I saw another angel come up from the east, having the seal of the living God.

He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea.

Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.

Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of Israel.

As all this is unfolding, there is a moment where we see behind the curtain and we hear God mark his people.

And it's the word seal has been used in scripture in many ways to show that these are mine.

So in the middle of fallen Babylon, in the middle of trial and tribulation and pain, God seals his people.

In the Old Testament, there was uh instruction for how to wear God's word literally on the head, in something called a phylactery.

It was a box that they would wear on their foreheads and on their right hand or left hand, depending on which hand was active.

And it had God's word in it.

And it was a picture of keep God's word in your mind and in your heart.

If you are in fallen Babylon, it's really easy for Babylon to determine how you think and see the world, to form and shape you.

But as you are in Babylon, remember the new Jerusalem.

Think about the new Jerusalem.

Think about the God who is forming you and inviting you to live counterculturally.

These who are marked by God were sealed on the forehead.

And it's a reminder to us how do we be formed by God?

This radical discipleship invitation is that in the middle of the chaos of the world, we are marked by God if we know Him.

And our marking is a reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus, to keep our eyes on the new Jerusalem, to remember that this is not our home we are passing through.

We will get there in time.

Wait.

This will pass.

Not just yet, but it's coming.

So in verse 9, it says, 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 a palm, 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.

And the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell down on their faces before the throne, worshiping God, saying, Amen.

Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever.

He's told, 144,000 are sealed from Israel.

And then he looks and sees a multitude from every tribe and tongue.

And this multitude is not whimpering and cowered in the corner.

They are in a victory march, holding a palm branch.

You remember Jesus coming into Jerusalem on his way to the cross?

It's a sign of victory.

They have conquered and they are worshiping and saying, You are all we need.

You are our salvation.

This is the invitation to us in the middle of fallen Babylon, in the middle of trial and hardship and pain.

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 then 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 in 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 every tear from their eyes.

What is our invitation as we go through fallen Babylon and we're looking at New Jerusalem?

There are three things I want to pull out of verse 15 and 16, and this is what they are.

Sorry, slides, people, I'm jumping way ahead because I see my time.

And they are to endure.

Endure.

Hide in the shelter of who Jesus is.

The picture in verse 15 is that God sits on the throne and he will shelter them with his presence.

Have you ever been sheltered in God's presence?

Like a tent?

God would dwell among his people.

It was the promise he made.

When in John 1, when he talks about Jesus coming, it says he came to dwell among us.

When you dwell in God's presence, it doesn't matter what's happening outside.

It doesn't matter what's happening in Babylon.

You are safe.

You are in the presence of the living God.

That will be true in eternity, and it can be true right now.

That is the discipleship we are called to dwell in God's presence.

The second picture here is the lamb will be their shepherd.

When I hear shepherd, when they would have heard shepherd, they would have thought of all the pictures in scripture where God is described as our shepherd.

He is a good shepherd.

In his presence we lack nothing.

This is who to follow when you're in the middle of hard.

And I know that there are people who are in the middle of hard, who have wrestled through health issues, who have wrestled through what it looks like to have a witness for the Lord in a hostile environment.

Maybe even as students in a public school.

I was talking to a gentleman who said he went into the schools to serve, and he said, I have a new perspective about the warfare, the mocking.

This is the tribulation, the trial of what it looks like to be in fallen Babylon, but our hearts belong to the New Jerusalem.

So shelter in his presence and come to him as your shepherd.

And finally, God will wipe every tear from their eyes, every tear.

We were sitting around the fire as a neighborhood.

We'll have fires every so often in this season.

And somehow we started talking about crying.

A dad was being made fun of that he cries at every Pixar movie.

And the mom was like, I never cry.

And her husband said, Yeah, you know, I can count on one hand the times I've seen you cry.

They've been married for decades.

And I started thinking, I don't like to cry either.

Crying seems so vulnerable.

It's like tender.

And the idea of crying in front of someone feels like, no, that's that would be so embarrassing.

Now I want you to imagine not only somebody next to you while you weep, but that they wipe your tears.

And not just anybody, but God.

Wiping, not some tears, every tear.

This is what he offers us.

That God Himself will wipe every tear.

As I was preparing for this, I couldn't help but start to weep because as a pastor, I've heard some of our stories.

And I know the tears that have been shed.

And the picture of God wiping every tear just stood out to me in a way I've never sat in before.

This is the comfort that's offered to us as we go through the trial and tribulation of being in a fallen world as citizens of New Jerusalem, that we can trust that if we hide in God's presence, He will lead us as our shepherd and he will wipe every tear.

The song they sang, we can start to sing right now.

Even as we wait.

The last thing I would like to say is, are you sealed?

These are the promises of those who have a seal.

Who God has said, this one is mine.

And how you get sealed is not that you wash your own robe, that you purify yourself.

No.

We come to God who has paid the price for our sin.

This wrath we're watching be poured out, we all deserve that.

The cost of sin is death for all of us, but Jesus.

But the cross.

Jesus came and took our sin and our shame and all our stuff, and he went to the cross and he died in our place.

That is what the washing of the robe is.

That's why this victory march is in white robes.

It's not because of what they've done for themselves, it's because of what Jesus has done for us.

So if you have not been sealed, if you don't yet know Jesus, you can.

Today can be the day of your salvation.

Not someday, but starting right now.

You can sit in God's presence, you can follow him as your shepherd, and you can experience him wipe every tear from your eyes.

If you have never said yes to Jesus, I didn't want to end today without giving you an overt invitation to give your life to Jesus.

Because we are in fallen Babylon, and I don't know how you get through that without him.

Let me pray for us.

Living God, you whose spirit is stirring our spirit so that we can respond to you as your children.

I pray that you would form us, that you would shape us, that you would seal us, that we would look at the new Jerusalem, at where we're going at home.

And that that would determine how we see the world, how we see today, that we would hide in your presence, that we would follow the great shepherd who leads us by quiet waters.

And God, I thank you that you wipe every tear from our eyes.

May we have the closeness of your comfort.

And may we experience you just healing, healing your people.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Every week.