Tears | Revelation (Week 4) | FOUNDRYsermon

Have you ever used a pair of binoculars or a scope? The first few times are tough. it’s hard to focus on what you are watching. At first, I tried to start off with too much magnification, and I learned it was easiest to back off all the way and zoom in only if needed.

Revelation is like this. It’s really easy to focus on one tiny thing and miss everything around it. That leads us to some pretty janky interpretations, and we actually can miss a bigger point that impacts us even more! As we read through Revelation during this season, we are wanting to read it as a “normal” book of the Bible, and this week is a great example.

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 singing,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 For this reason they are before the throne of God,
    and worship him day and night within his temple,
    and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
    the sun will not strike them,
    nor any scorching heat;
17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 7:9-17 NRSV

One of the bigger places we can get lost in the shuffle is a conversation about the tribulation. And if we zoom in a little too much, we can really miss out. So we are going to jump headlong into this idea this week, and talk about what actually happens when God is fully with us. While we might think any conversation about tribulation, especially in Revelation, means getting the heck out of the place…it actually spins the exact opposite. This is a story about God coming to us, dwelling with us, and protecting us. And all we have to do is recognize that truth.