The Lamb is All the Glory

This morning I had the privilege of preaching a sermon based upon the following texts:

Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

Here is the simplified outline I used to preach these texts.

1. THE OBJECT OF THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING GAZE (Rev. 7:9-10, 14b)

   ⁹After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
   
   14b They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

2. THE RADIANCE OF THOSE WHO LOOK TO THE SAVIOR (Ps. 34:5)

   ⁵Those who look to him are radiant,
   and their faces shall never be ashamed.

3. THE HOPE OF THOSE WHO ARE LOOKING FOR THE APPEARING OF THE SAVIOR (1 Jn. 3:2-3)

   ²Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ³And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

4. THE GOOD FORTUNE/HAPPINESS OF THOSE WHO SEE GOD (Matt. 5:8)

   ⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

I began this message by reading from the Richard Baxter's opening paragraph in chapter one of The Saints' Everlasting Rest. Considering Hebrews 4:9, "There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God," Baxter argues that

the end of all ceremonies and shadows is to direct them [i.e. the people of God] to Jesus Christ, the substance; and that the rest of Sabbaths, and Canaan should teach them to look for a further rest, which indeed is their happiness.

From here we began our consideration of each of these texts showing that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the object of the saints' everlasting gaze. The psalmist learned from experience that those who look to the Lord (our Deliverer) are radiant. This radiance is not only one of joy, but also one of transformation. Moses' face had become radiant during his extended time of communion with God upon the mount. Moses' face reflected the glory of the One on whom he had been gazing. Paul argues that the glory Moses experienced was but a fading glory, and that the glory we experience through the ministry of the Holy Spirit is exceedingly glorious because it is transformational (see 2 Cor. 3:7-18). 1 John 3:1-3 builds upon this truth by stating that "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as his is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." The point is not that we are to purify ourselves so that we might see God, but that, in looking to Jesus and gazing upon his glory in prolonged and consistent communion, he purifies us.

So, the common thread is seeing God. The more we look to Christ in holy communion, the more we are sanctified, purified, cleansed, transformed into his image. And if we have this hope in us and are purified as he is pure, we shall indeed see God along with all the innumerable multitude standing before the Lamb. For as Jesus taught his disciples on the mount, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8).

Along with reading some of Baxter's The Saints' Everlasting Rest, I also picked up Letters of Samuel Rutherford (Banner of Truth, reprint ed., 2006). If anyone was radiant for having seen Jesus it was Samuel Rutherford. Here are a few excerpts that I shared:

Oh how are we misted and mired with the love of things that are on this side of time, and on this side of death's water! Where can we find a match to Christ, or an equal, or a better than He, among created things!

(Letter 284, To the church in Ireland)

Your timeous [timely] word, "not to delight in the cross, but in Him who sweeteneth it," came to me in due time. I find the consolations and off-fallings that follow the cross of Christ so sweet, that I almost forgot myself.

(Letter 285, To Robert Gordon)

If heaven and earth, and ten thousand heavens even (round about these heavens that now are), were all in one garden of paradise, decked with all the fairest roses, flowers, and trees that can come forth from the art of the Almighty Himself; yet set but our one Flower that groweth out of the root of Jesse beside that orchard of pleasure, one look of Him, one view, one taste, one smell of His sweet Godhead would infinitely exceed and go beyond the smell, colour, beauty, and loveliness of that paradise.

If our Beloved were not mistaken by us, and unknown to us, He would have no scarcity of wooers and suitors.

He, He Himself is more excellent than heaven; for heaven, as it cometh into the souls and spirits of the glorified, is but a creature; and He is something (and a great something) more than a creature.

(Letter 289, To the church in Ireland)

If heaven is our aim, that is not high enough. As the visions of John in the Revelation show us, and as Rutherford so often reminded his readers in so many words, the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land.

"Oh, how little of him do we see! Oh, how shallow are our thoughts of him!"

~ Samuel Rutherford

The Lamb is All the Glory

Salvation Belongs to Our God: The Song of the Saints

Revelation 7:9-17 (see previous post) is set in the throne room of heaven. The song of the innumerable host standing before the throne of God and in front of the Lamb is unpacked phrase by phrase in Christopher J. H. Wright's Salvation Belongs to Our God: Celebrating the Bible's Central Story (IVP, 2007). I have reviewed this book here and highly recommend it to you. Here's how Wright introduces this text:

The grande finale of any great work of music is usually very moving, as in an opera or the great music and dance sequences of traditional cultures. The closing song or climactic chorus or final dance of a great musical drama usually ends in thunderous applause as the audience feels that the performance has delivered the message of the whole work. As you leave the concert hall or theater or village square, you will hear people humming those last tunes. Sometimes you can't get them out of your head for days. Even in cultures where music and drama take the form of local village art forms, without the need for concert halls and theaters, there is emotional power in the words and music that express the grand themes of life and death, struggle, victory, and hope. Human beings in cultures all over the world turn to music, movement, song and drama whenever they wrestle with the really big things that go beyond merely rational analysis.

The Bible ends with a climactic final chorus. The whole of creation will sing it, and it sums up the message of the whole Bible story.... It is not a long song, but it sums up a very long story. It is a song we will not want to get out of our heads, or our hearts, for all eternity. Here it is, form John's vision in Revelation 7:9-10:

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 in front of 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." [NIV]

This is worth singing this weekend, even in light of Reformation Day!

Salvation Belongs to Our God: The Song of the Saints

All Saints Day and Baxter's Sants' Rest

Image via Wikipedia

I am preparing for another preaching opportunity this coming Lord's Day, which according to the Church Year happens to be All Saints Day. In light of this occasion, I have decided to preach a sermon based upon four texts found in one of the common lectionaries. The texts are as follows:

Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

Studying and meditating upon the messages of these texts and seeking a way to weave them together into one sermon is proving to be a rich blessing. Along with studying these texts of scripture, I am doing some reading in Richard Baxter's The Saints' Everlasting Rest. (This work was first published in 1650. My copy was printed in the early 1800's, however it is still in print. It can be read online here. Christian Focus has recently reprinted it, and it can be purchased from Westminster Bookstore.)

According to the Prefatory Note,

The Saints' Rest is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable parts of his practical works. He wrote it when he was far from home, without any book to consult but his Bible, and in such an ill state of health as to be in continual expectation of death for many months; and therefore, merely for his own use, he fixed his thoughts on this heavenly subject, "which," says he, "hath more benefited me than all the studies of my life." At this time he could be little more than thirty years old. He afterwards preached over the subject in his weekly lecture at Kidderminster, and in 1650 published it; indeed it appears to have been the first that ever he published of all his practical writings.

Of particular interest to me, in light of my current studies, is Baxter's third chapter titled "The Excellencies of the Saints' Rest." I heartily recommend this chapter to you! The texts listed above fit very well with Baxter's thoughts in this chapter. For your consideration, here is his outline:

1. It is the purchased possession;
2. [It is] A free gift;
3. [It is] Peculiar to saints;
4. [It is] An association with saints and angels;
5. It derives its joys immediately from God himself;
6. It will be seasonable;
7. [It will be] Suitable;
8. [It will be] Perfect, without sin and suffering;
9. And [It will be] everlasting.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven ~ Matt. 5:12
And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure ~ 1 John 3:3
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints ~ Psalm 116:15

Our home church observes All Saints Day by remembering (not worshiping or praying to) those from our communion who have preceded us into Eternal Rest during the previous year. Remembering that I am a member of the body of Christ which is made up of many members from all ages, giving thought to Christ's faithfulness to those whom he has redeemed with his own blood, and considering the eternal reward awaiting all who have been cleansed by his blood is a wonderful exercise for corporate worship. If you will be observing All Saints Day this Sunday, remember the saints particularly for who they are in Christ. And even more so, consider the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is their reward. As John saw them in his vision of the great throne room of heaven, "they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on his throne will shelter them with his presence" Revelation 7:15.

All Saints Day and Baxter's Sants' Rest