Sealed

Pop Quiz

I’ve got a little bit of a pop quiz for you all about your pastor - how well do you know me? I’m going to ask a few questions and I just want you to shout it out if you know the answer - except Chris, she’s not allowed to bail y’all out.

What is my favorite hockey team? What is my favorite soccer team? What video game am I full-on addicted to? What is my preferred form of exercise? Where did I study in undergrad?

Now, as you may note, I am not wearing any Preds gear, I am not wearing an Atlanta United pendant, I don’t have any Destiny 2 seals hanging around my neck, I don’t have a shirt with my lifting records printed on it, I’m not wearing a hat with a Vandy logo. So how did you know? How did you identify me as a Preds fan, as an Atlanta United fan, as a Guardian, as a lifter, as a Commodore? It wasn’t necessarily some physical, visual artifact. You know because I’ve talked about these things before or because you’ve seen me watching scores or because you’ve lifted with me. My words and my actions have communicated something about my identity. I want you to keep that in mind when you think about the seals and the robes in our reading today, because these are identifiers of God’s people and those are not necessarily always physical or visual.

Dirty Rags

But before we get to the beautiful scene at the end of our reading, we have to acknowledge something - we are not automatically clothed in white. I actually want you to picture a robe. But this isn’t a robe you went out and bought from the store or ordered off of the internet. No, you were given this robe from your parents and from their parents before them. It was already stained and yellowed when you got it. This represents original sin, the guilt that has been passed down and compounded ever since the Fall. But now it’s your job to clean it, but every time you dishonor your parents, every time you bring down someone else, every time you don’t treat your spouse like you should, every time you envy someone else, every time you mess up, every time you sin - another stain appears on the robe. And the worst part? There is nothing you can do to remove all of these stains. We all want to be those people in white robes who are being cared for by Jesus, to be sealed as His people, but instead we’re stuck with our filthy rags.

White as Snow

But did you catch how the people in our reading ended up in white robes? One of the elders says “these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. We have this place in heaven, our robes are clean enough to stand beside God, because they are washed in the blood of Jesus. If we were left to our own devices we would be stuck with filthy rags, but faith and trust in Jesus’ sacrifice for us seals us as His own and makes our filthy rags white as snow, giving us a place before the throne of God where we will not hunger or thirst, where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

A Series of Questions

That begs a few questions though, just some things to think about.

We look forward to that future, so it stands to reason that we would want to emulate it. But when you think about the things you say and the things you do - are you going to be doing them in heaven? At any given point, is what you are saying and doing serving God? And if it isn’t, why are you doing it?

And we say that sometimes this sinful world pushes us into things that we won’t be doing in heaven, and that’s fair. We have to deal with some things here and now that we won’t have to deal with there. But then the question becomes, are you responding to our fallen world or are you contributing to it?

We are sealed by God, our robes are white, but those aren’t visual clues. I want you to think back to those questions I asked you about myself at the beginning of this message. You know a lot of those things about me, even without visual clues. Can the same be said for your faith? If I were to ask your co-workers, your neighbors, and your family members - would they be able to tell me that you are saved, that you are sealed, that your robe is made white, that you are a Christian? If the seal were something physical, a literal mark on your forehead, would you have to act differently?

You see, Jesus’ washing our robes gives us a promise of eternity and it also gives us something to live up to. He gives us a standard to try and conform to. To return to the image of the white robe, Jesus cleans it and puts it on you. And just like regular clothes, you can always go back and wash it again. It’s not a one time deal, but when you pull a hoodie right out of the dryer you don’t immediately turn around and spill spaghetti sauce on it - you try you best to keep it clean!

A Beautiful Scene

But we rest in the confidence that there will always be redemption, no matter how many times we ruin our robes and turn them into filthy rags - Jesus’ blood will wash them clean. And we look forward to that day when we are all gathered before God, where we are all clothed in perfectly white robes, never to be dirtied again. Where everyone here, all the Christians from all over the world, all those who have gone before us, and all those who will come after us are celebrating together in the care of the Lamb, without hunger, without thirst, without discomfort, and without tears. Amen.