The Greatest Quilter – 9-Minute Sermonette

Revelation 7:9–10 “After 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, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!””

ENGAGE

Does anyone like quilts? Maybe you have one that was made by your grandmother, your mother, or someone else in your family. Some quilts are passed down from generation to generation because they carry a story. A piece of an old shirt may sit beside a completely different piece of fabric. On their own, the pieces may not look like they belong together. But in the hands of a skilled quilter, those different pieces are stitched together into something beautiful.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I do not know much about quilting. But after my few minutes of research, I learned something important: the beauty of a quilt is not in every piece being identical. Its beauty lies in how the different pieces are brought together into a single design.

That gives us a small picture of what John sees in Revelation 7. God is creating something far greater than any quilt. Through Christ, He is gathering people who could never stitch themselves together into one redeemed people for His glory.

John sees an innumerable multitude. They are different nations, tribes, peoples, and languages, but they are standing before one throne, worshiping one God, and praising one Lamb.

THE PROBLEM — SIN TEARS THE FABRIC

The picture John sees in heaven often looks very different from the way sinful humanity lives on earth. Sin does not merely separate us from God. Sin turns us inward. It produces pride, suspicion, prejudice, partiality, hostility, and division. We naturally gravitate toward people who look like us, think like us, live like us, and come from backgrounds like ours. We divide ourselves by race, class, politics, neighborhoods, education, culture, and countless other things. Sometimes those divisions even enter the church. Yet Revelation 7 shows us that none of those things can finally overcome the redeeming work of Christ.

SIN TEARS APART. CHRIST STITCHES TOGETHER.

Here is our problem: sin tears apart what we cannot stitch back together. We cannot reconcile ourselves to God, and left to ourselves, we continually divide ourselves from one another. We need someone outside of us to repair what sin has torn apart. We need Christ.

THE GREAT QUILTER — CHRIST STITCHES TOGETHER

Look again at John's vision. He sees “a great multitude that no one could number.” This did not begin in Revelation. God promised Abraham in Genesis that his offspring would be like the dust of the earth and the stars of heaven. God also promised that through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed.

The New Testament tells us how that promise is fulfilled. Galatians 3 teaches that if we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. God's plan was never limited to one ethnicity or one nation. From the beginning, His redemptive purpose was moving toward this scene: countless people gathered through Christ. John then says they come from “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” Notice that their differences have not disappeared. Heaven is not pictured as everyone becoming culturally identical. John can still recognize nations, tribes, peoples, and languages. Yet their differences are no longer sources of sinful hostility because something greater now defines them. They all belong to the Lamb.

Their deepest identity is not their ethnicity, nationality, social class, or cultural background. Their deepest identity is Christ. That is why the church's unity cannot finally rest on shared preferences, politics, music, income, or culture. Those things are too weak to hold the quilt together. Christ is the binding thread. And listen to the song of this multitude: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” They are not celebrating what they accomplished. They are celebrating what God accomplished for them. Salvation belongs to God. We do not stitch ourselves into God's family. God acts first. The Father purposes redemption. The Son purchases His people with His blood. The Holy Spirit effectually calls, regenerates, sanctifies, and gathers God's people. From beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord. Even the white robes remind us that these people do not stand before God because they made themselves clean. They stand because Christ has cleansed them. His righteousness covers them. His atoning blood has secured their redemption. The multitude is not a collection of naturally righteous people. It is a multitude of redeemed sinners.

CHRIST STITCHES SINNERS INTO ONE PEOPLE.

THE CONNECTION — HEAVEN SHAPES THE CHURCH

Revelation 7:9 is primarily descriptive. John is showing us what God will certainly accomplish. This is not a future that depends upon whether the church becomes clever enough, diverse enough, or organized enough. Christ will gather His people. God's redemptive purpose cannot fail. But this description carries powerful implications for how we live now. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” If heaven contains redeemed people from every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping Christ together, then our lives and churches should increasingly reflect the reconciling power of that gospel. That does not mean manufacturing diversity for appearance's sake. It means refusing to allow sinful partiality to determine whom we love, whom we welcome, whom we evangelize, or whom we consider worthy of hearing the gospel.

SO WHAT? — CROSS THE SEAMS

So let me ask: Who are the people outside your normal circle? Who lives three miles, five miles, or seven miles from this church who may not look like you, vote like you, speak like you, or come from your background? Are we willing to carry the gospel to them?

Jesus did not say, “Go and make disciples of people who are already comfortable for you.” He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” The same word, translated as “ nations carries the idea of the peoples or ethnic groups of the world. The Great Commission is moving toward the great multitude of Revelation 7. Therefore, because Christ has reconciled us to God, we should pursue reconciliation with one another. Because Christ welcomed us when we were strangers and enemies, we should welcome others. Because salvation is by grace alone, there is no room for racial pride, cultural superiority, prejudice, or contempt at the foot of the cross.

The church does not erase our differences. Christ gives those differences a new center. We become many threads held together by one Savior.

CONCLUSION — THE FINISHED QUILT

Church, quilting is hard. Relationships are hard. Loving across differences can be hard. And because sin remains in us, our instinct will often be to retreat into what is familiar and comfortable. But our hope is not that we will eventually become skilled enough to stitch God's church together. Our hope is the Great Quilter, Himself. SIN TEARS APART. CHRIST STITCHES TOGETHER.

Christ has purchased His people. His Spirit is gathering His people. His Word is calling His people. And one day, the masterpiece will be complete. John says we will stand before the throne with brothers and sisters from nations we have never visited, tribes we have never encountered, cultures we have never experienced, and languages we have never spoken. And nobody will be boasting about the color of his thread. Nobody will be boasting about where her piece of fabric came from. Together we will cry, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” So repent of sinful partiality. Love your neighbor. Cross the seams that sin tells you not to cross. Proclaim Christ to every kind of person God places before you. And trust the Great Quilter to finish what He began.

The quilt starts with Christ. The quilt is held together by Christ. And the quilt ends with Christ.

CHRIST STITCHES SINNERS INTO ONE PEOPLE.