Message 15 Revelation 7:9-17

Central Verse: They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.[1]

Central Idea: Just do the next right thing.

Actionable: Say to the Darkness I will fight for it.

Revelation Sermon Series

Message 15: Fight for It

Nov. 30, 2019

Rabbi Vowell

Good morning, my name is Michael, and I’m the Rabbi here at Beth El Shalom. I’d like to welcome all of our guests here today! And I’d like to say hello to everyone watching this online.…we know most people will check us out online before they ever visit…so, we look forward to seeing you soon…

Introduction (10 Minutes)

Jab 1: Elmo McCringle Quit (1 Minute)

A father was trying to get his son not to quit so easily. He said, “Son. you’ve got to hang in there and not quit. Look at Abraham Lincoln. He did not quit. Look at Thomas Edison. He did not quit. Look at Jose Altuve. They did not quit.”

Then he said, “Look at Elmo McCringle.”

The son said, “Wait a minute, Dad. Who is Elmo McCringle?”

The father said, “See. He quit.”[2]

Jab 2: Sarah said to my darkness, “I beg to differ.” (4:00 Minutes)

When I was in Junior High and started my dating career at the ripe old age of 11, Sarah was my first girlfriend. I met her at the Jr. High Dance on a dare. Some of my boys dared me to do the walk across the dance floor and ask her to dance. That was a terrifying walk. And, she was in 7th grade and I was in 6th. So I took the dare and when I heard the song and in 1987 that song was “I just died in your arms tonight” by the Cutting Crew, I walked over and asked her if she wanted to dance. She said “yes” and the rest of the night was dancing magic. We danced to the newly released “Walk like an Egyptian” and slow danced when “Songbird” by Kenny G hit the speakers.

Over the next couple of weeks we wrote letters back and forth to each other. Slipping the into each other’s lockers in between classes. I tried to steal a kiss from her after school one day but she said her mom was watching so she couldn’t.

Something changed, well I changed. At this exact same time, I began experimenting with pot, the LSD and cocaine. I was starting to get a reputation. I had my first fight and won. But I didn’t have full street cred because I had not even gotten to first base with my girlfriend. My new friends called her a prude, a stick-in-the-mud, a buzzkill. As my friends, trash talked my girlfriend, I did not stand-up for her, rather I agreed and even joined in.

I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was when I opened my locker to find the last note from Sarah. In it, she told me how much she missed the “old me.” The kind, funny, smart, baseball player that she met at the dance. She did not like the “new me” and did not want to go out with someone who resorted to violence as a solution to problems, did not want to go out with someone using drugs, and did not want to go out with someone who talked about girls the way it was rumored “I had talked about her.”

She said at the end of her letter that she had given her life to the Lord. She wished that I would get off the path that I was on and go back to being the old me. She warned me that I was going to regret what I was doing and that one day my new friends would turn on me. It was an official break-up letter.

We never talked after that. I never spoke ill of her and when we saw each other we would smile and look away. She graduated a year ahead of me, I didn’t get to walk the stage at my graduation because of being arrested for drug possession. Though she was not a prophet, her words came true.

To this day, I still have immense respect for that girl, I met on that Jr. High Floor who said to the darkness, “I beg to differ.”

Jab 3: Stats on Grit.

Since the sixth grade, I have learned much and changed much. And now, at the ripe age of 43 I have been in Sarah’s shoes having to stand up and say the darkness, “I beg to differ.” And, it’s not easy.

If you have ever watched the ABC show called “What would you do?” A hidden camera show examines how people behave in a situation that requires them to either act or mind their own business. Not everyone will speak to the darkness. Some will ignore it, some will know it is there but in fear not do anything, but there are some who will speak up

Sacha Baron Cohen, the Israeli actor, who brought the world Borat exposed just how dark the world could be. As Borat he was able to get an entire bar in Arizona to sing “Throw the Jew down the well,” revealing people’s indifference to anti-Semitism. When—as Bruno, the gay fashion reporter from Austria—I started kissing a man in a cage fight in Arkansas, nearly starting a riot, it showed the violent potential of homophobia. And when—disguised as an ultra-woke developer—he proposed building a mosque in one rural community, prompting a resident to proudly admit, “I am racist, against Muslims”—he showed the acceptance of Islamophobia. At recent speech at the ADL, Sacha Baron Cohen went after Facebook, Google, and Twitter calling on them to bring an end to the dark culture they are allowing to exist. He is speaking against the darkness.

For most people, myself included, I tend to be more “conflict avoidant” and challenging the darkness is like running right into the line of fire. Further, I feel like when I speak to the darkness as a person of faith, my words are about as weighty as a leaf blowing in the wind. I get it, my faith has been hijacked by popular politics and the minute I bring my faith values into a conversation it is like I pigeonholed as a fanatic. And if I am being totally honest and real with you, I know that most people don’t think faith really does anything even for its most strident followers. The numbers don’t lie: 3 out of 4 Christian men have looked at porn in the last month and 2 out of 4 Christian woman have done the same. And that is an easy statistic to talk about, kind of cheap it is so easy.

Here is the harder one, we don’t like to talk about. Have you ever heard the axiom, “Some people are great when things are going well, but they fall apart when things aren’t.”? You see, I hate to admit that this is true of me. I hate to admit that there are too many times “I loose my s#it” when things go south. And this, this is what makes me back down from speaking to the darkness, “How can I speak with any real moral authority?”

Right Hook (30 Seconds): If I have done my job by the end of this message you will know that no matter what you have to say to the darkness, “I beg to differ.”

Ha-Foke-Bah

“After these things I looked, and behold, a vast multitude that no one could count—from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues—was standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne, along with the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he said to me, “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.

For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His Temple. The One seated on the throne will shelter them. They shall never again go hungry, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”” (, TLV)

Explanation (10 Minutes)

1. The Question

A. – The Elder asks John a “rhetorical question”

Revelation 7:13 TLV

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

I need you to pause with me and think about the nature of a question. Some questions are driven by curiosity, but rhetorical questions are meant to challenge some faulty assumption or presupposition that the person holds.

It is almost always the case, the one asking the rhetorical question knows the answer like when Yeshua asked “Who do people say that I’am?” He knew full well but he was driving to a more potent question, “Who do you say that I am.

iOur question here betrays it’s own answer if you listen to it a little more slowly. Here is what the Elder is asking, “Hey John, whose descendants are these dressed in clothes made whiter than snow and where from the nations of the world did all of them come from?”

This Rhetorical question is supposed to compel the hearer to consider something they are neglecting or overlooking.

Notice the answer, .

Revelation 7:14 TLV

Then he said to me, “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.

These are those “coming out of the great tribulation.” We know from the timeline in Revelation that this is somewhere around the 3.5 year period of time it is called the period of great tribulation. This is a time of horrific distress on planet earth. John is seeing a picture, a snapshot of the end of that period of time and what he sees is that there are countless people who say to the darkness I beg to differ.

Daniel talked about this great tribulation in

Daniel 12:1 TLV

“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has never occurred since the beginning of the nation until then. But at that time your people—everyone who is found written in the book—will be delivered.

He said that this a time of horror and distress that has never been known before but and this is a big but those of your people found written in the book of life would be delivered.

Revelation 12:1 TLV

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

in and said that this a time of horror and distress that has never been known before but and this is a big but those of your people found written in the book of life would be delivered

The Elder’s rhetorical question is so rhetorical because he is challenging John to re-imagine what “your people” means.

These were not his people, not in a technical sense. These were the Gentiles from all the nations.

Revelation 7:9 TLV

After these things I looked, and behold, a vast multitude that no one could count—from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues—was standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands

Further, these were the Gentiles who for some extended period of time lived in darkness, agreed with the evil in this world, or tried to lie about their faith. Whether it was avoidance, ambivalence, or defiance these folks had a past that gave them no moral authority to stand on.

How could these be your “people.”

2. The Celebration

This must have shocked John.

Revelation 7:9 TLV

After these things I looked, and behold, a vast multitude that no one could count—from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues—was standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands

We already said last week that the 144,000 were already a mind bomb for John but now it looks like 144,00 have taken not just the good news to the nations but also they are celebrating Sukkoth. They are re-dressed, given palm branches and they sing out Hoshe-anna songs

Revelation 7:10 TLV

and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The Surprise: People who were nothing like Yeshua surrendered to Yeshua.

Revelation 7:14 TLV

Then he said to me, “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.

Rev 7:

Application (10 Minutes)

We might be tempted to think “How could John be surprised by this? Wouldn’t he be expecting this? Yes and No. What John was expecting is what a lot religious people expect: people just like me to be in heaven and all the other people to go to hell.

John sees that there are people who were once compromised and condemned, freed and redeemed. They have reasoned with God and he has made their sins that were red like scarlet, white like snow.

[1] Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2015), .

He also sees the great universalizing of the Abrahamic promise that Abraham be the father of many nations and that many nations would join themselves to Israel:

Revelation 7:15–17 TLV

For this reason, they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His Temple. The One seated on the throne will shelter them. They shall never again go hungry, nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and guide them to springs of living water, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

They are a royal priesthood, under royal protection, participating in Israel’s ancient promises of resurrection that include ultimate vindication.

[2] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 222.