“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
    and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike them,
    nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
—Revelation 7:15–17

Introduction: The Problem

COVID-19 is easy to see, and the whole world is watching. We look for the latest updates on what is happening. There are entire web sites devoted to looking at it from every angle. We can check the numbers. There is a tracker—the number of those who tested positive, number of those who have died, number of hospital beds still available. You can look nationally and you can look locally. You can see what the curve looks like in Italy compared to South Korea. We look and look and look.

It is depressing to stare at a pandemic, but that is only part of a bigger problem. C.S. Lewis warned about the very same dynamic in World War 2 (emphasis mine).

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”—“On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

Lewis goes on to say that you and everyone we love was already sentenced to death long before the invention of the atomic bomb brought one more way to die to this fallen world. Indeed, death is not just a chance, it is a certainty. All of these different ways to die can bury our bodies, but they ought not to dominate our minds.

Dear friends, let us be frank. In these days, we are more aware than ever that our world is sick and we are vulnerable. But we are not just vulnerable to microbes and viruses. How many ways are there to get sick? How many things can go wrong with these bodies? How different types of cancer are there alone— let alone talk about the flu and pandemics? We really are a vulnerable people. We travel in many different ways, which means people can die in many different ways: airplane crashes, car crashes, bike crashes, boats sinking. How many types of natural disasters bring death and destruction? What about violent crimes and death?

I promise that I have a point. I am not dwelling on death in order to be morbid. I want you to see that our whole world is sick right now (literally sick), because sin entered the world and spread to all people and the creation was subjected to futility and a bondage to corruption. Death is the unrelenting, unavoidable, inescapable fact of our existence. There was an atheist who did the most far-reaching book on cancer ever written. At the end of it, he said we will never be able to cure all forms of cancer because it keeps changing. It is as if our bodies have a death sentence over them. We do. You don’t have to read 700 pages of technical medical detail to reach that conclusion. You just have to read the first few chapters of Genesis. These days merely draw our attention to it in a more wide-scale way.

But what is truly depressing is to spend our time staring only at the problem. There are thousands of ways to die, but only one way to be saved. We should be looking there. We should look ahead and know that this fallen world will one day be set free from this bondage to corruption and enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God. What will that be like? We hear about it in our text this Easter morning. 

The Solution – Revelation 7:15–17

1. The Place (v. 16)
2. The Presence (vv. 15, 17)
   

1. The Place – No More Danger (v. 16) 

Look at this place and see how different it is than this fallen world.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; 
     the sun shall not strike them,
     nor any scorching heat. 

The blessed future for the redeemed of the Lord comes to us as a picture from Isaiah 49:8–10 and the work of restoration that the Servant and Shepherd will do.

Thus says the Lord:
“In a time of favor I have answered you;
     in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you and give you
      as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
     to apportion the desolate heritages,
saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
      to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
They shall feed along the ways;
     on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
they shall not hunger or thirst,
     neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
     and by springs of water will guide them.

These promises that the Shepherd’s care for his flock is so great that they will neither hunger nor thirst or have the sun strike them would have special meaning in an ancient land where those three things were perennial problems and deadly threats. While we are part of this fallen world and while we have these bodies that are wasting away, we are vulnerable to everything—there are dangers everywhere. And it is patently obvious that heaven is not a place for where only three dangers have been eliminated. The point is that all of them are gone. Did you hear that? There is an expiration date for all danger and all pain and all trial and all heartache and all fear.

So many people focus on heaven like a place—and it is a place where there are no more dangers, no more death, no more tears, but it is more than a place—it is mainly a Person. Why are there no more dangers? The passage gives a solution sandwich. 

2. The Presence: Our Shelter and Our Shepherd

A. The Presence of the Father (v. 15)

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
    and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

Heaven is a place, but it is a place defined by the presence of God. God’s presence makes heaven, heaven. His throne is there. His temple is there. It is his presence that is our shelter. Do you see it? “He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence” (v. 15). Can we agree that the Shelter in Place ordinance has been hard, with isolation and loneliness and social distancing? How different is this shelter in place: We are sheltered in God’s presence. No more loneliness or isolation. His presence is our shelter and our refuge and our strength and our joy. Light and truth will always lead us to him as the source of light and truth. Listen to the journey of the Psalmist in Psalm 43:3–4.

Send out your light and your truth;
     let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
     and to your dwelling!
Then I will go to the altar of God,
     to God my exceeding joy.  

This Shelter is not a burden, but our exceeding joy. There will there be no danger because our Father will be our shelter! But wait there is more. 

B. The Presence of the Son

I mentioned a sandwich. Let’s see it now. In my study, this week, I saw this, and I broke down in tears. It came when I saw the “for.”

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike them,
    nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

This is the main point of the passage. This is our great hope of glory. This is where we should be looking!

Why will there be no more danger, no more tears, no more pandemics? The Father will be our shelter and the Lamb will be our shepherd! 

There will be no thirst (v. 16) because the Shepherd will guide us to the springs of living water (v. 17). And our Shelter is not an impersonal structure—he is a loving Father who will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Our tears have an expiration date. They don’t just impersonally dry up—they are tenderly wiped away.

But how do we get here? How do we come this place where the Father is our Shelter and the Son is our Shepherd? We have two clues. The first one comes in verse 17: “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.” Why say, “the Lamb” will be “their Shepherd?” Isn’t this mixing metaphors? No, it is a profound testimony to the incarnation.

The Incarnation: The Shepherd Took on Our Sheepness

The everlasting Son of God, who always existed and never came into existence, took on flesh, took on our nature to save us. To save the children who are flesh and blood, our Savior had to take on flesh and blood. In the metaphor of this text, the Great Shepherd of the sheep took on our sheepness—our nature. He became the Lamb. 

The Blameless Lamb

But not just any Lamb. He had to be the Lamb without blemish or stain or flaw or sin in order to be the sacrificial Lamb. Have you ever marveled that Jesus was blameless? Jesus resisted temptation. He never sinned. He was blameless of …

A
Apathy, sinful Anxiety, Anger & Arrogance

B
Bigotry & Bitterness

C
Cowardice & Covetousness

D
Deceit, Doubts & Disobedience

E
Envy & Error

F
Foolish & Faithless

G
Greed, Gossip & Guile

H
Hypocrisy

I
Insolence & Irreverence

J
Jealousy

K 
Never Killed or Kicked People when they were down 

L
Lust & Lies or Loving Money

M
Malice

N
Nominal

O
Obscene & Overcome by Evil 

P
Prayerlessness or Pugnaciousness

Q
Quarreling

R
Racism or being Ruthless & Reckless

S
Self-Pity and Sinful Pride 

T
Turned against God or His Followers, Never Failed to Treasure and Trust the Father

U
Unbelief & Unrighteousness & Ungratefulness & Unholiness

V
Vanity & Vexation 

W
Wasteful or consumed with Worry

X
Xenophobic (prejudiced against other people) 

Y
Yawned at the glory of God 

Z
Zeal without knowledge

The Sacrificial Lamb

Jesus was the blameless Lamb so he could be the sacrificial Lamb. With no other way could our sin to be forgiven. He had to do the work. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The price had to be paid. Either we pay for it in hell forever—or he pays for our sin in our place.

That is the second clue and it comes in verse 15. How do these people in this picture come to the presence of the Father? We know there is only way to the Father, and that is the One who is the way, the truth and the life: Jesus. We see it in this text as well. Did you notice the “therefore” at the beginning of verse 15? What is it there for? It tells why they are there for. 

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!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around 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 be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And 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.—Revelation 7:9–14 

Those who are there—why are they there? They are there because of Christ. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Why is there no more darkness, nothing unholy, nothing impure, nothing unjust? Because there is a collision at the cross. At the cross mercy and justice come together, but so do light and darkness, holy and unholy, pure and impure, justice and injustice, love and hate. They collide together at the cross and at the resurrection we see the outcome. He is not here. He is risen. He won the victory. Light conquers darkness. Holiness vanquishes the unholy. The pure triumphs over the impure. Justice routs injustice. Evil is overcome by Good—Love wins over hate. Good Friday would never be good without Easter Sunday.

He rose! Christ is risen indeed! I know it is hard today to have this social isolation and not be able to gather to celebrate this in the church building together. But maybe this reality makes this Easter more like the first Easter. Disciples in their homes. Struggling with isolation and fear. But on that Sunday morning. O, he was not there. Death could not hold him. The grave could not contain the Lord of life.

Where you are looking makes all the difference. It is the great game-changer and perspective-maker.

It is depressing right now to see that the church is empty.

But it is encouraging right now to see that the tomb is empty. An empty church does not change the fact that the tomb was empty, is empty, and will always be empty. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!

Robert Murray McCheyne said that for every one look at yourself, you should take 10 looks at Christ. In a time of a nationwide pandemic, I think we need to update his statement to account for the tendency in our hearts. For every one look at the coronavirus, we need to take 10 looks at Christ. Pray for the grace to look to Jesus until it becomes a habit of the heart in an age of distraction. Look to Jesus. Look at the devil-defeating, heaven-opening, soul-satisfying, wrath-removing, debt-paying, sin-forgiving, work of Jesus that washes us whiter than snow.

Conclusion: Look and Be Saved!

Think of the story of C.H. Spurgeon’s conversion.

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Church. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved ....

The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now it is well that preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was—“LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH” (Isaiah 45:22).

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimmer of hope for me in that text.

The preacher began thus: “This is a very simple text indeed. It says ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pain. It aint liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look.

“But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Ay!” he said in broad Essex,“many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some say look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some on ye say ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’”

Then the good man followed up his text in this way: “Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me, I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sitting at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!”

When he had …. managed to spin out about ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger.

Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued,“And you will always be miserable—miserable in life and miserable in death—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.” Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but look and live!”

I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said—I did not take much notice of it—I was so possessed with that one thought .... I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word,“Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away.

There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, “Trust Christ, and you shall be saved.” Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now I can say—

“E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die. . .”

That happy day when I found the Saviour, and learned to cling to His dear feet, was a day never to be forgotten by me .... I listened to the Word of God and that precious text led me to the cross of Christ. I can testify that the joy of that day was utterly indescribable. I could have leaped, I could have danced; there was no expression, however fanatical, which would have been out of keeping with the joy of that hour. Many days of Christian experience have passed since then, but there has never been one which has had the full exhilaration, the sparkling delight which that first day had.

I thought I could have sprung from the seat in which I sat, and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren ...“I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A sinner saved by blood!”

(Taken from The Early Years, Iain Murray, ed., London: Banner of Truth, 1962, pp. 87–90).

I can’t see you now. No one else can either. You can jump, you can dance, you can spring from your couch in your jammies. You can say “Amen! Hallelujah! Christ is risen!” Your God sees you. Your living Savior sees you. Sing it to him. Say it to him. Let’s join the worship happening in heaven right now. Do you feel the world is broken—O my yes we do. Do you feel the shadows deepen. We do. But do you know that all the dark can’t stop the light from getting through. Is it good that we remind ourselves of this?! It is. Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll? The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave. He is David’s root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave. Look to him! Is he worthy? He is! Shout it like a Primitive Methodist: The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!

Sermon Discussion Questions

Main Point: Why will there be no more danger, no more tears, and no more pandemics? The Father will be our shelter and the Lamb will be our shepherd!

Outline

1. The Place (Revelation 7:16)
2. The Presence (Revelation 7:15, 17)

Discussion Questions

• According to Revelation 7:16, what is the difference between this fallen world and the world to come?
• According to Revelation 7:15 and 17, why will that place (in verse 16) be the way it is? In other words, what is the “sandwich” of this passage?
• In verse 17, how does the Lamb become the Shepherd? Is the Apostle John just mixing metaphors, or is there something deeper and more glorious going on?
• In verse 15, what is the significance of the “therefore”?

Application Questions

• Have you witnessed in your own behavior how easy it is to look at COVID-19? Assess where you have been looking—where and how often. What are the proportions of where you put your attention? For example, many of us would say that for every 10 looks at COVID-19, we have taken one look at Christ.
• How can you change the habits of your heart in terms of where you look and what dominates your attention?
• What part of this message do you need to share with someone this week? Is there someone you need to exhort?

Prayer Focus
Pray for the grace to look to Jesus until it becomes a habit of the heart in an age of distraction.