TOMORROW
It’s Wednesday morning, the day after the election. By the time you read this, maybe all the ballots will have been counted, and we’ll have a clear winner. Maybe not. All I know right now is that, when I’m stressed, I find it hard to pray. But, I also know that I need to pray, and it’s a lot easier if we pray together…
Prayer
Almighty, eternal, and life-giving God, we are anxious, and we are on edge. Nothing seems certain. Everything feels choked. Be our guide and our comfort this morning. Lead us with your Word and your Holy Spirit, so that in your light we might see light, and in your truth, we might find freedom, and in your will, we might truly discover peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture
Revelation 7:9-17
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “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, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; 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 worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Hymn
“Before the Throne of God Above” — Charitie Lees Bancroft & Vikki Cook (YouTube video for in-home worship: Click here for Video)
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heav’n He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me
Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless Righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of glory and of grace
One with Himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
One with Himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God
Reflection
Late last night as results were pouring in and I was snacking way too nervously, my brother sent me a text. He’s older than I am, has seen more elections, and tends to be so levelheaded that you’d think we couldn’t possibly be related. (I like to think of it as me just being more passionate.) No doubt he knew I’d be a bit stressed and could use some refocusing, so he shared with me the same advice he gave his youth group earlier in the day.
Hey all. It’s Election Day and some of you expressed you’re really worried about who wins. While we might not know for days who won the presidential election, it’s fine to be excited if your candidate wins or bummed if your candidate loses. What I’ve learned from elections is that when the candidate you wanted wins, the next 4 years usually don’t go nearly as well as you hoped it would. And if your candidate loses, the next 4 years usually don’t go nearly as bad as you worried it would. Regardless of who is in the White House, or the Senate and House, or on the Supreme Court, etc, our God is in control. We await the reign of a perfect king Jesus, who conquered death, who is just and kind, overflowing with mercy, who says we are no longer servants but friends. That is our hope.
I knew in my head that he was right. Our real hope is not ultimately found in elections, whichever way they go. But for whatever reason, my brother’s words still rang hollow, and it wasn’t until this morning that I realized why.
Revelation 7 is a strange chapter in an altogether strange book. Today, we’d label it a thriller and advertise it as a weird cross between Dean Koontz and Cormac McCarthy. Except, nobody would ever publish it — not because it’s in the Bible, but because it’s plain, ol’ bad storytelling. Chapter seven serves as the ultimate spoiler: “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Did you catch that? Jesus wins! Hallelujah! And we’re not even to the book’s climax yet!
If you want to build suspense, giving away your ending before the story even gets going is not a winning recipe, but the author of Revelation bakes this cake anyway. Why? Because the power of the gospel is not in its proverbs (“Love God, Love Neighbor”) or its promises (“Blessed are the poor in spirit”) alone. The power of the gospel is in the God of the gospel, and we must never forget that. Otherwise, our faith will become little more than a vehicle for good advice.
Consider this: Helmut Thielicke preached through some of the scariest and darkest times of the twentieth century. A pastor in Germany during and after World War II, Thielicke often spoke standing on the rubble of bombed out cathedrals. In one of his sermons on the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, he reminded his hearers, some of them wearing the only pair of clothes left to them, that if they were to have any hope, it could only be in the power of Jesus himself.
We should not think that Jesus merely wanted to give us a few maxims of practical wisdom, that he merely intended to talk about the blessing of suffering and poverty and console us by telling us that suffering would make us more mature. Jesus knew all too well that it can turn out just the opposite, that a man [sic] can break down under suffering, that it can drive us into cursing instead of prayer, and that its ultimate effect will perhaps be bitter complaining and accusing of God for his injustice. No, because it is he who is present, because he is in the midst of us, he comes not as a teacher but as the Savior.
Revelation 7 may jump the gun when it comes to building up suspense, but that’s because the end isn’t some far off possibility hovering between reality and mere wishful thinking. We can cry, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” today because Jesus has already accomplished it. He has born that cross up to Golgotha. He has fed the earth and our lives with his blood. He has defeated sin and death and paved our way to join him. Knowing how the story ends before it really even begins inspires us, as William Yoo says, “to continue making the earth more like heaven in the here and now” — not because the promise depends all upon the outcome of yesterday’s election or anything we could do on our own, but because the promise has already been won, and we are being called to live into it.
And, on this Wednesday morning, sitting here waiting for votes, that’s something I can truly rest in. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Holy God, give us today the grace and the strength to live and love fully in each moment of our lives. Help us not to worry about tomorrow but to exist with all our being today. We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who paved the Way and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Sources:
– Helmut Thielicke, Life Can Begin Again (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1963), 9.
– William Yoo, “Revelation 7:9-17,” in Connections, ed. Joel Green et al (Louisville, KY: WJK, 2020), 426.