One of these days I ought to give you a quiz on my sermon from the week before. Don’t worry. I’m not actually going to do it. It would be too embarrassing. Truthfully, there are times when I can’t remember what I preached on the week before.
That’s why it caught my attention when a pastor named Benton Lutz told about the one sermon he most remembers. The pastor who preached this sermon described an experience he once had in a bathtub. The preacher said, that he was in a tub, the water was running; the tub was filling and suddenly he realized he had forgotten the shampoo.
“I’ll get it for you,” said a small voice from the other side of the curtain. Then after a moment that same small voice said, “Daddy, I’m bringing you no more tears.” And her hand reached in with the “No More Tears” baby shampoo.
“Thank you, dear,” he said.
Then the preacher went on to say, “No one, least of all those we love and those who love us, can promise us ‘no more tears.’” Then he added, “It’s a condition of love that tears will flow.” (1)
That pastor was correct--no one except God can promise us “no more tears.” Sometimes even our closest friends and associates cannot “scratch us where we itch.” They mean well and they really want to help, but there are hurts that no human being can alleviate. There are hurts that only God can heal. There are burdens only God can lift. There are fears that only God can put to rest. So it is with great joy that we read the good news for the day from the book of Revelation, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
We are continuing our series of messages on “Finding New Life in Christ.” We began on Easter Sunday morning as we remembered how God raised Christ from the dead and what that means for our lives. Then, on the Sunday after Easter, we saw how Christ appeared to his disciples behind closed and locked door as he sought to calm their fearful hearts. Then last Sunday we took a “Timeout at Tiberius” where we saw the grace of Christ at work in the life of Simon Peter who had denied Christ, and we reminded ourselves that just because we have failed, Christ can still use our life as a blessing to others. Today we refresh our hearts with one of the most beautiful sentences in all of literature or religion: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
But notice something as we begin--something that may disturb you. In Revelation, this promise isn’t made to everyone. God’s very intimate love is being expressed in this passage toward a very special group of believers. These are those who have come through the Great Tribulation. These are those whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now these who have suffered so greatly are dressed all in white before the throne of God, and he is personally wiping away every tear.
The book of Revelation was written around the time when the Roman Emperor Domitian was reigning (A.D. 96). Like the Old Testament books of Daniel and Ezekiel, Revelation uses symbolic and apocalyptic language quite extensively. Was this a kind of code used to hide its message from the early church’s enemies or is Revelation a literal description of the last days of humanity’s journey on earth? We’ll let the scholars battle that out. One day we’ll know for certain. But the imagery is quite extraordinary and quite beautiful as well.
John has a vision in which he sees a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation and every tribe and many peoples and languages. They are standing before the throne, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hand.
These are people who had been through an unprecedented time of suffering . . . but here in verse nine they are standing in complete triumph. That is what the palm branches in their hand signify. Remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem just before he was brutally murdered? Remember the multitude waving palm branches and hailing him as the Messiah (Mark 11:1-10)? Palm branches are a sign of triumph.
One of the twenty-four elders asks John about the identity of the great multitude before the throne. When John indicates that he does not know the answer, the elder explains that these were those who were coming out of the Great Tribulation.
While we’re not certain what the Great Tribulation refers to, we know that the first century church saw their leaders martyred: burned at the stake, beheaded, and fed to lions. This passage was written to comfort those first century Christians as well as those who came after them. The symbolism, that they had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb indicates that they had suffered greatly, but now they were part of a victorious multitude that surrounds the throne of God because of their faith and because of the sacrifices they had made.
Sacrifice is an important part of what it means to be a Christian. If we took the cross more seriously, we would understand that. Think how Christ suffered.
I love the way writer Max Lucado talks about Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his betrayal. He writes, “See that person? See that solitary figure? What’s he doing? Flat on the ground. Face stained with dirt and tears. Fists pounding the hard earth. Eyes wide with a stupor of fear. Hair matted with salty sweat. Is that blood on his forehead? That’s Jesus. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
“Maybe you’ve seen the classic portrait of Christ in the garden. Kneeling beside a big rock. Snow-white robe. Hands peacefully folded in prayer. A look of serenity on his face. Halo over his head. A spotlight from heaven illuminating his golden-brown hair.”
Lucado goes on to say, “Now, I’m no artist, but I can tell you one thing. The man who painted that picture didn’t use the gospel of Mark as a pattern. When Mark wrote about that painful night, he used phrases like these: ‘Horror and dismay came over him.’ ‘My heart is ready to break with grief.’ ‘He went a little forward and threw himself on the ground’ . . . We see an agonizing, straining, and struggling Jesus. We see a ‘man of sorrows.’ (Isaiah 53:3 NASB) We see a man struggling with fear, wrestling with commitments, and yearning for relief. We see Jesus in the fog of a broken heart.
“The writer of Hebrews would later pen, ‘During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death’” (Hebrews 5:7). (2)
That’s life at its rawest and sacrifice at its fullest measure. If the Son of God can cry tears of pain and agony, then who is exempt? No one. Sacrifice and suffering are an important part of what it means to be a Christian. That brings us to the second thing we need to see: The promises of Christ are for those who have carried his cross.
It is important that we understand this. In Revelation, God’s promises are to a very special group of people, those who have committed themselves totally to Christ’s service. Following Jesus is about committing yourself to a life of service--and sometimes at great cost.
Stan Mooneyhan tells a famous story of an international congress held sometime back. The subject of the conference was the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union who were not permitted to leave that country and were suffering various types of persecution. Simon Wiesenthal, director of the Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna, famous for locating and bringing to justice so many Nazi war criminals, was at the conference.
Wiesenthal reported that a Jewish participant at the conference called his hotel at 2 a.m. Simon demanded irritably, “Why are you calling me at this hour?”
The caller responded, “Because you were sleeping.” (3)
There are many of us who are sleeping. We are casual members of the church. We are casual citizens of our country. Every day is casual Friday for us. “Take up a cross? What does that mean? I put a few dollars in the offering plate those Sundays I make it to church. I’m a law abiding citizen. What more do you want out of me?”
Christ is asking for much more. He is calling us to a life of service. He is calling us to make a difference in someone’s life. He is calling us take a stand, to make a witness in our homes, in our personal relationships, on the job, in our civic and political affairs. There is no middle ground. It is a matter of personal integrity. It is a matter of saying “yes” to Christ--of making a personal commitment of our life to him.
Duncan E. Littlefair, in his book Sin Comes of Age, tells about a small and little-known book by H. G. Wells called The Croquet Player. “Significantly, it came out in 1938, while the Western nations were passively watching Hitler expand his power.
“Toward the end of the novel a psychiatrist is explaining a case of strange behavior to a young man who is one of the central characters. Refusing to face a world as grim as it really is, the psychiatrist says, some sensitive people try to run away from reality. But the facts must be faced, the psychiatrist insists, and one of these is that people are essentially the same fearing, snarling, fighting cavemen they were hundreds of thousands of years ago.
“The young man asks what has to be done. The psychiatrist’s answer is that those who care for civilization must become giants who will make an enormous effort to build a harder, stronger, more disciplined society. While he is explaining, the young man keeps pulling away. The young man feels nervous and frightened over all this apocalyptic talk. Finally he cries that he realizes the world is going to pieces but what can a fellow like himself do about it? Become giant-minded and build a new civilization--him? He says he’s sorry but he has other engagements. He is due to play croquet with his aunt at twelve thirty.” (4)
I hope I do not sound too judgmental when I say that many of us are playing croquet when God has called us to play the part of moral and spiritual giants in this age of uncertainty and doubt.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it best: “When you go out of here to help the sick, when you go out of here to deal with the brokenhearted, when you go out of here to help the poor, it isn’t easy. It means suffering and sacrifice. But God wants the church today that will bear the cross. Too many Christians are wearing the cross, and not enough are
bearing the cross. The cross is something you die on. It may mean the death of your prestige. It may mean the death of your popularity. It may mean the death of your budget as it has always stood. But there are too many churches more concerned about a cushion than a cross, more concerned about making the gospel something easy, retranslating the gospel to read, ‘Go ye into all the world and keep your blood pressure down, and lo, I will make you a well-adjusted personality.’ That isn’t God’s church.
Don’t forget that Bethlehem was just 18 miles from Calvary. You’ve got to go by Calvary.”
Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate and one of the twentieth century’s most popular preachers, once remarked that God has equipped us to go deep-sea diving and instead we wade in bathtubs.
Sacrifice is an important part of what it means to be a Christian. Can we claim the promises of Christ if we do not carry his cross?
Now we’re not talking about salvation here. If you’re here today just to make sure you have a ticket for heaven, that’s already been punched for you by Christ. What we’re talking about here today is more than salvation. It is about following Jesus. It is about being all that Jesus called you to be.
I’m trying to be faithful to our text. It is to those who have come through the great tribulation, those who have persevered in bearing witness to Christ at a terrible price about whom we read these wonderful words, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
This is to say that every act of service that you perform in Christ’s name will one day be rewarded. There are many good people who love Christ, who serve Christ, who serve their communities, who seek to be good neighbors, who seek to reach out to help those unable to help themselves, and yet they find their lives are very hard. Does anybody care? Yes, Somebody does care.
Let me assure you that, if you are seeking to be a follower of Christ, then God is aware of your situation. You may not sense His presence now, but one day you will experience the love of the Father in a way that only the redeemed of the Lord can ever experience.
Things may get dark in our lives. Situations may overwhelm us. ISIS may threaten in the Middle East. Boko Haram may seek to destroy in Nigeria. But none of them will triumph over God’s people. The same God who wiped tears from the eyes of His Son is aware of our pain, our need. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Notice how personal and intimate that word picture is, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” It is like a mother holding her child in her arms giving comfort and solace. Does that sound too sentimental to you? If so, blame it on Jesus. After all, didn’t he teach us to pray saying, “Abba” or “Daddy?” For all his power and might and majesty, the God of the Bible has the tender heart of the most loving mother or father in all the world. “He will wipe away every tear.”
Philosopher Peter van Inwagen writes on the problem of suffering. He says, “I have never had the tendency to react to the evils of the world by saying, ‘How could there be a loving God who allows these things?’ My immediate emotional reaction has rather been: ‘There must be a God who will wipe away every tear; there must be a God who will repay.’”
And that is the correct way to look at it. God’s very intimate love in this passage is being expressed toward a very special group of believers. These are those who have come through the Great Tribulation. This reminds us that sacrifice is an important part of what it means to be a Christian. It should also remind us that the promises of Christ are for those who have carried his cross. Every act of service performed in Christ’s name will one day be rewarded. Are you one of his followers? Then hear the good news: One day the God of all creation will wipe away every tear from your eyes and pain will be no more.
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1. http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/1984/winter/84l1044.html.
2. The Great House of God (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009). Cited in MONDAY FODDER http://family-safe-mail.com/.
3. What Do You Say to a Hungry World? (Waco: Word Books, 1975), p. 252.
4. Dr. Jerry Walls, The Asbury Herald, Volume 112, No. 2 & 3, p. 6.