Sermon Revelation 7:9-17 Sing the Song Yourself <\/p>\n
By The Rev. Charles Hoffacker<\/p>\n
Today let’s look up into heaven,
that we may find out how to live on earth.
In the name of the God of both earth and heaven:
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
Have you noticed that this year’s Easter Season
features many readings
from the Revelation to John?
This is perhaps the most misunderstood,
misinterpreted, and fascinating book of the Bible.<\/p>\n
In today’s passage,
John takes yet another look
at what is happening in heaven.<\/p>\n
Already he has seen
the four extraordinary winged creatures.<\/p>\n
Already he has heard
the voices of angels,
ten thousand times ten thousand of them,
and the song of all creatures
in heaven and on earth,
under the earth and in the sea.<\/p>\n
At the center of this awesome assembly
stands a throne surrounded by a rainbow,
and a victorious lamb,
bearing the marks of slaughter
yet magnificently alive.<\/p>\n
Now the scene opens out
into an even more breathtaking vista.
Now what John sees
is a multitude too vast for anyone to count,
an international, interracial, interethnic assembly,
all dressed in white robes,
all carrying palm branches symbolic of their triumph.
The center of this great assembly
is the rainbow throne and the victorious lamb.<\/p>\n
John will soon learn
that all of these people
have come out of the great ordeal.
They have washed their robes white again
in the Lamb’s blood.
Now they worship continually
there before the throne.<\/p>\n
Have you ever heard an entire stadium
burst into singing?
It must be like that for John
when this assembly roars out their song!
It is impossible not to hear the sound,
yet it is so loud
that recognizing the words proves difficult.
Still John makes out what they sing:<\/p>\n
Salvation belongs to our God<\/em> Salvation belongs to our God<\/em> The word translated here as “salvation” Many in the ancient Roman empire Among the numerous marvels What makes this marvelous Here is what some of these different songs announce:<\/p>\n We are supposed to be We can buy at the mall We can reach an income level We can be popular in the public eye But the countless white-robed assembly in heaven Salvation belongs to our God<\/em> This song exposes the lie Total well-being does not come from us, Salvation does not come In the end, The scenes of celestial worship The song of the numberless multitude Do you remember, gentle friends, Well, the song of the numberless multitude There we have a definition of heaven! Unlike that countless multitude, Salvation belongs to our God<\/em> Our singing this song Consider the implications. In place of that, Listen then, Salvation belongs to our God<\/em> They’re singing, Listen to them and realize Listen to them and realize Then go and live your life. Salvation belongs to our God<\/em> I have spoken to you 1. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Invitation to the Book of Revelation <\/em>(Image Books, 1981), 92.<\/p>\n 2. Webster’s Seventh<\/em><\/p>\n Copyright 2014 Charles Hoffacker. Used by permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sermon Revelation 7:9-17 Sing the Song Yourself By The Rev. Charles Hoffacker Today let’s look up into heaven, that we may find out how to live on earth. In the name of the God of both earth and heaven: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Have you noticed that this year’s Easter Season features many … Continue reading “Revelation 7.9-17, Sing the Song Yourself (Hoffacker) – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
who is seated on the throne,<\/em>
and to the Lamb!<\/em><\/p>\n
who is seated on the throne,<\/em>
and to the Lamb!<\/em><\/p>\n
is not some specialized theological term,
or an airy abstraction.
It means the total well-being of people. 1
To be saved is to flourish.<\/p>\n
claimed that the source of salvation
was the emperor.
John’s heavenly vision
subverts this claim.
It insists
that salvation has a different source.<\/p>\n
described in the Revelation to John,
this is surely the most remarkable:
that so vast an assembly
unanimously acclaim
God and the Lamb
to be the source of salvation,
the source of total well-being for people.
God and the Lamb
cause people to flourish:
that is what John hears
as the song joyously sung in heaven.<\/p>\n
is that here on earth
we all too often sing other songs
about salvation.
You have heard them
and so have I.
These other songs
are sung incessantly.<\/p>\n
the source of our total well-being.<\/p>\n
what we need for total well-being.<\/p>\n
that brings with it total well-being.<\/p>\n
in a way that guarantees total well-being.<\/p>\n
all raise their palm branches
and sing out yet again:<\/p>\n
who is seated on the throne,<\/em>
and to the Lamb!<\/em><\/p>\n
in believing that salvation can be found
anywhere else.<\/p>\n
or from money, or from what money can buy,
or from celebrity status.<\/p>\n
through the Roman empire
or through American capitalism
or through any other human system.<\/p>\n
there’s only one place to turn:
to our God seated on the throne
and to the Lamb.<\/p>\n
found in the Book of Revelation
are heavy with glory and grandeur.
But that’s not all.
In the best biblical tradition,
they also represent a parody, a mockery,
of all those ways
we believe we can save ourselves
through what we are, what we have,
and how we look to others.<\/p>\n
is a hymn of praise to the God who saves us.
At the same time,
it is also something else.<\/p>\n
what a raspberry is?
One dictionary defines it as
“a sound of contempt
made by protruding the tongue between the lips
and expelling air forcibly
to make a vibration.” 2<\/p>\n
is a raspberry
sounded against the vain and fruitless ways
we try to save ourselves
but only make matters worse.
Those robed in white,
with palm branches in their hands,
are simply telling it like it is.<\/p>\n
It’s where everybody gets it.
Where everybody realizes
that we do not save ourselves,
and where everybody has been saved–
totally and irrevocably–
by the grace and mercy of God.<\/p>\n
we here this morning
have not yet come out for the final time
from whatever ordeal, great or small,
it is ours to pass through.
We are not yet in heaven,
but here on earth.
Yet our privilege is to sing now on earth
what they sing in heaven:<\/p>\n
who is seated on the throne,<\/em>
and to the Lamb!<\/em><\/p>\n
and living it
is what makes us the Church.<\/p>\n
Because salvation does belong
to our God and to the Lamb,
we can stop our vain and fruitless efforts
to save ourselves,
the manifold ways we attempt
to bring about total well-being
as though it were all up to us.<\/p>\n
we can love God with everything we’ve got,
and love our neighbors–
all of them–
as we love ourselves.
We can do this,
not to achieve salvation,
but in gratitude for salvation,
a gift we have
yet do not deserve.
Because genuine salvation is ours already
we are set free to love God and other people.<\/p>\n
and you can hear the sound.
Our countless sisters and brothers,
dressed in white robes,
with palm branches in their hands,
are singing out in one tremendous chorus:<\/p>\n
who is seated on the throne,<\/em>
and to the Lamb!<\/em><\/p>\n
not only about their salvation,
but about ours as well.<\/p>\n
we cannot bring about our total well-being.<\/p>\n
that God brings about our total well-being,
our salvation.<\/p>\n
Live your life
in that magnificent realization.
In a world that aches to hear it,
sing this song yourself:<\/p>\n
who is seated on the throne,<\/em>
and to the Lamb!<\/em><\/p>\n
in the name of the One
whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven,
and whose mercy is alive among us:
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n