Bible Passage: Revelation 7:9-17
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: November 1, 2026

Bulletin – November 1, 2026

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Do you remember postcards?  People used to send postcards.  When people went on vacation they would send family and friends postcards.  Postcards were a little picture of the place where you were vacationing.  I remember when I was a kid and my family went on vacation, we would always have to find the gift shops and I remember my mom standing at the little rack of postcards picking out postcards to send.  It always seemed like it took forever for her to pick postcards!  We kids just wanted to get back to the fun stuff.  The postcards that my family received from others who were on vacation I kept.  I had a “postcard collection” that I kept in my special little postcard box.

God sends us a postcard today.  It is a picture made with words of a wonderful destination!  A wonderful place where even now our loved ones who have died in the faith are.  And they are not vacationing there; this is their eternal home!  This is your eternal home!  Today, on this All Saints’ Day, when we remember those who have gone on before us, we take comfort in this beautiful Postcard from Heaven.

            The first thing we might note about this postcard is that it is a picture of a REAL place.  Heaven is REAL.  There really is a dwelling place of God.  The picture of heaven in our text is taken through a special lens.  The lens is called “apocalyptic.”  Apocalyptic portions of the Bible are portions where God uses fantastic, even surreal, images to describe certain things to us.  Apocalyptic literature grabs our attention.  It surprises.  It startles.  Someone has described apocalyptic literature as being like the graphics of a video game.  So our postcard is “apocalyptic.”

As the scene unfolds, the apostle John describes what he sees.  He sees the throneroom of heaven.  In the center is a throne with One seated on it.  Standing next to the throne is a Lamb that looked like it had been butchered (that is the Greek word).  The throne is surrounded by four living creatures (perhaps these were angels) and 24 elders (perhaps representative of the Old and New Testament Church) and then all the angels!  When Daniel in the Old Testament had a similar vision he said he saw 10,000 x 10,000 angels.  That’s 100 million angels!  But the crowd in heaven is even bigger!  There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb. (v. 9)

The Great Commission worked!  Think back to that hilltop where the risen Lord Jesus commissioned a small, unimpressive band of his followers to go into all the world to disciple all nations using nothing except his Word and Baptism.  Seems a stretch!  But it worked!  The evidence is right here in the postcard!  People from every ethnicity and every shade of skin color were brought into the Kingdom of God. They lived their lives trusting Jesus, and they died their deaths trusting Jesus.  And now they are before the throne of God and the Lamb in heaven!

John sees that every person in this uncountable multitude was wearing a white robe and holding a palm branch.  No explanation is given at first.  But then one of the elders approaches John.  These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from? (v. 13)  John answers, “You know the answer to that one, not me!”  He is told, These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (v. 14)  There is the official “uniform” of heaven.  Blood-washed robes.  Washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  The John who saw this scene wrote in his first letter, The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)  Paul describes it this way to the Ephesians, Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to himself as a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:25-27)  This is why believers are called “saints.”  “Saints” means “holy ones.”  In this world we are saint/sinners.  In heaven we are all saint, for the sake of Jesus’ shed blood!

The white-robed residents of heaven hold palm branches, those symbols of victory, for they have been given Christ’s victory.  The moment of their death was not defeat!  That was the moment they passed from life to Life.  Those in heaven are described as coming out of the great tribulation (v. 14).  This here, right now, life in this sinful world, this is the great tribulation!  And they got out!  They’re done with all this!  Today we mention Peg Schroeder and Ginny Olson and Pete Leege.  These were the members of this congregation who, this past year, got out of the great tribulation and became part of the white-robed multitude in heaven.  Each one of them had their own trials and tribulations they dealt with on this earth.  But no more!  Who do you recognize in the postcard?  I see my mom and dad.  I see other family members and friends.  I see many, many church members I have served through the years.  Some are little children, the water of their baptisms barely dry on their heads.  Who do you see in this wonderful place?

Look at what they enjoy now!  They are before the throne and the Lamb singing!  Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne and from the Lamb! (v. 10)  They know why they are in heaven.  It is all God’s doing!  Salvation comes from God. That’s worth singing about for all eternity!  They behold God.  The glory we cannot see this side of heaven because of our sin they now see!  Never again will they be plagued by heat and humidity and sunburn.  Never again will they know the deprivation of hunger or thirst.  Tears will never again fill their eyes as they mourn a death or say a goodbye.  For God will be their everything, their all-in-all.

Postcards often came with these words, “Wish you were here!”  This one comes with the promise, “You will be here!”  For the Lamb at the center of the throneroom has promised:  Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. (John 6:40) 

Amen.