Then one of the elders spoke to me. "Who are these people dressed in white robes?" he asked. "Where did they come from?" I answered, "Sir, you know." He said, "They are the ones who have come out of the time of terrible suffering. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
-- Revelation 7:13-14 (NIRV)
The old hymn swept into my head and played there, filling my mind with vivid imagery, reminding me of why our Lord Savior allowed Himself to be beaten and hung upon a cross...
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow.
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
John experienced vivid imagery also, while exiled there on the isle of Patmos. The Lord came to John and showed him the future, the time when Jesus would come again to claim His church. John saw horrible events and unspeakable creatures tormenting those walking the earth during the days before Christ's return. Earthquakes, fire from the sky, unworldly warriors striking people down left and right. He stood as the stuff of nightmares unfolded around him. As the devastation began and the horsemen were loosed upon the world, he listened as one angel warned others, "Do not harm the land or the sea or trees" until 144,000 that serve God were marked with seals upon their foreheads, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob.
But then he looked and in front of him appeared a huge crowd of people, so many that no one could count them, from every nation, tribe, people and language of the earth. They were all wearing white robes, much whiter than snow.
Not just 144,000, not just from the sons of Jacob, not just the children of Abraham, but more people than can be counted and from all corners of the earth they came. All washed white in the blood of the Lamb. All washed clean of their sins by the wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb. You and I, all of us can be part of that mighty throng.
Only one question remains. Our hymn asks it of us all...
Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
Do we serve Jesus? It seems so little to ask for what we are given, but do we even sing His praises so that others may hear and know how great is our Lord? We serve our Savior by following His teachings, by loving each other as He loves us, as God loves Him. We sing His praises by living our lives as an open example of how He lived, of how He would have us live. We serve and we sing by sharing His word, by spreading the Gospel of our risen King. We serve and we sing by helping others wash their robes in the precious blood of the spotless Lamb.
There is power, power, wonder working power, for you and for me, in the precious blood of the Lamb.
Amen.
