Sermon: A paracletic text: Revelation 7. 9-17

May the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts, be now and always acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer.

                        How bright these glorious spirits shine!

                        Whence all their white array?

                        How came they to the blissful seats

                        Of everlasting day?

- words of the opening stanza of the hymn which will follow this sermon. Based on an original by Isaac Watts, but revised for the Scottish Psalter, it is a superb paraphrase of this morning's second Lesson from Revelation 7.  That passage is one of the purple passages of the New Testament; we often read it at All Saints-tide as we think of the Church triumphant and the communion of saints, and Watts' text gives us the means of singing it.  But in many ways it is a difficult text. In the first place, the Book of Revelation is written according to a particular type of Biblical literature that we call apocalyptic.  And apocalyptic literature employs all kinds of symbolism and imagery; the scale of writing is in epic proportions - it uses codes and hidden meanings.  So it's difficult for us to know how to interpret it.  We can get bogged down in speculation about details and so miss the true message.

Secondly, I once heard someone describe this passage as "wet".  By that I think he meant sentimental.  He found difficulty in the picture of people standing in white robes waving palm branches; of God wiping away tears.  I think his fear is that this passage can come across as soggy; rather like old cornflakes that have been left to drown in milk; whereas he preferred something far more crunchy  - fresh cornflakes from a newly opened box; something we can get our teeth into; something with a bit more bite and challenge.

Well, I don't know whether that is your reaction or not.  But the main thing I want to say this morning is that Revelation 7: 9-17 is one of the great paracletic passages, not only of the Book of Revelation, but the whole Bible.  ‘Paraclete' is of course the Greek word used in St. John's Gospel to describe the Holy Spirit - we translate it as ‘comforter' or ‘counsellor', or ‘advocate'.  Literally, it means one who comes alongside to help.  So a paracletic passage is a passage that is designed to bring comfort and strength.

Now there are many passages in the Book of Revelation that are not very paracletic - they speak unapologetically and almost it seems with relish of God's judgment, of woes and torments, of death and destruction. And even the Church is not immune - think of the 7 letters to the Churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3:  five of the letters include words of judgement on the Church.  But here in this passage we have a paracletic word and for that reason, we need to give it attention.

The Book of Revelation was written at a time when many Christians were being persecuted for their testimony to Jesus; and there is nothing desirable about persecution.  Persecution is about suffering, and it put people under tremendous pressure to renounce their faith.  The Book of Revelation was written to seek to strengthen and warn God's people to remain steadfast - after tribulation will come victory and rest.  And so the picture in Revelation 7 is of the triumph of those who come through bitter persecution.  Now some relate this bitter persecution to other apocalyptic passages, notably in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and in Jesus' discourse in, for example, Mark 13, which appear to speak of a great time of suffering immediately preceding the final breaking in of God's kingdom. So, on this understanding,  what our passage calls ‘the great ordeal' is referring to the end of time.  Others think this ‘great ordeal' means the suffering of God's people throughout all the ages; indeed, in our world today, thousands of people suffer persecution for their faith and, certainly, for them the language of enduring a great ordeal is appropriate.

Whatever the case, the passage underlines the fact that God is a paracletic God.  It holds out the conviction that those who suffer will be vindicated, and receive a care beyond measure; rather in the way St Paul confidently asserts that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.

And of course, the vindication of God's people is bound up with the victory of God over evil.  Our passage speaks of the praise and worship of those who have overcome: but they point not to themselves, but to God and to Jesus the Lamb.

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever.

A conviction beautifully expressed by Isaac Watts in another fine hymn for All Saints-tide:

Give me the wings of faith to rise within the veil

And see the saints above, how great their joys,

How bright their glories be.

I ask them whence their victory came;

They with united breath

Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb

Their triumph to his death.

But then the passage goes on to speak of the totality of paraclesis: 

- the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them; for ‘shelter' where John uses a Greek verb for ‘shelter' which refers back to the Tabernacle, the Tent of the Lord's Presence among his people when Israel wandered in the wilderness and finally entered the Promised Land. The glory of the Lord rested on the Tabernacle to show that God was with them.  So shelter carries the idea of God's glory covering his people.

They will hunger no more and thirst no more: a picture of sustenance, health, plenty.

The sun will not strike them or any scorching heat: a picture of protection, safety, security.

Because the Lamb will be their shepherd; who will guide them to springs of water: a picture of guidance, refreshment, well-being.

And God himself will wipe away every tear from their eyes: comfort beyond measure, personal, compensatory, healing.

So within the vision of the Book of Revelation there are many hard words, challenging words; even words of judgment, but here are paracletic words. And it seems to me that, in the whole range of what God says to us as his people; we too will sometimes hear hard and challenging words and words that warn of judgment; but we also need to hear paracletic words.  They are not wet or soggy, but words where God pays loving attention to us; where he takes our pain and our hurt seriously; where he shows us that he cares for us with a super-abundant care.  They are words which reveal to us how much we are loved and words that strengthen us to go on living in his sight, hopefully and purposefully.

And today, in our worship, we experience God's care.  Worship at times rightly disturbs us and recalls us to our senses.  But it is also paracletic.  Let me give an  example of how worship mediates God's care.

Consider the absolution, the authoritative declaration of God's forgiveness by the priest after the General Confession.  Absolution is a paracletic word.  We come and in sincerity and honesty confess our sins; the sins that might bring us under judgment.  The absolution, pointing to Christ's death and to God's promise is the authoritative statement of forgiveness.  It is a word of good news.  When the paralysed man was lowered to Jesus through the roof, the miracle was not so much the word of Jesus, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk'.  The miracle was ‘My Son, your sins are forgiven'.  That is what made the man truly free; that was the word that brought him  total healing, rather than mere cure.  Absolution is a word of release, a word of utter care which is why we leave this cathedral with our heads held high and as people who can now live for today and or tomorrow, because yesterday has been dealt with.  God cares for you and so he forgives you.

And of course, the ultimate word of paraclesis is God word to us that he loves us.

George Herbert concludes his poem A True Hymn with the words:

            And when the heart says (sighing to be approved)

            O, could I love! And stops: God writeth, Loved.

It is the word that lies behind such sentiments as expressed by Watts:

            Mid pastures green he'll lead his flock,

            Where living streams appear;

            And God the Lord from every eye

            Shall wipe off every tear.

Yes, next week, the word may be the word of rebuke, of challenge, of warning, of action, of judgment.

But sufficient for today is that we receive the paracletic word, the comforting word, the caring word, the word of grace, release and healing.