The Sainted in Heaven
S. Clarke. Revelation 7:13-14 And one of the elders answered, saying to me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and from where came they?… I. THE BEINGS TO WHOM ATTENTION IS DIRECTED. They were not the unfallen, in other words, the natives of that better country: they were redeemed human spirits. They were born of human parentage, and nursed upon a human breast. Their first expression on coming into existence was a wail, and their last, perhaps, a groan. And between those periods they had known their share of human suffering. If they had suffered, they had also sinned. No lingerers on the margin of wrong, no prodigals of a day, they had wandered into a far country, and theirs had been the alienation of years. And, if they had sinned, they had repented under the influence of the Holy Ghost; their hearts had turned in longing towards their Father's house. Nor had their experience ended here. Young Christians, in the first joy of forgiveness, are apt to think heaven very near to them — that the celestial shores will soon loom upon their view. In passing through a Christian career, there are trials to be endured, Men were they "of whom the world was not worthy." Into their labours we have entered. The harvests of their life we reap. "They came out of great tribulation." Again, they went to heaven by the way of death. II. THEIR POSITION AND GLORIOUS APPEARANCE. 1. They are before the throne of God. The meaning of the throne of God we know not. Heaven is said to be His throne, and earth His footstool. The presence of His infinite nature is diffused throughout all things; but, purged from the grossness of earth, the glorified have a more vivid sense of His presence than is given us. Then notice their glorious appearance: "Clothed in white robes"(1) As being typical of their parity. No evil is there lurking within the blessed, and they shrink not beneath the Divine scrutiny. (2) White robes are significant of triumph. (3) White robes are significant of rest. The man who has laboured throws aside the garments worn in toil, and puts on others in which to repose. In this world, the condition of the Christian is not that of rest but of labour. III. THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE REDEEMED. A very natural thought is that contained in the line of the American poet, when, speaking of a departed friend, he says: "Day after day we think what she is doing." The rest of heaven is not that of death, but of infinite life. The repose of the redeemed does not consist in cessation from employ, but rather in the constant prosecution of congenial labour. Multiform will be the character of life in heaven. 1. There will be social life. There the golden chain of love will link all souls together, binding them to the throne of God. There a feeling of common love will flow through every heart. All will be at home. 2. There will be an intellectual life. The glory of man is his mind. To cultivate this stands among the highest duties of the present life. The present is the infancy of our being, but there is before us a majestic maturity. 3. The employment of heaven will be religious. In this, more than even his intellectual nature, man is capable of unlimited improvement. Even in this life no bounds can be set to faith, and hope, and love, so will it be in the future. Oh, it overwhelms us to think of the position of unfallen spirits, our brain grows dizzy from the height, our eyes dazzle in the excess of glory. Yet is there no altitude where created being now stands, but what man may attain to in the upward career of his moral progress, and for ever; and for ever will he continue to advance through the infinitudes of his nature's possibilities. (S. Clarke.) Parallel Verses KJV: And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? WEB: One of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?"