On the Other Side of Glory

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“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

St. John gives us a glimpse of the other side of glory. Yet the first thing he wants us to see is not the multitude, the white robes, or the palm branches. Look where they are looking. Every face is turned toward the throne and toward the Lamb. Heaven is glorious because Jesus is there.

This certainly is a diverse group, from all economic strata, ethnic heritages, skin tones, and eras of history. Some struggled with this sin and some with that. Some came into the kingdom early and others late in the day. But the thing that holds them together is the object on which their eyes and hearts are fixed.

What is that on which they are all so intently focused? They tell us in the song they sing in perfect harmony: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” They are truly blessed, because they have been granted the privilege to come before God’s throne and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He shelters them with His presence. Nothing can harm them!

Notice what John does not see: celebrities or spiritual superstars. He names no apostle, martyr, patriarch, prophet, king, reformer, or celebrated saint. They are surely there, but none stands at the center. John sees one redeemed multitude gathered around the Lamb who has freed them by His blood.

This does not mean that the saints become nondescript or dissolve into some universal consciousness. John still sees people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. In the resurrection, God does not erase the persons He created; He frees them completely from sin. Every gift will be cleansed of envy, every distinction freed from fear and hostility, and every saint perfectly united with all the others in adoration of the Lamb.

Salvation belongs to the Lamb, to Jesus, and to Him alone; yet He gives that salvation to His people. Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might are His, and He shares the fruits of His victory with those He has redeemed. He has brought them through the great tribulation. By His blood He has cleansed them from every sin, so that no guilt condemns them, no shame clings to them, and no fear separates them from God. In the resurrection they will be fully human, restored in the image of the true Man, Jesus Christ.

These saints hold palms of victory in their hands. Their robes are white. They have overcome the evil one by the blood of the Lamb. They reap the benefits, the plunder, and the glory of His sacrifice. He relieves them of all burdens and bestows His own inheritance and perfect love upon them. And of all of their joys, here is the greatest: Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, is with them. That is the definition of “blessed”—to be with Jesus for eternity.

That is the view from the other side of glory: the Church Triumphant, the saints who are with the Lord in heaven, living in eternal joy. It sounds heavenly because it is. Yet John’s vision is given not merely to make us long for heaven, but to sustain us while the Church on earth still lives under the cross.

But when you look at Christ’s Bride from this side of glory, she does not appear so glorious. Much of the damage is self-inflicted. Pastors can run roughshod over congregations, and congregations can drive out pastors. Politics replaces churchmanship, expediency displaces sound doctrine and practice, and grudges smother grace. We call the Church militant because she fights against sin, death, and the devil; too often, however, she appears to be fighting herself. No wonder some grow weary of organized religion altogether.

The devil seizes upon such failures to tempt your Old Adam: If this is Christ’s Church, why is it so wounded and divided? If these are Christ’s people, why do they so often behave unlike Him? The temptation is to judge Christ’s promises by the Church’s visible condition and to conclude that a battered Church must have an absent Lord. That is what makes the scandal so dangerous.

The conflict is not only out there in the Church; it runs through your own heart. You know St. Paul’s painful confession: you desire what is right, yet fail to do it, and you return to the very sin you hate. The Old Adam does not surrender quietly. Again and again, you discover that the struggle between sinner and saint is not an abstraction but your daily need for repentance and forgiveness.

You are not alone in that weariness. Every Christian knows the frustration of repeated failure, and every faithful Christian longs for the Church on earth to resemble the Church in heaven. Its quarrels grieve us because they wound our fellowship and obscure our witness. This is life on this side of glory: Christ’s Church is holy in Him, yet her members still struggle daily with sin.

Such anxiety comes from judging only by what the eyes can see. Sight sees poverty, mourning, meekness, conflict, and persecution and concludes that God has abandoned His people. Faith hears Christ’s promise and sees what sight cannot: blessedness hidden beneath the cross, life hidden beneath suffering, and resurrection hidden beneath death. For those who die in the Lord do not perish; they live with the Lamb.

This is how our Lord describes the Christian’s life on this side of glory in our Gospel: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness, reviled, persecuted, and caught in strife—but only for a time. In Christ, you shall be comforted. By grace, you shall inherit the earth. You shall be filled with righteousness and receive mercy. Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, you stand before God not in a righteousness of your own, but clothed in Christ’s perfect life and atoning death.

Christ—His perfect life and atoning death—is enough. He makes the dead alive, sinners saints, and those who were no people the people of God. Every promise of God finds its Yes in Him. John’s vision of the other side of glory is yours in Him, and every blessing Christ declares in the Beatitudes is yours in Him. In the resurrection you shall see God. You shall be called blessed. You shall be called a child of God, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.

What John saw is not merely about those saints of God. It is about you. The other side of glory is your future, promised in God’s Holy Word. Whatever tomorrow brings—whether injustice, grief, or painful trial—the Lamb will not lose you. He will bring you out of the great tribulation, your robe washed white in His blood and every blessing of the Beatitudes fulfilled in you. You shall hunger and thirst no more. The sun shall not strike you, nor any scorching heat. The Lamb in the midst of the throne will shepherd you and lead you to springs of living water. God Himself will wipe away every tear from your eyes. You will be called blessed.

But even now, on this side of glory, you are blessed, because Jesus the Lamb is in your midst. He is with you always—not as a vague presence, but as near as His Word, His absolution, His Baptism, and His Supper. The kingdom of heaven is yours. Sealed with the triune name of God in Holy Baptism, you are His temple and live under His gracious care.

You are blessed. You are God’s holy ones, His saints—not because of anything you have done or left undone, but because Christ suffered innocently and died for you. The Lamb who was slain is risen. He reigns at the Father’s right hand, and for His sake all your sins are forgiven. On this side of glory He is with you in His Word, His Baptism, and His Supper. On the other side of glory you will see Him face to face. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.