464. Wednesday after Twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity.
O Lamb of God,
bind our hearts inseparably to thee,
and draw us into thy glory. Amen.
Revelation 14, 1-5. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
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Here the song of praise from heaven, where the blest already enjoy eternal happiness, is heard by the church which still fights and suffers on earth. The saints have the Lamb’s Father’s name written in their foreheads; that is, they are his own, and they are like him. His Spirit and love, which saved them by the blood of the Lamb, are come upon them, and have imprinted themselves on them; so that now, when you see them, you read his name in their foreheads. — Their song of praise in heaven is so powerful that it sounds as the voice of many waters, or as the most terrific peals of thunder; and yet as beautiful as the sweetest strains of a harp; power and tenderness are in the most marvelous way united. They sing “a new song”; that is, a song of the things ever new which they see in God: and therefore a song which never grows old, and never wearisome. None on earth can learn it, save only those who know the power of redemption in the blood of the Lamb. “These are they which were not defiled with women.” “For they are virgins”; not by abstinence from marriage, — else were Peter and several more of the apostles excluded, — but in purity of mind, in the soul’s chaste love and faith toward our Lord Jesus during their life here below. A pure virgin means one who does not love the world, but serves God with single heart. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,” are one with him, and always walk in his steps, imitating his obedience and patience. “These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.” Being precious and beautiful in his sight, they walk also as such, and are in mind and spirit fundamentally different from the world; “and in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.” They live in the truth. They do not reach sinless perfection here on earth; but they strive after it, nor cease their efforts before they reach it in the world to come. — Dear reader, you may, if you will, be numbered among the hundred and forty and four thousand; walk so as here is written! Help us thereto, thou Lamb of God, Lord of glory, by thy Holy Spirit. Give us the soul’s chaste love of our heavenly bridegroom; open our ears to the tones proceeding from the church triumphant over yonder; and teach us to glorify the power of thy blood, that we may forever sing the new song together with the angels before the throne. Amen.*
Jerusalem, my happy home,
Name ever dear to me!
When shall my labors have an end
In joy, and peace, and thee?
When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls
And pearly gates behold?
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold?
O when, thou city of my God,
Shall I thy courts ascend,
Where evermore the angels sing,
Where sabbaths have no end?
[TLH 618 (listen here); or ELH 539]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.