How many of you have ever attended a hootenanny? That is what I thought! “Hootenanny” is an old-fashioned country word for party. It’s a joyful celebration filled with singing, dancing, and feasting. Whenever Jesus returns and takes his people home, there is going to be a great hootenanny in heaven
John’s vision in Revelation 7 answers the concluding question of Revelation 6—“Who will be able to stand on judgment day?” Verses 1-8 answer the question, “Who gets to go to heaven?” and verses 9-17 answer the question, “What will heaven be like?”
Revelation 7:1-8 gives us a glimpse of the guest list and Revelation 7:9-17 gives us a peek at the program for the hootenanny in heaven. Let’s take a closer look!
A Glimpse of Guest List for the Hootenanny in Heaven (1-3)
This vision opens with John seeing four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, which is a metaphor for God’s sovereignty over the whole world. They are holding back the four winds of destruction, which is synonymous with the four horsemen of the apocalypse that were revealed in chapter 6. God used these four angels to restrain the demonic and destructive forces that were to be unleashed upon the earth until God’s people were sealed.
The seal pictured here is a metaphor of salvation. In the ancient world, seals served two purposes: authentication and a mark of ownership. A person’s signet ring would be pressed into a blob of hot wax to notarize and seal a document’s authenticity. Seals were also used to mark a person’s possessions, like when an owner’s mark would be branded on livestock. Unfortunately, in the Roman Empire, seals were commonly branded or tattooed on the foreheads of their slaves to show who owned them.
Both of these ideas are in mind when the angel places God’s seal on his servant’s foreheads. Christians do not bear literal mark, but the seal is a symbol for the authenticity of their faith and their allegiance to Christ. The fact that those who are sealed are called “slaves/servants of God” highlights the idea of ownership, showing that they belong to God.
God spiritually seals his people to enable them to respond in faith to the trials and tribulations that they would face throughout their lives. Believers and unbelievers suffer the same physical afflictions at the hands of the four horsemen, but believers are spiritually protected from the wrath of God. Whereas earthly trials harden unbeliever’s hearts toward God, they purify God’s servants.
So, who is on heaven’s guest list? Those who have been sealed by God! Who are those who have been sealed by God? Those who have genuinely put their faith in Jesus! How do you know if you have authentic faith in Jesus Christ? Those who persevere through trials and tribulations and maintain their faith in Christ!
There is one thing that I have observed over the years: Suffering either draws people closer to God or it drives them further away. A person’s response to affliction reveals the authenticity of their faith. If you want to know if your faith is genuine, just look at how you respond to suffering. How do you respond to God when you don’t have enough money to pay your bills? How do you respond to God when you are diagnosed with cancer? How do you respond to God when a loved one unexpectedly passes away? How do you respond to God when your life doesn’t turn out like you thought it would?
The 144,000 (4-8)
After John saw the angel emerge with God’s seal, he heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, from the twelve tribes of Israel. Over the years, there has been considerable controversy surrounding the identity of the 144,000. Most famously, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that this is a reference to the exact number of people who will get to heaven—no more, no less. Those who recruit the most people to their group are counted among the 144,000—no wonder they are so motivated to knock on your door.
Others believe that this number refers to a remnant of ethnic Israelites in the first century, a group of ethnic Jews that will be saved at Christ’s second coming, the whole nation of Israel, or Christians who have been martyred. There are serious problems with all of these literal interpretations: they all betray the symbolic function of numbers used throughout the book of Revelation, not to mention that the twelve tribes of Israel did not exist in the first century AD.
I believe that the best way to understand this 144,000 is symbolic representation of the church as a whole, the true Israel, the complete people of God—taking 12 (the number of completeness), then squaring it, and then multiplying by 1000, another symbol for completeness in the Book of Revelation. This number represents the church throughout history; those who have the seal of authentic faith and ownership by God.
This interpretation fits the context best. Revelation 6:17 asks, “Who will stand in the final judgment?” The answer is those who have truly become part of God’s church through faith in Jesus Christ—not a group of ethnic Jews. The very next scene in the book pictures a great multitude in heaven from every nation, tribe, people, and language “standing” before the throne and worshipping the Lamb. This multitude is the church, the redeemed people of God, enjoying the benefits of heaven.
Will you stand on Judgment Day? Have you been counted among the redeemed of God? Do you bear the mark of authentic faith in Jesus Christ? Is your name on the guest list for the great hoedown in heaven?
The Hootenanny in Heaven (9-17)
Now that we know who is on the guest list, let see what the hootenanny in heaven will be like. Revelation 7:7-19 describes the heavenly celebration for those who have been sealed, persevered through the tribulations of the four horsemen, and have now entered their eternal home. It is one of the clearest pictures of heaven and one of the most beautiful passages in the whole Bible.
Here we have the multi-ethnic church standing before the throne, decked out in white robes, waving palm branches, and singing and shouting: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb. This hootenanny is so wonderful that the angels want in on it. They immediately fall down on their faces and join in the song: Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”
This passage highlights the rewards of heaven:
• The Glorious Presence of God (9a)
• Purification (9b)- The white robes symbolize purity and victory.
• Victory (9b)- The palm branches symbolize triumph after battle.
• Salvation (10)- Ultimate salvation from sin, death, and hell.
• Service (15a)- We will serve God in his temple.
• Shelter (15b)- God shelters his people
• No hunger, no thirst, no tears (16-17)
Duncan Matheson, the Scotch evangelist, was on his way home from an evangelistic meeting. He was trudging through mud knee-deep, and the siege seemed no nearer to an end, yet above the stars were looking down from the clear sky. He began to sing, “How bright those glorious spirits shine.”
Next day he found a soldier shivering under a verandah, with his bare toes showing through his worn-out boots. Matheson gave him money to buy a new pair. The soldier thanked him. ‘I am not what I was yesterday. Last night as I was thinking of our miserable condition, I grew tired of life, and said to myself, I can bear this no longer, and may as well put an end to it. So I took my musket and went down yonder in a desperate state, about eleven o’clock; but as I got round the point, I heard some person singing, “How bright those glorious spirits shine”; and I remembered the old school and the Sabbath school where we used to sing it.
I felt ashamed of being so cowardly, and said, “Here is some one as badly off as myself, and yet he is not giving in. I felt, too, he had something to make him happy which I had not, but I began to hope I, too, might get the same happiness. I returned to my tent, and today I am resolved to find the man.’ ‘Do you know who the singer was?’ I asked the missionary. ‘No,’ was the reply. ‘Well,’ said Mr. Matheson, ‘it was I.’ Tears rushed into the soldier’s eyes, and handing back the money, he said, ‘Never, sir, can I take it from you after what you have done for me.’
How bright these glorious spirits shine!
Whence all their white array?
How came they to the blissful seats
Of everlasting day?
Lo! these are they from sufferings great
Who came to realms of light;
And in the blood of Christ have washed
Those robes which shine so bright.
Now with triumphal palms they stand
Before the throne on high,
And serve the God they love amidst
The glories of the sky.
His presence fills each heart with joy,
Tunes every mouth to sing:
By day, by night, the sacred courts
With glad hosannas ring.
Hunger and thirst are felt no more,
Nor suns with scorching ray;
God is their Sun, whose cheering beams
Diffuse eternal day.
The Lamb, Which dwells amidst the throne
Shall over them still preside,
Feed them with nourishment divine,
And all their footsteps guide.
Midst pastures green He’ll lead His flock
Where living streams appear;
And God the Lord from every eye
Shall wipe off every tear.
To Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
The God whom we adore,
Be glory, as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.
So, this song gave the soldier hope because it highlights the benefits. Yes, our sins are many and our sufferings on earth are harsh, but by putting our faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, we can experience the same benefits. We can go to a place where God’s glorious presence is with us all the time, where we are purified from our sins, where there is victory over evil, where there is salvation from hell. We can go to a place where there is hunger, no thirst, no death, and no tears. If we persevere to the end, we will gain entrance to the great hootenanny in heaven. I hope to see you there!