SermonPublished 9/11/2026
The Greatest Comfort
By Paul Zhang
Bible
Scripture: Revelation 7:13–17
Scripture: Revelation 7:13--17 (KJV)
Revelation 7:13 — And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Revelation 7:14 — And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:15 — Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Revelation 7:16 — They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
Revelation 7:17 — For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Introduction: Today I Want to Give a Promise to Those Who Are Weeping
Brothers and sisters, today I do not want to begin with a joke.
I want to begin with a promise.
If you are carrying pressure that other people do not know about;
if you are weeping over your family;
if you are worried about your health, work, marriage, children, or
future;
if you have lost someone you deeply loved;
if you have asked God:
"Lord, why?"
"How much longer?"
"Can I keep going?"
then I hope that by the end of this passage you will leave with a comfort deeper than, "Things will get better right away."
Scripture does not casually tell you, "Do not cry."
Nor does Scripture promise, "Once you believe in Jesus, you will never suffer again."
God gives us a deeper promise.
He lets John see the final scene of history:
a people who have passed through tribulation, clothed in white, standing before God's throne, shepherded by the Lamb—and then God Himself wipes away every tear.
Brothers and sisters, this is today's message:
The greatest comfort is not a life without tears. It is knowing that our tears have an end.
I. Coming Out of Great Tribulation — Suffering Is Real, but It Is Not Your Destination (7:13--14)
One of the elders asks John:
"What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?"
John answers:
"Sir, thou knowest."
The elder says:
"These are they which came out of great tribulation."
Notice carefully.
The text does not say:
"These people never experienced tribulation."
It says:
They came out of it.
1. Scripture Never Promises That Christians Will Not Suffer
There is an attractive version of faith that says:
If you believe in God, life will become increasingly smooth.
If you pray with enough faith, sickness will always be healed
immediately.
If you give, your wealth will always increase.
If you are faithful, major loss will never enter your life.
Revelation 7 does not allow us to preach the gospel that way.
The victorious multitude John sees is not a group of people who never suffered.
They are people who came out of great tribulation.
They knew pain.
They knew persecution.
They knew loss.
They knew tears.
Jesus did not tell His disciples, "You will have no tribulation in the world."
He said:
"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33, KJV)
We must preach both parts.
"You shall have tribulation."
That is real.
"I have overcome the world."
That is also real.
2. God's Protection Does Not Mean We Always Avoid the Storm
Earlier in Revelation 7, God seals His people.
Yet the same chapter shows that people who belong to God may still pass through tribulation.
So "God protects me" cannot simply mean:
"Nothing painful will ever happen to me."
Scripture gives a deeper picture of God's keeping power:
The storm may come, but it cannot take you out of Christ's hand.
Fire may come, but it cannot destroy your relationship with God.
Tribulation may change your circumstances, but it cannot change to whom
you belong.
Death may temporarily take the body, but it cannot take away the eternal
life God gives.
God has not promised that we will never enter a storm.
He promises to keep His people through suffering and bring them into final victory.
3. Tribulation Is a Place You Pass Through, Not Your Name
This matters for many of us.
We easily allow painful experiences to define us:
"I am a failure."
"I am abandoned."
"I am the person who lost someone."
"I am the person wounded by marriage."
"I am sick."
"No one understands me."
These experiences are real.
Scripture never asks us to deny pain.
But Revelation tells you that your wound may be part of your story without becoming the ending of your story.
John does not merely see people who once suffered great tribulation.
He sees people who came out of it.
So remember the first picture:
a road through and out of the storm.
You may still be inside the storm today.
Do not call the storm your destination.
It is a road, not your final home.
It is something you pass through, not where your story ends.
Tribulation cannot finally define you, because you belong to the Lamb.
II. Washed White in the Blood of the Lamb — The Greatest Comfort Is That My Sin Has Been Cleansed (7:14)
The text says that they "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
This is one of Revelation's most striking gospel paradoxes.
1. How Can Blood Make a Garment White?
Normally, blood stains a white garment.
But heavenly salvation reverses the picture.
The blood of the Lamb makes the robes white.
Human blood leaves a stain.
The blood of Jesus removes the stain of sin.
Sin makes us unclean.
Christ cleanses sinners.
First John 1:7 says:
"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (KJV)
Isaiah says that though sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow (see Isa. 1:18).
This is the gospel of the cross.
2. We Stand Before God Not Because We Are Better Than Other People
Revelation 6 ends with a question:
"Who shall be able to stand?"
In Revelation 7, at last, we see people standing.
Where?
Before the throne and before the Lamb.
Why can they stand?
Not because they never sinned.
Not because they lived perfectly.
Not because they were never weak in suffering.
Not because their morality was higher than everyone else's.
There is one answer:
the blood of the Lamb.
Brothers and sisters, no one in heaven will point to a white robe and say:
"Look how clean I made myself."
Every redeemed person will know:
If it were not for the Lamb, I could not stand here.
3. This Is the Sufferer's Deepest Comfort
We often imagine that the greatest comfort in suffering would be:
"Let the circumstances change quickly."
Of course we may pray for God to change our circumstances.
But there is a comfort deeper than changed circumstances.
Even if the situation has not changed yet, I know that I have been reconciled to God.
My sins are forgiven.
I belong to the Lamb.
Death is not my master.
Judgment is not my final destiny.
The cross has dealt with the deepest problem of my life.
So remember the second picture:
a white robe.
Whenever you think of the white robe, remember:
I can stand not because I am good enough, but because the blood of the Lamb is precious enough.
That is the greatest comfort.
III. The Lamb Becomes the Shepherd — The Greatest Comfort Is God Himself with Us (7:15--17)
If the previous verses are beautiful, verses 15--17 form one of the most tender climaxes in the chapter.
Those before the throne serve God day and night. The One seated on the throne dwells among them.
They hunger no more and thirst no more.
And finally:
"The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Rev. 7:17, KJV)
Three beautiful images appear together:
a tabernacle,
a Shepherd,
and a hand wiping tears.
1. God Dwells among Them — God Himself Becomes Our Dwelling Place
The verb behind the image in Revelation 7:15 is from σκηνόω (skēnoō), the same Greek verb used in John 1:14 when the Word becomes flesh and "dwelt" among us. The word carries the imagery of dwelling or tabernacling.
It recalls Israel in the wilderness.
They had no city wall.
No permanent home.
They lived in the wilderness.
The days were hot.
The nights could be cold.
Yet God's presence went with them, and the tabernacle stood among His people.
Israel's deepest security was never:
"We have strong walls."
It was:
"God is with us."
Revelation 7 brings that promise toward its climax: the One seated on the throne dwells with His people.
God Himself is their everlasting shelter.
The greatest blessing of heaven is not merely streets of gold, gates of pearl, or even the absence of disease.
The greatest blessing is:
God is there, and He dwells with us.
2. The Slain Lamb Becomes Our Shepherd
John says:
"The Lamb... shall feed them."
Who shepherds sheep?
A shepherd.
Yet here the Lamb becomes the Shepherd.
In Revelation 5 He is the Lamb who was slain.
In Revelation 7 He shepherds His people.
Why can He shepherd those who suffer?
Because He Himself entered suffering.
He knew hunger.
He knew thirst.
He knew rejection.
He knew physical pain.
He knew tears.
He knew death.
Our Lord does not stand outside suffering and shout, "Be stronger!"
He entered suffering.
He went through the cross.
He went through the grave.
He came out of death and turns to us as the living Lord:
"Follow Me. I know this road."
3. From Psalm 23 to John 10 to Revelation 7
Psalm 23 says:
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (KJV)
It speaks of being led beside still waters.
In John 10, Jesus says:
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:11, KJV)
Then Revelation 7 shows the Shepherd who has already given His life and the Lamb who has risen from death leading His people to living fountains of waters.
See the beauty of the biblical story:
Psalm 23: the Shepherd leads the sheep.
John 10: the Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Revelation 7: the Shepherd finally brings the sheep home.
That is the greatest comfort.
4. Finally, God Himself Wipes Away Every Tear
The final sentence may be the most tender in the passage:
"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
Listen carefully.
God does not stand far away and say:
"Stop crying."
He does not rebuke us:
"How can a person with real faith cry?"
He performs an intimate action:
He wipes away the tears.
To wipe someone's tears, you must come close.
You cannot stand far away and wipe a person's tears.
You must approach.
You must see the face.
You must touch the person.
So Revelation 7:17 gives us more than a world without tears.
It gives us:
a God who comes near.
Imagine a child who falls and scrapes a knee.
The child sits there crying.
The father does not remain at a distance and say, "Stop crying. It is nothing."
He comes over.
He kneels down.
He lifts the child into his arms.
Then he gently wipes away the tears.
Brothers and sisters, the pain is real.
The wound is real.
The tears are real.
But the father's embrace says:
Pain is not the final sentence of the story.
Revelation 7 ends with that kind of hope.
One day the hand wiping away our tears will not be the hand of an earthly father. The Lord who created heaven and earth and gave Himself for us will wipe away the last tear.
Remember the third picture:
a hand wiping tears.
Conclusion: Who Can Stand?
Look back at Revelation 6 and 7.
In chapter 6, heaven and earth shake. The sun grows dark. The moon becomes like blood. The stars fall. Kings, rulers, commanders, the rich, and the mighty hide.
They ask:
"Who shall be able to stand?"
Then chapter 7 begins to answer.
Who can stand?
Those who belong to God.
The world may not know who you are, but God's seal declares:
"You are Mine."
Who can stand?
Those washed by the blood of the Lamb.
Not because we are sinless, but because the Lamb shed His blood for us.
Who can stand?
Those shepherded by the Lamb.
The storm may come, but the Shepherd has not left.
Who can stand?
Those who still weep today but know that God will personally wipe away the final tear.
Final Call: Bring This Truth Back into Your Life
Do not immediately think about someone else.
Think about your own life.
What makes you weep most today?
Which name?
Which relationship?
Which loss?
Which waiting?
Which unanswered prayer?
You do not have to pretend to be strong.
You do not have to tell God:
"Lord, I am fine."
You may weep.
But while you weep, look up and see the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
He shed His blood for you, so He knows your wound.
He rose from death, so He knows how to lead you through.
He is shepherding you.
He will lead you to the fountains of living water.
One day He will bring you into the presence of God.
And God will come near.
He will not rebuke you for having cried. He will not ask why you were once weak.
He will reach out and wipe away the last tear.
Remember three pictures:
A road out of tribulation — suffering is not the destination.
A robe washed white in the blood — salvation does not depend on us.
A hand wiping away tears — the presence of God is our final home.
Take this sentence home and carry it into your life:
The greatest comfort is not that we will never cry again from this moment on, but that God Himself will wipe away the final tear.
Remember also:
Revelation ends not in disaster, but in God's presence;
not in tribulation, but at the fountains of living water;
not in tears, but with God wiping every tear away.
If you are still in tribulation today—keep walking.
If you are still weak—hold on to the Lamb.
If you are still weeping—do not despair.
The storm is not the end.
The grave is not the end.
Tears are not the end.
Our end is God.