Revelation 14:1-5 Luke 21:1-4
At the sale barns this fall 10's of thousands of calves have been getting bought, sold, and traded. The first thing buyers are going to look for in the calves are the recommended shots and antibiotics or growth hormones. Next they comb em over for any sick ones. They don't want the sick ones. The buyers only want the very best, the pure. It's not a bad deal to keep a sick one home, he wouldn't do well in the feedlot anyway. He'd be at risk for harsher ailment or even death. So as a rancher if we see a sick one with an ear down or anything else, we may take him out and give him a shot to make him healthy again. I can see this process kind of resembling what St. John is talking about today in his Revelation. And of course I'll tell you why:
Today the Apostle John describes more of what he sees in Heaven. First he sees the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion, this is Jesus in Heaven. There's multiple prophecies speaking about the true remnant of the Israel faith would be on Mt. Zion or the new Jerusalem so this isn't just random language he's using. The people hearing this 2,000 years ago would have put two and two together instantly, but I have to read all the concordance passages to make sense of it. Anyway, I digress. Next John sees 144,000 thousand people with Jesus' name and His Father's name on their foreheads, reminds me of the ashes at Lent. Although these people are a lot more holy than us, again I digress. So the reason for this is because earlier John describes the lost souls that had the number of the beast wrote on their foreheads, so these people are ear tagged to tell whose are whose (kidding, kidding). So go down a bit to verse 4 & 5. It describes what kind of people are in this 144,000, (which is the square of 12, the number of Israel tribes, which means its not just Israelites but everybody) they are undefiled with women, they are virgins who follow the Lamb wherever he goes, no deceit has been found on their lips. Does this describe anybody you know? Maybe a toddler! But seriously, none of us are this pure. What John is getting at is that those who are in the presence of God must be pure and holy, otherwise WE cannot handle it.
So before we get bummed out like there is no chance to be in heaven, think about what Jesus gave us. In the Sacraments we receive grace, Baptism wipes out original sin but then we don't stay pure for long so Jesus gave us Confession. Again that wipes out our sins and blemishes. Then he gave us His Body Blood Soul and DIVINITY in the Eucharist! We are what we eat, so the more we eat this bread of Angels the more we turn into it. And then there is the Purgatory. I feel so bad for the Protestant brothers and sisters who think this is a ridiculous doctrine we made up. But think about it, when we die what if we are not like these people John is describing? How can we be pure enough to see God face-to-face? God allows us the time to be purified, to let go of all attachments in a place we call Purgatory. And there is Scripture that supports this, if you want it drop a message and we can get into it, otherwise there isn't time here.
So what? What's the big deal about all this. What do we do now as cowboys, as ranchers? We must be HOLY like our Father in Heaven is HOLY, we need to live like this. Men especially need to protect their eyes from impurity. Bridle our tongues from all wicked speech. And if we screw up we must seek God's mercy in Confession and the Eucharist. Be joyful and choose heaven. See you next time...if there is a next time.
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