Revelation 15

5 After this I looked, and the temple of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6and out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure bright linen, with golden sashes across their chests. 7Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever; 8and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.

On Sunday we sang the magisterial hymn “For All the Saints” with the lines:

O blest communion, fellowship divine,

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine . . .

It was our reminder that that those saints who have departed are now free and at rest, but we on the other hand still have struggle ahead. 

It’s tempting to want to live in the age to come, and to be already at rest. Perfect rest sounds delightful right about now. So, too, does the end of all our disappointment — with our friends, families, cities, churches, and nation.

But there is still struggle ahead; and it’s both heresy and foolishness to believe that we can can, as the text from Revelation makes clear, enter the Temple without enduring our part of the plagues. 

So hold tight friends. Do not dismay and do not be front of heart. Don’t give up the struggle. Keep fighting the good fight. Endure. 

For the doors of the Temple are open; and in God’s own good time the righteous shall surely enter.