As I watch football games on TV, I often marvel at the sheer number of people who have come to fill up these stadiums, often 80,000 ”“ 100,000 people, cheering on their teams with raucous intensity. And then throughout the day, I’ll see other games played at other stadiums around the country, all equally large, equally full, and equally loud, hailing their heroes’ momentary victories.
Yet then I read of heaven, where people of all tribes and languages, from all nationalities and all races around the world, and even from across the centuries””all of us who have believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior””will be around the throne of God, worshipping the Lamb. It will be a crowd far larger than the sum of those “mighty” stadium crowds, but all dressed in our team color””white””and all cheering for our great Hero.
Jesus will be our hero because he is the one who got us there, for “Salvation belongs to him!” He will be our hero because it is by his blood that our robes, rightly filthy rags, will be washed white.