Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Revelation chapter 7 and reading
for our text part of verse 14. Verse 14, 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 and
verse 14. The whole verse reads, because
our text is an answer, and I said, verse 13, if we read it in context,
One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which
are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said unto 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. What does
tribulation mean? The definition of it is that
it is a state of great trouble or suffering. Those that are
set forth here, they are pictured as those that have been in this
world and are before the throne, they are in heaven. They have
died, their souls have returned to God and they are before the
throne. They are described here and their
situation in heaven is described so beautiful, so wonderful, so
free of any sorrow and anything that causes trouble. But where they have come from,
this world, is described as a place of tribulation. great tribulation,
but because it is spoken of in a way that specifically applies
to them. It is not just the general tribulation
or troubles of this world, but that which specifically belongs
to God's people. Our Lord, and we read the passage
in John, He said very clearly at the end of that passage in
John 16, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye
might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. People of God are to have their
peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the world tribulation. But leaving aside the Lord's
people specifically, if we think of this world, in this world
there is death. Every one of us must face that. There is that which leads up
to death, the sickness, the weaknesses, the infirmities, a body and a
mind. There's all of the conflicts
that this world has known by ways of war and persecutions. The amount of refugees at any
one time, especially what you'd hear now. Those who've lost home
and loved ones and livelihoods and country. Those who are not
wanted, as it were, by any other nation. In this world there is,
because of sin, because of the entrance of sin, no more than
perfect world that was created by our Lord and how he pronounced
everything good. But whichever way you look, there
is sorrow, there is trouble. So often it comes even where
there's been the most joy, where there's been love, where there's
been union, where there's been a marriage, then we get the breakdowns,
the divorces, the broken homes and the sorrows for the children
and those that are involved. Those things we cannot deny. Whether someone believes in God
or not, they look around on every side, and this is not a perfect
world. It is a world in which there
is trouble, and very often great troubles, and sufferings, and
great sufferings. And so in that sense, those that
die, those that are brought to heaven, that they have come out
of this, what all men in lesser or greater degree partake of. But with God's people, there
is another aspect to that tribulation and trouble. And that is because
they are brought to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to
follow him. then they suffer because of that. The Lord Jesus Christ endured
the contradiction of sinners against himself. He was crucified,
he was slain, the world said, away with him, away with him,
crucify him. And the Lord said, if they do
these things in a green tree, as describing himself, What shall
be done in the dry? If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. He says in John 17, I have given
them thy word, and the world hath hated them, hated them because
of the word of God. The word of God reproves the
wickedness in this world. Those that live by the word of
God just by their lives of abstaining from the wickedness of separating
unto the Lord and walking in the ways of holiness are a constant
agitation and hatred is shown to them by the world that does
not like to have their conscience correct and their ways reproved. Every man wants to do which is
bright in his own eyes. And in our present day, there
is many things openly done that are condemned in the word of
God. Sin is not hidden, it's openly done and approved by state
and statute. Sin is a reproach unto any people. And so in that way, God's children
will know what it is. to be taking up the cross and
to be suffering for the name of Christ. In many countries
where there is idolatry and other religions, to take up with Christianity
would mean almost certain persecution and sometimes death. But then
there is another aspect to the tribulation is that only they really know
what evil they have in their own heart. The effects of the
fall that have defiled us through and through, in our affections,
our thoughts, our ways, our inclinations, our desires, the Word of God
says the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, who can know it? It is full of wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. And it is God's children that
have His life in them, have the light of life, that feel this. The wicked, they will not come
to the light because their deeds are evil. But God's children
desire to come to the light of the Word of God, to find out
their ways, and painful though it is, yet they desire that they
might be washed and cleansed and sanctified. And sin is a
trouble to them, sin is a tribulation to them, a great tribulation,
a great trial to them. that is something that the world
that knows not God does not know anything of. The hymn writer
says, here on my heart the burden lies, and past offences pain
my eyes. And the psalmist, he says, remember
not against me the sins of my youth. Those things that really
pain the heart of the child of God. In me that is in my flesh,
says the apostle, dwelleth no good thing. To will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. The
evil that I would not, that I do. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? And that aspect of
tribulation, is very real and very present, a constant battle
and a constant sorrow to the people of God. And these here,
these here that are before the throne, they are they that have
come out of this great tribulation, having known what it was to have
the common tribulation, if you like, of this world, but then
also have that which is by following the Lord, and also have that
which is by the Lord's light in their hearts, showing them
what they are by nature, and bringing them to sorrow over
that sin. Jay bears in his prayer, he prayed
that the Lord would keep him from evil, that it do not grieve
me. But it's a good thing, if evil
does grieve us, and that we're not left to walk in it, and it
never causes us trouble, or sorrow, or suffering. Well, I want, with the Lord's
help this evening, to look at three points. Firstly, a people
coming out of great tribulation to heaven. Words of our text,
these are they. And so I want to look at this
people, these are they. Who are they? And then secondly,
the prophet, while here below, that came out of great tribulation. In other words, in having great
tribulation, it was not all, shall we say, negative, but there
was that which was positive, that which was brought out of
it that was for good. And so the Prophet, while here
below, that came out of Great Tribulation. And then thirdly,
how history is made out of Great Tribulation. But firstly, a people coming
out of great tribulation. Our text says, these are they. And the vision had shown those
that were standing before the throne, those that were worshipping
God, saying amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honour and power and might be unto God forever and ever. Amen. This great multitude which
no man could number. Who are they? Who are these? Well, there's several things
that are told about them here. The first is that they are a
numberless multitude. And of course, this is used in
a way of describing what man cannot number. God can number. God does know. God gave promise
to Abraham that his seed should be as the sand that is on the
seashore for not multitude or the stars of heaven. Well, pointing
obviously not just to Abraham's seed. Many, many times the children
of Israel literally were numbered, but a great, great number that
we cannot number. If we go down to the seashore,
we couldn't possibly number the grains of sand, but God can. And we know that there is a number,
but it's completely beyond us to know it. And so with this
multitude again, there is a number. We know that they are the elect
of God, and that each one is known by God and chosen by God
and loved by God. As far as we are concerned, they
are a great multitude that no man can number. They are also
of a universal in character in that they are not just confined
to one nation, but all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues. What a picture! And how in accord
With the commission of our Lord, go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. It's not confined to one nation. Every nation, every tongue, and
there they are, all pictured as before the throne. They are in glory. They are seen
in glory. The picture that is painted before
us here, standing before the Lamb, clothed with white robes
and palms in their hands. They are not sinners now. They
are cleansed and now they worship purely. Now they truly ascribe
that salvation to God and the Lamb as those that have. attained
unto it and are saved beyond the realms of sin and Satan and
of this world. And that which is said of them,
this number, they came out of great tribulation. They weren't
left in it. They had been in it. They'd come
through it and they'd come out of it. What a prospect and what
a Encouragement to those of us who may feel very much to be
in it now, whatever way it is, but especially if the Lord has
opened up and shown us our own hearts. The picture that we have
here is a people that were in it and were brought out of it.
We might be very tempted sometimes that we'd never get out of it
and never be free from it, or we'd be swallowed up in it and
overcome. by those troubles and by those
sorrows and by our sins. David said at one time that one
day I shall perish at the hand of Saul. And so then he fled
to the Philistines, but he didn't find much freedom from tribulation
there either, did he? So we have this, that all of
those there in heaven, they came out of this great troubles and
great tribulation. But there is one chief characteristic
that comes over them all, and is what is said in the words
of our text. Not only that they came out of
great tribulation, but have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. And what should make us really
pay Attention here is the opening word of the next verse. Therefore
are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night
in his temple. If we want to know why are they
there, how did they come there, is bound up in their robes being
washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Now, it would
be very clear from scripture that salvation is of the Lord. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that
lived a perfect life of obedience here. It is he that laid down
his life, a sacrifice acceptable unto God, and put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. It is his blood, it is his sacrifice,
his substitutionary offering, acting as a surety for his people
standing in their place when they have nothing to pay, and
he paying their debt. And that salvation he brought
out at Calvary, knowing for whom he died and for whom he shed
his blood. And that salvation also is brought
out in that he has foreknown and loved this people that he
died for, and He passes by them and bids them live here below. He draws them, He quickens them,
He saves them by His grace. It is God's work. Salvation is
of the Lord. We have in Ephesians, by grace
you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Grace is the free, unmerited
favor of God. That is how those here were saved,
how all of God's people are saved. And God freely, while we were
yet sinners, he commends his love for us, and that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And it is His grace then
that bids us live, but it is through faith, and faith is the
gift of God. And it is God that then gives
His people faith, and it is that then which becomes their faith. And it is in that way that we
have this set before us here. They have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood, of the Lamb, a people that had
no hope in self, nothing in their own works and their own salvation,
had set before them the precious work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and blessed with faith, so that like those dying of the serpents
in the wilderness, sin-bitten when they had sinned, God sent
serpents, fiery serpents among them, in the wilderness journey
from Egypt to Canaan. And God commanded Moses to make
a brazen serpent, and that those that looked upon that, they lived. Those that believed that provision,
they looked and they lived. Those that didn't believe it,
they didn't look, they didn't live, they perished. Same as
in Egypt, the command was given to shed the blood of the lamb
to put it on the doorpost and on the lintel of their houses.
And those that believed that this blood would be a shelter,
a refuge for them, those that believed God's promise, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you, they shed the blood of the
lamb, they put it on the doorpost, and they stayed in that house,
they sheltered there, and they lived. Those that did not believe,
they did not put the blood there, they did not shelter, they despised
the word and they perished. And this is the effect of faith. By grace you are saved through
faith. And you see the actings of faith
that is the gift of God by these that came out of great tribulations. What is the robes of the people
of God? Really, in one sense, it's our
righteousness. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. The robes of which we stand before
God's throne is the wedding garment. It is our fitness to stand there. We cannot stand in our own righteousness,
but only in Christ's righteousness. In Christ's obedience, clothe
and wash me in his blood. So shall I lift my head with
joy amongst the sons of God. And the hymn writer draws together
these truths that are here and gives a very clear reason why
they are there. every one of God's dear children
will be given a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
in Romans 10 makes it very clear that with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. And faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. And that is why we are to go
out and to preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and his baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall
be damned. And as the apostles went forth
and preached, some believed the word spoken, some believed not. There was that division between
them. We're told in one instance why
that division was so. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life believed. Imreiter says, "'Tis Christ makes
a believer and gives him his crown." But may we be assured
of this, that the word that is set before us is the word of
life. And what we shelter in, what
we rest in, is vitally important in We are either one or the other. We're either resting in our own
works, our own good works, our own righteousness, or we're resting
in Christ's righteousness, what he has done, what he has accomplished. And these that are before the
throne, they're resting in that. Their hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. We dare not trust the sweetest
rain, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the only name given among men whereby we must be saved. When he is lifted up above the
earth, he says, I will draw all men unto me. They looked unto
him, their faces were lightened. He is the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. And so we have the picture here
as well that there they are before the throne and before the Lamb. Verse 9, clothed with white robes
and palms in their hands, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world and the purposes of God, typified in all of the
types and shadows in the Old Testament and brought forth. And John the Baptist very clearly
points out the Lord and says, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. What is the difference then between
those, and we didn't read the first part of this chapter, the
first part, it also sees those that are before the throne, but
with them there is a number and those that are sealed, and 140
and 4,000 of all the tribes are the children of Israel. There's
many, many different interpretations, different thoughts of this passage
that really I believe that, and reliable commentators also believe
so, that this people is the same people. It is all the same before
the throne. But in every age, in every generation,
God has his people upon the earth. And in that sense, they are pictured
as those that the Lord is sealing, those that have his mark upon
them, those that are very evidently seen as the people of God. But in the great multitude, he
gathers those from every every age, every generation, right
through to the end of the world as that great, great multitude. And so it's in that sense that
these people are gathered together, Abraham with those of this generation,
those like in Hebrews 11, span some thousands of years and they
are all before the throne. Who are they then? A people coming
out of Great Tribulation. Came out. These are they. May we be amongst those that
are in Great Tribulation now. but death shall be brought out
of it and that we shall be numbered with these around the throne
and for the same reason that they are before the throne. Remember again what we said with
verse 15, therefore are they before the throne of God. Serve
him day and night. You can't think that you're going
to get to heaven if you've had no desire to serve the Lord here
below, or that here below you've had no recourse to his righteousness
or his blood. What is Christ to us here? Is he precious? Peter is very
clear, unto you which believe he is precious. Those that are
before the throne here, God's people, they are prepared people
for a prepared place. Those that go to hell are unprepared
people for a prepared place. May we be prepared as these were. And to that end, I want to look
then At our second point, the prophet while here below, that
came out of great tribulation. When Paul writes to the Romans
in Romans chapter 8, he says, we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are the
called according to his purpose. Those that come out of tribulation,
they are called according to God's purpose to bring them out
and to bring them around the throne. So how does that tribulation
work for good? How do those troubles work for
good? And we're not looking at working
for good while it somehow has been used to give us a good job
or a good house or good health and worldly things. That good
is an eternal good, a lasting good, a real good. That which
shall be a good still when we have to leave all things here
below. So often we read in the news
of those who are very, very wealthy men. Sometimes they've been very,
very ill, death's door. They would give all their wealth
for just another few minutes or hours, or to have their health
back again. But their wealth couldn't buy
that, and they couldn't retain it. And all of their goods were
of no use to them as they departed out of this world the same as
they came in, with nothing. They couldn't bring anything
out but had to leave everything behind. So when we look at profit,
it's not in a worldly, materialistic way, a way that shall be all
left behind. Peter, when he writes to the
strangers scattered abroad in 1 Peter 1, verse 7, he gives
one of the real prophets of tribulation for the people of God. is that
it is used as a trial of faith. You have in verse 7, or if we
read from verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations or trials, that the trial of your faith, being much
more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Christ. So he's pointing to that time
with Christ in heaven, the trial of faith. What did we say, how
we're saved through by grace, through faith? It is the faith
that needs to be a real faith, not just a false faith, an imitated
faith. It must be a real faith so God
While we are here below, he tries it and he tests that. You know,
if we were to make a rope and the rope was to do some very
important life-saving work, wouldn't you want to test that rope first? If you were going to do abseiling,
you wouldn't test it the first time you threw the rope over
the parapet and started to go down. Wouldn't you want to put
it under test first, see whether it could bear the weight first? And so God, he tests, he tries
the faith that he gives of his people here below. Our Lord, when he was on earth,
he taught them in parables and he taught the parable of what
is commonly known as the parable of the sower. And in Matthew
chapter 13, and from verse 18, he interprets the parable of
the sower. That's when the seed, the word
of God, was sown into four types of hearers or ground. And one of them was stony ground. And the Lord says that he that
receiveth the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth
the word, and anon, or in due time, and with joy receiveth
it, yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while, he continues
on for a little while, for when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word, by and by he is offended. And so here are
those that seem to be good Christians. They receive the word with joy.
They decided, as it were, that they'd better be a Christian.
They'd go along to the house of God. They'd join with the
people of God. But then suddenly, they're persecuted for that. Their friends, they deride them.
They lose their jobs. They get troubles come in their
life and then they are offended and they go back and they cast
away their faith, their religion, their hope and they give it all
up. They're a solemn thing to fail
as it were that test or that trial. But tribulation is used
in that way and it may be some of you this evening You look
back at things you've gone through and you bless the Lord that though
it was a trial, though it was a great test, that you were helped,
you were strengthened. It may have been very shaky,
you may have really felt ready to give up, but you were kept
and you still kept on. Maybe you even went as far as
what Peter did, that for a while, three times he denied his Lord
and Master But the Lord had prayed for him again, that his faith
fail not. And he came out of that trial,
and he came still, you might say, as a Christian, still as
a believer, still loving the Lord, the other side of it. And so that's why Peter writes
about that trial of faith. And the Lord had said to Peter,
I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And here is this great
trial you're going through, Peter. Is it a real faith? Is it that
supported by God, given by God? Will it stand the fire? Will
it stand Satan's sieve? Yes, it did. Here is Peter, still
a believer, still a follower. Don't be discouraged when the
Lord sends a trial of faith, whatever form it is. But cry
to the Lord that he would sustain your faith, that you still press
on, that you wouldn't be ashamed of him or of his word. And remember,
the word does set forth that this is what God does. When he
works a real work of saving faith in his people, he tries and he
tests it, and he will use those great tribulations to do that. The second thing, the second
good that will come out of this, God has said in Hebrews 12 we
have it, that every one of his dear children that he has, he
will chasten them. In Romans 12 verse 8 we have,
but if ye be without chastisement, Whereof all, that is, all of
God's children are partakers, then are ye bastards and not
sons. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. God uses various
ways, men, sicknesses, illnesses, crosses, and trials, to chasten
the people of God. With David in his adultery and
murder, God said that the sword should not depart from his house,
and he had trouble in his house with Absalom, and many different
things were used as a chastening hand. The Lord, instead of casting
away his people when they do wrong, He corrects them, lovingly
corrects them. We read in verse 11. Now, no,
well, if we read from verse 10, actually. For they, that is,
our fathers after the flesh, verily for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure, that he for our profit, that
we might be partakers of his holiness. These in the revelation
in our text, they're partakers of his holiness, they are with
him, in heaven. Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. The encouragement is, therefore,
lift up the hands which hang down the feeble knees. There's
an encouragement there to not faint when we are corrected,
when we're chastened, And the Lord punishes his children as
it were. It's not internal punishment,
it's a correction in love. And those tribulations, these
troubles, these great troubles, the Lord uses them in that way
for his people's good. Then we have the Apostle Paul
writing to the Romans in Romans chapter five. And he has, in
that chapter, a link, a chain, if you like, of prophets. He says in verse 3, well perhaps
if you read from verse 2, by whom also we have access by faith,
and again you notice how often faith is coming through, justified
by faith, accessed by faith, into this grace wherein ye stand
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And then he says this,
and not only so but, We glory in tribulations also. What, Paul? You glory in tribulations? You
glory in great troubles and great trials? Why do you glory in these? Well, says Paul, there is profit
from it. There's good that comes out of
that. He says, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. Patience could be Endurance as
well. Patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us. And you have this beautiful link,
a beautiful chain. There is a tribulation, there
is a great trouble, As it works, patience, experience,
hope, and not being ashamed. May we be able to view in a right
way our troubles, our tribulations, that they are for our profit
and good. And lastly, under this head,
the apostle, when he writes to the Corinthians, In his second
epistle to them, he says in chapter one and verse four, who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that is God. He says in the previous
verse, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. who comforteth us in all our
tribulations." You know, sometimes the greatest comfort and love
from parents come in times of tribulation. I remember when
I was eight years of age, running along, banging two sticks together.
I tripped over and the sticks broke under me and one of the
sticks went right into my knee. I can remember my father coming
and picking me up and carrying me back inside. There's very few times, as it
were, that I can remember in that way with my father. But that tribulation, that trouble,
that painful trouble, it brought out the love and the care of
my father to me then. And I still suffered with that
for a couple of years before having it. repaired and of course
still have the scars as well. But it is through those tribulations
God sends comfort for his people. But then there's another privilege
and a benefit to this for the people of God. He says, who comfort
in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them who
are in any trouble By the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted
of God. Do you know if you hear of anyone
in trouble, great trouble, and you have walked through that
same trouble, remember this verse, that God has brought you to experience
it for this purpose, comfort them, help them. And so these things, Even while
we are here below, we're not just thinking, well, this tribulation,
it is no good, it is no worth, it's no help to me. We're just
looking forward to being free of it all. Instead, there's a
looking that the Lord will turn the curse to a blessing and make
it work for good. When we consider that our Lord
Jesus Christ, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And our great salvation wrought out at Calvary was when our Lord
was crucified, the most painful, humiliating death there could
be. His back lashed, his hands, his
feet nailed, scorned by men, derided and mocked. It is in that situation that
our Lord brought our great salvation, a sacrifice acceptable unto God. May we remember that in our tribulations,
as the Lord is pleased to give grace and help in them. Paul
had a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet
him, and the Lord said he wouldn't take it away, but my grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect. in weakness. We're to prove that help and
grace and strength of the Lord in tribulations and in afflictions. We now want to just briefly end
the last point, how history is made out of great tribulation. As sin is in the world and affects
all nations, So we cannot look upon the course of the history
of this world and not see how it is changed and turned from
this way and that. And there's hardly a turn, that
there is not tribulation. If we think of Jacob's children,
children of Israel, going into Egypt, how did that happen? How
did God bring about what he said to Abraham that thy seed shall
be a stranger in a strange land? How did they get in that land?
All of the tribulation, the great troubles that Joseph had at the
hand of his brothers and thrown into a pit, sold for a slave,
falsely accused, put in prison, all of that. God sent him before
them to preserve life, but it was through great tribulation. When they came out of Egypt,
they suffered many years of great bondage. There was when Moses
was born, but 80 years later, when Moses was sent to bring
them back out of Egypt, they were still under cruel bondage,
80 years of cruel bondage. Those great tribulations. It
unsettled them, it made them willing to be separated from
Egypt, willing to go on pilgrimage, willing to go through the wilderness
journey. God used those things. You think
of these stories, the account of Ruth, the book of Ruth, Ruth
the Moabiteess, we have Elimelech going down in a time of famine
to Moab. And his two sons, they marry
wives of the Moabites. Then he dies and his two sons
die. And his wife Naomi, she has left
a widow and the two, Orpah and Ruth as well. And yet through
that and through Ruth's love to Naomi, they're brought back
to Israel. Ruth is married to Boaz and she
is in the line to Christ. a vital, important link to our
Lord Jesus Christ, and it came through great troubles and sorrows
in the life of Naomi. God using it in that way. You
think of the early church. The Lord said to them, when they
persecute you in one city, then go to the next. It was in that
way that God would direct them where to go. where they should
minister, and it was through that tribulation that they met
with. You think of more recent histories
with the Pilgrim Fathers, how was America founded? But those that were persecuted
here, that then went there to start, as it were, a better life
there. The Huguenots from France coming
over here. Many of the movements, many of
the things that are happening now in this world, the movement
of masses, the changes in nations, are happening in great tribulation. God orders all things in this
world. His purposes are ripening fast,
unfolding every hour. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. He is not the author of sin,
but sin entered into the world and death by sin, and the Lord
sovereignly turns it about for good and uses it to order the
course of the world according to His mind and will, His sovereignty,
Not man. Man is not in control. God is
in control. And he makes it work together
for good. And so when we think of tribulation
in this way, our history is made out of great tribulation. Our
text says, these are they which came out of great tribulation. But out of great tribulation
comes profit for the people of God. And out of great tribulation
here below comes the ordering of history and the purposes of
God brought about. So our word brings in so much
in this word this evening, but may we be amongst those that
at last shall be described here and around the throne. These
are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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. The Lord at His Blessings.