Let us turn again to the word
of God and turning to the chapter we were reading in the book of
the Revelation in Revelation chapter 7 and drawing your attention
this morning for a while to the words that we find here at verses
13 and 14 in Revelation chapter 7 and verses 13 and 14 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 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. To say something then with regards
to that deliverance out of the great tribulation. And 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 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. I'm sure you're aware that it's
a passage that is made much of by the dispensationalists with
their views of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and
debate over the matter of what they call the Great Tribulation
and whether, as they would say, there will be a rapture pre the
Tribulation or post the Tribulation. I'm not interested this morning
in such speculations with regards to the content of these verses,
but I want us to try to enter in some measure into the spiritual
significance of the things that are being spoken of here. Certainly
in this chapter we have reference to the whole company of the election
of grace. We see that in words that precede
our text, the language that we find in verses 9 and 10. John says, After this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our
God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb." Isn't the
reference here to all of those who in the sovereign goodness
of God are the whole company of the redeemed of the earth
out of all nations, kindreds, people. tongues and they rejoice
in God and in the Lamb and that wonderful work of redemption. And yet in the same chapter,
although they're spoken of as a great multitude, innumerable
multitude, yet they are clearly a specific people, a particular
number of people. We see that In verse 4, I heard
the number of them which were sealed, says John. And there
were sealed and 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of
Israel. 12 times 12, 144,000 altogether. And it's representative. The numbers, of course, are symbolic
numbers. It's representative of all the
side from the Old Testament and from the New Testament. We think
of the 12 apostles in the New Testament. When we go back to
the Old Testament, we have the 12 patriarchs, the heads of the
tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob who became Israel. And so what we have here, as
we read of the numbers from the various tribes from verse 5 through
8, it's all the Israel of God. The whole Israel of God. That is a spiritual people. They're
not all Israel that are of Israel. They're not all of the saved
who are the ethnic descendants of Jacob. He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. And who was it who wrote
those words? It was the man that we know as
the Apostle Paul, and yet at one time such a zealous Israelite,
and A Pharisee of the Pharisees, he says, and yet brought to see
that God's true Israel is not tied to one particular nation,
but it is all the company of the election of Christ. And it's
those that are being spoken of here in the words of our text
this morning. They have come out of great tribulation,
and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. And so I want to speak of this
deliverance, this deliverance from tribulation that's being
spoken of, and to deal with some three headings this morning.
First of all, to say something with regards to the certainty
of it. There will be tribulation. And
secondly, to look at the nature of it in some measure, and then
finally, to say something with regards to the deliverance, dealing
with these three headings. First of all, the tribulation that is being
spoken of. Great tribulation, and it's not
restrained to a particular period. It is the common experience of
all the people of God in every age. And it's that that comes
by divine appointment. The Lord Jesus himself in that
other portion that we read at the end of John chapter 16 tells
us, in the world ye shall have tribulation. And when the apostle
echoes those very words, remember the language that we
find in the Acts of the Apostles, we must, through much tribulation,
enter into the Kingdom of God. There is a must. There's the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ and we see it so often in that
portion from whence we were reading in the Gospel according to St.
John. in those three chapters, 14,
15, and 16, as the Lord begins to speak to his disciples of
his departing. He must go, of course, the way
of the cross in order to enter into his kingdom, but he will
not leave them comfortless. There's the great promise of
the Holy Spirit, but also the Lord speaks quite plainly to
them there of those trials and troubles that they're going to
have in this world. Earlier in that 16th chapter,
He says, These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not
be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God's service. And these things will they do
unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But
these things have I told you, that when the time shall come
ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said
not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. or when
the Lord has departed, why the trials and troubles will be increasing. And we see how the Lord is one
who clearly knows of all these things in the passage that we
were reading. Later in that 16th chapter, I
came forth from the Father, he says at verse 28, and I'm coming
to the world again. I leave the world and go to the
Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now thou speakest plainly,
and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest
all things. O thou knowest all things, and
needest not that any man should ask them. By this we believe
that thou camest forth from God. Or they see that the Lord Jesus
Christ is that One who has come as the true Messiah, the Son
of David. the son of God and the language
of the Lord is speaking there he says I came forth from the
father out of the father he is the only begotten son of the
father he is the son of the father in truth and in love whose goings
forth have been evolved from everlasting why he is the eternal
son of the Eternal Father remember the language that we have there
in that 8th chapter of Proverbs when there were no depths I was
brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water
before the mountains were settled before the hills was I brought
forth eternally brought forth He comes out of the Father He
is equal to the Father then I was by Him as one brought up with
Him. I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him." And now this was clearly a comfort to those
disciples. Now we know, we know that thou
hast come forth from God. They know that this really is
that One who is the promised Messiah. Had He not been teaching
them and instructing them through all those years when He was when
they were His disciples. And time and again He had indicated
how He knows. He needed not that any should
testify of men. He knew what was in the hearts
of men. There at the well of Sychar in John chapter 4 and the way in which He dealt
with that woman of Samaria. and she says to her fellow citizens
come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is
not this the Christ and the disciples now knowest all things they begin
now to understand something more what they not understood previously
and as he is that one who is God knows so he is that one who
is sovereign these things have I spoken unto you in the world
he says that in me ye might have peace
in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome
the world what authority this one has in spite of all that
might come upon his people they can look to him and rest in Him
and trust in Him. Here is that that is certain,
and the Lord tells them plainly now those things that are going
to be part and parcel of their life as those who are true Christians
and followers of Him who is the Promised One, the Messiah, the
Christ of God. But what of the nature? What
of the nature of the Tribulation? Well, it's in the world in the
world he says you shall have tribulation it is something that
is is outward he says again doesn't he in the
previous chapter in John in chapter 15 and there at verse 19 if ye
were of the world the world would
have his own or the world would love his own but because you
are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore
the world hateth you remember the word that I said unto you
the servant is not greater than his lord if they have persecuted
me they will also persecute you if they have kept my saying they
will also keep yours also but all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake because they know not him that
sent me. There's an inevitability as we've
said, there's a certainty. But here is the nature of it,
it's because they're in the world. And when he goes on in chapter
17 of John to pray for them, he prays not that the Father
should take them out of the world but that he should keep them
in this wicked world. in spite of all the persecutions
and John was very much aware of that of course even the situation
that John finds himself in here in the book of the Revelation
we see it in the opening chapter I, John, you also am your brother
and companion in tribulation your companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom and patience or endurance of Jesus Christ
was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Why was John there on Patmos?
Because of persecution. He's cut off. He's exiled. And
the reason, the Word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ. The tribulation is there because
of where God's people are situated, they're in this world. And John
again, John isn't in the language that we find in that first general
epistle. Love not the world, he says.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but
is of the world and the world passeth away and the lust thereof. It's tribulation in the world,
it's where God's people are. They are in enemy territory in
a sense. God's created the earth and God
is sovereign over all his creatures, of course he is. But the world
lies in wickedness, it says. The world lies in the wicked
one. The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. This is where God's people are
situated. And so there's a certain inevitability
with regards to those things that will come upon them in this
fallen world. Yea, all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." And how emphatic is the language
of Paul writing there in that verse in 2nd Timothy. Yea, he
says. He prefixes what he is saying
with that positive word. There is something that is sure
to be. Yea, all that will live God. If we are those who are desirous
to live godly lives, we will be taken account of and despised
in this wicked world. And yet that's part and parcel
of the testimony of the people of God. As I said, that's the
reason why John is now exiled and cut off from all fellowship
with other believers on the Isle of Patmos. the tribulation is in this world and yet there's an inward aspect
to it also it is spiritual in its very nature the very word
that we have tribulation there of course it says great tribulation all these they've come out of
great tribulation and they've washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb what is this this tribulation
then? what's the significance of the
word that's being used? well it's from a verb that means
to to press to oppress and to distress The Lord Jesus himself indicates
something of the spiritual nature of his kingdom. It's a spiritual
kingdom in a fallen world. He says, doesn't he, to Pontius
Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. It's a spiritual
conflict that God's people are involved in. And it's a conflict that really, in many ways, centers
in themselves. Yes, they're in enemy territory.
There's a surrounding world. There's a devil that's very active. There's temptations on every
hand. And yet, in many ways, these
people feel that their chief trouble is really themselves. Paul says, doesn't he, to the
Corinthians, we that are in this tabernacle to groan, being burdened. How God's people are burdened.
How Paul was very much burdened and burdened principally by himself. I know that in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. To will his present with me to
outperform that which is good I find not. We look without. There's opposition on every hand. We look within. and there is
that that troubles and torments the people of God. O wretched
man that I am, he cries, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? He wants deliverance. He longs
for deliverance. And yet he feels that his chief
enemy is himself. It was Ralph Erskine who said,
O that I had not a myself. from sinner and from saint. He
meets with many below. His own bad heart creates him
smart which none but God can know. All the smartings of the
child of God because of this tribulation that's not only outward
but also inward. Here then is the light of the
people of God in this world even in this day in which we're living. In the world you shall have tribulation."
The words of the Lord Jesus and here those truths that are revealed
to John there on that Isle of Patmos. These are they, he says,
which came out of great tribulation and who washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Well it has come
to the deliverance, the deliverance that is so evident here in the
text this morning so sure, so certain they came out, it says
they came out of great tribulation when Paul makes that great lament
at the end of Romans 7 who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? what does he say? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the Lord of God, but with the flesh the Lord of sin. So
he was a new man in Christ. That was the real Paul there. I myself with the mind serve
the Lord of God. But there's his conflict still
with himself. But the deliverance, all the
deliverance is something accomplished. And that's what we see here.
These are they which came out of great tribulation. And how
did they come out? Why, they washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. There is reference
here to robes and also to blood. robes and bloods of the Lamb. They're those who are justified
before God. They're acquitted. And not only
acquitted, they're also accounted righteous. Of course we have
that statement later in chapter 19 and verse 8. That verse that's mangled in
so many of the modern versions or perversions we might call
them. To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white, for the linen is the righteousness of
saints." And you're probably aware with the modern versions
they say that the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the
saints, as if it's their own works. It's not that at all.
It's the righteousness of another, it's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ that is being spoken of. The fine linen is
the righteousness of saints. And remember, Paul and that man's
great desire as he expresses it there in Philippians chapter
3 and verse 9, to be found in him, he says, to be found in
Christ, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law. But that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God, is God's righteousness, wrought in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, the righteousness of the saints. Oh, that's what Paul longed and
yearned for and rejoiced in. to know Him, the power of His
erection, the fellowship of His sufferings, to be made conformable
to His death. Such a knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He is that One that is surely
being referred to here at the end of the text. They have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It's Christ, the Lamb of God,
that taketh away the sin of the world. That one of whom we read
in the second chapter of Philippians, found in fashion as a man, he
becomes obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The purpose of the Incarnation.
Here he is now, a man, the God-man, and he's subject to the law,
he's made under the law. and he'll honor the law and magnify
the law by the obedience of a sinless life but then also by the sufferings
of a substitutionary death in the room, in the stead, in the
place of his people or without the shedding of blood there's
no remission of sins no forgiveness of sin without God's justice and righteousness being
satisfied and Christ himself of course has borne that curse
of the broken law again Paul writing there in Galatians
chapter 3 tells us quite clearly Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them
if we don't continue in all things written in the law to do them
we're cursed and that's where we are by nature but he goes
on doesn't he to say something more there in that third chapter
of Galatians Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree there is an acquittal deliverance from
all of the curse of the broken law. But there's something more
than that, there's also righteousness. There's robes of righteousness.
Christ, the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believes. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. There's a deliverance here for
those who feel themselves to be in the middle of a terrible
tribulation and great conflicts. Conflicts with sin, conflicts
with Satan, conflicts with the world. And yet something has
been accomplished. And who has it been accomplished
by? The Lord Jesus Christ. He came to finish the transgression. He came to make an end of sin,
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. But what we have is also that
it is applied. There is deliverance. They are
brought out, it says. These are they which came out. Deliverance. Or there's deliverance for those
who feel they're under the sentence of condemnation. to feel something
of that awful curse against sin doesn't Paul say it there in
the opening chapter of 2nd Corinthians we have the sentence of debt
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God
that raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and
doth deliver and will yet deliver all deliverance upon deliverance
upon deliverance but how is it that we come to
experience that great blessing of the deliverance well there's
no other way of entrance into these things entrance into the
kingdom of God than that that comes through tribulation that's what is being said here
in the Revelation, no entrance into God's kingdom, but by the
door of tribulation. These are they which came out
of great tribulation. There must be the tribulation
to be delivered from. Again, the words of the Lord
Jesus to his own disciples, ye are they which have continued
with me in my temptation, he says, but I appoint unto you
a kingdom. Oh, the Lord, you see, in the
course of his own ministry, he knew what sore temptations were,
how he was despised of the Pharisees and of the scribes, how the Jews
rejected him, he comes to his own, his own receive him not
how he is misrepresented and falsely charged how he is assaulted by the devil
himself we knew what sort of temptations were and he says
to those disciples as he comes to the end of his ministry are
they which have continued with me in my temptation And for those,
you see, who are with Christ, there is that, that He's appointed
even a kingdom. I appoint unto you a kingdom,
He says. All Christ's people continue
with Him and He continues with them how He feels for them, even
as He's about to depart from them. We saw it in those words
that we've already referred to at the beginning of that 16th
chapter in John's Gospel. In the world there will be persecutions,
but in all their afflictions He is so sorely afflicted, because
there is bother, is mystical bother. And it's interesting,
isn't it, when Paul is so persecuting those early Christians and there
in Acts chapter 9 where the Lord confronts him at the gate of
Damascus where he's gone to lay hands upon those who are the
followers of the Lord Jesus why persecutest thou me? he says
that's how the Lord confronts him why persecutest thou me? how is he persecuting the Lord
Jesus Christ? he's persecuting his body And the Lord delivers His people
from all their trials, all their troubles, all their tribulations.
That's the comfort that we see here in the text. I was struck
by a sentence in one of the letters of James Bourne concerning the
way in which the Lord is afflicted with His people. He says this,
does James Bourne, concerning Christ, He is touched by our
sins and feels for us exactly as we feel by His grace with
regards to our sin. That struck me. How do we feel
with regard to our sin? Or is that a burden to us? Isn't
sin the believer's real burden? So much part and parcel of that
tribulation that he's experiencing, even in this present life in
the day of grace. Sin is the believer's real burden.
It's a tribulation, but Christ is the one who is the great sin-bearer.
And His blood, His blood cleanseth us from all our sins. And there's
deliverance. and how we need that deliverance
again and again and again all those that are spoken of here
in the text this morning then how the elder answers John's
question saying What are these which are arrayed
in white robes? And whence came they? That's
the question. And John responds, Sir, thou knowest. Thou knowest. And then the answer that comes
back from the elder, These are they which came out of great
tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. Or that we might know what it
is to enter then in some measure into the true significance of
the words that we find here and understand spiritually that that
John is being directed to the great deliverance for sinners
that is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ in his person and
in his work. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless this word to us, for our soul's good. Amen.