Revelation 7, and I'm going to
start reading here in verse 1. And after these things I saw
four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. holding
the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow
on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living
God. And he cried with a loud voice
to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and
the sea. saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the
trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads. And I heard the number of them
which were sealed, and there were sealed 144,000 of all the
tribes of the children of Israel. And this is the only verse I'm
going to read. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000. Now
go down to verse 9, because I don't want to read all them things
about the tribes of Israel. And 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. And all the
angels stood round about the throne, And the elders and the
four beasts fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped
God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving
and honor, power and might be under our God forever and ever.
Amen. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
And which came there? Where did they come from? 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. 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. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of them shall feed
them, and shall lead them into the fountains of the living waters,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Well, we read last week the time
of judgment has come. The heavens departed as a scroll.
God named all the men of the earth and said, Men cried, O
hide us from, cried to the mountains, following us to hide us from
the face of him that sitteth on the throne in the wrath of
the Lamb. For the great day of God's wrath is come, and who
shall be able to stand? And so we have, we've dealt with
five and six, and we're still dealing with the sixth verse
or the last seal but here we are the next seals are not opened
until chapter 8 and 9 that's the seventh seal the last seal
and our Lord is the one that's opening these seals our Lord
is the one that's doing this work and here everything in chapter
7 seems like it's God fixing to execute judgments on the earth
execute judgment upon the wicked But why don't they fall upon
the wicked? Well, the winds are going to blow, but it's not ready
for them to blow yet. And the winds of judgment are
about to blow. And the first thing we see here is four angels.
Four angels. And these four angels, they have
a job to do. They're standing on the four
corners of the earth. East, West, North and South.
And they got the four winds. Four winds. The wind blows from
four directions. They got the four winds in their
power. And they had the power to blow
this wind and blow on the earth, on the sea, and on all the trees.
And so they was going to cause all this trouble. But listen
to who controls the destruction. And he said there in verse 2,
And I saw another angel, Ascending from the east Having the seal
of God the living God be cried with a loud voice to the four
angels Now watch what it says here to whom it was given to
hurt the earth and the sea She was given to him You remember
everything that anybody does in this book is given to him
Christ is the one that gives it to him Christ is the one that's
got all the power and all the authority. He's opening these
seals And all is ready for destruction All is ready for the angels to
start sending them winds and destroying this earth just like
the These tornadoes that come you think that them tornadoes
does destruction you wait till God sends destruction You wait
till God sends judgment It's so bad that the rocks and men
go in the mountains and hills and cry Fall on us to hide us
from the face of the wrath of the Lamb that sets on that throne
and so I tell you what but John sees this other angel and And
he's going up. He's ascending. He's ascending
from the east. He's coming from the east. And I tell you what, he said
he has in his hands the seal of the living God. He tells these
four angels, don't you harm the earth? Don't you harm the sea? Don't you harm the trees? And
here's what He's saying, till we seal the servants of God Almighty. Ain't that what He says? Till
we seal the servants of our God in their forehands. Oh my! You know, I'll tell you something. Judgment's not going to fall.
And it's certainly not going to fall on God's elect. It's
not going to hurt you. You know why? Because you've
got the seal of God. You've got God's seal on you.
And it's in your forehead. And when he talks about your
forehead, he's talking about you, your personality, in your
brain, in your understanding. That God himself has sealed you.
Now sealing is one of the most blessed things under heaven.
And the scriptures have a lot to say about being sealed. And
let me give you three things about a seal. First thing is,
a seal protects. It protects. It protects against
tampering, stealing. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
you know, you open a bottle of medicine, you can't hardly get
the seal off of it. I've just given you that illustration,
but it keeps against tampering and stealing. And it's like when
our Lord Jesus Christ was buried, the Pharisees said to those fellows,
said, let's our first error be worse, our last error be worse
than the first. In case his disciples come and
steal him away. So what they done, they put a
big old rock over that tomb where Christ was. And they put guards
on it. The scriptures tells us they
sealed it. Why they done that? To keep anybody from tampering
with it, from stealing his body. But a rock never stopped Christ
from doing anything. The guards didn't have anything
to do with it. But that's just an illustration. And a seal also
signifies ownership. Ownership said the song of Solomon
you said our Lord said seal me as a set me as a seal upon your
heart Let me know that I own you and you own me And set your
seal on my heart right here signifies ownership you own me lock stock
and barrel and you set the seal on that and And the seal also
certifies that what you're looking at is genuine in its character,
genuine in its pureness, and it's approved. Now I tell you
what, look at this. Nobody's going to tamper with
God's elect. Nobody's gonna steal us out of
the hand of Christ He said I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish and no man will be able to pluck them out
of my hand Ain't that what he said? Oh, we believers were sealed
in three ways. We're sealed by the Father Oh,
we're sealed by Him. We're sealed by the Son. You
know what? He owns us. He bought us with
His own precious blood. He redeemed us. And He put His
seal on us and they are mine. They are mine. And then the Holy
Spirit Himself seals us. And you know what He said? He
seals us with the Holy Spirit. And the Scripture shows us then
that it certifies that we're approved. that were genuine and
that were approved by God Himself. So you know all these things
tell us these things. And we cry, I have a Father.
And when we see in those who are sealed, we see ownership.
Why? Because they're gods. They belong
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll be protected. I want
to show you a couple of things. First of all, I want you to look
in John Chapter 6 and verse 27, I think it is. John 6, 27. Now this is where God sealed
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. You know, Christ, we're
gods, we're Christ, and we'll be protected. But look what our
Master said here. labor not for the meat which
perishes, but that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the
Father sealed." Now what does that mean? That God says, He
said His approval? Christ is purely God? Everything
about God said, I seal this man to His work? I sealed Him to
His purpose. I sealed Him and I'm going to
protect Him. I sealed Him and He's going to do everything that
I sent Him to do. And He's going to accomplish
what I sent Him to do. And no matter what anybody said
about Him, what they did to Him, God sealed Him and put His approval
on Him and said, This is my beloved Son. Hear ye Him. Now look over
here in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19. Look what it says about
us. 2nd Timothy 2.19 And you know when he talks about
being sealed in our forehands Look what he said here 2nd Timothy
2.19 Nevertheless, you know some people have their faith overthrown
but nevertheless the foundation of God's stand is sure Listen
to this, now having this seal, the Lord knows them better who
them better is. How does He know them? He got His mark on them. He got
his mark on them. You know, that's one of the most
blessed things. Mr. Spurgeon one time, somebody
told him, said, why don't you preach? He said, you preach on
election. Why don't you just preach to the elected? He said,
if I know who they was, that's the only ones I'd preach to.
But he said, I can't see into their head. But God's got a mark
on all his people's head and he knows where they are. He knows
who they are. And that sealing guarantees that
our salvation is perfect and complete in Christ. You can't
see the seal, but God can. God can. Now look what it said
back over here in Revelations now. And it said, I heard the
number. He says there in verse 4. I heard
the number of them which were sealed. Now they come to seal
the servants of God in their foreheads. And he said they were
sealed 140,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. God
numbered 44,000. And why he didn't seal them,
he said he heard because they were still on the earth. They're
still here. Now this is not a little 144,000.
I know there are some people that believe that they're going
to be the only 144,000. The rest of them are going to
have to live down here in their old sorry houses. For a thousand years. Ain't no houses going to last
a thousand years. Mine ain't. But anyway, that's what they
think. But when you understand this 144,000 is a symbolic number. There's 12 patriarchs in the
Old Testament. 12 apostles in the New Testament. So you take those and put them
together, and you do it 12 by 12, then you get 144,000. Represent
122,000 from the Old Testament, 122,000 from the First New Testament.
So, no, 144? 62. 62. Remember I tried to do some math
a while back. I'm not good at it. But anyway,
you take the Trinity. You take the Trinity. God the
Father, God the Son. You multiply that by 4 and you
get 12. Then you multiply all of the saints by 12. And he says
this is a symbolic number 144,000. And the 6th angel comes from
the east, the north, the west, and the south. And I want to
show you that this is in the Old Testament. Look over here
in Rome, I mean, I'll get it in a minute. Isaiah 43. Isaiah
43. You know, He sealed those who come from
the east, the west, the north, and the south. Look what he said
here in verse 3. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee, Why'd you do it, Lord, that is
precious in my sight? You've been honorable and I've
loved thee. And he said, therefore I'll give men for thee and people
for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee. I'll bring thy seed from the
east, gather thee from the west. I'll say to the north, give up,
to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from afar and my
daughters from then to the earth. Even everyone that is called
by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I have formed
him, yea, I have made him. And so you see, beloved, he brought
them from every direction. And he brought these. So this
is not literal Israel here. It's not literally 44,000 people. And let me give you a couple
reasons why it's not literal Israel. Because the New Testament
tells us plainly that they're not all Israel which are of Israel.
They're not. They're not all the children
of Abraham which are descendants of Abraham. And you go back and
you study in the Old Testament in 1st Kings chapter 12. That's
where the kingdoms got divided. Ten tribes was taken off into
Syria. and they were kept off into Syria. Two tribes was left, Judah and
Benjamin. There's only two tribes. And
that's why this starts out with Judah. Reuben was the first born,
but this here, when he starts talking about the description,
he talks about Judah. Why? Because that's where all
the kings come from. That's where Christ come from.
He come from the tribe of Judah. And so when you look at these
things, these are not literal Israel. And the reason being
because little Israel does not exist even yet. They can call
themselves, none of them can go back and say I was, I'm from
this tribe, that tribe and another tribe. They can't do that now. That's why Paul said stay away
from the indigenous genealogies that dis-gender questions and
strife. You know a lot of folks into
ancestry. I'll tell you what, I know exactly
where my ancestry started. I know all my ancestors. But
I'll tell you one thing about them, none of them hung from
a tree, except a horse beef or something. But you know, we're
not monkeys. But I'm not trying to be facetious,
but I'll let you know. But this isn't literal Israel.
This isn't literal Israel. And even when Titus The Roman
Emperor sent Titus into Jerusalem 70 years after the death of Christ
and they utterly and absolutely destroyed Jerusalem. Slaughtered
the Jews. Slaughtered them. Slaughtered
them. And I tell you what, so when
you talk about... I'll tell you some tribes that's
not even mentioned here. Dan isn't mentioned. Ephraim
isn't mentioned. None of those were mentioned.
And I tell you what, Judah was first because Judah was the one
that Christ came out of. And so now, he said, after they
are sealed in their forehead, now the judgment can begin. And
they can blow, but they won't blow on God's people. Now John
sees a glorious vision down here in verse 9. Look at this blessed,
blessed vision down here in verse 9. After all these were sealed,
He said, I beheld in low a great multitude, which no man could
number, and 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. This is the church. Got the victory. This is the
church. Where are they standing? Where
they stand right now in the presence of the Lamb. They stand in the
presence of the Lamb. Ain't that what it says? They
stand before the Lamb. They stand before the throne.
Christ is on that throne. It's standing before the Lamb.
Christ is the Lamb slain. Christ is the Shepherd. Christ
is our Lamb. He's showing there and we're
sharing in His glory. And look what they're doing.
Look what they are now. They're out of every country,
nation, and people in tongues. God's got elect from everywhere.
He got people out of every place. He got people in China. He got people in Everywhere you
know any kind of any place that there's been on the earth. God's
got somebody from that place God's got somebody that you know,
and here's the thing, when we get there, everybody's going
to say the same language. There ain't going to be no mixed
up language. When somebody's praying to God,
say in Hebrew, somebody over here is praying to God in Chinese,
somebody over here is praying to God in Spanish, and somebody
else over here is praying to God in Arabic. How in the world
does he understand them all? Because they're all asking, seeing
the same thing. But I tell you, God, when we
get there, all these distinctions down here are gone. When you
get there, all of them are in the same place. All of them before
the throne. All of them are before the Lamb.
All of them are standing there worshiping, praising God. Every
single one of them, all distinctions are gone. All distinctions are
gone. And I tell you what, look what
it says, they're clothed with right robes. Oh, right robes. Oh, flowing robes,
glorious robes, blessed robes, righteous robes, glorious robes,
pure robes. And look what else it says about
them. They've got palms in their hands. You know where you see
palms in the hands? When our Lord Jesus Christ came
riding into Jerusalem as the King. The scripture says that
they went before him with palms in their hands, waving them palms,
saying, Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! They had palms in
their hands, just big palms, waving them before Christ. Ways
to honor Him and bless Him and praise Him. And I tell you, it
also indicates salvation because our Lord Jesus Christ, He came
right in the end and He always, beloved, He was always King,
always has been and always will be. And I tell you what, He didn't
come into Jerusalem on a big white charging horse. He didn't
come on a big black horse. He come on a donkey. Come on
a donkey. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus,
He always does things different than this world does. Now look
what happens now. They're all standing before the
throne. In verse 10, and they cried with a loud voice. Every
single one of them. Can you imagine the multitude
that no man can number? All of them crying with a loud
voice. And you know what they say? Salvation to our God. What they're
saying is salvation is of the Lord. That's what they're saying.
Salvation to our God was set upon on the throne and unto the
Lamb. And that's what every one of
us say right now. You know when God told Isaiah,
go comfort my people, comfort you, comfort you, my people.
What I come from with? You know what he said? Say unto
Zion, thy God reigneth. So here he says, every one of
them cried with a loud voice. Salvation is God's work. Salvation belongs to God. Salvation, we're here because
of Him. We're here because He did the
work in us. We're here and He's the one sitting
on the throne. He's the one that sits there
and got all power and all authority in His blessed name. Huh? And I tell you what, they're
standing before that throne and every one of them is acknowledging
that salvation is of the Lord. You find anybody that's ever
been saved by the grace of God and that's the only thing they
know to say is salvation is of the Lord. Huh? Why, who else can save us but
God? They asked that man when they
let him down through the roof, you know, and they laid him down
in that basket down there, down in his bed and down before Christ
in that house. Our Lord looked at him and said,
Oh son, be of good cheers, thy sins be forgiven you. And all
them Pharisees said, all of them said, Oh my, what in the world,
this man is blaspheming. Only God can forgive sins. Salvation
can only be of God. Only God can forgive sins. He
said, but you may know that I've got the power on earth to forgive
sins. Get up and get out of here and carry your bed when you go.
Them Pharisees, they got so upset, but that's what He does to us.
He said, oh my, your sins be forgiven you. And that's the
best news I've ever had in my life. Well, I tell you, I couldn't... If you say, well, money will
buy everything. It will buy everything but salvation. It won't pay a
nickel. So you can give everything you've
got and it won't pay for salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. He
purposed it. He's the one that executes it.
He's the one that applies it. And He's the one that's got to
sustain it. And He's the one that's got to finish it. And
I'll tell you what, I ain't never contributed anything to my salvation,
I never have, and I never will contribute anything or contribute
anything to my salvation. And that's why when you get to
glory, you're going to say there just exactly what you say here,
salvation is of the Lord. Huh? That's all we're going to
say. We all got to say, we all...
We're all in the way, you know, they say let's all get on the
same page gosh people's always on the same page Always now look what happens
now here in verse 11 And then here comes a whole bunch of angels
And all the angels stood round about the throne, about the elders,
the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and
worshipped God. Now here's all this multitude,
and then they're surrounded by a great big bunch of angels.
Angels surround this because they're before the throne there
before the lamb. They're the ones saying Salvation
to our God which sits on the throne and under the lamb And
the lamb that was slain, but I'll tell you what then they
gathers angels gather around it around this redeemed multitude. And look what it says, even the
angels, angels worship God. They fall on their faces. They
fall on their faces before the throne and they worship God. The holy angels worship God.
The holy angels fall on their faces before God. The only thing
in this world ever The only thing in this world that will cause
us to worship God is the Spirit of God. But I tell you what,
and these angels, they started giving praises unto God. And
they give a seven-fold praise unto the Lord. And look at the
first one, they said, first of all, they said, Amen. Amen to
what these people said. Salvation is unto our God who
is set on the throne. They all said, Amen to that.
And then they said, Blessing. Blessing. And when you talk about
blessing, you know blessings is something you receive. And
all the fullness of the blessings that are given us in salvation
is given us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then look what
else they said, and glory. Oh my, wouldn't an angel say
glory? Unto him be all glory? The glory
of all of his attributes, the glory of his blessed person,
the glory of his might. And then look what else next
thing they say. Wisdom. Oh my. They stand astonished
at the wisdom of God. You read it tonight back there
in the study Brad about you know the manifold wisdom of God is
made manifest to the church. What does that mean? That all
the wisdom of God is made known to His church in this world.
When we talk about the wisdom of God, we're talking about how
in the world God's attributes can be reconciled. How can God
be just? and be gracious at the same time?
How can God slay a sinner for his sin and give him life all
in the same stroke? How can God Himself forgive you
of all your sins and yet punish you for all your sins at the
same time in order to be just and turn around and give you
grace and still be just in doing that? You tell me how that can
be. That's why they stand there in
utter astonishment at the wisdom of God. You know where you see
the wisdom of God? In the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
how I'm wise. Look at Him. Look at Him. Sinless, holy, perfect, righteous. God and man in one united person. As a man, he can die. As God, he can satisfy. As man,
he can suffer for sins. But as God, he can be accepted
of God. As a man, he can face God for
our sins and die in our room and place. But as God, he can
forgive us our sin. And so God justly punished his
blessed son. And then justly comes and puts
away our sin by his blessed blood. And then every man that he brings
to himself and says, yes I believe you, I believe Christ is my all
in all. I need him, I want him, I've
got to have him. And God says, I'm just and I'll
justify you. You'll never have no more sin.
I'll never judge you again. Every time I look at you, all
I'll see is holiness and righteousness and glory when I look at you.
I'll see sinless perfection when I look at you. We say, that don't
even matter. Listen, I don't feel like I'm
sinless perfected. Well, we ain't in this body.
But as far as God's concerned, we are. People all the time.
Boy, I'll tell you what. Preachers preach on, you know,
sinless perfection. Well, I'll tell you what. We're
sinlessly perfect. Where are we sinlessly perfect
at? In Christ. Huh? God said, I won't even remember
the sins against Him anymore. And also they see the wisdom
of God. God's just as if He were not
gracious, and gracious as if He were not just. Then look what
else they say. Thanksgiving. Oh my, Thanksgiving in honor. Oh,
thanksgiving and honor given to him for this great, glorious,
blessed salvation. And then look what else he says.
And all power and might. All power and might. The power
and strength of God clearly seen in the salvation of his elect.
And then they say amen again. A double amen. They start out
with an amen and they end with an amen. Now look what happens. So an elder, one of the elders,
you know those 420 elders, those 420 elders, I don't know which one it was,
we don't care, it doesn't tell us. He looked at John and he
said, What are these which are arrayed
in white robes, this multitude that no man can number? Who are
these people that are arrayed in all these white robes? Who
are all these people? And where did they come from?
Huh? Old John said, I don't know. But you know. You know. And you know what he said? These
are they. These are they. I've got a message
on that somewhere. I can't find it. If I'd have
found it, I'd have used it. But these are they. These are
they. That's a good way. These are
they. Where'd they come from? They came out of great tribulation.
Oh my. When he talks about great tribulation,
he's talking about the whole of your life. The whole of your
life. There's people right in this
service today going through tribulation. Going through troubles, having
burdens, concerned about so many things
and so many people. And this elder is asking this
question because he's experienced in salvation. He's experienced
salvation himself. He's experienced it. And these
are they which came out of great tribulation. You know, Paul told
the church at Ephesus, it's through much, much tribulation that you
enter into the kingdom of God. And I tell you what, you know,
if you're not in trouble, hold on, you will be. Just hold on,
you will be. You will be. You know, God saves
His church in tribulation. And he saves them from tribulation.
And this great tribulation here is all the trials of a lifetime. All the trials that God's people
go through in a lifetime. In a lifetime. You know, let
me say a little bit about pre-millennialism. Pre-millennials think that that
when they got what they call the rapture, that the Lord is
going to come and sneak his people out of here. And if you didn't
live for Jesus and didn't make Jesus Lord, then you had to stay
here. And then you had to go through
seven years, and out of where they got seven, I have no idea,
but seven years of tribulation. And when the church is gone,
He takes the Holy Spirit with Him. When Christ leaves, He takes
the Holy Spirit with Him. So let me ask you this, can anybody
be saved without the Holy Spirit? So they say this, when you're
in that tribulation, seven years tribulation, the only way you
can be saved is He that endureth to the ends, the one should be
saved. Well, can you endure without Christ? Can you endure without
God? Me and you couldn't stand a...
We'd be like a snowball in a blast furnace without Christ. Wouldn't
we? That's how long we'd last, just
like that. So they say that it's going to be there seven years.
Now you know what I call that? I call that a Baptist Purgatory. It's a place that these people
that can't get their folks that they say they got them saved. trying to get them sanctified,
trying to get them to heaven. But what they were doing, they
had to figure out some way to excuse the people that didn't
live. They made a profession of faith
that lasted six months or a year, and then they went back to the
world. So they had to figure out something to get them in some
way, somehow. So that's their purgatory for
the Baptists. But there's no... Listen. I'm
71 years old. And when I was just a boy, carried
everything on when I was 10 years old in a grocery bag, full size
grocery bag made out of paper. Mother run me off, run my little
brother off. That was heartbreak, that was
trouble, that's tribulation. Got older. Had to move here,
yonder, and everywhere else. One school after another, this
school, that school, until finally I said there ain't no sense even
going. Quit before I finished the ninth grade. Fifteen years
old. Seen my father shot and stabbed. Seen men and women fussing, fighting.
And then I went to Vietnam. Now that's tribulation. Especially
when I come back. Spent 18 months in hospitals.
That's tribulation. And that's for our new Christ. So you start when you're just
a kid. Start when you're a child. And you go to where you are today.
And the only reason you can give for being from where you was
to where you are today It's Christ. Ain't that right? And that's what he says coming
out of great tribulation. Out of great tribulation. I bet
some of you can remember being in tribulation when you was children.
Going through troubles and fears and anxieties when you was a
child. And now the church is right in the midst of tribulation.
And then, oh my, but look what happens next. And he said, you
know, and he said, they came out of great tribulation and
listen to this now. And they washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. They was put in red blood and
come out white. That's why you get through this
tribulation. It's through the blood of the Lamb. It's through
the blood of the Lamb that we're purified. It's through the blood
of the Lamb that we're cleansed. Huh? Oh my. And oh my, listen
to what happens now. They washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. Thank God for the blood
of the Lamb. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And then there, look, this is
where these people are now that come out of this great tribulation,
that multitude that no man can number. Look what it says now.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, they've already
been sealed now, and serve him day and night in his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne dwells among them. You think
about that. He that sits on the throne dwells
among them.