All right, the seal of the living
God. Now, as you know, this is a continuation
in this section, this second vision that God gives John, Christ
gives John on the Isle of Patmos of the New Covenant age, the
last days between his first coming and his second coming. And here
in this second vision, we're looking at the seal judgments.
And we've finished up to the sixth seal. The seventh seal
is coming. That starts later on. But before
he reveals the contents, opens the seventh seal and reveals
that revelation, we have sort of a refrain here in chapter
7. And this refrain that he gives is for the comfort of God's people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. That's what God told his prophet
in the Old Testament. That's what he tells his preachers
in the New Testament. Speak ye comfortably. That's
speaking peace, if there is peace, based upon the proper ground
of peace, which was brought in by the Prince of Peace. So that's
the peace and the assurance that a true believer has. Looking
unto Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of his faith. And
he says here in this refrain, he starts off, he says, and after
these things, that is, after what John has already seen as
recorded in chapters four through six, here he's given another
vision that sets forth this comfort, this complete security and the
protection and salvation of God's chosen people. And we need that
because we're reading about God's judgments against the earth and
how bad things are It's kind of like this, it's kind of like
we're seeing how bad things have always been, how bad things are,
and how bad they're going to get up until the second coming
of Christ. And so it's very important to
the Lord that his people have the assurances and the comforts
and the peace That passes understanding that only he can give. And here's
what John saw. Now this is the seal of the living
God. He says, after these things, verse 1, I saw four angels. These are four messengers of
God. Probably four angelic beings
we would see that John saw in this vision. And these were sent
from the Lord to do a task. And here's what they're doing.
They're standing on the four corners of the earth. Now that's
a way of expressing, as you know, the whole world. This is, whatever
God's going to have these four angels do, this is something
that no part of this fallen, cursed world is exempt from.
It's going to come down on the four corners of the earth, north,
south, east, west. What are they doing? Well, right
now, he says, they're holding the four winds of the earth.
that the wind should not blow, and they list three things here,
on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. Now these four
winds represent the judgment of God upon this world. This
is the wind of God's wrath. When we think about the wind
in scripture, a lot of times we can think about the wind of
God's spirit. that comes to God's elect in
time and the preaching of the gospel in the new birth. You
remember back in John chapter three, you don't have to turn
there, and I didn't reference this in your scripture or in
your written lesson, but I was looking at this the other day.
You remember when Christ told Nicodemus, he said, you must
be born again, except a man be born again, he cannot see. In
other words, he cannot know or understand the kingdom of God.
In the new birth, God imparts life and a new heart, a new spirit,
whereby we're convicted of our sins and we're driven to Christ
for all righteousness, for all life, for all forgiveness. And
so except a man be born again, he cannot see or he cannot enter
the kingdom of God. And then when he was saying,
His explanation of new birth is in John chapter 3 and verse
8 where he says, The wind bloweth where it listeth. In other words,
the wind blows where it will. We don't control it, in other
words. It's where it listeth. He says, And thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh. In other
words, you don't know where it's coming from, where it's going.
He says, And whither it goeth, so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. So sometimes the wind in the scripture is a metaphor
or a symbol of the Holy Spirit in power making the gospel, the
power of God unto salvation in the new birth. And so we thank
God for that wind, don't we? That's a pleasant wind. That's
the wind that blows away all the chat, blows away all that
we trust in for salvation, all that we hold dear, all that we
stand on except Christ. And that's what that wind is.
But now here the wind upon the earth, the four winds, represent
God's wrath. And it's a judgment. Now, we
as believers, even though he's going to be talking about and
he's been talking about physical things that fall upon the earth,
these physical things also teach us spiritual lessons and we'll
continue to look at that too. But these physical things that
fall upon the earth, the physical judgments, they'll come upon
believer and unbeliever. I always look at it this way.
You know, when Israel, under the Old Covenant, suffered under
the judgment of God. For example, let's say the kingdom
of Judah that went into captivity to Babylon. Well, the majority
of those in that nation were unbelievers. The scripture tells
us that. But there was a remnant of grace. God always had a remnant, a small
remnant. Well, they went into physical
captivity too, just like the unbelievers. So believers are
not exempt from the physical judgments that come upon this
world. But these judgments are different. in our case. To the unbeliever,
it's the wrath of God that abides on them. To the believer, it's
not the wrath of God at all that abides on us. The wrath of God
has already been experienced for God's people in Christ. That's
what it means. He was our surety, our substitute. He experienced the full measure
of God's wrath upon us. Now sometimes physical judgments
can be a chastisement for believers. But don't get into trying to
figure that one out because you're not equipped for that. Neither
am I. We don't have that kind of knowledge and wisdom. Sometimes
they'll suffer unto death. But see, the death of a believer
is just a passage into eternity. eternal bliss of heaven. So we
look at them different. So what I'm going to do, I'm
going to show you some things here in this first verse. We're just
going to cover the first three verses by way of introduction. And then
we'll go on from there next week. But like for example, look at
it again. He says, he says he got these angels on the four
corners of the earth holding the four winds. They're holding
them back. They're restrained, in other
words. And they're restrained by the
long-suffering hand of God. In other words, this world is
not immediately destroyed. If it were not for God's purpose
in the salvation of His people by His grace through Jesus Christ,
and for His long-suffering, this world would have been destroyed
immediately when Adam fell. And I've, you know, we've probably
said it, we've heard people say it, well, you know, God ought
to just come on down and destroy this world. No, no, hold on now. God's got his purpose, his plan,
his time. Everything's working according
to his clock, not ours. He's not delaying anything. Remember,
read 2 Peter 3. That's a good parallel to all
of this, you know, where he talks about how unbelievers, the scoffers,
how they accuse God of delaying and then they disbelieve God.
They say, well, you say Christ is coming back, but he hadn't
come back yet. Well, what does Peter say? He
says that's salvation. In other words, God still has
some people that he hasn't called into the fold yet. And he's gonna
have them, God chose them, Christ redeemed them, they're justified
in his sight, and they're gonna be brought to believe that under
the preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so as long as this world's existing, as bad as it gets now,
we're to look at it as salvation, God saving his elect people,
Christ bringing his sheep into the fold. And you say, well,
I'd like to see more of them in Albany, Georgia, I would too.
But that's not our business, is it? We're just to preach it
out. So look at what he says here. He says that they should
not blow on the earth, the wind's going to come down on the earth,
the wrath of God on this fallen, cursed world. But what does the
Bible say about believers and the earth? Well, it says, first
of all, I've got this referenced in your lesson, the earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell
in it. It all belongs to God. That's number one. And the only
reason that this world, present world, is going to be destroyed
is because of sin. And then also the Lord says to
us as believers who look to Christ, we who are washed in his blood
and clothed in his righteousness, it says, blessed are the meek
for they shall inherit the earth. We're gonna inherit this earth,
but not this fallen earth. It'll be a new earth. A new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, 2 Peter chapter
three. So when the wrath of God comes
down on the earth, when it does, we don't have to fear. And then
he says, nor on the sea. Now the sea is a way of describing
all people without exception, wherever they are. That's the
way it is. That's what the sea represents
here. Not only us here, but those who live across the sea. Across
that sea, this sea, that ocean, that ocean. So it's a way of
symbolizing all people without distinction. You remember, I've
got a reference there to one of the parables that we're gonna
be getting to in this series on the parables of Matthew 13,
where the dragnet, you know, he pulled out all kinds of fishes,
of all kinds, not just one, not just bass, not just bream, but
all kinds. And that's representative that
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
Well, the sea represents all of them. And this judgment will
come upon all who have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, but who have no surety, who have no mediator, who have
no savior, who have no righteousness. God's going to judge this world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed. And that's Christ. And that's
death. You know, the sea in the ancient
world represented trouble, darkness, death. But for us, we who believe,
it's not that way. The sea is a calm sea. Remember
the crystal sea, the sea of glass, the smooth sea? That's our life
because that's what we are in Christ. We're righteous in him.
We're justified. We're sanctified. We've been
regenerated. We've been converted. We look
to him and everything we see about the trouble of this world
has to be viewed through him. I think about Hebrews chapter
2 where it talks about how everything has been put under the sovereign
control and lordship of Christ because of what he accomplished
on Calvary. But if we look around and judge things by the physical
eye and by circumstances and by what we see, he says, we do
not yet see everything put under him. In other words, there are
times we look around, we think, man, this thing's going to pot,
you know, and of course the world is. This thing's out of control
even, there's chaos. But then it says this in Hebrews
2, it says, but we see Jesus, we see salvation, God, in human
flesh. And that puts a whole different
perspective on it for us, doesn't it? Because that means something. That's not just pie-in-the-sky
religion. That's not just the opiate for the people. That's
real, because he's risen. And then he says, nor on any
tree. Well, this whole natural world. Mother Nature is going
to be destroyed. Mother Earth, you know. You know
how people are today. You know, pantheists, you know. Everything God and God's in everything
that kind of thing Well, it's going to be distorting all the
trees the trees represent life That's what the tree represents
the tree of life You remember the waters of Mara that when
the children of Israel when they came out into the desert and
They came up. They didn't have any water and
they came up on that bitter water mayor. That's what Mara means
bitter bitter And God told Moses to uproot this tree, and I don't
know how big the tree is or what all, but anyways, by the miraculous
power, and throw the tree in the water, and the waters became
sweet. That's what a tree represents. Like a tree planted by the waters,
I shall not be moved. Trees of righteousness, Isaiah
61, planted, whose planting is of the Lord. Well, all natural
life on this earth will be destroyed. But listen, I mean the spiritual
lesson to that for us is the very tree of life. We have Christ
who is the tree of life. And we have life from him, therefore
we're called trees of righteousness. And so all of this that represents
destruction on the earth is ultimately a blessing to the people of God
because of the grace of God in Christ. Now the proof of that,
look at verse two. Here's the key. I saw another
angel. Another angel. Now who is that
other angel? He says, ascending from the east. That's Christ. This is the angel
of the covenant. This is the messenger of the
covenant. Remember the word angel now means
messenger. And in order to determine what
this angel is, who this angel is, or what he's like, sometimes
it refers to angelic beings, the angels that were created.
Remember the angels fell with Satan. Lucifer was an angel.
That's an angelic being. Sometimes the ministers of the
gospel are called angels because they're messengers of God. Sometimes
Christ himself is called an angel because he's the messenger of
the covenant. Well, that's who he is. He's
ascending and he's ascending from the east. He rises up from
the east like the rising sun. Remember Malachi? What is it?
Chapter 3 and verse 1 I've got referenced there. Christ is the
angel, the messenger of the covenant. Malachi also calls him the son,
S-U-N, of righteousness. Here's the Lord our righteousness.
He's the key. He's what puts things in perspective
for us so that we can have comfort and peace and assurance in the
midst of this fallen world that we see going to pot. We know
that whatever happens, and even whatever happens to us physically,
we have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. That's the key. And he says he's having the seal
of the living God. There's the seal. He had the
seal of the living God. Now this seal, and all of this
you see, he's here, he's the other angel, he's ascending from
these, he has the seal of the living God. What does this seal
mean? It means several things. A seal there means identification. This is a seal that identifies
the people of God and distinguishes them from the world. from the
unbelieving world. We can see that in so many different
scriptures. Think about, for example, 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. Here he is, he's talking about
those who receive not the love of the truth. Unbelievers. They buy into the lie of Satan,
the deception of Satan. That's all of us by nature, we
know that. Never forget that. Never forget that when a distinction
is made between the earth, the world, and the people of God,
that if we can truly, from scripture, see ourselves as the people of
God, it's all of grace. And that's it. There's nothing
that describes the people of God in the Bible that would give
them leave to think that they are what they are because they
rose above the rest of the unbelieving world. That we were better, more
humble, less rebellious, less stubborn. By the grace of God,
we are what we are. And that's right. But this seal
identifies them. And remember there in 2 Thessalonians
2, 13, before that he describes the ones who God sends strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. You know, that's part
of this wind. I really believe that this wind, a lot of times
wind in the Bible can refer to false doctrine. The context determines
that. And when God sends, when his
long suffering is over, for example, in the life of an unbeliever,
and he sends strong delusion that they might believe a lie,
that's a wind of judgment. But he says in 2 Thessalonians
2, 13, but we are bound to give thanks unto God, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. Now, how do you know that? through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the praise of the glory of his
grace. Paul told the Thessalonians in
1 Thessalonians chapter 1, he said, I know your election of
God because the word came to you, the gospel came to you not
in word only but in power. You believe. That's his seal. It identifies the people of God.
The second thing that a seal does is it speaks of ratification. What does that mean? God approves
of them. He identifies us, who his people
are, and he pronounces his approval upon them. Now one of the ways
you can see that is Christ himself. In fact, I've got this written
out in your lesson in John chapter 6 and verse 27. Listen to this,
this is the Lord speaking, he says, labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God
the Father sealed. Christ is saying that the Father
sealed him. Now that means that the Father
identified him and the Father approved of him. Now when did
that happen? Remember at his baptism? He was
baptized and a voice came from heaven. He said, this is my beloved
son. There's the identification. This
is Messiah. Hear ye him or in whom I am well
pleased. There's the approval. Now, what
does this seal mean for us? It means that God identifies
us and God approves of us. How does he approve of me? How
does he approve of you? In Christ. as we stand in the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Worthy is the Lamb. And you see that all through
the scripture. You can go, Romans 6, 17, and 18. You were the servants
of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you, being then made free from sin, you
became the servants of righteousness. That form of doctrine is that
stamp that God puts on his people. You see, our doctrine, you know,
people want to put down doctrine. Well, our doctrine is part of
that which identifies us, by which we're sealed under the
living God. Ephesians 1 and 13, we're sealed
with the Holy Spirit. The indwelling presence of the
Spirit is the earnest, the down payment. We're sealed with him. How does he do that? He brings
us to look to Christ. He brings us in conviction of
sin, knowing that we have no hope of salvation, but by the
sovereign mercy and grace of God in Christ, and he causes
us to look to Christ alone for all salvation, for all righteousness. Not to our decision, not to our
baptism, not to our works, not to joining, but to Christ. That's
the seal. That's the identification, and
our identification as we plead Christ is our approval. Because
we're approved of in Christ, we're accepted in the beloved.
And you remember 2 Timothy 2.19. Remember when he's talking there
about two men, I think it was Hymenaeus and Philetus he mentions,
who have erred according to the faith. They brought in false
doctrines saying the resurrection was already passed and they made
shipwreck of the faith of some. In other words, they weren't
truly saved. But he says there in verse 19, he says, but the
people of God have this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are
His. That's the seal. Now look at verse 2 again. He
says, I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal
of the living God. Now remember what that seal is
because that's going to be important to the next lesson. 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,
that is to release the four winds. And he says in verse three saying,
hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have
sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." In their
foreheads. Well, what's your forehead? Right
up here. That what it is? Well, what does that mean? The
forehead in the Bible is a metaphor for the mind. That's what it
means. The mind. They're gonna be sealed
in their minds. Later on, we're gonna talk about
the mark of the beast. where his people had that seal
on their foreheads. That's their mind. That doesn't
mean they're going to have a literal mark on their physical forehead.
It's their mind. They're deceived. Their doctrine
is false. They're under the deception of
the beast and of Satan. And then it talks about the hand.
The seal on the hand. Forehead represents the mind,
the hand represents their works. It's kind of like what you're
reaching for. What are you reaching for? Well, people in religion,
they're reaching for heaven. Well, what do they think about? What's on their foreheads? What's
in their mind, you know? It's like Cain, that's what he
was doing when he brought the sacrifice. He presented it to
God, or when he brought his offering, he presented it to God with his
hands. What was it? It was his works. It was his efforts, and that's
what that means. The first reference, if you've
got your written lesson, you need to change something, because
I made a mistake. Don't have a heart attack. I just made a
mistake. I know I don't do that very often.
I put a wrong reference in here. And I want you to turn to the
reference that I meant to put in there. But the first reference
where it says they're sealed in their foreheads, the forehead
being a symbol of the mind, the first reference to the forehead
in the scripture is in Exodus 28. That's the high priest. Don't
turn there. Turn to Ezekiel. I want you to
turn to Ezekiel chapter 9. If you look in your lesson, I've
got Ezra chapter 9. I don't know why I put Ezra down
there, but I meant to put Ezekiel. They both start with E-Z, I guess,
is the only thing I can tell you. I want you to turn to Ezekiel
chapter 9. But here's the thing. The first
reverence there in Exodus 28 is the priest who, you know,
he used to have that mitre, that turban, and on front of that
turban there was to be a gold plate And it was to be worn over
his forehead, and you remember what the gold plate said, anybody
remember? On the priest's forehead? Now come on, y'all, you're Bible
scholars. Holiness unto the Lord. In other words, everything that
he did as the high priest of Israel, as the representative,
that's what was he to have on his mind, the holiness of God. That God, this God is like no
other. This is the one true and living
God. And everything that priest did
in the sacrifices, in the holiest of all, it was all to identify
and distinguish the true and living God as he reveals himself
in salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ. The mercy seat. And that's
what was to be on his mind. That's what is to be on our minds
right now. In other words, when I'm standing
up here and I'm teaching a lesson, and what I'm to have imprinted
on my heart, on my mind, affections and will, is I do not want to
misrepresent God before you. I want to tell the truth about
God. He's holy. And the only way I can do that
is to preach Christ. And who Christ is, He's God in
human flesh. He's the Lord our righteousness.
He finished the work of redemption. You see, everything that I'm
telling you, it relates to the holiness of God. And that's what
that priest was to have on his mind. Well, look at Ezekiel chapter
9. There's this real interesting
little passage here that talks about this very issue. And what's happening here is
that Ezekiel is telling the refugees of Judah, as he's preaching to
them on that riverbank, he's telling them about the wrath
of God that's going to fall on Judah, going to fall on Jerusalem
because of their idolatry. You remember, I think I've told
you all this, those refugees, about 10,000 refugees, and their
hope came from their idea of going back to Jerusalem and starting
again in that temple and everything but Ezekiel says that's not your
hope your hope is in the future and it's wrapped up in the promise
of the Messiah of Christ coming in to establish righteousness
so he tells them about God's wrath coming down upon Jerusalem
and the temple for their idolatry and listen to it in verse one,
now listen to this it says he cried also in mine ears with
a loud voice Ezekiel 9, saying, calls them that have charge over
the city to draw near even every man with his destroying weapon
in his hand. There's a destructive weapon
in his hand. And behold, six men came from the way of the
higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter
weapon in his hand. And one man among them was clothed
with linen, with a writer's ink horn by his side. That's like
the charges written down. And they went in and stood beside
the brazen altar. This is the judgment of God coming
from the brazen altar. That means the judgment relates
to God's truth in salvation. They didn't respect it. They
didn't believe it. Verse three, the glory of the God of Israel
was gone up from the cherub, that's the mercy seat, you know,
and all that, whereupon he was to the threshold of the house,
and he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's
incorn by his side, and the Lord said unto him, now listen to
this, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of
Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that
sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in
the midst thereof. Set a mark on the foreheads of
those who sigh and cry." What's the sighing and crying about?
Repentance. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are the meek. That's what that is. He's talking
about believers there. That's an emblem of believers.
And he says, put a mark on their foreheads. And then you can read
the rest of that as far as I read. He said to the others, he said,
in mine hearing, go ye after him through the city and smite.
Let not your eyes spare, neither have pity. So in other words,
there's a reference in Ezekiel's vision to those who had the mark
on their forehead. And who's he talking about? He's
talking about God's elect. He's talking about the redeemed.
He's talking about the regenerate. He's talking about believers.
And that's what the reference back here in Revelation chapter
7. And he says, now you hurt not
the earth until all the people of God have been sealed in their
foreheads. Hold back. Alright? And what
he does is he brings that wrath down in measures as time goes
on. You remember he talked about
in that one seal, he talked about a fourth part of the earth. That's
limited. In other words, he's not going
to destroy it all at once, all together. Later on in the seventh
seal, we're going to see where he talks about a third. It gets
worse. But it's all coming to where
the whole thing is going to be destroyed, and the only hope
for any sinner is to flee from the wrath to come, flee to Christ.