Revelation chapter seven. I've entitled the lesson this
morning, the experience of God's elect. I want us to look this
morning at an overview of this chapter to see the main message
of this chapter, what is teaching us this morning. Lord willing,
next week, we'll look at the verses towards the end of the
chapter in a little more detail. Now, remember, the book of Revelation
is not a book of prophecy. It's not a book of prophecy to
give us some indication of when Christ will return. It's not
a book written to tell us about some events that would happen
before the Savior returns. And it's especially not written
to scare people to death. The book of Revelation is all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember, as we studied that,
the opening lines of it tells us this is the revelation of
Jesus Christ, who he is. Now, without a doubt, there is
prophecy in this book, but the message of the book is the same
as the whole rest of the Bible. It's the message of Christ. Now, the book of Revelation,
you remember, has seven different visions in it, seven different
visions from different perspectives, all of the same person from a
different perspective. These visions all show us the
Lord Jesus Christ and what he's accomplished for his people.
And the message of revelation is this, Christ has won. He's already won the battle.
So the salvation of his people is certain. Now, this morning,
we're still looking at this, the second of the seven visions.
And this is a vision of man's complete history from the viewpoint
of heaven, from the viewpoint of heaven, looking down to see
the complete history of man's time on earth. And in this vision,
what we see is the experience of God's elect all through time,
not just the last days right before Christ returns, but all
through time. So there's some things I want
us to see as we look at this chapter in an overview. And the
first one is this. This world is preserved. God
keeps this ball spinning in space for one reason. It's the salvation
of his elect. Look at verse one of Revelation
seven. 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. Now, this isn't talking about
a spectacular weather that's going to happen before the Savior
returns. If that were the case, people
all through history, when there are hurricanes and volcanoes
erupt and tornadoes and all, they would be looking at all
those things as an indication that Christ is going to return
any moment. And they'd have been wrong every time, wouldn't they?
He hasn't returned yet. This is not talking about that
at all. It's not telling us in our day global warming is an
indication that Christ is going to return any day. That's not
what this is teaching us at all. Remember the Bible is written
to reveal spiritual truths, spiritual truths of salvation in our Lord
Jesus Christ. What this verse is teaching us
is showing us how God governs this world for the purpose of
the redemption of his people. The only reason that God doesn't
destroy this whole planet right now. I mean, maybe you're like
me. I wonder sometimes. Why does God put up with this?
I mean, if it's me, I just wiped this thing out right now. You
know why he doesn't? He's got a people yet to say.
Some of them might not be born yet. He's got a people that he's
going to say God cannot destroy this earth. until all of his
people are saved. God couldn't send the flood until
Noah was safe in the ark, could he? The angel, who I believe
is our Lord Jesus Christ, told Lot, you've got to get out of
this place. I can't destroy it as long as you're in this plane.
God's got a people he's going to save. The purpose of all of
creation is this purpose, so that Christ get the glory and
saving his people, then God cannot destroy this earth till his purpose
is accomplished. God governs everything that happens
in this creation for the good of his elect. He restrains the
wickedness of man to accomplish his purpose. Sometimes he allows
the wickedness of man to accomplish his purpose, but it's always
to accomplish his purpose of the salvation of his people.
And I'm not talking physically, although that applies. Mainly,
this is talking about spiritual things, what the Lord restrains
spiritually for the salvation of his people. The wind that
these angels are representing or restraining represent the
message of false religion. I can show you that. Look at
Ephesians chapter four. This is the wind of error that's
directed by Satan, who's the prince of the power of the air.
And this error will deceive many. Everyone it deceives will be
damned because they believed a lie. Well, what's going to
protect God's people from believing that lie and being damned? God's
going to restrain that wind of false doctrine. Ephesians 4 verse
11. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to
the unity of faith. and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie
in wait to deceive. So God, he preserves his people
in this world. He preserves this world for the
sake of his people. And he tells the angels, Don't
let that wind, that wind of false doctrine, hurt the earth. Because
I've got a people in it, out of every tribe, kindred, tongue
and nation. Don't let the wind hurt the sea. Because I've got
some people in it. You remember our Lord's parable
about casting a net into the sea and gathering up all kinds
of fish. Some good fish, some bad fish. That's a parable of the people
in this world. There's people there. Some of
them are good. Some of them are God's people.
Some of them are not. There's all kinds of people there. God
says you spare the seed for now. You spare those evil people.
You spare them for now because I've got it for my people's sake.
That's why you spare it. And don't let the wind hurt any
tree. Don't let the wind hurt any tree
of righteousness that I have planted. God preserves this world
for this purpose, the salvation of his elect. All right, second,
we learn this. God has a chosen, specific people
to save, and they shall be saved. There's not a chance any of them
be lost, verse two. 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've sealed the servants of our God
in their foreheads. Everyone that God has chosen
to save will be saved. But as you've heard so many times,
election is not salvation. Election is unto salvation. The
Father chose the people to save. If he hadn't done that, nobody
would be saved. But the Son must come and make them righteous
by obeying the law of The son must die for those people, to
put their sin away with his precious blood. And the Holy Spirit must
come and give them life and faith in the new birth. And that's
what this seal is all about. Now, this seal is not any outward
sign that's tattooed on somebody's forehead. It's not that at all.
The word seal, it actually means to keep secret. Secret. So it can't mean something that's
seen with the natural eye, can it? It's just like circumcision. Paul told us circumcision is
not that of the flesh. It's not an outward thing that
the natural eye can see. It's of the inward meaning. It's
of the heart, the new heart. It's hidden. And this word seal,
it means to mark for preservation. You remember they sealed our
Lord's tomb, didn't they? Trying to keep anybody from going
in or out, trying to keep anybody. It didn't work, did it? But when
God seals his people, they're preserved. Nobody can tamper
with them. Well, how are God's people sealed?
Now, this isn't something that happens right before Christ returns.
So, you know, the angels know who to destroy and who not. No,
this is what has happened all throughout man's history. How
has God sealed his people? It was the work of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father sealed his people
when he chose to save them. Second Timothy 2.19. Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having the seal. The Lord
knoweth them that are healed. Of course he knows them, he chose
them. Then the Son sealed his people when he shed his blood
and washed them from their sin. They're sealed so that they cannot
be defiled by their sin anymore. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's good news. A believer cannot ruin our righteousness
that God's given us by our sin. We're preserved from ourselves.
Then look at Ephesians chapter 1. The Holy Spirit seals God's
elect when he comes and gives them life and faith in the new
birth. Ephesians 1 verse 13. in whom ye also trusted, after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. So that's how God's people are
sealed. And every last one of them is going to be saved. Not
one of them will be lost. Look back in our text, Revelation
four or Revelation seven, verse four, 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. Now, don't let the
wind of man's error of doctrine blow you about, toss you about
like children here. This is not saying only 144,000
people are going to be saved. That's foolish. There's an error. I didn't even know about this,
but I read about it this week. It's heresy. that says only 144,000
people will be in heaven. Now the other people will be
saved, but they can't go to heaven. They got to stay here on earth.
That is error of works and rewards if I have ever heard it. What
this is teaching us is this. Every saved person has the exact
same inheritance because it's all earned by the same person.
We didn't earn it. Christ did. He earned it for
His people. Every believer has the exact same inheritance. It's
not stuff. It's a person. It's Christ Himself
to be made like Him, to be with Him face to face. So this 144,000,
it's a representative number. John didn't see and count 144,000
people, did he? It says here, I heard. He didn't see them. He heard
them. This is just a figurative number. It's a definite number that represents
the definite, exact number of God's love. And they'll all be
saved. But it's a number that only God
knows. It's a number no man can number.
We can count 144,000. I can count that high. It might
take me a while, but I can count that high. God has a people He
has saved, been redeemed by the blood of His Son that no man
can number. This 144,000 is a number of perfection. teaching us all of God's elect
will be saved. His purpose will be perfectly
completed in glory. Now I'll tell you what else this
is teaching us. Only God's elect can be saved because salvation
cannot come by the will of man. It can only come by the will
of God. What sayeth the scripture? It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Look
here at verse five. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe
of Gad were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Nephthom were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Manasseh were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Issachar were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Zabulon were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 12,000. Now you're
wondering, Frank, where's Christ in that verse,
in those verses? Where's the gospel in those verses?
Well, I believe I can show you. I got some help on this. When
you read these tribes here, did you notice they're not listed
in birth order? Normally the tribes are listed in birth order.
here. Why? Because salvation does not
have anything to do with this flesh. It cannot be inherited
from our parents. The only thing we can inherit
from our parents is a nature of sin. That's the only thing
they have to pass on to us. Salvation doesn't have anything
to do with the flesh. It's all of God's grace. Then if you go
back and look at the 12 tribes of Israel, you look at the names
of the 12 sons of Jacob and compare them to this list, there's a
name missing. The name Dan is missing. And
Manasseh, one of the grandsons, has taken his place. What's that
all about? Why is Dan left out? Well, I
read a lot about that. About every writer that I read,
I'm convinced they're wrong. I mean, not that I'm that smart,
but they've got to be wrong. They said, well, Dan fell into
idolatry and rebellion, so they were cast out. Oh, that's true. You and me are
in serious trouble. All the tribes of Israel fell
into idolatry and rebellion at one time or another, didn't they?
That's not it. None of them earned being put
in this number. Not one did. Dan is left out
and Manasseh is put in his place because salvation is by God's
will, by God's sovereign choice. God saves whom he will. And whom
he will, he passes by. And he does that because he's
God. And because he's God, he's right.
Our works don't have anything to do with salvation. And if
you know anything about yourself, you're glad that's so. because
all our works are sin, so we can never earn anything from
God by our works. Salvation is by God's grace. Now the result of the Father's
election, the result of the Son's substitutionary death for those
people, and the result of the Spirit's calling, giving those
people life, the result of that, that sealing, is glorification,
verse nine. 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. See,
some of them weren't on earth, were they? Some of them in heaven.
They were all this number no man could number. They were all,
every one of them, before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hand. God is so gracious. He chose a people out of every
nation, out of every kindred, and every people. The blood of
Christ is so powerful. He cleansed the people out of
every nation, every kindred, and every people. The Spirit's
so powerful. No one's out of his reach. He's
so powerful, he reaches a people out of every nation, every kindred,
and every people. And every last one of them is
made perfectly righteous in Christ. You know that's what the robes
represents, the spotless, pure, righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ given his people. And they all have the victory.
Every one of them are victors in our Lord Jesus Christ. He
won the victory for them and they have the victory. That's
what those palms represent. They represent victory. And they
will all spend eternity singing the praises of the Savior who
saved us from our sin. He's going to get all the glory
because he did all the saving. Verse 10. And they cried with
a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon
the throne and under the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and
fell down before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God
for ever and ever. Amen. That's what they're going
to spend eternity doing. Praising God, He completed His
purpose for the salvation of His people. And they all are
ultimately glorified. Perfectly. Lord Jesus Christ
is going to present them to the Father. Father, here they are. I and the children whom Thou
hast given me. No man can number them. You can. Count them. Not
one missing. All glorified. See, here's the
third thing. All of God's elect shall be saved.
through faith in Christ. Through faith. You cannot skip
this step of faith in Christ. Verse 13. 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 they've washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now
we'll deal with a little more detail with these verses next
week, but the point I want us to see from this is that these
righteous people, those who wear the white robe, those who had
the palms celebrating the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, they're
all saved by grace through faith in Christ. It says here, they
washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. They did that.
Wayne, I thought Christ did that. He did. He did, didn't he? Then
how did they wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb?
By faith. By faith. This is a picture of
faith. Now in this matter of salvation, a sinner is completely
inactive. No action whatsoever. Just like
a dead person in the casket. There's no activity there. They're
dead. We're born in this world dead in sin. So there's no activity
on our part in this matter of salvation. This is the work of
God alone. Faith is the gift of God. A dead
man can't sit up and do something to earn it. Faith is a gift of
God. He gives it to whom he will.
And when God gives faith, that faith becomes active. We're active
in believing Christ. We're active in following Christ.
We're active in looking to Christ. We're active, active in resting
in Christ. How can you be active resting?
A believer is active in quitting our works. Quit looking at them,
quit trusting them, quit thinking about them. We're active in quitting
those things and looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That faith
is active. Washing our robes in the blood
of the Lamb is simply this. It's putting all of our trust
in the blood of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse
from sin and to save us without any of our works being added
to it. This is salvation by faith in Christ. And then the fourth
thing. Now this is the complete history
of man on earth. The salvation of God's elect
is perfect. There's nothing lacking. Verse
15. 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 and they
shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall
the sun light on them nor any heat for the lamb, which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed him and shall lead them
under living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Now the salvation of our souls
here on earth, it's perfected. It's perfected. Christ saved
us because everything He does is perfect. Oh, but our experience
of it, it lacks a whole bunch, doesn't it? It's so lacking.
It's lacking because of this body of sin that we're forced
to dwell in. Here on earth, we serve God. The believer serves
God. Serves Him however He gives us
opportunity to. But that service is awful limited
in it. I can't serve him day and night.
I got to sleep sometime. I can't serve him day and night.
In glory, that's going to be perfect. No stop. They serve
him day and night. Here, we have communion with
God. God communes with his people
through the preaching of his word. Through his word, we commune
with him. It's precious, precious time. when the Lord condescends to
commune with his people. But it's mighty limited in there.
It's through a glass dark place. There, face to face, no question
of his authority as he sits on the throne, face to face. Here,
our salvation is perfect. But we hunger and thirst, both
physically and spiritually. But there, We're going to be
full. There, there'll be no seasons
for the believer. Like in the song of Solomon,
it's winter and everything looks dead. There'll be none of that
there. Perfect. Perfect. There'll be
no times of hunger, no times of thirst, because Christ our
Savior himself will feed us. Christ the Savior himself will
lead us to the fountains of living water. It's all him. will feed
upon Him, will drink richly of Him. And here on earth, our salvation
is perfect. But the heat of trials, they
burn, don't they? They hurt. They hurt. There'll be none of that there. I love what Brother Henry said
one time at a funeral. He said, we won't do this. No more. We must have to go through these
tribulations. That's what he said here. They
came out of great tribulation. Our salvation is perfect. The
tribulation didn't destroy them, did it? The trial, the heat didn't
destroy them. The heat didn't disintegrate
them. No, they came through it. By
God's grace, they came through it. But once we're there, all
that's going to be over. There'll be no more tears. There'll
be no more reason for tears. Christ himself will wipe away
all tears from their eyes. And not just wipe tears away. I remember when our girls were
little, they were left alone in my care. Janet wasn't there. They'd sometimes fall and skin
their knee. And they'd be crying, and you
know, You can hardly see anything on the knee, but they're they're
crying. I mean, oh, this is like my legs will be amputated and
I tell them it's OK and I wipe their tears away and they keep
crying and wipe their tears away and they keep crying. This isn't
just saying that the savior is going to wipe our tears away
and we're going to keep remembering the heat of the trial. We're
going to keep remembering the pain. We're going to keep remembering
the suffering. We're going to keep remembering the sorrow.
Christ himself will wipe away our tears. So there's no more
reason to cry. When tears are in your eyes,
you can't see very clearly, can you? What will you see when the
Savior, that glorious person, wipes away
the tears from your eyes? What are you going to see? You'll
see his face clearly. then there'll be no more reason
for tears. And we'll see God's purpose and redemption is accomplished
perfectly. And we'll rush to take our spot
and sing that song of praise to him forever. I hope the Lord
will bless that too.