Well, we come this week to Revelation
chapter 7, and the first part of it, the first eight verses
particularly, I want to break it up and spend a bit more time
in it than I did last time. There's a verse in Isaiah chapter
40. Anybody that knows Handel's Messiah
will know that it's the verse with which it starts. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. This is a call to God's preachers
and their commission is to comfort the people of God. Who are the
people of God? They're the multitude from every
tribe and tongue and kindred. that God chose in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that He loved with an everlasting
love in eternity. He set His heart upon them, not
because of anything that they were or had done or would be,
or any choice that they themselves would make. He didn't do it because
of that. There are those who say they believe in the election
of God, and that election is the election of those who will
end up choosing Him. No, that's not the case. God
chose of sovereign, free grace, a multitude that no man can number,
and He left the rest to themselves. He left the rest to their own
sins and their own accountability before divine justice, because
it is divine justice that is the standard of this creation.
And he says to his preachers, comfort my people, the people
who in time he redeemed with the blood of the lamb. He united
his people with that lamb, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, before
the beginning of time. He put them into union, betrothed
them to him as his bride, that he would stand under his law
and justice accountable for those people. And He would bear their
sins in His own body on the cursed tree of Calvary. When the time
was fully come, in the middle of time, He would come and do
that. And this people is His people. They are a fixed number. We don't know who they are, but
He knows every single one. They're like that army in Ezekiel
37, who stand on their feet. The dry bones become an army
and they stand on their feet and like ranks of soldiers. We saw the military parading
in London yesterday for the coronation. And one thing that's most obvious
is if any one of them is missing. If one of them's fallen down
or tripped up or something like that, you notice it. You don't
notice the others. You don't notice the other hundreds
and thousands. You notice the one that's missing.
In God's kingdom, not one of the people he chose in Christ
before the beginning of time will be missing. He will call
them all out. How does he do it? He calls them
under the sound of the gospel. And so he has his people in this
world. And because it's this world,
which is a fallen world, which is the world which was his kingdom
at the start, but Satan usurped authority over that kingdom in
the fall, in the Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter 3. And it's
been his kingdom ever since. All in the permissive will of
God, for the purposes of demonstrating his salvation. Yes, but it's
been in Satan's control ever since. Ever since. He usurped
the kingship of God from this kingdom. That kingship that God
had delegated to Adam. He took it when Adam fell. God will recover that kingdom. That's his purpose. The kingdom
of God will be triumphant. The kingdom of Satan in which
we now live will be defeated. God's kingdom will triumph. God's
revealed purpose, please get this clear. any who would think
that Christianity is a mission to try and make this world a
better place. Get this clear. God's revealed purpose, I'm talking
of the purpose He's revealed in His Word, is not to make this
world a better place. You do remember, don't you, that
in John 17, Jesus, praying his high priestly prayer, said, I
pray not for this world, but for those you have given me out
of this world, for his people. You see, Satan's objective is
to make this world a better place. You say, really? Yeah, that's
his objective. To make this world into a utopia
of peace, of everybody getting on well together, of all marching
in step and singing off the same sheet. That's Satan's objective. But here's the crucial thing.
Don't forget this. This is so critical. His objectives
are without the righteousness and justice of God. And that
cannot be. God's righteousness and justice
must be upheld. They must be upheld. They cannot
not be upheld. God would cease to be God if
He did not uphold His standards of perfect holiness and righteousness
and justice. Sin must be punished. It cannot
not be punished. It must be punished. His justice
was stamped on this world at creation, and it must be restored. And only God's kingdom achieves
the utopia with righteousness and justice. That's his heaven.
That's that place where there is no sin, there is no crying,
God will wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people.
And that's why Jesus, when he came preaching, you know, when
he started his ministry, what was it he preached? Have you
noticed? He preached the kingdom of God. He preached the kingdom
of God. John the Baptist said the kingdom
of God is at hand. It's the kingdom of God. Jesus
taught his disciples to pray, Thy kingdom come, O Lord, Thy
kingdom come. Not this kingdom of this world,
get better. No, Thy kingdom come. But how
will it come? How will it triumph? in a world
of sin. How will it be that God will
have his kingdom populated by the people that he made but who
fell into sin? How will he have that kingdom
which can only admit perfection? How will it be populated Out
of this world of sin and sinners it will only be accomplished
by effectual redemption, the payment, redemption, payment,
payment of a price, payment of the sin debt, the sin debt paid. And what is the only thing that
pays the sin debt? It is the blood of Christ. It
is the blood of the Lamb of God. A lamb without blemish and without
spot. And that blood was shed not for
everybody. That's a lie of Christendom.
That's a lie of false religion. That blood was shed for the innumerable
multitude that God chose in Christ before the beginning of the world.
And that's why only, only, only, as we saw in chapter 5, Only
the lion of the tribe of Judah, in the capacity as a lamb slain,
only he, the cry went out, who is worthy to unloose the seals?
Who is worthy to implement God's plan of the triumph of His kingdom
and the defeat of Satan's? The only one that was worthy
to do it, qualified to do it, able to do it, was the Lamb slain. The Lamb, as Revelation 13 verse
8 says, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But
He came in time, as Galatians 4 verse 4 says, when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem those who are under the law.
His people, to redeem them. They're under the law of God
and they're guilty of sin. But He came to redeem them. How?
By His precious blood and to implement God's plan for the
kingdom, for His kingdom to triumph. You know, Down the years, and
in the days in which we live, there are two contradictory historical
narratives. Two contradictory historical
narratives. When I was at school, I used
to not like history. I used to find it the most boring
thing. Now, I find it absolutely fascinating, the way that God
has dealt with this world. But there are two contradictory
historical narratives. There's the one of this world,
and there are some very clever people in it, and they give some
very interesting information. But it all speaks of a world
striving to improve and to unite, down the centuries, down the
millennia. And go back to the flood. We could go even before
that, but for the sake of time. Just back to the flood, and after
the flood, there was Nimrod, that rebellious panther. And
Babel, that site of then world globalism, all of one language,
all united, all building a tower that had nothing to do with the
righteousness and justice of God. Trying to build a tower
to get to heaven, to create this utopia, but without any reference
to the justice and righteousness and redemption of Christ and
His blood. Nothing to do with that. striving
to improve, striving to unite, striving to make a utopian society. And then that was destroyed.
How was that destroyed? God frustrated it. Let's go down
and confound their languages. And they couldn't understand
each other. So they split into nation states. And having split
into nation states, they started warring with each other. Because
God would frustrate this objective of Satan to produce this worldwide
unity, this utopia without any reference to the justice and
righteousness of God. And so Satan tries with empires,
and he raises up the Assyrian Empire, and the Egyptian Empire. I think I got that in the wrong
order. Egyptians first, Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medo-Persians,
Greeks, Romans, and so on. Great advances in science and
technology as we'll see when we come to chapter 13 of Revelation. Great strides in terms of health. Globalism, the League of Nations,
the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World
Economic Forum. All of these things, all with
the support, largely, of nominal Christianity. I'll call it Christendom.
They're all in full support of this. That's their objective,
is making this world a better place, and hence you get the
mottos, let's make poverty history, and let's eradicate all diseases,
and let's stop war, you know, give peace a chance, and let's
imagine that there's not this, that, and the other, but just
we all get on together. You know, if you wanted the The
hymn or the anthem of Satan's kingdom would be John Lennon's
Imagine song. Imagine there's no this, that
and the other. That's it. That's what it's all about. Now
you compare that narrative with the contradictory one, which
is history in accordance with God's word and God's decree. Because don't forget, God's word
is God's decree. What God speaks, he does. What
God speaks, he implements. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. And God saw the light, that it
was good. God said, let, and so on. When God speaks, it happens. And God has said in his plan
of chapter five and then into chapter six, The Lamb of God,
who is God himself, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with
God, and the Word was God, he was in the beginning with God.
The Lamb of God sends forth a white horse, and that white horse is
the white horse of the gospel of grace, of God's truth and
grace, in speaking the truth and righteousness of God, and
how that righteousness is upheld and maintained and established.
He sends that forth into this world of Satan and he frustrates
the intentions of Satan with that white horse. This world
that was there at Nimrod and Babel and in the great heathen
empires of the world and all the way down to our present day
where if you watched the coronation yesterday you might have heard
the words of scripture and how good it was to hear them but
do you believe that a fraction of the people involved in that
and reading those words had the slightest notion of what they
were really talking about. No, this is the white horse of
God's truth is sent forth to frustrate that, and then he sends
forth the red horse of war, and nation rises against nation.
Why? Because there will not be, God cannot allow there to be
a union of peoples in a utopia without the justice and righteousness
of God. Think of his kingdom. Think of
his heaven. Nothing will enter into it that defileth. Nothing. He says that again and again.
Nothing will be allowed in that defiles. How can he allow a utopia,
a heavenly-like utopia to exist that doesn't maintain the justice
and righteousness of God. So he sends forth the red horse.
And then we're all going to be friends together. No, you're
not. He sends the black horse of economic polarization so that
the vast majority live hand-to-mouth existences and a tiny minority
own nearly all the wealth of the world. Touch not the oil
and the wine. And that frustrates Satan's kingdom. That frustrates Satan's aspirations
of this utopian kingdom. And then, Then, the killer blow,
he sends forth the pale horse of death, and people keep dying. And however much they say, we're
all going to live a lot longer, I think I heard recently a statistic
that said, in actual fact, life expectancy has shortened over
recent years. And all of it is sent by God,
with the seals being opened by the Lamb, to frustrate Satan's
achievement of his objectives. And then we saw the fifth seal
being opened, and that revealed a weight of unjudged and unavenged
sin of Satan's kingdom against God's, peaking, reaching its
top in the martyrdom of the people of God, those people that God
loved. For the Word of God and their testimony that they held,
They're killed by this world. They're persecuted and they're
killed by this world down the ages. And if they're not killed,
they're sidelined and they're treated as what Paul called the
off-scouring of the world. That cries out for judgment,
because God's decree that this creation, defiled by Satan's
rebellion, will be ended and a new one appear. That's the
sixth seal being opened. Not only is there a weight of
sin to be avenged in the justice of God, but this Creation, which
is defiled and cursed by sin, is going to be ended and a new
one appear. These are the six seals that
we've seen. It all stems from a narrative of enmity. From Genesis
3.15, God said, I will put enmity, Satan, between you and the seed
of the woman, Christ. I will put enmity between you.
And there was always that enmity between Cain and Abel. Cain,
the seed of Satan. Abel, the seed of Eve, the seed
of the woman, the holy, righteous line redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb, and worshipping God on that basis. Right the way
down to this present day, which God calls, as I told you last
week, perilous times. 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. In the last
days perilous times shall come. We're in those perilous times,
I am sure. But God has given His Word to
comfort his people. This is it. Comfort for God's
people in a fallen world. Comfort in this kingdom of Satan. God has given his word to comfort
his people with an assurance of his triumph. All of the word
of God gives comfort, but especially this book of Revelation. His
plan, God's plan, of his kingdom triumphing is unfolding exactly
as he said nearly 2,000 years ago via John. And now, when we
get to Revelation 20, we'll see, which I think is very, very strongly
indicated, that we're in what's called Satan's little season. What is it? It's a season where
he's let loose from the restraints he's had for the symbolical thousand
years, he's let loose from those restraints to deceive the nations
once more. And I look around and I think,
since I was a child in the 1950s to this present day, I have never,
you know, it's just phenomenal the way in which when I was a
child. Almost the vast majority of people
believed there was a God and believed that they were accountable
to a God. That was the impression I got. That was the way it was. The
days in which we live, that is such a rarity. Nobody knows. Nobody teaches their children
the truth of God. The nation doesn't stand, despite
what you saw yesterday, it doesn't stand on the principles of the
truth of God. There's trouble arising all around,
and it's certain to intensify. What does God say to us who believe
in Him in these days? Answer? He says, Revelation chapter
7. He gives us this. Now I want
to look at the first eight verses of this now. The sealing of the
144,000. The sixth seal, at the end of
chapter six, speaks of a certain end and of judgment, and of great
awareness of its coming, but no repentance. You know, the
kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men, they're
all crying out for the rocks and mountains to fall on them
and hide them from the Lamb, the wrath of the Lamb. So that
speaks of a certain end coming. Now, how are we going to get
comfort? Because this sounds like, wow, we might have to live
and observe through some of this. How are we going to get comfort?
He then gives us chapter seven. Revelation 7 verse 1, after these
things, after he'd witnessed that vision, 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. Four is the number of creation
of this world, of this created state. That's the number, that's
why there are four of those things. He's not talking literally four
winds, he means the winds of this creation. And it's held
by these four angels. We expect, because we've just
seen the 6th seal opened, to see the 7th seal open. But you
have to go to chapter 8 and verse 1. And when he had opened the
7th seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half
an hour. Oh, so this isn't the 7th seal. No, not yet. Not yet.
There's an interlude. An interlude. Before we get to
the seventh seal, and the seventh seal, what does it reveal? It
reveals seven trumpets of increasing intensity of judgment as the
end approaches. And the seventh trumpet opens
into seven vials, pots, jars, bowls, whatever you want to call
them, vials of wrath to be poured out with increasing intensity
until the battle of Armageddon and the end of all things and
the triumph of God's kingdom. But before the opening of that
seventh seal in Revelation 8 verse 1, Revelation 7 is given as a
word of comfort and a space for people to repent. Today is still
the day of salvation. Today there is still time to
repent. Now is the time to flee from
the wrath to come because it isn't here yet and there's an
indication that it's held back. Look at verses 1 to 3. I've already
read verse 1. Well, go on, we'll read it again.
After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners
of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, and that
the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on
any tree. They were holding them, and it was when they let go of
them that they would blow, that the judgment, the final judgment
would fall. but they're withholding them. And I saw another angel
ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And
he cried with a loud voice to those 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. Four is the number
of the created world, the winds of judgment that will hurt the
earth and the sea and the trees, and they're held back by Christ's
decree. The other angel, verse 2, ascending
from the east, that's Christ. How do I know that? Isaiah chapter
41. Isaiah 41 verse 2, speaking about
God who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him
to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule
over kings. Lord of lord and king of kings.
He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble
to his bow. This is the God of salvation.
This is Christ, the God of salvation. He is the one who ascends from
the east, having the seal of the living God, and cries with
a loud voice, don't yet let that judgment fall. Don't let it fall
just yet. Because why? We have yet to seal
the servants of God in their foreheads. We have yet to seal
all of the people. What he's saying is we have yet
to seal, to confirm in their faith and belief and allegiance
to me, in their citizenship of my King, we've yet to seal every
one of the multitude that was chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. What he's saying is that there
are many who appear in this world in which we live now as children
of wrath. and they must be born again.
If you'd have met the slave trader, John Newton, when he was a slave
trader, you would have struggled to meet a more repulsive, objectionable
man with standards and principles that were terrible. And that
man was subdued by the gospel of Christ. The white horse came
and subdued him and showed him the truth of God. And the Spirit
of God quickened him, made him alive and gave him faith, the
gift of faith. And he trusted Christ. And he
became that powerful preacher of the gospel of grace. Many
of his hymns we have in our hymn book. Many must be born again
and willingly believe the gospel before the final judgment falls.
So what is this seal? Seal the servants of our God
in their foreheads. It's a mark impressed in an obvious
and prominent place. You know, when I was a kid, Honestly,
if anybody had had a label on their clothes, all the others
would have laughed them to scorn. They would have thought it was
the most ridiculous thing that you have Gant written on your
clothing or whatever it is on the side of Isaac Short. They
would have thought, you would have been laughed out of the
playground at the school I went to, but now you're laughed out
of the playground if you don't have a logo on your things. That's
just the way things have turned around. Boss, and so on. Everything has a logo on it.
Well, What this is saying is this seal is a mark of belonging
to Christ. Belonging to God. A hallmark
of authenticity. A hallmark, a stamp of ownership. A stamp of security. You know,
like an invisible ultraviolet pen marking when you shine ultraviolet
light on it. There it is, clear. On the eve
of the seventh seal of great tribulation, being loosed on
the earth, The seal is stamped on all of God's servants. It
must be. What does it signify? Let's look
at it. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and
verses 21 and 22, we read there about Christ, well, we'll read verse
21, yeah. Now he which establisheth us
with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who has sealed us and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. That's the sealing
of God. The earnest, he's given the gift
of the Holy Spirit. Look at Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter one, and I've quoted it already in that chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world, but verse 13. Verse
13, that we should be the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. Listen, in whom also, after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
We must seal all the servants of God in their foreheads before
the judgment falls. Ephesians chapter four and verse
30. and grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. You're sealed
unto the day of redemption. You're stamped with His ownership.
This is speaking about conversion. All of those that God loved in
sovereign grace before the beginning of time, for whom Christ died
in time and shed his precious blood to pay their sin debt,
must be converted. They may be living as children
of wrath, even as others today, as Ephesians 2 says, but they
must be made alive. They must come to the knowledge
of God. The Holy Spirit must change them
from those who are Satan's subjects in this fallen world, into Christ's
subjects and citizens of his kingdom. This is regeneration,
this is being made alive, this is being born anew, born again
of the Spirit of God. He gives the gift of repentance,
repentance, turning away from that worldly thinking of sinful,
satanic belief. This is the world of faith that
He brings His people into, of justification, of looking by
the sight of the soul to Christ and seeing that His shed blood
has paid the price of our sins, has justified us, has made us
holy in Him, so that we confess Him. There is a confession of
faith. We confess Him. We follow Him. We don't just hear it. We don't just believe it. We
confess it. I'm not talking about going mad
all the time standing on a soapbox on every street corner, but I'm
talking about the fact that in the things that you do, and the
relationships that you have, it becomes known that you are
one of God's people and that you owe your allegiance to Him. And these are believers who bear
the mark of the Holy Spirit. That mark is an indelible seal. It cannot be scrubbed out. It
cannot be changed. It's a mark of permanent ownership.
It's the perseverance of the saints. That's why scripture
teaches, if you are truly born again of the Spirit of God, you
are a true child of God, you cannot be lost. You cannot be
lost. That doesn't lead to complacency,
to live as you want, but you cannot be lost. In any period
of creation history, and especially as the end approaches, God has
his people in the world who are all sealed with the Holy Spirit's
stamp. And however bad and alarming
the judgments will be that we may yet have to live through,
however much they will affect God's saints physically, and
they have in the past, the wars, that were of the last century
affected the people of God, they will be spiritually immune from
any harm. I didn't say physically, we don't
know what will happen. Paul was not immune from any
physical harm in preaching the gospel. He was beaten with stripes,
put in the stocks, threatened with death, shipwrecked, but
spiritually immune from any harm. Look at John chapter 10 and verse
27. This is the promise of our God. He says this in verse 27 of chapter
10. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. and they shall never perish. Oh, what if they change their
mind? God hasn't changed his mind. God won't change his mind.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. What, not even
themselves? No, it says any man. Neither
shall any man pluck them. They can't pluck themselves out
of his hand. My father, which gave them me,
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." What
a wonderful comfort in this world, as we see these tribulations
increasing and coming, and the end approaching, and nobody repenting,
and with such a little flock, Jesus said, you know, fear not
little flock, little flock, be comforted. Don't be alarmed,
be comforted. God's purposes are working out.
Why 144,000? And as was read to us earlier,
from the 12 tribes of Israel, sealed from the 12 tribes of
the children of Israel. And he names 12 tribes, but we'll
know something about that in a minute. Is it saying that only
Jews are the servants of God, to be sealed? No, not a bit.
Romans 9 verse 6, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. They are not all God's Israel,
which are the descendants physically, the Jews physically. No. Romans chapters 9 to 11 make
it clear. No. The elect of God are the people, is the Israel
of God. Galatians chapters 3 and 4 make
it quite clear, quite clear, that it's Jews and Gentiles who
are the Israel of God. Galatians 6.16 even says the
Israel of God, which is the Israel of all peoples, every tribe and
tongue and kindred. It all makes clear that God's
true Israel is His elect from Jew and Gentile alike, without
any national barriers. They're all chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Chosen in Christ, not
in their line of physical, genetical descent. They're spiritual Israel,
as I said, Galatians 6.16. It includes the Gentiles, because
even in the Old Testament, if you read Isaiah chapter 11 and
verse 10, it talks about the gospel ensign, the banner of
Christ going up, and it says, to it the Gentiles shall seek. That's in the Jewish scriptures
in the Old Testament. To it the Gentiles shall seek. There is an innumerable multitude.
Look at this, verse 9 of our chapter 7. After this I beheld
and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, just of
Jews. No, no, it doesn't say that.
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. These are the spiritual children
of Abraham. Not necessarily the physical,
genetical children. Galatians 3 verse 7 says, Know
ye therefore that they which are of faith, are you of faith,
the faith of God, the faith of God's elect, the faith that the
Holy Spirit has given you in Christ. Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Gentile believer, if you are
of that faith, you are a child of Abraham. You are a child of
the same faith as Abraham. And here we have a symbolical
144,000. This number is clearly symbolical. It's like Elijah's
7,000. Seven is God's number of perfection.
Ten times ten times ten equals a thousand is like the holy of
holies. 7,000. It's God's perfect number.
God has his people. wherever you might not suspect
it, Elijah thought he only was left. But let's think about these
numbers, just for a minute, just hang in there, just please, just
hang in there. We read about 12, the 12 tribes of Israel,
that's 3 times 4, 3 is the number of God, times, working on, 4,
the number of creation. The number of God working on
the number of creation produces 12. 12 tribes, 12 apostles, 12
patriarchs. 12 and 12 makes 24, which is
the number of elders around the throne in heaven that we've already
seen. Ah, now then, God's grace exerted
on his people in the world is seven, perfection. Seven, three,
plus four. 12 is three times four. Seven
is three plus four. It's the grace of God exerted
on his people in this world and it speaks, 7, speaks of the union
of the church and its head. That's why we saw in that first
vision, in the first three chapters, the seven candlesticks and Christ
walking in the midst of them. It's symbolical of the people
of God. 12 also indicates the number of God's people on earth
at any time. 12 patriarchs, 12 tribes, 12 apostles. 12 plus
12 is 24 elders in heaven. The ones sealed are those on
earth who are, now listen, link it with this. In Acts chapter
13 and verse 48, we read this. They preached the gospel to any
who would hear. They preached, the apostles,
they preached the gospel to any who would hear. And what happened? As many as were ordained to eternal
life, believed. As many, all those who were ordained
to eternal life, before the beginning of time, when loved with an everlasting
love, all of them when they heard the gospel, they believed that
gospel. And they're there in preparation
for the tribulation loosed in the seventh seal. They demonstrated
that God had loved them in electing grace. How did they do that?
You know, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, I quote this often but it's worth
quoting and noting. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is
talking about all those that believe a lie and verse 11, God
shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth and
had pleasure in unrighteousness but But, verse 13, not you, Thessalonian
believers, were bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. How do you know, Paul? How do
you know that he's chosen these ones and not others? Through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. They
believe the Gospel that he preached, the true Gospel that he preached.
That's how he knows they're the elect of God. How do you know
you're the elect of God? Is it not arrogant to say you
do? You simply believe the Gospel of Scripture. Initially in flesh,
dead in trespasses, but quickened, made alive by the Holy Spirit,
and thus converted to Christ, stamped with God's seal of ownership,
kept from the evil of this present world as Christ prayed for them,
the spiritual evil of this present world. Oh, you might be touched
physically, but you'll be kept from the spiritual evil of this
present world. We're pictured, as I keep again
referring, in Revelation 14, after that chapter 13, that horrendous
chapter which describes this kingdom of Satan in which we're
living now. And in Revelation 14, in that evil world of Satan,
John says, I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion. and
with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his
father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice
from heaven as the voice of many waters, blah, blah, blah, and
so on and so forth. That is the Lamb of God standing
with His symbolical people on earth in this time. I don't mean
literally, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't too far away from
144,000, but that's the people of God symbolically in this world
at this time. God is unchangeable. He never
changes His mind about any of the people He loved before time.
There are stormy seas coming. We're even in them now, but they
will get a lot stormier. I think this is what chapter
6 was telling us. And further chapters will give
even more revealing of that fact. Stormy seas coming, what do you
need in a stormy sea? You need an anchor. Will your
anchor hold? Will your anchor hold? This is
comfort in perilous times. In 2 Corinthians 1, 3 and 4 we
read, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. This word from God to his servants,
via John, gives his believing people peace in perilous times. So that again, a verse I quote
often, Psalm 4 verse 8, I will both lay me down in peace and
sleep. What, in this world of tribulation?
Yes, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou,
Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. even here and now, in
this fallen world, until the King comes, behold he cometh,
till he comes and assembles each and every one of his people in
his kingdom, in eternal glory and bliss, we have comfort now. Oh, that we might be moved to
pray from the heart, each and every one that claims to believe
the gospel, oh, that we might be moved to pray from the heart,
thy kingdom come. Amen.