Man, we were dealing last week
and some of you may not be able to see because of the way the
board is set up next. Hopefully within about a month,
we'll be able to have a program where we can run our messages,
our studies off of the big screen. So it'll be limited for now. But if you have your outline,
the number of the beast we've been working for the last couple
of weeks on this concept. And last week we did a basic
exposition of Chapter 13. I tried to talk to you from Chapter
13. about the historical perspective of the testimony of John in chapter
13. And we arrived at the last portion,
which is verses 16 and 17. I want to read that again. Then
we're going to go over just a little bit of some of the concepts we
talked about. And then we're going to try to tie some knots.
I'm going to address the number of the beast, and then the seal,
and then the restrainer. At least, hopefully, I'll be
able to get to the restrainer tonight. and we'll be able to
go back to 2 Thessalonians and kind of tie it together. Revelation
13, verse 16. And he calls it all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in
their hand, in the right hand, or in their foreheads, in that
no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom.
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast,
for it is the number of a man and his number is 666 or 603
score six. Now, what we're gonna do is just
work a little bit with our outline concerning these terms, because
I know that, well, there's a lot behind verses 13 through 16. And without the historical information
and without you being available to some of the arguments, pro
and con, and for some of the different perspectives in relationship
to this whole subject of the number and mark and name of the
beast, you will be defrauded of a fuller comprehension. So
I don't want to assume that you know these things already, so
we'll just touch on some of them. You don't have to ever be definitive
about something that you don't fully understand. If you don't
fully grasp it, just stay right there and say, Lord, I don't
fully grasp it. That's the best way to be. One
of the reasons why God allowed the interaction and exchange
between the prophets and the angels to occur in the Old Testament,
by which either the prophet asked the angels questions or the angels
asked the prophets questions, was in order for you and I to
know that the prophets that God used in the Old Testament were
not themselves omniscient, nor were they infallible. And the last prophet that we
talked about in our church was the prophet Zechariah. and interestingly enough, Zachariah's
vision is consistent with some of the things we are dealing
with. And if you recall in Zachariah chapter 4, where Zachariah saw
a vision of the menorah, the candlestick, and two olive trees
on either side and a bowl on top, and a number of things that
were symbolic of God's power through the church to bear witness
to his glory for the salvation of sinners. The angel asked Zachariah,
what do these things mean? Zachariah said, I don't know.
And then Zachariah also said, what does this mean? Now, what
that does is takes you and I off the hook of thinking we have
to give an answer to everything in the Bible. You don't have
to do that. Some things are meant for you
to struggle with in terms of their significance all your life. Where you and I are able to settle
down in is that God has revealed it to us as an articulation or
an expression of divine truth for which we can grapple all
the days of our life. It's a blessing just to have
it revealed to us, even if we don't fully understand it. It's
a blessing to have the book of Revelation, even if we don't
fully understand it. That's what the first three verses
says. Blessed is he that readeth and
they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book. It didn't
say blessed is he that can fully expound this book and explain
every part of the book accurately. It said blessed is he that hears. and reads the prophecy of the
book. So there's a blessing in the
fact that you and I have it. I say that to simply say that
if you don't fully understand or even remotely understand some
of the things that are being said here, don't worry about
it. If you have your outline, the number of the beast in the
outline, we dealt with the, what we have been dealing with for
the last several weeks, parodies. Parodies and the number of the
beast is another one of those parodies. It's one of those Similes similarities but with
distinctions, similarities, but with distinctions. I told you
that the parody is a device used by the author, any author. These
are devices that authors often use where they are painting pictures,
are giving clues in their writings. And these clues are designed
for the people to whom they are writing to understand something
about the subject at hand without being explicit about it. A parody
is a device by which one thing represents another, but in its
representation is actually teaching something opposite of it. So
we looked at the parallels or the parodies in the book of Revelation
concerning the seven churches and the seven headed beast and
the two women, the whorish woman, and then the godly woman. And
we worked through a number of parodies. We are now working
through the parody of this unholy trinity, beast one, beast two,
controlled by the power of the dragon. And now we are, which
is sort of an antithesis or a juxtaposition to the Trinity and now we are
dealing with this issue of the number of the beast and what
we talked about last week as we looked at chapter 13 was how
beast 1 Which is verse 1 of chapter 13 and beast 2 Which is verse
11 of chapter 13 was powered by the dragon You guys remember
that beast 1 beast 2 are powered by the dragon and both beast
1 and beast 2 are forcing the world to worship beast one. So beast one is politics. Beast
two is religion. Both of them are controlled by
the dragon. The dragon is the devil behind
the scene who cannot be seen, but his influence is everywhere
present through politics and false religion. You guys got
that so far? This is the basic framework.
So he's operating in a, And let me just say this so that you
can see this through the book of Revelation. This is why it's
called the Revelation. But this is true through scripture too.
There is a parallel running through the scriptures of Christ and
obviously what? Antichrist. Now that's all the
way through the scriptures. I want you to see that. That's
something that you have to see. From Genesis to Revelation, Lo,
I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do thy
will, O God. Isn't that what the Bible teaches us? This book
is about who? Christ. But you have this unending,
relentless battle of his foe called the Antichrist or Satan
constantly seeking to usurp his authority, to usurp his glory,
to steal his honor. That tension runs all the way
to the end of the book. So, wherever you see the work
of Christ manifesting itself in a portion of scripture, be
ready to see the work of Antichrist coming behind that, seeking to
deceive the masses and to usurp God's authority. Well, the book
of Revelation is filled with that terminology. Now, that is
given to warn you and I that Christianity is not obtained
in a vacuum. is to warn you and I that this
issue of being saved is not something that takes place free of a battle,
free of conflict, free of adversity, free of trouble. That those who
are being saved are being saved in the midst of trouble. In the
world you will have But be of good cheer, I have what? Overcome
the world. So you'll see these tensions
running through the book of Revelation of trouble and triumph. Persecution and perseverance. You'll have the beast and then
you'll have the lamb. You'll have the whore and then
you'll have the church. You have these conflicts running
all the time. And so what the church has said historically
is that there are two ways to view the church. The church down
here where we are is called the church militant. The church militant. And if you
fail to understand the militant nature of the church down here,
then you will not be ready for the warfare that you are to engage
once you join Christ's army. Down here, we are the church
militant. We wear armor. When we get to
glory, we get to put on our white togas, our white robes, because
in glory, the battle is over. We are in a state of permanent
triumph. Down here, it's a warfare. That's
what the revelation has given to us to understand that Christ
is saying to the church, I know you are in a battle. I'm in control
and one day you will be where I am. And all you need to do
is be able to take comfort in the fact that he's in control.
So we want to work through this one area here that has been some
trouble for our people. Verse 16, he calls it all both
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark
in their right hand or in their forehead. And that no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark are the name of the
beast or the number of his name. See verse 17? Now, in your outline,
down, all the way down past the term gematria, I'll talk about
that concept, gematria, here in a moment, you have this statement. The mark emphasis only its weakness. Now let me say what I mean by
that. I know that seems strange. In most of your teachings, the
emphasis is on the mark of the beast, right? You have been taught
for years that there's a mark that you're going to receive
if you are in the tribulation period or that time where the
beast is ruling. And that mark is going to be
placed either on your hand or on your forehead. Am I telling
the truth? And so what I say is that that the emphasis of
a mark only doctrine is a weak emphasis, because if you look
at the passage carefully, God gives us a triad. He says, And
no man might buy or sell save he that hath the mark, the mark,
that's a stigma, that's a imprint, that's some type of mark, like
a slave received a mark when that slave was purchased by its
new owner. That's the kind of term that's
being used, a mark. Or the name of the beast. Do you guys see that? Well, that
changes the conversation significantly. Because if you're going to be
consistent exegetically, you're going to ask the question, OK,
we got the number six, six, six, whatever that means. And there's
controversy there, too, in the historical archives in terms
of different manuscripts. But what is the number of his
name? What is the number of his or
what is the name of the beast? Who knows the name of the beast?
Have you ever contemplated his name? Well, not really, because
most of what you have heard is simply the number. are the mark. But he has a name. Well, see,
I want you to understand, re-gear yourself to hearing from God
as he gives you this sort of Trinitarian formula with the
beast. He has a mark. He also has a
name. And then he also has a number
of the name. We got the number. But what does
the mark look like? If the mark is different than
the number, what does the mark look like? Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? And then what is the name? Those
are three different entities with which we have to deal with.
Are you guys hearing? And so I'm simply saying that
it is not as simple as what you have been told that has taken
place over the last hundred years in America, that the mark of
the beast is a social security number, the mark of the beast
is you know these id chips that they're going to be putting under
your skin the mark of the beast is you know these different codes
people have viewed the mark of the beast your cell phones your
gps devices and everything why because all of those components
imply what we have learned are derived from what these two beasts
under the power of Satan is seeking to do. Back at the top of your
outline, the concept in view in Revelation chapter 13 verse
16 is two things, control and what? Slavery. Control and slavery. Control and slavery. Now what
makes the study of this portion of scripture so relevant is that
today because of technology you know that there's a whole lot
more effective and efficient controlling of the masses taking
place. Because of technology, there's
much more effective and efficient controlling of the masses. Because
of technology, we can deal with things in terms of numerical
values to the infinite degree. We can go on and on with numbers
infinitely now. Computers allow us to do that.
So with regards to 7 billion people on the planet, an infinite
number in terms of a value system makes that no problem whatsoever.
We can control the awareness factor of every human being that's
born on the planet. We can do that. And if we have
control of their circumstance and their geographical location
and their commerce and their domestic welfare, then we can
control their life too. Ostensibly, that would be the
objective of the world powers to be able to be in control of
the masses ultimately, isn't that so? Okay, so now if this
is true, the thing that I want you to derive from the text is
simply this. The world's system must seek
to have control over the masses of the people because that's
what rulers do. They control the masses. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew
chapter 6? The disciples were arguing and
they were debating Who should be the greatest who would sit
on his right hand who would sit on his left and Jesus? I want
you to understand something the Gentiles exercise authority over
the masses But not so you the Gentiles exercise authority over
the masses because a morbid extreme agenda for controlling the masses
is rooted in the ego of being a lord or ruler over the people
sort of a again this idolatry of control and the second term
we dealt with is the term slavery slavery If you and I were ostensibly
confronted with the beast system, and it told us that we could
not buy or sell unless we received the mark, the name, the number
of his name, then we are basically in bondage, are we not? So the
idea that God is conveying in the book of Revelation is that
this world system will always seek to control you, and this
world system will always seek to bring you into its slavish
bondage. But the word that I really want
to draw out of both control and slavery so that you can understand
the real redemptive significance out of these two words is the
word servant. It's the word servant. I want
you to get that because this is where we're gonna go in the
parody of the mark of the beast. The reason God gives us the mark
of the beast, the number of his name and his name is in order
to indicate that he will seek to have the same kind of control
over the masses of the people that God does over his elect. The beast system will seek to
try to have the same control over the masses of the people
that God does over his elect. Now, let me help you understand
this redemptively. I don't mind having God control
my life. I don't mind being a slave of
Christ. Those two combined make me a
servant. Got it? And so even though we
are dealing with hyperbolic, excessive symbolism, typology,
and language that is within what we call the apocalyptic genre,
what I understand God saying is, the battle in this world
is the battle between Satan's objective to control you and
make you his slave versus Christ's objective to control us and make
us his slaves. So now the parody that the enemy
derived in order to force upon the masses of this world, the
mark, the number, the name on the, uh, receiving a mark in
their right hand and on their forehead in verse 16 goes all
the way back to Deuteronomy six. And I want you to see that go
with me to Deuteronomy six. Now follow me. Now what we're
doing is, is we are unfolding the tension. We're unfolding
the tension between the system and kingdom of the beast versus
the system and kingdom of Christ. God has always had a people for
himself, always. And because he is God, there
is no negative connotation. There is no sort of a nemesis, idea of God having complete control
over his people. It's not a derogatory term for
God to be our master. It's not a derogatory concept
for us to say Jesus is Lord. Kyrgios. That's not a derogatory
term for us, given that he purchased us with his own life. And in
fact, If we were to take our time and work through the book
of Revelation and really give a big picture frame for what
we call the revelation of Jesus Christ, that frame would be covered
in blood. And on every corner of the frame,
the term lamb would be written. It's the book of the lamb. And
what it teaches is God secured the salvation of men and women
from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue from the beginning
of time to the end of time by the blood of the lamb. We are
the lambs. We are the lambs. He owns us. We are children of the lamb.
We are servants of the lamb. See the oxymoronic nature of
that. We are servants and slaves of
the lamb. God in his infinite condescending
nature have purchased us by the blood of his darling son. And
we are voluntarily slaves and servants of the lamb. And he
pictured that with the Old Testament children of Israel. Remember
what he did? He brought them out of Egypt
into the wilderness to teach them how to worship him. And
do you remember what he called Israel both in Egypt and in the
wilderness? He called Israel my servants. Israel was God's servant. You know what else he called
Israel in Egypt? My army. my army. So the Old Testament Israel points
to the New Testament church and some of the same nomenclature
that apply to them applies to us. We are called God's servants
and we are called God's army. Remarkable terminology for what
used to be nothing but a bunch of slaves bound by Egyptian authority
who are now brought out by the blood of the lamb, typified by
the Red Sea, brought into the wilderness and now are being
taught of God how to fight. Because that's what he did for
them for 40 years, teach them in the wilderness how to fight
because they were going to take the promised land. They want
to just walk in there and rule. They had to fight. So just in
the same way Israel had to be taught to fight, we have to be
taught to fight. And when God purchased us, he also put a mark
on our right hand and in our forehead, too. And it's signified
by what takes place here in Deuteronomy chapter six. Watch the language.
In Deuteronomy chapter six, I'm going to read verses one through
verse eight. Now these are the commands, commandments,
the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded
to teach you. That you might do them, here
it is, are you ready? In the land, whether you go to possess
it, see? They're in the wilderness learning statutes, but they're
designed for when they possess the land. Watch this. that you
might as fear the Lord your God. See the word fear? Circle that
and write the word love and worship and reverence. To fear the Lord
is to hold him in highest esteem. To hold him as preeminent. To
fear the Lord is to make him exclusive. That's what that means. That you might hold him in the
highest esteem exclusively, preeminent over all things. It's interesting. The vehicle by which this kind
of exclusivity and this preeminence will begin to permeate the life
of the people of God is through them being taught. You and I
have to be taught to worship God, to reverence God, to hold
him in high esteem. Watch what God does, and I want
you to see how this works. That you might fear the Lord
your God to keep all the statues in his commandments, which I
command you you now watch this Here's the blessing locked us
in you you you childbearing men and women you And your sons and
your sons sons all the days of your life and that your days
may be long Isn't that a glorious promise? see also inherent in
that verse is God's long-term picture and You know what that
means? As you and I are learning about what it means to be a witness,
the gospel doesn't terminate with you. When the gospel comes
in power and takes a hold of your life, you don't just settle
down and say, now I've got it and I'm done. No, when God saved
you, he saved you with other generations in view, particularly
those of you who have families. God's already thinking three
and four and five generations down the line. Are you guys hearing
me now? Watch what he says. you, your
sons, and all the days of your life, in order that your days
may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it,
that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily,
as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land
that floweth with milk and honey." Look at verse 3. I want you to
see something in verse 3. The objective for which the Word
is going to be brought to you in the form of teaching, or what
is called catechism, Catechism is in order that God might fulfill
his promise to you to your children to your children's children and
that you might increase mightily in the land where the Lord your
God takes you Pastor what are you talking about effective evangelism? The spreading of the word the
salvation of sinners the multiply of the sons and daughters of
God all over the world according to the mind of God What is he
saying? Well, that's not gonna happen
until I inculcate your heart and mind with my word. Are you
guys following me so far? Now watch this. Notice what he
says. Verse 4. Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God is one Lord. We believe that, don't we? One
glorious God manifests in three glorious persons. They are Jehovah. Now watch this and you shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul
and with all your what my Listen, these are the demands of a master
slave relationship These are the demands of a master slave
relationship Did that did that proposition go over your head?
Let me help you if God is your master and you are his slave
and You have become the objects of his love. If God is your master
and you are his slave, you are sold because he loved you enough
to give himself for you. It is utterly appropriate, therefore,
for God to demand that you love him with all your heart, soul,
mind and strength since he loved you that way. I don't want to move too fast
because I want you to get the richness of the dignity of being called
the Lord's servant. See, because that's a messianic
term that applies to Jesus in his pristine sense. He is the
servant of the Lord. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold
in whom I am well pleased for his righteousness sake. So God
would put us on a par with Christ in order to secure us in the
blessings that are ours in Christ. Do not ever shrink away from
the term servant. I am glad to be the Lord's servant.
I'm glad to be under his control. I wish I was more under his control. I'm glad to be his slave I'm
glad to be redeemed by the blood of the lamb off the chopping
block off the sill block of damnation I'm glad he looked upon me and
chose me and bought me and redeemed me I'm glad That he called me
his servant And I'm glad he's teaching me to love him I'm glad
he's teaching me to love him I'm glad he's teaching me to
now watch this. Here it is. Here's the vehicle We're going
to talk about this this Sunday the instrumental means by which we
are conformed to his image and these words Which I command thee
this day shall be in thy what heart? This is where all truth
is determinate in the relationship between the believer and his
God on the heart God requires heart worship And all truth is
designed to terminate, to land on the heart. This is what Paul
meant in Romans chapter 7 verse 14. And we know that the law
is spiritual. We know that the law is spiritual.
We know that the law always had, as its ultimate designation,
the heart of man. The law was never meant to simply
get a hold of you externally in an existential way, to move
you to outward obedience, but rather to get a hold of your
heart and cause you to see the glory of God in Christ and love
Him intimately. And out of a love for Him, gladly
serve Him. We know the law was always designated
for that. Are you guys following me so
far? So I'm taking my time because I want you to see the poultry,
the poultry facsimile of a Antichrist system that threatens damnation
if you don't submit to his mark versus the glorious redemption
of Christ that promises eternal life and not only tells you to
submit, but qualifies you to submit to him. The two extremes
don't even compare. But they're there juxtaposed
for you to see the glory of God and then also to see the farce
of the Antichrist system. And yet the whole world, who
do not know Christ, are in bondage to that Antichrist system. They
are slaves of the devil, though he did not die for them, though
he did not give his son for them. They are slaves under tyranny,
without promise, without blessing, without hope, and they're giving
themselves feverishly to his kingdom and it's all gonna perish.
And yet we are slaves too. But not tyrannically. Freely,
lovingly, longingly, predicated and based upon the work of an
infinitely glorious God whose redemption is unspeakable. Unspeakable. Now watch this,
and you shall teach them diligently unto your children. God have
mercy on this generation. God have mercy on this generation.
Do you know why we can't teach our children the gospel today?
Because we don't see its glory. The reason why the gospel is
not being passed down like it should is because it has no value
in the eyes of people who have the book. See, if it had... Listen to me. When the gospel
is glorious, the easiest thing to do is to tell your children
about the glorious God of the gospel. It's easy to do. It's easy to do. Now, this is
the tutoring that God had taught Israel. Now watch this. Here
it is. You're gonna see the... You're gonna see the connection here
in a moment. You shall teach them diligently
unto your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in
your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie
down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign
upon the hand. There it is. Do you see it? Bind them for a sign upon the
hand. One of the most commonly used
apparatuses of the body is the hands. If I am binding upon my
children, children's hand, the word of God, every time they
reach for something, they are reminded of what scripture says
about what they are doing. Now, this is all symbolic. Unfortunately,
Israel took it literally. We know that by virtue of phylacteries
and all types of writings and scrolls and everything's on their
bodies all over. They took it literally. But what
God was saying was, so inculcate the children with truth that
every time they go about doing something, they will ask the
question, what doth the Lord God say about this? and you shall
bind them for a sign upon your head, watch this, and they shall
be as what? Frontless between your eyes. Do you see it? Do
you see it? Now, remember what we talked
about last week as I closed? I said, when an owner, a master
purchases a slave, in order to secure that purchase as his,
he puts a brand on it. He marks it with a brand. Now,
if he is merciful or empathetic, that brand will be in an inconspicuous
place, like on his backside, on his leg, on the bottom of
his foot, inside of his arm. But if he doesn't care about
the slave in order to make sure that slave does not run off,
he will put the brand somewhere physically available, like on
the cheek, on the back of the neck, on the hand, on the forehead. so that everywhere that slave
goes, everyone knows he has been purchased by that owner. The
negative connotation is if that slave doesn't have a love relationship
with his master, he has to live with the ignominy of being owned
and publicly known to be the slave of that master. The positive
connotation is this, I am willing to be a publicly known slave
of Christ. I'm willing for the world to
know that I've been bought with a price, the precious blood of
Jesus Christ. that I'm a servant of Christ publicly, are you? And really that's the imagery
that's going on. So as we are working through the so-called
mark of the beast and the name of the beast and the number of
the name, what we are really dealing with, here's the word
I want you to mark down. Are you ready? Allegiance. It's the issue of
allegiance. It's the issue of allegiance.
Now I want you to see the parody going back to Revelation. Go
with me now to Revelation chapter 7. The parody or the parallelism
or the antithesis to the mark of the beast is the seal of God's
elect. The antithesis to the mark of
the beast in the book of Revelation is a seal of God's elect, and
this is going to help us understand something about the nature of
how God has preserved us. I said it last week, I say it
frequently because I live in a generation where this religious
world does not understand the gospel properly, and nor does
it exalt in God as it should. Whenever you hear the doctrine
of election taught, love it. Love the doctrine of election
because it actually speaks to the character of God in preparing
and securing your salvation before you had a being. Don't ever despise
the doctrine of election. If you find yourself having negative
connotations about election, that negative connotation is
rooted in two things. Ignorance. You haven't been properly
taught the doctrine of election. And secondly, the insecurity
of pride. If you struggle with the doctrine
of election, it's because election inherently teaches you that you
don't have any control over what God did in purposing to save
you. Do you understand what I'm getting at? Election takes away
from you any capacity to glory in your salvation by a decision
for Jesus or walking in an aisle or speaking in tongues or praying
or tearing or anything because your salvation was purposed.
It was accomplished before you even had a being. By the time
you heard about salvation, you were already saved. So that no
flesh should glory in his sight. Am I making some sense? Now,
the only thing you have to do with this glorious doctrine of
election is believe it. And that's where your problem
comes in at, because you and I have little faith. See, the gospel is always designed
to exalt God and humble you. It's always designed to exalt
God and humble you. And so what you and I will always struggle
with is faith, believing God. Believing God we would much rather
work even though our works will send us to hell than to merely
believe God Am I telling the truth see people who say our
faith is easy don't understand anything about saving faith They
understand nothing about saving faith. There is nothing easy
about merely believing God Nothing easy about it at all Of which
God knew and so he incorporated even your faith in the scheme
of salvation so he could secure that for you because he knew
if left up to you you'd run off and go to hell anyway. I want to show you something in
the book of Revelation. I don't want to do an exegesis of chapter 7,
but I want to show you how in the midst of the persecution
God protects his people. I'm going to show you two passages
in the book of Revelation, then one passage, two passages in
the New Testament so that you can see. Here's what God did
when he chose you in Christ before the world began. He saw the whole
of your being ruined and perfect in Christ. And he secured that
with a seal. The signet and seal of his own
integrity. He made sure that you would arrive
in glory just as he purposed. even though you would have to
go through trouble down here. Revelation chapter 7 talks about
trouble. Look at the way it opens up. And after these things, I
saw four angels standing on 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 the trees. So you got
these winds getting ready to just blow furiously. You see
the vision? And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God. Got it? and
he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was
given to hurt the earth and the sea saying do not hurt the earth
neither the sea nor the trees until here it is we have sealed
here's the word are you ready the servants the do losses the
slaves of our god where in their forehead isn't that good god
says now i'm gonna tear up the earth but before i do i want
you to seal My saints, seal them. Seal them. And I want you to
hear me now, saints. The sealing is not in our bodies. The sealing is in our mind. The
sealing is not in our bodies. In other words, we have nowhere
in the scriptures a word of promise that we won't go through physical
harm in this world. What we are promised, however,
is that we won't lose our minds. That He is able to keep our mind
and heart in Christ Jesus because of the seal of the Spirit of
God who is present to guard the heart, to watch the heart, to
sentry the heart, to keep the mind, to keep the understanding,
to keep you committed to and loving and dependent upon Christ
in the midst of the storm. Are you hearing me? In the midst
of the storm. the midst of the storm now watch
this he says and I heard the number of them which were sealed
the number is a hundred and forty four thousand and he gives this
picture of these tribes And then he says over in verse nine, and
after this behold, lo a great multitude, which no man can number
of all nations, kindred, people and tongues stood before the
lamb clothed with white robes, palms in their hand, cried with
a loud voice saying salvation unto our God, which sits upon
the throne and upon, upon the throne and unto the lamb. And
all the angels stood round about the throne. and about the elders
and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces
and worship God saying, amen, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving,
honor, power, might be unto our God forever and ever. What did
we just read here? The conclusion of the tribulation
period through which the people of God went through and safely
made it out on the other side for which there is celestial
celebration in glory. Now I want you to watch the further
language. And the angel and one of the elders answered said unto
me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And where
did they come from? And I answered unto him, sir,
you know, see, John didn't even know. One of the elders up there
didn't even know. Now, see, this is all designed
to help us understand there are mysteries to the work of redemption
for which you don't need to know every detail. I'm glad God asks
questions in heaven, don't you? Cause you know, some people down
here, the way we construct theology down here, if you don't get the
question right, you go to hell. That's bad. Uh, that doesn't
sound like a whole lot of grace to me. Uh, listen to it. And now I said, and I said unto
him, sir, you know, and he said unto me, these are they which
came out of great tribulation, have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore they are before
the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.
He and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
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 them and shall lead them
Unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes Do you see these last four verses verses 14 through
17? This is what we call the recapitulation principle in the
book of Revelation The mistake that people make when they read
the book of Revelation is they read it as a narrative from chapter
1 to 22 as if the book doesn't have breaks and And so it is
read in a chronological way. And we assume that we don't get
to the end until we get to the end of the book. But that would
be the wrong way to read the book of Revelation. The book
of Revelation is written in what are called sequences that gives
us whole pictures of the redemptive scheme throughout the book of
Revelation. So and I've done it before and
I'll just do this just for some of you who don't know what the
book of Revelation does is it gives us whole events that paint
the picture of redemption from different perspectives. And when
we do the book of Revelation carefully, we actually have what
are called four concentric circles. And in these circles is a is
a complete system events. For instance, we will have the
seals of Revelation 6, then we will have the trumpets, and then
we will have the vials, and then we will have what is called the
final vision. From this concentric circle,
to this concentric circle is one set of events that concludes,
sorry, that set of events concludes. It starts with the church. Then
it goes into the seals of Revelation six, all the way to about Revelation
chapter 14. Then it goes from the trumpets
to the vials in Revelations 15 and 16. all the way to the vision
that starts in chapters 19 through 22. It's a complete circle. Now, when the circle is finished,
there's always joy within the span of that circle, but it's
not what we call the total climax. Then another cycle starts again
within the framework of that first concentric. So like if
you have four rings, they were bound together. You know, they
are independent rings, but they are connected together. So is
the way the book of Revelation is written. It's called a a recapitulation
principle where one cycle of events ends. Another starts where
that cycle ends. And once that cycle ends, another
starts where that cycle ends. And once that cycle ends, another
starts. Now, admittedly, what we are dealing with from Revelation
chapter 1 to Revelation 22, we can call, I want you to get this
now, progress. We are making progress, but within
the progression of the Revelation, there are repeated conclusions. from different perspectives.
If you fail to see that, you will fail to understand that
what God is doing is repeating over and over and over again
that the church will triumph. He's repeating over and over
and over again that what takes place is the preaching of the
gospel, then persecution, suffering, and then triumph. Then he starts
all over again. It increases as we get towards
the end of time, but the principle is the same. For instance, just
to make an application, and we'll go on to look at another passage.
Go with me in your Bible now to Revelation 14. Every generation, every generation
of the church age has always worried, where are we in the
midst of God's prophetic scheme? Every generation, that's just
natural to who we are as finite creatures. The question doesn't
carry any innate morbid curiosity. A person does not need to be
condemned for asking the question. Unsaved people ask that question.
Atheists ask that question. Agnostics ask that question.
Naturalists ask the same question. Your mystics ask it. Your pagans
ask it. Everybody asks the question,
where are we? And the ones that pretend they
don't care where we are, are being hypocrites. They're still
asking the question too. Because we all have a sense of
eternity in our heart. And that sense of eternity is
mixed with the conflict of the reality of our mortality. Are
you guys hearing me? So here's what's really being
asked by the masses. I want you to get this. What's
really being asked by the masses in what we call a collective
consciousness attitude is, where am I at? Where are we at in our
generation? Is our generation the last generation?
Will the world end with us? See, because the only real substantive
reality for us is where we are. We can't speak for the next generation. We can't actually answer for
the past generation. We can know that it came and
it went. And then the ball is in our court
to ask the question, when we look at everything around us,
does what we see suggest or imply that we are right on the brink
of the end of time? Remember, there are two things
that you and I struggle with mortality. That means we got
to come to an end and eternity. which means the page is going
to change and something new is going to start over at some point
in time. That's the conflict we are all
in. And so when you get a gift like the Bible given to you and
the Bible is a portal into eternal verities, eternal realities,
you are constantly contemplating, where are we on the scale of
God's redemptive purpose? That's not a bad thing to ask.
especially since the scriptures have told us to always operate
on the tiptoe of faith, to always be looking for the blessed coming
of our Lord Jesus. The scriptures have always conditioned
us to think that Christ could come anytime. And so with those
imperatives and those promises, asking the question that you
read in the book of Daniel and in the book of Revelation six,
how long, oh Lord, is what we ask. In Revelation chapter 14,
I want you to see the seal again. And I look, verse one of chapter
14, and I looked and Loah Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with
him, here it is, 144,000. Do you see that? Here it is,
watch this, having his father's name written where? In their foreheads. There it
is. Once again, you got this, this
complete number called the number 144. It's a symbolic number.
It's not a literal number. It's a symbolic number. And it
connotes the completion of God's church, both old Testament and
new Testament. I'll show you that before we
close, but the people that make up this 144,000 are people who
are sealed in their foreheads, right? That's revelation seven.
Now we actually have the contents of the ceiling in our forehead.
You know what that is? The name of the Father. I taught us several years ago
in theology class that the purpose for which Christ came was to
manifest for us the Father. That in the scheme of redemption,
a revelation of the true and the living God to God's elect
is the revelation of God as our Father. God as our father, Christ,
the unique son, and we, the sons of God in him. And the third
person is what birthed that relationship by which we cry, Abba Father. I only know God as father because
I'm his son. Are you guys hearing me? I only know him as father because
I'm his son. My salvation was a manifestation
of the glory of god in christ revealing to me my sonship to
the father We are not saved until we see god as our heavenly father
And christ is our savior and the holy ghost his job is to
make that a reality for us What therefore is in my mind? Is my
relationship to god as his son and he has my father That's the
way it should be for all of you Am I making some sense? The ones
that are standing on Mount Zion are standing on that typical
kingdom of God, whose kingdom God has set up a king, and that
king is Christ, that's Psalm 2. And everyone that's about
him is part of Mount Zion, the city of our God, the city of
our great king. Beautiful for situation, the
joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. That's the kingdom of God. That's the kingdom of God. It's
the kingdom of his Christ and it's the kingdom of his elect
and all of God's people know God as father through Christ
the son by the Spirit who puts the spirit of adoption in our
heart by which we cry what Abba father That's a saving knowledge
of God You we don't know God until we know him in a saving
revelation as our heavenly father. I That's the job of the spirit
and he sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying
Abba father and when you pray pray this way our No one talked about the father
more than jesus no one No one talked about god as father more
than jesus It was the name that christ revealed to the disciples
How should we pray? When you pray, pray this way. Our Father. It denotes the relationship
that has been established by blood on the part of the second
person in order that we might have right to all three as their
sons by faith. Now listen to the language. I'm
going to read a few more, then I want you to go with me in your
Bibles and Ephesians 1. And they sung as it were a new song, I'm
sorry, verse two. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice
of many waters and as the voice of great thunder. And I heard
the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung
as it were a new song before the throne and before the four
beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song
but the 144,000, which were redeemed from the earth, right? Now see,
if you are, operating within the construct of the book of
Revelation, and I am, I can take each one of these propositions
here and find other portions in the book of Revelation to
confirm it. This song is sung by God's elect because we know
a redemption song. This is the same song typologically
that the children of Israel sang in the wilderness when they came
through the Red Sea under the ministry of Aaron, Moses, and
Miriam. Are you guys hearing me? It's
called the song of redemption. Now the fallacy here is if you
buy into an ethnocentric hermeneutic and think that the only folks
singing this song is 144 Jews. But Romans chapter 4 and 5 would
defy that. Revelation chapter 4 and 5. Revelation 5, 9 says, for you
have redeemed us out of every nation. kindred, tribe, and tongue
unto yourself by the blood of the Lamb, whom we are seeing
seated on the throne. So when you combine the redeemed
people with this, what we call Jewish nomenclature, our terminology,
what we come to understand is that Old Testament Israel was
an idea that only gets realized in the fullness of the church.
That is men and women from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue
becoming the Israel of God. just as Paul taught. Are you
guys hearing me? So just to tie this one part
with you before we go to the other portions of scripture,
go with me in your Bible to Revelation 22. Revelation 22, just show you something. And
if you're having some difficulty with what I'm talking about,
get the CD, listen to it 10 times and it may begin to penetrate. Revelation chapter 22. I want
you to mark this now. I'm sorry. Go to Revelation 21,
back up to 21. I want you to see this. Now we talked about this a couple
of weeks ago when I dealt with the antithesis between the great
horror and the Jerusalem, which is above, which is the mother
of us all. You guys remember that study that in the new Testament,
when you read carefully that the new Testament reveals a Jerusalem,
which is below, which is in bondage with her children. Typified by
Hagar not Sarah Sarah was a woman of promise Hagar was a slave
She was also Egyptian Which means the nation of Israel While as
yet they are still holding to legalism and works righteousness.
They are slaves still in bondage to sin represented by Hagar But
that the Jerusalem which is above is the mother of all free children
If you've been made free you are part of that Jerusalem, which
is above are you guys following me? I She's the mother of us
all. Sarah, she was never a slave. She was always a child of promise.
Her and Abraham, they were never under the law. They were always
under the gospel. And the children that come from
her womb are miracles of grace, objects of God's mercy, children
of promise, like me, and Isaac, and Christ, and you if you believe
the gospel. Free children, free children.
Am I making some sense? This is the one that's getting
ready to come down from heaven. This is the one getting ready
to come down from heaven. This is not the one, not the Palestine
over there in the Middle East. This one's coming from heaven.
Watch it. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heavens and the first earth were passed away, and there was no
more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city.
There it is. The new Jerusalem coming down
from God. Out of heaven, prepared as a
bride. Oh, here's another signet. The New Jerusalem is a bride.
We have mixed metaphors here now, right? Well, that's what
the book of Revelation is all about. Never operate on the concrete
principles of reason when you're dealing with the book of Revelation
because it has what we call hyperbolic language. It will mix metaphors.
You can let your head get all jacked up if you want to, but
I don't mind a city being a bride at the same time. Are you with
me? That city is the people of God.
The bride is the church. The language is consistent, isn't
it? Now watch the language. This is important. This is why
we got to read our Bibles and not simply, you know, listen
to sound bites from our media. And I, John saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem coming down from out of heaven prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
He will dwell with them. They shall be his people. And
God himself shall we be with them and be their God. Isn't
that second Corinthians chapter six. See how Paul understood
that he understood the church as the Jerusalem of God, the
habitation of God through the spirit. After all, he was caught
up there. to see it. When he came back
he was privileged to frame his gospel in such a way that he
would give us emblems and hints of what was taking place in heaven.
Now notice what he goes on to say, God shall wipe away all
tears. Is that what verse 4 says? Isn't that going back to Revelation
7? The close of Revelation 7, and they shall hunger no more,
neither shall they thirst any more, and God will wipe away
all tears. See the recapitulation principle? What is it talking
about? Removing the sting of suffering that we go through
down here. We suffer down here. We cry down
here. There's a lot of tears down here.
By the way, listen, just settle it. You are going to have problems
down here. Listen, and if you try to extricate
yourself from problems, you probably are failing to understand the
utilitarian nature of those problems. If you think that you can actually
accomplish the will of God for your life by extricating yourself
or removing yourself or abrogating your sufferings, then you are
assuming a lot about your sanctification. Did you get what I just said?
Suffering is designed to conform you to Christ. If you want to
throw off suffering, you are assuming two things. You don't
want to be conformed or you are already confirmed. Now, which
one is it? Suffering is designed to conform
you to Christ. If you don't want suffering, you are assuming that
you're already conformed or you don't want conformity. And if
you don't want conformity, then you're a bastard. Isn't that
what the Bible teaches? For all whom the Lord loves,
he what? Just suck it up. Jesus did. Right? He sucked it
up because see there's a day where there will never be a need
for another tear duct. You know, God's merciful to give
you tear ducts. Ain't nothing more dreadful than trying to
cry and don't have tears. And I want you to see the beauty
of the tenderness of God. Are you ready? He will come to
you with his own cloth and wipe all your tears away. Do you see it? And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the
throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto
me, write these right, for these words are true and trustworthy.
And then he began to enunciate the Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and end. This is all language concerning Jesus Christ. And
we read over in verse 10. And he carried me away in the
spirit to a great and high mountain. Do you see that? And showed me
the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God. Verse 11, having the glory of God. we have now obtained
what we lost in the garden. Isn't that verse 11? We have
now obtained what we lost in the garden. Pastor, what do you
mean? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What
we lost in the garden, we have now obtained in Christ. God has
always designated us to be sharers in his glory. He created us in
his image, in his likeness. You and I were designed to be
receptacles of God's glory. beaming with the glory of God,
emanating with the glory of God, permeated in the glory of God,
wallowing in the glory of God, immersed in the glory of God. That's the way he created us.
Isn't that good? Having the glory of God in her
light was like unto a stone, most precious, even Jasper snow
clear as crystal and had a wall great and high. Now watch this,
the number 12. Somebody get ready to do some math. 12 gates. Student
number 12. A wall great and high had 12
gates and at the gate, 12 angels and the names written there on
are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. You
guys got that? Okay, go. We got gates with angels, our
messengers and the 12 tribes of Israel at each gate. That's cool. The number 12 is
featured here because the number 12 always signifies spiritual
government spiritual government spiritual government The 12 months
in the year that got cycled teaches us spiritual government In the
old testament the spiritual government that represented god were the
12 tribes of israel They stand at the gate entry into the kingdom
and the old testament came through the 12 tribes In the old Testament,
you had to come to Israel. You had to meet God in the temple.
The Shekinah sat on the holy of holies in the holy place.
Am I making some sense? Now watch this. And on the three
gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, on
the west three gates, and the wall of the city had
12 foundations. and in them the name of the,
here it is, 12 apostles of the Lamb. Ah, we move into the New
Testament. Are you following me? Old Testament
spiritual government by the 12 tribes, New Testament spiritual
government by the 12 apostles. Remember what Paul says? See,
Paul already saw this vision. He saw this vision. So he told
the church in Ephesus, you and I are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets and Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. He already saw this vision. He
already saw it. Are you hearing me? He already
saw on the foundation of this Holy Jerusalem where the 12 apostles,
they are prophets and apostles with Christ being the chief cornerstone.
Watch the language. And on the wall of the city,
it had 12 foundations in them, the names of the 12 apostles
of the lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to
measure the city. Remember Revelation chapter 11?
Measure the temple. Leave out the temple proper.
To measure is to protect. To measure is to affirm. To measure
is to clarify. Watch this. I want you to see
the measurement. And the city lieth four square. I'm sorry,
verse 13. And he that talk with me, it
had a golden reading. Oh yeah, he said, oh no, here
it is. And he that talk with me had a golden reed to measure
the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the
city lieeth four square, and the length is as large as the
breadth. And he measured the city with a reed. Here it is,
12,000 furlongs. Do you guys see that? The length
and the breadth and the height are equal. Look at me. There's
no such physical city dimension in the universe. Don't lose your
mind. We're dealing with symbolism.
Do you understand? You're not going to have the
city the same length, the same width and the same height. This is a square. And it's a
square because it speaks to the equality of all of God's people
in Christ. Are you hearing me? I'm going
to help you a little bit. I can help you. In the Old Testament,
there was one central entity that was square and it was inside
the temple. and it was the holy of holies
so the holy of holies was square because in the holy of holies
is him who could make all things equal excuse me there's another square
but not square in the dimension of which we see but there's an
allusion to the square and that is the breastplate on the heart
of the high priest wherein were the twelve tribes of israel on
twelve stones And those 12 tribes represent all of God's elect
in the heart of Christ. You guys got that? He's the high
priest who bears all of our iniquities on his heart. He is in the holy
place. He is the ark of the covenant.
We are with him. We are made right by him. Everything
is made equal through him. Now we can say there is no male
nor female, nor bond, nor free, nor Jew, nor Greek in Christ.
For we are all one in Christ Jesus. See the symbolism. This
is the beauty of the language, but I want you to get this. Twelve
times twelve equals what? No accident. There's no accident. And multiply
that by a thousand, and what you get is the language of the
book of Revelation of what we call fullness. A hundred and
forty four thousand. A hundred and forty four thousand.
144,000. And in reality, the city that you are now having
your census exercised by really are the members of Christ's body.
Represented on a numerical level, dealing with people in Revelation
7, and there were 144,000 of all the 12 tribes of Israel.
And by the way, if I wanted to argue about the weakness of a
literal interpretation there, I could talk about what tribes
are there and what tribes are not there. Are you hearing me? But here in Revelation chapter
22, as we're closing out the book with what is called the
beatific beauty, a vision, this beautiful, glorious, perfect
state, what God describes as the present new heavens and a
new earth, wherein all of God's people dwell is as a perfect
square, a square. The city is a square where everything
is equal. Everyone is equal. Now notice
the language. Verse 16, in the city lions, four square, and
the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the
city with the reed, 12,000 furlongs. The length thereof and the breadth
thereof are equal. And he measured the wall. Now, I want you to
follow this now. Don't lose me. Don't let me lose you. And he
measured the wall thereof, 144 cubits. Do you see it? And according
to the measure of a man, that is of the angel. Now, let me
help you. The wall is symbolic. just like
the city is symbolic, but there's an incongruency here because
the city is 12 furlongs high. Now furlongs are miles. So if you've got a city 15 to
16 miles up in the sky, are you following me so far? And this
is in some of our brothers and sisters gonna have to have glorified
bodies because they're gonna be breathing different air way
up there 10, 12, 15 miles up. Are you with me? But here's the
problem. Why do we have a wall? Our walls
designed to protect you. Well, this wall is only 144 cubits. A cubit is nothing but 15 to
18 inches long. When you're done with it, It's only about 25, 35 feet at
the most in height. What kind of wall is that going
to be to stop any kind of intrusion of the adversary when the city
itself is miles high? Are you guys following me? And
that language is incongruent on purpose. is designed to teach
you that the wall simply teaches symbolically that the city is
a city that has a separation and distinction between the elect
and the non-elect, between the saved and the damned, for all
that are without the city are damned. But the wall has no utilitarian
purpose, because if it did, it would have to be at least as
high as the city. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? It only symbolizes, and you can see that in Revelation
chapter 21, that outside of the city are liars and fornicators
and whoremongers and adulterers and dogs and idolaters and everyone
that loveth and maketh a lie. So the wall symbolizes separation. It symbolizes those who failed
to enter into the kingdom of God when the gospel was preached.
It symbolizes the distinction between those who are God's people
and those who perish in darkness. Are you guys following me? It's
important for you to know that that's simply what's taking place
here with the imagery. Verse 17, He measured the wall
thereof, 144 cubits, according to the measure of a man, that
is of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was jasper,
and the city was pure gold, like unto clear crystal. And the foundations
of the wall of the city We're garnished with all manner of
precious stone, the first stone, and then it goes through all
of these different, these different emeralds and jewels, and it's
signifying the beauty and glory thereof. The beauty and glory
thereof. Finally, verse 21, And the twelve
gates were twelve pearls, and every several gate was one pearl,
and the street singular. Do you see that? Of the city
was a pure gold. as it were transparent. So if
I were to paint you an actual picture, the word street there
would be called a square. You know what a square is, is
when you go into town and you actually go into the center of
the town, which is where the square is, is where everybody
meets, socializes, purchase things, commerce, business, and then
they go back to the extremities to live. That's the square, that's
why the word is always in the singular, street. So when we
talk about streets, plural of gold, we're just extrapolating,
painting pictures. The reality is, is one big square.
And what it signifies is the fellowship of the people of God
in the heart of the city. That the people of God will be
together in one place, in the square, socializing and fellowshipping
and enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. Do you guys
see that? It's very important for you to
know that. Very important for you to know that. All right,
go with me now in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter one. I'm
going to just read these two verses quickly. I'm gonna open
the floor for questions and then we're gonna close in a word of
prayer. I knew this was going to take some time. We will come
back and I will talk to us next week about the concept of gematria,
the device that was often used in early interpretation of scripture,
both by the Hebrews and by the Jew, by the, by the New Testament
church to try to ascertain and fulfill the imperative and count
the number of his name. We'll talk about that next week.
But in Ephesians chapter one, I just simply want you to see
Ephesians one and second Corinthians chapter one. The security of God's people
in the midst of difficulty and trial is not that God will protect
you from physical harm, but that God will secure your heart and
mind by the presence and protection of the spirit of God. This is
the final work of the triune God in their objective to save. God is glorious in that all three
persons are imminently involved in our salvation. this week this
we will see on Sunday this week and next week the triad of parables
given to us in Luke 15 teach about the glorious triune God
in their salvation for sinners in Ephesians chapter 1 verse
2 and 3 grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places where in Christ These are the two persons of
the Godhead who have objectively secured all our salvation's hope
objectively That reality only comes to bear in our life when
the third person brings it home Look over at verse 14 It started
verse 13 in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth
the gospel of your salvation in whom after also you believed
you were what seal With the holy spirit of promise. Do you see
that? Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory What
are we saying down here? What we have is the third person
Down here, what we have is the third person. We have God, the
Holy Spirit resident with us, keeping us and preserving us
and manifesting the glory of Christ to us and using us and
watching over us until we enter into the fullness of our salvation. Am I making some sense? I want
you to understand something. He is totally capable of sufficiently
keeping his people and even using them in the process of the salvation
of others of his people. The spirit of God has the final
job of bringing home to our life all that Christ accomplished
for us on Calvary Street to the praise of our heavenly father.
One day, all three persons will be permanently and perfectly
adored by all of us in glory. We will worship the triune God
in perfect, in perfection on that day when we are finally
glorified. We will worship Him equally.
There will be no breaks in our worship. One person won't worship
Him better than any other person. We will all worship Him equally.
He will be equally adored by all of those who have experienced
the redemption of God in Christ. That will be a phenomenal day.
It will be a day where we will all say in unison, Alleluia,
Alleluia unto the Lamb of God and unto God Almighty for his
redemption and salvation, which he has accomplished for those
who love him. It's going to be glorious. It's
going to be glorious. The questions, anybody have any
questions before we shut it down? Questions? Y'all ready to go
home, huh? All right, we can close in prayer.
Huh? Okay, let's stand in prayer. Father, we thank you for your
time. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace.
Truly, we do need to savor on these things. Sometimes we talk
too much after hearing the word. May it sink down deep into our
soul. May we be confirmed in the reality that as your son
said it on Calvary, you said it before the world began and
you wrote it in this book called the book of Revelation. It's
already finished. We get to see the story the way
that it is and the way that it will be for all eternity. Now
grant your servants faith and grant your servants grace. to
love you and to serve you and to stay fixed on you and to be
ready to suffer for your glorious name. As we go our way, give
us traveling mercies, prepare our hearts to worship you as
you ought to be worshiped by your people all around the world.
We love you. We adore you. We magnify you.
We exalt in you. You are glorious and altogether
lovely to our souls. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you.