We've come in our study of the
book of Revelations to chapter 7. If you want to turn there,
we'll read this together. Revelations chapter 7. And let's begin reading in verse
1. Revelations chapter 7 in verse
1. And after these things I saw
four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding
the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow
on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living
God. And he cried with a loud voice
to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and
the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the
trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads. And I heard the number of them
that were sealed, and there were sealed nine hundred and forty
and four thousand of the tribes of the children of Israel. And
of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Reuben
were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Nephilim were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Manasseh were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed
12,000. Of the tribe of Issachar were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Zebulon were
sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed
12,000. And of the tribe of Benjamin
were sealed 12,000. And after this I beheld, and
lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honor, and power, and might be unto God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes,
and whence come they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
the living fountains of water. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." We begin in the fifth chapter
when we saw in the hand of God a book that was written full
of writings. But it was sealed with these
seven seals. And then we saw the Lord Jesus,
the Lamb of God, take that book and begin to open those seals. And in the sixth chapter you
and I studied last week, we saw Him begin to open these seals. And every time He opened the
seals, something was manifested. The first seal, if you remember,
the Lord Jesus was symbolically riding a white horse and He had
His bow with Him. And it was said that He went
forth conquering and to conquer. I would not want to be the enemy
of the Son of God, would you? Because He is going to conquer
you. He will either conquer us here and make us His friends
or He will conquer us. I pity those who are against
God. I pity those who are enemies of the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because He will eventually put His enemies under His feet. We saw that in the first seal
that was opened. Then, of course, in the second
seal and the third seal and the fourth seal, we are told that
when these seals were opened, peace was taken from the earth.
Men were hateful. Men were mean. And they persecuted
one another. And they killed one another.
And the third seal was opened and it brought forth these conditions
of extreme hardship. Economic hardship. Starvation. Poverty. And then the fourth
seal was opened and there was war. Violence. People killing
each other. Men dying violent deaths. So many different means. And
then the fifth seal was opened and we saw all the martyrs of
Christ under the altar asking the Lord to avenge the blood
of them that killed Him. And He will most certainly do
that someday. And they were told to rest a
little longer until their fellow brother be killed. And then we
looked at the sixth seal which revealed the day of judgment.
The great day of his wrath is come," they said. The wicked
said that. And who shall be able to stand?
And that was the end of the history of this world. That was the last
day. That was the final judgment.
But the book didn't end there, did it? It could have, but the
Lord has more to tell us. He had more to reveal to John. So in chapter 8, The seventh
seal is opened. We'll begin that next week, the
Lord's willing. And he showed us another aspect,
another angle of the history of this world. There's more to
take place. And when the seventh seal is
opened, we saw seven angels with seven trumpets. And every time
an angel sounded, something devastated took place in this earth. And
that's what you and I begin to look at next week. But I think
it's very interesting and wonderful before he opens the seventh seal
and those angels of woe begin to blow, he does something wonderful
here in this seventh chapter. We often see this with the Lord.
He seals His elect in their foreheads. That's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? Here in the first part of chapter 7, we see these four
angels. They hold back these four winds. And it doesn't say what these
winds are, but we're told what they do. They hurt. They injure. They hurt the earth and the sea
and the trees. In the scriptures, we often read
of hurtful winds. Most of the time, most of the
time when you see winds mentioned in the scripture, it's always
a hurtful thing. The Lord Jesus told about the
winds that beat upon that house and it fell and great was the
fall of it. The same winds beat upon another
house and it didn't fall because it was founded upon a rock. That's
the winds of persecutions, the winds of trials of different
kinds. Pharaoh had a dream and the thin
ears were blasted by the east wind. Remember that? Exodus chapter
10, God caused the east wind to blow and brought in locusts
and eat up the land. The Lord blew with his wind and
the sea covered the Egyptian army. In Job chapter 1, A mighty
east wind came and caught the four corners of the house and
killed all of Job's children. This is what is predicted against
Babylon and Jeremiah 51.1. Thus saith the Lord, I will bring
up against Babylon and against them that dwell in the midst
of them that rise up against me a destroying wind. We don't know what these winds
are going to be. The angels were holding them
back to keep them from hurting the earth and the sea. And there
was a calm. The winds weren't able to blow. And in this calm, the living
God sealed His elect in their foreheads. You see that
here in verses 4 through verse 8, these 144,000 that's called
the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. Now, who are these
people? That's what I want us to look
at first, just for a few minutes. Who are these 144,000 people
who are called the 12 tribes of Israel? Some say this passage
is to be taken literally, and therefore, It literally means
12,000 out of the 12 tribes of the Jewish people, the sons of
Jacob. Here's my problem with that.
This book is full of symbols. And you and I have been looking
at these symbols to try to determine what they mean. But now some
tell us that these 12 tribes are not to be taken symbolically,
but literally. And here's the problem I have
with that. This book that we're studying
is full of symbols. And if we're going to take some
of it symbolically and some of it literally, how do we know
when we do that? That's my problem. One of my
problems with that. Why would we be looking at the
horse and their colors? And the stars falling into the
earth and say, well, we cannot take this literally. It's symbolically. And then turn right around and
say, well, these 12 tribes are literal. The 144,000 is literal. Not symbolic. I think it's symbolic. I think the 12 tribes are symbolic.
The second problem I would have with that, if we were to take
this literally, then you mean there's only going to be 144,000 Jews saved? Got to be more than
that. Paul said even today there's
a remnant, and some of the way Some of the ways they get around
interpreting this literally, they say this, well, these 144,000
Jews are the ones that will be saved during the seven year tribulation. And my answer to that, we've
studied up until now and we haven't found a tribulation. We found
tribulation, a bunch of them, but we've not found seven years
yet, have we? Not yet. I just want to be honest in the
interpretation of this. The 12 tribes are literal, some
say, but the 144,000 are symbolic. They represent a number that's
greater, much greater than 144,000. But you can't have it both ways. And the 12 tribes are literal
and the 144,000 is literal or they're both symbolic. And that's
my understanding. And not only mine, but understanding
of men that's got much more understanding of this book than I have. This
is my understanding. These 144,000 of the tribe of
the children of Israel represent, they're symbolic of the whole
number of God's elect of all ages. And the reason I say that
is found here in verse 9. As soon as he says that he sealed
these 144,000, immediately he says this, And after this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations
and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands."
These 144,000 are the same ones in verse 9 that are said to be
a multitude that nobody could number. They are mentioned again
over in the 14th chapter. This 144,000, look over there
with me. In the 14th chapter, and look
in verses 1 through verse 5. Look in verse 1 through verse
5. And I looked in chapter 14, and behold, a lamb still on the
Mount Zion, and with him 940,000, having his father's name written
in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven
as the voice of many waters, as the voice of a 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, before the
four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song
but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which are the
redeemed from the earth. These are they which are not
defiled with woman, for they are virgins. These are they which
follow the Lamb, wheresoever He goeth. These were redeemed among men,
being the firstfruits to God and of the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God." These are the redeemed. of the earth. They are redeemed
among men. Now, if that is just 144,000
Jews, are they the only ones that are redeemed? What about
all the rest? But here is my problem with saying
that this has to be taken literally and not symbolically. And those
who say these are literal Jews Jews by nature in our text. And they make a distinction.
They say these are literal Jews. And then verse nine is the rest
of the church. That is there a number that no
man can number. They make that distinction. There
was a distinction in the Old Testament between the Jews. And
the Gentiles. That's easy to see that. The
Jews had the advantage in the Old Testament, and mainly because
God gave them His Word. He gave them His prophets to
teach them. He gave them the ceremonial law.
They had the true knowledge, at least the means of having
the true knowledge and worship of God. But when you come to
the New Testament, that distinction is done away with. The Bible
says that in Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither bond nor free, male or female, for we are all one
in Christ Jesus. There is no prophet today. in
being a natural Jew, is there? We hear people say all the time,
you better treat the Jews right over there because they're God's
special people. What do they mean by that? They're
God's chosen special people. There's no distinction in Jew
or Gentile today or any other nationality. You remember Galatians
chapter 2. Peter tried to put a difference
between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. Remember
that? He was eating with the Gentile church and some of the
Jewish believers came down and Peter got scared and separated
himself from the Gentile believers and went over to eat with the
Jewish believers. Remember, Paul rebuked him severely
for that. And the reason Paul rebuked him
says, you're putting a difference. You're putting a difference between
the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers. You're telling
the Gentile believers they can't be saved unless they practice
what Jews practice. And Paul rebuked him severely
for that. The scripture says there is no
difference between the Jew and the Gentiles, for we have all
sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is only one
gospel that can save either of us, Jew or Gentile, and that
is the gospel of the grace of Christ. Peter was speaking on
behalf of the Jewish believers when he said this, God put no
difference between them and us, purifying their hearts by faith. And we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they."
God taught His apostles all through the New Testament scriptures.
There is no distinction to be made in any nationalities. It was that way in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, it ceased. There's no difference. Now, would
God teach His apostles to put no distinction between Jew and
Gentile? And then the last book of the
Bible coming, God make a distinction Himself? Would He look at 144,000
Jews and say, here's my special people? And look over there to believe
in Gentiles and say, yeah, they're my people too, but they're not
up here where the Jews are. When we saw the 144,000 standing
with a lamb on Mount Zion, those were the same as verse 9 of our
text says, they were a number that no man can number out of
every tongue, every nation, every kindred, every tribe upon this
earth. they represent to us the entire
number of God's elect. In Christ, neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy,
and upon the Israel of God. Who is the Israel of God? Every
believer. Every believer. The church is
the Israel of God. You remember in Romans chapter
2 and verse 28, and if you don't remember this, put this down
in your mind or write it on a piece of paper and read it when you
get home. In Romans chapter 2 and verse
28, listen to this. This is so plain. He is not a
Jew which is one outwardly. Remember when the Lord Jesus
told one of the churches that He knew the blasphemy of those
who say they're Jews and lie? They lie. You're not a Jew if
you're one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but listen to this now, but he
is a Jew which is one inwardly. God has took out his old heart,
gave him a new heart, gave him a new spirit, gave him faith
in Jesus Christ, gave him the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy
Spirit has implanted his graces in his heart. He's had a work
of grace inwardly. That man is a Jew. He's a spiritual
Jew. He may be a Gentile, he may be
a heathen, but he's a Jew. Paul said that, didn't he? He
is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the
heart and the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. In Romans chapter 4, Paul, the
Lord kept telling Abraham that I have made you a father of many
nations. Remember that? I've made you
a father of many nations, not just the Jewish nation. The Jewish
nation came out of Abraham, naturally speaking, according to his carnal
seed. But Abraham had another seed.
He had a whole bunch of children. God said, I've made you the father
of many nations. And in Romans chapter four, verse
11, Paul said this, Abraham is the father of all that believe. You believe in Christ? You're
a child of Abraham. It's strange to me that you've
got your so-called theologians come out of the seminars and
they lack when you quote these verses. They call you Neanderthals
and everything like that. Boy, you're old. You need to
be caught up. You know, you need to be caught
up to date. You're behind time. You believe
that stuff. That's what the old ancients
used to believe. The ancients were right to believe it, weren't
they? Listen to Galatians 3, 29. Paul
says this. If you be Christ, if you belong
to Christ, Then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Listen to Galatians 3 verse 26.
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother
of us all who believe. Jerusalem is our mother. In Galatians chapter 3 verse
28, Now we, brethren, as Isaac were, are the children of promise. So what do we learn from this?
A believer is a Jew. A believer has been circumcised
in his heart. Abraham is his father. He is
of the seed of Abraham. New Jerusalem is his mother.
He is identified with Isaac, the son of Abraham, because he
is a child of promise. A believer is one who is not
born of blood Nationality, that distinction is gone. He's not
born of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but he's
born of God. And everyone who is born of God
belongs to Israel. The Israel of God. The church
is the Israel of God. And these 144,000 represent the
whole number of the redeemed among the Jews and among the
Gentiles. It's a definite number that represents
to us an indefinite number of people. It's symbolic, isn't
it? It's symbolic. Look now quickly at some things
about them. First of all, look in verse 9.
of our text, Revelation chapter 7 and verse 9. And the first
thing we see about these redeemed, they are a great multitude. A
great multitude. And not only are they a great
multitude, they are so great that nobody can number them. That is a bunch of people, isn't
it? If our Lord gave us a limited
number of the saved, You and I may be discouraged. If he said
there's 10 trillion people going to be saved, that's a limited
number. And I'm just sure I'd start thinking
in my mind, they're already saved. Everybody's all, there ain't
no room for me. 10 trillion and what? Aren't you glad he said nobody
can number them? If it's a number that big, then
maybe, just maybe, there's room for me. I can make up that one. There's room at the cross for
me. Though millions have come, there's
still room for one. How do you know that? Because
here's a multitude that nobody can number. Our Lord Jesus said,
In my Father's house are many mansions. And here we find out
how many. It's a number that nobody can
number. Many, many dwelling places. Secondly, they come from all
over the world. Did you notice that? All nations
and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Lamb and before
the throne. It doesn't matter what nationality
we are. Our being saved has nothing to
do with where we were born, where we live, what language that we
speak. The only requirement is you must
be redeemed. That's the only requirement.
I wonder if anybody from Newcastle is there, and Springport, and
Marion, and Gatch City, and these places. I bet there is. They
come from all over the world. That's encouraging, isn't it?
And here's the third thing about them. They all stood before the
throne of God and before the Lamb. Now, the Holy Spirit was
very careful there when He said that. All nations. And they all stood before the
throne and before the Lamb. We had a family that came here
one time. And they were what we call landmarked. They believe
if you're not a Baptist, you're nothing. And so they were getting
ready to leave. And I said, well, if we changed
our name to Baptist, if we put Baptist over the door, would
you stay? He said, I would. I said, so it's about being a
Baptist or not being a Baptist. And I asked him, I said, do you
believe any of us here are saved? Do you believe I'm saved? He
said, well, I do. But he said, when you get to
heaven, there's a big circle and you guys will be on the outside
of the circle. That was his opinion. What's
God's estimation of that? All of them, brothers and sisters.
Every last one of them was around the throne. There's no outside
circle. There's no people so far off
they're trying to use monoculars to see. They're all around the
throne. They're all welcome there. Baptists
and Presbyterians and whoever, if you're redeemed. if you're
redeemed. Fourthly, I love this about this
great number. They were all dressed the same
way. They were all there with white
robes and they had these palms in their hands and that means
they were shouting the victory. What does this white robe represent? Well, we know that is the righteousness
of Jesus, isn't it? And where did they get it? Well,
we saw there, those under the altar, white robes were given
to them. This is the righteousness of
Jesus Christ, and everybody that's around the throne is robed in
His righteousness. That is, they look just like
Him. They're as holy as He is. They're as accepted as He is.
They're robed with the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's the fifth thing. This
is solemn thought. And these only are saved. There'll be nobody else saved
but the redeemed. Those who are redeemed from among
men. Chapter 14. Those are redeemed
from this earth. These are they which are redeemed. Not everybody is going to be
saved, brothers and sisters. That's a sad fact, isn't it?
We're just talking about Billie's granddaughter. Died and didn't
want, when she was healthy enough, she didn't want to hear a thing
about the Lord. The family don't want to hear
a thing about the Lord. How many people die there? It's
scary. It's heart-wrenching when a 31-year-old
woman dies in her sin. But here we're told, and we're
told everywhere, straight is the gate that leads to life,
and few there be that find it. And who will find it? The redeemed
will find it. And nobody else. Nobody else. That's all the people that's
going there. You hear people say, well, I'm
still seeking to the right way. Well, here's the only way. That's
the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Sixthly, think of this, all the
redeemed, all of these 144,000 are sure to be saved, absolutely,
and certainly they will be saved, and may heaven their home. And
we know that because in verses 2 and 3 they are sealed with
the seal of the living God. I love when you go to the Scriptures
to interpret Scripture. If you want to know what a seal
is, Daniel chapter 6 and verse 17 is the best interpretation
of what a seal is. Well, they put Daniel in the
den of lions. Remember that? And listen to Daniel chapter
6 verse 17. They put him in the den of lions
and a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and
the king sealed the stone with his own signet, and the signet
of the Lord, that the purpose might not be changed concerning
Daniel." They could not get him out of there because the king
had sealed it. And when the king and his Lord
put that seal on that stone, it could not be rolled away.
The purpose could not be changed concerning Daniel. And when you
think about a seal, when God, the living God, seals somebody
in their forehead, that means the purpose He has for that person
cannot be changed. The Lord has saved him. He has
reserved a place in heaven for him, and that will never be changed. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God. whereby you are sealed until
the day of redemption. Every believer has been sealed
by the living God and nobody can change that purpose. Nobody. I love that passage. I think
it's in Matthew when they put the Lord Jesus in the tomb and They went to Pilate and said,
we're afraid they're going to steal him away and claim he raised
from the dead. And he said, you have a watch. Go put a stone on there and make
it as sure as you can. And the Bible says they went
and sealed the tomb. They went and sealed the tomb
for no good reason. It didn't last, did it? That
seal was broken. But this seal won't be broken.
A seal of some governor. that thinks he's somebody, that
can be broken, but not the seal of the living God. The purpose
concerning you, dear child of God, will never be changed. The eighth thing concerning these
is this. Everyone whom God has elected
to eternal salvation, everyone for whom Christ died, will be
brought to put all their trust in the marriage, in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says in verse 14,
And I said unto him, when he said, Who are these robed in
white robes, and palms in their hands? And verse 14, I said unto
him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Catch
that, how the Holy Spirit said that. They washed their robes. Some may want to change that
because they think it was misprinted or it wasn't translated properly
to He washed their robes. But it said they washed their
robes, didn't it? Other places, it's a tribute
to Christ Himself. I will sprinkle clean water upon
them and they shall be clean. He loved us and washed us from
our sins. But here it says they washed
their robes. And there's a reason for saying
that. That simply means that they put all their trust in the
blood of Jesus Christ. They did it. They said this blood
is atoning blood. It's redeeming blood. He'll wash
my sins away. And buddy, they put all their
trust in. They washed. Everybody that God has elected
will come to believe in the blood of Jesus Christ. Elections don't
save you. But it secures your salvation.
It secures your believing in Christ. The death of Christ ain't
what saves you in this sense of the word. Nobody is saved
apart from believing in Jesus Christ. The redemption of Christ
on the cross secures your coming to Him, but nobody is ever saved
until he believes in Jesus Christ. That personal faith, isn't it? All those redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ will finally and completely be delivered
from sin and all its consequences and will be with the Lord forever,
eternally happy. Every one of them. Look what
he says in verse 15 and verse 17. Therefore they washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of water, and shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes." If we have a saving interest in the Redeemer, we
can truly say, let the angels let loose these
violent winds Let these trumpets of woe blow as they will. Let the seven last plagues come.
I am hid in Jesus Christ and these things will do me no harm.
The plagues of God, the trumpets of woe will not harm me spiritually. I am in Christ my Lord and being
in Him I am here. And we will never experience
another sorrow. We will never have another pain.
And we will never shed another tear. What a hope. What a hope. Lord, we thank You. Oh, Father, what a great salvation
You reveal in Your Word. We pity Oh, Lord, we pity this
poor world. It not only lives in rebellion
against you, but it invites your judgments, using your holy name
to invoke your wrath. Oh, thank you for redeeming love. Thank you for redeeming blood.
Without it, our hearts would break. Thank you for your word. Oh, grant us grace to believe as we study your word. Grant all of us here tonight
the ability, by grace, to look at these verses and find ourselves
in this great multitude that someday will be around your throne
sing in your praises, worship in you with undimmed eyes and
an unsinning heart, worship in you as we long to hear and weren't
able because of this awful burden. Oh, help us to see ourselves
in Christ. We ask these things in His name
and for His glory. Amen.