We're going to be starting from Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. We are in the third section of the revelation of Jesus Christ as it was given to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos. The first section was when John, having been persecuted and sent to the island of Patmos, he had a vision of Jesus in his present ministry. We saw that in chapter 1. The second section in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 has to do with Jesus giving instruction, commending and criticizing behaviors and attitudes in the seven churches of Asia Minor. Those were real churches, but we find that those letters to the seven churches are instructive for all churches throughout the church age from Pentecost to the return of Jesus Christ. The third section has to do with events that must take place in order to bring about God's choice purposes, to bring about the kingdom of God and of his Christ. And it starts with two chapters that take place in heaven, chapters 4 and 5. And there we see the focal point, the centerpiece of heaven is the throne of God. And It starts with this drama where in order to reveal and implement the events that must take place prior to the establishment of the kingdom of God, there has to be one worthy to open the scrolls. And you remember, all heaven went silent. The archangels and the angels and all those sinless created beings and all the redeemed of heaven confessed that they were not worthy to open the book. There was only one worthy. And that was the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. It became very clear that he and he alone is the one who's able to reveal what's to happen in the future. He is qualified not only as the perfect substitutionary sacrifice, the Lamb of God, but he is the Lion of Judah. He is the righteous judge and he has the right to judge. He has the right to implement these judgments and to bring about these events in order for the kingdom of God to be established. He is going to deal with all of the influences of evil and he's going to bring about God's choice purposes and bring the promises of God to fulfillment. So what follows now in this third section is that the seals are opened and we see that there are seals, seven seals that are containing this revelation of the future events, the establishment of the kingdom of God, and one by one they are broken by the one who has the right to open the book, and that is Jesus. And so we saw the unfolding of the Seven seals, the breaking of the seven seals. So that was the, we started with the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Remember, we talked about the first seal was the seal that brought about the dominion of deception, the rule of the Antichrist, deceiving the whole world. Then we see following that, there was the destruction, wars and violence. Today, by the way, is Armistice Day. This is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, the war that was to end all wars. And we see that our history in the 20th century, 21st century has really not improved. There's violence and there's escalating wars all over the planet. And we see that in this period of time, which is known as the Tribulation Period, there is an escalation. And Jesus refers to it as the beginning of sorrows. And we see that there is a correlation between the six seals that are opened and the events that Jesus spoke about on the Mount of Olives before he was crucified, the same sequence. The Dominion of Deception, seal number one. And wars and rumors of wars, seal number two. There is the third seal, which is the result of war so often as famine, deprivation, disparity between the rich and the poor. We see that in the third seal. Then there is the fourth seal, which is the black horse of death, and then there is the Fourth seal, which is the pale horse, which is pestilence, and a quarter of the population of the world is destroyed. And then we see the fifth seal, the martyrs, and you see how there is a cry out for vindication. And the Lord says that he knows exactly how many people are to be martyred before the end comes. So we have this unfolding of the six seals. And in chapter seven, chapter seven, we have an interval between the opening of the sixth seal and the seventh seal. But once again, and this is where I want you to focus because this is relevant to all of us. we have a picture of what heaven is like. We saw heaven in chapter 4 and chapter 5, we saw the opening of the seals in the chapter 6, now in the 7th chapter we get an honest to God picture of what heaven is like. And what John sees is breathtaking. We ourselves can scarcely take it in. Now, many people today have questions about the afterlife. And we know people today who are just at death's door. They've been given just weeks to live. And people ask, what's next? What happens when you die? Well, Jesus is the authority on the afterlife. He, God the creator, became a human being, lived a life on the earth, experienced everything that we experience in the human existence, suffered temptation at every point even as we suffer, and he died a real death, and then he experienced what happens when you die, and then he rose from the dead, and then he ascended to heaven, and he reveals himself to Stephen when Stephen is being martyred in the book of Acts, and he's standing up for Stephen while he's in heaven and while Stephen's on the earth. He reveals himself to the Apostle Paul, and now he's revealing himself to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos. And these faithful witnesses, Stephen, Paul, John, they're writing down what they know to be true, given to them through Jesus Christ. So many people have their fanciful ideas of what happens when you die. Shirley MacLaine, you know, coming back in some sort of other existence. I always think the American version of reincarnation is really interesting. You always come back as something special, right? But in the East, it's not like that. Reincarnation. If at first you don't succeed, die, die again, right? But when you come back, some of you know the story of Ravi Maharaj. Ravi Maharaj wrote the book... the death of a guru, and his father was a guru, and was one of the most holy men that was known in that area. And what happens in their tradition is you find out what they come back in the next life by the footprints that are at the grave. And so he saw that there was a little bird print, and he was so discouraged that his father, who lived a holy life, came back as a bird. It's like, well, When it comes to the afterlife, it's not for human conjecture. It's not for our imagination. It is not for speculation. We have the revelation, the unveiling. Jesus says, death and Hades are in his hands. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live. He gives us truth about the afterlife. He gives us truth. It's appointed for men once to die, and then comes the judgment. There is a judgment that's to come. And that's the thing that's so disheartening. We see an epidemic of suicide in our society. Many people think that that's the way that you deal with your problems, that you just, you exit. And there is no exit. There is no discharge from this war. The scriptures make it very clear that when a person pulls a trigger to their head and their body falls down, their spirit's still standing up. because they've got an immortal spirit. We're not left in the dark about eternity. We're not to resort to sentimental ideas or delusions about the afterlife. 2 Timothy 1, verse 8. The Apostle Paul says, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death. Can you put that slide up? Who abolished death. and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. We're not left in darkness about the afterlife. Jesus brings to light what life is all about, what immortality is about, what happens when you die. So with that in mind, let's read Revelation chapter seven, verse nine, as we once again have a glimpse of heaven. what happens in the afterlife. We've seen two particular crowds. And last week we spoke about the 144,000 that are on the earth. And now we're speaking about this multitude in heaven. Revelation chapter seven, beginning with verse nine. After these things, I looked and behold, A great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands. And they cry out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, these who are clothed in the white robes, who are they and where have they come from? I said to him, my Lord, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. For this reason, They are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. They will hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Father, bless this word to our hearts. Give us inspiration, understanding, wisdom. May our lives be impacted by this vision of what's to come. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Often when we get to this particular part of the book of Revelation, where we have these 14 chapters of drama, just one colossal cataclysmic event after another, we get caught up with just the happenings and we forget that actually there's good theology in all of this. What I mean is, theology is the study of God. We get to know more about God as we go through these 14 chapters from the fifth chapter on to the 19th chapter of Revelation. The question is asked, what happens in the tribulation? We know about the judgments, but we also learn here about multitudes of people who are getting saved during this period that's to come in the future. We're not just talking about a handful. Often we hear about the church and the activities of the church around the world, the tiny initiatives, some of them greater than others, but all relatively tiny. And Jesus says, fear not, little flock. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. All of a sudden, we see that the net result of all these little events, people sharing the gospel here, there, gossiping the gospel, packing up their shoeboxes and giving them to children in the name of Jesus, all those tiny initiatives have this huge impact. And there's multitudes where no man can count. how many people are being saved. And in the tribulation period, which is the worst of times, even in the worst of times, God is at work saving people's lives. He's at work today, church, and he's going to be at work even in those dark days of the tribulation where millions are saved. We see that these people are in heaven, they're not on earth, meaning most likely that they have been killed. Some of them were killed by the events of the six seals. Some of them were killed by the Antichrist. The Antichrist is going to be against all kinds of religion, and there are going to be many people who are slaughtered for their faith during that period of time. And there's going to be an attack launched against believers attempting to wipe them from the face of the earth. Daniel chapter 12, verse one tells us about this. Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise and there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. And at that time, your people, everyone who was found in the book will be rescued. The Antichrist will make war on the saints, Revelation chapter 13 verse 15. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. So we see that there's death that's brought in as a result of the first seal, the Antichrist, the domination of deception, and there are those that are going to be dying of famine, starvation. There are those people who will be dying because of the impact of the quarter of the population being killed through disease. And so on the other side of all this, we see these people who put their faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ. And we're going to learn about that as we look at these people. And we see how they are standing before the Lord. Remember that this chapter, chapter 7, answers the question that was raised in Revelation chapter 6. Remember in verse 15 of Revelation chapter 6 we learned about how Even with all these judgments that we're making clear that they were from God, the people now know that what they're experiencing on the earth is actually the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb. We are gonna have the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hiding themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they'll be saying to the mountains and the rocks that are coming down upon them, they'll say, fall on us. and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." And isn't that a paradoxical metaphor? The wrath of the Lamb. You see, the Lamb, innocent, harmless. We see that Jesus' ministry when He came in His first coming was one as a Lamb led to the slaughter. He was the one who said to the disciples, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I am meek and lowly of heart. That's the nature of our God. He's so humble, so loving, so giving. But there comes a time where righteousness must exact punishment for lawbreaking. And this is what we see, that the sacrificial lamb of God is now unleashing judgment, his wrath upon the earth. But we have this question that's asked, who can stand? Who is able to stand? In verse 17, for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand? And so we have the answer in chapter seven. There are those who are able to stand. There's 144,000 that we read about in verses 1 through 8. And then we see this innumerable company of people in verses 9 through 17. And then we have a description of them. We see their size. Those that are in heaven are innumerable. That does not mean that God doesn't know who they are. They can be numbered. God knows. but John could not count them. And it wasn't that he was given this clear cut 144,000 number. Remember he heard that number being given to him of those that were on the earth. But now we see those that are in heaven innumerable. This is a fulfillment by the way of many promises. For example, Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And it doesn't matter. How encouraging that must have been, by the way, to John and to the early church that heard this letter read. Remember, there are people in the church of Ephesus. There are people in the church of Sardis. They're all hearing this being read to them. And they're encouraged because they're saying, wow, you know, this letter makes us look like we're really struggling here. I mean, there are people who have left their first love. There are people who are suffering martyrdom at Smyrna. There are people who are tolerating false doctrine and false prophets at Pergamum and Thyatira. And there's people who have a reputation of being alive, but are actually dead at the church at Sardis. And on and on it goes. We have a list of problems. But then they have this picture, hey, despite all the problems that the churches are facing, look at this. We win. We win. Hallelujah, we win. I read the back of the book, and we win. You know? And you see that God is at work even through all the problems that the church is experiencing. How encouraging that must be. But it also reminds us, too, that God's promises never fail. God gave a promise to Abraham, and he said, Abraham, look to the heavens. Do you remember this in Genesis chapter 15, verse 5? Look to the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them. And even today we're having difficulty keeping up with the numbers of what we're discovering in the universe. And he said to him, so shall your descendants be. Then Abraham believed in the Lord And he reckoned it to him as righteousness. And so he becomes the exemplary believer in the gospel, Abraham. And all those who believe the gospel promise are sons of Abraham. And Abraham is the father of our faith, because he's an example of someone who believes God's promise for salvation through the seed that was given to him. The seed, speaking of Jesus Christ, his descendant, who would be the savior. Genesis chapter two, verse 17. Now, Abraham is having this promise amplified by the Lord. In verse 17, the Lord says, Indeed, I will greatly bless you. I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore. and your seed shall possess the gates of their enemies. It's interesting that in this particular scene in Revelation chapter seven, we have a people on earth, 144,000, looks like the seeds, excuse me, the grains of the sand. And then we have the heavenly people, those that cannot be numbered. So the Lord renewed his promise that he gave to Abraham, he gave the promise to Jacob. And Jacob reminds the Lord in Genesis 32, 12, he says, For you, Lord said, I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered. And so we have an echo of this wonderful promise given to those who believe. An amount of people, a multitude that cannot be numbered. Jesus spoke about this in-gathering prophetically in Matthew 8, 11. He says, I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. The good news is that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved in Romans 10, 13. So we see that the Lord has more than the physical seed of Abraham in view here. but he has an ingathering from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. And this is what we saw in Revelation chapter five, verse nine. And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. So we see their size. They're beyond what can be counted by John. We see their selection. They come out from every group. The Bible does not teach universalism. Universalism is the belief that all people will be saved. Not everyone goes to heaven. Not even all your dogs, necessarily. God has redeemed an elect. Not every tribe, but a selection out from every tribe. Not from every nation, but those that are called out from every nation, not every person who speaks another language, but he calls out from those people and elect. God knows those who are his, and we ourselves can make our calling and our election sure, can't we? How do we make our calling and election sure? by continuing to love the Lord, by continuing going to His Word, by examining ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. Have we passed from death to life? If we do not honor the son, we haven't passed from death to life. If we do not love the brethren, we have not passed from death to life. These are tests that are given to us in the scriptures. If we do not love the word of God and keep his commands, we don't love him. Right? So there are these tests that we have to make our calling and our election sure. And how encouraging it is to see that there are those that come from every people, tribe, nation, and tongue. And it's a fulfillment of what Jesus said in his sermon on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24, 14. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. And then the end will come. Now, if we are to take the literal approach to the book of Revelation and to the timeline, these people who we see in Revelation chapter 7 are those who have come out of the tribulation. Those who have the idealistic view, they'll say that these represent all believers throughout time. I will go into that a little bit more as we examine the different views. But notice their position. They're standing before the throne and the Lamb. They're standing. These people who have been killed, either by the Antichrist or by one of those seals or through natural death, they come before the Lord. Notice they're not in purgatory. There is no purgatory. The Bible has no reference to purgatory. Hey, they're not sleeping in the graves. There's no soul sleep. They are standing. They're not sleeping. And this is a picture too of believers standing before the living God. How can we possibly stand? Only because as we learned last week, only those people who can stand in the light of God's judgment are those who found grace through faith in the Lamb of God, who paid for our sins, who rose from the dead, triumphant over death, who rebukes all the enemy's works. He's the Lion of Judah. And so this is a picture that should encourage us, standing in grace. Romans chapter five, if you have your Bibles, just turn there, Romans chapter five. It gives us a wonderful picture of standing in grace. Verse one, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Heart peace. This is a peace that cannot be brought about by any treaty between nations. Do you remember the words in Isaiah chapter 40? Speak comfortably to Jerusalem. Let Jerusalem know that her warfare has been accomplished. War is over. And how can we have the end of war? Well, where does war come from, folks? The Bible tells us, war comes from the heart. It comes from the heart. You know, we have all these different laws that have tried to change society. You know, we've tried to... Have you noticed how laws against prejudice and racism, And you know, there's so much in place for civil rights. And look how racism is rampant in our society. Why? Because racism cannot be eliminated by a law. It has to be a work in the heart. And so we see that these people are standing before the Lord. And just like we see here in Romans chapter 1, In Romans chapter 5 verse 1, they have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom also we have, what does it say? Obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only in this. It's not only in this that we glory, our standing before God in grace, complete in Christ Jesus with our sins forgiven, with righteousness imputed to us. We exult in the hope that one day we will be face to face with him in fellowship forever, not just on heaven, but also in the renewed earth. Verse three says, and not only in this, but we also exult in our tribulations. knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. And perseverance, proven character. And proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. You see, the Holy Spirit makes it known to us that we are loved by God. And then the Holy Spirit gives us that love to share with other people. And this is a witness that we've come alive to who God is. William Barclay writes about in his commentary, I can't remember if it was 1 John or his commentary on Revelation, but I remember I noted it, and he said, God is the great savior, the great rescuer, the great deliverer of his people, and the deliverance which God gives is the greatest deliverance of all, for it is not the deliverance of escape, it is the deliverance of conquest. It is not the deliverance which saves a man from trouble. It is the deliverance which brings a man triumphantly through trouble. It does not make life easy, but it certainly makes life great. It is not a part of the Christian hope to look for a life in which a man is saved from all trouble and distress. The Christian hope is that a man in Christ can endure any kind of trouble and distress and remained erect, standing all through them, and come out to glory on the other side. Amen. So we see, as the description of heaven takes place, we see the size of this crowd, their selection from every tribe, and they're standing before the throne and the lamb in grace. They're standing. And then we see their clothing. They're clothed in white. As their bodies have been left to molder and rot and disintegrate back in the earth, We see that their spirits are clothed with shining white. Their spirits are immortal, and they're no longer wearing an earthly tent, but they're clothed in radiant white, a sign of having been perfected in Christ. They're free from all the influences of sin. There's no spot, no wrinkle. Right? Wrinkles the effect of Adamic life and time, right? And then we have spot, which has to do with our failings. And then there's blemish. Those are our birthmarks, our own Adamic predispositions towards sins. All those things are washed away. I love what Jude says. Jude chapter one, verse 24. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you, What does it say? Faultless, faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. What a day, huh? And to be clothed in white. Well, how did those clothes get white? He's gonna answer that question a little bit later. But before we answer that question, he deals with what they're carrying. They're carrying palm branches. There's only one other reference to palm branches in the New Testament, and that is in relationship to the Passover. When Jesus enters Jerusalem on the 10th day of Nisan, which is the day that the fathers of every family was to go and find a lamb without blemish and they were to bring that lamb into the city and have that lamb slain as a picture of what was necessary to atone for their guilt and their sin, a sacrificial lamb. On that day, we call it Palm Sunday, is Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Lamb of God, the one the Father had chosen, who was without spot, who would take away the sins of the world. And so those in John chapter, 12, verse 13, that were following Jesus, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began shouting, Hosanna. Does anybody remember what Hosanna means? What does it mean? God save us, save us. We need a savior, amen? And so Jesus is the Lamb of God who comes on the Feast of Savior. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. So they're carrying these palm branches, signifying their victory through Christ. And they're crying out praise and thanksgiving with a loud voice. And keep in mind, this is amazing. What are they crying out about? Salvation, salvation. You know, we can be so thankful when we gather with our families on Thanksgiving for the many blessings that we've had. Maybe, you know, our jobs or our new jobs or are looking for jobs or whatever. It may be the blessings that we have materially, but a believer will always thank God first and foremost for salvation. Now, salvation belongs to the Lord. Jesus is the author of it, and so they're praising God for salvation. They've been delivered from sin and its power, as well as its penalty. And they're delivered from the kingdom of darkness. They're delivered from the vanity and futility of the world system. They're delivered from lies and deception and delusion. How many of you are thankful for that? They are delivered by a mighty savior. They belong to God who sits on the throne. That's good theology. If your God does not sit on the throne, then your God is not the God of the Bible. Our God is in control. And even the demons have to have the permission of God to do anything. He is in control. He is the sovereign Lord. So there are many good things we can thank God for. But what we see in heaven is that there is praise for salvation. Now, the angels do not know that personally. They have not experienced salvation. But you know what's exciting here? The angels join in. They're saying, amen. Don't tell me more, because they know God, and they know God is great, but they don't know the greatness of God in this dimension. So we have the angels and the elders and the four living creatures joining in in this symphonic praise. And here is a fact, there's nothing greater that the Lord has done in your life or will do in your life than what he did in bringing you to salvation. Do I hear an amen? Notice that salvation is ascribed to God. Back in Revelation chapter seven, listen to what they say. Verse 10, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and of the Lamb. You know, when you see your loved ones in heaven, and they come to see you, and they're gonna say, well, how are you? They're not gonna say, well, how's everybody doing? They're all gonna be talking about the Lord. They're gonna be talking, the only thing they're gonna talk about is the Savior. You know, the only thing that you have contributed to your salvation is your sin. God has done the rest. Also, we see they're crying out now, seventhly, we see their company. The angels are joining in, the elders are joining in, and the creatures are joining in, verse 11. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. So we see their posture, they're humbling themselves. They're just amazed as they worship the Lord. Ninthly, we read about their praise. They're praising God because He sits on the throne. He's in control. He's got a perfect plan. They ascribe to the Lord the glory that's due to His name. And they say, blessing. They say, glory. They say, wisdom. They say, thanksgiving. They say, honor. They say, power. They say, might and strength. And all that belongs to him. As I was meditating on this this week, I was asking the Lord forgiveness for things that we have, where we've given glory to things that are lesser. So much time and energy given to honoring things that are not truly honorable. Last night I was listening on the radio and there were people who were talking about, oh this, that's, it was at the Colonial Theater, that's the table that Bob Fosse danced on. And someone said, can I go and worship? And I thought, how sad, how sad. This was the bat that Mickey Mantle used. Oh, oh. And we give honor and praise to all these things that are so, infinitely inferior to the worthiness of our God. Amen? He is worthy. He is worthy of all blessing. The word blessing is eulogia in the Greek. It means to speak well of. And we bless the Lord, all my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name, Psalm 103. Every good and perfect gift comes from our father above in James 117. And so let's thank him. So people will gather on Thanksgiving day, just say, instead of saying, what are you thankful for? Say, who are you thankful to? Let's recover that, shall we? He is worthy of all glory. When Stephen was speaking about God before his persecutors, among them was Saul of Tarsus, who would become converted and become the Apostle Paul, he spoke about God's activity in history and said, he's the God of glory. Acts 7, verse 2. Psalm 29.3, the voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thunders. Jesus himself, he humbled himself when he came, when he was born of a virgin and lived his perfect life for a little while lower than the angels. And because of the suffering of death, he was crowned with glory and honor. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He is worthy of all glory. His glory outshines the sun. It is the light of his glory that will provide the light of heaven. Think of that. He is the one who glorifies the saints. and how this world mistakenly glorifies that which is not worthy and fails to glorify the God of glory. He is to be praised for his wisdom. He's the supreme intelligence of the universe. He's omniscient, possessing all intelligence, and he provides the perfect solution to the human dilemma in sending his son. who is the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1.30, God made him, that is Christ, to be for us our wisdom, our solution, our answer to the human dilemma, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. In James 3.13, who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. James, the half-brother of Jesus, tells it like it is. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic. What kind of wisdom are you tuned into? The wisdom of this world. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder in every evil thing. And you get all these wise people whose marriages are falling apart, whose lives are in disorder, where there's jealousy and competition. And we see this in the political world, didn't we? We have the midterm elections, and everybody's trying to rise above the the name calling and the strategizing. I always say, if you wrestle with a skunk, you end up smelling like one. And on both sides of the aisle, there's plenty of skunk, right? So jealousy, selfish ambition, that's the wisdom of this world. But the wisdom from above is first pure. Don't you love that word? Then peaceable. I can rest in that solution. Gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy. I'll vote for that. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Let's have a real peace. He's worthy of praise for his wisdom. He is worthy of all thanksgiving. He is worthy of all honor. John 5, 23, I always like to quote this because it's so important, because it's so misunderstood and not understood by our culture, because Jesus said, will honor the son even as they honor the father. He who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. Did you get that? He who does not honor the son does not honor the father. So there are some people who say, well, you know, I've got a relationship with God the father. I just don't have a relationship with, I don't believe that Jesus is the son of God. I don't believe he is God. Well, then you don't know the father. and you have no relationship to the Father. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father apart from me. So we see he's worthy of honor. He's the supreme and majestic sovereign creator, the sustainer and ruler of the universe. There's none like him. He's to be honored like no other. He's the paragon of virtue. Gandhi said that concerning Jesus. The perfect truth and perfectly trustworthy. He's to be praised for his power. There is nothing that he cannot do. He's omnipotent. He's the creative and sustaining force upholding the universe. He's moving history towards his destined end. He works all things together and all things for the good of his purposes to those that love him and are called. He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns us. He's our ever-present help in times of need. Jesus said in Matthew 19, 26, with people, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. We praise the Lord for His power. Amen? He is to be praised for His might and His strength. He's there for you. So we have the description of what's in heaven. Then we have the explanation. Who are these people? Where have they come from? Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, these who are clothed in white robes, who are they, and where have they come from? It's a rhetorical question. You really want to know? And John now confesses his ignorance. So he was an apostle with Jesus, and he's been around for a long while. Now he's just saying, you know, I don't know. And he says, my Lord, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Now, sometimes we say, well, I don't think that's the way to get something white clean. I don't think to wash it in blood is going to take out the stain. But this is what is so important to understand about the Bible. The Bible tells us the truth of this mystery. that there is power in the blood of Christ. Power that cannot be found anywhere else. No psychologist, no pill can get rid of the stain of sin in your conscience. Nothing can deal with that veil that separates you from a holy God, the veil of your own record of wrong, but the blood of Christ. And so we have this promise that's given in the Bible concerning the Lamb of God. Now, it starts right at the beginning. The first couple in Genesis chapter three, when they disobeyed God, and you remember, they started to have all the psychological consequences of guilt. They hid themselves. They tried to cover up their guilt with fig leaves, Operation Fig Leaf, which is Operation Self-Defense, you know, and to make your excuses and try to say, it was my problem. She did it, she did it. You know, he did it, she did it. You get that whole kind of thing. They're shifting blame, all those kinds of things that come with guilt. And then God settles the matter. He takes, in Genesis chapter three, verse 21, he takes the skins of a substitute. You remember the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. So there was a provision for them that came from outside themselves. This is very important. psychologically, spiritually. Genesis chapter four, verse three. What did we learn about the son of Adam and Eve? There was Cain and then there was Abel. And Abel, in Genesis four, verse three, brought a sacrifice to God. He was a shepherd and he brought the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering. Cain brought his prize-winning vegetables, and he was not accepted. Abel brought what God asked for. That's the point. What did God ask for? Not our works, but a substitutionary sacrifice, a Lamb of God. So we have the first definitive reference to the Lamb of God in Genesis chapter 4. And then in Exodus chapter 12, The Passover lamb is spoken of. In Exodus 12, you remember the story of the Passover, that at that particular day, every household was to take a lamb. that would be the provision of averting the wrathful judgment that would come upon the firstborns in Egypt and the firstborn, whether they be all the firstborn in Egypt. And so they were to take some of the blood of that lamb and put it on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat. They were not to put it on the floor. That would be to trample on it. Right? Instead, it's to be above you. And it was to cover you from the judgment, the wrathful judgment of God that would come upon the world. In verse 12 of Exodus 12, for I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. And that's why there were the particular plagues. They were specifically dealing with the gods of Egypt. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you or destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. And then in verse 21, then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slay the Passover. It's interesting, the original doesn't say slay the Passover lamb, it says slay the Passover. In other words, this is the Passover, this is the only way to avert judgment and to find forgiveness. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lentil and to the two door posts. You've heard me say it before, they would dip the hyssop in the basin and go like this. Sign of the cross, post and the lintels. For the Lord will pass through to, and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the doorpost, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. Maybe this is what David had in mind when he prayed in Psalm 51, verse seven, purify me with hyssop. and I will be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Isaiah chapter 53 verse seven says, all of us like sheep have gone astray. Jesus became the lamb of God. Each of us has turned to his own way. That's a great description of sin. You doing your own thing, my way instead of God's way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. Who's him? Him is the servant, Jesus, the substitute. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. 700 years before Jesus came, this is the prophecy concerning the Lamb of God. Now, when Jesus comes to be baptized by John the Baptist, John the Baptist says in John 1, verse 29, Jesus is the antitype for all the types. He is the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning the Lamb. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So we're talking about the miracle cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. 1 John 1.7, but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Don't you love it? And because of this, therefore, For this reason, they are before the throne of God. There's no other reason to be before the throne of God apart from the blood of Christ. There's no one, listen to this, no one in heaven, no human being in heaven but for the blood of Jesus. So we've learned what heaven is like and we've learned how to go there by trusting not our own works, admitting our own need. Like a sheep, I've gone astray, I've turned to my own way. And trusting Jesus, who became the substitute. who died the death that I should have died and rose victorious to offer forgiveness and new life to those who trust him. What's the present condition? They serve him day and night in his temple. This is very exciting. You know, when you go to heaven, it's not boring at all. You step right in and immediately you're fully employed. You're engaged. You're doing something. You don't have to wait until every last person comes into heaven for things to get started. It's not like we're all just sort of hanging out and chilling and just waiting for things to get started. Immediately you go to heaven and you're starting. They serve him day and night in his temple and it's some exciting. And what do we learn about the people? They are a forgiven people. Can you say that about yourself today? Secondly, they are made holy for holy service as kings and priests. Thirdly, they are already engaged in service, doing things that you've always wanted to do. God made you, he knows what's in your heart. And he will see to it that that design that he has given, those desires of the heart will be fulfilled. Fourthly, they are in God's presence. This is the temple where they're serving him. One day we read in the renewed heavens and earth, there is no temple because God's presence is everywhere. where there's a circumference to it, a sphere to it, it's still there. So they are in God's presence. And then fifthly, their song is of the purest gospel truth. They're singing about salvation. And that's what we want to do this Thanksgiving. Our present Thanksgiving is a rehearsal for what we're gonna be doing in glory. The things of earth grow strangely dim, don't they? In the light of his glorious grace. Now these promises, we'll see them more in the future, but they're so beautiful. And he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. We've gone from the Feast of Passover now to the Feast of Tabernacles. He will provide for you. That's what it means. He will protect you. He'll protect you from the scorching fire of judgment. You can be sure of it. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore, nor will the sun beat down on them. nor any heat." Isn't it a wonderful thing that when a person puts their trust in Jesus, you are satisfied? Do you have that sense of satisfaction? And yet at the same time, the mystery is, you still want more. But it's not like you need more to be satisfied. You're satisfied with Him, but you still know there's more. It's a mystery, isn't it? And it's like, Jesus said, I am the bread from heaven, in John 6-35. He who comes to me and partakes of me, he will never hunger. Isn't that true? And then in John 4-14, to the woman at the well, he says, he who drinks from me will never thirst again. Do you believe this? So this is what he offers us, his faithful promise. And then we see that the lamb is in the center of the throne. Is he in the center of your life? He will be their shepherd. He will guide them to the springs of the water of life. And God will wipe every tear from their eye. Father, it's been marvelous just to behold this revelation First of all, of who you are as the one who sits on the throne. And we read of your infinite mercy and your compassion and yet your absolute righteousness that demands perfection. A perfection that we do not have. We thank you for the gospel, the good news that the righteousness you demand is offered to us as a free gift through the person of your son. We thank you for him who lived the life that we should have lived and died the death that we deserve to die, that we might be reconciled to you by believing on him. And Lord, we pray that if there's anyone here who doesn't know you, that this day they would call out, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, that they too would be part of this multitude, clothed in a righteousness not their own, cleansed by the blood of Christ, forgiven and made new, Lord, we thank you for your power. We thank you for your strength. Thank you for your unfailing promise. In Jesus name.