Turn in your Bibles to the last book, the Apocalypse. In Greek, the title is Apocalypsis. In Latin, it's Revelatio. In your book, it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ. You know, one of the great contributions that the Jews made to Western civilization is the understanding that history is linear. There's a direction to history and that it leads to a definite ending, a judgment day. And the Judeo-Christian understanding of history is that it leads to a renewal of the heavens and the earth. And popular culture has picked up on that theme. There are over 250 films that have been made about the end of the world. Francis Ford Coppola's film, Apocalypse Now. I was in the bookstore and I saw Robert Ludlam's novel. He wrote The Bourne Identity. He has a book called The Apocalypse Watch. So many people have borrowed terms from the book of Revelation. We hear meteorologists talking about weather conditions being apocalyptic. We hear about Mideastern tensions that are described as approaching Armageddon. Films have been made, Armageddon, Deep Impact, about the end of the world. But even the film critics recognize that these films betray a serious lack of familiarity with the actual Bible book of Revelation. Usually in the end of these films, the end of the world is averted by human ingenuity and pluck. That is not the way things turn out or play out in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the revelation of the glories of Jesus Christ. And so many of these end of the world scenarios miss the main point. It's about who Jesus is and what he's come to do. He is the savior of the world. He is the head of a new creation. He is the beginning of the creation of God. We've been introduced to those things. Michael Nicholson writes about the impact of the book of Revelation on popular culture. And he says the thing that we forget is that this history that we inhabit is not the only thing revealed in the book of Revelation. The apocalypse will also be the unveiling of true reality, the way things really are, beyond all our illusions, delusions, and denials. We will be made to realize that our vision has been too small and clouded, and that there are infinite heights and boundless horizons to the meaning of our existence, welling up from the infinite depths of God's love. There will be an end to the world as we know it, this world of suffering, disappointment and death, but there will be a new heaven and a new earth after this world has passed away. Everything will be made new. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away and we will live with God. Now let's make a movie about that, shall we? The title of this message is, Who is Able to Stand? We have been learning about the seven seals. Ingmar Bergman has a film that really signaled him as a great director from Denmark. His film was called The Seventh Seal. And The Seven Seals, however, in the Book of Revelations is not about the plague, as his film was about, but it's about the preliminary things that have to happen before the scroll So let's go back there to the scroll. These are the preliminary judgments that must take place prior to the return of Christ. The final judgment and the kingdom of God on earth and the renewed heavens and the earth. So we have been seeing the seals. being taken by the only one who is worthy, that is Jesus Christ. And we saw the first seal was the white horse of the apocalypse, representing the dominion of deception upon the earth, specifically with the Antichrist and his false peace. And we read about that in Revelation 6, verses one to two. And we saw how the seven seals are in the same sequence of events that Jesus describes in what's called the Little Apocalypse, Jesus' discourse on the Mount of Olives before he goes to the cross. He speaks about the deception, that the Antichrist brings to the world, false Christ, false prophets, false peace. Then there was the second seal, which was the red horse of destruction. And we learned about an increase of war and violence. The third seal was the black horse. and the rider upon it, and this spoke of deprivation in the world, famine and economic disparity. Then there was the fourth seal, which was the pale horse of death, and this spoke about the world being affected, one fourth of the world's population by death coming through pestilence. And then there was the fifth seal, where we heard the cry of the martyrs, And as today we are commemorating the persecuted church and we have the materials in your bulletins from Voice of the Martyrs, we realize that even today people are paying with their blood their allegiance to Jesus Christ. And the martyrs cry out for vengeance. And the fifth seal is a reminder that God is withholding that vengeance until his purposes are fulfilled, and that there will be a falling away, and there will be a testing of the church, even during the periods of history where persecution increases. And even today, there's persecution around the world. Now, the sixth seal was one of disaster, the great earthquakes. And this, we said last week, is the beginning of the wrath of God being poured out upon the world. We believe that throughout history, there have been these deceptions, and there have been destructions, and there have been deprivations, and there have been disease and death, and there have been martyrdoms. But this sixth seal particularly marks something that is described as the day of the Lord. This is divine disturbance, and it's for a purpose. Now, the first seals have to do with the first part of the tribulation period, which is called the the beginning of sorrows or the birth pangs. We see this throughout history, but the first three and a half years of the tribulation period, if we go back to the book of Daniel, is one where there are increases of these judgments. but with relative false peace prevailing. But in the middle of the tribulation period, there is the revealing of the Antichrist, the man of sin. And so, The major parts of the 70th week of Daniel, the seven year period has to do with the beginning of sorrows, that's the first part. Then the middle part is the revelation of the man of sin, the abomination of the desolation where the Antichrist will demand worship. And then there will be the period of the poured out wrath of God in the great tribulation. Let's go back now to the sixth seal. We'll read from the book of Revelation going back to the sixth chapter. Verse 12. I looked when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the day of their wrath has come. and who is able to stand. Now we go right to chapter seven, verse one. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun having the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed. From the tribe of Reuben, 12,000. From the tribe of Gad, 12,000. From the tribe of Asher, 12,000. From the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000. From the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000. From the tribe of Simeon, 12,000. From the tribe of Levi, 12,000. From the tribe of Issachar, 12,000. From the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000. From the tribe of Joseph, 12,000. From the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 were sealed. 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 are clothed in the white robes, who are they? And where have they come from? I said to him, my lord, you know. In other words, I don't, but you do. 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 longer, 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. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. We pray that as we humble ourselves before it, that you would Speak to us. Help me to rightly proclaim it. Help us to rightly hear it. And Lord, as we've been singing, our intent and our expectation is that we be changed in the presence of a holy God. That you would work through your word. Illuminate our understanding. I pray that if there are people who do not know you here this morning, that you would have the veil taken away. that the glory of Jesus Christ, this world's only savior, would be made known to them and that they would put their trust in him. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. I need to remind you at the outset, as we study this passage, that there are various approaches to the interpretation of the events that follow in the book of Revelation. Each one of these interpretive approaches start with a presupposition about the timing and the scope of the events that are recorded, and that will affect the way that they interpret this book. Spell them out for you so we can understand better. And maybe you have read books by some of the authors that have different interpretative positions. So these are the various interpretive approaches. There is the preterist. The word preterist comes from the Latin praetere, the past. And they believe that the events described in the Book of Revelation have already taken place. They would also say that what Jesus spoke of in the little apocalypses, Discourse on the Mount of Olives, recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, that it all took place in the years from Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection to the year 70 AD, when Titus of Rome came in and destroyed Jerusalem. So they see all of those events described in the Book of Revelation as having to do with that in the past. So there is no prophecy, really, it's all about the past. Of course, there are those that are full praetorists, and there are people who are partial. And the problem with this, of course, now is that in order for that to be true, for this book, which we are told will bring blessing to the church, it would only be relevant to one generation. And also, the bulk of study shows that this book was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. And even those who put forth this view say that if it can be proved that the Book of Revelation was not written before the year 70 AD, then their theory goes out the window. They believe that the law was fulfilled when the temple was destroyed and God's covenant with Israel ended. That the new heavens and the new earth are a description of the world under a new covenant. And as a Christian is a new creation, so the world under the new covenant is the new earth. So you see how they spiritualize that. Yet the Bible tells us that God's covenant with Israel is everlasting. And so there is a problem with this. The Bible also tells us that there will be a future restoration of Israel in Isaiah 11, verse 12. According to the full preterists, the tribulation, the Antichrist, the abomination of desolation, and Jesus' coming has already taken place. That was a spiritual coming. So you have people like John Bray, James Stewart Russell, who are full preterists. But the Bible itself refutes this. The Apostle Paul talks about those false teachers in the early church, Hymenaeus and Philetus. He says, there are men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. So there were some people who were already saying the resurrection was past, even at the time when Paul is writing his epistles. But there are partial preterists like F.F. Bruce, Hank Hanegraaff, William Barclay, and R.C. Sproul. There is the futurist now. The futurist would say that events take place in the future. And these believe that what's described in the book of Revelation takes place just prior to the second coming of Christ. And usually a literal reading of the book of Revelation will lead to this. Within this group, there are a variety of convictions concerning the timing of the resurrection of the dead in Christ and believers being caught up into the air to meet the Lord. And some have recently attacked those positions. And I think it's important for me to make public some of the problems with what is being said today. So the futurists certainly will, they may differ in terms of the timing of the rapture of the church, there's the pre-tribulational, mid-tribulational, pre-wrath, and post-tribulational raptures, but they all agree that this is something that's going to take place in the future. So this is something that we can look forward to, the blessed hope of Christ's return. But I know particularly my European friends, They've said, well, you know, this idea of a pre-tribulational rapture, it just, that all was initiated in the 19th century, the 1800s by Darby and Schofield and the dispensationalists. I just have to put that out as false news because there is such a bulk of evidence that the, pre-tribulational and the rapture of the church was something that was believed on throughout church history. And even we have written in the early church fathers that there was a belief in the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. For example, Papias, who lived between 60 and 130 AD. Clement of Rome in 98D, writing about this position. The Shepherd of Hermas, 96 A.D. Ignatius of Antioch, 98 A.D. Justin Martyr, 100, he lived from 100 A.D. to 165 A.D. Irenaeus. And then we have the Puritans here in New England. Increase Mather, who lived from 1639 to 1723, he writes about the pre-tribulational rapture. He was a pastor, he was a scholar. He was the first president of Harvard College. He wrote that the saints would be caught up into the air beforehand, thereby escaping the final conflagration. So among those who hold the futurist approach are Walter Kaiser, Steve Lawson, John MacArthur, J. Vernon McGee, Dwight Pentecost, Chuck Missler, John Phillips, Charles Ryrie, Jack Capeford, Ray Steadman, Warren Wiersbe, John Walvert. So quite a number of people hold the futurist approach. So that these events described in the Book of Revelation have to do with the future. Then there is the historicist view. They believe that the book of Revelation describes events that have taken place throughout history. And they are the kind of people who would just sort of see the Antichrist in just about every pope throughout history. And you have lots of people who have that. Well, the Bible tells us there's a spirit of Antichrist is in the world, and there's a deception in the world. But the Bible actually refers to a specific person, the Antichrist. So you have, particularly the Reformers. The Reformers were very good on recovering the doctrine of justification by faith, but they did not know much about ecclesiology, that is the study of the church, nor the eschatology, the study of end times, or last things, as we learned last week. So John Calvin, who wrote about all the books, he did commentaries on every book of the Bible except Revelation. Jonathan Edwards, Adam Clark, Eldon Ladd, John Knox, Isaac Newton, Martin Luther, they all saw that the book of Revelation had to do with history. And so they were always looking to see who is the Antichrist and who is the false prophet. They also believe that the book of Revelation, actually the seven letters of the seven churches, had to do with the church throughout the ages. That the first church mentioned, the church at Ephesus, represented the apostolic age, and Smyrna was the persecution period that went from the early church through 313 AD and on and on and on until Laodicea is described as the liberal churches in the present-day context. Then there is the idealist view. And the idealistic interpretation is that they believe that the events described in the book of Revelation are symbolic and they illustrate spiritual truths, that good would prevail over evil. Readers are encouraged in their present trials to read the book of Revelation and to be encouraged that we will all overcome. Well, that's a pretty safe way to go. However, there are great problems with this view also. There are William Hendrickson, Vadi Balkam, and others who have this view. And so they say that there is no reference to Israel, there's no future for Israel, the covenant with Israel is broken. So it's a... How many are familiar with the idealistic view? Not many here, but it's become very, very popular. And I particularly have an eclectic view, which means that we recognize that there are some truths in all of these people. They have some things that had to do. There's some fulfillments of prophecy that took place in the past, the destruction of Israel, excuse me, the destruction of the temple. Jesus referred specifically to that. So that is past. but there are things in the future. There has been the spirit of antichrist that has been involved in history. There are spiritual principles that we can gain as we read through the book of Revelation. And so we take little bits of each and we just, this is why I encourage you to read through the Bible. The Bible is the best commentary on the Bible. And be aware that every one of us have our own presuppositions that we can easily be mistaken and by reading things into the Bible. But keep on reading the word and let the word wash you and let's focus on the whole story. I need to see that the Bible is made up of 66 books written by 40 different authors over 1,500 years on three continents and three languages, and yet there is one Holy Spirit who's inspired this book to have one meaning. theme, miraculously. It's about the one true God, the triune God, who has rescued us by sending his own son to be the one true mediator, offering the one true sacrifice to bring us into fellowship with the one true eternal life. and that through faith in this true gospel, we can be born again. That's the message. And so we need to be careful that we don't get caught up, because if we do get caught up, we're gonna see things like this. If you drive down the street, and you turn left from Baker Avenue onto Route 62, and you go on eastbound, on Route 2, right as you're turning onto Route 2, within a mile of here, you'll see this poster. It says, are you ready for the rapture? Jesus Christ is coming back, October 28th, 1992. It's now 2018, and this poster has been up for 26 years, and I think the town of Concord can't get the glue out of it. It's still there. It's there. I took this picture yesterday. Yeah, it's there. It's there. It's there, and I noticed it, and it's right there as you turn on there. And I think for this reason, some people shy away from even talking about these things. And so that's why the preterist view and the idealistic view are becoming so popular today. And people are discounting the blessing that's promised. Now, the danger of the preterist view is that if this is written only for the first generation of believers, that the blessing only goes to one believers. And why is it in our Bible? I believe all scripture's inspired, don't you? And if it's all in the, as some people say, if it's all in the future, and I've heard some people say, well, just the first four chapters are relevant. The rest of it is all in the future, has nothing to do with us. I don't believe that's true either. So I think that we can gain from all of this. Now, the reason I bring this up today is because we're coming to a part of scripture where there are different views. We've read about two groups of people, the 144,000 that are on the earth in the tribulation. And then we have an innumerable company of people that are in heaven, worshiping the Lamb of God. The idealists say that these are not two groups of people. This is one group of people. And I'll explain how they get that and why it's important for us to understand. And they have a logic for this. The idealistic people see that the 144,000 described in four to eight is this totally symbolic number. Now remember, the Jehovah Witnesses thought about the 144,000 as being their number. However, there's so many Jehovah Witnesses in the world that they've changed their doctrine here. They said, that can't possibly be us, because there's not room for me. So it's not speaking about the Jehovah Witnesses. But they say it's totally a symbolic number because the number 12 is the number of government. We have the 12 tribes of Israel, and then we have the 12 apostles. 12 times 12 is 144. And then you have 1,000, which represents the rule of Christ overall. And so we have this representing all the redeemed of the Old Testament and the New Testament as being the 144,000, a symbol of those that are faithful witnesses. Their logic is also that in Revelation chapter five, John heard a report about the Lion of Judah and then he turned and he saw the Lamb. And so they'll say, John heard about the 144,000 and then he saw the innumerable hosts worshiping in heaven. and that the lion and the lamb is the same person, Jesus. And so the 144,000 that are on the earth in the tribulation and the innumerable throng in heaven speaks of the same. So that's the way of thinking. However, there's problems. And so I've put a little chart together. We've got what the 144,000 group is described as being, and then the great multitude. It's supposed to go sequence by sequence here. So we have the 144,000 are said to be from Jewish tribes. Which tribe are you from? Do you know? No, you don't. But the word of God says they're from specific Jewish tribes. The great multitude are not from Jewish tribes, they're from all nations, all tribes, all people, all tongues. The 144,000 are described as being upon the earth. The great multitude are seen in heaven. The 144,000 are in the tribulation and the great multitude are taken out from the tribulation. And then we see that the 144,000 are glorifying God on the earth by proclaiming his glories on the earth. and the great multitude are honoring God by proclaiming His glories in heaven. So we see that there's a difference between what the idealist and, excuse me, what the 144,000 are described as being and the great multitude. But what the idealist and the futurist have in common is that they agree, and this is important, they agree that chapter seven answers the question that was brought up in chapter 6, verse 17, who is able to stand before God and be subject to the wrath of the one who sits on the throne and of the Lamb. Well chapter is like a little parenthesis that answers the question, those who are able to withstand the, excuse me, are able to stand before God at the end of the age. And who are they? The answer, it's those who experience the grace of the Lamb. And this is the common theme between both groups. We don't have time to do both groups this morning. We'll just start with 144,000. And next week, when we have our Thanksgiving meal, we'll be talking about that wonderful praise service of the redeemed and the heavenlies. So what we see in the beginning of chapter seven, the apostle John says in verse one, after this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And we're gonna learn about the Jews from the 12 tribes. And then verses 9 to 17, the multitudes from all tribes. So we start with divine provision, the grace that is going to be found in Habakkuk 3.2. Remember I said that so much of the book of Revelation refers back to what is written in the Old Testament scriptures. And I'm back at chapter three, verse two. Lord, I have heard the report about you and I fear. Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known. In wrath, remember mercy. So we have this 70th week of years. And in the midst of this period of wrath, there is mercy. Very often when you think of the tribulation period, you think only of judgment. But do you know that there are going to be many, many, many people who are saved? And both the 144,000 on the earth and the innumerable multitude in heaven testify of salvation during this period of wrath. In wrath, remember mercy. We see also that John saw in this vision heavenly resources. And this applies to us today. You know, the Bible speaks so much about angels. 68 times in the book of Revelation, angels are referred to. The word angel, angelos, means messenger. And it's used in different ways. However, most of the times it speaks of a heavenly being. And so there are angels. We have heavenly resources. We know that angels are appointed to the heirs of salvation in Hebrews chapter one, verse 14. But here we read about four angels. Now, again, in the book of Revelation, there are symbols and signs. We spoke about the symbolic meaning of the number seven, speaking of perfection and completion. The number 12, speaking of God's people and His government among people. Now we speak about the number four, and the number four has to do with the earth. Never in the Bible is there a reference to a flat earth. Again, that's, it's always, when it talks about the four corners of the earth, that's speaking of the four directions. It's speaking of the four points of the compass. The number four, when it talks about four angels, it talks about four angels who are encompassing the whole earth. And just to show that the scriptures speak about the earth being a sphere, it is written in Isaiah 40 verse 22, it is he who sits above the circle of the earth. So there's no flat earth picture in the Bible and there never has been in the history of the church a flat earth people. The fifth angel, is pictured as ascending, having the seal of the living God. And he is going to be instructing and ordering, commanding the sealing of the 144,000. Now the mercy that's provided is through earthly restraint. The command that is given is that the winds be withheld. The winds speak of judgments. We read in the Bible about sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. Here we see that the judgments are going to be withheld until the 144,000 are sealed. specifically in verse one, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. Now, if you just turn to chapter eight. Let's turn over to chapter eight, reading with verse one. You can see what's about to come. So you can see that there's something real that's happening here. This is not just symbolic language. That even though there is the use of symbol and signs in the book of Revelation, there are real events that will take place. Verse one of chapter eight, when the lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer and much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. Remember we've spoken about the prayer life of the church. and it being so important. And we pray as Jesus taught us to pray. We pray and we hallow the name of the Lord and we've been singing about the name of the Lord and we've been honoring the Lord and ascribing greatness to him according to his self-revelation through his name, through his word. But we also pray thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as in heaven. And as we've been praying about that, it's like the bowls are filling with this. And so the kingdom is going to come, but it's not going to come without the seals being broken, judgment being brought upon the earth. But before the judgment can be brought, God is again showing mercy. He's bringing salvation to people in the tribulation period. And he's withholding the winds now until the 144,000 will be sealed. And reading on in verse eight, excuse me, verse four of chapter eight, and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth. And there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them." So this is when the judgment is going to come. The winds are going to blow. the ones that have been withheld for a period of time mercifully so that the 144,000 can be sealed. Here it says, verse seven, the first sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the earth was burned up. There we have just what was said about the angels were given the ability to bring harm to the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died. And a third of the ships were destroyed. So you get a picture going back to chapter seven that these angels are holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth and on the sea. or any tree. These are real things that are prophesied in the scripture. So we have the divine provision. God is going to be working through this period, even as he's working through the tribulations that we have in our own life, to bring salvation. He uses your trials sometimes to wake you up, to show you your need, show you that you can't pull a rabbit out of the hat and find a solution to the problem, that you need to call out to the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So there's mercy being shown in this particular period. through heavenly provisions of the angels and also the earthly restraints so that they can be sealed. Not only do we have divine provision, but we have divine protection. This is what the seals are all about. So, he heard a loud cry. Notice in verse two. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads. Have you noticed how many times in the book of Revelation it talks about a loud voice? It's like the Lord wants us to hear certain things. And we're gonna hear next week about some loud praise, and there's gonna be some loud praise and worship in heaven too. There's a place for soft contemplation and quiet music, but there's gonna be some rather rousing music and praise and shouting in heaven, yeah. Amen, amen. So what does the divine protection look like? Well, there's this loud assurance of mercy. And he cried out with a loud voice of the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads. What's that all about? this command to seal the believers. This is what he heard, secondly, a command to seal the believers. Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. So there's a mark that's being given to these 144,000. Now, we don't know whether it's a visible mark. We know the Lord knows those that are His, and He can see what we can't see. He knows those who belong to Him. But this certainly is going to be a seal that marks these people in the eyes of the Lord. And what is written upon them? His name. That's the name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. We see that this is a mark of possession, a mark of ownership, that these people belong to the Lord. If you turn to Revelation chapter 14, you'll see more about the 144,000, verse one. Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of loud thunder. and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth." So they belong to the Lord, they've been purchased by the Lord. In verse 3, It's also repeated later on in the chapter. We also learn that they were pure. Verse 4. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women. for they have kept themselves chaste. And what we can understand from this is that during this particular period of history, there's going to be such rampant sexual immorality that there is going to be a sense of grieving over it and a desire for a pure lifestyle. And these are the ones who are keeping themselves pure. We're gonna get back to that theme later on. And we learned that they were in pursuit. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. Isn't that a wonderful description of a people? These have been purchased from among men as the first fruits to God and to the lamb. And they were proclaimers too. They were true witnesses in verse five. And no lie was found in their mouth, and they are blameless. I like the fact, too, that they were able to sing a song that no one else could sing. We've already spoken about how believers can sing songs that the angels can't sing. But here, the 144,000 singing something that no one else can sing. And do you have your song, by the way, something that only you can sing? You have your story, don't you? Everybody's got their story. Everybody's got their song of deliverance. So praise God for that. So we see that there's a mark of possession, a mark of purchase, that they were pure, they were in pursuit, and that they were true witnesses, they were proclaiming. It's also a mark of preservation. we're gonna see that this mark separates them from those who are gonna receive another mark, the mark of the Antichrist, the mark of the beast. If you look at Revelation 13, verse 16, and the Antichrist, I'll just give you a little scripture to this. You've got a picture of the Antichrist and the beast and the dragon. Verse five, there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All those who dwell on the earth will worship him. Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear." And going down to verse 16, And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even, excuse me, verse 15, would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all the small and the great and the rich and the poor and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand and on their forehead. And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. We've talked about that, how the economy is going to be dependent upon people being allegiant to the Antichrist. And if people do not have the mark of the beast, they will not be able to buy or sell. So we see it's also a mark of purity, Remember, I talked about these 144,000 not defiling themselves. Well, if you go back to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 9, you see that there is a similarity, and I'm sure that the Holy Spirit wants to bring it to our attention, that in Ezekiel chapter 9, Ezekiel has a vision, and he is told, Again, he hears a loud voice saying, draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand. Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand. And among them was a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been to the threshold of the temple. And he called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. And the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in the midst. So what is characteristic about these 144,000 is that they grieved over the condition of immorality in the world. Same thing in Ezekiel chapter nine, the Lord is saying, go through the midst of the city and put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and groan over the abominations which are being committed in the midst. And I just wanna ask you church, do you sigh and groan over some of the things that are happening in the world today? So even though we're talking about something in the future, you know, the 144,000, there are lessons that apply to us, don't they? Don't we want to be people who follow the Lamb wherever He goes? Don't we want to be people who are faithful and true witnesses? Aren't we sealed with the Spirit? Are we not owned by the Lord? Do we not belong to Him? If you have the Holy Spirit within you, and you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are sealed, and you have this mark of possession, you have this mark of preservation, you have this mark of purity. Then we see there's a mark of proclamation, and they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the one 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. They had a special message to proclaim. And they could proclaim because I believe they were the descendants of the 12 tribes. Didn't God make a promise to Israel? Does God ever fail to keep his promises? Doesn't he promise that all the families of the earth will be blessed through the seed of Abraham? Don't you think these people can sing that song? I think they can. I don't know all of the contents. I don't know the lyrics yet of this song, but I can't wait to hear it. It's a song that only they can sing. And they proclaim the goodness of the Lord. There was no lie found in their mouth. They were true witnesses. They spoke the truth. The book of Revelation is about the truth. It's about reality. It's about getting rid of all your illusions, getting rid of all your false values and seeing what's truly important. And these were people who proclaimed what was truly important. They are blameless. In Revelation 14, seven, and we hear the Lord saying, the angel saying with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and springs of waters. So we see this is not just a command, a mark of proclamation, but it's also a mark of promise. And that's what I want us to see about our own condition. In Ephesians chapter one, verse 13, in him, that is in Christ, you also, that means you and I, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel, notice the order here, the sequence. You hear the message of truth. Someone proclaimed the word. Someone shared Jesus Christ with you. That's how salvation begins. There must be a proclamation of the word. Then the Holy Spirit takes that word and applies it and causes you to have your heart opened and your mind opened and you begin to be tugged. and then you are drawn to the worthiness of the son of God and you see that he died for you and he took your place in judgment so that you could be free from condemnation and wrath and have peace with God and forgiveness of sins and eternal life. You hear the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation and then having also believed, as soon as you believe upon this, something takes place, a regeneration takes place that enables you to be sealed with the spirit. You were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. So just as we see that the 144,000 received a seal, we also receive a seal. Now I want us to go on to the third point today, is that not only do we see in the events that take place in the first part of chapter seven towards the 144,000 having to do with divine provision and divine protection, but we also see divine prerogative. And this is where I have to differ with some of my idealistic interpretation friends that say this has nothing to do with Israel. One thing we do know about this group of people The 144,000? They are a chosen number. A chosen number. God the Holy Spirit chose a number to put here in the Bible. 144,000. But we also know something about Israel, don't we? They are chosen people. The sons of Israel are described here. It talks about 12,000 from this tribe and from that tribe. And it's a different order, too, of tribes. It's interesting that the tribe of Dan is missing. The tribe of Ephraim is missing. What do those two tribes have in common in their history? Idolatry, that's right. In Genesis 49, we know that that is brought up in the blessing that Jacob gives his children. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path that bites the horse's heels so that the rider falls backwards. Every time that the 12 tribes are listed in the Bible, we have 18 different ways they are listed in the Bible. But this one, I think, is very significant. It starts with which tribe? Judah. What do we know about Judah? Judah was never listed first among the 12, except here, because Jesus is the lion from the tribe of Judah. A scepter shall not depart. was the promise given to him. So it's all about Jesus. These are born again believers. This is not God going back to the Old Testament. The people who get saved among the Jews get saved the way we do, through hearing the message of truth and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus as their Christ, their Messiah. So we see they're the chosen people. We know that Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob had their descendants. Jacob's sons were heads of the 12 tribes. In verse 28 of Genesis 49, all these are the 12 tribes of Israel. And this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, everyone with the blessing appropriate to him. And so what this teaches us is that God has not forgotten his promises. This should encourage us. This is why I want us to study all the book of Revelation. There is encouragement for us here. God has not forgot his promises to Israel, and he will not forget his promise to you. In the book of Romans, chapter 11, verses 25 to 27, the apostle Paul says, I do not want you brethren to be ignorant. to be uninformed of this mystery. So that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And we read in Paul's letter to the Romans how it's mercy that the Jews had a hardening of the heart so that the gospel would go to those who were non-Jews. So that we could be grafted in to the promise that was given to Israel. And so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. So that's a real promise, and it will not be forgotten. It will be fulfilled. Secondly, we learn that God is sovereign in salvation. He has chosen who's saved. And this is quite something, 12,000 from each of these tribes. This is not... Random by human choice. You can't explain it apart from God's sovereignty and salvation. He's made his choice and he will bring it to pass. He preserves those people whom he saves. By the way, how is it that you keep on believing? How is it that we love him now even more than we did the day that we came to know him? It's a miracle of God's grace. And that's what we have illustrated throughout the Bible, not just the book of Revelation. How is it that we continue to desire holiness? It's because God, who has saved us, has chosen us, and he will preserve us. The third thing that we learn, well, putting up here, 12,000 each tribe are saved, and he sovereignly leaves a witness even in the worst of times. I think that's an important point, that even in the great tribulation period, He leaves a witness, 144,000, to testify. And we see that they're an innumerable multitude that are converted. The third point here is that God uses means to accomplish his ends. He's going to use witnesses. He wants to save people, but he needs people to speak the gospel. And that's why we are called to be ambassadors of Christ. That's why we are to be faithful to speak of Christ whenever we have an opportunity. He uses his word as an instrument. His word will not return void. That's why I like to get people into the Bible, because they can take the word home with them, and they can read it, and God can speak to them through the word. God uses his word. And then he uses prayer. Why do we pray? Number one, because he told us to. But secondly, he calls us to pray because he has chosen prayer as a means through which he accomplishes things. And I believe in the sovereignty of God, but I also believe that God who is sovereign has a will to accomplish through praying people. And believing that God needs to have witnesses and God needs to have his word and needs to have prayer as part of his way of drawing people to his son does not diminish this belief in his sovereignty. When we pray, God works. And when we pray, it's not even us that start to pray. It's the Holy Spirit that provokes us to pray. Have you ever felt that nudge to pray for somebody? That's the Holy Spirit drawing you to prayer. So even the prayer life that we have begins with God. He burdens your heart about things and he moves you to pray. And you pray and he answers. He moves you to pray, and he burdens your heart to prayer, and then you pray. And the good news is we get to be involved in this, in the action. That's why I encourage you to come to our prayer gatherings. We have a privilege to be in on the action. So no one gets saved, really, unless people witness. The sovereign God, who means to save sinners, chooses to have witnesses, chooses to use his word, and chooses to use prayer to bring people to a knowledge of himself. And then fourthly and finally, God is the safety of his people in the worst imaginable circumstances. God is so aware of the suffering of people on the earth, and he knows what they need. And the beauty is that he has pledged his unfailing provisions His protection, His preservation, all for us. And I just want to ask you, have you put your trust in Christ? Do you have a personal relationship with Him? Can you say that you have the Holy Spirit? Has the Spirit of God opened your heart to see the truth as it is in Christ Jesus? The truth of who He is and what He did for sinners. Have you trusted in Him, His life, His death, His resurrection, His merit, to make you acceptable to God? Have you heard Him call you? Have you been taught of Him? Can you say that I know I've been purchased by the Son of God, and I have learned Him, I've heard Him, I've been taught of Him? And by the assurance given to us in the Word and the Spirit, we can say, I am a child of God, and I can give him praise. If you can say that, can you just raise your hand? I can say that. And if you can't say that, I'm just gonna ask you, would you today put your trust in Jesus for the salvation of your soul, for the forgiveness of your sins, for changing your wicked heart, which you cannot change? Would you cry out to him just in your own words, Lord Jesus, I know I cannot save myself. I put my trust in who you are and what you've done on my behalf. Thank you for dying on the cross and taking the penalty my sins deserve. Come into my life, fill me with your Holy Spirit. I want to be born again. And if that's your heart prayer, he hears you. And if that's your heart cry and you have put your trust in him, you tell someone about it. If you're ashamed to confess him before men, Jesus says he'll be ashamed to confess you before the Father. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, again, we just submit ourselves to you and we submit ourselves to the authority of your word. And we pray that you would use this message to strengthen our faith and give us hope in Jesus name, amen.