Revelation 7, these are the words of God. After these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, 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, the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of those who were sealed. 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed. Of the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Gad, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Asher, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Levi, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Jezef, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 were sealed. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number. of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. All the angels stood round the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne, and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God for ever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where do they come from? And I said to him, Sir, you know. So he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger any more, nor thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Amen. So far, the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. Revelation 7 gives us something of a split screen. This is a technique in television or film where there are two things happening at the same time that have a certain relationship to one another and you put them next to one another as it unfolds so that you can see the significance of each one in relation to the other. And what we have is a split screen of that entire time between the two returns, between the two comings of Christ. One view of earth and one view of heaven. And the view of Earth is that which is waiting for the end of the world. Those angels at the four corners of the four winds who are going to participate in the end of this age, but they are not yet permitted. To do their work and the reason is the same as the reason given in answer in the fifth seal with those who are under the altar crying out how long and The answer being not until the number of your brothers and then and the number of those who are going to be martyred who are gonna die for Be killed as your as you were, so is completed. So that is what the end is waiting for. As Peter says, God is not slow as some count slowness, but with him a thousand days is a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day, because he doesn't want any of his elect to perish. He is bringing all of them to the knowledge of the truth, and that's what determines the second coming of Christ. It's actually what we have seen throughout Scripture determines everything. God does everything out of his love for the saints whom he is saving and his plan. to save them. So that's what's keeping this world from being destroyed, is that God is still saving, is still, in this case, sealing. Now, we know that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a seal, and Ephesians 4 verse 30 is significant that that is the seal there because in Ephesians, one of the things that is key from chapter 2 is that God has torn down the dividing wall between the Jews and the Gentiles that God's Israel now his church in the earth is made up of people from all the nations and so just like in Exodus chapter 12 if someone wanted to If a Gentile wanted to participate in the Passover, he would have to be incorporated into one of the tribes of Israel there now You don't have to be incorporated into one of the tribes per se but you are grafted into the tree if you're a Gentile who believes in Jesus Christ. So the seal is especially the Holy Spirit. And this fifth angel, the angel that says, wait until I've done the sealing, may actually be a Christophany, another appearance of the Lord Jesus. We know that throughout the Old Testament, almost all, if not all, indeed, of the appearances of the angel of the Lord are actually appearances of the Lord Jesus, our great prophet, the messenger of God, the Word. And so this fifth angel may be a Christophany, or he just may be an angel that is being employed by God somehow in the spread of the gospel by which the Holy Spirit does come down upon people. And again, the fact that they are sealed upon their foreheads is reminder of the way in which the scripture describes Jesus baptizing us with the Holy Spirit by means of pouring out. So, this sealing is done upon the foreheads of those who receive him. And this is one of our great comforts, that we have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, that If we are striving against our flesh, that this comes only from the Holy Spirit. If we know God as our Father and our hearts call Him Abba, that this is one of the indicators that we have the Spirit of Christ sent into our hearts. Like Galatians chapter four says, incidentally, Galatians again, describing not circumcision or uncircumcision, but faith working in love, that which is the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit as that which particularly marks a believer. And at the end of Galatians, the blessing that is given is upon, quote-unquote, the Israel of God. which is over against those who are Judaizers, against whom much of that letter, much of that book, Galatians has argued. So, these 12 tribes and this 12,000 is an exact number in the first half of Revelation 7, but it doesn't refer to the exact number of those who are saved. It is reminding us that there is a very specific exact number of the elect. As 2 Timothy 2 verse 19 says, the Lord knows who are his. Known to the Lord are his works from all eternity, says another scripture, and the Lord knows whom he is saving. That's the number that must be completed from chapter 6 and verse 11, and the answer to the souls under the altar in the fifth seal. And so the idea is that there is an exact number. And the reason it's 12 times 12 times 1,000 here is because 12 is a number identifying particularly the church and particularly the visible church. It was God in his providence who gave exactly the 12 tribes to Jacob. It was God the Son in his humanity who picked exactly 12 apostles. And so, it's God himself who has given the number 12 as an indicator of his church. And so, you have a 12-ish 12, a a emphasis, almost a Hebraic. We've mentioned many times that in Hebrew, when they want to say something extremely or intensely or whatever, they use the same verb twice in a row in two different conjugations to double the verb. And so a 12 is 12. And then thousand being ten times ten times ten is another form of completion and so the whole point of this 144,000 is that God has his elect whom he gathers into his invisible whom he gathers into his visible church and And that's what we saw, isn't it, in the parable of the wheat and the tares. Not everyone in the church were wheat, but the wheat could only be found in the church. He hides the treasure in the field and buys the field. The field is the church. The elect are his treasure in the church. the net catches all of the good fish that he wants. Now, there are other fish who are in the net. The net is the church, but the good fish are the elect. And so there's this gathering into the visible church and bringing to genuine saving faith in Christ of his elect that is still taking place. So, that's what's going on on one side. And on that side, where the four angels are waiting to end the earth and sea and trees and all those things, Remember, it's the age of seals two, three, and four. It's the age of war being made. It's the age of things like famines, and shortages, and inflation, and hunger, and persecution, and earthquake. It's the age of all those things, but it's also the age of the first seal. the age in which the gospel goes out, as it were, on the white horse, conquering and to conquer. And the gospel must certainly go to everyone whom the Lord has determined to save." And so, there's this, yes, tribulation, all these troubles that fill this age between Christ's two comings, but it is ultimately an age of confidence and an age of accomplishment as the gospel goes and gets and saves everyone for whom Christ came, everyone for whom Christ died. And so that's on the one side of the split screen, and it gives us great confidence and hope. The Lord, very specifically for every individual elect person, is doing everything in order to, everything he does in history, in order to save them, in order to gather them into his church, in order to gather them to himself, and he seals them with his Holy Spirit. And so whether you're talking about participating in your own salvation, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling and pursuing holiness, those kinds of things, or participating in God saving others in evangelism, which a big part of the work of evangelism is Christian parenting, is a great work of evangelism and discipleship, and then evangelizing others. ministering the gospel, telling the truth about Jesus. You are participating in a work that must succeed. You are participating in a work that is so important that it is literally the reason that this world has not yet ended. And so what an encouraging side of the split screen, even in the picture of how things are on earth. But the other side of the split screen is even more encouraging. because it's a picture of how things are in heaven. And we know that this is also the time between the two comings of Christ. It's the same throne room scene that we saw already in chapter four and chapter five, particular with the four living creatures and the 24 elders, the angels, and now we have this multitude. It's the multitude that is being gathered out of the tribulation, but now it's presented as one which is so great that no one could number it. And this doesn't mean that there isn't an exact number. Of course, there's an exact number. And even more, of course, God knows what the exact number is. It's not like there's an actually indeterminate multitude so that there might be some question as to how many there are. It's just so great that it's beyond our counting. And so, the emphasis in the first multitude, the multitude on earth, was exactness and specificity. And the emphasis in the second multitude, the multitude in heaven, is how very many there are. And this, of course, helps us with one of the great questions that the disciples once asked Jesus in Luke 13. Verse 23, they asked him if there were just few who are going to be saved because the varying responses that they were getting to the gospel during Jesus's earthly ministry seemed to indicate that the proportion of those who responded in saving faith was not going to be that many. And so, they asked, are there few who are going to be saved? And he answers that narrow is the gate and hard is the way. So on one hand, the answer is, yeah, comparatively few are going to be saved, but it's just comparatively few, because by the time he's done answering their question in the next six or seven verses there in Luke 13, he's talking about people coming from east and south and north and west and sitting down with Abraham at the kingdom, and there's this great multitude. So although there are comparatively few in this age, and the emphasis is not on how few they are, but how exact the number is in the first half, and yet, as we are gathered out of this world to the Lord in glory, a multitude accumulates in glory that is so great that no one can number them. And so, you have this massive number and not only are they identified with those who are singing praises in chapter 4 and chapter 5, and you remember the praise in chapter 4, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come, and then you are worthy Lord to receive glory and honor and power, you created all things and by your will they existed and are created, and then they're praising especially the Lamb and Him who sits on the throne, but especially the Lamb in chapter five. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing, blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. And it's the same group doing the same stuff in chapter seven. Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God. forever and ever. And they didn't bracket it out in poetry, so I missed verse 10. But going back to verse 10, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And so this innumerable multitude, what do they have that we saw the martyrs in the fifth seal had? They have the white robes. And so this is that resting for a while that those who are given the white robes are given to do. They rest by rejoicing. They rest by praise. They have their resting in the worship of God. Does that sound like anything else? Is that not what we do on the seventh day, which is now the first day of the week, is the one day in seven? But is that not what we do on our day of rest? Is it not set apart for the worship of God? And especially now that the Lord Jesus has come and has been slain for our sins, is that not what the Lord's day is for? To worship Him who sits upon the throne and the Lamb and to proclaim His salvation and to rejoice in Him And so, that which we get to do, that which we join in a small way every Lord's Day, and you remember that, I hope, from Hebrews chapter 12, this assembly here is the assembly that in Hebrews chapter 12 is called Zion when it says, you have come to Zion. and you have the holy angels gathered for feast, and you have the souls of the just made perfect, who are the souls that come to life and reign with God for a thousand years. Again, a number of completenesses will get to them, or the souls that are under the altar. that we just heard about in the fifth seal last chapter. So, Hebrews chapter 12 talks about the souls of the just made perfect. So, you have the angels and the souls of the just made perfect and God our Father and Christ our mediator whose blood speaks better than the blood of Abel. And so, we only get to do it one day a week. We only have one day a week of rest, but when we depart from this world, we enter our rest and all of our mixed up priorities and all of our inhibitions where we don't desire the praise of God or find it as enjoyable or Have as much resting in him or rejoicing in him as we ought all of that will have been corrected and we will both desire to enjoy him as work in worship like we should and be granted to enjoy him in worship forever. Well, continually, yes, forever, because we'll also be doing it in the new heavens and the new earth, but continually until the return. And John gets to see this amazing, glorious scene, but the ones in the white robes, they didn't start out in that scene. And so this elder, I guess, takes a break, takes an aside from participating in verse 13, because he wants to make that point to John. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes? Where did they come from? John gets that the elder isn't asking him because the elder wants to know, that it's a rhetorical question, a teaching technique. And so, John says, sir, you know. And he answers, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. So, he's pointing out didn't get to start here in the perfect blessedness on this side of the split screen. They started on the other side of the split screen. They started on the earth. They started in the tribulation of Seals 2, 3, and 4. They started in a tribulation during which the gospel was going forth assuredly and making sure that every single one whom God has elected and for whom he has sent Christ and for whom Christ has died will certainly receive that salvation and will certainly receive the Holy Spirit who seals them unto the day of redemption and are identified as belonging to God. And he points out their tribulation is over. Their tribulation is over because Psalm 23 doesn't end at the grave. Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want to eat. Makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Says they neither hunger or thirst anymore. They shall not want. The sun shall not strike them or any heat. You know, Psalm 121 blessings. For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. He leads me beside living fountains of water now. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Surely steadfast love and faithfulness, covenant love and faithfulness, will persecute me, will be hot on my heels all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever. Well, Psalm 123, Yahweh is my shepherd. Whom does that turn out to be in verse 17? For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. Yes, our God sits on the throne and the lamb verse 10 But it is the lamb especially who is identified here as the shepherd who is Yahweh the lamb is Yahweh in his human nature, his God, the Son, and his human nature, who is the Lord. And so, that also is a great comfort to us, not just the certainty of the specificity of God's saving work in this age, which we get from the first half of the chapter, but the greatness in quantity, in intensity, in excellence of the praise and the fellowship and the provision and the rest and the rejoicing in the second half of the chapter in that split screen. and that it is precisely those who had begun in the troubled world and were redeemed and sealed who upon their death come and join the other side of the split screen and enjoy the greatness of that blessing so that we may be encouraged not just by the certainty that we shall be saved, but by the greatness of that into which we are being saved. And then, of course, when we get to chapter 12 and we read about those against whom the dragon rages as Satan attempts to destroy Christians, he can't, because they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. and they love not their lives even unto death, and when they die, that blood by which they overcame will have washed their robes perfectly and completely white, and they will enjoy that praise, that worship, they will enjoy their God and their Redeemer, the Lamb, in this way, in that assembly, until the end of this age, and then perfectly so forever, in a new heavens and a new earth. And so how marvelously encouraging Before we get to the seventh seal, and the seventh seal gives way to seven trumpets, and the last trumpet especially announcing the arrival of the last day, and the seven bowls, and the pouring out of the wrath of God. The Holy Spirit grants to us to have John between the sixth seal and the seventh seal. He gives us this split screen that we may be so encouraged by the certainty of God's saving work and the supremacy of what He is bringing us into by that saving work. Amen, let's pray. Lord, encourage us, we pray, by this certainty and this supremacy and grant that it would not just be, oh, I understand Revelation chapter seven now. but that your spirit would really drive home to our hearts the comfort that we should be taking from the fact that we have been sealed unto glory and our salvation is sure and the greatness of the multitude and the greatness of the worship and the greatness of the fellowship of being shepherded by the lamb. Give us to have great comfort and joy from this we ask as we live through this world so that we too will overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony, and love not our lives, even unto death. Grant it, we ask, in the name of the Lamb, even Jesus. Amen.