Revelation 7:9-17 | The Other Side of the Curtain

As a family, we’ve recently taken to watching some old movies.

Rachel has been driving this endeavor mostly. She insisted that all the kids and I watch the Sound of Music. Which was my first and my hopefully the last viewing of that movie. It just didn’t do much for me.

We also watch the Wizard of Oz the other day. Most of you have seen it. It’s fine as far as movies go. If you haven’t seen it. Spoiler alert. The Wizard is a fraud. He’s all smoke and mirrors, just a man with no real power. He’s not able to give the Lion courage, or the tin man a heart or the scare crow a brain. When they finally make it to the Emerald City, all their hopes are resting on meeting the wizard so that he can help them, but their hopes are dashed when they see the man behind the curtain.

This morning, we are going to follow our hopes as well to the end of the road so to speak in the Bible, the Book of Revelation and we too are going to look behind the curtain, but unlike in the Wizard of Oz, we are going to discover that all our hopes rest on not a fraud but rather they rest on the one true God. We are going to see that He is great, good and powerful and can accomplish more than we could ever ask or imagine!

And here’s why I’m excited to look with you behind this curtain. The Apostle Paul is quoted as saying that we who live here and now see things dimly as in a mirror (1 Cor. 13:12). We don’t have the full picture, what we see is only part of the story. Contrary to modern Western thinking there is more to us and more to life than just the physical, what we can see, taste, touch and smell. Behind the physical, the Bible clearly teaches that there are Spiritual realities that exist as well, that which we can’t touch or taste or smell but which are no less real because of that.

Now the problem that arises from our dim sight is that as we live in this world and read the truths of Scripture sometimes what we experience seems to contradict what God says is true. Sometimes the harsh realities of life have a way of making us question whether or not God is there and if He is, if He is good?

There is no more harsh reality in life that makes us question the truths of scripture perhaps more than suffering and especially the suffering we experience in death of our loved ones.

And so to kick off our series on The Good News About Death, I thought it’d be helpful for us to get a spiritual glimpse behind the curtain to remember those who’ve persevered through the great ordeal or the great tribulation that is life and who are now standing in the the glorious presence of the Lord.

You see, remembering those who’ve gone before us and ahead of us into glory by faith, as we remember their faith and their steadfastness, we will be empowered to press on with hope and faith in the here and now even in the face of death and suffering!

Some of you may be aware of this, others maybe not so much, but as we’ve been working our way through the Church Calendar, and as such I want to point out that a major holiday of sorts was observed by the liturgical Church this past Wednesday. I’m not talking about Halloween. Halloween is Satan’s attempt to glorify death and the demonic on the evening before the Church celebrates the lives of the faithful Saints that have gone before us.

Allhallows or what has become known in modern english, All-Saints Day was celebrated and observed this past Wednesday, on November 1st as it is every year.

And as I’ve mentioned at the outset of our year long endeavor to “enrich tradition” by following the Church calendar and shed some light old traditions. As I said at the beginning of this journey, I did not grow up in a liturgical Church and so all of this is quite new to me. Honestly, until studying for this sermon, I didn’t really even know All-Saints day was a thing. And so to research for this message I did what I often do, I started at gotquestions.org to learn about what this day is.

Essentially it’s a day in the Church Calendar set aside to commemorate the lives of all the saints. This I can get behind. If by saint we mean men and woman of faith you love Jesus. That is, in the most broadly Biblical sense, what a saint is. They are not special people venerated by some religious institution, they are simply believers in Jesus. If you love and trust in Jesus you are a saint. You may be a saint who sometimes sin, but by faith in Christ you are a saint. That is your identity. So to have a day where we specifically take time to remember the men and women of faith who’ve since passed away, and especially remember the saints who’ve passed who were mature in their faith and who’s lives left for us an example of how to love others well and follow Jesus through the trials and tribulations of life. This kind of remembrance is a good and faith building exercise.

Now if that were all this day was and is I’d be fine with it, but the day isn’t just about remembering the Saints so as to be encouraged by their example in life and their witness to the truth and grace of Christ. No, on this day in some Churches, intercession or prayers are made to people they call saints so that they might intercede before God on our behalf.

Church this is not taught in the Bible. The only person we are to pray to is the Triune God, the Father, The Son Jesus Christ and His Spirit because He is the only one who is powerful enough to answer our prayers and He is the only one worthy of our worship. And anyone who doubts the validity of this last statement can go read the book of Hebrews. Jesus is our great High Priest. He alone is our mediator and intercessor before the Father.

Or as Gotquestions summarizes: “While the Bible teaches that the dead in Christ are alive, it nowhere teaches us to ask for their intercession. Rather, it urges Christians to come boldly before the throne of grace (to God) knowing that we have a great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 4:14-16, 7:24-25). We are to depend upon Christ alone for salvation (Acts 4:12) and upon Him alone for grace for Christian living after salvation. The Bible speaks of Christ as being our one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5) https://www.gotquestions.org/All-Saints-Day.html.”

And so, to redeem the good of All-Saints day, we aren’t going to be praying to any other people, even really good and righteous saints who left for us an amazing legacy of maturity in faith, we aren’t going to be praying to any people who’ve died in Christ, but we are going to look behind the curtain this morning to be encouraged by their faith and more specifically the object of their faith who accomplished for them, what we live and hope for in the here and now!

With this in mind, turn with me to Revelation 7 and let’s hear some good news about death, shall we?

As you’re turning there, allow me to set this passage in context as the context of the passage is very very important.

The Disciple and Apostle John, has been exiled to the Island of Patmos after the Romans tried to boil him alive in oil due to his faith in Jesus and his preaching of the gospel. Aparently, the Romans brought him into the Colosseum to boil him alive, but upon dunking him and bring him up out of the boiling oil, he was completely unscathed! And the historian Tertullian writes that the entire audience in attendance was converted to Christianity right there and then! Pretty amazing stuff. Well, the Emperor at the time, Domitian, known for his persecution of Christians was not deterred. If he couldn’t kill John, at least he could be rid of him and he set him to some small island in the middle of no where known as Patmos!

It is here that Jesus pulls back the curtain for John to give him a glimpse of the spiritual realities that exist behind the physical as well as a glimpse into the future.

We don’t have time this morning to unpack all that’s in Revelation, that’s for another sermon series, but I want to pick up in Revelation 6 where John sees what are called seals on scrolls being played out in front of his eyes.

You may have heard of the 4 horseman of the apocalypse.... and if you have Revelation 6 is where these horseman are found.

So I just want to read it with you and comment as we read, with out getting too specific, what I think these verses mean.

Revelation 6 (NIV)

1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.

Again John sees Jesus, the Lamb, pulling back the curtain on the spiritual realities that exist behind the physical ones we see on this here.

Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”

(I believe this is a statement made to Christ, as in Come Lord Jesus for the suffering that these horseman bring is too great and terrible to bare… Come quickly!

2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Have you ever wondered why kings and rulers of this earth are bent on conquest? Why is Vladimir Putin is not content to rule within the boundaries of Russia? Why would he and others desire so badly to expand their empires? To conqueror?

There is a horseman, a demonic Spirit behind this. A spiritual force of darkness giving authority to kings and dictators, enticing them, making them bent on conquest.

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

(again come Jesus, quickly for this suffering is too great!)

4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

Wars and rumors of war. Hamas killing Israelis. Israelis killing Palestinians. Russians and Ukrainians killing one another. North Korea killing it’s own people. Americans and Europeans killing babies through abortion on a scale that is genocidal! People killing one another. A lack of peace on the earth. Why? Spiritual forces of darkness that reign in the heavenly realms. A red horse and rider unleashed on the earth given power to take peace and make people kill each other.

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Here we see the injustice of a world system where the rich get richer. “Do not damage the oil and wine”, the fine luxury goods! Those flow amply to the rich, but for the day laborer. For the rest of us. “Two pounds of wheat cost a day’s wage.” This doesn’t depict famine so much as economic disparity between the rich and the poor that is ever growing. This horseman is one of scarcity who carries with him injustice in his scales. The rich get richer and the poor are left to fight and scrap for what’s left.

Church the Bible doesn’t just tell us what happened. It tells us what always happens! Behind the physical realities of this life exist spiritual realities in the heavenly realms. As Paul said in Ephesians: we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against rules, authorities, powers in this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12).

And what John sees in these heavenly realms, it gets worse, v. 7:

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Sword, War, famine, plague of disease and addiction, natural disasters and death by animal attack. We see all of it everyday on the news and so many shake their fist at God for it, but notice here who is responsible. The horsemen of evil! Bent on stealing, killing and destroying. Bringing conquest, war, economical scarcity and inequality, suffering and death!

Now you might be thinking, Levi, I thought you said you were gonna give us some good news about death. So far you’ve just reminded me of the horrible world we live in! Surely, Christians, surely God’s Church will be spared from all this death and suffering.

Look with me at v. 9

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

Church, here’s the sobering reality. The evil and suffering that exists in this life, the Church, Christians, we are not sheltered from it! In fact, sometimes, our faith puts a target on our back. And here we see behind the curtain, souls of faithful saints who clung to Jesus even as it cost them their lives. Here we see them crying out to God, how long, oh Lord! Oh Long will you let this continue!?

The Bible is a real book. It doesn’t give us a glimpse of utopia or sugar coat things. It tells us how life is and what to expect. It’s true to real life, and with that, sometimes the truth is hard.

V. 12

12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

The sixth seal, depicts an event yet to take place in the future. A great calamity that destroys the world as we know it with such terrible force that all the inhabitants of the earth are left fleeing for their lives and praying for death. They cry out to the mountains and rocks, fall on us.

Why?

To hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath (that is the wrath of the triune God head) has come and who can withstand it? Or as the ESV says, who can stand? Who can stand, before such suffering? Who can stand before such devastation? Who can stand before the wrath of the almighty God?

That’s the question, for us and for John as He sees the terrible realities of the trials and tribulations we experience as we live in this life and the future wrath that will come from the Lord upon the earth. Who can stand?

Alright, now Revelation 7.

Revelation 7 rewinds the scene, before the horseman are released. Imagine a movie rewinding to before John sees all these terrible tribulations. The vision gets rewound so that God can inject hope into what so far has been a hopeless situation.

Revelation 7:1–17 (NIV)

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

Don’t miss this Church. Life is hard. Death is a reality with which we must contend, but the God of Heaven cares! He cares deeply. Before the angles, those wicked horsemen are unleashed upon our world to bring about their suffering and destruction, God commands the heavenlies, just you wait. Hold your horses! Not before I seal my people! Not before I put my sign upon them and mark them as mine. Don’t you lay a hand on my world or my people until they are marked as mine!

You’ve all heard of the mark of the beast. That mark is the counterfeit to God’s seal here. God seals his people by the faith you put in Jesus. The mark in revelation is received by idolatry! Honestly I don’t know if there’s an actually mark or computer chip or whatever. There very well might be, but I know that behind the mark of the beast and the seal of God lies the matter of identity. You can think of it like a team jersey, or perhaps better yet, like a solider’s uniform. Whose team are you on!

I hope this goes without saying but as you’ve seen in Rev. 6, it ain’t gonna go well for you if you resist Christ and faith in Him! Choose Jesus friend and live!

And you might be thinking well I just don’t know if Christ’s sacrifice is for me? Which is where this often misunderstood section of scripture comes in about when John hears the number of those who were sealed.

(show but don’t read) Rev. 7:4-8 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. 5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

144,000 and Church this is a symbolic number representing all the people of God and the list that is given is unlike any other list in scripture when it comes to the heritage of Israel. This list is intentionally different because John is showing us that the sacrifice of Christ is for any and all who would come. Judah is listed first because Jesus came from Judah, and this vision and all of life centers around Jesus! In all things, Jesus is preeminent. Then Reuben. And then quite unexpectedly the sons of concubines are listed next. Gad, Asher, and the Tribe of Naphtali, why? Because the people of God is not about birth order or blood relatives, it’s about redemption for even the outcasts! Then Manasseh, Manasseh was the son of a gentile woman. Even gentiles are to be included in the people of God, as the true sons of Abraham. Levi too is included. If you know your old testament, the Levites had no claim to the promised land, but this list of the people of God, it ain’t about a track of land.. it’s not about the geopolitical pile of dirt known as Israel, this list is about a people made a people not by land wright, DNA, or status, but by faith in the blood of Jesus!

This list is about those who’s robes have been made white not by bleach but by the blood of the Lamb!

9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

Don’t miss this. John heard the number 144,000 (v. 4), but then he looked and saw a great multitude that no one could count! That number he heard the list he heard it’s symbolic! John looked out and saw a horde of people...

They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Notice what these saints are saying. Notice what they are proclaiming and their position. It’s important once we learn who they are… These folks are utterly sold out for Jesus. Salvation belongs to Him the shout! He’s the King! He’s the Lamb that was slain! They fall down in worship before him and shout, Praise, and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever! It’s true… Amen. He’s good! He’s good! He’s good!

Who are these people that are proclaiming these praises? One of the elders ask John this exact question:

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

They are they saints who suffered but persevered! They did not loose heart. They did not loose faith. The did not give up! They pressed on! They stayed true to Jesus by faith! They suffered for it, but they have come out on the other side of the trials of life made white by the blood of the lamb! And because of that faith here’s their reality and here is your and my reality as well, even today this is true for you and me, as true as it is for the Saints who’ve endured to the end who are in Heaven with God now:

15 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 shelter them with his presence. 16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

Here’s the deal Church, Revelation is not a map to the end as much as it’s a promise to those who feel as if they are already at the end, that a new beginning awaits.

John tells us at the beginning of his revelation that he is our partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus (Rev. 1:9). And that Church is what this life is. It’s a trial and a great tribulation, but the Kingdom of God is breaking in and held within Jesus is the patient endurance we need to persevere!

As you suffer, as I suffer, may we take time to remember the faithful saints who’ve gone before, who’ve gone ahead, who’ve long suffered, and ran the race marked out for us well! They did not lose heart and their testimony encourages not to loose heart either!

(Title Slide) You may be hard pressed on every side, but as the saints of Heaven declare, you will not be crushed! You may be perplexed but as the lives of the saints in heaven declare, you need not despair! You may be persecuted but as the lives of the saints in heaven declare you will never be abandoned. You may be struck down and experience death in this life, but again as the saints of heaven declare you will not be destroyed!

Is this life filled with trial and tribulation? Yes. Will you at times feel as though you are wasting away. Yes.

But don’t you loose heart! Lift your eyes Child. Look up! The trials and tribulations of this life are but a light and momentary trouble and they are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, look beyond the curtain and hear the saints of old proclaim ““Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Pray: (closing song give me faith).

For more on Revelation see Voddie Baucham’s Sermon series here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux5AB5woSQw&list=PLjSIFDZIs-qdWnaHSnxjciuvkf8QbWvgC). Voddie’s sermons on Revelation 6-7 were helpful and if you’d like a more in depth look at what we brushed on you can check those out.