Sharing the Gospel

Intro

I have had a few interesting conversations over the years when it comes to evangelism. The gist of them where the idea that if you are not called to be an evangelist then evangelism is not your job, you can leave it to other people. One conversation I had did not end well. But I was trying to convince someone that it is all of our jobs to share the gospel, that we can not just sit on our butts and expect other people to do it. It is something that I knew that I needed to work on as well. I started to wonder if we were facing an epidemic. Christians sitting down on their couches expecting someone else to do the work for them. Lets invite them to church I hear all the time. Though not a bad idea, is it just expecting someone else to do the work for you?

Years ago I had a similar conversation with an older lady. She had a neighbor who was not doing so well, someone I had not met yet. She wanted me to go to this neighbor and talk to them and tell them about Jesus. Sure I said, I can do that, but I want you to go first and let me know How it goes. I will visit them, but only after you do the initial work. Her response was, well you are the pastor, it is your job to do it.

So I have been praying for opportunities to share the gospel, for other people to have opportunities. I have been praying for someone I can build into. Well God led someone into my life the other day who is struggling. Not an easy conversation was had and caused me to realize I need to do more of this, that I really need God’s wisdom. I guess I am called to put my money where my mouth is you could say. I will continue to pray for you guys to have opportunities to share the gospel with people. The good news is God may just answer our prayers for opportunities.

You see why this came to mind is our passage that we are going through this morning. In Revelation 7 we have a bit of a break in the judgments of God, the seven seal judgement. In the midst of it we have the promise of a group of people se aside to be witnesses in a time when people are going to be struggling.

What we are going to see today is that Just because you are not an evangelist does not mean that You are off the hook for sharing the gospel. We are all called to share Jesus with those around us.

The four angels

The timing of this is during the great tribulation. It will start as the tribulation starts and lead up to the second coming of Jesus. Think of this like a dramatic interlude between the 6th and seventh seals which is also repeated in the 7 trumpet judgments. This does not mean that these events occur between the two judgments, but this is something happening during the tribulation. Think of it like an intermission. We start out with Rev 7:1-2

Revelation 7:1–2 CSB

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel rising up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were allowed to harm the earth and the sea,

Kind of like the four points of the compass, the four corners of the earth is a statement used in ancient eastern nations to describe the whole earth. This is generally taken to refer to earthly catastrophes that have befallen the whole earth through the 3 sets of 7 judgments. So then the four angels are destructive agents of God that like a great wind sweep through the whole earth. There are other references to the four winds throughout the bible, all to describe the same general thing that we see here.

There will be a time when the agents of God will be set loose to cleanse it from sin. But this describes a time when the destructive agents of God will be held back for a time. They are not to blow against any tree or earth or the sea. It seems like it will be held back until a certain time, likey when the people of God we read about next are sealed.

The sealed of God

We see the requirement for the agents of God to be unleashed again upon the earth to cleanse it from sin. The sealed of God.

Revelation 7:3 CSB

“Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

You see God never leaves himself without a witness on the earth, no matter how dark it gets there will always be children of God who are given the task of witnessing to the ends of the earth. It is when we get into the who of the sealed that we run into a bit of a snag.

Revelation 7:4 CSB

And I heard the number of the sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:

This is where it gets a little tricky who are the 144000 that are going to be sealed, and more importantly what is their task going to be? There are a few different ways of interpreting who this is going to be. One view says this is in reference to the whole church, and one says that the Israelite are still the chosen people of God, though we are grafted in to the family of God there are promises that distinctly apply to Israel.

The argument for it being in reference to the whole church takes the numbers to be symbolic, the number 12 being a number of completeness. A symbolic way of stressing that the church is the eschatological people of God who have taken up Israel’s inheritance.

The argument for it being the Israelite's takes this a little more literally. You see, there has always been a promise for the Israelite's that there would be a remnant, that they would one day inherate the land promised to them.

Isaiah 10:20–21 CSB

On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.

I believe that this is in reference to a great awakening of Jewish witnesses during the tribulation. This will be a time of great revival. Does it matter if you believe that this is in reference to the church as a whole?

It does not matter either way. At least it is not an essential. Although it is no accident that the idea of the remnant of Israel runs throughout the scriptures. We to are part of God’s family as His children, but there are promises that go farther then just us.

Revelation 7:5–8 CSB

12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 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 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.

This is where people get confused. According to Alan Johnson in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary The OT has no fewer than twenty variant lists of the tribes, and these lists include anywhere from ten to thirteen tribes, though the number 12 is predominant. Maybe it has something to do with the number 12 expressing identity with the elect people of God.

This would make sense. Either way in this case the numbers don't include all the people anyways, just a certain amount of people selected from the people of Israel.

who are the 144K

SO we know who the witnesses are. Or who I believe them to be. A great awakening of Jewish believers who are going to start a great revival amidst the time of the great tribulation. But the question that crossed my mind is why will we need them anyways? If I am right that Christians will be around at the time, then why wont we be doing it.

Well we will be martyred for the name of Jesus, driven underground for His name. But they will be sealed by God to do the work of God. Rev 14:1 tells us that they will be sealed wiht the fathers name on their heads.

Revelation 14:1 CSB

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

Given what we have learned about being sealed by God, a seal only God can break, most people assume these select group of missionaries will not be able to be touched as they go about the world spreading the word of God. The Christians at the time will be kept from the judgements of God but not from the rage of the Antichrist. The sealed Jewish missionaries will kept from harm as they are allowed to go spread the word of God.

Not fair you might say, well just think, those that die during this time will get to see Jesus sooner.

Chapter 14 will tell us more about these witnesses and we will get into it a little later. But what we are told here is that them and thew rest of the Christians are successful in their ministry.

Revelation 7:9 CSB

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

Just imagine this! vast multitudes from every nation on earth that have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Matt 24:14

Matthew 24:14 CSB

This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

This is a prophecy given by Jesus, and it fits the view I have of the second coming of Jesus. Note it does not say when after the nations here of Jesus He will come, just that it is going to happen.

I heard of something that happened at missions conference at Millar this year. At a prayer meeting they had the groups all pray at the same time out loud. To hear that many voices praying out loud to God is a neat experience. I was part of something similar when I was in India with a group of believers. To be a part of different nations all praying to God in different languages knowing we are worshiping the one true God was quite the experience. A bit of s glimpse of this.

Now I believe when this does happen, we will all be speaking the same language, or at least be given supernatural understanding of each others language.

Revelation 7:10–12 CSB

And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! All the angels stood around the throne, and along with the elders and the four living creatures they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

The worship of God of the saints of the tribulation will be something beautiful to behold.

Revelation 7:13–14 CSB

Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 7:15–17 CSB

For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. The one seated on the throne will shelter them: They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any scorching heat. For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

This great hope that we have, we we go through the pain that we do, we we go through the struggles that we do, we we withstand the evil that we do. No longer will we hunger or thirst, no longer will we go through pain for Jesus himself will shelter us. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. If you are His child then this promise is for you.

So What?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is what we are called to share. Jesus came to die for your sin, all the ways that you disobey Him. The sin that seperates us from God, that twists our sense of morality. The thing that causes us to choose wrong, that causes people to choose to do evil. Jesus died so we might have freedom. Not that it will make us perfect but it starts us on the process of becoming perfected. I was telling youth the other day that people said there is no proof of Jesus, that He is a myth. Well maybe it is because you are looking in the wrong places.

The gospel of Jesus needs to be spread

You can stop looking, Turn to Jesus today. Those of you who have turned to Jesus we have a job to do. It is not enough to just invite people to church, that does not get you off the hook. You need to share the gospel with them now.

We read of the set apart witnesses coming out of Israel during the great tribulation to lead people to Jesus. We know there are evangelists and preachers now spreading the gospel but that does not mean that you get to sit on your butt and let them do all the work. Though you may not be called to be an evangelist, evangelism is something that we all as children of God are called to do.

Our Great Hope

What should motivate us is what we work towards. Our great hope, what we are reminded of as we walk through the evil of the world spreading the message of Jesus. This life is but a blink of the eye, pain is only temporary. For the people that refuse to turn to God the pain will be eternal. Our great hope

Revelation 7:17 CSB

For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.