Revelation 7

MPS

Prayer: God, by your spirit give us clarity into your word, clarity into your son, your kingdom and your love. That we might clearly love you and live clearly for you and unto you.

mpt: Who can stand? only the sealed! Stand, You are authenticated (name written in book of life, marriage document signed.) Stand, you are Protected (the wedding ring brings security into the relationship- no longer dating and at risk of falling out of grace, but His forever no matter what). Stand you are identified.

Intro:

who can stand? (6:17)

only the sealed

Who walk in white?

(3:4-5) Sardis. those who remain in Christ

(6:9-11) the souls of those who had been slain (martyred, persecuted, hated, etc) for the word of God and their testimony

(7:9) a multitude standing before his throne

Intro:

wedding illustration

symbols and significance

Rings, white garments, an alter, witnesses, song, dance and vows

why talk about a wedding?

because the connections to this text and our understanding of the scene revealed to us from heaven

Some of the questions that come up to us in this chapter, that I hope to answer along the way:

-Who are the 4 angels?

-what is this wind that will destroy all the earth?

-How is this scene connected to the Scroll with the 7 seals and the 7 trumpets to come?

-What are the 144 thousand- isn’t that a Jehovah’s witness thing?

-What does Israel mean? what role do the Jewish people play in God’s plan in these end times?

I will try to answer these questions. But the real question, the question the text wants us to ask primarily comes from chapter 6:17

Who can stand? (v17)

Who can stand before the throne and the altar of God?

Who can stand under God’s judgement? Who can stand up against God when he sees right through us?

When we finally understand all things and see how foolish, deceived, proud, selfish and wrong we were about so many things, who can stand?

When the good deeds you count on to make you a righteous person aren’t so good next to his perfection. Who can stand?

When after all our yelling and grumbling and complaining against him ends and he final opens his mouth and responds. who can stand?

P1: The Sealed Stand

[READ vv1-3]

-God presses pause on his judgement to protect his people

the angels restrain the coming judgement because there is something God has to do first:

Seal his people

Who can stand?

The Sealed Stand

-What is this seal and who has it?

-the mark of God on the forehead

- Revelation includes a mark (or seal) of God and a “mark of the beast” (or seal of the world)

-not until chapter 13

-Neither are not literally fleshy signs- ie: they are not tattoos, brands, or neuro-links.

- They are symbols of actual markers written on our minds and hearts and hands

first, let’s ask the question: What is the purpose of a seal?

-(think seal as in the old fashioned family crest that was placed upon wax to seal an envelope)

-3 things:

Seals protect- they ensure the envelope is not opened, and the contents stolen or changed. They protect. they secure

Seals Identify- They tell you exactly who the letter or contents belong to. Every family or person had a unique seal. no 2 the same.

Seals authenticate- because no two seals were the same, the seal also functioned as a watermark to authenticate the letter as true and from the hands of the person who claims to have written it

okay, the seal is symbolic imagery. But it points to very specific markers of God’s people:

we are marked by the name of Jesus

We are marked by the Holy Spirit

Jn 6:27 Jesus says that upon himself, God set his seal.

God the Father sent Jesus as his very image and likeness. Jesus is the signet of God, the Mark of God, the image of God.

It is impossible to stand before God without the name of Jesus

He says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”

he is the way, the truth, the Life and the only way to the father is through him

In Ephesians 1:13-14 Paul says the Holy Spirit is our seal

God’s guarantee that we will receive his promises

Like an engagement ring- The HS is a seal the marker that the bride belongs to someone. That ring is a guarantee (authenticates) the woman’s identity belonging to that man, it protects her- her heart can rest assured when he is gone, that he is hers and will be forever.

God the Father identifies his church through Jesus and the Holy Spirit

God the Father protects his church - through Jesus and the Holy Spirit

God the Father authenticates his church through Jesus and the Holy Spirit

P2: God Identifies the Sealed

[vv4-8]

think election

Think regeneration

think book of life

144k

Significance of 12 or 12,000- Nation of priests

The number of tribes of Israel

The number of apostles of Jesus

A representation of human completion

A representation of governmental perfection

The number of months in a year

1000 (a huge number to express multitudes)

English Standard Version Chapter 14

3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

sexual immorality- all types of corruption and idolatry

virginity- stylized to represent the opposite: purity and oneness towards God

No Ephraim, no Dan and Yes, Levi

V4 Heard the number

v9 Saw the masses

[READ vv9-14]

(v9) next scene:

a great multitude that couldn’t be counted

from every tribe,

every nation, etc.

the same group: God’s complete masses of people.

what is God’s purpose for Israel?

How were OT saints saved? The covenant

the complete number of God’s people are identified (144 thousand NOT LITERALLY- God alone knows)

But far more! uncountable masses of people

“descendents more numerous than sands or stars”

every tribe, nation, etc

Think unity and diversity

why we love global missions

Why we want to be a place for everyone to find everything in Jesus

we love God’s kingdom. We love heaven.

Think of hangups: people just like me

my view is the way, we are the truth, our church is the life

global church, redeemed souls from all the globe by the blood of the Lamb

Who can stand?

Every kind of person

who washes their laundry in Jesus

we all have laundry

the only way to be made right with God and to stand before him in love is by receiving the atoning blood of Jesus

being honest with him and letting him do your laundry

name written in book of life

Like a marriage certificate, filed, dated, stamped, processed. in the official records of God’s book.

sealed, authenticated in christ

clothed in White- no doubting who the bride is. Imagine if someone who wasn;t the bride wore a white dress to the wedding?

washed in the blood of the Lamb

oximoron

Who can stand? The Sealed Stand

Who is worthy to walk the isle and approach the altar?

Who is worthy to take their place beside the alter?

who can stand as the vows are spoken, the ring placed upon the finger and authority says, “I pronounce you husband and wife!”

only the bride

Only the woman whom the Father generously gifts to the son

Only she can stand throughout the ceremony

Only the woman who is the center of the son’s love can stand

READ v9

The Sealed Stand

only the lamb, and only the church

only those who are sealed by the covenant of Jesus

[vv9-14]

standing before God, the alter, throne and the son (v9)

Who can stand? But she who is dressed in white (v9)

the moment she walks the isle all eyes are focussed on her, although I love to see the reaction of the groom as he gets emotional seeing the love of his life draw near and take her place next to him.

Who are these clothed in white?

(rhetorical question)

the ones coming out of the great tribulation

washed by the blood of the lamb

Identified in Christ

P3: God protects the sealed

not to mention the obvious protection that God gives us, ensuring no “wind blows” before we are sealed. [vv1-3]

[vv15-17]

Vows

What God does, what his church does.

Life together. The 2 become 1.

God does:

-shelter (v15)

-Be present

-satisfy (v16)

-Lead in love and flourishing

-comfort

Conclusion: The sealed Stand

Luke 12:35-40

Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”