The World’s Greatest Revival

When you hear the word “REVIVAL” what do you think of?

Maybe the great REVIVALS in history:

Acts 2 Jerusalem…when the HS moved and thousands of people gave their life to Jesus Christ.

Europe…great Reformation.…or the Welsh revival…Great Awakening…in 1700’s America…Revivals in cities…led by D.L. Moody and Jeremiah Lamphier. Jesus movement...China & Iran

But ALL of these revivals will pale in comparison to the revival that is coming to planet earth.

The greatest REVIVAL is yet to come…it will be a world wide response to the Gospel.

It will sweep through the earth in a very short period of time.

Producing a vast multitude of saved people from every people, tribe, nation & language on earth.

One commentary: “It will be the greatest movement of God’s saving power the world has ever seen.”

When the world is hit the hardest…some of the greatest activity in terms of salvation will happen.

I want you to see Revelation 7… 3 Amazing Facts about the Coming Tribulation period.  

There will be GOOD NEWS…in the Midst of BAD NEWS…

GOD will PROTECT…His Covenant People…

There will be GREAT MULTITUDES…who will Experience Great Salvation….

This is important for us to know about…because some of you have very real concerns for your family.

If the church goes up in the rapture…what about relatives? husband/wife/children/friends who have not responded?

Does that mean that the door of opportunity is closed for the people living during that time?

And the answer is an absolutely NO!  

God’s Spirit will still be moving on earth. Consider:

FACT #1 There will be GOOD NEWS in the Midst of BAD NEWS… Revelation 6:17-7:3

Begin with: Revelation 6:17 “…for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Do you see the question? Who can stand during the Lamb’s wrath? It’s answered in Revelation 7.

Revelation 7 introduces us to 2 groups able to stand during the tribulation period, the wrath of God.

Note: the PATTERN in Revelation…it can be hard to read because of judgments on top of another. 

The way it is written…you have chapters full of bad stuff…bad stuff…bad stuff. 

Then…an INTERLUDE chapter…a PAUSE…so the reader can take a breath.

Revelation 6 is full of bad news…in Revelation 7 we get a PAUSE/INTERLUDE.

Then in Revelation 8 more bad stuff…Then a couple chapters later a pause…and so on through the entire book…

Revelation 7 is the first pause…first interlude. 

And so to answer the question…Who is able to stand? We are introduced to 2 groups of people.

Remember the 5th SEAL is opened…and it’s all about martyrs…those killed because…of the Word of God and for their witness…” People who BELIEVE in JESUS Christ during that tribulation period…

So from reading this…we KNOW: People are getting SAVED during the tribulation!!

This is the first CUE of GOOD News in the midst of BAD News.

Consider how bad things really are…you know by now…that the Great Tribulation is really really bad.

Jesus Himself said…it will be the worst time ever!

Jeremiah, Isaiah & Daniel said it will be the worst time ever.

The first 4 seals of the scroll opened…one comes CONQUERING…probably by deceit…then WAR breaks out…then FAMINE and DEATH…1/4 of the population is decimated. That’s really really bad.

You may be wondering could it get any worse? I mean that’s bad…how bad could it be? 

Jesus said…that’s just the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:8)

It can get really bad…in fact, after the 7 Seals come 7 Trumpet judgments…let me summarize:

Revelation 8…hail & fire & blood fall from the sky…falling in the water sources of the earth including the rivers and springs, 1/3 of earth burned up…water becomes bitter.

Revelation 9 things get even worse…the bottomless pit is opened Hell belches out its demons in the form of ugly designer locusts that torment people on the earth for several months…

Revelation 16 Then after all of this there are 7 Bowls judgments poured out on the earth…malignant sores, poisoned water sources…sun scorches people on the earth…hail out of heaven…not like Burford hail…we are talking huge hailstones

So all together (smoke, fire, heat, lightening, darkness, beasts, falling stars open bottomless pit, the devil and his demons are extremely active.). It is really BAD…one bad thing after another.

When you read of all these Judgments happening on earth…know that…

God in His justice…is showing He is supreme over all nature and over all nations.

Satan will take advantage of the pandemonium the confusion on the earth.

The tribulation will be a time of SPIRITUAL AWAKENING.

This is at the heart of God…It is not God’s heart to judge and to kill…It is God’s heart to save.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

BTW…this is what God does…His merciful heart reaches to people even in the worst of times esp. in the worst time of their life. That’s His mercy…that is His long suffering.

1 Timothy 2:4… “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

You may ask:

How will it be possible for people to be saved in the tribulation if the church is taken up before the tribulation?  \

Who will reach them?

That’s a great question and I am glad you asked.

Because they will be able to hear the Gospel from a few different sources…need to look ahead:

i. 2 WITNESSES…who will be introduced in Revelation 11:3-13

We don’t know who they will be…their identity is unimportant.

What we need to know is that 2 witnesses in Jerusalem…have a message to proclaim…and miracles.  

People are saved because of their testimony. 

ii. 144,000 JEWISH EVANGELISTS…will be unleashed on the earth…

iii. ANGEL…flying overhead preaching the Gospel to those on earth…Revelation 14:6-7 

God’s salvation will be on display at the most unexpected time in all of world history!!

There is going to be good news in the midst of bad news…this is FACT #1

FACT #2 God WiIl PROTECT His Covenant People…Revelation 7:1-8

Revelation 7:1 ESV

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.

v.1 The next stage of God’s wrath is restrained…around the entire earth. Then we are told why… 

v.2  An angel appears holding God’s seal…the stamp indicating authority, ownership & security.

Kings would use their ring in a blob of wax to indicate their authority, ownership and security.

This is God’s seal…a declaration of His ownership & security.  God’s way of saying: “He is mine!”

btw: OT & NT tell us Israel will repent & turn back to God. See: Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25-27

Revelation 7:5-8 12 tribes are mentioned…beginning with Judah ending with the tribe of Benjamin 

12,000 sealed out of each of the 12 tribes.

BTW…Many have claimed to be this group (J.W.’s, World Wide Church of God)

So who are the 144,000? No need to guess…Jews (Israel) tribes listed in case you missed it.

Why? The Jews have always had a special place in God’s prophetic plan…(Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

Through out OT God made covenants with the Jewish nation…making them His people.

Almost every author of the Bible is Jewish…

Apostles were Jewish…

Jesus was Jewish…

The first church in Jerusalem was a Jewish congregation…

The prophetic calendar given to Daniel the prophet is all about Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. (See: Romans 9:1-5)

Many commentaries say that…the tribulation in part…is to prepare Israel to RECEIVE its Messiah. 

That’s why it is called the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble (Jeremiah 30).

They did not receive Him the first time He came…they don’t receive Him today…

But that will end one day…and many will be saved and sealed!!  This is great news!!!

v.4…we are told 144,000 will be saved and sealed…it says they were sealed. Why sealed?

Remember a seal was a blob of wax…an impression was made in that wax with a signet ring…

The seal meant two things…ownership and protection…

God is saying…I own it…there’s my ring my sign, my signature and I will protect it. God promises to protect it.

BTW…we too have been sealed…with the HS of promise till the day of redemption. Ephesians 1:13

But these are saved Jewish people. How do we know? Because we see them again in Revelation 14

They have survived the tribulation…protected by God…and they show up with Jesus on Mt. Zion.

This is what it says of them…Revelation 14:4

they are redeemed from the earth and they follow the Lamb wherever He goes they are redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God.

So if the Bible says they are Jewish and redeemed…I believe they are Jewish and redeemed.

Sealed…like their ancestors were sealed when they left Egypt…they put the blood of the lamb on the lintel & door posts…the blood was the seal…they were to be passed over…a sign of God’s protection 

And so just like that…144,000 are sealed and protected by God during the tribulation period.

What is their purpose?

What’s is God doing with these 144,000 Jewish people?

Why? It is believed that they will become evangelists during the great tribulation period. Rev. 14:4

Have you ever seen a born again Jewish person? Ever talk to one? A force to be reckoned with.

Jewish messianic Jew! somebody who was raised Jewish who comes to believe in Jesus as the Messiah…look out!

The first century heard the Gospel around the known world because of 12 Jewish apostles…they turned the world upside down…imagine what 144,000 will do!!

And they will be out in force..they will come to faith in Christ and they are the first fruits it says of the Jewish nation that will be saved during that time. So FACT #2 God protects His Covenant People…

FACT #3 There will be Great Multitudes who will Experience Great Salvation…

This is so encouraging! There will be great multitudes that experience the great salvation!

Not just the 144,000 Jewish Christians…

Look at Revelation 7:9ff

It is a great multitude…you can’t count them…from all nations, tribes, peoples and languages!!!

They are a saved people…and

They are a praising people!!! Look at the song they are singing!!

There’s a lot to notice here…but just a few things:

They are STANDING…not sitting.

This group is not the church…

Because the 24 elders are seated in heaven John knew who they were…represented the church as we have seen in our previous studies together.

v.13 An elder says Who are they? John says: “Sir, you know.” They are the ones who are washed with blood.

In other words…they are the saved people from out of the tribulation!!

Every possible ethnicity…every culture…descent…race and every language!

Wearing white robes…this describes the honour God gives to them…spirituality

Rev. 6 The group of martyrs wearing the same white robes…so as the tribulation wears on…all those judgments all that persecution from anti christ the # of martyrs just rise and rise and rise and rise

Waving palm branches…in the celebratory feasts of Israel expecially the feast of Tabernacles…they wave palm branches all around. symbolizing their worship…they joy

v.15-17 is the best part…

God will wipe away every tear…they are not going to hunger anymore. 

They are not going to thirst anymore. The sun set going to scorch them anymore

What does that mean?  Why is that significant?

It means that during the tribulations …they hungered, thirsted…in other passages we are told that believers wont be able to buy or sell anything unless you take the mark of the beast…they have refused to do that. They will have starved because of it…they are not going thirst anymore…the sources of water on the earth have been polluted by the judgements of God Thats’s over. And it says they won’t be scorched anymore…

The sun Revelation 16 will scorch people on the earth in an unprecedented manner

But God will wipe away every tear

What a great promise that is!! God’s handkerchief is the only one that wipe away every tear. 

You can wipe away someone else’s tears…but another tear will replace it very quickly.

Story…an elderly couple…had been married for years, wife now on her deathbed. Her husband was sitting at the edge of her bed holding her hands…they both knew that she only had a short time before she would die…she was in and out of consciousness and she woke up at one point and knew it was just moments away before she take her last breath. She looked over at there husband…their eyes met, and a tear rolled down her cheek…her husband gently wiped it way with his handkerchief and said to her with a smile: “Thank God Mary…that’s the last one.” And then she went on to glory. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Can’t wait!

This is a world wide revival a multitude so big no one can count them…from every place on earth, every language every background…saved…singing songs of praise

How do they get saved? 

The testimony of the two witnesses…

The testimony of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists…

The testimony of the angel flying overhead…

Then an innumerable multitude of people from the world over will be saved!

Remember Jesus even said: Matthew 24:14 The Gospel will be preached around the world to all nations and then the end will come.

Imagine…the tribulation period…in the midst of mayhem, famine, death and persecution the gospel will have a world wide audience and impact. The Gospel; will be proclaimed, then the end will come. 

WRAP UP…When the world is experiencing its greatest mess…God will still be preaching the greatest message. 

The greatest message will be proclaimed into the greatest mess the world will ever know. I love that!!

God loves your mess. He has a message for you to change that mess into something different

I want you to think of your life…

What is your life like? You might say…it’s good and its bad… best of times it was the worst of times.

It’s good…it’s bad…there’s some good and some bad stuff…

Maybe you’re facing challenges conflicts struggles, I want you to hand that over to God this morning…I don’t want you to walk out those doors with that burden your shoulders…give it to Him.

Some of you may think: “God is tired of hearing from me.” I’ve done this, He’s heard my voice and my pleas so many times…He sees me coming.” He goes “Oh its you again.”

It’s like the 3 year old who sings  “We exhaust The” We exhaust Thee O Lord” Let me tell you: you cannot exhaust God.

He never gets tired of hearing the burden that you have. 

If I have learned anything from Revelation 7…it is that even in the worst of times God can make it the best of times.

He can do that today for you. Turn your burden over to Him…let Him carry that burden.

Oh I am going through a time of tribulation…let it be the best season of your life. 

Watch what He can do with it.

Like the little boy walked into a pet store looking for a puppy.

His dad said: You can have anyone you want.

And the boy saw a little puppy wagging his tail …and he said I want that one with a happy ending.”

Isn’t that what we all want?

Don’t we want life with the happy ending? We love happy endings?

Well, there’s a happy ending. The book will get incredibly awesome, the good of Revelation.

But there is this, the tribulation. There are the judgements of God, the activity of Satan.

But it will also be a great time of great revival and great salvation for a great number of people.

Here’s the deal:

This is going to happen…I don’t know when…but I know it will happen in the future. 

We are waiting for the Lord to come back…it could happen. I believe at any moment…it might not.

But we are not living in the great tribulation right now. I know things are bad out there. 

But life is pretty good on the earth compared to what’s coming.

Right now…today is the day of salvation…right now is the day of grace.

It is the age of opportunity for anyone…at any time to say yes to Jesus.

You’re probably not going to  be killed for your faith tomorrow walking through Burford…So life is pretty good right now.

And you have an opportunity now today to say yes to Jesus Christ…before that age of grace finally closes…and it will close one day.

Why would you ever want to wait? When God says I will forgive you right now!

God says “I will forgive you of your past. Today, you can have the certainty of heaven.” 

This is your opportunity today.

Dear Father…we pray…and that’s what we can do…we can preach and we can pray and we can hope and we can watch you move. And so I pray for those who may be gathered here today who haven’t said yes to Jesus personally. They may be long time church goers…they may have a belief and understanding of spiritual things…but they are not walking with you Jesus. Others have wandered from You and they need to come back home.  Would you Father through Your Holy Spirit in their life convince them? Would you do the work of conviction Holy Spirit? Draw those who need to come to your salvation to come.

Lord, I give you my life. I know I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sin. I believe Jesus came to this earth that He shed His blood for my sin…and that He rose from the grave. I believe that. And I turn from my sin. I repent of it. I leave it behind and I turn to to Jesus as my Saviour my Messiah, my Master…Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to live for Him and His name. I pray Amen.