The Leading of the Lord
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bibles, we are going to start in Revelation 7:1-4
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. 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: “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.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
As we come to Chapter 7 of Revelation, we find ourselves in one of the most debated areas of the Bible among Theologions. one thing I was contemplating this morning is why we debate so much is that we want rationalize the easier things. We want them to mean something that they dont. The Word of God is convicting and Jesus is the ony way to salvation. So we look towards other reasonings for things instead of taking God at His word. ESpecially the who the 144,000. Before we get to that part we need to understand the positioning of Chapter 7 within the timeline of Revelation. If you remember from the first sermon on Revelation, the book is a chronological book of things that are to come to pass. However Chapter 7 is a pause in advancing the timeline. Chapter 7 is a pause in that timeline. This is another scene from Heaven as we will see as we progress further.
What Chapter 7 does do however is show that even in the tribulation God’s grace and the Savior Lord Jesus Christ are still saving people. First as we looked at last week there are still more martyrs to come and people of all nations will still be coming to Jesus during the tribulation. This chapter is proof of that. Further, those in Israel will be saved and protected. So let us look at the numbers and I’ll explain the differences in Gentiles and Israel.
From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, 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,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
We need to understand the covenants of God in order to understand chapter 7 here.
Biblical Definition of Covenant: a contractual arrangement between God and a person, or between human beings, which required binding action from one or both parties; one party often had higher status in the arrangement.
Insert picture of the covenants
We have the covenants between Adam and Eve
Noah — the Earth
Abraham — Father of many nations
Moses — The standards of living
David — The Sovereign King
Jesus — Gospels — Salvation of all people
God has always kept every single convenant that He made with man. It was man that failed to keep the covenant. Furthermore each Covenant builds off the previous one. So now the question is where Israel and the gentiles fit into these different covenants.
Paul gives us the answer
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
In terms of Israel, Just as there was a remnant for Elijah, the people had fallen into idolatry but there is a remnant today. God has never abandoned His people, again this covenants build upon each other.
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Within the plan of Salvation of the world we are grafted in to that plan. We share the Old testament. We share the same heritage and the same covenants with God. Even though salvation through Jesus Christ came to us we are not superior to anyone. We are always called to be humble because all of this is a gift from God. So when we look at these different tribes, the 144,000. These are not those from the church in terms of who would be classified as gentiles. You and I are not part of the 144,000. These are specific tribes of Israel. The numbers out of each tribe are specific. Like we looked at last week with the scrolls, these are not symbolic but literal interpretations. We need to understand that. Jesus spoke in parables, there were symbolic lessons. Jesus also spoke literal and blatant. These are literal. No where in the Bible does the 12 tribes of Israel represent the church. We know that Israel is a major part of the tribulation. As I have said many times Israel being founded as a country in 1948 is a major prophetic moment in history.
As to the specific members of the 144,000, that I do not know. The most important fact of these scriptures is that God continues to watch over Israel.
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. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
We look back at throne room in these verses. These people are wearing the white robes, and they are the same that we looked at last week, the martyrs that were given the white robes. This time they are holding palm branches. We celebrate in the same way every year.
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”
The palm branch is a signal of victory. It is the true victory of this world. The victory over sin, over evil, over the brokeness. Victory of the devil and the spirit of this age.
Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 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.
So as we looked at last week, there are more martyrs in the faith. Overall we have two separate groups of people here. We have those 144,000 and we have those who are from every nation. Now we have to also understand that every nation also includes those living in Israel now as well. So the final number is not 144,000 at all. It is that number plus the multitudes that do find Jesus Christ. It is also important to point out that throughout the tribulation period of the world that people will be saved. This is not the final judgement of God. That even in the tribulation period there is grace from God. These groups of people will be seen again in later chapters. We see the plan of God all coming together in this chapter for the salvation of the people
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. ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat.
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.’”
This is what awaits us. I want to go back to the word’s of Jesus
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
This is from the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. Jesus says if you knew the gift of God. The first part of the statement is so incredibly from Jesus. If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink.
This is the job of the church right here, to teach you the gift of God. To teach the scriptures so that you understand the gift that is presented to us in this time in history. I want to take a minute to share some things. In this fallen world there is always going to be temptations, there is always going to be division and distractions. I spent the vast majority of my life chasing distractions. Not all of them were bad distractions, some were good but they were always separte from God. Even moments during my life when I returned to God, I never understood the gift. I never understood Jesus. So I chased over things. At the end of each chase, I went on to the next one.
There is one thing in this world that you can give your life too that leads to living water. Goals are good, accomplishments are good. There is only one thing that gives our lives meaning and that is serving God. I can attest to this in my own life. When I was active duty, the military gave me meaning in my life. Then one day I wasn’t on active duty anymore. That meaning was gone and I was lost. God is there every single day. He gives you purpose. He gives life meaning. He gives us hope and joy because we have living water.
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Story of this world is not about us. We are not the heroes of the story. The story of this world is Jesus Christ the Messiah. The gift of God is Jesus. He brings salvation, He leads us to living waters. Jesus is the only way. When we look at the Bible as a whole, it provides all the answers, it provides the way of redepmption. Logical play out all of this and time and time again the Bible is always proven correct in all subject matters
Let us pray.
