The Song of the Saints
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Happy Easter. Today, we celebrate the ultimate victory in this great war in which we find ourselves. And I want to explore one of the implications- the effects- of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And to do this, we need to keep in mind the question posed at the end of Revelation 6, which is, "who can stand?"
And we are now in one of the interludes between judgments 6 & 7 that occurs in every series of judgments and this question, “who can stand?” is the key message for the church in the judgment section.
And in this section, very clearly, we’re going to see several groups of people who answer that question. And the answer to this question is really the point of Easter. Not only that Jesus raised from the dead, but what it means for us, and that is a question that we will seek to answer today.
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. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
In order to make sense of this scene, we have to ask the question, “where are we?”
Four- angels, corners, winds.
Do we count numbers in Revelation or do we weigh them?
Where are we? On earth!
Why? Four angels, four winds. Land, sea, tree, land sea, tree. Earth. Earth. Earth. This repetition is John practically shouting at the top of his lungs, “We’re on earth! Don’t miss this!”
And it is important to establish this because if we don’t, we can get all sorts of weird interpretations of this passage like some people do who say, “only 144,000 people get to go to heaven.”
Okay, so there’s a voice...
Emphasize heavily Levi! Repeat it. Tell them it would be weird!
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
Who is this? There are two options:
This is actual Israel on earth, the physical nation. There’s a couple of problems with this interpretation:
Problem 1: Dan is missing. Levi in his place. This gives me a clue as to what’s happening here, because there is no reason to be rid of the tribe of Dan if we’re talking about ethnic Israel.
Problem 2: Anti-messianic figure would come from Dan. Not a liked tribe.
Levi is the priestly tribe. The go-between... until... when? The end.
Remember as Jacob is dying, he says things about each of his sons about how they will function in Israel’s history? This is what he says about Dan:
Dan will be a snake beside the road,
a poisonous viper along the path
that bites the horse’s hooves
so its rider is thrown off.
This isn’t a pleasant prediction about your path. This isn’t what you want to be said about you. Basically, he says, “Dan will be a thorn in the side of the nation of Israel.”
There’s also books from the Pseudepigrapha (books that aren’t Scripture that are old Jewish books), and there’s a section of one called The Testament of Dan (again, this is not Scripture but this is illuminating for us in how Jews thought about issues 150-200 years before Christ), and it says this about Dan:
4 I know that in the last days you shall depart from the Lord, and you shall provoke Levi to anger, and fight against Judah. But you shall not prevail against them, because an angel of the Lord shall guide them both, for by them shall Israel stand. 5 And whenever you depart from the Lord, you shall walk in all evil and work the abominations of the Gentiles, chasing after wives of the lawless ones, while with all wickedness the spirits of wickedness work in you. 6 For I have read in the book of Enoch, the righteous, that your prince is Satan, and that all the spirits of wickedness and pride will conspire to attend constantly on the sons of Levi, to cause them to sin before the Lord.
4 I know that in the last days ye shall depart from the Lord,
And ye shall provoke Levi unto anger,
And fight against Judah;
But ye shall not prevail against them,
For an angel of the Lord shall guide them both;
For by them shall Israel stand.
5 And whensoever ye depart from the Lord, ye shall walk in all evil and work the abominations of the Gentiles, going a-whoring after women of the lawless ones, while with all wickedness the spirits of wickedness work in you. 6 [For I have read in the book of Enoch, the righteous, that your prince is Satan, and that all the spirits of wickedness and pride will conspire to attend constantly on the sons of Levi, to cause them to sin before the Lord.
Basically, “in the last days, Dan will be kicked out.” And what I see John doing here in Revelation 7 is the last days are here and we’re talking about the people who have become a kingdom and priests. Remember in Revelation 5?
And you have caused them to become
a Kingdom of priests for our God.
And they will reign on the earth.”
Levi now functions as a normal tribe.
That’s why this isn’t ethnic Israel. If it is, Jesus and John make no sense in the continuity of this book. Jesus speaks badly of them in Rev. 2 and 3, calling them a synagogue of Satan, and saying that Jerusalem is Sodom and Egypt later in Revelation 11, and all the sudden in 7, he's going extol the holiness of the nation of Israel? That makes no sense.
How’s this going to happen if that’s the case? Are they going to attain favor without belief in Christ? I am the way… NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME.
NO ONE COMES TO SALVATION EXCEPT THROUGH JESUS’ LIFE, DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.
Is it about who you're born from or who you're born again to?
Who is Israel? The people of God. If you’re in Christ, you are Israel. See, Christ as the true Israel has ushered in the new Israel, and because of that, it is natural for God to call the church the tribes of Israel.
12 stands for what? You have 12 x 12 x 1000. In Scripture, 1,000 is a number that is used to represent “a lot”.
For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
Completion x Completion x a whole lot.
Church on earth is sealed and secure.. from what?
1. Physical destruction.
Does that make sense? No.
Why not? What happens in Rev. 2-3 (Smyrna)?
First five seals what happens? The Church suffers. Remember Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble.”
2. Spiritual destruction.
1. God is more concerned with our souls than our bodies. Where's your allegiance?
2. Rev. 6:17- the people of the earth call out for spiritual protection. They actually want to die.
So we come back to the question of those who were seeking protection: “Who can stand?”
Angels can stand. The Church on earth can stand as they are sealed by God.
9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.
10 And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God.
12 They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?”
14 And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
15 “That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter.
16 They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun.
17 For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Where are we? Heaven.
How do I know? The throne.
Who can stand? Church on earth, church in heaven, angels.
Those who are faithful to God. So here’s what we celebrate today: Jesus is alive. Jesus overcame. And in the midst of his people, in the midst of his judgement, if you are in Christ, because of what he did, YOU can stand.
After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar,
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
and from the Lamb!”
Why white robes? Why palm branches? Welcoming a king! Think Palm Sunday!
Great multitude is church in heaven that has died. If you're in the church, whether you're alive or dead, you can stand.
They sang,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
forever and ever! Amen.”
What to God? EVERYTHING!
Washed and made white in blood. Have you ever bleached anything with blood? That’s what the Resurrection invites you to today. That though you stand guilty, he says, let me wash it. Let me clean you. Let me declare you innocent. I have the power, let me prove it by rising from the grave!
Great Tribulation
Two Options. Some say:
1. A Seven year period before the millennium that is not mentioned until Revelation 20.
Problems
1. Great is simply and adjective to intensify the noun it is describing- the suffering (or persecution in general)- bad suffering. Great is never used to describe a time period.
2. Tribulation is used four other times in Revelation, three of them attached to the church (Rev. 1:9, 2:9, 2:10), except for Rev. 2:22, but the NLT only translates this Greek word to “tribulation” here, instead of “suffering.”
3. No mention of seven years in Revelation at all. Interesting because John uses 7 all over the place in Revelation, and this would seem to be the perfect opportunity to talk about it.
4. Why would John only talk about a 7 year period of tribulation once in chapter 7? We have 13 chapters before this tribulation is supposed to end and the 1,000 year period of Christ's reign is supposed to begin.
2. “Great tribulation” is the experience of the church throughout all of history.
1. Read Fox's Book of Martyrs or Voice of the Martyrs.
2. American blindness. How do we tell Chinese, South American, African, and Middle Eastern Christians that great tribulation has not begun?
3. Rev. 1:9 says suffering has already begun.
9 I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus.
Suffering, or “tribulation.” They are the same word.
Do you see the pattern of what John has written in Revelation 6 and 7?
Heaven (Rev. 6:1-12a)
Earth (Rev. 6:12b-17)
Earth (Rev. 7:1-8)
Heaven (Rev. 7:9-17)
Chiasm. What happens on earth is what is most important to John. You can stand.
Here’s the point to all of this:
Because on that Sunday morning, 2,000 years ago, the tomb was empty, and remains empty to this day, because he arose,
Because he lives, we can live.
Because he lives, we can stand.
Because he lives, we are secure.
Because he lives, we are declared innocent.
Because he lives, we are holy.
Because he lives, we are forgiven.
Because he lives, we are adopted.
Because he lives, we are redeemed.
Because he lives, we are justified.
Because he lives, we are ransomed.
NEVER LET THE ENEMY DOUBT WHAT WAS DONE FOR YOU ON THE CROSS. Never let him make you sit down. If you are in Christ, the answer to the question in Revelation 6 is YOU! You can stand. And when you start to doubt that. When you doubt your inheritance, when you doubt your adoption, when you feel like you can’t stand, kneel. And find strength in the one who died and rose again so that you can stand today, and for all eternity.
Because he lives, we can face tomorrow..... and the next day, and the next day, forever.