Revelation 7:1-12 "A Seal in a Seal"

[Music] well let's turn together in god's word to revelation 7 revelation 7 and we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 12 revelation 7 and we'll be looking together at verses 1 through 12. revelation 7. beginning in verse one and we'll read through to verse 12 we're reading god's word so give our attention let's give our attention to it 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 the earth or sea or against any tree 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 the earth and sea saying do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our god on their foreheads and i heard the number of the sealed 144 thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of israel twelve thousand from the tribe of judah were sealed twelve thousand from the tribe of reuben twelve thousand from the tribe of gad twelve thousand from the tribe of asher twelve thousand from the tribe of naftali twelve thousand from the tribe of manasseh twelve thousand from the tribe of simeon twelve thousand from the tribe of levi twelve thousand from the tribe of issachar twelve thousand from the tribe of zebulun twelve thousand from the tribe of joseph twelve thousand from the tribe of benjamin were sealed after this i looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice salvation belongs to our god who sits on the throne and to the lamb and all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped god saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our god forever and ever amen so far the reading from god's word this morning may he may he add its blessing to our hearts christianity is a liberal religion more than that it is a progressive religion now that doesn't mean perhaps the first things that come into your mind it's not liberal in the sense of the 18th century attempt to uh to be syncretistic with what's considered a modern invention modern science it's not an attempt to reconfigure christian teaching in the light of modern knowledge so so it's not liberal in that sense and it's not progressive in the sense of the current preoccupation with social justice or environmentalism or those kinds of things but nevertheless the christian religion is liberal and progressive it's progressive in the sense that the central teaching of the gospel is progressively made clearer as you move your way through the biblical accounts the promise of redemption is gradually clarified according to god's own timing as he reveals his promises to the different patriarchs and through the different kings and through the prophets it's liberal in the sense that god's that god liberally grants redemption to many people all of whom are undeserving of his great gift of of redemption and that's true even as we look at the sixth seal the sixth seal we saw last lord isaiah a seal that that that speaks of the final judgment that will be for those who are outside of christ even in the sixth seal with the final judgment looming we see god's restraint we see that god graciously deals with his people we see that god's gracious covenant promises are expanded even to include all tribes and tongues and and nations they're expanded in the in the new covenant to include both jew and gentile and so that's what we want to learn we want to see god's gracious gracious covenant promises expanded in the new covenant to include jew and and gentile and to learn that lesson we're going to look at two parts first we're going to look at the 144 000 as they were recorded in our text and in the second place we're going to look at this great multitude that we see in verses 9 through 12. so we're going to look at the 144 000 verses 1 through 8 and then we're going to look at the great multitude in verses 9 through 12 as we seek to learn that god's gracious covenant promises are expanded in the new covenant to include both jew and gentile so let's begin by looking at the 144 thousand what what are the hundred and forty forty four thousand well we we're still in the midst of the sixth seal uh the first five seals very short two two verses each sixth seal begins in chapter six and verse twelve it won't end till the end of chapter seven so we still have some time that we're going to spend in the sixth seal and the sixth seal last lord's day and the one before that we saw kind of these uh these these cataclysmic events that that all pointed to the final cataclysmic event so so we have these these earthquakes and and and we saw the the the effect of the heavenly on the heavenly lights the sun uh turning to darkness the moon to blood this this the stars all falling from the sky these other cataclysmic events they they all pointed to the final judgment they they they all warned of the final judgment that was to come now now these calamities they have been poised to start as we begin our chapter in chapter seven in verse one we see these four angels standing at the four corners of the earth now when you talk from the book of revelation about the four corners of the earth of course it almost goes without saying but i'm gonna say it anyways we're not arguing for the flat earth right this is a prophecy prophecy uses symbolic literature and so when it talks about the four corners of the earth and the winds the four winds of the earth it's simply speaking of all the directions of the earth north uh north east southwest uh the winds that come from those directions they're being held back by these four angels these four angels in verse one they have been giving the specific task of carrying out this aspect of god's judgment it's not the only time in the book of revelation that we see four angels that are reserved for an aspect of god's judgment in revelation 9 and verse 14 and 15. during the seventh seal we're going to see the same thing we're going to see four angels that have been kept bound at the great river euphrates they're going to be set loose they're going to be set loose for for one purpose they're going to kill 33 percent of all the inhabitants of the earth that's that's their specific task given to them by god this case chapter seven verse one we have these four angels whose only task was to hold back the winds that blow on the earth as a servant of god carrying out the will of god we know that's what angels do the word for angel also could be translated as messenger the angels are the servants of god who do the will of god we know that from a place like psalm 103 verse 20 bless the lord o you his angels you mighty ones who do his word obeying the voice of his word that's that's the workings of an angel the angel exists to carry out the will of god and so when in verse 1 you see four angels holding back wins they're not acting as free agents they're not acting independently they are doing what god has assigned them to do they are beginning to implement the punishment of the sixth seal on the world there is no wind to be on the earth which means in a day before air conditioning right that's relief from heat there was no relief from heat there was to be no wind on the sea no travel in ships right no no trade routes trade routes interrupted and and there and and there was to be no wind on the on the trees either then another angel appears after these angels are beginning to carry out this judgment another angel appears in verse two he calls to these angels and interrupts their their work this angel he comes from the rising of the sun he comes from the east and he comes carrying the seal of god in his hand now this is not the seal of the scroll we have seven seals on the scroll then we have the seal that this angel is carrying this is not the same seal it's of similar significance but it's not the same thing when it comes to the seals of the scrolls that the seals of the scrolls marked that message that's in the scroll as having god's authority the one who is seated on the throne held the scroll with the seals the seals are a marks of of god's authority over over the message it's the signature in the sense of the one who has the seal the the scroll in his hand the one who is seated on the scroll so the seal of the scroll is god's ownership over the message but the seal of the angel is of a different kind it's still dealing with god's authority it's still dealing with the mark of god's authority but it's not over the message now it's on people so it's not the seal of authority over a scroll but it's the seal of ownership over the people of god it's not the only time that people are discussed as god's property as the mark of his ownership being placed on them in ezekiel 9 and verse 4 the prophet says pass through the cities through jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over the abominations that are committed in it there a mark is placed on the forehead of those who are grieved over the sin of israel in this text too the mark of those who are grieved over the future abominations that we're going to read about in the text they are to receive uh they're to be sealed with god's mark so the one holding this seal he interrupts the four angels instructing them to wait with their judgment until all the servants of god are are marked with this seal they're to be marked as god's possession in verse three do not harm the earth or the trees or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our god on their foreheads they are to be marked as god's possession now we don't like that kind of language it's really talking about a branding god is branding his people putting a mark on on their forehead and when people do that to each other as they've done in the history of our own nation that's a grotesque thing because no man owns another man but it is right for god to mark his people as his possession when when god speaks of his people he actually speaks of them in terms of ownership in in first peter verse chapter two verse nine it speaks of the unique nature of the church it describes the church as a people for his own possession so the people who are saved are gods in a sense everybody is god's but god has his unique seal of ownership on his people on on his church and until the full number of those who are sealed can receive their mark there is to be a delay in the carrying out of the judgment it's important because later on in this book there's going to be a counterfeit mark there's going to be another group of people who also receive a mark on their forehead in revelation 13 and verse 17 it's going to be the mark of the beast his name his number is going to be applied to the forehead just as god's seal will be applied to the forehead of his people so so the counterfeit mark is also applied to the forehead so god's people don't receive the mark of the beast they don't receive the counterfeit sign they receive the genuine mark the differentiating mark the mark that says i am god owned by god and it is placed on the forehead well who are these sealed ones in verse 4 it begins explaining who the sealed ones are and the prophet john under the inspiration of the holy spirit hears their number 144 000. now starting in verse 4 we're dealing with one of the more difficult passages in the book of revelation this book which is a prophecy you have 144 000 and then in verse uh five through eight you have a description twelve thousand from all these different tribes uh the hundred and forty four thousand come twelve thousand from every tribe of the sons of israel now when you get to 144 000 and you get to the 12 000 from each tribe it's very easy to get lost in numerology and trying to understand the meaning of the number by by being very creative about the different way the different things that this number might might mean and there's not a whole lot that we can say with certainty we can make some observations certainly the number 12 is significant in the old testament 12 sons of jacob the 12 sons of jacob that means that you're getting lots of twelves throughout all of the old testament lots of instances where the number 12 is written doesn't really tell us anything about the meaning of that number it's significant in the sense that it includes all of jacob's sons but the problem is of course that when it talks about ishmael's offspring they're also 12. and so the number 12 isn't always positive in in the bible and so you have to be careful about how much stock you put in in a number number 12 is not always good it seems here to indicate the the fullness of the number of of of of jacob's sons but that becomes even more problematic in our text because if you look through the listing of the sons of israel and you look at the different tribes if you are familiar with the listings from the old testament you'll notice that there's two tribes that are missing there's a shuffling going on the tribe of dan doesn't appear in the list of tribes at all and the tribe of ephraim doesn't appear in the list of tribes at all usually when it comes to israel joseph is excluded levi is excluded and ephraim and nasa are are plopped in they're put in well in this case ephraim's out joseph's in dan's out and manasseh is in and so it's not really the 12 tribes as as we would be familiar uh familiar with them so it's all it's a very confusing number very confusing or it could appear that this is a big problem but actually if we follow the train of thought throughout revelation this category is actually not that difficult we we can actually be fairly confident who the 144 thousand are that are in view here in chapter 7 and verse 4 and following so so so so follow along with me you probably should have the book of revelation open but but we're going to look at three places in the book of revelation and and we can identify this group not based on the number but based what's happening to them okay so in chapter seven and verse three it says that they are going to seal the servants of god on their foreheads the servants of god are going to be sealed on their foreheads now these 144 000 are going to show up a little bit later in the book of revelation again they're going to show up in chapter 14 and it says in chapter 14 i looked and behold on mount zion stood the lamb and with him 144 000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads okay so chapter 7 verse 3 the seal is on their forehead chapter 14 verse 1 we learn what this seal is this seal is the name of the father and the son the name of the one who is seated on the throne and the lamb is written on the foreheads that is the seal then to understand finally who this group is we go to revelation 22 and verse 4. there it's talking about those who are in heaven eventually this is talking about those who reside in the heavenly places and it says in in verse 4 they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads so when it comes to those who are sealed here those who have his seal on their foreheads whose whose seal is the name they are the ones who inhabit the heavenly places after the second coming therefore when it comes to 144 000 here in verse 4 you're dealing with the church you're dealing with all of god's people who are alive who are being spared the judgments that are to come from these four angels these there's 144 000 it's a symbolic number in verse 9 it's going to be called a great multitude although there we're in heaven 144 000 are on earth but it's simply a a great number of all of those who belong to the lord who are still on the earth so then why would it talk about it as the sons of israel that's another thing that you have to solve why would they refer to it as as the sons of israel well the first thing we have to recognize and the first thing we have to be very careful of when it comes to the bible when we read scripture we should never assume that we're smarter than the people who wrote it like we should never assume that john just couldn't keep track of the 12 tribes he couldn't go back in his old testament and look at what the names of the 12 tribes are he he got confused and so he left dan out that's not how we approach scripture so we don't assume that we're more intelligent instead what we might say is the description of the sons of israel given in revelation isn't the same as the description of israel in the old testament there's something different about israel there's something that's changed about israel that's because it's talking about new testament saints and in scripture that the new testament saints are at times referred to as the sons of israel you can go to hebrews 12 and verse 22 where where old testament sinai is contrasted with the heavenly jerusalem it's not new york city it's jerusalem the capital of the hebrew people the sons of israel look to jerusalem as their capital city or you can look in romans 9 and verse 6 for a negative where it says not all who are descended from israel belong to israel see israel has become spiritualized as a as an idea so that in galatians 3 29 when it says if you are christ then you are abram's offspring heirs according to promise we understand that the the church is part of the spiritual offspring of abraham the sons of israel sealed with the seals here in revelation 7. it is the spiritual israel who is sealed on their foreheads with god's name and with the name of the lamb it is the spiritual israel who's protected from the judgments of god that are about to happen not in the sense of being separated from its effects but separated from its eternal consequences preserved because they are the special inheritance of god and that's a promise that began with abraham was carried on through israel and now is also applied to the gentile church the glorious progressive covenantal message of scripture that's the 144 000 so so now let's look at the at the great multitude in verses 9 through 12. in verse 9 you see this the scene shifts we were on earth and and now we're we're in heaven we're around the throne room of the one who's seated on the throne and the lamb and and it turns from one angel calling for an interruption of judgment for restraint to a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb this is this is in heaven now sometimes you might be tempted because of all the the information that gets thrown at us and and and the categories that we're used to dealing with we might think of this as as being a racial inclusion that that all races will will come it's not an ethnic statement though it's not a racial statement it's a covenantal statement there is a a racial aspect to it but it's it's not racial it's covenantal we see the liberality of god on full display see in our text it said that there was a great multitude that no one could number it hasn't always been that case about the people of god there have been seasons when the people of god could very easily be numbered when when jacob's family went into egypt it didn't take him very long to number them at all there were 70 of them and they went into egypt when they came out of egypt it was more difficult but they still numbered him 600 million men came out of of egypt they didn't number the women in that case and then when david numbers his fighting men in second samuel 24 1.3 million fighting men they could be numbered they were from one nation they were one people with 12 tribes they spoke one language that's not the case today when it comes to the people of god his blessing has been blown up it's been exploded it says that there is representation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne what does that mean i don't think we can even count all the tribes that are around i i did some some quick research online in our nation alone there were four 574 tribes of native americans 574 tribes when people tried to do a count on tribes throughout the world they they found that there are even a hundred tribes which have never been contacted still in our in our time in our world a hundred tribes that have never been contacted uh within the world in our world there's an estimate of 7 100 languages 7 100 languages there's an estimate of 17 000 different peoples depending on on how you how you count that there was some some variety there and i didn't have enough time to make sense of all of that but what's the point it's expanded god's blessing visited on on some of all of those greatly expanded it's an explosion all of them are represented in the throne room of heaven before the father and before the lamb and it says that they are clothed in white robes meaning that they are purified from sin and it says that they have palm branches in their hands now we don't do that we don't care around palm branches and so that idea of what are they carrying around palm branches for palm branches were a sign of celebration in leviticus 23 and verse 40 during the feast of booths the beginning of the harvest time there was celebration when the people would hold palm trees and rejoice before the lord that was the function of of the palm branch it was part of their celebration in in john chapter 12 and verse 13 at the triumphal entry when jesus is going into jerusalem right before his crucifixion people meet jesus outside the city with branches of palm trees in their hands it's part of old testament celebration so what does it mean it's saying that this purified multitude that no one can number is rejoicing before the father who is on the throne and before the lamb his son this vast multitude rejoices because of something why are they rejoicing well as we've been told many times as we've been as we've grown up if you want to understand a person the first thing you have to do is listen to them well what does this vast multitude say it says salvation belongs to our god who sits on the throne and to the lamb salvation salvation is the cause of rejoicing for this vast multitude salvation is not the decision or action of a man it says so in our text it says salvation belongs to god who sits on the throne it belongs to the lamb it's his ownership it's his seal it's god who applies it to his people at his initiative through his angel it's it's provided by grace it's provided liberally throughout all the world and it's accomplished by his sacrifice it's expanded throughout the world at his command this is the work of redemption that god has given and in verse 10 it says that this great multitude cries out with a loud voice it's it must have been a roar in the throne room of heaven can you imagine it it's hard to imagine it it's hard to imagine an innumerable multitude proclaiming with a loud voice this message of joy in salvation sometimes you come across things that that give you a snapshot of what it might look like i have one of those things personal to me there's a video a marching band called the cavaliers i don't think they're christian by any stretch of the imagination but i think it's a tradition in this marching band that they warm up and tune to the doxology and there's a video that you can watch where this marching band is in a small room at a middle school and there are horns all along all the walls of this middle school auditorium maybe 60 or 70 horns of different size and the the conductor they're all tuning it's it's a cacophony and he brings them all to one note and then the doxology starts and when that doxology starts every time i watch it i get a tickle from my the bottom of my spine all the way and it ends up here on me the glory of that sound the majesty of all that coming together praise god from whom all blessings flow that is what heaven is like with this unnumbered multitude all proclaiming with a loud voice this this praise this this worship of god and then you have the angels and you have the four living creatures their response is almost predictable now we would be surprised if it didn't happen and we're only in chapter seven of the book of revelation when the angels hear the proclamation from the people they fall down and worship and they say amen blessing and honor and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might to be to our god forever and ever amen and so all of the hosts of heaven they are simply acknowledging what already belongs to god they're not adding anything to them they're not giving him information that he doesn't know their lips are simply saying what is already true amen it is true that's where they start amen it's true that's where they end the praise of god's people assigning or ascribing to god the things that already belong to him see god seals his people he makes them his own he removes them from final judgment he protects them from the harm of the seventh seal he does he makes that that salvation that that deliverance known progressively and he applies it liberally it is seen in the great rejoicing in the wonder and the splendor of heaven it's a magnificent wonder expressed by the great multitude in heaven and so we as christians we have to recapture the greatness of the salvation that god has made known to us we have to recapture a sense of the wonder of god's salvation we have to recapture in a sense the wonder of heaven we have to learn to join with the angels who are there with the innumerable hosts who are there who proclaim their worship of god now i want to ask a question and you don't have to acknowledge this in any way certainly not by voice not by hand this is just a question for you to think about how many of you are longing for heaven how many of you can't wait to get to heaven now be honest about it nobody knows what you're thinking right now how many of you are really longing for heaven recently i've been reading this little booklet on heaven or at the beginning the writer of this book admitted of a conversation that we had he had with a pastor and this pastor admitted that he was not looking forward to heaven at all because it seemed like kind of a boring place to him is that your view of heaven this morning that heaven seems to be kind of a a boring place that's not how heaven is described in revelation 7. that's not how heaven is described in the other places of the revelation where we've seen it already heaven is this place of glory and majesty where people are preoccupied with god and they joyfully worship him if that is what the church is to believe about heaven why is it that the church is hardly distinguishable from the world in how it has responded to covet now this is not meant to be something to say anything about one church or another in terms of their mandates and their their their their ways of trying to deal with it it's talking to us have you seen recently how afraid of dying you are have you come to terms with it how can that be if heaven is so glorious how can that be if heaven is this glorious place that we're to long for how can we be so afraid of dying it's not an assertion that that covet isn't a real disease it's a discussion that we have to have exactly because it is a real disease it's not a discussion where i hope at the end of it we say well i just don't care anymore and i'm just going to go out and do whatever i want it's not a it's not a call to carelessness it's not any statement really about anybody who's doing what they think is prudent but if heaven is so splendid that the innumerable hosts of heaven rejoice in the salvation of god and to the lamb why is it people of god that we seem so afraid to enter into it why is that it speaks volumes about our assessment of heaven doesn't it doesn't it speak volumes about what we think of of heaven in part that's probably because we can't really imagine heaven because of where we are and we are weak and we're finite in our understanding and so for us to imagine such a place and and all that it means and all the the good things that will be there it's difficult for us to imagine it we we have a book of knowledge of heaven but we don't have the experience of heaven and book knowledge is never the same as as experience so so that might be part of the explanation but isn't it true isn't it fair to say that that at times we prefer what we have here isn't it fair to say that that sometimes we we prefer our comfortable lives we we prefer our nice houses we we prefer our smartphones and and high-speed internet we we like our entertainments we like our shows what does scripture say colossians 3 1 if then you have been raised with christ seek the things that are above where christ is seated at the right hand of god i wish i did that better i wish i longed for heaven more and so what can i do what can i do now well certainly i must know about heaven i must study what god's word says about heaven i must make myself agree ask for god to help me agree with the things that he has said i must be in prayer i must pray that the spirit's animating power would make me agree with him that my thoughts would align with his thoughts that i that i would seek the things that are above that i would delight myself in them i must ask god that he would prepare me to leave this world behind at times i must not hold on to this world so tightly i must delight myself in the in the things of heaven and god is a gracious god and he's a liberal god and he might make known to us by his grace the goodness of thinking his thoughts after him that's what we see here in this text this this picture of the splendor of heaven this this picture of the liberal progressive nature of the christian faith god revealing establishing his plan to include the people from all tongues and tribes and and nations god graciously giving to all undeserving people an extravagant extravagant gift of salvation through christ his people are sealed through christ they are spared his final judgment and the response in heaven and the response on earth should be the same the response should be worship amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our god forever and ever amen let's pray

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Length: 39min 11sec (2351 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 06 2021