go ahead and have a seat let's take our Bibles this morning and let's open to Revelation chapter 7 beginning in verse 1 the title of our message this morning is 144,000 now I was gonna call it can you believe there's gonna be a major revival during the tribulation but it's too long so I went with 144,000 let's pray Lord we are so blessed because your word is your heart that you poured out to us and I pray Lord that we would just have hearts that are open and ears to hear and that you would move on us by your word now in Jesus name Amen so Paul or a John is brought into the throne room of God in this amazing vision and he says there is a sea of glass like crystal and in the center there's a throne and one sitting on the throne there are four living creatures nearest to the throne we looked at that a few weeks ago and there are twenty-four other Thrones with twenty-four elders sitting upon them and the one who was sitting on the throne has a scroll written on the inside and on the back but it is sealed with seven seals and he says I've heard a loud voice a strong voice proclaiming who is worthy to look into this book and to break the seven seals but no one was found worthy so John has an emotional response to this that no one has found worthy and he begins to weep and and and it is weeping one of the older sitting on the throne says stopped weeping because he says the lion from the tribe of Judah has overcome so as to look into the book and break it seven seals and so he says I looked and I saw a lamb as those slain and what a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ there was a lion and the lamb and it says that he then took the book out of the right hand of him who was sitting on the throne which is God the Almighty and when he took hold of the book the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders they fell down and they sang song and they worshiped and as he begins in to break the seals on this book they it releases forth the the events that happened during the Tribulation Period and the first four of those we looked at last week the infamous four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the first one was the white horse and he who sat upon it is none other than the Antichrist he's on a white horse he's the great counterfeit the the deceiver who deceives the nation's we spent a lot of time looking at that and we will later again then the second horse is the red horse and he who sits upon it has then the authority to take peace from the earth and that people would slay one another and that there would be war the third horse is the black horse and he who sits upon it then brings forth economic collapse and devastation that follows behind because you a person could work for a day a whole day and only be able to buy one quart of wheat or three quarts of barley and then the last horse is the ashen horse which is the color of death and in fact the one who is riding upon it has the name death and he'll follows closely behind so those are the first four of the seals the five and six see we looked at Wednesday and when he opens the seventh seal it will bring forth seven trumpets so there are like a manifold increase in the things that are going to happen during the tribulation but here's what we want to look at today before the Seventh Seal is opened there is a pause in heaven the reason that there is a pause is so that this angel can go forth and put a mark on the forehead of the servants of our God who will then be witnesses of God upon the earth 144,000 by number now you might say a mark on their forehead all right that sounds familiar and you would be right but you're thinking perhaps of the mark of the beast which comes later which we're gonna look at the mark of the beast he is of course the great counterfeit and that mark is the number of his name or the name of the Antichrist and that mark is a condemnation to those who receive it however no one can buy or sell without the mark so it's powerful in this understanding but that's not this one this is the mark which is the name of the Lamb and of his father and it is on this 144,000 now you could do an interesting search through the Bible and this idea of having a mark on the forehead goes really far back in Scripture you can go all the way to Deuteronomy and beyond that and see it and we'll look at this on Wednesday that part but you can go through Scripture and in Ezekiel is another example where he has this this spirit vision of Jerusalem and an angel that was given the instruction go through Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of all those who like cry and moan for the sins of Israel they have a heart after God and so he wants them to be sealed on their forehead with this mark which will protect them from that which is going to come upon Israel in Jerusalem and so there's an example did you know also that there is a mark or a seal upon believers in Jesus Christ if you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and it's important for us to recognize that all of this is leading us up to what is this mark them and who are these 144,000 all right let's read it revelation 7 beginning in verse 1 after this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree now what does that mean we'll look at that on Wednesday and I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the Sun having the seal of the Living God and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea saying do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads and I heard the number of those who were sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel and so he lists them tribe by tribe from the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand and GAD Asher Naphtali Manasseh Simeon Levi Issachar Zebulun Joseph very interesting and Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation in all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palms answers were in their hands like what an interesting thing and these pod ranges what is the significance of these palm branches that's on Wednesday and they cry out with a loud voice and they say salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and all the angels who were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures they fell on their faces before the throne and they worshiped and they said a man blessing and glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving an honor and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever amen now one of the elders answered and said to me these who are clothed in the white robes who are they and from where have they come and I said to him my lord you know and he said to me these are the ones who have come out of the great tribute nation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb for this reason they are before the throne of God and they serve Him day and night in his temple and he who sits on the throne shall spread his Tabernacle over them and what what an amazing event that's happening that that John is seeing this 144,000 well it's important for us to recognize that these are given this seal and it is the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father and they are sent forth into the earth to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ during the Great Tribulation Period which is absolutely amazing because one of the things we got to understand God's heart in this God always has a witness always you can look through the Scriptures and see that is always God's heart there's always an opportunity God always has a witness now let's build a little support for where we're going with this first of all let's recognize that the Tribulation Period is a seven-year period by which the wrath of God is poured out on the world that has rejected him secondly we should remember that the church is not destined to be recipients of God's wrath let me give you the verses so we can just lock this in our minds first Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 9 and 10 God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we will live together with him so in other words that means that the church is not on the earth at this point of Revelation they've already been raptured either before or at the right be at the beginning of the Tribulation Period so who then are these 144,000 well let's start with who the 144,000 are not so first of all you might say well hundred forty-four thousand sounds like a significant number so our numbers important in the scriptures yes absolutely so numbers are important now I realize that there are those who who take numerology to the extreme and they get lost in the woods I understand that but numbers are important right there's 12 disciples there's twelve tribes of Israel there were twelve stones on the breastplate of the high priest and I can go on and on twelve is a very important number so twelve times twelve is okay now really you guys have had more sleep than anybody else as a hundred forty-four and times 1,000 now is 1,000 an important number yes also 1,000 is important so numbers are important so for example I was reading in the news dis just this week that there's an airline in Europe from Finland they're called fin air and they have decided to cancel flight number 666 to a chi l okay this is an absolutely true story ATL by the way is the airport code for Helsinki but apparently nobody wanted to fly on flight number 666 to hgl on October 13th Friday I don't know why no one wanted to fly in that plane so numbers are important now there have been there have been several groups who have claimed to be this 144,000 probably the most famous being Jehovah's Witnesses when Jo's witnesses that systems first started they said declared that there were only going to be a hundred and forty-four thousand in heaven and of course there were jobs witnesses however when their number exceeded that then they had to make some adjustments right so then they said well kay the 144,000 are those who serve God in heaven but the next hundred 44,000 serve God on earth and then they exceeded that so then they said okay well then the next hundred 44,000 serve those who serve God and on and on they had to keep changing historic Mormonism had made a claim to being the 144,000 seventh-day adventists are included in that and then also the Worldwide Church of God made a claim to be the 144,000 although they later changed that so we know then these who claim to be are not so who are they well in my deep wisdom and deep research I have decided that these 144,000 are those who attend Calvary Chapel Worship Center there you go all right there you go I mean you heard it here first no actually that's not so okay that isn't so here's why because the church is raptured before the Tribulation Period so then we have to say whoa okay who are they well revelation 7 gives us a hint because it says that these have been sealed from the 12 tribes of Israel now unless there's a reason to not believe what we're reading we should believe what we're eating and it tells us that they are Jews therefore I'm going to say they're Jews and they are Messianic Jews they are those who believe that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah of Israel and they come to faith in the Tribulation Period because they see what's happened right now the scripture tells us that today there's a veil over their hearts but they see what happens right the distribution period there's no mistaking they understand it's the wrath of God and so they know of course the claims of Jesus but now they're stirred up and they they become completed Jews Messianic Jews they receive Jesus Christ and they're sealed with this seal of the name of the Lamb they would understand the significance of the Lamb and of the name of the Father and they're then given the gospel to go out into the world and I believe that this is the beginning of the fulfillment of a great promise made to Israel and that is this that all Israel will be saved and in fact I'm convinced that this 144,000 is like the first fruits of that great promise let me give you that in Revelation 14 because this number 144,000 comes back into the story it tells us he says I looked and behold the lamb was standing on Mount Zion now where is Mount Zion it's in Jerusalem I saw the lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him there were 144 thousand having his name and the name of his father written on the foreheads these are the ones who followed the lamb wherever he goes and these have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the lamb now he is making a special point of showing us that they are Jews by showing us the number that comes from each of the twelve tribes now a good student of the of the word would notice when looking at this list of twelve tribes that there's a couple of anomalies and you would be right it's interesting you remember in your history right after Israel came out of the desert those forty years that they traveled under Moses and then they came into the Promised Land under Joshua and what happened then is that the land was divided into twelve territories or twelve portions but there was one tribe that did not receive a portion and that was the Levites their inheritance was God himself so they did not get an abortion meant but what an inheritance right God and so they gets administered to the Lord they are given city's Levitical cities throughout the nation of Israel but no territory so you might say well there were 12 abortions and then that makes 13 you would be right what happened was Joseph who was one of the sons of Israel had two sons and Jacob basically adopted them Ephraim and Manasseh so whenever you see the twelve tribes listed oftentimes to list it according to the land division and so if reom and Manasseh there are actually grandsons of Jacob but adopted become divided big yet an apportionment you say well okay but there's still wait a minute there's still one missing and you'd be right that's the tribe of Dan he's not listed so what why isn't Dan listed most Bible scholars and commentaries believe that it is because that idolatry first came to Israel through dan and so they're not listed here as one of the witnesses the tribes that witness for the gospel but you know what's interesting is that when we get to the description of when Jesus reigns on the earth for a thousand years the tribe of Dan is included in the provision of God in that day like mercy comes back to Dan it's a great part of the story like you got to love it so you look at what's happening here and you understand that Israel is still important when it comes to the plan of God for the ages now I say that because there's an element in the church even today that does not believe that Israel is significant spiritually or scripturally anymore they believe that the promises that God gave to Israel have been nullified and have been replaced by the promises given to the church the church in their mind being the new Israel but I don't believe that and here's here's the main reason I don't believe that because God is the one who made those promises and God is faithful to his promises and the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable let me give you a great scripture of Romans chapter 11 verses 28 to 29 from the standpoint of God's choice they Israel are beloved for the sake of the father's for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable to me that's a very important thing to recognize because it's true for you and me as right the gifts in the calling of God are irrevocable if you've received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then you have been adopted by God as his son or as his daughter and you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and this matter is settled in heaven and it ought to be settled with us it's important for us to recognize what's happening here so these 144,000 Messianic completed Jews or his bond servants and they witness of the gospel during the tribulation throughout their earth and what they bring about is nothing short of revival because if you look at revelation 7 the next scene that unfolds is this amazing multitude that no one can number for every nation tribe and tongue and it says that these came out of the tribulation in other words these 144,000 witnesses brought about a revival now they're also persecuted and they are martyrs but they come to faith in Christ and there is a revival and I tell you what it is a glorious thing to see God's heart because God is not is not finished speaking the words of grace and the words of life to the world even during the tribulation now having said that since I brought up Israel I also want to say that Israel does not recognize their Messiah until the end of the tribulation now these 144,000 they do but as a nation they do not until Jesus himself sets foot on the Mount of Olives interest Jerusalem through the eastern gate and presents himself to his brethren the the nation of Israel when he does that at the end of the Tribulation Period and as he presents himself and as he rescues Israel from their enemies it says that they will look on him whom they have pierced and they will mourn bitterly weep when they see him let me give you the scripture so I want us to really understand how this unfolds in the latter days Zechariah chapter 12 verses 9 and 10 in that day declares the Lord I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem this of course is the famous Battle of Armageddon that takes place at the end I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only Son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn now why would they be weeping when they see him this is their Messiah after all the answer is seen in the words they will see whom they have pierced and they will recognize the tragedy of missing their Messiah all those years before we could have had the blessing that God was offering us through that son that Messiah all those years before but you got to see this part of the verse and you got to see he pours out on them the spirit of grace God's grace God's Amazing Grace is poured out on Israel whose sin is great but who are we to judge or criticize when in fact it was God's grace that brought us through salvation because our sins were great - it's important for us to recognize that we not look at Israel with the wrong eyes as many have in history there have been many anti-semitic people who were such because they believed and blamed Israel for crucifying our Lord and Savior and thus holding it against the nation of Israel as an anti-semitic opposition I tell you what that's absolutely incorrect it was the plan of God from the beginning you can go all the way back to Genesis and see that it was God's plan that his son would pay the penalty on the cross for all of our sins no need to blame Israel we can blame all of ourselves because it was for sin that he died amen so we have to recognize that this that's happening will be the fulfilling of a great prophecy right Romans chapter 11 a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in that's what's happening today and so Israel all Israel will be saved just as it is written alright back to these 144,000 they're sealed and they're sent forth out to the world and they are given the gospel in other words the message of hope is on their lips now you've got to see how wonderful it is the here is the Tribulation Period the wrath of God is being poured out and at the very same time God is offering mercy I love the heart of God that he's revealing to us right here there is mercy in the midst of the tribulation in the midst of the wrath of God there is murthy mercy he extends his hand see Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 2 Lord I have heard the report about you and I fear Oh Lord revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make it known but in Wrath remember mercy in wrath Lord remember mercy and that's the very thing that we see God always has mercy always provides an opportunity for grace you can see it over Israel you can see it in the tribulation you can see it today it is God's heart God is the heart of mercy I remember when we were raising our kids and many of you know we raised five and now of course our granddaughter and and as part of raising kids of course inevitably somebody will do something wrong that needs some kind of correction right and some kind of consequence that would go with it and I remember as they got older I wanted to get them to be part of choosing the consequence so sometimes I would say okay now here's what you did you acknowledged it that's wonderful now you help me to decide what would be the consequence and we liked work as a consequence sometimes we would you know take things away but typically we want them to do work and so inevitably they would be pretty harsh on themselves you know okay how I'm making this up but you know I'll mow the lawn and I'll rake the leaves and I'll put the dishes away so what I believed was right whatever they said I would back off like back it off oneness here's why whatever they said I'd back it off for mercy I always wanted them to see God is a God of mercy and so therefore we are going to have mercy as part of our parenting to me that represents the heart of the Lord he reaches out his hands all day long he gives mercy and you can see this throughout Israel's history mercy you can see it all the way through do you remember back in the history of Israel when they were divided north and south and there were ten tribes in the north to the south and the northern tribes were particularly rebellious particularly worldly gone after the idols and Molech and our stripped and bailed and in and and as a result the nation of Assyria was going to come with a vast army and destroy the north it happened exiled him out never to be heard of again true it happened but before that happened God sent prophets to the north with the word of mercy and he gave them a word warning in advance the nation is going to be destroyed anyone with an ear to hear anyone with a heart after God get up and move to the south come find protection into the and of the Lord that hand of protection is offered to you get up now you have years to here make the move go to the south and thus God preserved for himself a remnant from every tribe of Israel he gave them mercy he offered them mercy anyone with ears to hear could receive him we got to understand that and by the way enhancers also an interesting thing because many people have heard this idea that there are lost ten tribes of Israel maybe you've heard this you know there's lost ten tribes of Israel and they believe because of what I just described and there have been many through the years that have kind of theorized where they went some have suggested that the British and who the British Isles were actually the lost ten tribes of Israel the Mormons thought that the native Indians were the Lost Tribe of Joseph and many in Africa claimed to be this and that Lost Tribe of Israel but God didn't lose anybody okay God knows in fact I love the scripture Deuteronomy 29:29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God that things revealed belong to us and our sons forever that we may observe the words of this law God knows those areas and so he names the tribes and those who will be sealed from every one of those stripes to me it's a glorious declaration because here's what God is doing tribulation can actually bring transformation it's there's people up difficulties troubles tribulation that can actually stir people up spiritually it happened to the 144,000 Jews it happened to the multitude that responded to the gospel and it needs to happen now because that is in fact God's heart to the world the same message that those 144,000 took to the world is the same message that God sent through His Son Jesus Christ and it's the same gospel message that we teach today because here's what God wants us to know God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked God takes no pleasure in the destruction of anyone the wrath of God is poured out on the leaving world that's true but his mercy is still being offered God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked God wants us to respond to that just like he wants them to respond even in the tribulation I remember I was in Russia I was having these meetings you know and and I'd give the gospel and afterward many would respond they were so ready to respond to the gospel and there's just one fellow who would come to every meeting but he never responded and so I decided to just like meet with him personally and he agreed we had breakfast and and I said I see I see you come to these meetings but you've never like made a decision or come to faith and he said you know something kind of bothers me and I said well what is it and he said it's this like why doesn't God just leave us alone I said really this is this is your thing he said yeah I said let me ask you a question whose air are you breathing whose earth are you living on who gave you this life is this not God's earth is that not God's air did not God give you the very life that you have do we not Oh him are very Allegiance do we not Oh him our lives do we not all him our very heart I said let me give you an illustration imagine that I in my amazing creative ability make a computer from like scratch I mean I take the stand that I make the glass and I have a monitor and I take the silicon and I make the chips and and I put it all together in and then I'm finally ready and I boot it up and I'm finally when I put it up on the screen it says why don't you leave me alone I said what should happen to a computer like that he said throw it under the train and he smiled I said exactly how much more are we than that how much more did God give to us even the will to choose that we might freely choose to receive mercy and to receive grace that offer of salvation that he is giving even to us because the heart of the Lord is that he takes no pleasure in the destruction of wicked but he wants but he wants is for people to turn Ezekiel 33 11 you say to them this you say as I live declares the Lord God I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that the wicked turned from his way and live turn back you can just hear the Lord calling out turn back from your evil ways why then would you die o house of Israel see here's what here's the message here's the point God wants us to turn to him even now even though that's the message that's the the the message that God sent through his son is the same message that the 144,000 take to the world it's the same message that God is speaking through his word today God wants us to turn to him I was talking to a fellow recently who said you know I I have believed in God for a long time but I I've never I've never been close to God I said why is that and is that honestly the say don't feel worthy I've I've done so many wrong things I I don't feel worthy I said I understand that that's a common thing for people to think but you're missing out on God's heart because that's not the way God thinks I said do you remember when Jesus ministered he reached out to like the most despicable sinners there were that's why the Jewish leaders criticized them can you believe a man of God but actually speak the prostitutes just as this just that's just despicable a man of God they miss goes hard I said do you remember that back in the days of Jesus is ministering that some of the most despicable people in that day were tax collectors they were like betrayers of Israel made themselves wealthy on this betrayal I said did you know that Jesus invited one of those despicable spit upon tax gatherers into the group of disciples who wrote one of the Gospels that's Matthew I didn't know that that's the heart of the Lord the woman that he talked to the woman at the well she had had five husbands and the man that she was with wasn't even her husband and yet Jesus made a point of bringing the good news to them to that woman and then she went to the village and she brought the village to to hear the words I want you to meet this man who has the words of life you got to know God is reaching out to the world with the same heart today and he's gonna reach out in the even in the Tribulation Period with that gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation and it is alive and it is on the move even today let's pray father you stir us up by your spirit you amaze us with your heart to reach out to two despicable people even with the gospel your grace is amazing the message that does 144,000 take to the world same message that Jesus spoke to sinners it's the same message you speak today and church as we're praying as every eye is closed as we're before the Lord in prayer would you would you say this to the Lord today would you say Lord I know that you're the God who pursues you're the God who seeks after and you have found me Lord Here I am you you have mercy on sinners Here I am you found me I'm a sinner you found me Lord thank you for your mercy thank you for your grace Here I am I give you my heart I give you my life is that you that your heart would you just raise your hand say it's Lord God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you anyone else say it's a Here I am Lord you found me I want you to have my life I so thank you for that mercy and that grace anyone else god bless you father thank you for the moving of the Spirit on our church thank you for the moving of the spirit on our lives thank you that your grace is amazing we give you honor and we give you thanks for what you're doing us today in Jesus name and everyone said [Music]
