good evening everyone welcome to the Columbus Bible Church livestream question-and-answer session we had some technical problems last night we couldn't go on so sorry about that we we missed spending the time with you so we're happy to be back tonight and when I say we have technical problems it's not this fault of our crew it's just you know things happen so we appreciate your patience in that regard let me open us in a word of Prayer and we will get started probably God thank you for this time we thank you for the Saints we pray that the time spent tonight would be spiritually profitable it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we pray amen I received a question that is a common question that people ask one of the things that we've noticed is during the the whole shutdown people have had a lot of questions about prophecy a lot of questions about Revelation and so the question we want to take up tonight is the question of who are the hundred and forty-four thousand who are the hundred and forty-four thousand now as we introduce that topic let me introduce it by saying this the one of the things that people always have is they have an interest in future events it's just a way that people naturally have an interest and one of the things about future events is future events are hard to understand it's very easy to look back on things in hindsight and understand them you know the you're familiar with the common expression hindsight is 20/20 but looking at things in the future is not so simple it's it's harder there are things that scripture tells us about the future but it still doesn't mean it's not difficult so we're gonna take a look at this to try to understand some things just knowing that they are difficult now I'll start with this whoever the 144,000 are it obviously has no relevance to the body of Christ in the sense that that we're gone so at the end of the dispensation of grace the body of Christ is caught up we will be in heaven with the Lord we'll get our new bodies we'll go through the judgement seat of Christ and will be installed into positions in the heavenlies for all eternity so part of the reason that's relevant the 144,000 are part of the prophetic program they're not part of the mystery so it's one of those things where we don't have to have a lot of clarity about that just because it's not necessary for the body of Christ during the dispensation of grace the scripture does tell us about it so we'll try to understand what we can but just understand it's a difficult subject so with those caveats let's jump in get with me Revelation chapter 7 Revelation chapter 7 this is the best place to start and after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree verse two and I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the Living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth in the sea so we see an angel from the east and he has the seal of the Living God we talked about this before now is a good time to bring out our props hadn't thought of this until just now but in time past we asked you what is this in several of you answered correctly it is a notarial seal and what that means is that after you've notarized a document let's say you wanted an official copy of the teaching notes and I signed them and then you wanted proof that it was actually me signing them a notary would would perform an acknowledgement and what this does is it seals the paper now why is all that relevant what what the seal is maybe you can see that maybe you can't but the seal is a mark of identification and so in revelry seven verse to where it talks about having the seal of the Living God it's the seal that belongs to the Living God and things that are sealed with that seal are identified as belonging to him that's what's going on in verse 2 now notice verse 3 saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads now we'll take the time to turn there but if you look at revelation 8 and you look at the trumpets some of the things they're about hurting the earth the sea nor the trees sound a lot like the trumpets so what's going on in verse 3 is the angel with the seal says don't hurt the sea don't hurt the earth don't hurt the grass and so on until we first seal the servants of God in their foreheads that has to take place first and I'm going to tell you a little bit more about that in just a minute but let's compare for the moment let's compare Revelation 14 verse 1 now we know from our past studies together that the fundamental key to scriptural understanding is cross references so as we turn to revelation 14 verse 1 we're going to find a very important cross reference revelation 14:1 and I looked and lo a lamb stood on the Mount Zion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand that's who are about to read about in Revelation seven having his father's name written in their foreheads so when we were in Revelation 7 verse 3 it said till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads so they're gonna be sealed in their foreheads revelation 14:1 says having the father's name written in their foreheads so what is the seal the seal must be the father's name right we compare revelation 7 verse 3 with Revelation 14 verse 1 we see that the seal of God his name and it's written in the foreheads of the hundred and forty-four thousand now here's what's a fascinating thing so in Revelation seven we're going to see the 144,000 who are obviously they belong to God they're sealed so here's a question that might surprise you in the book of Revelation who seals people first God or Satan who puts a mark on their own people first God does doesn't he because this happens far before the mark of the beast is introduced in the book of Revelation so what happens in Revelation 7 is God has a seal he seals his servants with that seal which is his name and he does that before Satan does anything like it Satan is a great counterfeiter he's a copier and of course his products are defective you know it's sort of what happens when when people produce knockoff goods you know like the people even been on the street and someone says hey I got this great deal I can sell you a Rolex watch for ten dollars well do you think it's a real Rolex do you think it performs as well as the real thing no it doesn't it's obviously it's imitation it's counterfeit it's it's vastly inferior and of course Satan's seal Satan's mark is going to be vastly inferior to the one that God the Father invented so look with me then about Revelation 7 go back to Revelation chapter 7 we left off in verse 3 but let's now go to verse 4 and I heard the number of them which were sealed and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel now you remember this from high school math but 144 should make you think of what twelve times twelve right it's a it's a perfect square so look with me at verse five of the tribe of juda were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of GAD were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of ass were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Nephilim were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Manasses were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Simeon were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Levi were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Issachar were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Joseph were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 11,500 I'm sorry we're sealed twelve thousand you may have noticed a pattern so the twelve tribes of Israel and of course twelve is a number representative of Israel each had a number of servants who were sealed twelve thousand so twelve tribes times twelve thousand each means a hundred and forty-four thousand in total so we see that the 144,000 are obviously members of the nation of Israel their representative of the twelve tribes so we know all that now I want to do one thing with you here let's let's pull up blue letter Bible and let's just run a little search here so we saw in Revelation 7 and revelation 9 that the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads so what I want to do is I want to then run a quick search and so I ran SCAL asterisk fo re asterisk and what I'm doing there is I'm running a search for all the instances where seal and 4 occur in the same verse so every sealing of a forehead will be pulled up by this now as far as the range I haven't restricted the range to Revelation because I want to find everything throughout the Scriptures so here's our answer there's two verses revelation 7:3 revelation 9 for so are we done have we learned everything there is to learn well what I would say is we don't know that we are yet and so the next logical search to perform is it makes sense to run a search for seal se al Astra or to run a search for forehead fo r e h asterisk and what I'm going to do is I'm just going to run the forehead one because we want to see what hits it gives us so we'll let that do its work and so there's 20 different verses and I'm not going to go through all of them line by line but let's do this get with me a zekiel chapter 9 that's where we want to go let's go to Ezekiel chapter 9 now many of you go through the Bible on a yearly basis and you read through the Bible that's a good practice some of you read through it multiple times some of you listen to it on on a lot using a Bible program some of you would like to listen to it using one of these very nice audio Bibles and if you are interested in one then please reach out to me give me your address your mailing address and tell us how you think it would benefit you but in other words a lot of you have exposure to the Bible and I get that now here's what happens look at with me at as II kiyul 9 verse 4 and the Lord said unto him go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof here's what I want you to notice a lot of you have read Ezekiel 9 before or you've heard it when you were listening to the Bible on audio but what happens just to be honest is our memory is limited and we don't retain everything that we hear you've heard you've all heard this before the reason why I suggest using blue letter Bible and running search after search after search is it forces you it brings to your attention verses that you may forget that you may not have considered and so what's absolutely fascinating is if as you think about revelation 9 verse 4 there's an absolutely clear reference in ezekiel 9:4 that it may not occur to you immediately but if you run the searches you'll come across it and then it's unmistakable because it specifically talks about a mark on the forehead what an absolutely clear cross-reference for what's going on in Revelation not only just pause there make this point as we're thinking of how to understand the book of Revelation of course revelation only has 22 chapters we're not going to be able to find within revelation definitions and specificity as to everything we might want to understand we're gonna have to rely upon cross references in other parts of the Bible and that's why we're gonna need to run searches to find them so look with me then at Ezekiel 9 verse 4 let's read it again and the Lord said unto him go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men and then notice what it says that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof so the context of what's going on is is in Jerusalem there are all sorts of abominations going on and the seal is not placed upon those committing the abominations it's placed upon those that sigh about them so what's going on is it is people that are in Jerusalem that are grieved that are troubled by what's going on there the wickedness verse 5 and to the others he said in mine hearing go ye after him through the city and smite so someone then falls along and smites people let not your eyes spare neither have ye pity slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women but come not near any man upon whom is the mark and begin at my sanctuary then they began at the ancient men which were before the house so what was the mark in Ezekiel 9 it was a form of protection the mark was placed upon those that side that were grieved at the abominations that were going on in Jerusalem what happened then as people went through the city to smite what were they to do not to go near those that had the mark so what we see from Ezekiel 9 is that the mark that was given was a form of protection now just as a reminder get with me Genesis chapter 4 Genesis chapter 4 verse 15 did Cain receive a mark do you remember Genesis 4 15 and the Lord said unto Him therefore whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him Sevenfold and the Lord set a mark upon Cain lest any finding him should kill him now with the Mark of Cain it's often said to be an evil thing a bad thing and there's all kinds of just things that people say but you realize that mark there was a form of protection it was put on Cain so that no one could kill him now Cain was up to no good I understand this but the mark was given to Cain as a form of protection the mark in Ezekiel 9 was given as a form of protection specifically to those who were true believers in Israel when Israel was in the midst of abominations I'm gonna suggest to you that's the same thing that happened with 144,000 go back with me to Revelation 7 do you remember how it said hurt not and let me just read it to you so that I don't miss state it Revelation chapter 7 verse 3 hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads now let's turn to Revelation 14 so so far I've suggested that the the mark is given to the 144,000 as a form of protection and we saw some things about 144,000 in Revelation 7 let's now look at Revelation 14 which is going to tell us some more things about 144,000 start at verse 2 and I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great Thunder and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand which were redeemed from the earth so the hundred forty-four thousand have their own song it's fascinating now notice verse four and this is going to give us some some very specific indications as to who the 144,000 are these are they which were not defiled with women for they are virgins these are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth these were redeemed from among men being the firstfruits unto God and to the lamb so what we can see with this so far just from verse four is they're obviously young men they're virgins and they are described as the firstfruits they follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth let's keep reading verse five and in their mouth was found no guile for they are with all without fault before the throne of God now one school of thought as to 144,000 are is that they are infants and the reason for that people say that is that they have no guile so they're they're innocent and what some theories will then say is that what the hundred forty-four thousand are is they were the infant's that were slaughtered by Herod at the time of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ others would say that it also includes the infants that were killed during the time of Exodus one when Pharaoh ordered that to occur get with me John chapter one so that is one possibility that they are infants I tend to not think that and I'll show you why that is look at John chapter one so part of the that theory is that the 144,000 are said to be without guile so therefore they have to be young children who are innocent I don't think that necessarily follows so look at me at John 1 verse 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and saith of him behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile so can an adult be without guile the answer to that is yes because Nathanael was so the fact that the young men in Revelation 144,000 are without guile I don't think it has to be the case that they're infants okay so let's recap what we know about them and then we're going to go back to revelation 7 so what we know so far is they're from the 12 tribes they're obviously all Israelites they're young men they're virgins they're the firstfruits they follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth and there's there's no guile there without fault so get with me revelation chapter 7 Revelation chapter 7 now we left off reading before in verse 8 of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Joseph were sealed 12,000 of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 12,000 then if you notice verse 9 after this I beheld so verse 9 is a it starts off with the transition and you can do one of two things it seems to me you can view verse 9 as this is a transition to a completely unrelated subject and John is just marking that transition you know and after this I beheld this it's a different thing or you can view what's introduced in verse 9 as this is somehow connected with the 144,000 my personal belief is that what we're reading here is connected to the hundred and forty-four thousand so look with me at verse 9 after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and Kindred's and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands so there's clearly a great multitude here and there from all nations and Kindred's and people and tongues and they're clothed with right robes within in palms in their hands go ahead and go down to verse 13 and one of the elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they in other words these guys I told you about in verse 9 where are they from who are they well what's tell me more verse 14 and I said unto him Sir thou knowest now I'm gonna pull up the chart here just for a minute so it says sir thou knowest and he said to me these are they which came out of Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb so the 144,000 come out of Great Tribulation in my mind what that tells you is they're not from exodus they're not from the early part of Matthew where the infants are slaughtered by Herod they actually came out of the Great Tribulation if you read Matthew 24 what you'll see is the 70th week is divided into two components there's the first three-and-a-half years and there's the second three-and-a-half years it is the second three and a half years in Matthew 24:21 that is described as the Great Tribulation so when the elder here says these are they which came out of Great Tribulation clears can be they have to come out of the second half of the 70th week that period of time so now let's read verse 14 and verse 15 and I said on him Sir thou knowest that he said to me these are they which came out of Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb therefore are they before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them now pause there just for a minute as you think about the timeline of history one of the things that you may think that I think this I'm glad I lived during the dispensation of grace and I'm glad I don't live during the Great Tribulation right I love the dispensation of grace I love the fact that I can believe the gospel and be eternally sealed from that moment forward that is tremendous it's idiot-proof I can't mess it up how that's awesome notice there is a benefit to living during the Great Tribulation what happens to that great multitude that have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb during the Great Tribulation you know do those people suffer they suffered there's you know little doubt of that but notice what happens in verse 15 therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in his temple do they have a special place in eternity for what they went through they do and so praise the Lord for just His grace and and and how wonderful is so that's that's something that hopefully is a comfort to you so here's what I'm gonna suggest what I personally believe and I'm going to show you some verses that will I think establish this conclusion the hundred and forty-four thousand are an evangelistic force that God uses to evangelize the entire Earth during the 70th week in other words the purpose of the 144,000 is they are an evangelistic force that God sends out to the entire earth to evangelize it quickly during the 70th week get with me Matthew 24 Matthew chapter 24 and since we're going to Matthew 24 I can show you something that I I just mentioned breathe briefly a moment ago but it'll be good for us to look at this together so Matthew 24 start in verse 14 Matthew 24:14 and this gospel the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come so verse 14 ends no pun intended with the end coming now look at verse 15 when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the Holy Place that is the abomination of desolation that is set up in the middle of the 70th week so the end if you will starts at the middle of the 70th week when the abomination of desolation is set up so if you look at verse 15 you see how it doesn't end with a period and it the sentence continues on notice verse 21 well let's just read verse 16 then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains those in Judea don't flee until the abomination of desolation is set up during the first three and a half years of the tribulation of the 70th week they can just remain in Jerusalem but it's when the abomination of desolation is set up they leave at that moment verse 17 that let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes and woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day in other words this is an instantaneous flight this is a difficult thing now notice verse 21 for then shall be great tribulation incredibly powerful verse it tells you the Great Tribulation doesn't begin until the abomination of desolation is set up so the first half of the 70th week is part of the 70th week but the Great Tribulation is really the last three and a half years verse 21 tells you that for then shall be Great Tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be now here's what I want you to notice go back to verse 24 or verse 14 I'm sorry and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come now think about that so I take that to mean that during the first three and a half years of the 70th week the gospel of the kingdom has to be preached to the entire world if you want to say it's longer it includes the whole seven years I guess you could do that but it seems to me what it's saying is during the first three and a half years the gospel of the kingdom has to be taken to the entire world now think about this with me who does that you realize Paul didn't he didn't complete all of his travels in three and a half years he didn't complete all of his travels in seven years it took far longer than that so who is going to take the gospel of the kingdom to the entire world in a period of three and a half years or so well get with me Matthew 10 Matthew chapter 10 Matthew 10 verse 5 these twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city the Samaritans enter ye not Matthew 10 verse 5 is the beginning of instructions to the twelve notice verse 23 it's this is still addressed to the same group of people but when they persecute you in this city flee ye into another for verily I say unto you ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come so let's think about the chart for a minute without the dispensation of grace so Matthew 10 is right here before the cross with the Twelve Apostles and he says to them when he sends them out you won't finish going over all the cities of Israel before the Son of Man come which is the second coming in other words what he's saying to them is I'm sending you out and you need to go from city to city but here's the reality you're not even going to finish going to Israel until it's the time of the second coming so now think about Matthew 24:14 and this gospel the kingdom shall be preached in all the world and then shall the end come well that's not done by the twelve because the twelve don't even get through all of Israel so the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 that the gospel of the kingdom be preached in all the world that's not performed by the twelve it can't be on the basis of Matthew 10 23 well what you might then think as well doesn't revelation have two witnesses and it does it has two witnesses that witness in Jerusalem but I would just submit to you that it's not practical to think that they will go into all the nations of the world during that three and a half years either that there's no indication that they do but think about this if there was an evangelistic force of a hundred and forty four thousand young healthy single males could they do that in other words they're young they can travel they're sealed so they're protected from the harm they don't have family commitments that require all of the planning they just you know get a backpack and let's go we got a job to do it seems to me that what happens with 144,000 is it is a perfect design if you wanted to evangelize the world in three and a half years what would you do well I think what I would do that God knows better me of course is I'd pick a group of single unmarried people that were equipped to do that and send him out and that's what God does and he seals them with his mark number one to identify them as his own and number two to protect them from from harm that may come to them along the way get with me first John chapter two first John chapter two first John chapter two and we may actually give you some bonus content here in a minute I'm thinking about it first John chapter 2 verse 13 I write unto you father's because he have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young men because he have overcome the wicked one I write unto you little children because you have known the father I unto you father's because you have known him that it's from the beginning I have written unto you young men because you are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one now it's fascinating in 1st John 2 verses 12 to 14 is the author makes a specific point to address three different groups of people there's little children there's young men and there's father's and the description of each is different seems like there's differences in terms of in and there's differences in their spiritual condition if you will what it says with regarding the young men is they've overcome the wicked one and of course we know that what overcomes the wicked one get first John chapter five first John chapter five verse four for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith so what I'm gonna suggest to you is just as you think about Ezekiel chapter 9 what God did is he sealed some folks that were true believers because he wanted to protect them and he had work for them to do that's what God does with 144,000 and I think what they are is they are a great evangelistic force to the nations of the world during the 70th week and they're apparently very effective because what revelation says is those that get saved from their preaching is a great multitude I am gonna give you some bonus content here so get mark sixteen so I'm gonna suggest to you that's how you should think about 144,000 you can study it and and reach whatever conclusion you want look with me at mark 16 verse 15 now let's think about mark 16:15 based upon how they would have understood the chart at that time so in mark 16:15 where after the cross were after the resurrection we're before acts 2 so we're right in there so notice mark 16:15 and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth in his baptized shall be saved that's the kingdom gospel just like Matthew 24:14 said had to be preached into all the world but he the believeth not shall be damned now notice verse 17 and these signs shall follow them that believe now here's what happens often today a lot of folks within Christendom look at the signs the spiritual gifts and they say these are given as a powerful evidence and when you see these signs manifested tongues and healing and so on those are a powerful evidence that leads people to believe my first comment on that is faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God faith is not based upon sight right faith is based upon the Word of God the second comment I would give you is this think for a moment dispensational II now here's what I mean if you're right here what do you expect the near future to be you expect the near future to be the 70th week on the horizon in acts 2 when Peter stands up he says this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel this the Sun will be turned into darkness the moon into blood before the coming of the great notable day of the Lord during the Lord's earthly ministry he said this generation shall not pass away till all these things be filled did he say the second coming is a thousand years away or did he say men it's within your lifetime he told him it was within their lifetime acts 2 when it says this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel that's another confirmation from the Holy Spirit in other words the folks that are alive at that time what they should expect is they should expect the 70th week to come now it doesn't come because of God's insertion of the dispensation of grace but in the early part of the book of Acts they had no way of knowing that so now read mark 16 verse 17 and tell me if it doesn't make practical sense given the dispensational context verse 17 and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out Devils well they're gonna need to cast out Devils because what is one of the things that happens in the 70th week well there's war in heaven Satan and his angels lose and and where do those devils go they go for being in heaven down to the earth so would power over devils be something meaningful to have during the 70th week it would be they shall speak with new tongues think about it if you say if you if you recruit a team of 144,000 and say you have three and a half years to evangelize the earth the whole earth I want the gospel the kingdom preached in all nations well the gift of tongues will be mighty helpful wouldn't it you don't got time to go to language school for three years you got to get out and do the work because you have to evangelize the world in the short time that's given you wouldn't the gift of tongues be rather useful let's keep going they shall take up serpents are there serpent like creatures that Revelation tells you will be on the earth during the 70th week yeah there are would it be nice if you had the ability to handle them it would be it would be a form of protection not realize what people do today is people today during the dispensation of grace they get a box of snakes and they handle them to switch to show their faith and that has not a thing to do with the word of God this verse has nothing to do with the dispensation of grace the time when that verse was written no one knew of the dispensation of grace right or the time when it's spoken I should say because it was a mystery and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them what happens to some of the waters during revelation they become bitter they become wormwood would it be helpful if you could drink any deadly thing and it not hurt you you see the point and they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover what I want you to notice is this in mark 16 when he sends out the folks with the commission that he gives them he gives them those powers not because hey look this would be a really cool magic trick to impress your friends no it's nothing like that when God does things it always has a practical ramification it has a usefulness based upon an understanding of the situation that's why those gifts are given in mark 16 I'm gonna tell you the same thing is what goes on with 144,000 they are sealed for a very specific purpose for a very specific reason and it's because God has a dispensational purpose he wants to accomplish he wants the gospel of the kingdom preached in all the world before the abomination of desolation is set up to make that happen he has to equip some people to do it and that's what he does with a hundred and forty-four thousand so hopefully that helps you think about that subject a little bit if you have thoughts on that and be happy to hear them but thank you for joining with us so let's close in a word of Prayer father God we thank you for your word we thank you for its many perfections we thank you for its its insight its brilliance its wisdom we pray Lord that we would be busy studying it that we would take these truths into our soul that our inner man would be edified that he would be fortified in sound doctrine that we would not only have confidence but we would be equipped to do the work the ministry it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray [Music] you [Music] [Music] you
