To be a student of the scripture is to be more constantly in the company of the Holy Spirit. And that alone yields strength. The more you study the scripture earnestly, The more you are exposed to God. the closer we draw to him. And thus, the emphasis on the word, the study to show yourself approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth with purpose.
Ooh. You're listening to Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, here's Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation chapter 7 as he begins his message: millions saved. Revelation chapter 7. We'll get the whole chapter if things go according to plan. Verses nine and ten. The title of this message is Millions Saved.
Revelation 7, verses 9 and 10. After these things, I looked, and behold, a great multitude. which no one could number. Of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation. belongs to our God, Who sits on the throne? And to the lamb. This is a parentheses chapter. It's an interlude.
between the sixth and the seventh seal. And just as a little bit of review. My take on it is the first six seals cover the Great Tribulation period. and then the seventh seal opens up the details. There are two more of these interludes coming, and chapter 10 and chapter 12.
And they tell us what's happening with the believers during all of this wrath. judgment and destruction.
Well, what about the believers? And that's what these parentheses chapters are going to do for us. In this seventh chapter, there are two distinct groups of converts. There are the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. And then there are the martyred converts in heaven, before the throne of God as we just read in verses 9 and 10.
The myriads of Jews and Gentiles will trust the Lord for their salvation. After the rapture.
Now, I think this is kind of exciting when you think of the, you know, we think of the rapture, we are, we're out of here. But The results of all of these multitudes coming to Christ, are possible only by this crucible of the Great Tribulation period. As I'm speaking now, let's just single out one country, India, which now has the largest population in the world. How many people are just unreachable? The church can't reach them for whatever reasons, just can't get to them, not efficiently.
Well After the church is removed, which is what the rapture is, the removal of the true believers and therefore true assemblies. then what happens to all those people in such a country?
Well, when the prophecies laid out in the book of Revelation. become known to people globally, they're going to be a lot of converts. And this wouldn't happen without the Great Tribulation period.
So let's see if I can. Back that up a little bit more. This, of course, is my take, and as I said from the beginning, you can read five different commentaries on Revelation, you'll have five different opinions. Don't argue over it. Just see it the way you see it and leave me alone.
Verse 1. After these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth. that the wind should not blow on the earth. on the sea or on any tree.
Well The after these things, you know, we tend to think, well, then it's in sequence, but it's not, not here. It's not in the sequence of events. But it's in the order of what John was being shown.
So John is saying, I saw this. And after they showed me this, they showed me that.
Sometimes it is an order of sequence. It is this happened and this happens behind it, but not here. This again is a parentheses chapter because the seventh seal doesn't get open until we get to chapter eight.
So the first six seals released. The great destruction. What about people getting saved in those horrific days? And the world, while they're going through all of this horror, They will resent the courage of believers. They will double down against God.
But again, millions will be coming to salvation and the 144,000 Jews will be a big part. of leading people to the Scripture and to Christ. Revelation 9, looking forward. They did not repent of their murders and or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. And so that points out one of several places in Revelation.
That the unbelievers Are going to be doubling down against God in spite of all the pressure, the wrath. and the prophecies being fulfilled. It says here in verse 1: the four angels standing. It mentions these four angels here. And these are God's angels.
And I say that because when we get to chapter 9, we'll find four fallen angels. in contrast. Then he talks about the four corners of the earth. This is kind of boilerplate because this is a background information here. But if you're not familiar with it, it's good to hear some comment on it.
The four corners of the earth Well, an ancient idiom. For the every part of Earth, the four quadrants, for example, of a compass. And then holding the four winds. of the earth. Restraining the destruction to come.
That's what's going on. These four angels. are told To restrain the destruction. And the reason why is because God is going to. Mark his people.
And what the Scripture is telling us, what God is telling us, is that He makes a difference and He makes provision. And he's he's not he's not and nothing's out of control. It's not random. And so the holding the four winds, these four winds, they represent judgment to come, not just wind blowing. not just hurricanes, this all the destruction.
That is coming. That is a metaphor for that.
So he says that the wind should not blow on the earth. On the sea or on any tree.
Well, for now. That's going to change. call God using the weather nothing new? In the days of Pharaoh and the Jews in Egypt, We're told in Exodus 10 That the Lord sent a wind, and those great winds brought locusts as a judgment on Egypt. And then he used the winds to roll back the waters so the Jews could cross over the Sea of Reeds.
Uh on dry land again. emphasizing what this chapter is about. These restraints are on behalf of those whom God will save. And then by the time we get to chapter 8, verses 7 and 8, the winds are released, and the judgment then begins to fall.
Now we look at the second verse. Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea. We know it's coming. These angels are going to harm these things, just not yet.
The coming from the east, literally from the rising of the sun. when he entered his temple in the story of the temple in Ezekiel 43, the millennial temple, he comes from the east, the direction of the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. Metaphor. for protection, the seal that is on those. Who are going to be saved, and the first group will be the 144,000 Jews.
They will not be harmed. But everybody else will be saved the hard way. through martyrdom.
Well, the meaning here, having the seal of the living God on them, means that the angels will recognize who are the people of God. and who are not.
Now, it doesn't literally play out this way. Is God explaining to us through this imagery what's going on? There's a similar thing in Ezekiel 9. where God said, I'm going to deal with all this evil in Jerusalem. And he has these four angels with axes show up, and one with an inkhorn to write down the names.
I'll quote that in a little bit.
Well, it's not literally, four angels didn't literally show up and start slaughtering people. but it got the point across. And that is what's happening here in Revelation. And when you see it that way, It makes it, I think, a much more easier book to understand And apply. Because, what's the purpose of understanding Scripture if there's no application, if it doesn't find its way into life?
It is supposed to at some point. find its way. to us and then through us.
Well, there'll be no middle ground. Antichrist will also have a counterfeit mark. It will be the mark of a man. We'll cover that in latter chapters. when at the first Passover.
Of course, the angel of death saw the blood on the door and passed over that house. The judgment passed over and not fall upon.
So, this is not a new concept to the Bible student. But the point is that there is no middle ground. You either belong to Christ or you belong to Satan. This will determine one's eternal destiny. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea.
The loud voice there, and the Greek is megaphone, and that kind of tells us what John's experiencing. He's seeing all of these angels and the force of of thunder and the loudness of events, certainly impacted him and stuck with him long enough for him to write it all down. Verse 3, saying, Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.
So there's the delay. And God has a history of putting a shield of protection. Around his people, Noah and his family were protected by the ark. Lot. When Lot finally got out of Sodom and Gomorrah, The angels said to him, Get to the mountains.
And, you know, typical lot. Had a better way to do things, and he began to fuss and say, I can't survive there. How about I go to Bila? a small one of the cities marked for destruction. And he said it's a small city.
And the angel granted that. And changed the name to Zoar at that point. But this is what the angel said to him after he granted permission. Hurry. Escape there.
For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.
So there was this, you know, the withholding of judgment until God's Man, Lot, and his family in this case. were protected, and that's what we're seeing taking place here. This protection will be enjoyed by one more time uh the Jews that will be converted and used to convert Gentiles. Uh Israel was shielded from the plagues. Rahab and her family were shielded from the armies of Israel.
But now back to Ezekiel. I'm going to pause here. I hope this is interesting to you. I don't you may be going, I don't know, tell me that life's going to get better, give me a scripture verse that in the world you'll have much tribulation, but be of good cheer. I mean, there's that, of course.
We all need that. We have our moments. But to be a student of the scripture is to be More constantly in the company of the Holy Spirit. And that alone yields strength. The more you study the scripture earnestly, the more you are exposed to God, the closer we draw to Him.
And thus, the emphasis on the word, the study to show yourself approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth with purpose. So, hopefully I'm not. making this rich material boring. But also want to point out that here we are trottling along in the Revelation, and there's a whole chapter right here in the middle dedicated to saying. If it weren't for this great tribulation period, these millions of people would not be saved.
But God is going to save. millions of people in the midst of this horror. And it will be their choice to either believe him or not. And so in Ezekiel 9, talking about God making a distinction and very interested in his people in the midst of judgment. In Ezekiel 9 we read, And Yahweh said to him, to the angel.
go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over the abominations that are done within it.
So God is saying, I've shown you the abominations happening. In Ezekiel 7 and 8. And now, judgment in chapter 9. And yet, the whole time I've been paying attention to who is mine. Who in the midst of all of this craziness are interested or have the heart of God?
And these lessons, they need to be told. They need to be shared. With unbelievers, when we say, listen, God's going to judge the world, but understand, He's looking to make a distinction. Between those who would like to be an ally with him versus those who are determined to resist him. Verse four, And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel, were sealed.
We have every reason to take that number literally. There's no reason.
Well, let's spiritualize it. You know, four one hundred and forty four divided by twelve. There's no need. I don't know of a need. I can take it just like it is.
I believe there's going to be one hundred and forty four thousand Jewish converts. That will be used to convert Gentiles and Jews alike. There are four groups of believers represented in this chapter. When we get to verse 11, we'll find the Old Testament and New Testament Jews represented by an elder. We covered that in chapter 4.
The elders, the 24 elders, represent the Old Testament, New Testament believers. These 144,000 Tribulation Jewish converts, and then the Gentile converts, they also are represented in this chapter. The church is spared the tribulation, raptured. The 144,000 passed through unharmed. But all the others, all the other converts are martyred.
If they were believers before, they would have been raptured. But they're not raptured. because they became believers after the rapture. 144,000, a literal number. And it's doctrinally dangerous to spiritualize that number.
So what what is it, you know, where's all this going? Why do some commentators find it difficult to accept that these are Jewish converts? And there are. There are commentators reluctant to say, well, these are ethnic Jews. When their very tribes are going to be listed.
Well, that's stuff that I have to put up with, and I've gotten it out by sharing it with you. They're saved. When I mention saved because of the rapture, the rapture triggers investigation into prophecy. When the church is taken out of the way, it's not like, okay, that's it. Nothing more to happen here.
And they're not going to be magically saved. We don't believe in magic like that. The rapture triggers investigation into New Testament prophecy. Matthew 24:14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
And Matthew 24 is an end time verse. They are not saved and sealed to hang out. but to reach multitudes of people.
so significant that God names the very tribes they will come from. Of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed, clearly Jewish converts. Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah 29, he says, In the latter days you will consider it. Jeremiah 30, verse 24. And then the next chapter.
At the same time, says Yahweh, I will be the God of all the families of the earth. and they shall be my people. And so, way back in the Old Testament, there are these pockets of promise. About end-time events concerning the Jewish people. And now John is catching us up to these things.
And when we're gone, there will be people reading the scriptures. looking at the prophecies and realizing This is incredible. What we're living through is what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation period. And they're going to say, Jesus is indeed Lord. You're going to be the greatest awakening perhaps ever.
Explicitly said to be ethnic Jewish. And the Gentiles in a different group explicitly stated. Verse 5: Of the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 were sealed. Of the tribe of Gad, 12,000 were sealed.
Well, Judah, the tribe from which Messiah comes, named first. This numbering that follows is like what we read in the book of Numbers of the Jews for war. But there are two tribes missing: Dan and Ephraim. And it's remarkable why only. Why are these two left out?
Now, the commentators, as often they do, some of them, they just like to judge right away.
Well, they must have done something wrong. Let's go get them, boys. You know, Dan Dan worshipped idols and Ephraim did yeah, they all did. I don't think that's enough, and here's why. In Ezekiel 48, when God talks about the millennial kingdom.
Dan and Ephraim are mentioned. In fact, Dan is mentioned first amongst the tribes. The tribes are listed.
So if it was punishment, it would show up elsewhere. I don't believe it's punishment. And you might have noticed how often I refer to Ezekiel the prophet as we've been going through the revelation. because he has a lot to say about Not only Jerusalem in his day and the Jews in the time that he lived outside of Israel, but But also about what's coming in the end and the millennial kingdom.
So because of this mention by Ezekiel, of these two tribes being in union with the Messiah. I don't believe these tribes are left out because of punishment, but here's my scenario. Since the destruction of the second Jewish temple, remember Solomon's temple was first, that was destroyed by the Babylonians. The rubber bell comes back, they build the second temple. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed that one.
Well, when the Romans destroyed that second Jewish temple, Lost were the records that identified which tribe each Jew belonged to.
So since that time, a Jew has no way of telling you I'm from the tribe of Judah or Reuben or Gad or any other tribe.
Well, the Jewish temple is, the third Jewish temple is going to be rebuilt. And For it to function according to Scripture, they've got to identify who are the Levites and who are the sons of Aaron.
So we got some hurdles to cover here. How are we going to get these things done unless we spiritualize everything? We don't have to spiritualize everything. These prophecies, I believe, are going to be literally fulfilled. With all the ancient archaeological sites in Israel, and many of them still untouched, I believe they will discover ancient graves with tribal markings, and they will be able to do the DNA work to begin to once again identify What Jews came from which tribes?
Genealogists will make their identifications And I also believe they will be stopped before they get to the tribes of Dan and Ephraim. Because there's going to be a whole bunch of stuff going on during this period of time. That's my scenario. When that happens, it will be an enormous confirmation. To those living interested in what the Bible says, they'll turn to this chapter and they'll say, it's just like the scripture says.
All the tribes are named except Dan and Ephraim, and we're living at a time watching this happen, which will add to. in their thinking. The veracity of God's word, the trustworthiness of God's word. And so Antichrist entering into a covenant with the Jewish people will likely be a big part. Of building their third temple.
We know he's going to defile it, and Jesus warned when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
Well, standing in a temple where it doesn't belong.
Well, what temple? There's been two of them, there's none right now. There has to be a third one for that prophecy to come true. When Paul says this in 2 Thessalonians. about Antichrist, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Well, what temple? It doesn't exist right now. Yeah, there's a temple Mount Faithful in Israel that are putting all the articles together. They have great anticipation of their temple. They have to find out where it goes.
When we get to chapter 11, we'll start covering some of that.
So my point to sum up everything I've been saying. Is that these events that we're reading about in chapter seven and might be bored with? Are not going to bore those living through it. They're going to depend on these scripture verses. They're gonna take these verses to unbelievers and show them.
This is scripture. And if it's right with all of the prophecy about the Jewish people and the Gentiles and the destruction. It's also right about the salvation. the cross of Christ. Everything about his life.
They're going to preach the gospel too. They're not just going to be, oh, look at the prophecy, it applies to us right now. They're going to preach that we're sinners, we need a savior. We need to verbalize our confession of faith. Yeah.
This has been Cross-Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube.
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