Well, if you have your Bibles, and I hope that you do, I want you to join me in Revelation chapter number 7. Revelation chapter number seven here tonight. And we are continuing our series through the book of Revelation entitled The Returning King. And remember, John is writing, the Apostle, John the Apostle is writing on the island of Patmos. He's writing to us.
He is really writing, revealing Jesus and things that are to come to us. And so I want to show you the outline. I show you every week, and we always have some at your entrances.
So if you ever lose yours, misplace yours, or need another one, you can always grab one of these. But I want to show you a picture of our outline, of the timeline, just to give you an idea of kind of what we're working through-a timeline from the book of Revelation on, so you can see this. And so, after Jesus resurrected, he was on earth for about 40 days. He showed himself to his apostles multiple times, and then many other people. He ascended up into heaven, and then when he ascended, he told the apostles to wait until the comforter would come.
That's the Holy Spirit. That happened in Acts chapter number two on the day of Pentecost. And that's when the Holy Spirit came and indwelled the believers. That's when we would say the church began, okay? And so the church began.
And that's what Revelation chapters one through three are all about. It's about the church age. That's when the seven letters to the seven churches, when we study that, that's the age. I have it circled on our timeline that we're working through because that's the age that we are in today.
Okay?
So we exist in the church age. And then in Revelation 4, in chapter 5, John is taken almost in spirit. up into the heavenly realm. And he gets glimpses of heaven. In chapters 4 and chapters 5, we get a glimpse of what the throne room is like and what is going on in this heavenly realm.
And we use that as really what we would call a proof text, if you would, for why we believe that the rapture, that is the snatching up of the church that 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians talk about. comes prior or before the tribulation period. We did a whole lesson on that.
So if you missed that and you have questions about that, I'd encourage you to go back and see that. And we gave a lot of biblical evidence and proof for why that's what we believe here at our church.
So Revelation 4 and 5 is all about the rapture and what's happening in heaven. And then in chapter 6, we get a little bit of a, we're back down to kind of see what's happening on, or in chapter 7 to see 6 and 7, or really 6 through 18, we get a picture of what's happening on earth during the tribulation.
So last week, we started this dive into what is going to happen at the tribulation. And it's terrible, terrible things. But remember, if you know Jesus. As your Savior, right now, and he was to come back at any moment, you would be raptured up. You would be snatched up to meet him in the air.
And that's the rapture of the church.
So we have nothing to worry about as we look throughout this tribulation period. And so I want you to understand that. But then what we find in Revelation 6 through 18. It's God's judgment, okay? It is God's wrath poured out upon the world.
And you see that in three specific ways. And we started this last week. But the first way that you see it, it's not on your notes, it's just extra, is through the seven seals. We started them last week. We got through seals one through six in chapter six of Revelation.
And you see God's judgment depicted in these three ways. The first way you're going to see is the seven seals that are going to be opened. You then are going to see the seven trumpets. That will be open or that will be blown. And then you will see seven vials or seven bowls, if you would, that will be poured out.
So God's judgment in chapter 6 through 18 is going to be depicted in those three ways. The vials, the trumpets, and the seals. And so last week we looked at the first six seals. Just a little bit of review for you. Seal number one that was opened, and you remember Jesus is the only one that could open the seal because he was the lamb that was slain for us.
And so all authority was given to him so he can open these seals. Seal number one was it showed us what's happening on earth during the tribulation, it was deception. That's when we see the Antichrist come onto play. And so that seal shows us that there'll be deception. Many people will be deceived during the tribulation period because of the Antichrist.
Seal number two showed us that there will be war. There will be war happening on earth during the tribulation period. Still, number three was famine and an economic collapse, if you would. That's going to be happening during the tribulation period. Seal number four was death.
Seal number five was the persecution of believers. Many will die. Many believers will be martyred during the tribulation period. And then seal number six. was natural disasters.
Was natural disasters. In chapter 7. Um It's really interesting, and I don't really know why. In fact, if you do a study or start reading on your own about the book of Revelation, chapter 7 is a very interesting chapter in this whole thing. And here's why: it's because you get a break.
in the midst of tribulation. That's why tonight, if you noticed, and I don't know how much you pay attention to these things, but if you noticed, we were singing about the mercy and grace and goodness of our God. And anytime you look in the tribulation, you kind of were like, where does that fit? Where does that fit in these terrible things that we looked at last week, like war and famine and death? Where does the goodness of God fit?
And in chapter 7, you kind of have this, what I've entitled tonight, Mercy. in the midst of chaos. You have this chapter, mercy in the midst of chaos. In fact, many commentators think chronologically that chapter seven, you know, might be at another point on the time. We don't know, but it's just kind of put here for us to see this.
And it's just like we have chapter seven in the midst, and in the very middle, chapter six ends with the sixth seal being opened. And you would think that the seventh seal would be the next thing on the list, right? But then you have chapter seven in the midst of this, and then in chapter eight, we're going to pick right back up with the seventh seal.
So chapter 7. Here is like mercy in the midst of chaos. There was a verse. We looked at this way back in our series through the minor prophets, but Habakkuk. If you remember, Habakkuk, the prophet in the Old Testament, he said this, and this is kind of, it made me think about chapter 7.
Habakkuk makes this statement. In wrath. Remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. That was his prayer to God when he was prophesying all these terrible things about the nation of Israel and different things.
And he said, In wrath, remember mercy. And here's what I'm telling you: that's kind of what chapter seven is. In the midst of wrath, in the midst of chaos, in the midst of tribulation, you still see God's mercy on display. And that's what we're going to find here in Revelation chapter number seven. The chapter, and we're going to go in it real slow, but chapter seven, you find two visions.
That's your outline for tonight. He has two visions in this chapter. Remember, John, when he's getting this revelation, if you would, this revealing. It's almost like a cluster of visions coming at him all at once. Can you imagine how overwhelming this is?
It's overwhelming for us, right? Because we're like studying this and our minds are everywhere. We can only take a little bit at a time, you know, before we come back each week. And John was receiving all these different clusters of visions.
Well, in chapter seven, you have two of them. And so let's dive in. We're going to read verses one through eight. That's vision number one. And then we will go into the rest of the chapter here in a moment.
But verses one through eight, it says this. 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. 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. saying Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. and I heard the number of them which were sealed. And there were sealed 144,000 of all of the tribes of the children of Israel.
Of the tribe of Judah. We're still 12,000. Of the tribe of Reuben, we're still 12,000. Of the tribe of Gad, We're sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Asher, we're sealed 12,000.
Of the tribe of Naphtali, we're sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Manasseh, we're sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Simeon, we're sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Levi, we're sealed. This is when I wish I could just call on somebody else to read some verses for me.
Of the tribe of of Issachar. We're sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zebulun, we're sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph, we're sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin, we're sealed twelve thousand.
So Um So he gets this first vision. You see it in verse 1, and he saw.
So he gets this vision, and you see, and what I've entitled the first vision is this: the vision of the sealed 144,000.
So that's on your notes tonight. The vision of the sealed. 144,000.
Now, I'm going to break this up just a little bit because it's kind of there's a lot of stuff happening in these eight verses. And so, the first thing I want you to see, and it's found in verses one through three, you're going to see the withholding of judgment. The withholding of judgment. What John sees. is this.
Four angels. And they are positioned at the corners of the earth, if you would. And they're holding, if you would, the four winds of the earth.
So you have four angels, and they're holding the winds of the earth. Wind is depicting judgment.
So, what's happening is these four angels are holding, and it's clear, and you find out in verse number three as well, that it's clear that these angels have the ability, if you would, to To judge and release the winds of judgment on the face of the earth. And so he sees these four, and they're holding judgment, and judgment is coming at all angles. That's what we saw in chapter 6. And it's coming at all angles. And then also in verse 2, but he sees another angel.
So he sees a fifth angel. And it's apparent here, and you know, and maybe we could do a series at some point about angels in general, which probably would be good for us to understand stuff like this. But here, you kind of get the sense that this angel, this fifth angel, had some. Authority. Or a higher rank, if you would, because this fifth angel.
is carrying the seal of the living God. He's carrying the seal of the living God, and he's crying out in verse 3 to these other four angels that have the ability to inflict judgment through these winds, to inflict judgment on the face of the earth. And this fifth angel is crying out to the four, saying, Hurt not the earth. Neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This is mercy in the midst of chaos.
And here's what I want you to know. This is true throughout your entire Bible. Like, the world thinks our God is a hateful God. And I always just want to say to the world, read your Bible. Read your Bible.
Because from the beginning of time, anytime God's judgment is inflicted across the world, God's mercy is always there. His mercy and judgment exist together. He destroyed the world, but he provided an ark. He's going to judge the world. He provided redemption through his son, Jesus.
He's now, you know, he's putting and inflicting judgment on the entire world through this seven-year tribulation. And here, what we find here is almost this mercy in the midst of this chaos happening. And here, this fifth angel is telling them, don't hurt the earth, don't inflict any more judgment on the earth until the servants. Have been sealed or have been marked. And so you see the withholding of judgment, but in verses 4 through 8, you see the sealing of God's servants.
You see the ceiling of God's servants. Um you see this a hundred and forty-four uh thousand number. And there is some debate about the one hundred forty four thou here's what the one hundred forty four thousand represent, okay? You can write this down. The one hundred and forty four thousand represent A group of Jewish or Jews that will accept Christ, recognize him as the Messiah.
And because of that, they will be sealed or protected from the great tribulation that is to come.
So, what you find here is these 144,000 have to be sealed.
So, the tribulations already begin.
So, these 144,000, it's almost as if God will providentially select a group of Jewish people that will recognize him as the Messiah during the tribulation period. And because of that, there will be a sealing or a marking for them, and they will be protected because of that sealed from the great tribulation that is to come. And that's what you find here.
So you have this ceiling of God's servants. Twelve nations. And you see 12,000 from each nation.
So you know we read the so here's what I want you to know. If someone knocks on your door. On a Saturday morning. Wearing black pants. and a white shirt.
And tells you that they're a Jehovah's Witness. And you get into this. Here's what I'm going to tell you. There are a few Jehovah's Witnesses that believe. that some of them are a part of the 144,000.
Read your Bible. Okay, tell them to read their Bible. Share the gospel with them in a kind way. And then they can go on their way.
Okay.
So my point is: these aren't Jehovah's Witnesses like some of them believe or whatever. These are clearly Jews that have been sealed and marked. I mean, it's right here, and he lays it out for us: 12 nations. Uh times twelve thousand A couple of details about them. These 144,000 will be sealed on their foreheads.
The seal is a marking that will protect them from what is happening, the great tribulation, which is the last half of the tribulation, if you would. You learn, so they'll be sealed, these 144,000. Not only that, they are servants of God. You see that in verse number three. It says, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
And then what you see in verses four. Through eight, you see that they were from all of the tribes of Israel. All that's on your notes. They are from all of the tribes of Israel. These 144,000, we.
We'll see a little bit more about them in Revelation 14 because you get this sense that they are the first fruits, if you would, of the redeemed of Israel that Revelation 14 talks about. And so you're going to get a little bit more of them in the future. But what they're going to do is they're serving as witnesses. of God during the tribulation. If that is not mercy in the midst of chaos, I don't know what it is.
Because in the midst of the tribulation, in the midst of chaos, God's going to raise up and providentially select these 144,000 Jewish people to rise up and be witnesses of him throughout the world about what is happening and about what God has provided. for uh for them.
So a little bit about this because it's interesting.
So, the nation of Israel, if you go back to Genesis, we're not going to turn all the way there, but there's a couple of interesting things here in these verses that we need to point out. And the history of Israel.
So, you know, God in Genesis 12, He tells Abraham, I'm going to make of you a great nation. Abraham couldn't have kids. And so eventually God gives him and Sarah Isaac.
Okay, you remember this story? And so Isaac comes along, and then after Isaac, you get Jacob, right?
Well, after Jacob, Jacob had these 12 sons, 12 tribes of Israel, and that kind of thing. And so you see that, and you see them listed here, the 12 tribes of Israel.
Now, there's something very interesting, and I'm just going to briefly mention this because there's a lot of debate about why, and so I'm going to give you my reason. But does anybody know what tribe is not listed in chapter 7? Daniel.
Okay.
And the tribe of Dan is not listed here. In fact, what you find, if you know, Joseph, one of the sons of Israel, had two sons. Ephraim and Manasseh. And what you find here in Revelation 7, when he's listing the 12 tribes, Dan is not mentioned, but he is replaced by Manasseh.
Okay.
And there's a lot of speculation why. And in case some of you are wondering, I'm going to give you my take. And I really believe this. And so I think this is why. In Genesis 49, you can turn there, but I'll read it for you.
Uh Genesis 49 in verse 2. Uh sixteen.
So in Genesis forty nine, Israel, Jacob, before he dies, he's blessing. all of his sons.
So he's going one at a time and he's blessing them.
Now, if you're one of the sons, you're kind of waiting, you know, your blessing. He comes to Judah, and we looked at this earlier in the study through Revelation because he comes to Judah and he says something very interesting. He says, the scepter will not depart. In other words, what he was prophesying about Judah is that one day a Messiah with all authority will come from your tribe and he will be the Messiah. And so if you're Judah, you're thinking, wow, this is great.
Thanks, Dad. You know, this is awesome. And the rest of them are like, man.
Well, when he comes to Dan. If you're Dan, you're really kind of down about yourself. I'm sure it took a long time for him to get over this. Because Dan, in Genesis chapter 49, here's what he said about Dan. Dan shall judge his people.
As one of the tribes of Israel, and he says this: Dan shall be, this is his prophecy over the tribe of Dan, Dan shall be a serpent by the way. An adder in the path, That bideth The horse's heels.
So that his rider shall fall backwards. Just my interpretation and my belief, and this is just me.
So don't hold us to this and stuff, but here's what I'll tell you. I think that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan. And so I believe that the Antichrist, now there's a lot of debate, and hopefully I didn't open up a can with this, but there's a lot of debate about if the Antichrist will be Jewish or not. I think he's going to be Jewish. And I think he could be coming from the tribe of Dan.
Which will lead to possibly why in chapter seven, the tribe of Dan is not mentioned or not included in the 144,000 Jews that God will raise up and providentially select.
Okay.
So Um but that he's replaced here in chapter number seven. With the tribe of Manasseh. And so that's one thing that's interesting. Another thing that I thought was really interesting about this is that, and I did a little bit of study on this and some research, but the Jews, because of all the different things that have happened to Jewish people throughout history, through captivity and all the different things that we could look to, you know, the Holocaust, everything else, you know, there's a list of things that have happened. Jews don't really know what tribe they belong to.
So, if you talk to the average Jew, they won't. In fact, if you look at this and research this, the only ones that know to some degree that they could belong to one of their tribes is the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi, because there's some names, some nicknames, if you would, that have been passed on through the priestly tribe of Levi. And so some Jews, if they have received that through, they would identify themselves with the tribe of Levi. But the rest of the tribes do not know that.
And what's interesting to me about that is none of them know today what tribe they belong to. God does. And one day He will select These 144,000, and I'll tell you this: He'll select them from each tribe. In other words, they might not know what tribe, God knows, and He will select. uh each one of them and they will be numbered uh from each And every tribe listed here.
You have a picture of God's mercy. And so, here in verses 1 through 8, you see the stealing of the 144,000 Jews that will be raised up during this time. In verses 9 through 17, you have a second. Vision. If you're with me, can you say amen real quick?
Okay, just making sure you're still there. You see a second vision here in verses 9 through 17.
So let's read that together. It says, after this, so after that one vision, he beholds, he gets another vision, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number. Of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, Amen.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said unto him, 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.
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. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears. from their eyes.
So, you see in these verses a second vision. There's a lot of things happening here.
So, one thing that is different. Is that in the first eight verses, you see the first vision of the ceiling of the 144,000 Jewish believers that will recognize God or Jesus as the Messiah? They will be sent around the world as servants of Him to witness for Him. And here, You have a group from every tribe, every nation, every people. Verses one through eight, Jewish Believers.
Verses 9 through 17, Gentile believers. Once again, mercy in the midst of chaos. Mercy in the midst of chaos. This multitude has palms in their hands. And referencing palm branches.
The only time that you would see in the New Testament that someone would be carrying a palm branch is in John chapter number 12, Palm Sunday. When Jesus came riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, and everyone waved their palms at him and in adoration and worship. This depicted that he is the Redeemer that would bring victory for them. And so they are responding in worship. And what you have here is a multitude in white robes with palms in their hands.
You get this same type of scene, if you would, that they are worshiping him.
Now, there's a lot of things happening here, so I'm going to kind of run through it and then give you a few thoughts about this multitude or whatever. But so you have a great multitude. No one could number, okay? It's from every nation, tribe, tongue, kindred, and people. Meaning Gentile believers?
They're all around the throne. This is God Almighty's throne that sits on the throne. In the midst of them is the Lamb. The Lamb that was slain, that is Jesus the Son of God, our Messiah. They are in white robes.
representing the righteousness of Jesus. They have palms or palm branches in their hands. That is portraying worship. Redemption and victory. You see the elders here.
We saw that earlier in the book of Revelation. There's 24 of them. They represent the church. You see them here. And then you see four beasts, which are these angelic beings there as well.
So all this is happening. Can you imagine how overwhelming this is? For John. The apostle, as he sees this. And then in verse 13, what's really interesting to me is that one of the elders.
answered him.
Now Here's why that intrigues me. John was not asking. A question. Like, John, what Like to our knowledge, here, what he has recorded, he didn't ask a question. And in the midst of this, being overwhelmed.
This elder, one of the elders comes up to him, and the elder comes up to him. This is representing the church. And he asked him, he asked John. He says to him in verse 13, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? In other words, he's saying, Who are they in white robes?
The elder in the vision is asking John the Apostle, who's not asking the question.
Now, I love John's response. Have you ever been in a situation where somebody asked you a question. And you don't know the answer? You've never been there?
Okay.
I live there, and so that's where I live all the time. And here's the deal. Have you ever been there and you kind of think for a minute and you don't know what to say? And so you're just like, okay, let's just put it back on the person asking the question and just say something like, Yeah. You know, right?
And you just sit and let it sit there. You're kind of like, you know, when they ask you something that's really hard, you're just like, come on, don't you know that? And you try to just get out of there because you don't know. That's what John kind of does here, which is, I love reading the Bible and I love really seeing you. I mean, don't ever tell me the Bible's boring because there's so much here.
So this elder comes up to him. He's like, hey, John, and he says, what are these? And where did they come from? And then in verse 14, he says, I answered him. He said, Thou knowest.
He said, Sir. You know. Right? And then this elder begins to answer the question that the elder really was asking. And he said to him that this multitude are they which came out of the great tribulation.
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
So, this is really, really good. And this is just powerful of what's happening here. And so, who are the multitude and who are they? You'll see it up on screen. It's on your notes.
It's this. He answers them right there in this verse. He tells us: they're Gentile saints. that were saved during The Great Tribulations. and martyred for their faith.
And here, what's interesting, they have. Endured. And they're in the presence of God.
Now, I told you this earlier when we started talking about the tribulation, that a lot of us think that when, after the rapture and we are snatched up to be with him, I will say this, I don't know this definitively, but like a lot of times we just think that the minute the rapture happens and we get caught up, that that moment, the seven-year tribulation begins. We assume that. We know that the rapture happens before the tribulation. I don't know if there's a little bit of a gap of time after the rapture until the tribulation. I don't know that.
And the Bible really doesn't tell us. It just says that I think it proves that the rapture is going to happen, and at some point after that, the seventh-year tribulation.
So if you accept Christ before the rapture, you're going to be called up together to meet him in the clouds, okay? But I used to think that, you know, if you're not saved. And the rapture happens, you have absolutely no hope.
Now, I'm just going to tell you that it's going to get really bad here on this earth. We learned about that in chapter 6, and you're going to see more of that as we look at the seven trumpets that are going to be blown and the seven bowls or vials that are going to be open. It's going to get really bad. But there is still going to be an opportunity. You're going to have 144,000 Jews.
Here I have two angels. You know, going around, flying around, preaching the good news of the gospel during this time. It's going to be terrible, and there's going to be a ton of deception and a ton of war and a ton of terrible things happening. But there is still going to be some people that are going to be saved during this time, and what we have here. is that.
Now, here's what I want you to know. That if you're not a Christian, I would suggest you get on the first flight out of here, which is called the Rapture of the Church.
Okay.
Don't delay, don't wait. And so, and continue to tell people about Christ so that more and more people can get on the first flight out. But there is still going to be an opportunity. So, here you have these Gentile saints that are saved during the tribulation period. There's a couple of things about this multitude that I want you to see.
It's a great multitude, nobody could number. And so, like, John, you know, he can't even make a number up.
So, he's kind of like, you know, I mean, at least he had the 144,000, right? But here, it's like, man, there's this massive number, we can't see it. And a bunch of the population is going to be gone during the tribulation because of so much death. It's going to be happening. And there's this large number here.
A couple of things about the multitude that I want you to see here in chapter 7. First, I want you to see the multitude's attire. The multitude's attire is white robes. The multitude's attire, what they're wearing. Is white Robes.
Now Um white. Is always a picture of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. What's amazing to me about his righteousness is this. is that his righteousness Is is dipped in the blood of the Lamb. You dip something in blood, what color is it?
It's going to be reds. But when you're washed in the blood of Christ, the crimson blood of Christ. You come out on the other side white. Completely clean. And what you see here is that this multitude that no one could count that has endured this great tribulation and been martyred for their faith, but they trusted Christ during these terrible events that are happening on our earth.
They're going to be washed in the blood, that red blood, crimson blood of Christ. And they're going to come out on the other side wearing white, completely clean. and filled with the righteousness of Jesus. And by the way, you know, if you're a Christian. You're not listed in this multitude.
Now, you're going to be around the throne as well, and that kind of thing. But what I'm saying here is this: the beauty of the gospel is this. Is that when you trust in Jesus and his sacrifice for you? Just like this multitude. You as well, right now.
If you're a Christian and you say, I'm born again tonight, here's what I want you to know: you only became born again because you chose to trust in Jesus as your Savior, and through His sacrifice, through His blood washing you, you come out on the other side, standing before a holy God. White. Just with the righteousness. The scripture would say, the Apostle Paul would call it this: that the righteousness of Christ has been credited. or the biblical term would be imputed into your life.
It's been credited to your life. And here, this multitude that endures this terrible tribulation, they're in the presence of God. They rejected him for so long. And yet, still in the midst of this chaos, God's mercy shone bright here. And they're going to accept him, they're going to endure, and they're going to give their life for Christ.
Because he gave their life or his life for for them. And so the multitude's attire is white. The multitude's responsibility. What we see here is that they will serve God. Day.
And I think You see that in verse 15. Therefore, they're before the throne of God, God Almighty's throne, and they serve him day and night. And what's amazing here is that they're serving him. They're declaring these things. And you see that they're here to serve and be a witness and just in the presence of God, God, forever.
But then, what you see here, which is so special. Is that In the latter part of this chapter, you see the multitude's company. is the lamb. And so think about this. These are people who have rejected God, and then during the Great Tribulation, The mercy of God was still on display, and they trusted Christ and gave their hearts to Him.
And now John is seeing them. And they are around the throne of God, serving God. Day and night. Dressed in white, the righteousness of Jesus. And the lambs.
The lamb that was slain. In verse 17. which is in the midst of the throne. shall feed them. shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.
And God shall wipe. away. all tears from their eyes. Jesus, the Lamb of God, shall dwell among them, feed them, provide for them. and wipe every tear from their eyes.
Listen, here's what I want you just to leave here with tonight. Is that the mercy of God is on display. in the midst of just a chaotic tribulation world. And And here's what I want you to know. We're not a part of the 144,000.
Those are Jewish believers. That are gonna See him as the Messiah, and God's going to providentially raise them up from the nation of Israel. But We're also this multitude. These are Christians who trust him, Gentile believers. During the great tribulation, and they endure, even though they give their life for him.
And now they're seated around the throne. But here's what I want you to know: is that one day. You and I if you know God. As your Saviour. And you've trusted in the blood of Jesus that has been shed for you one day.
We're going to be in his presence. And here's what I'll tell you about the lamb. The lamb that was slain for you, it's amazing because we could talk all day about what Christ has done for us. Christ came here. He lived a perfect life, something that you could never do.
He then died the death that you deserved. And what we have is a picture that in heaven, God is on his throne, God Almighty, God the Father. And in the midst of his throne is the Lamb Jesus. The lamb that was slain for you and I, and what he's going to be doing. every broken heart Wiping away every Tier.
He's going to be comforting us. He is going to be serving us. And that's what Christ, or we're going to be serving him. And he's going to be just wiping tears and comforting all of us. That are in his presence.
Listen, one day we're going to be there. One day we are going to be there. And I hope it's tonight. I hope the rapture happens before this service ends. When the power went out twice, I said, surely this is the day.
And I was, I just, I hope it's tonight, but what I want you to know is that there's a mercy in the midst of chaos. And listen, I'll tell you. People Say from time to time when they get to heaven, you know, we have these conversations like, I can't wait to ask. Have you ever thought this or heard somebody say, I can't wait to ask God. God Something.
Can I just tell you that I don't think we're going to be asking God whole lot of anything. Because every time I look in scripture, you don't have a whole lot of these people in the presence of God asking God a bunch of these deep questions, or why did this happen, or something like this? Listen, here's what we're going to be doing. We're going to be falling down on our faces before. The Almighty on the throne, and before the Lamb that was slain, and we are going to be falling on our faces, completely undone in His presence.
Not saying anything. And in that moment, we will forever worship the Lamb that was slain for you. The lamb that was slain, so that you could be and experience the presence of Jesus. Forever.
