Revelation 7:2-17
Notes
Transcript
This is where the scene described in our first reading today comes. Right after the sixth seal is opened and just before the seventh seal, John is given the answer to the question of those suffering the wrath of the great Day of the Lord, “Who can stand?!”
The answer is given to John in two parts. (1) He hears the number of those who can stand, who have been sealed with the seal of the living God, 144,000. (2) He sees a great multitude that no one could number clothed in white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. What John hears is also what he sees. These two experiences are simply different depictions of a single reality. The single reality is this:
All who have been sealed with the seal of the living God in this life will be raised up on the Last Day clothed in robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. ()
All who have been sealed with the seal of the living God in this life will be raised up on the Last Day clothed in robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. ()
By the blood of the Lamb you have already conquered.
By the blood of the Lamb you have already conquered.
We have been sealed as members of the Lord’s army to wage war against the forces of Satan in this life.
We have been sealed as members of the Lord’s army to wage war against the forces of Satan in this life.
Revelation is probably one of the most misread and mistreated books in the entire Bible. More than any other book in the Bible, people tend to disregard the situation of the original hearers, the style, purpose, etc. The same people who refuse to take Jesus at his word when he says, "This is my body," insist that a book full of symbolic numerology, vivid apocalyptic imagery, and other obscure images should be taken literally as it reads! For these people, Revelation isn't a letter written to 1st Century Christians to comfort them in times of great tribulation and persecution. No. Those who do violence to Revelation see it as a secret predictive code for the timing of the end of the world. This means that the original audience, the 1st Century Church, preserved a book that was incomprehensible to them since the majority of the book described events that wouldn't take place until 2,000 after those believers died.
We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb
We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb
I’m not going to get into all these difficulties today because that isn’t what the Feast of All Saints is about. It’s also not what the book of Revelation is about.
The book of Revelation is meant as comfort and encouragement to the saints of every age until the Lord’s return who suffer great tribulation and persecution. It is a comfort and encouragement because it tells us of what Jesus has done, continues to do, and will finally accomplish on the Last Day. This is also what this feast of All Saints is about. Jesus has suffered, died, and risen. We have certain hope that no matter the tribulations we suffer in this life, Jesus is in control and will deliver us. All who believe and are baptized will suffer in this life as they battle the forces of evil. All who believe and are baptized will be raised on the Last Day and stand before the throne of God. There we will live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
tells us about two realities that the Christian faces in light of their Baptism.
The first reality is given to us in what John hears.
(2) By the blood of the Lamb you have already conquered.
In this life you will have tribulation.
In this life you will have tribulation.
In this life you will have tribulation because you are one of the 144,000 sealed with the seal of the living God. Numbers in Revelation mean things. The literal number is not the point. The point is what the numbers mean. This number, 144,000, means the entire number of God’s Church since the fall into sin until the Last Day. All who believe and are baptized have received the seal and are part of this number. The seal of the living God that we have received is the Holy Spirit. Scripture speaks about it in this way: “It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (). This sealing preserves us through this life into the next. We shall not see destruction, but are preserved by the seal of the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul means when he says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). This is the promise made to us in the words of , “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” We who have been baptized are sealed. We belong to God. We are now his children and are under his protection.
This sealing also means that we are set apart as a soldier in the Lord’s army. This means that we fight in this present age against the devil and his servants. This is tribulation and this tribulation is faced by all Christians before they fall asleep and are taken to be with the Lord forever. This is the Church Militant. That is why we get the lists, “12,000 from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,” and so on. This is military census just like those in the first chapter of the book of Numbers. God commanded Moses to take a census of all the sons of Israel over the age of twenty who were able to fight. The numbers from each tribe were listed.
In this life you will have tribulation. The Christians to whom John wrote this letter were suffering great tribulation. They were suffering persecution, false teachers, famine, plagues, war, bloodshed, inflation, and so much more. We suffer great tribulation as well. We suffer difficult years of harvest due to hail, wind, snow, too much moisture, not enough moisture. We suffer the tribulation of loss. Losing our goods, losing friends, losing loved ones. Like those first hearers of Revelation, we suffer the tribulation of false teachers and false teaching. Whether it is a “Speaking of Faith” article that twists the words of Jesus, a TV Evangelist telling us to send money and see it prosper our lives, when we lose those we care about to false-teaching churches, or lose them because they abandon Christ in order to pursue worldy and immoral living. Jesus promised that we would have trouble in this life. Paul puts it this way, “It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (). Baptism not only means that we are sealed by Holy Spirit for salvation. It also means we are sealed as a soldier for battle, suffering, and temporal death. As the Church Militant on earth, this is our mission. This is the point of what John hears. Now this is the point of what John hears.
By the blood of the Lamb you have already conquered.
By the blood of the Lamb you have already conquered.
John doesn’t see 144,000 sons of Israel when he looks. He doesn’t see 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses either. When John looks, he sees, “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice praises to God” ().
These aren’t spirits. These saints have hands. They hold palm branches. They have lungs to cry out. They have eyes that see their Lord. They have legs on which they stand before the throne of God. This is a vision of our resurrected glory. You are in this great multitude. The faithful saints who we remember this day, most especially Bill, Russ, Betty, Bridgette, Janice, Gilbert, and Colleen, are in this great multitude.
In the midst of wars, rumors of wars, bloodshed, famine, plague, mourning, and weeping, we are reminded by our Lord of what our Baptism means.
Our Baptism means that we are sealed in the Holy Spirit and are sins are washed away by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus has washed us by water and His word. We fight the good fight on earth just as Bill, Russ, Betty, Bridgette, Janice, Gilbert, and Colleen did. We will come out of this great tribulation and stand before the throne of God and the Lamb along side those blessed saints who have departed from this life already. We will do this because, while we still fight against evil of the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature in this life, we have already conquered by the blood of the Lamb. We already have the victory by Jesus suffering, dying, and rising for us. This has been confirmed and sealed on us by Baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So what will we do when we enter into the glorious resurrection? Exactly what we are gathered here to do now. It is a shame that our service is so short and only once a week. We come here and worship Jesus bodily present among us each Sunday for an hour or so. A few times a month He feeds us his body and blood to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith in him. The Lamb is present among us to guide us and satisfy our hunger and thirst for righteousness, but in this life it is for only such a short time that we are all gathered together for this Divine Service. If you sleep 8 hours a day and our Sunday Service lasted 2 hours, which it doesn’t, that would amount to 1.8% of your time awake per week. If you subtracted sleep AND 60 hours of work, it would still only be 3.8% of the 52 hours you have left per week after sleep and 60 hours of work.
In the resurrection, this won’t be the case. We won’t gather for an hour or so, once a week. We won’t sing just a few hymns. We won’t have our hunger and thirst for righteousness quenched by Jesus just a few times a month. In the resurrection, we will be “before the throne of God, and serve him DAY and NIGHT in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter us with his presence. We shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun and scorching heat will no longer strike us. For Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world, will be our shepherd, and he will guide us to springs of living water, and He will wipe away every tears from our eyes” (). There we will celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in his kingdom which HAS NO END.
The Lord Jesus who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” And we say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.
All who have been baptized into Christ have been sealed with the seal of the living God. (vv. 2-8)
All who have been baptized into Christ have been sealed with the seal of the living God. (vv. 2-8)
What does the sealing of the 144,000 have to do with baptism?
John’s has just seen six seals opened. The four horsemen have been released and along with them war, bloodshed, inflation, more death with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. The holy martyrs who have died for the word of God and for their confession of Christ cry out, “How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth, O Lord!?” Finally, the sixth seal comes and it sounds like what the Lord describes in and what Peter cites in his Pentecost sermon from . There will be darkness, great earthquakes, a blood moon, stars will fall, and all people will try and flee from this wrath on the great Day of the Lord. The people fleeing this wrath cry out, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” ().
This is where the scene described in our first reading today comes. Right after the sixth seal is opened and just before the seventh seal, John is given the answer to the question of those suffering the wrath of the great Day of the Lord, “Who can stand?!”
I'm not going to address these issues today because that isn't the purpose of the Feast of All Saints. It's also not the point of the book of Revelation.
A key point that the Christian must observe when reading Revelation is that there is often a difference between what John hears and what he sees.
We must pay close attention to what John hears and what he sees. John hears the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. He sees great multitude that no one could number, wearing robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. What John hears and what he sees tell us important truths about a single reality.
John hears of the Lion and Root. The great Messiah. He has already seen him in . This is what we expect to hear described. We don’t! Instead, John writes, “AN between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (). This is the one who was found worthy to open the scroll. Not a Lion. Not a Root. Not the glorious son of man. A SLAUGHTERED-YET-STANDING LAMB!!! What John hears and sees are the same reality described in different ways in order to instruct us. It isn’t a king coming in glory that redeemed the whole world. It was a man who was lowly and despised, sent as a lamb to slaughter. Jesus was smitten, stricken, and afflicted. He was slaughtered. This is how the great Lion of Judah has conquered for his people. By dying and being raised.
Now let’s get back to . We must pay close attention to what John hears and what he sees. John hears the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. He sees great multitude that no one could number, wearing robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. What John hears and what he sees tell us important truths about a single reality.
This sealing should call to our minds the sealing of . YHWH commands that a mark be put on the foreheads of all those in Jerusalem who remained faithful. They were to be spared. However, anyone without this mark on their foreheads was to be killed. The sealing with the seal of the living God marks one as the possession of God Almighty. This mark of possession also means protection as well.
All Christians who have been baptized have been sealed. Peter says in , “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Paul speaks of the sealing of the Holy Spirit in this way, “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (), “In Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (), and “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” ().
All believers who have been baptized have been sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that they belong to the Lord, their sins are forgiven, their eternal destiny is secure. This 144,000 of the sons of Israel is about the Church, the true Israel. This is about all who have been grafted into the true vine, both Jew and Greek. This is what Paul speaks of in . Also, Paul says, “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel...This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” ().
The true Israel is the Church. All those who enter the Church believing and being baptized have been sealed for the day of redemption. They belong to God and will not suffer eternal destruction.
Just as Abraham received circumcision as a seal, which Paul says in , Christians receive baptism, which is the new circumcision according to , as a seal. This is why our Baptismal rite has the pastor say to the baptismal candidate, “receive the sign of the holy cross both upon you forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.”
This mark not only means that we are sealed for eternal salvation. It also marks us as an enemy of the devil. As soon as Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and declared to be God’s true Son, he was cast into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Mark’s Gospel says, “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” (). Being sealed as God’s possession also means that we are members of his army on earth, the Church Militant. We are cast into the wilderness to fight. As long as we live in this life we fight the good fight, we contend for the faith, we put on the armor of God and beat down the devil, the world, and our sinful nature by the sword of the spirit, the Word of God. This is the point behind the sealing of the 144,000 from the sons of Israel.
It calls to mind the military censuses from the book of Numbers. “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ‘Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company’” (). When you were sealed in the Holy Spirit, you were set apart as the Lord’s soldier. You are at war with the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature. The 144,000 sealed with the seal of the living God is a description of the Church Militant. It describes all believers throughout history who have been baptized and fought the good fight. It describes each of us here today who have been baptized.
The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .This is the Church Militant who fight in the Lord’s army on earth until pass from this life to eternity with their Lord.
All who have been baptized into Christ will be raised up on the Last Day clothed in robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. (vv. 9-17)
All who have been baptized into Christ will be raised up on the Last Day clothed in robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. (vv. 9-17)
We have spoken of what John heard. Now let’s consider what John sees.
John sees a great multitude from all nations, tongues, and peoples. He sees the great multitude coming out of the great tribulation clothed in robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about “great tribulation” among Christians today. Many would say that the believers of the seven churches in Revelation weren’t living in this great tribulation then and we aren’t yet living in it now.
This view of and the book of Revelation in general robs the book of much of its relevance to the seven actual historic churches it was sent to. These Christians were suffering great tribulation. They had lost brothers in faith who were martyred for the sake of Jesus, they had suffered famine, plagues, pestilence, war, and bloodshed. Since the fall into sin, believers have suffered great tribulation. From Abel to the present-day! Before Stephen is martyred, he gives a speech in which he lays out the tribulation that Joseph endured and how God brought him through it. He then describes the famine in the land in this way, “Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and GREAT affliction (THE SAME WORD IN THE GREEK FOR TRIBULATION), and our fathers could find no food” (). After Paul was nearly stoned to death, he and Barnabas preached the gospel, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (). Jesus himself says, “In this life you will have trouble (SAME WORD FOR TRIBULATION). But take heart, I have overcome the world” (). There are many other important examples of tribulation in the New Testament, but I’ll save that for another time.
The Christians to whom John wrote were suffering great tribulation. Paul, the other Apostles, and disciples in general, suffered many tribulations for the sake of Christ. After Paul was nearly stoned to death, he and Barnabas preached the gospel, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (). Jesus himself says, “In this life you will have trouble (SAME WORD FOR TRIBULATION). But take heart, I have overcome the world” ().
The book of Revelation is intended as comfort and encouragement to the saints of every age until the Lord's return, who suffer great tribulation and persecution. It is a comfort because it tells us of what Jesus has done, continues to do, and will finally accomplish on the Last Day. Jesus has suffered, died, and risen. We have a sure hope that no matter the tribulations we experience in this life, Jesus is in control and will deliver us. All who believe and are baptized will suffer in this life as they battle the forces of evil. All who believe and are baptized will be raised on the Last Day and stand before the throne of God. There we will live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
All who have been sealed into the Lord’s army and suffered for his sake will stand before his throne in resurrected glory. (vv. 9-12, 15-17)
All who have been sealed into the Lord’s army and suffered for his sake will stand before his throne in resurrected glory. (vv. 9-12, 15-17)
There are many Christians who think that this group is only comprised of those coming out of some literal, 7-year, capital-G Great Tribulation. They get this idea from , Daniel 12, and . However, this is a misreading of Scripture. In , Jesus is speaking of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus isn’t speaking of a “Great Tribulation” that will occur over 2,000 years after his death. Jesus explicitly says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (). In , Jesus doesn’t even refer to this event as “great tribulation,” but simply, “tribulation.” In , Jesus doesn’t even describe this event with the word “great” or “tribulation.”
Suffering tribulation has been granted to those baptized into Christ. Paul speaks of our suffering as believers in this way, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have” (). We suffer great tribulation, just as the saints who have gone before us.
“Tribulation” is mentioned many times throughout the NT. Believers suffer through tribulation in every age. Since the fall into sin, there has been war, bloodshed, suffering, death, famines, plagues, persecution, etc. This is that great tribulation spoken of in Revelation 7. Matthew 13:21; Mark 4:17; John 16:21, 33; Acts 7:10, 11; 11:19; 14:22; 20:23; Romans 2:9; 5:3; 8:35; 12:12; 1 Corinthians 7:28; 2 Corinthians 1:4, 8; 2:4; 4:17; 6:4; 7:4; 8:2, 13; Ephesians 3:13; Philippians 1:17; 4:14; Colossians 1:24; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 3:3, 7; 2 Thessalonians 1:4, 6; Hebrews 10:33; James 1:27. To claim that this “great multitude” only refers to Christians who suffer at some later point in history isn’t just assinine. It is an insult to all those saints who have gone before us. From Abel on through Jesus, from Stephen on to the present-day. Did these saints not suffer great tribulation?!? When Paul was beheaded, do you think those who cared for him said, “Oh well. At least he didn’t have to suffer the ‘Great Tribulation.’ He only had to suffer regular tribulation.” Paul was nearly stoned to death, beaten, imprisoned, and so much more. Consider the martyrs throughout history. “Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:35-38). Jesus himself in the book of Revelation speaks of “tribulation” (Revelation 1:9; 2:9, 10) and “great tribulation” (Revelation 2:22). Christians suffer in this life. Here in Imperial, NE it may feel like “great tribulation” hasn’t come in history yet. It may sound like those churches in our community that teach a literal seven-year period of “Great Tribulation” sometime in the future may be right. However, this is just an extremely narrow and self-centered view on Christianity. Just because people don’t get beheaded, burnt alive, boiled in oil, sawn in two, and suffer even more gruesome and tortuous deaths for their Christian faith in Imperial, NE, or America in general, doesn’t mean that things are easy for Christians today or that great tribulation hasn’t yet come to the Church on earth. Jesus didn’t give John this vision of the great multitude from every nation to say, “Hey look John, y’all aren’t in great tribulation yet. But look! Isn’t it going to be great for this great multitude in white robes who suffer through the seven-year tribulation at some point 2,000 years after you and your hearers in the seven churches!?” Jesus gave this vision for those churches in Asia Minor who were suffering their tribulation of famine, plagues, martyrdom for the faith, and everything else they were going through. The baptized believers in those seven churches are in this great multitude. Jesus gave this vision for the baptized believers here at Zion as well. He gave this vision for each of you sitting in the pews today. Jesus gave you this vision to you here today who are suffering the tribulation of wind, hail, too much moisture, snow before being finished harvesting, aging and the complications that come with growing older, chronic illness, degenerative diseases, mental illness, physical and intellectual disabilities, cancer, losing loved ones when they pass from this life, losing loved ones who have departed from the true faith taught here by moving to false-teaching churches, losing loved ones who have abandoned Christ in order to pursue a sexually immoral lifestyle. The faithful departed who we remember this day lost their lives for the sake of Jesus. They took up their cross and followed in the path that Jesus lead them. Jesus’ path lead to great tribulation, death, and resurrection. The path of those Christians who have fallen asleep lead them to tribulation, death, and resurrection as well. That is the path of every Christian. They are in this great multitude and so are we.
Not only is capital-G Great Tribulation idea a misreading of key Scriptures passages. It is also an insult to all those who have suffered for the sake of Christ.
All who have been sealed into the Lord’s army and suffered for his sake will stand before his throne in resurrected glory. (vv. 9-12, 15-17)
All who have been sealed into the Lord’s army and suffered for his sake will stand before his throne in resurrected glory. (vv. 9-12, 15-17)
tells us about two realities that the Christian faces in light of their Baptism.
Jesus gave this vision for those churches in Asia Minor who were suffering the great tribulation of famine, plagues, martyrdom for the faith, and everything else they were going through. The baptized believers in those seven churches are in this great multitude. Jesus gave this vision for the baptized believers here at Zion as well, who are suffering the tribulation of wind, hail, too much moisture, snow before being finished with your harvest, aging and the complications that come with growing older, chronic illness, degenerative diseases, mental illness, physical and intellectual disabilities, cancer, mourning the loss of loved ones to death, and mourning the loss of those close to us who have departed from the true faith to seek after false-teaching churches or to embrace immoral ways of living.
tells us about two realities that the Christian faces in light of their Baptism.
For the sake of Jesus we believe, suffer, and die. The faithful departed who we remember this day lost their lives for the sake of Jesus. They took up their cross and followed in the path that Jesus lead them. Jesus’ path lead to great tribulation and death. The path of those Christians who have fallen asleep lead them this way as well. This is the path of every Christian. That isn’t the end though. Jesus’ path lead to resurrection.
Jesus’ path lead to great tribulation, death, and resurrection. The path of those Christians who have fallen asleep lead them this way as well. This is the path of every Christian. The faithful departed who we remember today are in this great multitude. You are in this great multitude as well.
Jesus gave this vision for those churches in Asia Minor who were suffering the great tribulation of famine, plagues, martyrdom for the faith, and everything else they were going through. The baptized believers in those seven churches are in this great multitude. Jesus gave this vision for the baptized believers here at Zion as well. He gave this vision for each of you sitting in the pews today. Jesus gave this vision to you here today who are suffering the tribulation of wind, hail, too much moisture, snow before being finished harvesting, aging and the complications that come with growing older, chronic illness, degenerative diseases, mental illness, physical and intellectual disabilities, cancer, losing loved ones when they pass from this life, losing loved ones who have departed from the true faith taught here by moving to false-teaching churches, losing loved ones who have abandoned Christ in order to pursue a sexually immoral lifestyle. The faithful departed who we remember this day lost their lives for the sake of Jesus. They took up their cross and followed in the path that Jesus lead them. Jesus’ path lead to great tribulation, death, and resurrection. The path of those Christians who have fallen asleep lead them this way as well. This is the path of every Christian. The faithful departed who we remember today are in this great multitude. You are in this great multitude.
The first reality is given to us in what John hears.
All who have been baptized have recieved the seal of the living God and have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb. We are sealed for the day of redemption on which we shall be called out of the grave by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We shall hunger and thirst no more. The sun and scorching heat will not strike us. Jesus will be our shepherd and guide us to springs of living water and wipe away every tear from our eyes.
In this life, you will have tribulation.
In this life, you will have tribulation.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God and the Lamb, forever and ever! Amen.
In this life, you will have tribulation because you are one of the 144,000 sealed with the seal of the living God. Numbers in Revelation mean things. The literal number is not the point. The point is what the numbers mean. This number, 144,000, means the whole number of God's Church since the fall into sin until the Last Day. All who believe and are baptized have received the seal and are part of this number. The seal of the living God that we have received is the Holy Spirit. Scripture speaks about it in this way: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (). This sealing preserves us through this life into the next. We shall not see destruction but are protected by the seal of the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul means when he says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (). This is the promise made to us in the words of , "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We who have been baptized are sealed. We belong to God. We are now his children and are under his protection.
). This sealing preserves us through this life into the next. We shall not see destruction but are protected by the seal of the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul means when he says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (). This is the promise made to us in the words of , "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We who have been baptized are sealed. We belong to God. We are now his children and are under his protection.
, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We who have been baptized are sealed. We belong to God. We are now his children and are under his protection.
This sealing also means that we are set apart as a soldier in the Lord's army. Being sealed with the seal of the living God means that we fight in this present age. We fight against the devil and his servants. This fight is a great tribulation, and all Christians face this tribulation before they fall asleep and are taken to be with the Lord forever. This is what it means to be a member of the Church Militant. That is why we get the lists, "12,000 from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben," and so on. The listing of the numbers from each tribe calls to mind the military census found in the first chapter of the book of Numbers. God commanded Moses to take a census of any male Israelites that were over twenty. These were the ones who would fight in the Lord's army. The numbers from each tribe were listed tribe by tribe, just as we see here in .
In this life, you will have tribulation. The Christians to whom John wrote this letter were suffering great tribulation. They were suffering persecution, false teachers, famine, plagues, war, bloodshed, inflation, and so much more. We experience great tribulation, as well. We suffer difficult years of harvest due to hail, wind, snow, too much moisture, not enough moisture. We bear the tribulation of loss. Losing our goods, losing friends, losing loved ones. Like those first hearers of Revelation, we suffer the tribulation of false teachers and false teaching. Whether it is a "Speaking of Faith" article that twists the words of Jesus. A TV Evangelist is telling us to send money and see it prosper our lives. Losing those we care about to false-teaching churches or losing them because they abandon Christ to pursue worldly and immoral living. Jesus promised that we would have trouble in this life. Paul puts it this way, "It has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" ().
Baptism not only means that the Holy Spirit seals us for salvation. It also means we are sealed as a soldier for battle, suffering, and temporal death. As the Church Militant on earth, this is our mission. That is the point of what John hears. Now, this is the point of what John sees.
). Baptism not only means that the Holy Spirit seals us for salvation. It also means we are sealed as a soldier for battle, suffering, and temporal death. As the Church Militant on earth, this is our mission. That is the point of what John hears. Now, this is the point of what John sees.
By the blood of the Lamb, you have already conquered.
By the blood of the Lamb, you have already conquered.
John doesn't see 144,000 sons of Israel when he looks. He doesn't see 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses either. When John looks, he sees, "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice praises to God" ().
).
These aren't spirits. These saints have hands. They hold palm branches. They have lungs to cry out. They have eyes that see their Lord. They have legs on which they stand before the throne of God. What John heard in the first half of was the reality of Christians as they fight the good fight in this word. What John sees is a vision of our resurrected glory. You are in this vast multitude. The faithful saints who we remember this day, most especially Bill, Russ, Betty, Bridgette, Janice, Gilbert, and Colleen, are in this vast multitude.
Amid wars, rumors of wars, bloodshed, famine, plague, mourning, and weeping, the Lord shows us through John's vision what our Baptism means now and in eternity.
Our Baptism means that we are sealed in the Holy Spirit, and our sins are washed away by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus has washed us by water and His word. We fight the good fight on earth just as Bill, Russ, Betty, Bridgette, Janice, Gilbert, and Colleen did. We will come out of this great tribulation and stand before the throne of God and the Lamb. We will see those saints who have gone before us there as well. This is our future reality because we have already conquered by the blood of the Lamb. We already have the victory by Jesus suffering, dying, and rising for us. This victory has been confirmed and sealed in us by Baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So what will we do when we enter into the glorious resurrection? Precisely what we are gathered here to do now. It is a shame that our service is so short and only once a week. We come here and worship Jesus bodily present among us each Sunday for an hour or so. A few times a month, he feeds us his body and blood to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith in him. The Lamb is present among us to guide us and satisfy our hunger and thirst for righteousness. Still, in this life, it is for only such a short time that we are all gathered together for this Divine Service. If you sleep 8 hours a day and our Sunday Service lasted 2 hours, which it doesn't, that would amount to 1.8% of your time awake per week. If you subtracted sleep AND 60 hours of work, it would still only be 3.8% of the 52 hours you have left per week after sleep and 60 hours of work.
In the resurrection, this won't be the case. We won't gather for an hour or so once a week. We won't sing just a few hymns. We won't have our hunger and thirst for righteousness quenched by Jesus just a few times a month. In the resurrection, we will be "before the throne of God, and serve him DAY and NIGHT in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter us with his presence. We shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun and scorching heat will no longer strike us. For Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world, will be our shepherd, and he will guide us to springs of living water, and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes" (). There we will celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in his kingdom, which HAS NO END.
). There we will celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in his kingdom, which HAS NO END.
). There we will celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in his kingdom, which HAS NO END.
The Lord Jesus, who testifies to these things, says, "Surely I am coming soon." And we say, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!"
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.