Who Can Stand?
Revelation: All Things New • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsTheme: God saves the church from Judgement. Purpose: That we put our hope and worship in Jesus Gospel: The Cross pays for our Restoration. Mission: Grow in Hope.
Notes
Transcript
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
After this I looked, and behold, 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, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Introduction: Share My Testimony - Emphasis when I realized that Jesus purchased me, and also growing in my understanding of the H.S. - Freshman Year on Jesus, Sr. Year on the Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life.
God Contains Destruction.
God Contains Destruction.
The Four winds are used in Jeremiah 49 to destory the nation of Elam from conquering Judah.
The Four winds in Ezekial 37:9 that the Four winds are tied to breathing the Spirit into the dead bones of Israel to resurrect them.
The Four Winds in Daniel 7:2 were stirring up the great sea from which four beastly Kingdoms came who destroyed everything, but the Ancient of Days took away these beasts Kingdoms.
In Zechariah 6:5 the Chariot of horses like the Horseman are the four winds that patrol the earth.
Common Grace:
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust.
Common Grace is a withholding of the full consequences of sin. In the first 6 seals of last week, Jesus was giving authority to remove Common Grace, but here there is a stop in the action - It is a gift that God holds back the 4 winds to destroy the earth. Why?
Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.
The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some consider slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
God’s Common Grace, or his holding back destruction of the world is so that the full number of those who would be saved are saved.
Again, Jesus predicting the fall of the Temple and his second coming simultaneously.
“Then they will hand you over to persecution and will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations because of my name.
And then many will be led into sin and will betray one another and will hate one another,
and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many,
and because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.
But the one who endures to the end—this person will be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Common Grace allows for the Gospel to go out to all the Nations. And the Gospel is about God’s Saving Grace.
Application Point:
We are called to Share the Gospel with others.
God Delivers From Destruction.
God Delivers From Destruction.
We get the same imagry in Ezekial 9 of God marking out those during the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians who lamented over the detestable things that the Israelites were doing in Jerusalem. These God marked would not be killed by God's Avenging messenger that went throughout the wicked city of Jerusalem.
Do not work for the food that perishes, but the food that remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has set his seal on this one.”
Stamp people with the Holy Spirit.
Now the one who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anoints us is God,
who also sealed us and gave the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
in whom also you, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
However, the solid foundation of God stands firm, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and “Everyone who names the name of the Lord must abstain from unrighteousness.”
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go outside again, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God, and my new name.
Question - So should we interpret this as a physical mark? - Foreshadowing - There is another Mark coming up in Revelation, they key to understanding the Mark God puts on us is going to help us understand the Mark of the Beast.
Here such people are described as “God’s servants,” a designation that appears again in 19:2 and 5, and also in 22:3–4 and 6, the latter instance referring to the recipients of this book. At the same time, second, this marking of the foreheads of God’s “servants” stands in deliberate contrast to the later marking on the foreheads of the followers of the “beast out of the earth” in chapter 13:16–17. - Fee
Who are these people who are marked?
12 × 12 × 1000, which is the number of God’s people multiplied by itself and then by the number of completeness. - Fee (ie 12 tribes written on the gates, 12 Apostles on the Foundation, and 1000 a number of completion).
What is heard and what is scene.
Earlier what was heard was Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Branch of David, and what was seen was A Lamb that was slain. - What was seen fills out the meaning.
Here what is heard is the 144,000, but what is scene was a multitude from all peoples - So both represent all God’s people, the Jews and the Gentiles who were grafted in. The fulfillment of the covenant to Israel (Abraham), I will bless you and all nations will be blessed through you.
Talk about how we are back in outside of time space - God's domain, and that is why John can see the entirety of All Believers, at the throne, while human history is still going on.
Citing the work of our mutual Baylor colleague Rodney Stark on the early church, Jenkins notes that Stark
estimated a global Christian population of 40,000 in AD 150, rising to 218,000 in 200, and 1.17 million by 250. According to his calculation, it was around 180 that global Christian numbers first surpassed the symbolically weighty figure of 100,000.
God’s people are...
Marked to withstand God’s Wrath
Numbered like a military census to be involved in Holy War (Spiritual Warfare)
They will experience great tribulation at the hands of God’s enemies, but not God’s wrath - They are secure no matter what befalls them.
They receive Christ’s Righteousness because of his death on the Cross - Robe someone with a white robe.
Great Tribulation -
The answer John receives is likewise twofold. First, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. This latter word is a most unfortunate—and quite unnecessary—carryover from preceding English translations, since it was co-opted over a century ago by some interpreters to refer to a specific time period. But time is of no interest at all to John in the present sentence. Rather he is referring specifically to the great trial that the church of his own time is experiencing, and about which he speaks prophetically as something that will get far worse before it ever gets better. Thus what was intended primarily as a word of assurance to his own readers has been co-opted by later interpreters to refer to something that is yet to come. But for John they are those who have come through/out of the present great trial, which John anticipates (rightly) lies immediately ahead for his readers. But for all of that, the two Greek words rendered (correctly) “have come out of” are in fact in the present tense (“those coming out of”), not because their “coming out” is already happening, but because their great tribulation is already on the scene. These words thus seem intended to reassure the churches that any who have been, or will be, martyred because of their being followers of the Slain Lamb, are to be understood as already in the Divine Presence.
1. Matthew. Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, Killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark. Died in Alexandria, Egypt , after being dragged by Horses through the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke. Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous Preaching to the lost.
4. John. Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge Basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution In Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered From death.
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully
5. Peter. He was crucified upside down on an x shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die In the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6. James. The leader of the church in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club.
This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
7. James the Son of Zebedee was a fisherman by trade when Jesus Called him to a lifetime of ministry.
As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial.
Later, the officer Walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and Knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
8. Bartholomew. Also known as Nathaniel. He Was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew. He Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony.
His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words, "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it". He continued to preach to his tormentors For two days until he expired.
10. Thomas. He Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the Subcontinent.
11. Jude. He Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Matthias. The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot. He was stoned and then beheaded.
13. Paul. He Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational Doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.
Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor to compare to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles and disciples during their times For the sake of the Faith.
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Pass on to encourage other Christians. Why Do we feel sleepy in Prayer, but stay awake through a 3 hour movie?
Why are we so bored when we look at the HOLY BOOK. But find it easy to read other books?
Why is it so easy to ignore a message about God,
Yet we forward the nasty ones?
Why are Prayers getting smaller, but bars and clubs are expanding.
Why is it so easy to worship a celebrity, but very difficult to engage with God?
Make this message your contribution to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Application Point: When you go through suffering at the Hand of the Enemy, Remember You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is Our Hope for Deliverance.
Jesus is Our Hope for Deliverance.
Revelation 7:16-17 - Direct Qoute from Isaiah 49:10 where God Comforts and Restores his people as they are brought back home from exile. It reminds us of Psalm 23
Palm Branches remind us of Palm Sunday.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.
The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
How would the 7 Churches read this passage?
Persecution is just starting, and you are apart of the great persecution of Christians by the hands of Domitian and the Roman Empire.
Patiently Endure, because while you are killed and tortured for Christ, You are saved from God’s Wrath.
Not only that you’re status with God does not Change, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, Made Righteous in Christ.
When we die you will receive the full hope of restoration in Jesus.
So Worship Him not matter what happens to you at the hands of the Nations, Do not be afraid of the one who can kill your flesh, but the one who can kill your soul.
And we can read this passage the same way. While Christians
Application Point:
Encourage one another with the Promise of Full Restoration.
Conclusion: