The Nations Before The Throne: The Gathering of the Multitude Before the Lamb - Glorious Hope | Studies in Revelation

This evening we're back into the book of Revelation after taking

a month away from it.

And to catch us all up, let me remind you of where we've been in

these first six chapters.

The book opens with John, who's imprisoned on the island of

Patmos, receiving a vision of the risen Lord Jesus.

And this vision is a letter to the seven churches.

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and

Laodicea.

Some of these churches will be familiar to us because of Paul's

missionary journeys.

Others we know existed, but may not have a record in the New

Testament.

But here, starting with the closest to that island in the Mediterranean,

going to its furthest, letters to the churches.

And what these letters teach us is that not only is it a message

to the churches in its day to stand firm in the midst of persecution,

but also to stand firm for the truth of the Gospel.

A message then and a message now.

For the message to the seven churches is in fact, a message to

all churches.

And so after this message, this letter to the churches, John

looks and sees.

And those are two key words that we'll see come up again.

And tonight we see it.

John looks and he sees.

And after the letter, he sees the throne room of heaven.

And in the midst of it is God himself.

And as he looks on, he sees as he describes in chapter five and

verse six, 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.

Recalling what we read in chapter one and chapter two, we begin

to see repetition.

And so already as we get through this book, we see that there's

repetition of what the Lord wants to tell us so that we will

be sure that what he's saying is true, that indeed it will come

to pass.

And John, here in chapter five, beholds the risen Savior, full

of the imagery of Isaiah's lamb that was slain.

That points us back to the Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the

children of Israel on the Day of atonement.

Scripture rushes towards revelation.

Nothing in revelation is new for us because it has all been given

to us in the other books of the Bible because of God's careful

plan of salvation, of humanity.

And so this rich imagery helped the church then, as it helps

the church today, as it helps us today to know that God has been

working throughout all of history to bring about that plan

of salvation, that plan that John now sees fulfilled in the Lamb

that stands and looks as though it had been slain.

But John continues to look.

And John sees that the Lamb has a scroll, a scroll that no one

can open but the Lamb.

And this scroll is sealed with seven seals.

And the Lamb opens these seals and presents a picture for us of

what the last days are going to be like.

And in these last days, we can expect war, civil unrest, economic

hardship and inequity, disease and death.

And when we look at the history of humanity since the ascension

of Jesus, we see all of these at work in different ways and in

different places.

And chapter six concluded with only six seals being open with the

final judgment asking, who can withstand God's wrath on the final

day?

And now chapter seven comes to us with a purpose.

It's an interlude and answers the question posed in chapter six.

Well, it is those sealed by God who will be spared from his wrath.

So who can withstand God's wrath in the final day in chapter

six?

Chapter seven tells us it is those who have been sealed by God.

Well, I don't know if you were out walking in any of the early storms

of this winter, or if you recall back to the storms of last

winter.

And if you walk on a stormy day, you will know that you can do

your best to stand firm, but the wind will have a way to knock

you off your balance.

Where you need to adjust your footing so that you're standing firm

with any strong gust of wind, you will be forced to move either

with your hands or with your feet.

And we often tell our children, please don't jump up at

the edge of a cliff on a windy day, because they might blow off.

And of course, they'll believe anything.

But we know the strength of wind.

We see it in weather vanes or wind socks.

We can tell how strong the wind is, and this is used for many

occasions.

If you drive up the valley road, you'll find one there so that

people can know in their lives, light aircraft, whether they

can take off or not.

But we've seen the wind and really its debris over recent years.

We've seen damage done to property.

We've seen the strength of the wind and electricity and telephone

poles being blown down.

There is a strength to the wind that we don't always appreciate.

But we have to remember that wind is powerful enough to generate

electricity for our homes.

This is just how powerful it is.

Well, all of this helps us to understand what Revelation 7 is pointing

us to.

It's pointing us to, as we begin, the strength of the four winds

of the Earth, because In verse one, we're told 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.

Now, the four corners of the earth is not written here to teach

us that the world is flat.

Previous generations have thought that that's what this passage

has meant, but that's not what it means, and we know that instead,

the four corners stand for the entire world, just as four corners

of a house stand for the entire house, and four, the four

corners of the land, as mentioned in Ezekiel 7:2, stand for

Ezekiel 7:2

the entire land of Israel.

So we're familiar with four corners, meaning the extent of what

we're talking about at the four corners.

Then we have the four angels, and they're almost like superintendents,

superintendents of the world, for God's sake.

Again, we've seen this with these angels already sent out into

the world.

But these angels now have a purpose, because the four winds that

are spoken of here in verse one stand for judgment, judgment

to come, the final judgment which will engulf the entire world.

And so think back to that stormy day of walking in the wind

and really feeling it so strong you wonder if you can take

another step into the oncoming wind.

Any of you who've been at sea in a storm will know exactly what

that means.

You will have to make a decision.

Are you going to turn around and let the storm blow you?

Or are you going to face it head on and go straight into it?

The par.

The veracity of the wind is something that constantly surprises

us, cautions us, and shakes us so how much more this warning that

there is a final judgment.

But look at what's happening to this final judgment.

You see, the final judgment, or these four winds have already

been spoken about in scripture.

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah all speak of four winds

from the four quarters of heaven, that they will be inflicted

on the entire land of Elam.

But here, the four winds encompass the whole world.

The angels are restraining the winds so that they're not unleashed

on land, on sea, and on trees.

And John here is taking us back to the period before the final

judgment commences, because John sees another angel coming from

the rising sun, and this angel carries with it the seal of the living

God.

Now, we're not told what this seal looks like, but what we do know

is this seal comes with the authority, so that whatever is said

next is to happen, because it comes with the authority of the Lord.

And so the command is Given to the four angels not to harm the earth

or the sea or the trees, they are held back until a certain time.

And this is what verse three tells us, until we have sealed the

servant of our God on their foreheads.

When we read about being marked as belonging to God, it means

that we're being marked for protection.

And it can't help but remind us of the night when the angel of

death went through Egypt in Exodus.

And although we haven't got there yet in our morning studies,

we'll see in chapter 12, God tells Moses what the Israelites need

to do to be protected from the judgment.

Their homes had to be marked by the blood of an innocent lamb.

And theologian Andrew Sacks suggests that this is a picture of

what's happening here in Revelation 7.

These servants are being marked by the blood of the Lamb of

their Savior and Redeemer, the risen Lord Jesus, so that they will

not face his wrath, the wrath of the lamb.

Those who are sealed by God on the forehead in Revelation stand

in contrast to to those who accept the mark of the beast on their

foreheads in chapters 13, 14, and 20.

And in both instances, the mark is symbolic.

What separates believers from unbelievers is that the former have

God's seal and the Father's name written on their foreheads.

As Revelation 14, verse 1 tells us, they are protected by God

Revelation 14:1

and they're marked as as his own people, his genuine servants.

Why?

Because just like that night when the angel of death went through

all of Egypt, the wrath of the Lamb will pass over those who have

been sealed by his blood.

But John gets more detail and is told the number of the sealed.

In verse four, he says, and I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000

sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

Between verses five and eight, we have listed for us the 12 tribes

of Israel and their allocation of 12,000 people each.

And what we're learning as we go through Revelation, that numbers

are symbolic.

So when we come to the number 144,000, we know that we've got to

interpret the symbolism.

So how do we do this?

Well, whenever we try and work out what 144,000 looks like, let's

start with what we already know, the number 12.

12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles, bridging both Old and New

Testament, that gives us 144.

But how do we get that then, with all its zeros?

Well, the easiest way is to think of zeros in its tens.

Ten is another number of completeness in Scripture.

And so if you multiply 144 by 10 by 10 by 10, the sense of completeness,

because that's the significance of the number 10 is

exponentially emphasized.

This is the complete number of Old Testament saints.

The 12 who looked forward to put their faith in Christ, who was

promised, combined with those saints in the New Testament era who

look back at the cross and the resurrection and put their faith

in Christ as represented through the apostles.

This is the true Israel, the church across the ages.

Everyone is accounted for, and they are all sealed.

144,000, a symbolic number representing all of God's people.

They're sealed for his protection.

Now, there will be different ideas of how we get to 144,000.

The reason why I pose this one to you is because of that list of

tribes.

Did you notice anything in that list?

First of all, John hears a number, and then he sees a multitude.

But who's in that multitude?

The tribe of Joseph.

When have you ever heard of the tribe of Joseph?

There was no tribe given to Joseph.

He is a child of Israel.

But his tribe was split between Ephraim and Manasseh.

But look again at that list and see that Manasseh is there.

So why not Ephraim?

Why is Joseph now mentioned?

Because in the whole of Scripture, this is the only time

that the tribes are presented in this way.

But who's missing?

Because if Joseph and Manasseh were there, well, who's not if there's

12?

Now, I could pause long enough for someone to shout out the answer,

but let me tell you, it's Dan.

Dan isn't recorded, perhaps because of the evil associated with

that tribe, as recorded in Judges 18.

And so instead, as I pointed out, we have Joseph and Manasseh.

And so here we have a list of tribes that we've never seen before

in Scripture.

Who's at the top of it?

Well, it's Judah.

Well, he's never been to the top of it before.

And why?

Well, it might be because from him comes Jesus, the Messiah, head

of the people of God, head of Israel, both Old Testament and New.

And so these peculiarities in this particular presentation mean

that there's some symbolic reading to be understood in it.

And when understanding the 144,000, we mustn't go down the line

of some cults that commit a literal 144,000 people to the new

heaven.

And then the rest who weren't good enough to get to the new heaven,

but still good enough to be saved, well, will then just be in

the new earth.

We have to be very careful of how we commit to this number, because

numbers are symbolic in apocalyptic literature.

But we also must pay attention to what John hears and what he sees,

because in recounting this for us, John follows a pattern that we

saw in chapter five.

There he is told about a lion, but he sees a lamb in verses five

and six.

And the lion and the lamb are the same entity.

So to hear John hears the number 144,000 in verse four.

But what does he see?

He doesn't see 144,000 around the throne.

He sees in verse nine, an uncountable multitude.

And again, we have two different ways of describing the

same entity.

And the uncountable multitude confirms the point that the 144,000

representatives, all believers, 12 by 12, 144 multiplied

by 10 by 10 by 10, that sense of three times completeness, completeness

in its entirety, to demonstrate what indeed heaven will

be like.

And so, moving on to verse nine, we see one of the greatest

missional verses in Scripture.

And this is the moment that I love in Revelation, because after

this I looked, we're told, 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.

It's a wonderful image for us to enjoy.

And the praise that follows in verses 10 through to 12 is something

to pay attention to and to enjoy, because this moment of praise

in heaven is an uncountable multitude that are crying out with

a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God.

Now, it's interesting that they're not saying, salvation belongs

to me.

They're on the other side of the final judgment and can see how

God has preserved a people for himself through persecution and through

judgment.

They're praising God for the magnificence of his plans for history

that have been executed through the opening of the seals.

They know that their salvation is the result of having been marked

by the blood of Christ, not by any worthiness in themselves.

It's almost as if they don't have enough words to express all

the honor that is due to God for what he has done.

So they pile them up into one long string of blessing and glory

and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be

to our God forever and ever.

Amen.

And it's not just the multitudes who are worshipping God.

Who else is there?

Well, we're told the angels bow down and who are standing in

their place, the elders and the Four living creatures, just as

we've seen before, the heavenly host, are worshipping God

along with God's elect now in heaven.

And this is a true foresight of what heaven will be like, as together

we stand in awe and wonder, yet in full understanding of who

God is.

And so we must pause at this point and ask ourselves a question.

Do you believe this to be your reality when Christ returns?

Are you assured of your praise in heaven and because of your faith

in Jesus Christ?

You see, chapter seven is quite confronting.

As we're forced to look and we're forced to consider the true

membership of God's kingdom.

It isn't enough to hope for the best or to think that you've

done enough to earn your right into heaven.

We can only look to Jesus as the one who has taken the punishment

our sins deserve so that we can be his and be his for all eternity.

Is this your assurance tonight?

Do you know this deep within yourself that heaven and that praise

of heaven is yours to give because you are found in Christ?

This is what John tells us in first John 2, 2, 3.

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but

also for the sins of the whole world.

And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep

his commandments.

Now, John's not speaking here of keeping to the ten Commandments.

They are good to keep and must be kept because they tell us how

we are to worship God and how we're to live with and amongst each

other.

But what we're hearing is here what the Gospel tells about how we

live Christ's way.

You see, that's ultimately how we know that we are His.

We live by his teaching, we follow his way, and we know his truth.

This is the evidence in our lives that proves that we are His.

We're all good at making New Year's resolutions.

And I've been listening to a few on the podcast that I listen

to and one of the ones that has been striking to me, surprising

in some instances, some people wanting to be better at reading their

Bibles and what they mean in the coming years that they'll spend

more time doing it, that probably over Christmas with the

busyness they felt, they just haven't had the time that they did.

And everyone will go with great starts for whatever we want

to achieve in this year.

I have loaded and emptied the dishwasher successfully for one day.

Will it continue to day too?

I don't know.

And isn't that the same with us all?

We want to Read our Bibles.

We want to live Christ's way.

But then something comes along and we just get off Track.

We miss 1 day, 2 day, 3 day, 4 days, 5, 6, 7.

Before we know it, we fall out of the holy habit of reading, of

praying, and of living by the standard of Christ.

The question, do you believe that your reality when Christ returns

will be eternal praise in heaven?

The assurance of this is not based on good works or hoping to

have done enough.

The assurance is only that we live for Christ and His way, so that

indeed we know him and have that full assurance.

And as we continue on in this chapter concludes as we read it,

of John being asked another question.

This is now the second question John has been asked in Revelation,

but it's the elder asking the question, who knows the answer, but

the reason why it's given to us this way, where John says, you

know the answer is so that we will pay attention to what we're

being told, because the answer is significant for us to understand.

John is presented with people clothed in white robes.

And the elder informs John in the second half of verse 14.

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.

John, like Daniel before him, teaches that those who belong to

God are truly rescued.

They are rescued and delivered because they have washed their robes

white in the Lamb's blood, picturing the cleansing work of Christ

on the cross.

The robes of the redeemed people of God are white not on account

of their own righteousness, but because of the cleansing atonement

of the Lamb who gave himself for their sins.

Often in Revelation, white robes or white garments designate

the righteousness of the saints, the godly lives they have

lived.

And John gives us here the ultimate reason why believers have

white robes and explains why they have endured the Great Tribulation.

Their salvation is due to the blood of the Lamb, to the sacrifice

of Jesus, the cleansing coming only from him.

That's why they sing such a beautiful song in verses 15 to 17,

poetic in nature, because in these verses we're given a picture

through poem of what all who have been marked sealed by the blood

of the Lamb, what it means to be sealed to Christ by the Holy Spirit,

all who have patiently endured the tribulation of living for Christ

in a hostile world, what they can expect, and so what we can expect

in Christ, is that we will not only be protected in the final judgment,

but we will enjoy the protective presence of God for all

eternity.

Marked and sealed as His.

Nothing and no one will be able to harm us.

All of our needs will be provided for.

All the pain of the past will be wiped away, not through any impersonal

declaration, but personally and lovingly, as God himself will

wipe away our tears.

We'll be safely in the fold of our shepherd, the Lamb.

That's why verse 17 is such a beautiful verse with which to end

this break in the opening of the seals.

But it's also words that bring us back to that great image or that

great motif throughout all of Scripture of the one who truly guides

God's people, the shepherd.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.

Here's another image of who Jesus will be to us.

Not just a lion, not just a lamb, but now a shepherd.

And he will guide them to springs of living water, and God

will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

This is the great assurance that we must know in the midst of

the tribulation we face here and now, we have a shepherd who leads

us.

This is not simply an escape, as if we're running out of a burning

building.

We're actually being led to a place that is good for us and that

will refresh us.

And we will look to the shepherd as the one who will wipe

away all of our tears, because he truly loves us, for he died for

us.

This is a wonderful truth for us to behold, a truth that I want

you to leave with tonight that you'll be encouraged in heart and

soul that this is the Savior in whom you place your trust.

He's the One who will lead you, refresh you, and heal you through

the wiping away of tears.

Is it your truth tonight?

Is this who you see your Savior to be?

Because if it's not, well, then it's not truly the risen Lord

Jesus Christ.

This is what we're told in Revelation of what will be.

And so we must believe that this is the Jesus who saves.

Do you know the Savior?

Do you know his constant love for you?

For as Jesus himself says in John 10, 27 and 28, my sheep hear

my voice.

So here he is as the great shepherd.

And I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one

will snatch them out of my hand.

This may be the last time that I make any reference to the year

that is ahead of us.

But please let me make one comment on this.

Whatever this year will hold, be it the joys or the sorrows, please

know you have a Savior.

Know that you have a Savior who gives us eternal life.

And because of that we will never perish and no one will snatch

us out of his hand.

He will keep us.

He will calm our anger, frustration, when we know that's

not the way we should go.

He will forgive us when we fail day and daily.

He will be the Savior who indeed, as the children's chorus

says, is mighty to keep 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 days a week.

He is a Savior who's mighty to keep 52 weeks a year.

Come to the Savior, each and every one, as I need to come to the

Savior to know this wonderful truth, to know this wonderful love,

to cherish and to know that he is the One who will lead us through

whatever is ahead, whatever tribulation we will face, so that

with the redeemed we will be sealed and we will be brought into

the throne room of heaven.

And there cry with all of God's people, blessing and glory

and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might to

our God forever and ever.

Amen.

This truly is our glorious hope.

Let us pray.

Our Father God, we thank you for your word.

Your word that beyond the details, points us to heaven, points

us to who you are, to the God that we trust, the Savior that we

can know, and Father, knowing that you indeed will keep us to the

end.

So may our focus this night be on Christ and be on him alone.

And help us to go confidently in him through these days that are

ahead, knowing that no one will snatch us from the hands of

our good Shepherd.

And we ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sam.