Remnants that Aren't for Sale Rev, 7:1-8

One of the things I've invited here a couple times is some questions, and we've been getting some, and so I want to try to address those. The next thing is to talk about interpreting the book of Revelation. Now, we talked about that back last September, but we're getting to a passage where it again becomes critical, and you'll end up seeing as we go through it the difference that it makes. The third thing is to actually go into the passage that we're covering this morning. So, anyway, we'll go through those three, And hang in there with me as we do that. The first thing we want to do is take a look at those questions that have arisen.

And one of them, it says in Revelation 6.14, this is the passage we were looking at last week, the heavens part, and in verse 16 it mentions the face of God.

Can these people actually see Christ? Are they actually looking at Christ? So that's the question. And this passage comes up comes like this, and the words I have highlighted in blue kind of focus on the question at hand. Now, the answer to this question is there are those whose opinions I respect who believe that this actually refers to those people who can actually see the Lord in heaven, and they see it that way. I don't believe that's the case, and let me tell you why so that it's clear.

As you look at this passage here, all the other events described in verses 12-14 appear to be purely physical in expression. That is, so I don't see that the parting of the heavens is anything other than just physical. It would take something more than just physical to part the heavens to actually see the Lord. It actually doesn't directly say that the heaven's parting allows humans on earth to see God. Furthermore, in Luke 21, 25-27, it describes these very same cosmic disturbances, but in that instance, it doesn't mention seeing the Lord. The seeing of the Lord only takes place when the Lord comes to earth. Another reason is that there are scripture verses which seem to indicate that seeing the Lord is something that an unrighteous human being can't expect to survive.

And I think one last point is that John was seeing things in heaven by invitation, personal invitation, come up here. So anyway, my view on it, looking at these things, is that They're fearing the Lord, they are recognizing His wrath, but not seeing the Lord face to face.

The next question, are the souls of the Old Testament saints in heaven now just as those who are martyred during the tribulation? And this has to do with kind of the question of who gets resurrected when and that kind of thing. We'll be going into this in a lot more detail a little farther down the line, because as you study the Scriptures, there are different groups, if you will, that are resurrected at different times. Let me place that up there so we can take a look at it. During the Church Age, which was started by Christ's own death, burial, and resurrection, we find that it's followed by the rapture. That is the taking of all church-age believers up, whether those dead in Christ or alive at the time, to be with the Lord.

And that's going to be one resurrection. At the end of the tribulation period will be a bodily resurrection of the tribulation saints and Old Testament saints. And then at the end of the millennium here, those of the unsaved. And notice it's a reference to souls. It appears to be giving access to these people. They aren't bodily resurrected. They have access and an ability to communicate with the Lord, but I don't see it as this is their final resurrection.

Okay, now, the next subject I wanted to cover was this area of interpretation. You'll notice on the first page of your handout, you have an interpretive guide, a key, And the reason I want to bring this up is because a great many people are just baffled as to what Revelation means. The well-known theologian of several centuries back, John Calvin, did a commentary on almost every book of the New Testament. He did not do a commentary on Revelation. He just said, I can't understand it.

And a great many folks have interpreted Revelation in a number of different ways, and I want us to take a look at why they're interpreting Revelation so many different ways, and why we feel that we can interpret it the way we do, and make sense of it, and not just throw up our hands in confusion.

Okay? This key that you have in front of you isn't going to answer every interpretive question, but it's helpful in this way. Most of these are places where the Book of Revelation says, this means this. So what may at first seem like, well, what is that? Well, it tells you. For example, the seven stars are the seven angels. It tells you in the passage what that means. Most of those that you'll see on this list are of that kind, where it actually says in the book of Revelation, this is what it means. That's helpful, isn't it? There are numerous places, roughly a hundred, where the book of Revelation makes a comparison. This is like that. For example, We'll say that the eyes of Christ are bright like the sun. Well, it doesn't mean his eyes are the sun. It means his eyes are bright like the sun. It's making a comparison.

See, those kinds of things are intended to help us using a figure of speech, what is literal. It's to communicate something literal, not to make it harder to understand. And then, the last thing is that there are As we approach these passages, there are principles that are based on literally understanding the passage. As you'll see in this handout, there's an asterisk at the bottom.

If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense or the result will be nonsense. The bottom line is we don't look at a passage and try to figure out what some allegorical interpretation is intended. We read what it says, and unless the context tells us that there's a reason to look for some other meaning based on what it says, then we take it at face value. Okay? We just simply take it at face value. If it says something, and we don't see in the text something that says, well, that means really something else, it's symbolic, then we just take it for what it says. Plain and simple. Now, is that a valid thing to do? Good question. Let's take a look at that. What I want to do, and bear with me here because this might seem like a bit of a diving through history, but hang in there, there's some value in it, okay?

The literal understanding of Scripture has a history. The Old Testament authors wrote down the entire Old Testament until it was completed roughly around the year 400. As they wrote, they intended to convey things literally. Where they used a figure of speech, it's understandable as a figure of speech. And the Jews who got that continued on With that understanding, those that lived in Jerusalem continued on with that understanding in the following centuries, from the time that the Old Testament was finally completed up until the time of Christ.

That understanding of things literally can be taken this way. When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, they went to Herod and said, where is the king of Jews to be born? Herod goes and gets all the people together that know the Old Testament Scriptures and they say, where is he to be born?

And they look at Micah 5.2, he's to be born in Bethlehem. Literal. He really is literally going to be born in real Bethlehem.

They took it and wrote it literally except with what is evident as figures of speech. Just like we use figures of speech today. Christ and the apostles then, when they were writing, wrote in that context. That was the historical context that they wrote in. They understood the Scriptures literally. They didn't seek an allegory.

That was carried over, and it turns out that the churches in Syria, and the churches in Asia Minor, where the Apostle John was the last of the apostles to minister, those churches maintained that literal understanding the longest. Then, as it passed into the middle ages, the dark ages, into the middle ages, only Jews, who were really at that time still all Orthodox, and oppressed groups of churches interpreted the Bible literally.

It became popular, and we'll understand why in a minute, and the dominant view to look at scripture as, unless I come up with an allegory, it's not spiritual. You see the difference? Unless I come up with an allegory, it's not spiritual. So here's an example of the allegory. They would look at Job's seven sons and say, well, that stands for the twelve apostles. Hello? That's the allegory that they would come up with. And we'll see in an instant, in a bit here, more of what they mean by this allegory.

Finally, as the Reformation came along, some Protestant groups and those Jews that remained Orthodox still interpret the Scriptures literally. That's what we're doing here this morning. It is an understanding of Scripture that was the same understanding that Ezra had. It was the same understanding that Christ had. That's why Christ literally believed in a real Adam. Christ believed in a real Abraham. in a real Moses, and that's what he taught. And that's the way the apostles wrote, and that's how we're interpreting these scriptures.

So, how come people come to the book of Revelation and other passages of prophecy and come up with these strange, foggy interpretations? Well, let's take a look at that. It turns out that the Greeks, about the same time as the authors of the Old Testament were writing, the Greeks were writing their myths. But it came about, in this period of time, and Plato himself is a good example, it came about that they decided, no, these myths are just too fantastic, they're just allegories. We'll interpret them allegorically. We'll just make kind of a vague story that relates to the original writing, but we're not going to take them literally.

That went on until the same time that Christ was on earth, there was a Jewish scholar in Alexandria of northern Egypt named Philo. And this Jewish scholar said, well, I think that's a good idea to do with the Old Testament. So he started interpreting the Old Testament allegorically. Abraham was no longer Abraham. Moses was no longer Moses. The parting of the Red Sea wasn't the parting of the Red Sea, it was something else. And everything was then an allegory. Everything.

Well, in that same town, that same area of northern Egypt, Alexandria, a couple centuries later, along comes this guy named Origen. Origen is not a Jew, however. Origen is among the Christians. And he comes up with the same idea. He says, let's interpret the Christian scriptures, let's interpret the whole Bible allegorically. And now it starts. He passed it on, a guy named Augustine, came and took this same idea, and then it began to be entrenched in the church. It was passed along through the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches during these centuries of time. And then, as it got into the Reformation period, what happened is this.

Interpretation of most scriptures among the Protestant groups became literal unless it was prophecy, and then they interpreted allegorically. And that is the pattern that you see among most of, and I'm generalizing here, okay, among most of those in the Reformed, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist background.

And I can think of individual exceptions, so please understand that I'm generalizing. So you find folks of many of that group that essentially And this is where you have to look at this as kind of a genealogy. They got the idea of interpreting allegorically from those who are skeptical of the Greek myths, but not from Christ and the Apostles. You see that? There is a different genealogy, if you will, of interpretation. The genealogy of interpreting literally, as we're doing here this morning and have been doing the last several months, that genealogy comes through Christ and the Apostles. The genealogy of interpreting figuratively comes from those who are skeptical of the Greek myths. You see the difference? There is a different lineage. So what they've done is take their skepticism about Greek myths and apply that to the book of Revelation. Now, here's the difference that it makes.

Scott read for us this morning about the winds. and how the angels were to hold back the winds. Here's how it's interpreted by some of those of a Reformed background. Again, this is Protestant, but they interpret allegorically. Here's Matthew Henry. By these winds we suppose are meant those errors and corruptions in religion which would occasion a great deal of trouble and mischief in the Church of God.

That's the winds he thinks that's talking about. You see the difference? It's no longer saying, hey, a wind is a wind. Now it's got to be something else. One person put it this way. Whatever it says, it can't possibly mean that. It's got to mean something different. Here's Albert Barnes.

The reference to the particular tribes may be designed allusion to the Christian church as it would be divided into denominations. See, that's what the different tribes mean. Different denominations are known by different names. Salvation would be confirmed to no one church or denomination, but among them there would be found true servants of God. So all the different tribes, instead of literally being Israel and literally being tribes, Israel becomes the church, according to the allegory, and these twelve tribes are just symbols for different denominations.

Wow. Pretty foggy, huh? It gets worse. Here's a Coptic Orthodox view. In the Coptic Orthodox view, this is from one of their recent commentaries, he keeps the earth, the sea, and the trees, that is, no harm will affect those whose souls are rested, the earth, nor those who are still confused, the sea, nor the fruitful, the trees. You see that? Oh man! It gets worse.

The Jehovah's Witnesses are another group, and by the way, almost every cult uses allegory. Why do they use allegory? They use allegory because then they control the interpretation. If you take it literally, then you know what it means, right? But if we use allegory, then we can say what it means. That's the strategy. The Jehovah's Witnesses.

Jesus is the Archangel. That's the another angel that you see there. He's called another angel in Revelation 7-2. And the 144,000 that Scott read about there are those faithful Jehovah's Witnesses Saved by works and destined for heaven up to the year 1935 because somehow they figured out that the year 1935 they had 144,000 and after that you can't go to heaven. You've got to go to earth because heaven's full.

Okay? That's the allegory. See, it's no longer Israel is Israel. It's no longer the tribes are the tribes. Now all of a sudden the whole picture turns into something different. Do you see how twisted it becomes? Now, one of the things you'll notice is that there's nothing consistent about those allegories, is there? And that's the problem with allegorical interpretation. There is no control over how you interpret it.

As for me, I would rather opt for the literal method that Jesus and the Apostle used, stick with that, and know what I'm reading. So that's what we'll do this morning, okay? Alright, with that, let's go into the passage. We've been going through the book of Revelation here, and as we've started into the sixth chapter, we've started seeing where Christ broke open these seven seals.

In 6.1, we had the first seal broken open, and this is the white horse, which is the Antichrist marching forth to conquer. In the second seal, in verse 6.2, we had the red horse.

This is war. In 6, 3, and 4 we had famine come upon the earth, the black horse. And then we had the pale or ashen horse come, bringing famine and war and pestilence and even beasts coming after man. The next thing we saw, and this was last week, we saw martyrs. And then we saw in the 6th seal cosmic disturbances.

Everything from the moon turned blood red to the sun being as if it had a morning cloth over it, to the meteors and comets and asteroids falling, to great earthquakes, all these cosmic disturbances. Today we're going to be moving into Chapter 7, and the first thing we're going to be seeing there is these 144,000 Jews, and examining that. So just to kind of get the big context, that's what we're looking at here this morning, okay? So let's take a look at verse 1 there. After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or any tree.

Now notice that after this phrase comes after the people who live down upon the earth are asking the question. Remember the last part of verse 17, chapter 6? They ask the question, Who is able to stand? Remember that from last week? And the answer is God. God is able to make them stand. So that's how God's going to answer this question here as we look at chapter 7.

So the expression, the four corners of the earth, is referring to the four cardinal directions, and not expressing some sort of a flat earth idea with a map with four corners. Now, that's fine for me to stand up here and tell you, But let's suppose for a minute that somebody comes up to us and they're being a little bit more challenging and belligerent. And they're saying, look here, the Bible is full of myths. See this? It teaches right here in Revelation 7, verse 1, that the earth is flat and it has four corners. Well, what are you going to tell them? Well, how about we tell them this? We can open up the Bible.

We can turn to Job, Job 26.7, and it explains that the earth is suspended in space. That's an obvious comparison to the moon and the sun that are round and spherical in front of us.

You can turn there just a few verses later, Job 26.10. He described a circle upon the face of the waters until the day and night came to an end. A spherical earth is also described in Isaiah. 40, 21, and 22. The circle of the earth. The sphericity of the earth. So this sphericity of the earth is conveyed clearly in scripture. There's also this idea of a circle in Proverbs in the passage that's there. So you can show them these verses and get the idea.

And then the other thing that we can do is we can say, well, even in our modern space travel, technologically advanced world, we'll still say things like the sun just went down. It's been 20 years plus since people have traveled to the moon and yet we'll say here in our technologically advanced world, the sun just went down. The moon just came up. Or I'm going up to Fort Collins. Well, what are those? Those are figures of speech. This is no different. Now, let's move on. But now let's take a look at what the rest of the first verse is telling us.

Holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or the sea or any tree. Now can you imagine what people on the earth would be thinking at that moment? Thinking, oh no. The wind stopped. It's quiet. What's next? It's kind of like, if you've been in a house where you raise kids, you know when the house is really, really quiet that that's not a good sign. Okay? You just know trouble is brewing when the house is real quiet. And I'm sure people on earth kind of have that same perspective. It's kind of like, uh-oh, what's next? Okay?

But notice, in these next several verses, there's kind of a trio that keeps being brought up. There's the earth and the sea and the trees. And we're going to see in the next verses why that is critical. Verse 2, And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea." So here we have another earth-centered figure of speech, the rising of the sun, right? But we understand that in our modern vernacular. And that rising happens in the East. So, now, the next thing you'll see brought up here is the seals. Now, we've talked in recent weeks about the importance of seals.

Here's one, for example, this is an official document sealed by four individuals. They had little pieces of soft clay and they'd put the seal on the soft clay with the idea that the clay would dry and keep the mark of the seal from the official. These happens to have three officials that are actually named in the Book of Jeremiah, which shows that Jeremiah is a very historical book. Here's one from New Testament times. It's a document that's unopened, and they put a piece of string around it, and then put a wax seal around it. So that's the idea.

These things are like sealed documents. But we need to go beyond just what do these things look like. We need to take a look at what's a seal for? And I'm not talking about something that goes, oh, oh, oh. This is a different kind of seal. Seals are for three things. They're for identification. Maybe ownership. Okay, I didn't honk. Identification or ownership. Therefore authority and therefore protection. Those are the three purposes for seals here.

Now, seals in those days were a very serious affair. Violating a seal was punishable by capital punishment. So seals were taken very seriously. Furthermore, as you see the use of that word seal in the New Testament and even the Old, it means something is unquestionably true. Why? Because violating the seal and falsifying something was serious business. That's capital punishment. So if something had a seal, it was unquestionably true. Now, here are some instances in the Scripture of where this setting a seal or putting a seal on something kind of conveys the meaning.

In Matthew 27 passage there, this is when the Romans wanted to make sure that nobody took the body of Christ. They were afraid somebody was going to steal the body or disturb it in some way. So they said, and they went and made the grave secure along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone. Again, what's the idea? Nobody's going to break into this under penalty of death. And the rest of these passages convey a similar idea. The seal is taken seriously. If something is sealed in the understanding of that culture, something is sealed, it is unquestionably true. Now, next we look at this verse.

Notice that God isn't simply called God. He's called the Living God. He's living as opposed to the Antichrist who reigns on the earth during this time but is as good as dead. There's a contrast here, isn't there? His time, the Antichrist, will come soon to an end.

The living God is the one who is ever living. This phrase, the living God, is used about 28 times in scripture. And every time it's used, it's full of significance. It's bursting with significance. You see, having a living God is important, isn't it? It's critical, because we've been told in Colossians 3-4, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. This living God is not just living somewhere else.

It's living, and we have a relationship with Him because of our identification with Him. And as we were studying in our elective this morning, we are in Him, and He is in us. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. He is our life, right here, right now. This world's gods are as good as dead, and they have no life in them at all. But we instead have the resurrection life of Christ.

Let's take a look at the next thing. The next we are told that this angel will cry out with a loud voice. Now you know I just love the places where it says loud voice, right? It's a good thing I'm not one of those screaming preachers, otherwise who'd know how to increase the volume?

Anyway, this sealed angel, speaking with obvious authority, tells the other angels, who have authority to bring judgments against the earth and the sea and the trees, Don't move ahead with your judgments just yet. Not now. So now in verse 3 he says, saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bondservants of our God and their foreheads. Now, do not harm, that implies that something later is about to harm the earth and the sea and the trees.

And this is a handout, and I don't expect you to read every jot and tittle, but a couple weeks we handed this out And as you recall, these judgments come in three sets of seven. And we're here, okay? There is very shortly to happen additional judgments which will harm the earth and the sea and the trees, okay? So this isn't just empty talking.

This is explicitly saying, hold off on the things that are just about to come and about to follow after that because we've got something very important to do right now. So the holding off is specific anticipation of these coming judgments. Now, this next part is fascinating.

He says, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads. Now, we've taken a look at what sealing means, right? But the next reverence there is to bondservants. And Brian White and I were looking at this word pair this last week, just a few days ago here, and one of the things we noticed, these bondservants have a particular characteristic. Now let's take a look at that. Two things come out. One is that bondservants are unquestionably owned by someone else. They had been bought.

And that truth comes forth here as we look in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 7. of those of this church age, because this phrase, bond servants like saints, is used also of those who live during this church age. It comes out in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Glorify God in your body. And moving ahead into the next chapter, 1 Corinthians 7, 23, You are bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men. The church where Nancy and I went in our younger years and where we were married has engraved on the very front of the church, you are not your own, you are bought with a price. And it's simply this message here.

And that's the first characteristic of a bondservant. They are not their own. They recognize they don't have their own personal independent ownership. Coupled with that is the next truth about bondservants. Their will is entirely subject to another person's will. See that? Their will is entirely subject to another person's will.

And that shows up in what I've highlighted in the green lettering here in these same verses. Therefore, glorify God in your body. Why? Because your will is entirely subject to the Lord then. Or the next one. Do not become slaves of men. Why? Because slaves of men means your will is subject to them.

You've been bought with a price by the Lord. Your will is subject to Him. See the distinction there? So it's total ownership. Your will is completely given over to that of another. So that's what this phrase bond servants is talking about. This is a word pair that gives us good insight into what these 144,000 are like.

These people have a clear understanding of the position that they have with Christ. And although, as we'll see here, there are distinct differences because these are not people within the church. These are not people within the body of Christ during the church age. And yet there are things that we have in common with them, as well as contrasts.

We'll look at that more in a bit. Now, as we carry this question of the seal over, we need to ask then, why are they sealed? What's the purpose of it? And that kind of plays off from the things we've looked at before about the characteristics of the seal. So let's take a look. One is just simply for identification.

See, it was common practice in those days for soldiers, or those who were in the guilds, remember when we studied the trade guilds when we were looking at the seven churches? Those who were soldiers who were in the trade guilds would very commonly get a mark on their forehead. It was very visible, it was very evident, and that mark would mean that they were officially commissioned and devoted to their task, whatever it was. So when the people heard this mark on their foreheads, the people who were reading this would say, oh, I know what that means.

These people are completely devoted to that to which they've been committed. The next thing is also a symbol of authority. Whoever set them out on their task had the authority to do so. Therefore, these people who go out carry that authority of the one who sent them. That's the next meaning of the seal. The next is protection.

And that comes out real strongly in this set of verses. But also, in just a couple chapters from now, it will be in Revelation 9, it says, Out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Why?

The seal of God provided protection and identification, certainly, and authority, but protection was in mind here. Protection was in view. Now, every single time a judgment comes down, we aren't told that these people are exempted. The idea is it's implied. The seal gives them a protection that the others do not have. The last thing, and it doesn't come out of the items we've covered before, but we'll see it, is it's also contrast, because Not too far down the road here, we're going to see that everybody on the earth who wants to be involved in buying or selling anything is going to have to have a mark on their forehead or the back of their hand.

This sets them apart. Wait a minute, you've already got a mark. It says you're totally devoted to that god. You can't take another one, right? So this is another distinction point. It puts them in contrast to this mark of the beast that is about to come up, and we'll see in just a couple chapters. And now we're getting to the really good part. Okay? Verse 4. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. And then he goes on in verses 5 through 8 to list the tribes, one by one, and listing the number from each tribe, 12,000.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time believing he's trying to indicate church denominations here. That doesn't wash with me. Can you imagine there looking at these numbers and trying to say, well, that just means one group's going to be here, and then there's the Presbyterians over here, and there's the Methodists. That just doesn't fly.

Anyway, the reality is he spells out very clearly twelve known tribes. So let's take a look at that. You can also take a look at the back of your handout. We'll help you, side two there, page two, give you some insight. Now here we have the twelve tribes listed, and one of the things to take note is the twelve tribes are listed in almost two dozen places in scripture, mostly in the Old Testament. And one of the things that's real curious is as you look at the various places where the 12 tribes are listed, there are differences in many of those listings.

Some of them change the order, and some of them actually drop out or include different ones. And this is no exception. And I think there's good strong reasons for the names that have been dropped out as well as what's been listed first. So let's take a look at that. First, here in Revelation 7, we notice that Dan is dropped out. Dan is likely omitted because the tribe left its inheritance. They were told, okay, you go to this area. This is your inheritance. And what did they do? Anything but that. Instead, they went north.

They started gathering together the Gentiles in the area of Tyre and Sidon, and basically immediately took off a different direction from what the Lord had laid out for them. Dan also got involved in idolatry, and this is one of the reasons why the Lord has warnings against believers making mismatched, mismated alliances with unbelievers. is the tendency is to draw the believer into idolatry. The same thing happened here with the tribe of Dan. They fell into it. They became disqualified in terms of ministry. Now, you notice that here you see them drop out. They do, in the end, get land, as we'll see in times to come. But in terms of their opportunity for ministry, they've lost it. The next one is Ephraim. And one of the things you'll notice in the chart that was handed out, let me put that back up just so that it is clear. Manasseh and Ephraim are half-tribes, they're called, sons of Joseph, okay?

These half-tribes had a tribal status, and particularly, let's say, for example, in the listing of the tribes where they're talking about the land, Levi has no inheritance in the land, and so Levi, is not in a lot of the Old Testament lists because Levi being a priest did not have to work the land, they had to work the temple. The tithe was so that the rest of the tribes would provide for Levi. You see that? The tithe was so the rest of the tribes could provide for Levi who had no land to work. That's what the tithe is about. We'll get into that some other year. Anyway.

So now here's Ephraim, the half-tribe there. Ephraim was foremost in his defection from the house of David, and was actually an ally to the enemies of Judah, if you can imagine that. He actually sided up with the enemies against Israel. And so that's thought to be one of the reasons why, let's drop the name Ephraim and we'll just put Joseph in there. Okay?

Include the father, but Ephraim really crossed lines he shouldn't have. Okay, next, Manasseh and Joseph. Manasseh and Joseph were included on this list. You see both names listed there in this listing in Revelation chapter 7. And then something else, if you look at the list. Which name is on top? Which name is on top of the list?

It's Judah. Judah isn't the oldest one. Why Judah? What's so important about Judah? Why would Judah be listed there? Well, there's some good reasons for that. Why is Judah listed first? Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. It's predicted, as we studied before, in Genesis 49, 9, and 10, that Judah would be the tribe from whom the Messiah would come. It's shown in Matthew chapter 1 and Matthew 2, 6 and Luke 3, 33. in the genealogies, in terms of which one that came from. And here's something else interesting.

In Hebrews 7.14, it actually claims Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. That was written while the temple was still in existence, and the records were there for anybody to check if they wanted to dispute it. Do you know that there's no known record of anybody disputing this? That Jesus was from the tribe of Judah?

And that's because up until AD 70, the records were there. Anybody could have disputed. All they would have had to do is say, here's the records. You lose. Nobody did. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. Even with the opportunity to dispute it, no one did.

And then as we've read just a couple chapters back, Revelation 5.5, Jesus is called the Lion of Judah. Again, reinforcing Judah's first place. Something real interesting. I'm old enough that I remember the Six Days War in 1967.

It was a war not even a week long. The Jews fought against their neighbors, and they also fought to get possession of Jerusalem. Because here the Jews were, and they didn't have possession of Jerusalem. When they went in to take over Jerusalem, the plan was to go through one of the gates, a different gate.

But the soldiers themselves insisted. They started chanting, Judah first! Judah first! Judah first! And so the commanders relented and said, okay, we'll go through Judah's gate. Judah first. So even now there's a kind of a sense, even though they're spiritually far off, this tribal sense of going through Judah's gate first. That's stuck with them. And there's more about those gates that we'll have to study in future weeks. Now, we need to ask some questions about this group of 144,000. First question. Why are all these bondservants of God identified as Jews? Are they really Jews? Are they really, really, really Jews? Well, that they're Jews is clear.

You know that the name Israel is mentioned in the Bible about 2,600 times. It must be important, right? This is no exception here. You know that you look at 2,600 different places and the context makes it clear. Israel is Israel. It's not the church. These are tribes, not denominations. These really are Jews. When you have the listing of the tribes, it makes it clear. These are really those who are of Israel, the ethnic nation of Israel. Now, there's something else profound that comes out of this passage, too. It is a subtle evidence of a pre-tribulation rapture. It is an evidence of the rapture of the Church. Why? Because here you have these 144,000 Jews who are going to go out and be witnesses for God, servants of God.

Where's the church? Where's the church? They're with the Lord. They're heavenly seated. That's why you need additional witnesses. When the apostles were first there with Christ, Christ says, I'm sending you as my witnesses out in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But guess what? The entire set of believers from the church age has been taken up. Now here we are, we have to have some new witnesses, and it's not Jews and Gentiles like the church, it is Jews entirely. This isn't the church, the church is in heaven, okay? So this is actually an evidence of the pre-tribulation rapture. Now, next question, how did these 144,000 Jews become saved? The answer is, drum roll, we don't know. It doesn't say.

Now, it may be that they found Bibles and biblical literature, maybe videocassettes, things like that, and that that came about. Who knows? Maybe they found Holly Hill's Bible Church revelation binders. It is also possible, and it doesn't say, so we can't be sure, it's also possible the Lord did 144,000 Paul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus kinds of conversions. Couldn't he do that? He could do that.

We don't know which is the case, maybe some combination. It's also quite likely that these became believers at some earlier time and are now being sealed. The conversion process has already taken place, their devotion is already quite clear. They persevered to this point, now they're being sealed. That's what we're witnessing here in this interlude between the sixth and the seventh seal.

Next question, how are they to serve God? Now, they're all Jewish, and there will be a Jewish temple, but notice only one of the tribes is Levi, and those are the ones qualified to work in the temple. So this isn't temple work here. This is going out and telling the world about the Messiah. These are Jews who have said, we know who the Messiah is, and you need to know him. So they're going to be going out and proclaiming to the rest of the world about Jesus Christ. And can you imagine We don't know exactly what these guys are like, but can you imagine if there were 144,000 people of the caliber and intensity of the Apostle Paul? Maybe. These people are obviously very clearly devoted.

Now, why the number 144,000? And it's interesting, this number 144,000 shows up nowhere else in scripture but Revelation 7, and again we'll see them in chapter 14. The passage doesn't give some specific reason. One of the things I might suggest as a possibility is that 12,000, that is what each of the tribes would have, was a fairly common number in military attacks.

So they're seeing this is an army. of people going out. These people obviously are not armed in terms of physical battle, but they're armed for spiritual battle, going out there. And that may be the intent, but that's a guess. Now the next question, since the records have been lost, how do these people know what tribe they're from? Good question. Truth is, except for some that maybe carry on a name, like the name Cohen means priest, and some of them may have the last name Levite or Levitt. Those are indications they may be of a priestly background. But that only covers a few of them and only one tribe.

The truth is, it doesn't matter what human records say, God knows. and God is the one who does the appointing. And by the way, John says he heard the number of them, and he's able to list the tribes. My sense is that these people are finding out which tribe they're from. God is revealing them. That's the indication here.

Now, we'll see these folks again in chapter 14, but for now I think it's important for us to take a look at the contrast between these 144,000 and the church. See, we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, those who are now of the church age. Those of us who are believers in this group have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. And Ephesians 1, 13, and 14, and a couple other passages, tells us that. And that fact was only revealed by the Apostle Paul.

The seal in our case is not for protection from tribulation judgments, but as a guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. So notice the Lord has used a similar indication here, the seal, but with a very different meaning. So that's something else that indicates these aren't church people. Okay? They're seals for protection for tribulation judgments.

We as believers have been sealed, but it has nothing to do in any of the three places where sealing is mentioned in the New Testament. Nothing to do with the tribulation and being preserved from those judgments. We too have also placed our faith in Christ, and we're called bond servants.

Revelation 1.1 even says that.

But our position in Christ is different, not the same. The next thing, those living on the earth in the tribulation period are asking, who is able to stand? And the Lord answers back immediately with these. He answers who, and He answers how. But we who are in Christ are also challenged to stand, but not against tribulation judgments.

Our standing is against the principalities and powers. Their armor, their protection is the seal. Our armor is the spiritual armor that we've been given from the Lord. See the contrast there? And the last thing, here as we look at it, the Lord has provided our every need right here and now, hasn't He? He has indeed provided a protection for the things we're from. We don't need to worry about the tribulation judgments. The Lord has not armed us For that, the Lord has armed us for what we have to deal with here and now in the church age. So let's turn to the Lord. Lord, we do thank You.

You have equipped us as needs be with armor and protection. You've given us Your Word. You have given us a unique position in Christ, and we thank You for that. As we look to these 144,000, what they're doing is certainly admirable. But Lord, You have given us a different place And we just pray that you would teach us of it. We just pray that we would be reminded, Lord, to call upon you. We thank you for the sealing that we do have and the inheritance that we can count on 100% in Jesus Christ. Amen.