Revelation 7:1-17 (Revival in the Wake, Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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April 4, 2020

Revelation 7:1-17 Revival in the Wake April 5, 2020

00:40: ♪ Is our hope in life and death ♪ ♪
01:33: Christ alone, Christ alone ♪ ♪ What is our only confidence ♪ ♪
01:42: That our souls will be saved ♪ ♪ Who holds our days within His hand ♪ ♪
01:52: What comes apart from His command ♪ ♪ And what will keep us to the end ♪ ♪
02:01: The love of Christ in which we stand ♪ ♪
02:09: Oh, sing hallelujah, our hope springs eternal ♪ ♪
02:18: Oh, sing hallelujah, now and ever we confess ♪ ♪
02:27: Christ, our hope in life and death ♪ ♪ The troubled soul,
02:42: God is good, God is good ♪ ♪ Where is
02:48: His grace and goodness known ♪ ♪ In our grave,
02:54: Redeemer's blood ♪ ♪ Who holds our faith when fears arise ♪ ♪
03:01: Who stands above the stormy trial ♪ ♪ Who sends the waves that bring us nigh ♪ ♪
03:11: Unto the shore, the rock of Christ ♪ ♪
03:16: Oh, sing hallelujah, our hope springs eternal ♪ ♪
03:25: Oh, sing hallelujah, now and ever we confess ♪ ♪
03:34: Christ, our hope in life and death ♪ ♪
03:50: Christ, He lives, Christ, He lives, and what reward ♪ ♪
03:56: With everlasting life with Him ♪ ♪
04:03: There we will rise to meet the Lord ♪ ♪ Then sin and death will be destroyed ♪ ♪
04:14: We will feast in endless joy ♪ ♪ When Christ is ours forevermore, forevermore ♪ ♪
04:25: Oh, sing hands eternal, oh, sing hallelujah, we confess ♪ ♪
04:43: Christ, our hope in life and death, oh, sing ♪ ♪
04:56: Oh, sing Christ, our hope in life and death ♪
05:32: Well, good morning. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for inviting us into your living room. We're gonna get started with just a few songs together.
05:41: The first one is taken from Psalm 34. ♪♪♪ ♪
05:54: I sought the Lord and He answered me ♪ ♪
06:01: And delivered me from every fear ♪ ♪
06:08: Those who look on Him are radiant ♪ ♪
06:15: They'll never be ashamed, they'll never be ashamed ♪ ♪
06:22: This poor man cried and the Lord heard me ♪ ♪
06:29: And saved me from my enemies ♪ ♪
06:36: The Son of God surrounds His saints ♪ ♪
06:42: He'll deliver them, He'll deliver them ♪ ♪
06:50: Magnify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
06:56: Come exalt His name together ♪ ♪
07:03: Glorify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
07:09: Come exalt His name forever ♪ ♪
07:18: Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good ♪ ♪
07:25: Oh, blessed is He who hides in Him ♪ ♪
07:31: Oh, fear the Lord, oh, all you saints ♪ ♪
07:38: He'll give you everything, He'll give you everything ♪ ♪
07:46: Magnify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
07:52: Come exalt His name together ♪ ♪
07:58: Glorify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
08:05: Come exalt His name forever ♪ ♪
08:16: Let us bless the Lord every day and night ♪ ♪
08:23: Ever -ending praise, may our voices rise ♪ ♪
08:30: Let us bless the Lord every day and night ♪ ♪
08:36: Never -ending praise, may our voices rise ♪ ♪
08:44: Let us bless the Lord every day and night ♪ ♪
08:50: Never -ending praise, may our voices rise ♪ ♪
08:57: Magnify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
09:03: Come exalt His name together ♪ ♪
09:10: Glorify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
09:16: Come exalt His name forever ♪ ♪
09:23: Magnify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
09:30: Come exalt His name together ♪ ♪
09:37: Glorify the Lord with me ♪ ♪
09:43: Come exalt His name forever ♪
10:01: Good morning. Welcome to Cornerstone. And specifically, we welcome you again this morning to our
10:07: Cornerstone virtual worship service. It's been exciting over the past couple of weeks.
10:12: We have seen some amazing stories. We've heard stories of friends, of other people that have been shared.
10:20: And so we welcome those who are regular. We welcome those who are checking in with us this morning.
10:26: It's great. It's great to have you with us. Our prayers are with you. I want you to know that our prayers remain with you during this time while we're not actually able to see you.
10:38: We're praying for your health. We're praying that you're protected in this time of the virus and any other health situations.
10:46: Our prayer is that you remain confident in the Sovereign God during this time. These are troubling times, but we have a
10:53: Sovereign God who cares for us, so we pray for your confidence. We pray that this is a special time for you together with your family.
11:01: We're told to stay indoors, which puts us in a situation where we get to spend more time with our families.
11:08: There are very creative ways to be with your family. Families are
11:13: Zooming. Family members, children, grandchildren that are perhaps out of state.
11:18: And these are all exciting times, but we pray that your family is growing together and growing spiritually together.
11:26: And so we pray for your spiritual walk. We've had members in our small group in years past that their prayer request every week was for spiritual growth.
11:36: That's the prayer now, is that during this time we be drawing closer to God.
11:43: Last week I opened up our time together in Psalm 19. The first three verses, the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament show this handiwork, and we spoke about how even the very existence of creation speaks to the heart of the reality of God.
12:02: Moving on further now in Psalm 19, in verse 7, the beginning of this verse 7, it says, the law of the
12:10: Lord is perfect, cleansing the soul. I want to make three observations.
12:15: One is that the law of the Lord is perfect. It is absolute truth. It is undeniable.
12:22: The second observation is that my soul is contaminated. I have a virus in my soul that needs to be resolved.
12:29: And the third observation is that the power of the word of the
12:35: Lord will defeat that virus every, every time. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
12:42: And it's also interesting to note in the first part of this Psalm, we understand general revelation, how just the very creation speaks to the existence of God, gives us a knowledge of the existence of God.
12:57: And as we go now into the Psalm deeper, we learn about the specific revelation, his word, his word.
13:05: So our challenge to you right now, right now, this week, as we go forward, get into the word of God.
13:13: While we're at home especially, make it a special part of your routine to be in to the word of God.
13:20: Now here's another thought, take advantage of technology. There are care groups that are now meeting by Zoom.
13:26: There's no reason why, if you're in a discipleship relationship, you can't meet by Zoom.
13:32: And this actually leads me to my first announcement. This morning, we had our first, and it will continue, a
13:39: Women's ABF on Sunday morning by Zoom. Kimberly, I understand that you were able to do it.
13:45: I look forward to hearing the feedback on how that goes. So take advantage of it, and right now the
13:51: Women's ABF is meeting by Zoom on Sunday morning. The second announcement has more practical, because we're not sitting in these chairs that are in front of me, we do still need to be obedient in our worship in the realm of giving.
14:10: We want to encourage you that there are various ways to do it. The first way is to write a check, mail it to the church, attention to the financial secretary,
14:20: Stan will get it. The second way could be online. Now we don't want to discourage those of you who are giving online, and that may be your best way is to do it online, and that's fine.
14:31: There's a small fee that we pay, but it's not bad. And the third way would be in your bank, have direct deposit, going directly from your bank to the church.
14:42: Either way, but we're not looking for the money, we're looking for your heart in worship, and in response to the blessings that God has given you.
14:50: Let God speak to you in that way. Next week is Easter. Next Friday is
14:56: Good Friday. Now we typically have services. We are planning, and you will shortly be getting an email, on Friday at 7 o 'clock, we're going to have a
15:07: Zoom prayer meeting. What an exciting time. I understand that the technology of Zoom, we could have as many as 100 people online at one time.
15:17: What an amazing opportunity for us to share together through that technology, time in prayer, on that most amazing day.
15:25: I would encourage you, in anticipation of that day, think about the noon hours, the middle of the day hours, when our
15:33: Lord hung on the cross, for our sins, as the
15:38: Messiah, as the Lamb who bled for our sins. Pray about that, meditate about that, in the quiet of your home, and be prepared when we come together
15:48: Friday evening for prayer. Easter morning, get ready. Pastor Jeff is really already working for an amazing opportunity for God's Word to go out strong.
16:00: Here's some interesting information. Did you know that last Sunday's virtual worship service has already had well over 100 views?
16:11: Well, excuse me, well over 400 views. That's an amazing reality, because that says that our friends, our neighbors, other people, we welcome you all here.
16:21: Easter often becomes an issue, we have 200 seats, and that's all that can come.
16:28: We don't have that limit this coming Sunday for Easter service. We pray that God's Word is going to go forward out into a world that definitely needs to hear it.
16:38: Now, unfortunately, we're going to have to delay part of it, because our plan was to have a baptism on Easter Sunday.
16:45: So we can't do that on Easter, but we are going to do it. We are still planning to do it. As soon as the quarantine is lifted, we are going to be planning.
16:54: So those of you who are already thinking about it, we're with you. And those of you who are potentially thinking about it, get in touch with Pastor Jeff, myself, one of the elders.
17:04: We'd love to talk to you about it, and we're going to schedule a time for baptism. Today is the other ordinance.
17:14: If one ordinance is baptism, the other ordinance is the Lord's Table. And we are going to celebrate
17:21: Lord's Supper together today. We've been telling you about it. We told you about it last week.
17:27: Now, I'm going to encourage you right now, if you haven't already gotten juice and cracker, bread, whatever, put us on pause, go get it, and you can come back and continue on with us as we move into prayer and then the
17:43: Lord's Supper. So now let's pray. Lord, for all who are impacted at this point in time, whether it's the virus, illness, whether it's other things that are going on, we pray.
17:58: We pray for your healing hand. We pray for your very, very presence for the families of those who have been impacted by this virus.
18:07: Lord, you can speak to the hearts. You can bring comfort. So we pray for that.
18:13: And we continue to pray for the first responders, the medical people in the hospitals.
18:19: We pray for the scientists and the doctors in the laboratories who are coming up with vaccines.
18:25: Lord, you are the great physician. We turn to you. We pray, Lord, for your hand for those in need.
18:33: For the troops, Lord, that are deployed around the world, it's becoming a very stressful time.
18:39: The virus is out there, and those who would want to do evil to our country are considering taking advantage of this time.
18:47: Protect our troops, Lord, I pray, from the virus and from attack that may be out there.
18:53: And be with their families. Give them a quiet heart. We pray for our missionaries who are right in the front of the battle line.
19:01: We think of the families that are spreading the word. We think of the families that are in the middle of the virus.
19:08: But most of all, we think, Lord, of your word in a dark world. Be with our missionaries, please.
19:15: We pray that you be with our local body, with our church, for growth, spiritual growth, for testimony, for reaching out into this world.
19:27: Now, Lord, I pray for Pastor Jeff as he opens up Revelation 7. Prepare his heart.
19:34: Speak through him. Prepare our hearts to receive the message. We pray these things in the powerful name of Jesus.
19:41: Amen. ♪ ♪
19:54: I cast my mind on Calvary where Jesus bled and died for me.
20:11: I see his wounds, his hands, his feet.
20:17: My Savior, Lord, that cursed tree.
20:27: His body bound, entrenched in tears.
20:35: They laid him down in Joseph's tomb.
20:41: The entrance sealed by heavy stone.
20:49: Messiah still and all alone. Oh, praise the name of the
20:59: Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forevermore.
21:09: For endless days we will sing your praise.
21:15: Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. And on that third at break of dawn the
21:30: Son of Heaven rose again.
21:36: Oh, trampled death, where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the
21:48: King. Oh, praise the name of the
21:54: Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forevermore.
22:04: For endless days we will sing your praise.
22:09: Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. He shall return in robes of white.
22:25: The blazing sun shall pierce the night.
22:32: And I will rise among the saints.
22:38: My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face.
22:45: Oh, praise the name of the Lord. Praise his name forevermore.
22:58: For endless days we will sing your praise.
23:04: Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God.
23:12: Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord.
23:19: Oh, Lord our God. We praise you,
23:27: Lord, this morning. Your name is far above all gods.
23:37: You are worthy to sit on the throne and open the scroll. As morning dawns and evening fades, you inspire songs of praise that rise from earth to touch your heart and glorify your name.
24:09: Your name is strong in my tower.
24:15: Your name is a shelter like no other.
24:21: Your name let the nation sing it louder because nothing has the power to save but your name.
24:48: Jesus, in your name we pray.
24:54: Come and fill our hearts today.
25:00: Lord, give us strength to live for you and glorify your name.
25:12: Your name is strong in my tower.
25:18: Your name is a shelter like no other.
25:25: Your name let the nation sing it louder because nothing has the power to save but your name.
26:02: There is strength within the sorrow. There is beauty in our tears.
26:16: And you meet a saint in the morning with a love that casts out fear.
26:27: You are working in our waiting. You are standing. You are sanctifying us.
26:42: You are standing. You are teaching us to trust that your plans are still to prosper.
26:56: You have not forgot with us in the fire and the flood.
27:05: You're faithful forever, perfect in love.
27:12: You are sovereign over us.
27:20: You are wisdom unimagined. Who could understand your way?
27:32: Reigning high above the heavens, reaching down in endless grace.
27:46: You're the lifter of the lowly, compassionate and kind.
27:59: You surround and you uphold me. And your promises are my delight.
28:10: Your plans are still to prosper. You have not forgotten with us in the fire and the flood.
28:24: You're faithful forever, perfect in love.
28:38: You are sovereign over us. You have not forgotten with us in the fire and the flood.
28:49: You're faithful forever, perfect in love.
29:02: You are sovereign over us.
29:08: You are sovereign over us.
29:29: Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight,
29:36: O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. We're gathered this morning together, literally together, because we are all in front of the throne room of God, to celebrate the
29:49: Lord's Supper. We're told to do that in remembrance of Him. Psalm 19, verse 14, there are a couple of items that are important to us.
29:58: One is, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight,
30:04: O Lord. As we're here together, I encourage us to slow down, realize where we are.
30:14: Pastor Jeff has been bringing us into revelations and brought us into the very throne room of God, where the angelic hosts were singing
30:22: Hosanna, Hosanna, where there was praise and glory to God. We can read in Isaiah, where the prophet was somehow transported into the very presence of God.
30:35: In those cases, I think it would be very easy to focus and to be steadfast in our focus and our hearts meditation on the
30:45: Lord. But I want us to realize that that's where we are right now. We are in the very presence of God.
30:52: We are here because of the blood of Jesus. We are here not because we are worthy, but because He loved us so much.
31:02: We are in the very presence of God. And so in this moment, I want our hearts to slow down.
31:08: I want the meditation of my heart to be acceptable to His sight.
31:16: The second thing I want to bring out in this is that we confess that God is our strength.
31:22: Oh Lord, my strength. We gather together in the evening for supper.
31:29: We gather together for nourishment. We gather together because that's what helps us physically remain strong.
31:37: We're partaking in the very essence of God. Now, we don't believe that this is literally
31:43: His body and His blood, but symbolically, this is His body and His blood.
31:48: And we are bringing it into our very being. We are being strengthened by Him. I want you to understand that the strength to carry on cannot come from yourself.
32:00: It comes from God and my Redeemer. I'm not worthy to stand in front of you this morning.
32:09: The sins of my life, the sins in my heart, I am not worthy. But yet,
32:14: I am declared worthy because of the atoning blood of Christ.
32:20: We come together. I'm going to ask that we stop for a moment in prayer, preparing our hearts for this, and then we will share together the elements.
32:32: Let's pray. Oh Lord, it's
32:49: You. And it's not me. It's You. And we celebrate. We celebrate
32:55: Your obedience. We celebrate Your coming to earth. And we celebrate in front of these elements, in front of You.
33:04: And we say thank You. It's written, For I received of the
33:09: Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, that same night in which
33:16: He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
33:22: Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do.
33:29: In remembrance of me. I invite you to take the bread and be prepared to share it together.
33:38: And I will call us together in just a minute. Oh Lord, we hold in our hands an element that should make us, just make us remember in awe the ultimate sacrifice,
34:06: Your body broken for me, for us. So now Lord, we take, we take of this bread in remembrance of You.
34:30: Continuing after the same manner also, He took the cup. When He had supped, saying,
34:38: This cup is the New Testament in my blood. Do ye this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me.
34:48: Oh Lord Jesus, we do remember You. And we say thank You. And we do this in honor and remembrance of You.
35:08: Lord, we truly do thank You for the amazing gift of Your atoning blood of the sacrifice on the cross.
35:16: As we've sat together, as we've remembered it together this morning, we pray in Jesus' name.
35:23: Amen. Speak, oh
35:42: Lord, as we come to You to receive the food of Your holy word.
35:56: Take Your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in Your likeness that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
36:27: Speak, oh Lord, and fulfill in us all
36:34: Your purposes for Your glory.
36:50: Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.
37:05: Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of Your purity.
37:19: Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see
37:26: Your majestic love and authority of power that can never fail.
37:41: Let the truth prevail over unbelief.
37:58: Speak, oh Lord, and renew our minds.
38:05: Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
38:13: Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity.
38:27: And by grace we'll stand on Your promises.
38:35: And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
38:44: Speak, oh Lord, till Your church is built and the earth is filled with Your glory.
39:19: Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to You now and ask that You would revive us.
39:27: We pray for times of refreshing to come from the Lord. We pray, God, that You would send forth a wind, a mighty wind of Your Holy Spirit, just like You did in Acts chapter 2.
39:38: I pray, Lord, that that wind would enter me even right now as I proclaim Your Word.
39:44: I pray that Your Word would then go forth, sent forth, carried on by the
39:49: Holy Spirit to hearts who have ears to hear. And I pray,
39:56: Lord, that as this happens You would bring revival, not just from this pulpit but all throughout the earth,
40:03: Lord. We pray for Christian pulpits and Christian preachers to proclaim the Word of God, to proclaim salvation belongs to the
40:10: Lord. And we pray, Lord, that a mighty revival would begin now in the wake of this pandemic,
40:18: Lord. We pray that a revival would begin. In Jesus' name, amen.
40:24: Well, today is Palm Sunday. If you're watching on April 5th, as instructed, if you watched earlier, which is fine, or later, which is also okay, it's not
40:35: Palm Sunday. But I'm particularly happy about how this worked out because normally on a
40:42: Palm Sunday I might feel like I should preach a special message. Maybe some of you, I'm picturing your faces, by the way.
40:48: You're not here in the building, but I can just imagine where each of you sit. So I'm preaching to you because in my mind's eye, you're there as I speak to you in the camera.
40:57: Many of you would want me to preach a Palm Sunday message, but that's just not how I roll. I don't preach topical messages very often.
41:05: I will for Easter. There'll be a special message for Easter, but today I'm just gonna press right through Revelation.
41:10: And as luck would have it, I don't believe in luck, as providence would have it,
41:16: Revelation 7 is a Palm Sunday message if there ever was one.
41:22: Of course, the triumphal entry in Matthew 21 where Jesus is greeted with palm branches and they lay down the palm branches at His feet.
41:29: He is recognized as the King of Israel. He's presenting Himself to Jerusalem and He is welcomed for one day.
41:38: But Revelation chapter 7 doesn't have a turnaround within the week.
41:45: It's not a short -lived adoration. It is an eternal day of worship.
41:51: The palm branches of Revelation 17 keep on waving and never stop. And so I'm excited to preach this passage on Palm Sunday.
42:00: Thank you, Lord. His providence, amazing. And in the midst of a pandemic, I think that's the point.
42:07: Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.
42:13: In a pandemic that's sweeping across the world, we know that God controls every molecule in the universe.
42:21: There is not a rogue molecule in all of existence that God loses control of.
42:30: Rather, every virus is under His control. He's working a sovereign will. And the beautiful thing, the thing that I see in this passage, and I want to show it to you, is that there is a tendency in God to bring about a great reversal.
42:47: And what appears to be horrible turns around and becomes the greatest thing ever.
42:54: The crucifixion of Jesus accomplishes our redemption. And He rises from the dead.
43:00: Everything changes. In the midst of this pandemic, I have great hope. In fact,
43:05: I have an expectation that we will see the greatest revival that humanity has ever seen.
43:13: There's coming a revival to earth. And this pandemic that's sweeping the earth is not to be feared.
43:19: Behind that frowning providence, God hides a smiling face.
43:25: A revival is coming. I'll show you where I see that. In order to understand why Revelation 7 gives me that hope, we have to see the context of Revelation 1 to 6.
43:36: And that is the vision of Jesus with eyes like a flame of fire and feet burnished in bronze, a white robe, a golden sash,
43:45: His hand holding seven stars, the Word of God coming forth from His mouth.
43:50: That image of Jesus in Revelation 1 is where we begin. The point is, we're looking for Him.
43:58: We are looking for the second coming of Christ. We're not looking for our hope in the things of this earth. We're looking to Him.
44:04: We want to see Jesus, and He's coming back again. And that's the first reason for our hope.
44:10: That, according to Revelation 119, is the things that you have seen. John saw this vision, and we will one day see.
44:17: And we'll know as we're fully known. We'll see Him face to face, no longer through a dim glass.
44:23: We will see the face of Jesus shining like the sun. And then the things that are.
44:31: Revelation 2 and 3 are a diagnosis of the churches. And those correspond to the way churches are throughout all of this church history, which has now been almost 2 ,000 years.
44:42: Finally, the last section of Revelation is from chapter 4 following. It's the things that must take place after this.
44:49: John is caught up into heaven. He sees a vision of heaven. He sees God adored by men and angels.
44:55: And the problem, that none is worthy to open the scroll. Jesus comes forth, the Lamb of God who has conquered.
45:01: He's worthy to open the scroll. And so He's worshipped and adored. And there we see the full picture of the
45:07: Trinity. Because, by the way, where's the Spirit in all of this? The Spirit is pictured as the seven horns and the seven eyes of the
45:16: Lamb. He is the Spirit of Christ. And so in Revelation 4 and 5, it's a triune glorification of God.
45:25: And then chapter 6 hits. And that's where Jesus begins to open the scrolls. So the vision of God in heaven now takes us down to earth.
45:34: And we see the last seven years of this earth. A time of tribulation.
45:40: A period of distress. A period of horror. And that's what we need to see in order to see the glory of the character of God.
45:52: Interposing in chapter 7, we need the context of chapter 6. The context is the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
46:02: The Antichrist, promising peace, but really a conqueror bent on conquest.
46:08: And then war breaks out on earth with the second rider of the horse.
46:14: And then after that comes famine. And then death, which includes pestilence, a plague.
46:21: No doubt far more severe than anything we're seeing today. In fact, they say that there are locked up in the polar ice caps forms of the flu, which would, if unleashed, would be more devastating than this
46:36: COVID -19 by many times over. Imagine the plagues that will come out in that fourth horseman of the apocalypse.
46:45: And then there's martyrdom. The fifth seal is broken. And finally, in the sixth seal, an earthquake that shakes the very foundations of the earth.
46:52: People are hiding in caves, calling on those caves and the rocks above them to fall on them, to hide them from the wrath of the
47:00: Lamb. That's the context of Revelation 6. It's one of judgment. Harsh judgment. And yet the character of God.
47:09: In wrath, he remembers mercy. This is the end of the age. He's been storing up wrath, not pouring out what men deserve, but withholding that judgment.
47:19: And finally, the last seven years of earth come. He rescues his church, not destined for wrath.
47:25: And he begins to pour out wrath. And yet his character is such that he still remembers mercy.
47:34: So let's read it. Revelation 7. This is my awkward Marco Rubio moment where I drink water.
47:43: 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.
47:55: Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living
48:00: 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
48:13: God on their foreheads. Mercy in the midst of wrath.
48:21: Who are these people? I thought there was only unbelievers left. And indeed, there were.
48:27: Until now, evidently, those whom were responsible for the piercing of the
48:35: Lord, who were part of the crucifixion, handing over Jesus to be crucified by the
48:42: Romans, rejecting their own king after the triumphal entry, killing him on a cross.
48:49: Now, after the rapture, it appears. We'll learn who these people are in just a minute.
48:55: Amazing. That God is saving them. He's marking them with the seal.
49:01: The way we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, having believed we were marked in him with the seal, the promised
49:09: Holy Spirit. We were forever protected and kept safe in Christ until the redemption of all those who are
49:17: God's possession. Now, God is sealing certain ones called the servants of our
49:22: God, putting a mark on their forehead. It's protecting them from this wrath. It's protecting these 144 ,000 from the judgment that's about to be unleashed.
49:36: God holds it back for a moment and protects them, basically making them kind of immortal.
49:43: And in fact, all of us are immortal who are in the center of God's will. That's why I don't fear this pandemic and I don't fear persecution.
49:51: Should any of us ever have to endure martyrdom, we recognize that nothing can happen to us apart from what
49:59: God allows. He controls everything. He is in control. If you don't believe me, look at chapter seven, verse one.
50:05: It's God through his angels that are holding back the four winds of the earth. He's able to restrain evil.
50:12: Second Thessalonians two. He's able to hold back the devastating forces that he himself is unleashing on the world.
50:20: Now, the world hates when Christians talk like this. And sadly, I hear many
50:26: Christians echoing the concern. The one thing that Christians are not allowed to say, about to say, and I'm not scared to do it.
50:38: God may be and is punishing through the
50:46: COVID -19 virus. He is warning. He is offering signs.
50:52: He is behind it. And for the purpose of judgment and wrath. And I get that from the
51:00: Bible. Now, hear me carefully. It's not only for that reason. And on this side of heaven, we don't have the eternal perspective to know the purposes of God.
51:11: But what we cannot do is empty God of one of the reasons for suffering.
51:17: We know in the book of Job, that Job's friends were quite wrong in saying that the reason that Job suffered was his own sin.
51:27: They were no friends at all to him. In fact, there was different reasons that God was accomplishing that you'll learn about if you read
51:33: Job one and two. Job didn't know that his friends were wrong to say that that's what it was.
51:39: But we also know that Jezebel was in fact punished for her sins. We saw that earlier in Revelation, but also in the book of 1
51:49: Kings. Or 2 Kings, look that up later, I'm not sure. There is judgment on Jezebel that comes from God.
51:59: It's his wrath against her for her wickedness. When there was a tower that fell in the city of Siloam, south of Jerusalem, Jesus posed the question, do you think that these 18 people on whom the tower of Siloam fell were worse sinners than everybody else?
52:18: Answer was no. But he did not then go on to say, so don't ever say that punishments come from God, that devastating things that happen and natural disasters, don't ever say that God does that.
52:32: No, what Jesus does is he turns and offers a warning and says, unless you repent, you will likewise perish.
52:40: God does judge the world. And many of the things that happen on earth are warnings.
52:48: And any preacher that is unwilling to say that or chastises other Christians for saying that is unfaithful to the word of God.
52:56: In Habakkuk, the prophet, as all the prophets did, warned of coming judgment.
53:03: He said, Habakkuk said that the Chaldeans would come and destroy. And it was clearly throughout the book
53:09: God who was bringing judgment. Sometimes he does that. And no doubt in this current pandemic that is one of the purposes that he's fulfilling.
53:17: How could that be? Our hands, the hands of this nation as a whole, not individually because many of us oppose the things that happen in the land and not only in America but around the earth are covered in blood.
53:32: There is blood guiltiness on this nation and the nations of the earth who are killing the unborn in the wombs of mothers.
53:41: Blood is on the hands of this nation and many others. And for God to step in and judge is well within his right.
53:50: And it's within his character. Recently, N .T. Wright, I think he must have been listening to my sermon last week and didn't like it.
53:59: Across the pond, he had an article that he published. It says,
54:05: Christianity offers no answers about the coronavirus. It's not supposed to. Hmm.
54:14: Now, N .T. Wright has a propensity to call us Yankees silly.
54:21: He earlier said that inerrancy is that silly little American doctrine.
54:27: But here he says in his article, no doubt the usual silly suspects will tell us why
54:34: God is doing this to us. A punishment? A warning? A sign?
54:40: These are knee -jerk would -be Christian reactions in a culture which generations back embraced rationalism.
54:48: Well, it seems that N .T. Wright does not think it's appropriate for us to say that God punishes sin.
54:55: And that coronavirus can be part of God's plan to punish sin.
55:02: A warning. He'll have none of it. A sign. I say that this is a sign of the times. As Jesus said in Matthew 24, there will be the signs of earthquakes in various places and devastation, wars and rumors of wars, and all the things that are written.
55:17: I say they are signs of the times. We're supposed to look at those things. N .T. Wright goes on to say, all we can really do is lament.
55:25: And he says, it's where we get to when we move beyond our self -centered worry about our sins and failings and look more broadly at the suffering of the world.
55:35: N .T. Wright's concern is to take out of the equation the possibility of judgment, punishment, signs, warnings from God to explain this current pandemic.
55:49: The Bible sees no such thing. In Revelation chapter 7, notice verse 1 again, it's an angel that's holding back the four winds of the earth.
56:02: If God wanted to hold back the coronavirus, he would have no trouble doing that.
56:11: And yet he doesn't. He has a purpose in sending it, and of course, that includes punishment. It includes a warning, a loving warning, as I mentioned last week.
56:20: The signs of judgment are a loving warning to any who hear this preached word, that you must repent, turn from your sin, believe the word of God, and be saved.
56:32: I don't care if some intelligentsia across the pond or here in America at the university level or anywhere with their
56:39: PhDs say it's silly to believe the word of God.
56:47: It's foolish to disbelieve. It's an intolerant assumption that N .T.
56:53: Wright makes. Intolerant to the prerogatives of the word of God. Intolerant to what
57:00: God himself says. And so we move on. And I heard the number of the sealed.
57:06: 144 ,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Pause right there. The 144 ,000 are from the tribes of Israel.
57:18: They are sons of Israel. These are Jewish people. God is explicitly calling forth people by this particular ethnicity in these last seven years.
57:32: It's amazing. It corresponds to Romans chapter 11 verse 15.
57:39: If the rejection of the Jewish people in the first century when Jesus was rejected as the king, if that rejection meant reconciliation for the world, then how much more glorious will their acceptance be?
57:53: It will be life from the dead. God's plan from the beginning was for the
58:02: Jewish people to be a mediation of his blessing to the families of the earth.
58:08: That's the promise in Genesis chapter 12 verse 3. All the families of the earth would be blessed through this particular people.
58:17: This Jewish nation. But the history of Israel was one of repeated failure and falling into idolatry.
58:27: And so it continued right up until their presentation with their Messiah. They rejected
58:33: Jesus. And as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24, the city was destroyed in 70
58:41: A .D. It looked like all hope was lost for Israel. They were killed by the millions, city burned.
58:50: It looked like the Jewish people were dead. But God. God is the one who brings life from the dead.
58:58: And I love this passage because it pictures a revival of the Jewish people now turning to Jesus and believing in him.
59:09: The symbol on the 10 shekel coin in Israel today is a palm tree.
59:17: And that is because 75 % of the world's dates come from Israel.
59:24: The Maju dates come from Israel. Supplying 75 % of all the dates in the world of that particular brand.
59:33: They're amazing, juicy, wonderful. I've never had one, that's what they say.
59:41: But they don't come from Israel. They come from Morocco. The palm trees that are now growing in Israel come from Morocco.
59:51: Before that in the 1960s they had been brought to California and then Californians brought them to Israel and that's what are currently growing.
59:59: Because back in 70 AD, the palm trees were destroyed with the city. And there were none left.
01:00:07: If you read throughout the Middle Ages, people make a joke of the idea of palm trees in Israel.
01:00:13: And yet it was a symbol of their nation and still is to this day on the 10 shekel coin. Seems like the genuine tree, the
01:00:22: Judean palm tree, is dead and gone. But God.
01:00:29: In the 1960s scientists were excavating Masada. Masada is a temple fortress on top of a mountain.
01:00:38: It was built by Herod the Great just before the birth of Jesus in that time. Herod built this amazing fortress up on a mountain.
01:00:47: Seemed impenetrable but it wasn't. The Romans actually overthrew it eventually. In the 1960s an excavation took place at Masada.
01:00:57: And there they found a jar. And in the jar they found dried dates from a palm tree, a
01:01:06: Judean palm tree. Amazing that it existed for this long. But that's not the end of my amazing story.
01:01:14: Follow this. In the 1960s they put it in storage. And they just kept it at a museum.
01:01:23: But in the year 2005 an Israeli scientist was able to take those dates, germinate them, water them, and when those dates came in contact with water and were properly cared for by these scientists they began to grow.
01:01:43: And today in Israel, in the Torah, there are trees from those seeds.
01:01:54: What was dead has come back to life. What seemed to be dead and gone forever has been revived.
01:02:02: In 1948 Israel as a nation was revived. Came back to life as a nation.
01:02:08: There is coming a day of revival for the Jewish people. That's pictured here in verse 4 -8 where God himself will set a seal on 144 ,000
01:02:19: Jewish witnesses who cannot be harmed by the plagues sent from God.
01:02:25: They will go out witnessing, preaching the name of Jesus. Life from the dead. Revival out of death.
01:02:32: You think back to the 1940s and World War II when it was the scheme of the enemy as the devil often does, you see it in Revelation 12 to destroy the
01:02:44: Jewish people. Out of that horrible holocaust came the nation state of Israel in 1948.
01:02:54: Similarly, out of the pandemic that's sweeping across the world right now will come a mighty revival.
01:03:01: And maybe we'll begin to see the first fruits. Maybe some of these 144 ,000 Jewish believers have already come to faith.
01:03:08: Maybe they're already beginning to witness. Not yet sealed and made incapable of being killed by the plagues but maybe they're among us already.
01:03:20: So what is the fruit of their work? Revelation 7 verse 9 and following, after this
01:03:28: I looked and behold a great multitude. How many of you want to be part of that?
01:03:35: You can be. You can be part of this multitude. All you have to do is turn away from your sin, quit relying on your own reasoning and your own systems, your own culture.
01:03:49: Turn to Christ. Believe in the one that these preachers are preaching.
01:03:56: A great multitude that no one could number. Earlier we saw that you can number the number of Jewish witnesses that God has sealed.
01:04:07: The number is 144 ,000. It can be numbered. It is exactly 144 ,000.
01:04:14: Precisely that. This number is so large that no one can count it.
01:04:20: I think this is a great argument against the whole replacement theology that many theologians propose that the church has replaced
01:04:27: Israel. If that were the case, there would be no distinction in this text. But because you see a number from every tribe of the sons of Israel, here in verse 9 it's juxtaposed to a number that can't be counted from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne.
01:04:48: So these are from every ethnicity. Isn't that beautiful? The Lamb of God lays down His life.
01:04:56: The Jewish Messiah. It turns out that in Isaiah 49 salvation was always meant to go to the ends of the earth.
01:05:05: This is a mission's mandate to take the gospel to the far reaches of the world.
01:05:11: To every tribe and people and language. And here they are standing before the throne and before the
01:05:16: Lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. They're waving palm branches.
01:05:23: They're worshipping the Lamb joyfully. What have they seen?
01:05:28: They're crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the
01:05:35: Lamb. This is the nature of our God. Our God is a
01:05:41: Savior. Jesus means, Yeshua means God is salvation.
01:05:48: He's a Savior. In the midst of this judgment, Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 2
01:05:54: He remembers mercy. Here He has called forth a number that cannot be numbered of believers from every nation.
01:06:05: They're crying out in verse 11. 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 worshipped
01:06:15: God saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our
01:06:23: God forever and ever. Amen. Well, how do we know who these people are? That would be what the angel asked
01:06:31: John verse 13 and following. And this is a beautiful picture. Then one of the elders addressed me saying,
01:06:38: Who are these clothed in white robes? It was an elder that asked John. And from where have they come?
01:06:46: John's answer is classic like, Why are you asking me? You tell me. I'm the one in a vision here seeing things that man has never seen before.
01:06:56: And you're part of the vision. So he says to him, Sir, you know.
01:07:03: 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
01:07:10: Lamb. Blood doesn't make things white. Blood stains clothes.
01:07:17: But this is the great reversal of God. Your sin stains you like crimson.
01:07:23: And my sin stained me like crimson until the precious blood of the Lamb washed over me and made me pure, made me acceptable in the sight of God.
01:07:34: He offers that to you as well. The blood of Jesus poured out in death offers you life.
01:07:40: That's the great reversal. It's by blood that you're made clean. It's by blood that you're saved.
01:07:46: There is no other way to be saved but to be washed by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb laid down His life for your sin.
01:07:53: If you'll turn to Him in faith, it washes you clean. These are they who made their robes.
01:08:00: They believed. They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
01:08:05: Lamb. Picture this. This is a beautiful conclusion to the passage. Those who get saved, those who trust,
01:08:15: He leads them forth like a shepherd and He gives them peace. Many of you are without peace today.
01:08:22: Maybe you're grieving the loss of a loved one. Maybe you've lost somebody to this coronavirus. We don't minimize that at all.
01:08:28: We grieve with you. We lament with you. But look at the coming day.
01:08:35: This is your hope. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve
01:08:41: Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence.
01:08:48: They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat.
01:08:57: For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. The Lamb is the shepherd.
01:09:08: The good shepherd is the Lamb. Don't you love the economy of God?
01:09:15: Your creativity of God? It was the shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep.
01:09:25: It was the Lamb who was sacrificed, who rises to be the shepherd.
01:09:33: Go read Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
01:09:41: He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
01:09:49: I will fear no evil, for you are with me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
01:09:57: You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. I may have missed parts of that.
01:10:04: That's just coming back from my childhood there. The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water.
01:10:15: Unless that living water touches the dead seed, it cannot come to life.
01:10:23: But however dead you feel, however dead you've been, like that two thousand year old seed, living water brings you to life.
01:10:37: Jesus is the living water. He can touch your soul, come into you. If you'll accept that gift, confess
01:10:44: Him with your mouth, invite Him, and you need this work of the sovereign
01:10:51: God. You can't do this on your own. He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
01:11:02: Every tear. You who weep and mourn, cry no more, fear no more.
01:11:11: There is an eternal home where there are no more tears. If this life is all there is, it is meaningless, saith the teacher.
01:11:22: But this is not all there is. There is a coming day. This is the character of God, even in His wrath.
01:11:29: Look at the interlude. He breaks six seals, and then stops and welcomes the world back in.
01:11:35: Another harvesting of souls. He continues to plead, and those who in that last hour come to faith are with Him forever, and He leads them as a good shepherd, wiping their tears, satisfying their hunger, that they would hunger no more and thirst no more.
01:11:52: What a good God. Wipe away every tear from their eyes. Don't you want to take that?
01:11:58: So, what is the application for this sermon? What is the lesson today?
01:12:05: Don't trust Anglicans. No, just kidding. I disagree with N .T.
01:12:10: Wright on this particular issue. That's not my lesson for today.
01:12:17: But don't listen when people say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Take this coronavirus as a warning of coming judgment.
01:12:30: There's coming a great tribulation to the earth. It makes this current pandemic look like a sunny day and a walk in the park, which some of us are still having, many of these days, actually.
01:12:48: But that's not the lesson for today. That coming judgment is not the heart and character of God.
01:12:56: That wrath, it comes from His just nature. But He's a slow judge.
01:13:04: Jonah hated this about God. He wanted salvation to be only for His people Israel, and He didn't want to see mercy for the people of Nineveh.
01:13:14: But in Jonah chapter 4, He does rightly describe who
01:13:19: God is, this slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He holds back the winds for a time that you might come.
01:13:31: And if you've never come before, recognize you don't know how long the winds will be held back.
01:13:39: When the judgment will come rushing in, like a flood, like a hurricane, a fire.
01:13:49: You don't know. And so now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to turn. If you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your
01:13:56: Savior, recognize that this passage is true and this offer is true. It's for you.
01:14:02: Revelation 7, the coming Jewish witnesses in the last days. Maybe you follow
01:14:09: Judaism as a religion. You're Jewish. Jesus was a Jew. He came first for the
01:14:16: Jew and then also for the Gentile. Maybe you're on a far off continent, some far away place, or maybe you're right here close by me here at Mount Laurel.
01:14:28: Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne. Come to Him now and be saved.
01:14:35: I implore you to be saved. And to you who believe, you've been saved. Let this be a wake -up call.
01:14:45: The pandemic that's sweeping, recognize that it is a call from God, a warning of coming judgment to the world.
01:14:53: But it is a wake -up call to the church to say, it is time for days of refreshing.
01:15:00: It's time to be revived. Awaken from your slumber. Begin to witness like these 144 ,000.
01:15:06: I see a connection between the first part of the chapter and the latter half. The 144 ,000 go out and the harvest comes in.
01:15:17: Brothers and sisters, if you're not regularly witnessing to people in the neighborhood, on these walks, on Facebook, sharing messages, passing out the gospel through tracks and through handing out
01:15:30: Bibles, why are you asleep? Wake up! He's coming!
01:15:36: The world needs to know. There is coming a revival, but it begins with us. It begins when you and I, brothers and sisters, recognize that this coming judgment is real.
01:15:48: It's sooner than we expect. And we awaken to be witnesses to the ends of the earth.
01:15:56: Take the current birth pains that we're experiencing right now. The economy in shambles.
01:16:05: A pandemic throughout the earth. Birth pains. Take those as a wake -up call to be an unstoppable, indefatigable witness.
01:16:16: You like that word? Tireless witness to the glory of Jesus Christ. Pray for revival.
01:16:24: Pray for revival in the wake of the present distress. That's what Revelation 7 teaches us.
01:16:31: Let's pray for it. God, send revival. Let it begin with us.
01:16:37: Awaken us now. We pray, Lord, that you would seal each one of us and remind us that we are sealed, those of us who believe.
01:16:48: Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. And give us boldness to go forth witnessing. I pray that today, believers conquer their fear of man.
01:17:00: Let us have no fear of man. Replace that with fear of God.
01:17:07: And go forth. Let us go forth, Lord, sharing your love, your heart. God, we pray that you would send us out as witnesses to the ends of the earth.
01:17:18: Bring salvation to the ends of the earth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There is no more for heaven now to give.
01:17:53: He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom.
01:18:00: My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.
01:18:06: To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus.
01:18:12: For my life is wholly bound to his.
01:18:20: Oh, how strange and divine I can see.
01:18:26: All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:18:43: The night is dark, but I am not forsaken.
01:18:50: For by my side the Savior he will stay.
01:18:56: I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.
01:19:03: For in my need his power is displayed.
01:19:10: To this I hold. My shepherd will defend me.
01:19:17: Through the deepest valley he will lead.
01:19:23: Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome.
01:19:31: Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Oh, fate
01:19:48: I dread. I know the future's sure.
01:19:56: The price it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon.
01:20:07: And he was raised to overthrow the grave.
01:20:13: To this I hold. My sin has been defeated.
01:20:20: Jesus now and ever is my plea.
01:20:27: Oh, the chains are released. I can sing
01:20:32: I am free. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:20:54: Oh, Jesus, for he has said that he will bring me home.
01:21:03: And day by day I know he will renew me.
01:21:09: Until I stand with joy before the throne.
01:21:16: To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. All the glory to him.
01:21:58: This is complete. This is complete.
01:22:14: Still my lips shall repeat. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:22:23: Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
01:22:30: Yet not I, but through Christ in me.