(Revelation) the Witnesses Sealed on Earth — Willie Mullan

945, please. 945, singing the first and the last verses, and leaving out the chorus. Just two verses, first and last, 945, and it's an old tune. Thank you. Returning to the book of the Revelation again tonight, Chapter 7, please.

The Seven Seals and the Parenthetical Vision of Revelation 7

The book of the Revelation, Chapter 7, and we're at the second part of the chapter. We're going through from verse 9 to the end of the chapter, from 9 to 17. I want to say just a few words about last week's meeting.

I know that one or two, because of the snow, just missed out. But we had a tremendous crowd. In fact, we were full out. But I pointed out last week that in Chapter 6 of the book of the Revelation, you see the Lamb in heaven before the throne with the book that he hath just taken from the hand of God.

You remember this book. You remember there were seven seals upon it. Now, in Chapter 6, we saw six of these seals opened. You remember the first four, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Then we watched the fifth one, and at the end of Chapter 6, we looked at the sixth one.

Now, there's one to go, the seven seals on the book, and you'll find that the seventh seal doesn't appear until Chapter 8. You see the first verse of Chapter 8, and when he, that is the Lamb, hath opened the seventh seal.

So, I want you to note that the sixth seal of this book is opened in Chapter 6, and the seventh one is not opened until we come to Chapter 8. That's why Chapter 7 is a parenthetical portion. It's a parenthesis.

You know what a parenthesis is, don't you? It's just something put in, and it's put in to explain. Sometimes when I'm writing the notes out for our secondary, I put something in parenthesis. It's just a word of explanation about what I'm talking about.

So that this seventh chapter is a parenthetical portion, and we looked at the first part of the parenthetical portion last week. When the seventh seal is opened, and we'll be there next week, watch what it says just for a moment.

Chapter 8, verse 1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. I was telling the friends last week that an old expositor reading this to me once said, Do you know this, Willie, there's not going to be a woman in heaven.

I said, Why, James? He said, Sure, the woman couldn't keep quiet for half an hour. Well, he was only joking, there'll be a lot of women in heaven. But this silence comes just because all heaven is conscious that there's a final storm appearing for this world.

And as the seventh seal is opened, John said, verse 2, I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. So that out of the seventh seal of this book, come these seven angels with seven trumpets.

See verse 7, The first angels sounded, and their solid hair and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth. Make no mistake about where they were cast. And the third pot of trees was burnt up, and all green grass.

What a moment that would be for this whole world of ours. We call this the Emerald Isle, because it's the greatest grass-growing place in this whole universe. There is nowhere in the world they can grow grass like this island of ours.

But there's a day not far distant when a third pot of all the trees on this island and all the green grass will be burnt up. Blasphemy. The old expositors used to think you can't do this. Oh, they have no trouble now with it.

Atomic energy let loose would burn all the grass on this island. In fact, it would destroy the island completely. No trouble about literal exposition here. See the next trumpet. I don't want to touch this this week, but I'm wanting to whet your appetite for next Tuesday.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. And the third pot of the sea became blood. And the third pot of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died.

And the third pot of the ships were destroyed. You know, commerce at this moment is putting more money into ships than it ever did in the history of this world. Well, Harlan and Moose are very thankful they got an order some time ago about 150 or 60 million pounds.

And then another shipyard got another one just very soon, the next day or two days later. And there are more ships being built now than ever before. Well, there's a dreadful time coming for them. So that you can see that the sixth field was opened in chapter 6, and the seventh one won't be opened until we get to chapter 8.

So that the chapter in between, chapter 7, it's the parenthetical portion. And last week we looked at the preparation of this earth of ours for this final storm. You know, there's an angel comes shouting here, verse 3, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the serpents of our God in the forest.

And then we noted that 144 ,000 Jews were sealed up. Because even when this storm is howling, and ships are being burnt, and the creatures in the sea are being destroyed, and the trees and all the green grass are being scorched and blistered, God is going to keep 144 ,000 Jews to be his very own special messengers in the tribulation period.

The 144,000 Witnesses from the Tribes of Israel

And I took the class very carefully through the early part of Genesis, and then on into Numbers last week, because I read this to them, verse 4 of chapter 7, and I heard the number of them which were sealed, and they were sealed 140 and 4 ,000, now get this phrase, of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

And everywhere we found this in the early part of Genesis, and I'd gone down through Exodus and into Numbers, it always meant Jews, it meant the tribes of Israel. I wonder why people change it now. I wonder where they get the authority to change it.

How can it appear dozens of times, and you know right well the meaning, the tribes of Israel. And yet when it comes to Revelation chapter 7, the Mormons claim it's theirs, and sometimes the Russellites claim it is theirs.

I was telling them the story of a little girl coming to our door selling books, and you would know who she was when you looked at her. And just for fun, I said to her, now who are you dear? She said, I'm one of the 144 ,000.

I said, my bless us all, I didn't think that we were there just at that spot. I said, there were 12 ,000 sealed out of 12 tribes, is that right? She said, yes. I said, what tribe were you out of? She said, Dan.

So I said, is that a Bible below your arm? And I took it carefully out and opened it, it's chapter 7. And I said, show me now the 12 ,000 sealed out of the tribe of Dan. So she began, and she looked through verse 5, there's the tribe of Judah, and the tribe of Reuben, and the tribe of Gad there.

And then verse 6, there's the tribe of Asher, and the tribe of Neth, and then the tribe of Manasseh there. And then verse 7, there's the tribe of Simeon, and the tribe of Levi, and the tribe of Ithaca there.

And then verse 8, there's the tribe of Zadulon, and of the tribe of Joseph, and the tribe of Benjamin, and you have 12 tribes, but you have no Dan. So I could see this little dear, you know, she looked them all over again.

She said, there's something wrong with this book. She said, there's something wrong with your head, that's what's wrong with you. Wee girl was daft. She'd been led up a garden path by somebody, telling her she was one of the 144 ,000.

Now this was most interesting to me, that after the meeting last week, just after, it's only over, and there's a fellow walks out of the audience, he comes up here, and he's sitting back there for night again.

He said, you know, this is very interesting, because I had two boys at the door just yesterday, two of these Mormons, and I said to them, are you part of the 144 ,000? They said, yes, we're the Latter Day Saints, we're the 144 ,000.

She said, I thought that would be what the pastor did, and I said, what tribe do you belong to? Said to the wee one, oh, we'd like to start on the wee one first, you know. Everybody comes around this clock, they're dead weight, you know, from their home.

So the wee one looked up and said, I belong to the tribe of Dan. It's for him, now. Sure a big fellow, knew all about it, now, he's ready to let you. He started having a go with the big one, now. Said to the big one, which tribe do you belong to?

He said, I belong to the tribe of Ephraim. Well, I can tell you that neither Dan nor Ephraim are in these twelve here. Now, how can a fellow pick two out that's not there? It shows you how far back they are in Bible teaching.

They know nothing at all about it. But I went through the book very carefully for the class last week to point out why God left out Dan. You see, I think I could prove, I would need an art to prove it now, that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan.

I haven't any hesitation in saying that. I can prove that if you'd like to take the time. And going home, my son said to me, Dad, why is Ephraim left out? I'm not as sure of that as I am of the Dan one.

But I have a feeling that the first prophet who will also support the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Ephraim. You know, back in the Old Testament, God said about Ephraim, let him alone, he's joined to his idols.

God makes no mistakes. There are twelve tribes here, but two are left out. And there are two very important ones that are left out. And the fools that go around the door don't even know what's in this book.

I can't take you back any further, you who missed my meeting last week. We've got to go on now. And we're starting at verse 9, and John says, After this I beheld, and John is watching very carefully, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, mark that phrase very carefully, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.

The Great Multitude Before the Throne

These are not Jews. There may be a few Jews among them. But the most of them are Gentiles, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. Now this great multitude, mark this, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.

This host is in heaven. You see, the 144 ,000, these witnesses were singled to stand for God on earth. When the storm was beholden, when the trees were being burnt up, when the ships were being destroyed, and a lot more that we'll see in the storm next week when we go to Caesarea.

The 144 ,000 were sealed on earth. Now this great host is standing at this moment in heaven. I want you to note the crowd that's here. Watch the reading. After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number.

Now I think to be perfectly frank, according to the Greek New Testament, it doesn't mean that it was a number that was impossible to be numbered. My Greek New Testament reads like this,. After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man on his own could number quickly.

Oh, it's a great host, and it just means that no man on his own could number it very quickly. It doesn't mean that it's an impossible number. I think we've got to grant that. But that makes us think very carefully now.

I wonder how many you would think was in this number. We couldn't possibly guess, sure we couldn't. Now I was looking up the Britannica Encyclopedia today, Encyclopedia Britannica, and they say that by the year 2000 there would be 7 ,000 million people upon this earth.

7 ,000 million people. Let's try to grasp this now. They say, just for the sake of the figure, it's easy for me, that there are 7 ,000 million people on the earth tonight, and there must well be, they just don't know at all, but it's as near as they come.

Now if Jesus came now, how many do you think would leave? Did you ever think? All were born again once. Every soul that has exercised faith, even in the weakest form, in the Lord Jesus, those who have only touched the hem of his garment with the point of the finger of faith, there are believers in the Roman Catholic Church tonight, you know, making no mistakes about it.

People who have found out that priests' crafts, and Mary, and beads, and candles are no use. And they have faith in Jesus Christ alone. They're still stuck there, I would wonder why, but that's none of my business.

And there are true believers in almost every denomination that we know. I wonder how many would rise to meet the Lord in the air out of the 7 ,000 million people on the earth. Would you think 100 million?

Would you think 200 million? Or would you think none? You've got to put into the number when you're calculating it, all the little children who are under the years of responsibility. Because God will not be unrighteous towards them.

They are not responsible, yet they will go when Jesus comes. You've got to put in every soul that is living on this planet who was born mentally defective. Sometimes I have to go to St. Luke's and see the mental cases down there.

And there's a special ward down there where the men and women are completely mad. It's a sad sight. They've never had saints. They were born like this. But there's one thing I know, I'm sure of this, that every one of them there will go when Jesus comes.

Sometimes fathers and mothers will get a little baby into the home and he or she is mentally defective and it breaks their heart. It's a terrible cross. I said to a couple not long ago, dear, if I had the choice of my son living all his life mentally defective, or him being the greatest tycoon in this world, and dying then and going to hell with all his brains, I would rather see him a few years down here without any sense and go to heaven afterwards.

They'll all go to heaven. Don't you make any mistakes about that. They may be raven lunatics just now, but if Jesus comes tonight, they'll every one go. They are not responsible. And God doesn't hold them responsible.

You know, there's a great crowd going to rise. You wouldn't know. I cannot possibly know. I would say probably one thousand million. One thousand million rise to meet the Lord. If we begin with seven thousand million and one thousand million go, there's six thousand million left.

Six thousand million left. You know, when we were talking way back there in chapter six, do you remember this? Let's have a look at it back again. Verse seven. And when he, the Lord Jesus, had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold, a field horse. And it was known that Satan, him, was death, and hell followed with him. And fire was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger.

If there are six thousand million left, and the fourth part of them is killed, it is one thousand five hundred million, you know. Oh, what a dreadful day it will be. Out of this six thousand million that's left, one thousand five hundred million.

God's making a bit of room down here, you know. And then I think we've got to get this in, that when you've got this four thousand five hundred million left, out of the seven thousand million that we began with, you've got to get this twelve that we're thinking about tonight.

Because they're gone. And it's a great number that no man on his own could number easily. It might well be as big as the church. It may well be another thousand million, if that were so. Oh, seven thousand million is now down to three thousand five hundred million, that's down to the half now.

What a, what a place this will be. And out of that three thousand five hundred million left, God is going to seal off this one hundred and forty-four thousand. Make them his own channels. I just went through the figures.

If God takes the church out tonight, and there's six hundred six thousand million is left, how is this whole crowd that we now see presented in heaven going to get saved? And we were into that the other week, because Paul was saved out of due time.

God dealt directly with him from heaven. God will deal directly with this crowd, and there'll be a tremendous crowd saved. Make no mistake, it will not be us, the men who knew the gospel. There's a very clear term said, He that believeth not shall be damned.

You hear the gospel and you refuse to believe. Don't you talk to me about a second chance. You'll be damned. And we went into this the other week, that God will send strong delusion to those who have the truth, and refuse that they all might be damned.

Oh, but there are islands of the sea, and there are jungles in the world, and there are hills in Afghanistan and everywhere else, where men have never heard the gospel. Oh, God is going to bring a crowd out of that.

This is the crowd we're looking at tonight. And I'll tell you this, He has not only saved them, but He has translated them. Oh, you're not going to find them dying here at all. You're not going to read about them being flamed either.

They came out of Great Tribulation, but we'll go very slowly. You're just looking at the clouds. Look at the clothing now. You see, they're standing before the throne. Get that bit. And I want you to mark the word stood.

Verse 9 says, this crowd that no man could number easily, they stood before the throne, and before the Lamb. Just watch them standing there, clothed with white robes, palms in their hands. It's a heavenly scene, all right.

But don't only look at the clouds and the clothing, look at the cry. And cry it with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. You know, they have been saved with God's salvation.

Down the chapter a little bit, John is asked a question. In 1 verse 13, one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are of rye and white robes? And went and killed me. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.

And he said to me, These are they which came out of the Great Tribulation, it should be, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. You see, if they have God's salvation at all, and they say they have, for you only get God's salvation through being washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Make no mistakes about that, you know. There are modernists down here on this planet tonight and they're always talking about salvation, but they hate the blood. One authoritarian minister told me once, he should have been answered, of course.

He says, I detest the blood of Jesus. And I simply said to him, Have you got a communion table at that church of yours? Yes. I said, what does the bread represent? The body of Jesus. What does the wine represent?

If your guts was as big as your mouth, you would answer. If he had no courage at all, I said, boy, if I were you, I would go down on Sunday morning and throw the cup out. He deserved it. Throw it out.

Maybe they would throw him out then. Maybe not. They put up with a lot of things. The Presbyterian church are going through the hymn book now, taking out every possible comment. Only we are who has written a book against it, points it all out.

I'll tell the Presbyterians that are doing this, that when some of them are in hell, they'll be still talking about the blood of Jesus in heaven. That'll be the theme up there. They wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.

And you would say to me, you detest the blood. You'll go to hell in the last breath. You're trampling on the foot the blood of the covenant. Yes, you can see the crowd, and you can see the closing, and you can see the cry.

Verse 10, cried with a loud voice, saying, salvation to our God, which sitth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. They look at their companions, and all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and before beasts, because the crowd is distinct from the elders and the beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and light be unto our God forever and ever.

The angels are just praising God for saving these ones. Now, having looked at the crowd and the closing and the cry and the companions, look at the conversation that goes on here, verse 13. One of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they?

And John answered, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest, and in one of the translations I have, John says, Sir, thou rightly knowest, for I don't. And then he answered John, and he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation.

I want you to get that exactly as it is. The elder is not saying to John, These are they that came to heaven after the great tribulation. Not a bit of it. He says, These are they that came out of. And he's not saying, These are they that came through.

He's saying, These are they that came out of. Ah yes, you know, they had gone on down through chapter 6 and there were six seals open. And they were there then. After the tallest heavens was opened, they were moved to heaven.

Distinguishing the Multitude from Other Groups in Revelation

Who are they now? Once a couple of professors came to see me and this is the thing that bothered them. They said to me, Now, try and tell us who this crowd is exactly. Well, I said, You know, you can usually get at the truth by working from the negative end.

I'll tell you first of all who they're not. Well, they're not the 144 ,000, sure they're not. But the 144 ,000 were 12 ,000 out of the 12 tribes that were all Jews. And this crowd that's here are of all nations and kindreds and people and families.

So they're not the 144 ,000. And then I'll tell you this, they're not the souls that were crying in chapter 6 under the altar. Because it says in verse 9 of chapter 6, And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were swaying for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord? Of course, those souls, the bodies, had been slain on earth. The Antichrist had slain them. Of course, the Russellites can never differentiate between body and soul.

And this is where I trust them, you see. I can see the body slain on earth for the testimony of truth. I can see the soul in heaven talking. Souls fall asleep about this. They're in heaven under the altar talking.

But don't mix this crowd up here with the crowd that was slain. For there is no word in chapter 7 about them being slain. And we're not talking about souls. We're talking about the whole man being there.

You find where they die and come and tell me. They don't die. They cured of this tribulation. They came out of where to? To heaven. Ah, you know, sometimes the saints think that the church is the whole cheese and it's all the saints God has.

Oh, no, he has other companies, you know. I know he'll come one of these days and take the church home. Yes, he will indeed. But this is not the church. Now, this is not the 144 ,000 baptists per year.

And this is not the souls that were slain. And if we go back to chapter 5, you'll find that this is not the church. You remember this, do you? That we saw the church prefigured under 24 elders. It was the church and Old Testament saints.

Look up verse 6 of chapter 5. And I beheld John's watching, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all there.

And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders, now mark this, four and twenty elders, fell down before the lamb, every one of them, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of orders, which are the prayers of sin.

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.

Now I want you to get the hold of this. This crowd we're looking at now, under the figure of twenty-four elders, they're in heaven before the book is ever opened, before the tribulation began. Did you get that?

He has only taken the book out of the hand of God. And the moment he took it, they began singing. They are there before there was ever a seal opened. They are safe and sound in heaven. Now the first time we saw them in heaven, we saw them here in verse four.

And round about the throne, chapter four, verse four, and round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment they had on their heads crowns.

These ones are sitting, didn't I tell you to watch? The other boys are standing. I hope you can see the difference. I hope you can see this crowd have crowns on their heads. The other fellows have no crowns, they've just palms in their hands.

I hope you can see that this crowd, the twenty-four elders, are in heaven in chapter four and in chapter five before ever the book was taken at all. Before there was one of the seals opened. And it's not until six are open and we get the panenthetical portion that we see this crowd in heaven.

It's a different crowd. I trust you see that. Sometimes I think the church seems to think that we are the only saints that God ever had or ever will have. If my Lord is to have the preeminence in all things, He needs to gather another crowd or two around Him.

And He will, I assure you. Here we'll see all this, you know, as we get along in the book of Revelation. Now I hope you can see this. This is another company. And I want you to see that they're in heaven.

And I want you to see they're saved with God's salvation. And they're saved through the blood of the Lamb, just the same as the church was. But I want you to see that we're seeing this crowd in heaven.

And of course the whole argument bases itself here. If this were the church, surely John would know. He would know who they are. He doesn't know. He's like some of the saints I know. He thinks there's nobody but the church.

He's just wakening up to find out that God is a whole other crowd altogether. A crowd that no man can number easily. Now I want you to get the hold of that. Because that's very important. Now having looked at this evangelical host, let's go on to look at the ministerial land.

And we're at chapter 7. And watch this. Verse 14, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The Lamb’s Care for Those Who Come Through Tribulation

Therefore, just because they're washed in the blood and just because they're saved by God's salvation, therefore are they before the throne of God. And so can day and night in his cemetery, the word should be.

And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more. You see, they had come through that part of the tribulation that we saw in chapter 6, where the six seals were opened.

And of course they knew a lot about hunger. Neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the dam which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. You see, I put the footnote for you. The Lamb feeds them, and the Lamb covers them, and the Lamb leads them, and the Lamb comforts them. You see, when they're fed and they're gone to hunger no more, and they're gone to thirst no more, I think you can say they're satisfied.

And when you see that the Lamb is covering them so that the sun or any heat shall light upon them, I can say that they're not only satisfied, but they're safe. They're home safely. And you know, they've come through tribulation, but God is wiping away all tears from their eyes so that I can say they're satisfied and they're safe and they're serene.

Just write those words over them. Satisfied, safe, serene. You know, we're going to follow the history of the 144 ,000 in the nights which to come. You know, God didn't keep them out of the tribulation.

He sealed them to keep them in it. But I'll tell you that you'll see them going through every step of the tribulation, and God's not cutting it short for them. And when the last bull has fallen, you'll see them upon Mount Zion and they will be satisfied too.

And they will be safe, and they will be serene. I want you to get that. Now, there's something for us here. If God can take this company out of the tribulation and satisfy them and make them safe and serene, and if God can keep 144 ,000 Jews in the tribulation every step of it, and at the end make them satisfied and safe and serene, do you think the Lord would be able to keep you in Ulster like this?

Because we've got to get it back into practical language, you know. Oh, I know that we are going through terrible times. Just in the midst of the meeting on Sunday night, we have a rocket just went past here somewhere.

You would have thought the roof was coming off. And my son said the woman beside him nearly took a bit out of him. And one or two of them just moved on the seat and came down again. You know, I think sometimes we forget that the Lord's looking after us.

You know, I've taught you in this book that he has the keys of death. And although I'm going down a long corridor and I must be getting near the end somewhere, if he dies, I'll die. I won't die until he puts me here.

Never mind about the rebels. They don't rule things. They think they do. But it's a great pity of them. It happens to be my master that rules. And I think some of us forget that he's got the key. I'll not die until he puts the key in.

Don't you forget that. You know, when you know the Lord as your shepherd properly, and you trust him, and you lean on him, and you look for him, you know, he's perfectly satisfied. And I can tell you tonight, because I'm abiding in him, and I'm under the shadow of the Almighty, I'm as safe as God can make me.

I'm safe down here, you know. My, the Lord said to Abraham once, Fear not, I am thy shield. Fancy God in between you and the enemy. How bother shooting you. And I always get far too scared. I don't think we have faith at all sometimes.

You think we have no God the way we go on. It's time we had faith again in the Lord. I'll tell you this. He can satisfy. He can make you safe. And I'll tell you this, he can make you serene. You see, he teaches us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, just to care of all about all our little problems.