Revelation 7 Shepherded by the Lamb

You're listening to the podcast of the Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week,

Pastor Don Filsak preaches through his series, Thy Kingdom Come, taking us through the book of Revelation.

Let's listen in. Good morning, Recast Church. Welcome to everybody.

I'm Don Filsak. I'm the lead pastor here. Just want to start off by saying I'm grateful that you have taken time out of your beautiful spring morning here in Michigan to join us.

Yeah, a little sarcasm there. Wow, really, snow. No, that was not hail, you guys.

I saw it. It was nice, big, beautiful flakes at my house anyways. But anyways, I hope that we are able to get past that and actually rejoice in the

Lord this morning. I'd encourage you to make yourself comfortable. For those of you that this is your first time here, there's coffee, there's juice, there's donuts over there.

You can get up at any time and take advantage of those, and they are free. So take advantage of that while those are there.

I want to point out that RECAST is an acronym for our core values. And those of you that have been attending here for a while, you knew that, but many of you don't realize that.

And so the core values here at our church, it's really nice that it's right there in our name. The R and the

E is for replicating. We desire to be a church that replicates the love of God in our community.

Our goal is to eventually plant other churches, but also replicating the love of Christ in the hearts and lives of people around us.

The C stands for community, that we want to be a blessing to the place where God has planted us, and that particularly is this community and the neighborhood that you live in and the workplace that you're at.

Authenticity is the A, and simplicity and truth. So that rounds out the core values there.

And the last letter in that drives everything that we do here. And that's one of the reasons that I take a book of the Bible, like we're going through the book of Revelation right now.

We went through the book of Colossians earlier. We went through the book of Genesis, the book of Acts. We take a book of the Bible, and we go through it chapter by chapter and work our way through thought by thought, because we believe that the word of God, that is, all the way from Genesis to Revelation, all 66 books are the truth and have the power to transform our lives.

I could get up here and show you movie clips and give you some great anecdotes and thoughts, but that would get pretty boring, and you'd get to the limit of my knowledge and my ability to keep you entertained or keep you moving in any way, shape, or form.

And so, it's our conviction that the word of God is the truth that has the power to transform and change us from the inside out.

And so, all of it is truth. But in the name of authenticity, I want to share with you that a reality as we encounter this next text in Revelation, and as we're walking through Revelation, any of you ever read the book?

You've read the book of Revelation? Some of us have. And so, you already know that I've got my work cut out for me as we go through this series.

And some of us, to be honest, it's like if you read through the Bible in a year, you go through that plan, you get to Revelation, and it's like, my mind just exploded.

I don't really understand all of this. And we can rush through it and maybe not give it much attention. But I want to let you know that this stuff isn't easy to wade through, and it's not like I'm looking for pity or like, oh,

Don has to work hard on this week. But I don't read these chapters, just read it, write down some thoughts, and bring it to you.

That's not the nature of my week. I spend hours working on preparing, reading, studying, praying, reading, studying, praying some more, and reading a lot of scholarship about these and trying to work through it.

And our text this morning is an example of a chapter that I've worked hard to understand, and now I get the opportunity to stand up in front of you, and I've come to some conclusions, but I come to some conclusions sometimes that I hold quite loosely.

Now, there's some bedrock here. There's some foundational things that we see in the book of Revelation that are beneficial. But as I've told you throughout the last couple of weeks,

I'm not going to launch out into trying to figure out who this person is, or in this future, what is this country represent, or who is the

Antichrist, or when is Christ going to return? I don't believe for a second that that's the reason that this book exists.

And so you might be disappointed when you see a series on Revelation, and nobody even makes a guess at who the

Antichrist is going to be. And I'm not going to do that for us. But I am bringing forward a message that I'm trusting in the

Spirit to press on us the truth of God's word. And there are indeed some fundamental things that we're going to encounter here in chapter seven that are important for us to grasp, that are the reason, in part, why the book of Revelation exists.

So our text this morning is going to have two movements as we kind of set the stage for worship and thinking this through and kind of hearing a little bit of God's word and where we're going before the band comes up to lead us.

The text has two movements. We see the sealing of 144 ,000 servants of God on earth.

If that doesn't make any sense to you, that's the way it was to me when I first read it as well, and we're going to talk through it, and hopefully by the end of our time together that makes sense.

But also equally, so if that's verses one through eight, but then verses nine through 17, we're going to be given a vision of a huge multitude that's in heaven.

144 ,000 on earth, something's going on with them, but there's a huge multitude in heaven that's doing something, something's going on with them, and there's this distinction between this group on earth and this group in heaven, and that's what we're going to be looking at.

But what I believe, in part, is that God is answering the final question that we saw in chapter six. I kind of gave it a rhetorical answer, and I think it's intended with that force, but now he's going to answer it specifically.

Remember that chapter six, if you have a Bible, you could glance there. Chapter six, verse 17 said, and the great day of their wrath, there being

God who sits on the throne and the lamb, the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?

And that's how our text ended last week. Who can stand? Who can stand in the face of the wrath of God and his son?

And I rhetorically answered that none, certainly none who actually face that wrath have any hope of standing, but there will be some standing.

That's what we see in our text. There are going to be some standing, not through that wrath, but away from that wrath, apart from that wrath.

You see, the book of Revelation does not leave us without hope. It is a hope -filled book for those who would run to God rather than run away from God.

Chapter seven serves as a huge dose of hope. In the middle of these sealed judgments that have spoken of significant destruction and wrath from God.

See, I'm convinced here this morning recast, God is interested in offering hope to his people. He is interested in us being a hope -filled people who know where all of this is going.

Even here in a book that indicates divine wrath and judgment increase as time goes on towards that end of the age, we find hope in our great shepherd, and he will shepherd us and will shelter us.

I'm gonna invite the band to come up right now and shift gears a bit as we think about this text as a wrath sandwich with hope in the middle.

And I call it a wrath sandwich. Kind of, some of you eat those Oreos and you eat the whole thing. Some of you scoop out that really tasty middle.

And this is kind of like, this chapter is the middle. It's the sweet stuff with the kind of more bland stuff on the outside, like my kids who like to eat all of the yucky part of the

Lucky Charms and then just have a big bowl of marshmallow stuff at the end. Any of you ever do that? Well, that's kind of like what we're looking at here.

Chapter six is wrath and judgment for sin. Boy, I just related the outside of an

Oreo to wrath. That's probably a chintzy illustration. But chapter six is wrath and judgment for sin.

Chapter eight is wrath and judgment for sin. But chapter seven stands here in the middle as a reminder of hope.

It's like God knows we're gonna be moved to fear when we read about this great tribulation coming. And he's letting his children know he's got us.

Here in the throne room of God, those who have been pulled out of the great tribulation will exclaim with shouts of praise, salvation belongs to our

God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. This is a pause of praise here in the midst of chaos and judgment and wrath.

And that's what we're doing here, kind of as a symbol of that in our gathering each and every week.

When we gather and sing and listen to God's word, we're pausing in the midst of the chaos of each week to remember that salvation belongs to our

God. So let's open our Bibles if you're not already there to Revelation seven. If you need a

Bible, please do me a favor and just raise your hand. We're not gonna call you out, just there's a guy back here with some Bibles. Mike will bring you a

Bible if you don't have one on your lap. But we just love for people to be able to see that the things that I'm reading, the things that I'm saying are coming straight from the word of God.

But follow along. Recast, this is what God desires for us to hear this morning. And we're gonna do something a little bit different this morning.

As you notice, the band is already up there. But I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor. I'm gonna ask you to stand for the reading of God's word.

And then we are gonna go straight from the reading of this word into praise and worship of our great

God. So follow along, Revelation chapter seven. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea, or against any tree.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144 ,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

12 ,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Reuben. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Gad.

12 ,000 from the tribe of Asher. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Naphtali. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Manasseh.

12 ,000 from the tribe of Simeon. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Levi. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Issachar.

12 ,000 from the tribe of Zebulun. 12 ,000 from the tribe of Joseph. And 12 ,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

After this, I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our

God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped

God saying, amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our

God forever and ever, amen. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, who are these clothed in white robes and where have they come from?

I said to him, sir, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.

And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.

The sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

I encourage you to get comfortable. Thanks a lot to Dave and the band for leading us. I'm just grateful for their willing service to us each week to lead us before God's throne.

Remember that if any time during the message you need to get up and get more coffee or juice or donuts, you're not gonna distract me. If the seat you're sitting in gets uncomfortable, you can get up and stretch out in the back.

Remember restrooms that we use are at this end. Men's upstairs, women's downstairs. We try to reserve the restrooms on this end of the building for the kids' ministry.

So use the ones that are down there if you need that at any time. But ultimately our focus is over the next half an hour or so hopefully to keep our attention driven towards the

Bible. So I'd encourage you to have that open on your lap as well. Revelation chapter seven is where we're at for those of you who maybe got here a little bit late and weren't here for the reading of that.

But thinking about the book of Revelation, I think we ought to think in terms of trying to explain a dream to a friend.

Have you ever had that happen? You're trying to explain a dream to a friend or someone in your family or whatever, you had a dream, anybody?

Am I the only one who's ever tried to do that? You're trying to explain what happened in a dream and it's like kind of a little bit crazy and a little bit weird stuff going on and you're kind of like, and then this happened and no way and it's, you wake up with some fuzzy understanding and some of it's vivid while other parts of it kind of fade away and I don't know if you're anything like me if that's the case for you.

But Revelation is kind of like trying to explain a dream. Where parts of it come back to you and sometimes things don't seem quite sequential and there's a lot of imagery and there's pictures and everything is basically the description of a picture that John sees.

Now I want to be clear that I think John was given exactly what to record here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

I don't think it's quite the same scenario as when you're trying to remember a dream and maybe you forgot part of it or something like that.

I think it's completely and utterly what God desired and at the same time it's still written in that apocalyptic language that is very vision oriented.

And the contents are not meant to give us a clear chronology. Instead apocalyptic literature is meant to give us an impression or a feeling.

You should walk away from a chapter of the book of Revelation with a feeling or a sense to something coming down the pipeline.

And at the opening of the seven seals we should feel some fear and some sense of overwhelming awe at the devastation of the great tribulation.

That should have been some of the impression from chapter six last week was just awe and wonder at the devastating effects of sin.

Now some of us have reaped some of the consequences of sin in our own lives. Have you experienced that where there have been consequences, there have been difficulties?

And we know that according to scripture it even takes it a step further and says sin leads to, can anybody fill that out?

Death. In an ultimate sense sin leads to death and we know that the judgment of sin that is coming on the world is indeed called in our text a great tribulation.

But now here in our text this week, chapter seven, things take an upturn where last week we were meant to feel some of that fear, some of that awe, some of that impression of destruction.

Things turn upward in our text here this morning and we're brought from the depths of wrath and destruction from the first six seals last week to the glories of protection and shelter.

Chapter seven appears like an oasis in the midst of God's wrath. A protected zone where the wrath of God does not fly fierce as it did last week.

And I want to point out that God hasn't changed between chapter six and chapter seven.

We're not looking at a new God here, a different God. Chapter six was the old God and chapter seven is the new

God. It is the same God who is the rightful, just, holy judge of the world is the same one who is the righteous and gracious savior to those who run to him.

And I would suggest to you that the only difference between wrath and protection is which direction you are running.

Are you running to God for protection or are you running away from God for protection?

All of us are seeking protection. All of us are seeking something to fulfill us or something to satisfy us, or something to make us whole or complete or something but we're running in a direction.

Are you running to God for salvation, running to God for peace, running to God for hope or are you running away from God?

And in the first three verses, of our text this morning. There's this kind of weird picture. John, again, seeing pictures, seeing images, just like, very similar to having a dream.

He observes five angels, and there's interaction between these five angels. Four of them are holding back the winds of judgment.

Again, a figure of speech. Wind being a common metaphor throughout Scripture for the judgment or the wrath of God, and they are holding it back while another commands them to hold out just a little while longer until the servants of God on earth, on earth, that's where this is taking place, can be sealed.

The fifth angel comes from the east, and he has in his hand the seal of the living God, and he is getting ready to seal the servants of God on earth.

The dramatic vision of this need not be literal. I wanna be clear about that. It's unlikely that there are four angel airbenders force -pushing back the winds at a literal four corners of the earth, which, by the way, if you think about it, we actually will use the literary phrase four corners of the world, four corners of the earth.

Do we believe that it's a cube, then? Do we believe that it's a square? Some people have been critical of Scripture on this point. They kinda get past that.

I mean, it talks about the circle of the earth in Job and in Psalms. I mean, did they believe that it was square?

Did they believe that it was flat? All of this stuff, you can go to town on that with your own opinions and thoughts and conspiracies and this, that, and the other.

We use figures of speech, too, even in our scientific age, and that's exactly what I believe they're doing here.

All this dramatic vision points to one simple thing. God will not bring about the final course of his judgment until he has the right people under the umbrella of his protection.

There's something that's holding back and stemming back the tide of judgment on this planet.

There's something that's holding back the great wrath of God in tribulation, and it is simply this.

There are some who he is going to number under his umbrella of protection before that day arrives.

And those on earth that will be sealed are said to be 144 ,000, specifically Jews from the various tribes of Israel.

That's what the text says. Now, I realize that all throughout this series and the book of Revelation, I'm open to the accusation of picking and choosing what

I believe is metaphorical. So, for example, in this text, I'm going to tell you that I do not, I could be, and I'm open to it, but I don't believe that the number 144 ,000 is a literal number.

I don't think that it's gonna be counted. And if you counted all of the people from the Jewish race who are saved during the tribulation are going to number exactly 144 ,000.

I'll get there here in a minute and explain that. But then I'm also saying that I believe that they're gonna be Jews. Well, why do I pick to believe that they're literally

Jews, but I choose the number to be a figure of speech? Well, I do a lot of research, and I really work through this, and I really pray a lot about it, and that doesn't mean that I always get it right.

I may not always get it right, but I do believe that they are literally ethnic Jews because of the detail that John shares in verses four through 11.

They are designated in verse four as from the tribe of the sons of Israel.

Now, if you would have read this in the first century when it was written, how do you think they would have understood that?

They are talking about Jews, right? That's how they would have understood that in that time frame.

Further, he goes into length. Even as I was reading, did you get a little of the repetition in there? Did it kind of wear on you a little bit after I said 12 ,000 like 12 times?

And it's listed according to tribes, these 12 ,000. And instead of just saying 12 ,000 from each tribe and leaving it that, sometimes you want

Scripture to say that, right? Like you're reading through the Bible and you've got a limited amount of time, you want it just, could you just summarize that for me?

Couldn't you have just said 12 from each tribe and been done with it? But John uses precious parchment and scroll to list them out,

I believe, to indicate to us that we're talking about literal Jews. Now, the number of those sealed is,

I believe, a highly figurative number from understanding that a lot of numbers, there's a lot in the Jewish tradition that has to do with an understanding or some kind of symbolism tied to and associated with numbers.

12 is the number of spiritual fulfillment. How many apostles were there? 12, how many tribes of Israel were there?

12, it's a spiritual number of fulfillment, like the right spiritual number is there.

And now, why would that be? Okay, 12 times 12, so the number of spiritual fulfillment times the number of spiritual fulfillment, this is gonna be the right, right, right number multiplied by a large number by Greek and Roman standards, 1 ,000.

I think it's not, it's just shy of, when I mentioned myriads and myriads of angels standing around the throne a couple of weeks ago in my message,

I said, I think that's like a bajillion, right? Like, they didn't have that word invented, so they used that one, but now,

I think this is shy of saying that. I think he's saying something different here with this word picture. Instead, I think

John is saying the right number, the right and perfect spiritual number of Jews will come into the kingdom in the last days, and it will be a lot.

There will be a lot of them. There will be, as Paul said in Romans, and so, and Israel will be saved, and there will be a movement among Jews in the end of time.

I believe that the significance of the sealing matters for one primary reason.

I believe that the church is gone when this sealing happens. I believe that the church is gone when all of this is going down in the first seven verses.

I mentioned last week that I do not think that the church will endure the wrath of God that was expressed at the opening of the sixth seal.

Some time in there, and the book of Revelation doesn't give us a time of departure of the church, but I believe that that's literally going to happen sometime in those first five seals.

So, what we see in chapter seven is the literal salvation of a large group of Jews during the great tribulation, and they will serve as powerful witnesses on this planet during that time.

The idea of God sealing a person in the Old Testament, it really was an

Old Testament concept that began with Abraham and circumcision, a sign on the flesh that showed that they belonged to God, but that culminated in a invisible work that we now talk about in the church as the sealing work of the

Holy Spirit in a person's life. It is said that the Holy Spirit seals you to salvation.

Now, wouldn't it be really great if there was a physical mark on the body of a person who was a believer, like it just showed up and on their forehead, they prayed, embraced

Christ, asked to believe in him, and all of a sudden something appeared on your forehead or something like that? Well, that would be a very literal understanding of this.

I don't believe that that's what the case is. And so, we have a non -physical sign that still manifests itself in our lives, and that is simply that the

Holy Spirit is alive in us. Our behavior changes, our desires change, our hungers and appetites change, our affections change to love the things of God, and that's the sign of God's life in you and his sealing of you.

Now, I don't believe that the seal on the heads of these Jewish believers protects them and secures them from all harm, but rather it seals them as saved by the

Lamb of God. This is salvation that is occurring here. And to be clear, I do not believe that this is a literal tattoo or a branding, but rather a figurative seal, like I mentioned, that the

Holy Spirit is sealing our hearts. Now, there are indicators in the chapters that are coming about these 144 ,000 that these who are sealed will not be protected from the wrath of humanity, but they will be sheltered from the wrath of God.

Now, that's something that's fundamental to an understanding, a proper understanding of what it means to be a child of God now.

Does God pour his wrath out on us now? No, but do we experience the effects of the fall now?

Absolutely, can we experience the wrath of mankind now? Absolutely, can we experience the wrath and the chaos of a broken world?

Absolutely, but we do not experience God's wrath any longer because the wrath of God has been poured out where?

On Jesus Christ at the cross for those who are his. Many scholars make all kinds of stretches to try to explain why this text might be here in this location, because I don't know if you noticed, we didn't get the seven seals open yet.

Did any of you notice that last week? We only got six of them. This is an interlude, this is a pause.

This is a pause for reflection, reminding us, hey guys, I wanted to remind you, you're safe, you're gonna be secure, and not only that,

I'm gonna bring forward a group who is going to be witnesses all throughout my history.

Many scholars are trying to stretch to figure this out, but it seems like an interruption in the seals of judgment to many.

I think it demonstrates to us God's ongoing patience even during the final seasons of judgment.

God is not giving up on the world here in the end, but he even goes to great measures to continue to present this large group of witnesses here in this context to those who are eager to reject him, to those who are running from him.

He still provides witness even when the church is gone. But John's vision, and here's where I get to why

I say the church is gone, because we're gonna see the church here. The church is coming in the next eight verses.

So what we've seen so far is we've seen what's going on on earth, but John's vision now is taken from the events that are going on on the earth, and he's given a, it's pulled back, and his eyes are cast back up to the throne room of God again.

And we see that in verse nine, and what he beheld is a throne room of heaven again.

And I believe that this movement from earth to heaven in his vision is key to understanding that these are two different groups of people that are talked about here.

Some people like to think of, they try to make the Jews figurative here for the church, and so we'd be looking at two parallel accounts of the church, and that might be getting a little too nuanced for you, but I believe that we're looking at one group on earth and another group in heaven, and that is significant.

That's the key to understanding this text. In verses one through eight, John has been observing what's going on on earth, nine through 17 in heaven.

And now he catches a glimpse, and there he sees not 144 ,000, but instead a multitude that no one could count, he says.

Now, hear me carefully. Have we not heard some symbolic language already in the book of Revelation for large numbers?

Have you heard some numbers like myriads times myriads, and all these different words and terminology that's used, and he is very eager and willing to use symbolic language to demonstrate large crowds and large groups.

And here in a book of that kind of symbolic language for large numbers, John refuses to attempt to even give a word picture for this group that he sees around the throne.

He doesn't even give a number. He says, I'm not even gonna monkey with a literary illustration for you.

This is a number that no one can count. This is a huge group of people standing around the throne of God.

He doesn't use myriads times myriads. He doesn't use 144 ,000, a gathering beyond number.

And he determines that it's made up of humans, people, from every political entity, from every ethnic group within those political entities, from every division that people come up with, to all language groups.

He's going over the top to say this is a composite of earth. This is a grouping of people gathered from everywhere before the throne of God.

And they are clothed in white robes. They are carrying palm branches. We're gonna see that they're praising the

Lord. The palm branches indicate that they are celebrating, like the Feast of Tabernacles, a great celebration every year in Israel where they would carry palm branches, or the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, that celebration, the king is here.

These people are ready for a festival. That's the imagery of the palm branch. And they're clothed in white robes, showing that they are pure, that they are physical.

I believe that there are all kinds of indications at this point in the text that the resurrection has already occurred, that there's been a rapture, there has been a going up to heaven for those who are his.

The last time we saw, here's one of the reasons why. The last time we saw any humans within the throne room of God was last chapter at the opening of the fifth seal.

They were called souls, and where were they? They sat down under the altar of the

Almighty. That's where they were located, it was given, and they're asking, how long, oh

Lord, how long until you will exact judgment on the earth? How long until you'll make it right?

How long until you will bring it to completion? And they were given a white robe and told to wait just a little while longer.

Where are they now? No longer called souls, no longer seated under the throne, but now they are clothed in those white robes and standing, and they are joined by a number of others beyond count, and they are worshiping.

They're no longer asking the question, how long, because they've been joined by this multitude of numbers beyond count, and I believe that the joining of those people, those under the altar of God is the actual rapture of the church, and that it's already occurred when we come to this text.

We see here a glimpse of the activity of heaven for the redeemed before the final kingdom of God is brought to this earth, and we sing, we will sing.

Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. If you're trusting in Jesus for your salvation, if you have asked him and are currently resting in that belief that he paid the price for your sins and you have been washed clean by his blood, then you will be numbered among that innumerable crowd.

And in our text, there's some beautiful irony here. Have you ever watched the movie Back to the

Future? Or worse yet, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure where they see each other?

That was bad, let's stick with Back to the Future. Well, that's not even, I don't know. I can get myself into trouble here.

This whole thing, this whole text right here, I want you to hear this carefully. If you were in Christ right now, future you is speaking to present you.

Future you is passing through the eons of time, however long it is, between that day and this day, and wants to tell you something.

Future you is coming back to present you and wants you to be attentive to this. Salvation belongs to our

God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne. What is the interest of future you? I can't believe

I'm here! I'm here, I'm here before the throne on the basis of the blood of the Lamb. I'm here because of what

Jesus Christ has done for me. And future you wants present you to sit in that, to rejoice in that, to exult in that.

And do you know what future you wants you to do about it? Future you wants you to share this lavishly, to remind you of what salvation is, and to encourage every one of your friends.

Bring them along! Run to the place, calling out, run to the place where salvation is found.

Where can you buy salvation? There's only one store, and it's open all the time. And it's

Jesus Christ. It's with God and with the Lamb, and that's the only place you can go for rescue.

Stop running away from him and run to the Savior while there is still time.

That's what future you wants present you to grab ahold of. Stop the concern and the fear over pettiness.

Oh, I might lose a relationship. No, you might gain someone for the king. How often do we let little petty nuances of relationship and fear get in the way of declaring salvation belongs to our

God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. Future you has only that interest in mind. All you want you to know about right now.

Enough that it's, your words, recorded in the pages of Scripture. You could say,

I wrote a little bit of it. I'm in there, I'm speaking. If you are in Christ, you're here, and you're talking about this.

Salvation comes from the Lamb and from God. And our voices will be joined by all the angels.

All the angels. I picture that, okay, the earth must be on worship break for a minute.

So all the angels, they are not scurrying about doing messaging stuff and going around and telling people stuff.

I mean, I don't know, maybe there's more car accidents on this day. I don't know, because whatever the angels are stopping or preventing, they're not there.

They are standing around the throne. And first, they all fall flat on their faces. All the angels, who include the four living creatures and then 24 elders, who once again fall flat on their face, they are prone to do this in the throne room of God.

I think we will be prone to do this in the throne room of God, to fall flat on our faces in gratitude and thanks and worship and in joy.

It's not a mandatory bowing. It is a willing, delighted in our

Savior kind of bowing. And these angels all amen our worship. They all so be it.

May it be as this multitude. I think it's interesting to think about what angels perceive about all of this.

It says angels long to look into these things. Like, they don't quite get us. Angels don't quite understand this, according to scripture.

But they're curious about us. They're curious about salvation and they're curious about these things and they rejoice and exult when one more is gonna be in that throne room, worshiping him.

And they amen our song and then they add their own, saying, yes, you have said it right, in other words, that salvation belongs to our

God and to the Lamb. But more than that, the angels say, hey, don't forget what else belongs to the

Lamb. And they add to our declaration. Sure, salvation belongs to him. But also, all blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and might, all of those things belong to him as well.

Don't forget that all of that comes from him. By this, the angels are declaring what is true.

He is the possessor of all things. But they're also reminding us, here in our present time, here in Matawan, Michigan, here in 2016, what worship should look like for you and I.

It's more than just saying these things. You see, they stand there saying these things. We have an opportunity to live these things.

While they're saying it in heaven, we have a chance to do it with our lives this next week.

Think about it, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and might, all be to our

God, it could easily be translated, belong to our God, and that's why I'm going there with this. So think about it, let's break those down one at a time and just think about what the angels are telling you, the way that they are encouraging you and I to worship in the here and now.

When you see blessing, who does it belong to? God, it's his, ascribe it to God.

When you receive blessing, that means that when you see a sunset, have you ever been blessed by a sunset? Have you, no, huh, kinda?

I'm not gonna call you up here. You guys know that, right? Okay, when you're blessed by a sunset, anybody here ever been blessed by a filet mignon?

Anybody here ever? Have you ever had that blessing with a little bit of blue cheese melted on it?

Do you know what, some of you are like, ew, and some of you are like, yes, whatever it is, whatever, maybe you just like it raw,

I don't know. That filet mignon that melts like butter. When you get a chance to see a sunset or to eat a filet mignon or to enjoy a well -constructed craft brew, that blessing belongs to God.

It's his blessing. He's sharing something with you. He's sharing something beautiful with you.

Don't worship and abuse the sunset. Don't worship and abuse the steak. Don't worship and abuse the beer, but recognize where it comes from and delight in your heavenly

Father who gives you good things and blessings, shares from his storehouses. That's an application, that's what the angels want you and I to grasp here today, further thinking about all wisdom belongs to our

God. Any of you here ever been blessed with a particular great insight? Couple of us.

In the middle of an argument with your spouse, have you ever been blessed with insight? I mean, I'm sure that all of us, now everybody gets where I'm going with this.

No, have you ever just been blessed with like wisdom? Like there's something that, whatever it might be, a moment of interaction with one of your children, a moment of interaction with your spouse or your boss or your roommate or whatever it might be and there's a moment of like aha moment and it's like oh, that's really cool.

When we're blessed with insight, a speck of wisdom or just a bit of wise counsel that we have to offer to someone else, we need to recognize where all of that comes from.

All wisdom flows down from him. And we are blessed, if you think about it, to eat the scraps from the table of his feast of wisdom.

That's all it is. We get that aha moment, I'm gonna confess that there have been times where I've been puffed up with pride.

Oh, that's a good point, Don, good one. Maybe I'll have to own that one on my own.

Nobody else has been there. But this speaks to my heart. This speaks to where I live.

How could I ever be arrogant in the face? Just imagine what that must look like at the throne room of God, God looking down on me going oh, that's so cute, oh, that's so adorable.

Do you know where you got that? You got that from me, the one who is omniscient.

And we're like yeah, I got this. This has an impact on the way we live our lives that when we recognize all wisdom belongs to him, when we recognize that all thanksgiving belongs to him.

Sometimes we receive thanksgiving. When someone says thanks to you for a job well done, this doesn't mean you have to be the

Christian jerk and deny that you did anything, making the awkward moment for everybody.

Some of you know what I'm talking about. It's like oh no, it wasn't me. Well, I mean, I saw you do it and thank you for it.

And it's like oh, it wasn't me. Or you can just kind of take the knee and do one of these or something, I don't know. Dave Bunn and I have that joke.

Somebody says a good sermon to me, which happens once a year. And I just take the knee and kind of give the credit for the touchdown or whatever it was.

What do you do when somebody says thanks to you? Where do you go with that? Feel free to reflect that glory.

First, thankfulness to God that you did something that mattered to somebody else. You don't have to downplay that.

It's not the Christian, the right thing to do is to say I didn't do anything. No, you were used by God and that's a glorious thing.

That's great. Let's just say thank you for noticing. Yeah, I'm glad to serve.

I'm glad that God used me in that way or whatever. But certainly, in your heart or even externally, be willing to reflect that glory to God by gratitude.

And recognize that every victory that you've ever had, every success that you've ever had is made up of components.

There were decisions, there were conversations, there were plans, there were drawings, there was something that went into that success.

And all of the components of that come from God. All of the components of that come from God.

Including your breath, okay? Including the fact that you have life coursing through your veins and that your heart is still beating.

All of it comes from God. When you honor others, all honor belongs to God.

When you honor others who are honored, never lose sight of the reality that all honor belongs to Him. We're stewards of any dignity that we have or have to offer to others.

And so we should not let that stop with us. And lastly, we'll just cover power and strength or power and might together by having a little discussion about CrossFit.

CrossFit, getting in shape, lifting stuff, heavy stuff a bunch of times has weaseled its way into our culture.

It's weaseled its way into American life. Dave likes that one. Kinda just got its way in there.

Now I work out at Name Time Fitness here in town. Anybody know where that is? Anybody ever work out there? And it's nice, you can go there anytime.

Like the name. Now this is not a sales pitch for it, but it works for me. But a few months ago, they have a huge dry erase board at the front door and they left it with just these words on the top.

I work out so that, and then left it for members to come in and fill in the blanks.

I bet you can guess the three primary reasons that people go to work out. They ranged in categories from this.

So that I can be a sexy beast was one category. That covered a bunch of different statements that all had to do with just looking fine and super awesome.

Which was obviously not my reason. But one other one was so that I can, it was something to the effect of so I can eat more, so that I can drink beer, so that I can do this.

Something along the lines of food related. Like I work out so that I can eat. That was the notion.

That when that injury comes, watch out. Or so that I can live longer.

Could you see that one coming? So I work out, I exercise, I work out. So I was kind of a little bit of a jerk when

I got that pen in my hand and I thought about it for a week or two. And then I actually was that jerk who wrote so that I can be more useful to God and I can be more useful to others and to my family.

Okay, so I was that guy, yeah. So you're like, oh, who wrote that? But it comes down to this question.

And it was interesting because my family in homeschooling, we've been going through the life of Jim Elliott and I don't know if any of you know

Jim Elliott. Martyr, died reaching Indians in Ecuador and gave his life.

And actually he wrestled in high school and in college particularly so that he was in shape for God's use.

He said, I didn't wrestle so I could beat people. I didn't wrestle people because I have a particularly competitive nature as much as I just wanted to be physically fit.

And just ask a question to yourself. Why do you have muscles? Not everybody in the room has muscles.

But why do you have whatever strength or whatever capacity or whatever ability you currently possess and it is only because the one who has all of it chose to share some of it with you?

It's the only reason you have it because the one who possesses all of it chose to share some of it with you.

I'm convinced that if we get this, our lives will be more and more, will more and more become worship to our great God. Worship will become less and less an activity that we do on Sunday mornings, less and less an activity that involves singing.

Some of us just think of worship, oh you're gonna sing some songs if you're gonna worship. But we will eat and drink praise to God.

We will lift our praise to God. We will work in our workplace praise to God.

We will relate to one another in praise to God. And we will in all things live praise to the

Lord who gives us all that we possess from his own storehouses. Back to the text.

In verse 13 we've already talked a bit about the identity of this great multitude in heaven but John has an interchange with one of the 24 elders, clarifies that these are those who have come out of the great tribulation, that have washed their robes white in the blood of the

Lamb. And the phrase coming out of in verse 14 could also be translated being removed from.

This verse has caused many to be what is known as a mid -tribulationalist. This is the belief that there will be, that there will be for some of the tribulation, the church will be there but not for the whole thing.

Some refer to the second half of the tribulation as the great wrath and they believe that before the great wrath

God sends Christ to bring his church home. I lean towards a pre -tribulational rapture which means that God will bring the church to heaven prior to the seven years of great tribulation.

I don't believe everything and I don't take everything as literal as the Left Behind series and some of you have mentioned that you've read that before and at the same time

I lean in this direction towards a pre -tribulational rapture that's the great tribulation is described by the seals, the trumpets, the bowls of wrath.

I believe that's a literal time that is coming on the planet. But I hold to this belief primarily because I see the imminence that Jesus spoke of.

He indicated that we need to be alert because he could come at any moment. He seemed to indicate that the next thing coming down the pipeline of history in the large picture end time scheme is his return for his people.

But I would admit to you that this is a pretty thin line of reasoning. It's quite possible that we may experience some of these events of the great tribulation just as we currently experience tragedies in our own lives, there's a reality to that.

But where I draw the line is at the place where this book speaks of the wrath of God being poured out on his people.

I don't believe that that will ever occur. Where it speaks of rather his wrath poured out on people, I do not believe that will ever be his people.

None who are his will experience his wrath. So let me summarize by sharing a quote about that end times thought there.

It's been attributed, this quote has been attributed to a lot of people. I used to think I knew who said it and then in retrospect

I don't know who said it because I think it's just a funny quote that a lot of people have given to people. It doesn't seem like the thing that D .L.

Moody would actually say. But it seems like the thing that Don would say so Don's gonna say it. And I'm saying this as myself.

I believe in a pre -tribulational rapture and I hope that Jesus does too. Like I hope that I line up with him but I also have to recognize that and hold that loosely with care.

I can see about a dozen ways that it could all go down in the end. But there's one thing that stands true from the pages of Revelation.

If you're taking notes, even if you're not, I would encourage you to jot these things down. These are the things that I'm seeing as we've gone so far through Revelation.

Jesus is the rightful king. And that is point number one. Point number two, that's worth all of it.

Jesus is the rightful king. Two, he is coming back for his people. That is for sure.

And last, this is very fundamental to those who were raised in a church where pre -tribulationalism was preached with a hardcore stance.

And that is that our comfort is meant to center on Jesus Christ and not on the avoidance of physical suffering.

Do you hear that? Let me read those again. Jesus is the rightful king. Jesus is coming back for his people.

And our comfort is meant to be centered on Jesus and not on the avoidance of physical suffering.

We follow a king who said this quite simply. Take up your cross and follow me.

Our hope, a lot of people when they come to Revelation, they're like, are we gonna suffer? Is it gonna be bad? Is it gonna be hard? Is it gonna be difficult?

Yeah, the one who called us to take up our cross and follow him, yeah, it's kinda gonna be that way.

There's gonna be difficulty in your life and mine and we recognize that. We get out of here through, that doesn't sound pleasant, the effects of sin.

But all of our needs will be met by God and his son. That's why the end of the text highlights for all believers the state of affairs in the presence of God in heaven.

That is where our hope is. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Those who have been washed white by the blood of Jesus will stand in that multi -ethnic multitude and we will serve him.

And he will shelter us. We will never be in hunger. We will never thirst. And we will be protected from all adverse physical discomfort.

Like it says in the text, the beating down of the sun. Now the location where this was written, that was a real significant discomfort and problem.

All of our needs will be met by God and his son. The lamb will be our shepherd. And no matter how you understand the end times rolling out, this arrangement of this gathering with white robes and palm branches is temporary for this multitude.

It is not the destination, an ultimate end destination for any human to be in the throne of God, worshiping with palm branches and singing songs in white robes.

But by the end of this book, spoiler alert, you can plug your ears if you don't wanna hear how the whole thing ends, but there is a new earth with a city of God, the new

Jerusalem descending on it. And we will dwell for eternity on a new earth with culture, art, music, and a huge diversity of means to worship

God forever and ever. We will not be eternally in that throne room singing and bowing as maybe you learn in Sunday school class.

And kind of thought it sounded like a big church service that was gonna be boring for eternity, like really, is that it?

But God will be worshiped by humanity on a new earth and in the way that he made us to worship him.

How did he make humanity to worship him? In his image, with creativity, with cultivation, with the creation of culture, with subduing, continuing to grow, and continuing to learn, and continuing to take on more.

And starting from the time that we go to that place where the throne room of God is, from that time where we are in heaven, the lamb will be our shepherd who leads his people to life -giving water.

And God will wipe every tear from our eyes. There's a couple paradoxes in this text that I just wanna highlight to sit with you as we move on.

Washed white by blood. Paradox. Shepherded by a lamb.

Who's leading? The lamb is leading. The paradoxes should rest with us. And a fundamental question should be put to all of us as we come to communion this morning.

Have you washed your robe in the blood of the lamb? Have you accepted his death as the sacrifice to wash you clean from sin?

As Dave comes to lead us in this next song, I'd encourage everybody in the room to take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

If you're trusting in him to save you from the wrath of God, then I'd encourage you to come to one of the four tables in the corners of this room and then take a cracker to remind you of his body that was broken for us.

Take a cup of juice to remember his blood that was shed to wash us clean. There's wrath in the book of Revelation.

We'll get back to it next week. There's a burning anger against rebellion and sin.

There is a devastating process of refinement that culminates in the destruction of all the kingdoms of the earth being replaced by the kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth.

But in this, we can find hope. We find our hope in running to Christ, bowing our knees and coming into his kingdom for protection from the wrath that is to come.

My encouragement to all of us is simply this, worship him, honor him, and trust him.

And he will be the lamb that will shepherd you. Who are we gonna bring with us?

Who are we gonna step out and declare that salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb?

Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for this morning. I thank you for, I thank you for Revelation 7, for a respite of hope, for an oasis in the midst of judgment, for a place of recognition that our hope must firmly be placed in you and in your son for salvation.

And Father, that for those who are there, that you will spread your tent over us and shelter us. You will wipe every tear from our eyes.

Father, that you will bring us safely home to our new habitation forever.

You will bring in this kingdom. Father, I pray that you would not allow us to be so selfish as to be willing to be saved alone, but that you would embolden us, give us power, give us strength, give us wisdom as we walk through our daily lives.

Father, you have given us a sphere of influence that just multiplies, it's exponential in this room, the number of people that we all know.

And more devastating than that is the number of people that we know in this, that we know represented in this room who do not know you as Savior.

Who will be on the side of the judgment, will be on the side of the wrath versus on the side of the protection.

So Father, may we be a church that calls others with a loud voice, a bold voice, but a loving voice to come along and see that salvation is found in you.