1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,400 Alright, so if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:16,960 We're going to be in the book of Revelation, chapter 7. 3 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,600 Revelation chapter 7. 4 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:25,680 Alright, so Jordan was with you last week and I don't think he covered Revelation, did 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:26,680 he? 6 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:27,680 No. 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:32,640 Yeah, good, because I told him specifically, preach anything but Revelation. 8 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:34,320 It's good that he did. 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:39,720 But yeah, we're back in Revelation chapter 7, so if you'll just remember just to reorient 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:46,000 ourselves, we were coming out of this section about opening the sixth seal, and we're still 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:47,560 technically in that section. 12 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:53,840 We haven't gotten to the seventh seal yet, but as part of opening the sixth seal, that's 13 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:55,800 hard to say together. 14 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:00,320 John takes a moment to recount something else that he saw. 15 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:05,280 The Lord gives him a new aspect of this vision, and you'll remember that with the opening of 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,760 the sixth seal, there was all this destruction, right? 17 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,480 The sun's falling out of the sky, stars are falling, the whole world is darkened, and 18 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:14,480 people are running. 19 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:20,360 They realize that Jesus is real, that the Christians were right, and so they go running, 20 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:24,160 and you remember they're begging the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face 21 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:25,160 of Jesus. 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:26,440 They don't even want to see Him. 23 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,840 They are literally more afraid of the wrath of God than they are of death, and you see 24 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,160 that it's falling on everybody, and there was that sevenfold description of humanity, 25 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,400 and it's like, okay, well no one's going to escape this. 26 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,320 And then remember we started chapter 7, and what was that beginning to tell us about? 27 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:48,800 Do you remember? 28 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,200 We are getting there, but not quite yet. 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:58,680 So chapter 7 started with God saying, oh wait, before all this takes place, we first have 30 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,400 to seal God's people. 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:07,760 And so we talked about the seal, and as many of you noted, that seal is the Holy Spirit, 32 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:13,240 and so God seals His people with the Holy Spirit, which is God's way of protecting His people 33 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:14,240 from the wrath to come. 34 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,280 And we said that we have great hope, and we have great comfort knowing that even though 35 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:23,800 the wrath of God is coming and will be poured out upon this earth, Christians will never 36 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,160 experience the wrath of God ever. 37 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,840 We will stand before God in judgment, but because of Jesus we will never experience 38 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:36,200 the wrath of God, and that's because He sealed us with His Holy Spirit, and that was in contrast 39 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:37,480 to the mark of the beast. 40 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:42,960 So all unbelievers are marked with a mark that is of the beast, meaning they belong to the 41 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,320 beast, because remember we said on the forehead, the mark of the beast on the forehead, Christians 42 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,600 are sealed with the Holy Spirit on the forehead, and we said that slaves used to be branded 43 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,200 on their forehead with the brand of their master to show to whom they belonged. 44 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:57,840 It was a sign of ownership. 45 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,760 And so the seal of the Holy Spirit is God's way of saying, these are my people, they belong 46 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:08,160 to me, and the mark of the beast is the devil's way of saying, well these are my people, and 47 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:09,640 they belong to me. 48 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:14,680 And so we're getting into that, we see that God has sealed all of His people so that they 49 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:20,520 would not experience His wrath when all this takes place, and then we get something really, 50 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,360 really fun that everybody skips over, right? 51 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,480 I mean, I figure we would get this through our minds in Genesis. 52 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,160 Do you all remember how many lists we had in Genesis and names and everything? 53 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:31,160 But it was fun, right? 54 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:32,960 There's always fun little tidbits. 55 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,840 One of my favorite sermons I ever got to preach was on the beginning chapter of Matthew, Matthew 56 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,760 chapter one, where it's just a long list of names, and what does everybody do when they 57 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:42,760 get there? 58 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,560 All right, names, next chapter, right? 59 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,520 Let's read about Joseph and Mary, but you go through those names and you're like, oh, 60 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,200 actually, there's a really cool structure here, and there's something really amazing 61 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:54,200 that's being communicated. 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:59,520 Well, that's what happens with lists, and specifically lists of names in the Bible. 63 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,000 You come to this, you don't want to just read over it, you need to pay attention because 64 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,960 there are some really interesting things about this list. 65 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,400 And so we're going to start in verse four, and we're going to read it. 66 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,840 And yes, we are going to talk about a bunch of names tonight, but don't let that scare 67 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:14,840 you away. 68 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,040 Don't doze off on me because there are some really interesting things here. 69 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:24,760 So Revelation chapter seven, beginning in verse four, and I heard the number of the sealed. 70 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:31,200 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. 71 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,200 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed. 72 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:41,560 12,000 from the tribe of Rum and 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 12,000 from the tribe of 73 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,760 Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Neftali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 from the 74 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:52,360 tribe of Zemian, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Isekor, 12,000 75 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:57,760 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph and 12,000 from the tribe 76 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,320 of Benjamin were sealed. 77 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:04,040 So, pretty interesting, right? 78 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:05,840 I mean, you all see it already, don't you? 79 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:07,840 You're like, oh yeah, this is interesting. 80 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:09,040 Let's talk about it. 81 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,040 Okay, some interesting things going on here. 82 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:16,040 First and foremost, I want you to notice that John hasn't seen anything yet, hasn't. 83 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:21,040 Did you notice what verse 4, going all the way back up to verse 4, notice what it says, 84 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:22,040 and I what? 85 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,040 And I heard. 86 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,040 Alright, that's going to be very, very important for later. 87 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,040 So if you have your Bible and you like to mark in your Bible like I do, circle that word, heard, 88 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:37,040 underline it, highlight it, do whatever you want to do, I heard the number of the sealed, 89 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,040 and what is he here? 90 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,040 What's the number? 91 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,040 144,000. 92 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:48,040 So John's standing there and he's God saying, I have a sealed people, here's the number of the sealed, 93 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:50,040 John 144,000. 94 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,040 That's what he hears, alright? 95 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:53,040 Make a note of that. 96 00:05:53,040 --> 00:06:00,040 So he hears that there's a sealed people, it's the number 144,000, and there's a lot of debate about this. 97 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,040 I know that's surprising to you because everybody agrees on everything in Revelation, right? 98 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:10,040 So there's a lot of debate about who the 144,000 actually are. 99 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:17,040 One view would say, well, the 144,000 is the 144,000 are sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel, 100 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:25,040 so one view says that the 144,000 refer to only ethnic Jews, people who are ethnically Jewish, 101 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:31,040 and that makes sense, right? 144,000 of the tribes of Israel makes sense. 102 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:36,040 Along with this view, they'll say not only is it actually ethnically Jewish people, 103 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:42,040 but specifically it is literally 144,000. 104 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:54,040 Not 139,999, not 1399, or 100,300, whatever it is. 105 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,040 100,000, 39, whatever, blah, blah, blah. 106 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:02,040 It's exactly 144,000. 107 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,040 Now that does seem a little odd or peculiar, does it not? 108 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:10,040 I mean, even if you read the book of Numbers, it's often very even, specific Numbers, 109 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,040 it's very nice Numbers, they typically end in a zero or a five, just, you know, nice, neat Numbers. 110 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,040 Maybe it's fat, nice, and neat, maybe it's not. 111 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,040 You know, oftentimes they would just put a number out there to kind of round up and things like that. 112 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:32,040 144,000 Jewish people, according to this view, those are all the Jews who are going to be saved. 113 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:40,040 A grand scheme of things, considering how long the world has existed at this point, 114 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:48,040 and considering that the faith literally started with Judaism, doesn't this seem a little low? 115 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,040 I mean, go back all the way to like Abraham or something, right? 116 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,040 You know, he'd be considered part of Israel. 117 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:55,040 He was the father of Jacob. 118 00:07:55,040 --> 00:08:02,040 And so, or, well, Isaac was the father of Jacob, but Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, he's the patriarch. 119 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,040 So everybody attributes him father of Israel, right? 120 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:09,040 Think back all the way to the time of Abraham till today. 121 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:10,040 How long has that been? 122 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,040 Thousands upon thousands of years, right? 123 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:22,040 And you're telling me within that span of time, only 144,000 ethnically Jewish people are going to be saved. 124 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:23,040 And that's just where we're at now. 125 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,040 Who knows when Jesus is coming back? 126 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,040 We don't know. 127 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:27,040 Could be any time. 128 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:34,040 This world might exist for another couple thousand of years, and then that makes this number even more seemingly improbable to think about, right? 129 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:41,040 Let's say the world continues to exist for another 5,000 years after us, and however long it's existed before us. 130 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,040 Who knows the number of that year's scientists? 131 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:44,040 They'll say billions upon billions. 132 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:45,040 They're just guessing. 133 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:46,040 They have no idea. 134 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:47,040 Okay? 135 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:48,040 Could be thousands upon thousands. 136 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:50,040 Whatever the case may be. 137 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:59,040 You consider the whole span of humanity, and you're telling me that only 144,000 ethnically Jewish people will ever be saved. 138 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,040 Can we just be honest with each other and say that seems a little low? 139 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,040 It seems a little low, right? 140 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:06,040 But that's what this view says. 141 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:16,040 But what's interesting to me about this, that number, is, I don't know if you remember this, but all throughout Revelation, so Revelation, it's apocalyptic literature, right? 142 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:17,040 That's the genre. 143 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:24,040 We have to keep coming back to that time and time again, because you have to interpret something according to its genre. 144 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,040 And Revelation is apocalyptic literature. 145 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:32,040 Well, apocalyptic literature often uses numbers symbolically. 146 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,040 Does it not? 147 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,040 You've already seen this in the book of Revelation. 148 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:46,040 You remember in the very first chapter, when Jesus talked about the seven spirits of God, that's one we keep coming back to time and time again, the seven spirits of God. 149 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:50,040 Well, up to this point, you've read the whole Bible, and you go, well, hold on a second. 150 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:51,040 There's only one spirit of God. 151 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:53,040 Now I'm being told there's seven spirits of God. 152 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:57,040 And we said seven is the number of what? 153 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:58,040 Perfection. 154 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:02,040 It's the number of perfection, of fullness, completeness. 155 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:08,040 And so that's the apocalyptic way of referring to the fullness of the presence of the Holy Spirit. 156 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,040 It was John saying, hey, listen, the seven spirits of God are with you. 157 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:17,040 It's John saying, hey, the fullness of the presence of the Holy Spirit is with you in your midst. 158 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:24,040 So you have the great comfort of knowing that God is with you even in the midst of your persecution and your troubles. 159 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,040 We also saw it with the 24 elders. 160 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:31,040 Now, there might actually be literally 24 elders, but what was symbolic about that is, 161 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,040 24 divided by 2 is 12. 162 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,040 So you have two groups of 12, 12 and 12. 163 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,040 Why would that be significant? 164 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:46,040 Yeah, the tribes of Israel in the Old Covenant and the 12 apostles of Jesus in the New Covenant. 165 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:51,040 And so we said that the 24 elders are a representative body of God's covenant people. 166 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,040 Well, here's the interesting thing about 144,000. 167 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:55,040 Down there. 168 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:56,040 I have it written. 169 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:57,040 I forgot that I put it there. 170 00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:59,040 You know how you get 144,000? 171 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:07,040 You take 12 times 12 times 1,000 and then you get 144,000. 172 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:12,040 Now, that would seem odd to me if that's not symbolic. 173 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:13,040 Right? 174 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:19,040 If you have a number 144,000 and you can break it down to literally be 12, 12 tribes of Israel, 175 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:24,040 12 apostles of Jesus and 1,000, which we've already talked about in a previous, 176 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:28,040 we've been in Revelation all year, so I don't know what number it is, but it's up there. 177 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:33,040 We, you know, one of our first sermons on Revelation, we said that 1,000 in the Bible 178 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:39,040 is a way of referring to a long period of time or to a large group of things or people, right? 179 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,040 So one day for us is like how many years for the Lord? 180 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:44,040 A thousand. 181 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:47,040 And a thousand years for us is like one day for the Lord. 182 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,040 It's saying there's the completeness of time and it equals this. 183 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:54,040 Or God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. 184 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,040 You remember that? 185 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:01,040 Is it saying that after a thousand, when you get to 1,001, those aren't gods anymore. 186 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:02,040 Those belong to man. 187 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:08,040 No, it's the Bible saying it's a large number to encompass a whole of something, right? 188 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:12,040 Which is one reason why I don't believe that the thousand year reign of Christ is a literal thousand years, 189 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,040 but it's representative of a whole of something. 190 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:20,040 We'll get there when we get to Revelation chapter 19, 20. 191 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:21,040 Next year, thank you, Brian. 192 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,040 Yeah, so it'll be a while. 193 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:28,040 But yeah, so anyways, a thousand in the Bible is used that way. 194 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:34,040 I mean, if you were going to ask me, hey pastor, how many unbelievers do you think there are in South Carolina? 195 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:39,040 I'd say in South Carolina alone, there are probably thousands upon thousands. 196 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:44,040 I don't know the actual number, but I say a thousand upon thousands to represent the whole big body. 197 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:51,040 And so when you put that together, 12, 12 tribes of Israel, 12, 12 apostles of Jesus, a thousand, 198 00:12:51,040 --> 00:13:00,040 it really symbolically is saying that this refers to all of God's people spanning both covenants. 199 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:06,040 All old covenant believers, all new covenant believers, they are one body in Christ, 200 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,040 and that's where you get the thousand that comes into it. 201 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:10,040 This is the fullness. 202 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,040 This is the complete of God's people. 203 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:17,040 All of God's people are here represented in this body. 204 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:22,040 Look at John here, he hears 144,000. 205 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:27,040 Now, if you aren't sold on me thinking that this number is symbolic yet, 206 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:32,040 even though I do feel like I've given pretty good reason, let's go even further. 207 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,040 And this is when we get into the fun stuff with this list, okay? 208 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:41,040 Because when you look at this list, there are all sorts of oddities with this list 209 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:48,040 that make us think that this list is not meant to be interpreted literally, 210 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:54,040 that the list itself lends itself to a symbolic interpretation. 211 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:59,040 This list is unique among all the list of names in the Bible, 212 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:04,040 specifically the list of the 12 tribes of Israel, this list out of all the times. 213 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:08,040 Think about how many times the 12 tribes are listed in the Bible. 214 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:13,040 This one stands apart from them all and is unique. 215 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,040 First and foremost, here's your number one indicator that this list should be interpreted symbolically. 216 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,040 Who's listed first? 217 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,040 Judah. 218 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:29,040 Now, I put this number here because even though he's listed first, Judah was born fourth. 219 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:35,040 So if you're listing the tribes of Israel, you don't start with the fourth born, 220 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,040 you start with the first born, but he's listed second. 221 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:42,040 Now, it makes sense that Judah is listed first, right? 222 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,040 He's the tribe from which Jesus came. 223 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:47,040 Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, 224 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:51,040 and so it does make sense in one sense to put Judah first. 225 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,040 So you have the fourth born listed first, 226 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:58,040 then you have the first born listed second. 227 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,040 You might be saying, okay, well, we're just going to move Judah up 228 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,040 and then we're going to start the list over, right? 229 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:09,040 In knees, He's our first-born. 230 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:22,040 Applause. 231 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:28,040 We bring that up and then we get to look at these are some of the facts 232 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:36,640 in 8th, why else is it absolutely crazy that these two are listed here? I'll give you a 233 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:46,440 Bible if you get this. I'm not sure, but that's not what I'm going for. You know what? It 234 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:55,000 might be right. I don't... You get a Bible. Well, I've already given you a Bible. It's 235 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:06,720 going to be an ESV. Good job, mom. Yes. Interesting. These two are children of the concubine, not 236 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:13,760 the wife. You remember that you had Leah and Rachel. Leah, she was the wild cow. You all 237 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:21,600 remember that? Rachel was the beautiful you, the little sheep, but Leah was the wild cow. 238 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:26,800 Jacob, he did not love her. He loved Rachel, but Rachel couldn't really bear children. 239 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,440 Leah bore the first four, and so Rachel got jealous, and so what did she do? She went 240 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:37,560 and got a maid servant and said, okay, I need you to bear a child for me. It was one of 241 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:46,600 the concubines of Jacob, and the children of the concubine are listed before the children 242 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:51,200 of either of the wives. You don't do that. I know you're not as shocked as I want you 243 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,800 to be, but you don't do that kind of thing, and it would never be done. It hasn't been 244 00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:06,320 done in the Bible. Not only that, Naftali. Anybody remember whose son? No? Another concubine. 245 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:13,440 Another concubine. So you have the children of concubines listed before you have the children 246 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:19,600 of the actual wives listed. Now, again, if you're thinking, well, that's not too crazy, 247 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:27,720 but we should expect right after Naftali, there should be the tribe of Dan listed somewhere. 248 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,600 You remember he was one of the 12 tribes of Israel, right? I don't know if you've read 249 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:38,120 my list here. Anybody see Dan? Where's Dan? If you're going to say that this is 144,000 250 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:43,240 from the 12 tribes of Israel, don't you think you should have all 12 tribes up there? But 251 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:55,240 we don't have Dan. Anybody know why? The Lord will tell us in glory. Okay? We don't know. 252 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,920 I mean, the Bible doesn't say, hey, here's why Dan's not listed. Most people believe 253 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,200 it's because Dan was always a wayward tribe. Dan was given to idolatry, and it became a 254 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:09,280 center of idolatry in the land of Israel for a time, and they were pretty much always like 255 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:18,240 a wayward tribe even from the start. And so most people would say, yeah, they were not, 256 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:24,080 yeah, all sorts of bad stuff with Dan. And so most people say, well, the reason Dan's 257 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:31,360 not listed is because it's always been a wayward tribe. So out with Dan, and in we get Manasseh. 258 00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:42,280 Why do I have a question mark there, folks? Yeah, that's part of it. Why don't I have 259 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:50,680 a number? That's not one of the children. Manasseh was one of the grandchildren. Right? 260 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:57,360 So this was one of Joseph's two sons. Remember he had the two sons? He had Manasseh and Ephraim. 261 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:01,880 So maybe you're thinking, okay, well, out with Dan and with Manasseh. But no. Why is 262 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:06,200 it even crazier that Manasseh's listed? Let's go back to our Genesis study on this. Who 263 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:12,880 can remember? Remember Joseph brings his two boys in as Jacob is nearing death, and Jacob's 264 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,080 going to bless his children? Actually, Jacob did more than that. He adopted Manasseh and 265 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,400 Ephraim as his own, and they were basically going to take the place of Reuben and Simeon, 266 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:27,800 but they're still here. And they were supposed to be counted among the 12 tribes of Israel, 267 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:32,360 but Jacob was going to pass on the blessing and bless one of the boys specifically. And 268 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:38,800 so Joseph goes, all right, well, here's Manasseh. He's the oldest. Go ahead. And so Jacob lifts 269 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:43,680 out his arms, and the last second you remember what he did? Crossed. The crossed arms of 270 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:47,960 blessing. I think that was the title of that sermon. So you all can go and rewatch that. 271 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:53,840 And he crosses them and he ends up blessing Ephraim. And Joseph like grabs his dad's hands. 272 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,880 He goes, oh, dad, you're old. You're supposed to be like this, you know, like Manasseh is 273 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:02,080 the oldest. You should bless him. And Jacob goes, no, this is how it's going to be. I'm 274 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:07,240 going to bless Ephraim. And my blessing will be upon him, not on Manasseh, which is a theme 275 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:11,320 throughout Genesis where the younger one is blessed rather than the older. And so here 276 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:19,560 you have not a child of Jacob, not one of the tribes of Israel, and not even the one who 277 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:26,640 received the blessing. And yet he's here. And then the list kind of makes sense after 278 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:34,000 this, right? Anybody know why the list makes sense after this? Yes, pretty much in order, 279 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:40,120 right? You have, but even then it's still kind of interesting because you have Simeon 280 00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:47,560 and Levi. Those were the other two sons of Leah. And then you have the sons, well actually 281 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,880 Simeon and Levi, Ezekar and Zebulon, the sons of Leah. And then you have the sons of 282 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:57,000 Rachel. Interesting thing there. I mean, you can say it's in order, but also Jacob loved 283 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:02,280 Rachel and he didn't love Leah. So you would expect those things to be a little reversed. 284 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:07,160 But then the other oddity about this list, if there's not enough already, anybody know 285 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:16,680 why number eight is interesting? Yeah, Levi, if you read the twelve tribes and like the 286 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:21,720 places where they're listed, Levi's almost never mentioned because Levi didn't receive 287 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,740 any land. That tribe in particular didn't receive any of the land. They were to be dependent 288 00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:29,000 on other people and go into the towns and they'd have their own little center and stuff 289 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:35,640 like that. But they didn't receive any land. And yet here they are in the list. Now you 290 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:42,880 begin to look at all these oddities and you go, how can we interpret this literally? And 291 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:48,560 we're talking about 144,000 sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel. We don't even have 292 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:53,880 the twelve tribes of Israel here. And it's put in such a wonky order with things all 293 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:59,800 messed up and everything. You go, well, this is not like any list I've ever seen. And so 294 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:04,120 it's interesting. You look at all these oddities and you realize that they are pointing us 295 00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:11,000 towards a symbolic interpretation. I mean you go back even to the first one. Judah, the 296 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:18,040 tribe of Judah, Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah. And what's interesting is basically 297 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,520 everybody's going to follow this, right? You list Judah first, everybody follows. Well, 298 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:30,240 the Bible says that we are in Christ. And so if you are in Christ, you are part of his 299 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,880 family. And so you are essentially, you're grafted into this. So it doesn't matter where 300 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,720 you find yourself anywhere else. What matters is that you're in Jesus. And if you're in 301 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:46,040 Jesus, you're included in this because of your faith in Christ. And so it makes sense 302 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:51,440 that you have the promise being the first one listed. And you could say some things 303 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:57,880 about a couple other interesting tidbits about this list. But all of this to say that the 304 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:06,080 list itself is pointing us towards this symbolic interpretation of the 144,000 being representative 305 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:13,400 of all of God's people spanning both covenants. Old covenant, new covenant. It consists of 306 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:19,520 all of God's people here. Okay? Now maybe you say, okay, pastor, I heard you on the 307 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:24,160 12 times 12 times 1,000. I see that your list is far more interesting than I thought it 308 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,320 was going to be. Props to you. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's a really cool list. 309 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,960 I didn't write it. I didn't. It's not me, but I do think it's very interesting. But 310 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,840 maybe you're not convinced yet. So let me show you the other really cool thing about 311 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,480 this chapter. We've got time for this. It's fine. All right. So my favorite clue comes 312 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:48,240 next. Look at verses nine through 10. This is like the biggest clue that this list is 313 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:55,680 representing all of God's people. Okay? After this, I looked and behold, a great multitude 314 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:00,920 that no one can number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages 315 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,920 standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches 316 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:12,440 in their hands and crying out the loud voice. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the 317 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:20,160 throne into the lamb. Now, do you see the clue there? Because here's what I'll tell 318 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:24,800 you. That first interpretation I told you about where people would look at this list 319 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:32,080 and they would say it literally refers to exactly 144,000 Jewish people who will be 320 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:38,520 saved. They also say, but then John sees a second group and it's this other group that 321 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:43,360 he sees. So first, first he gets this group and then he moves on to the Gentiles, right? 322 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:48,280 Do you see a huge clue there? I'll give you a hint. It's already happened in chapter 323 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:56,240 5. It's a repeat. Something really cool happened in chapter 5. Alright? So remember, there's 324 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:02,760 this scroll that's brought out in heaven and no one is found who is worthy to open it. 325 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:06,560 And so what does John start doing? He starts crying and weeping because he says no one's 326 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:13,680 worthy to open it, but then one of the elders comes to him and he says, hey, don't cry and 327 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:20,240 the elder does what? He tells him something. He says, don't cry because the lion of the 328 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:26,280 tribe of Judah is going to come and open this scroll and break open its seals. So that's 329 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,440 what he hears. He hears about a lion, but then do you remember what happens? He turns 330 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:39,920 in looks and what does he see? A lamb, standing as though it had been slain. So he hears about 331 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:45,960 a lion, but he sees a lamb. Were those two different references there? No. It was two 332 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:51,960 descriptions of the same person, right? He hears it described as a lion, but he turns 333 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:57,040 and he sees a lamb. Those are both describing Jesus, not two different entities or beings 334 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,720 or anything like that. Well, notice how that exact same thing happens here. That's why 335 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:07,800 I had you underline, circle the word heard because notice how it starts verse 9 and I 336 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:17,520 looked. Verse 4, I heard about a number, 144,000. And so that's what he has in his mind. I am 337 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:24,400 hearing about 144,000 sealed people, but then he turns and he looks and what does he see? 338 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:31,360 An innumerable multitude. Far more than 144,000. We know that because he says the number so 339 00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:40,560 big no person can count it. Now are these two separate groups? No. He hears the number, 340 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:49,240 144,000. He looks and he sees a multitude that no one can count. People from every tribe, 341 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:56,040 nation, and tongue, and language. And so it's just two different descriptions of the same 342 00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:02,960 people just like with the lion and the lamb. He hears 144,000, but he sees this innumerable 343 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:07,680 multitude. If you want something that will really trip you out, he is seeing all of God's 344 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:12,880 people here. An innumerable multitude. All of those who would be redeemed. He is seeing 345 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:20,960 a vision of those people. Are you redeemed? Do you think John saw you in his vision? Let 346 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:26,000 that trip you out for a little bit. God gave him a vision of everyone who would ever be 347 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:33,440 saved. Here are my people sealed forever. You're part of it. It's just amazing to think 348 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,120 about that. I mean there's not a point there. It just blew my mind when I thought about 349 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:44,080 it. So what this is saying is that this is the Bible's way of saying the 144,000, it 350 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:49,760 is symbolic. It's symbolic of all of God's people spanning both covenants, old and new. 351 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:56,960 And when you look at them, they're not 144,000 in number, they are an innumerable multitude. 352 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:02,880 And so here's my final question because we have to wrap up. If this is true and it is 353 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:10,000 a symbolic interpretation, then why would it specifically say the 12 tribes of Israel? 354 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,080 There's a big hold up for us, right? If we are going to interpret this symbolically, 355 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,720 we have to get around that phrase because the Bible specifically included the phrase, 356 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:39,600 what is the 12 tribes of Israel? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. You're on the right track. 357 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:44,240 Yeah, absolutely. So part of the reason that a lot of people think Manasseh's included 358 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:49,200 is another symbolic way of saying those who were not originally part of God's people have been 359 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:55,200 grafted in and actually where we're going with this because you have to remember that when we 360 00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:01,600 are reading the Bible, we have to use the Bible to interpret the Bible, scripture interprets scripture. 361 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:08,480 And so you look at the Bible and you say, well, who is Israel? Right? And you have to ask this 362 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:14,640 question, who are the true Israelites? Who is truly Israel? And you read the Bible in the New 363 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:20,400 Testament makes clear that Jesus is the true Israel of God. Everywhere that Israel failed, 364 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:26,400 everything that Israel was supposed to do, Jesus succeeded and he did. I mean, go back to read the 365 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:32,400 first four chapters of Matthew and just watch how Jesus is literally reliving Israel's history. I mean, 366 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,080 it's in one of my podcasts. You can go listen to that. I don't have time to go through it now. 367 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:40,800 But first four chapters of Matthew, very clear. Jesus is reliving Israel's history, proving he's 368 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:48,480 the true Israel of God. And if you are in Christ, you're part of that. Romans chapter 11 literally 369 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:53,360 teaches us that God's people were this vine, right? And who did the vine originally consist of? 370 00:29:54,880 --> 00:30:01,440 Israel, ethnic Jews, but they failed. And so what did God do? He took a wild olive branch, 371 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:09,360 the Gentiles, us and he grafted us in to that true vine. And so we became part of the true 372 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:15,120 Israel through the work of Christ. But then not only that, Paul explains in Galatians 3.7, 373 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:23,360 and so he says, Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 374 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:28,480 So the Israelites, they would constantly say that they're the sons of Abraham. We have Abraham as 375 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,320 our father. Remember the Pharisees used to say that to Jesus all the time. Well, Abraham's our 376 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,320 father. And he said, actually, your father's the devil. That's a whole other sermon here. But 377 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:44,160 anyways, the Bible says actually the only true children of Abraham are those who are of faith. 378 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:52,320 Not only that, but this is what the Bible says in Romans 2, 28 to 29. For no one is a Jew who is 379 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:59,120 merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly. 380 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:05,280 And circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not 381 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:11,440 from man, but from God. And so that's Paul saying that that true Jews, true Israelites are those 382 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:17,920 who have had their hearts circumcised by the spirit, which is what happens to us at conversion. 383 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:23,040 If you have received the Holy Spirit through repentance and faith in Christ, had your heart 384 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:29,600 circumcised, you are a true Jew in the eyes of God. It is a matter of inwardly being considered 385 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:35,520 Jew in God's eyes, not outwardly adhering to rituals and things like that. And then maybe the 386 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:42,080 clearest is Romans 9, 6 to 8. The Bible says, but it's not as though the word of God has failed. 387 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:50,480 For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. In other words, just because you are 388 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,960 ethnically Jewish does not mean that you're part of the true Israel. Not everyone who's 389 00:31:54,960 --> 00:32:00,640 descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his 390 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:06,880 offspring. But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named? This means that it is not the children 391 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:13,360 of flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the offspring. 392 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:18,240 And so notice what Paul is saying there. He's saying that just because someone is ethnically 393 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:22,880 Jewish and they can trace their whole lineage and it's always been Jewish and they follow all the 394 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,880 customs and everything, Paul says, listen, that could be true of you, but that does not make you 395 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:32,880 part of true Israel. If you are part of true Israel, it means that you are a child of promise, 396 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:37,520 which means that you have repented of your sins, you've trusted in Christ, and now the Bible says 397 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:44,560 all the promises of God find their yes and amen in Jesus. And all the promises of word to Abraham 398 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:50,400 are fulfilled in Christ and given to Christ's people through faith in him. Therefore, Christians 399 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:55,840 are the children of promise. Therefore, Christians are the true sons of Abraham, and therefore, 400 00:32:55,840 --> 00:33:02,800 Christians are part of the true Israel of God because of Jesus. And so when the Bible says, 401 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:08,240 from the 12 tribes of Israel, you have to interpret that in light of other scripture, 402 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:13,600 which is made clear to be part of the true Israel, you have to be in Christ. And if you're not in 403 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:40,080 Christ, you are not part of the true Israel. Yes, Doug? Not exactly there, yeah. He hears the number 404 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:45,520 and that's what he hears. He hears the number and he hears the list, but there wasn't really 405 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:50,960 anything set about legalism at that point. But it is continuing that theme, and you find it in 406 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:57,680 all of John's writings. It's continuing that theme that adherents, at this time people thought, 407 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:02,400 the Jewish people thought that the Jews were better than everybody else. They were favored in 408 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:07,360 God's eyes and you had to become Jewish. And that's why you see Paul encountered this a lot, 409 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,960 where people were saying, hey, it's fine for you to believe in Jesus, but just make sure you're 410 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:16,560 still doing circumstances and all this. And John throughout all of his writings keeps on saying, 411 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:23,600 actually, God loves the Gentiles. And he is here to be the Messiah of people from all nations and 412 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:29,040 all tongues and all peoples. And so he hears the number 144,000, but he turns and he looks and 413 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:37,760 what he actually sees is this innumerable multitude that have been redeemed by Christ. 414 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:49,440 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so that's a better analogy is people had this idea of what the Messiah would 415 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,200 be. And you see this with Jesus' disciples, they're like, all right, you're going to deliver us from 416 00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:57,920 Rome. We want a king. Time to rise up, get yourself a sword. And Jesus is actually like, 417 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:03,200 actually, I came to die. I'm a suffering servant who's come to lay down my life. And they're like, 418 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:08,000 well, that's not what we expect. He's like, well, that's what we're getting. So that's more along 419 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:14,640 the lines. But all that to say is this is a really interesting list. And this 144,000 is really 420 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:19,520 interesting because on the surface, you want to just read it and make it literal and think that it 421 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:23,760 just applies to the Jews. But there's actually something interesting going on here that has 422 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:30,320 already occurred in Revelation 5, which is he hears one thing and he gets a picture in his mind, 423 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:35,040 and then he turns and he sees the reality and his mind is blown, which is what God does all the 424 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:39,840 time with us, right? We have all these expectations, things we think about God, and then he blows our 425 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:44,640 expectations out of the water. I mean, he just blows our mind constantly. And so this is actually a 426 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:51,520 reference to the redeemed of the Lord, all those who have repented of their sins and trusted in 427 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:57,520 Christ for salvation. And they are included in this multitude where they will be in the presence 428 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:03,680 of God forever. And we're actually going to recover some of Revelation 7 next week. But that's as 429 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:08,640 far as we'll get tonight. And I know I went over, but I apologize. I wasn't here last week. So you'll 430 00:36:08,640 --> 00:36:22,720 forgive me. Alright, Michael, hit us with a word of wisdom before we close.