Specifically, Revelation chapter 7.
Revelation chapter 7.
We're making our way slowly, slowly, slowly through the book of Revelation.
Started it in January.
We are in chapter 7 and there are 22 chapters.
But that's okay.
We're just going very slowly, verse by verse.
And I don't expect us to get too far this evening, which is okay because Lord willing,
there's always next Wednesday.
And that's fine.
So, we're picking up though.
We've been in this section for a while now talking about the 144,000, who they are.
And we said the 144,000, that's the number that John hears of the sealed of God.
But then he turns around and he sees this innumerable multitude, this huge crowd that
consists of people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.
And we see that they're before the throne of God.
And so as we were going through some of these verses last week, we were talking about the
implications that this has for us as God's people, as the church.
And we said it means that we have to reach all people for Christ.
We have to actually go and witness to all people, not just people we're comfortable with.
And we said that that means we also have to promote this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural
body of believers.
That we're not just to get people who look like us, that we like to be around, or part
of our economic status and things like that, or who cheer for our football team.
We have to go to people who aren't like us and who do come from different places and
encourage that because we're all made in God's image.
And then we were also saying that we need to make sure that people know the one true
way of salvation.
And you remember we said that this crowd and this vision here, they're all standing there
in heaven and they are shouting that glory belongs to God alone and to the Lamb because
salvation is in Him.
In other words, they're not there because they're good.
They're not there because they earned it.
They're not there because they were the one teaching and preaching and going to Sunday
school and going to church, they are there for no other reason than they have been saved
by the blood of Jesus.
And so we had to make sure that people know the true way of salvation.
But the question is, as we're looking at this crowd, and we've said that this is a people
from all tribes and tongues and nations and languages, the question was, well, who are
they exactly?
And when do they get to heaven?
When does all this occur?
And so look with me at verses 13 and 14.
If you have your Bible, as we are starting to consider who this multitude is, the Bible
says, begin in verse 13, then one of the elders addressed me, so that's John, saying, who
are these clothed in white robes?
And from where have they come?
Now you see where I get my questions, right?
Like these aren't original to me.
I just yank that right from the Bible.
So who are these?
And where have they come from?
And I said to him, sir, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the
great tribulation.
They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
So notice this, John, this elder comes to John and he asked John to identify who this group
of people is.
And he says, yeah, who are these people?
And John gives the answer that I would have given if I was there.
You know, I mean, you're the one showing me around here.
This vision is coming from God.
So you tell me who are they?
And he tells them, he says, yeah, these are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.
And believe it or not, I know this is going to shock you because, as we've said many times,
when it comes to revelation, everybody agrees on every aspect of it.
So this is going to shock you that there's debate about these verses, right?
Does that surprise anyone here?
Like, you can just close your eyes and put your finger in the Bible and whatever verse
you land on in revelation, it's debated.
I promise you.
This is one of those debated verses because there's a group of people that says that this
multitude here that John is seeing, these are all the people who are coming out of the
seven-year tribulation.
So if you remember back to one of our very first studies in the book of Revelation, we
said that there's a view of the end times in eschatology, which is just the end times.
And it's a viable view.
Many people hold this.
They've held it throughout church history.
It's a view that is based on the Bible.
It's not one that I hold to, but I'm not saying that it's wrong.
It's just I don't personally hold to it.
But they would say that what's going to happen is Christ is going to return, you remember
this, part way to the earth.
So he's a, I'm not an artist, but that's close enough to the cloud, right?
So he's going to descend basically to the clouds.
And what does he do?
This is the rapture in their view.
And so he calls people up to the clouds to meet him in the sky.
At this point, if you'll recall, Jesus takes the church and brings them back to heaven.
So they are there in heaven.
But what happens on earth at that point?
Do you remember?
In this view.
That's right.
So in this view, what happens here on earth is you have this time period of the seven-year
tribulation.
And this is a time when no Christians are on the earth at all.
Why?
Easy question.
They're in heaven, right?
And so the seven-year tribulation is happening in this point, in this view.
And there are no Christians on earth, but this view would say that during the seven-year
tribulation, there are going to be 144,000 Jewish people saved.
Okay?
So the 144,000 that we've already talked about, they would say that they are 144,000 Jewish
people who are saved during the time of the tribulation.
I think they would say most likely, since there aren't Christians there proclaiming
the gospel, probably through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, most likely.
I would imagine through Bibles left here on earth, through the reading of the Bible,
New Testament in particular, Holy Spirit working.
I think that would be the only way that I can imagine someone coming to faith during
that time since there aren't evangelists and preachers and things like that.
So they come to faith, but then they become witnesses and then they begin to proclaim
the gospel to people who are here on earth during the seven-year tribulation.
Okay?
We follow in this.
So no Christians, but there are Jewish people, 144,000 are saved, then they become witnesses.
And here's where they tie this all together.
The witnesses end up with proclaiming the gospel to so many people that you end up with
an innumerable multitude.
Okay?
So they would say in Revelation 7, the 144,000 are all Jews who are saved during the seven-year
tribulation and that this innumerable multitude that is saved here are all those who are brought
to faith by the Jewish evangelists during this time.
So what do we think about that?
Sir?
Yeah?
Yeah, that's for sure.
Based on everything that we've read, you know, as I've said, I don't particularly hold
to this view, but again, they base it on the Bible.
It's their interpretation of it, and that's fine for them to believe that.
But I do believe that there are reasons here to think that it's something else that's going
on.
Okay?
So first of all, notice that the 144,000, as we've already talked about, when we went
back to that, remember, we said that the whole reason that it's put in contrast or in conjunction
with the multitude is because it's just harkening back to Revelation 5.
The elder tells John about a lion of the tribe of Judah who's going to open the seals.
That's what he hears, but when he turns around, what does he see?
Do you remember?
A lamb.
That's standing as though it's slain.
So he hears about a lion, but he sees a lamb.
Same thing is happening here.
He hears about 144,000 that are sealed.
You can see that back in verse 4, but when he turns around, he sees an innumerable multitude.
And we don't have time to go back through everything in verse 5 through 8 about all the tribes
and everything.
If you're interested in that, it is on our website, so you can go and watch that.
But the list itself indicates that it's not to be taken literally here.
But also, notice that the multitude, it comes from every tribe and tongue and nation and
language.
We also learned that the 144,000, they are the innumerable multitude.
But remember that we also said in Revelation chapter 14, I don't know if y'all remember
this or not, but Revelation 14 references the 144,000 again and it describes them as
all of God's people, that they are the redeemed of Christ.
Now let me ask you something.
If you're a Christian here in the room tonight, can you say of yourself that you are part
of the redeemed of Christ?
Yes, absolutely.
If you are washed by the blood, if you've been redeemed by Jesus, then absolutely,
praise God, you are part of the redeemed of Christ.
So when the Bible says something about the redeemed of Christ, guess what?
It applies to you.
And it says the 144,000 are the redeemed of Christ, not part of the redeemed of Christ,
not some of the redeemed of Christ, but the redeemed of Christ, which means you are part
of that group.
All of God's sealed people from both covenants, old covenant and new covenant.
And it's not just the Jewish people who were saved during this seven-year tribulation,
which again, you won't find that in the book of Revelation at all.
You have to go back to Daniel chapter 9 and then you have to interpret Daniel's 77s in
a very particular way to even end up with that in the first place.
We have a video on that on the website too.
But third and most importantly, this is something that should really tip us off.
This word tribulation, okay?
We're going to get down to the heart of this.
It's a word church people like, right?
Come on, we can admit it.
It's one of our words, okay?
We have all these church words that we throw around.
We talk about justification and salvation, glorification.
And if someone in the church says tribulation, what do we immediately think of?
Yeah, the end times, right?
The end times, the seven-year tribulation stuff like that, okay?
Now if we're going to have a thought process like that and we're going to form a belief
system like that, then it should be based on how Scripture talks about the tribulation,
correct?
It should be how Scripture uses it, right?
So again, I've said this many times, if you're going to believe something as a Christian,
it has to come from the Bible.
And if you're going to believe something from the Bible, it should be in accordance with
how the Bible teaches it, not how you want the Bible to teach it, which is a problem
we run into in the church.
That's not this sermon, but I could preach that one.
Just read Romans 1, okay?
Anywho, you go back to tribulation.
Now I want you to notice something.
Every single instance.
You can write this down if you want to, or you can just write the references in a second.
Every single instance of the word tribulation that has occurred so far in the book of Revelation
is present tense, or the very immediate future.
In other words, there is no single place in Revelation that talks about some future far
off tribulation.
You will not find it.
For instance, let's just go through them together.
The very first chapter of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 9, I, John, your brother and partner
in what church?
In the tribulation.
So when John was writing this, because God told him to write down the vision that he
was giving him, when John was writing this, did he believe that he was going through a
tribulation right then?
Yes, he was.
And he referred to it as the tribulation, not just some tribulation or a tribulation.
He said your brother and partner in the tribulation.
Notice this too.
In Revelation chapter 2, verses 9 through 10, this is Jesus speaking to one of the
churches.
He says, I know your what?
Your tribulation.
So he's writing to this church, and that church is presently experiencing tribulation right
then in that moment.
And then he talks about how they are going to have tribulation for 10 days.
So a near future tribulation that's going to only last 10 days.
And then Revelation 2, 22, this is Jesus talking about what he's going to do to Jezebel.
He says, I'm going to throw her onto a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her,
I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her work.
So notice this.
These are all the references to tribulation so far in the book of Revelation, and every
single one of them are present tense or in the immediate future.
And I know what you could be thinking.
You could be thinking, well, Pastor, we're just in chapter 7.
And those are early days for a book that's got 22 chapters.
So surely, surely there is some other place in Revelation that is going to talk about
a future tribulation, this great coming seven-year tribulation that we talk about so much in
the church that we hold to and form this doctrine.
But here's a fun fact for you.
The verse that we're in now, Revelation 7.14, is the very last occurrence of the word tribulation
in the entire Bible.
You will not find it anywhere else in the Bible.
It doesn't occur again later.
So there is in Revelation, as you continue, there is no mention of a later tribulation,
a further tribulation, a coming seven-year tribulation, every instance is present tribulation.
And so people have asked me, actually someone asked me this recently at Jordan School.
Jordan let me teach for him last week.
And as I was teaching, at the end of class, some of the kids got to ask a question or
two.
And one of the kids said, when is the tribulation?
I said, what do you mean by that?
She was, what do you mean?
What do you mean by that?
She's like, the tribulation.
I'm like, I don't know what you mean.
She's like, the seven-year tribulation.
When does that happen?
I'm like, I don't know.
Find it in the Bible.
You tell me.
And she's like, well, where's the seven-year tribulation occurring in the Bible?
I'm like, you're going to have to find it and tell me.
And she's like, can you not just give me an answer?
When is the tribulation?
And what's it going to be like?
And I'm like, well, the tribulation started when Jesus ascended back to heaven.
When he ascended back to heaven, that's when all the bad stuff started happening.
I mean, bad stuff was going on before then, but it got even worse for the church after
Jesus ascended, right?
I mean, if you want to just read a little bit of church history, go see what the first
and second centuries were like for Christians.
Look how they hunted them down.
I've told you before what Nero did to them and Domitian did to them.
I mean, Nero used to get Christians, put them on a stake, put them with oil, and then light
them on fire to use the street lamps at night.
Would you say that they were going through tribulation?
Yes, absolutely.
So it's not like, oh, everything's just good and dandy and fine.
And then one day there's going to be this seven-year tribulation where everything all
of a sudden just gets bad.
That is not the biblical picture at all.
Instead, the Bible portrays this tribulation as kind of being more like this, right?
I would say this is a better biblical understanding of the tribulation, that it starts and gets
really intensely started at Jesus' ascension.
But as time progresses, it gets worse and worse and worse until eventually there is
going to be a rebellion somewhere here close to the end.
The Bible tells us about a man of lawlessness who's going to come.
You can read about that in 2 Thessalonians 2.
We know about the Antichrist and the beast and things like that.
And the Bible says Jesus is going to return and he's going to defeat them and it's going
to be real quick.
I mean, you read 2 Thessalonians 2 and Paul's just starting to describe this man of lawlessness
and how bad he is in this rebellion.
And it's like Jesus returns and you're like, okay, what's Jesus going to do?
And the Bible is like, and he opens his mouth and defeats him.
You're like, okay, that was easy.
I guess he wasn't that bad after all, you know?
But it's this intensification that as time progresses, as we get closer to the time of
Christ's return, you do see an intensification of tribulation.
You see an intensification of persecution.
You see an intensification of martyrdom.
Which is why as many martyrs as we had here in the 1st and 2nd centuries, over here in
the 20th century, there were more Christian martyrs than in the previous 18 centuries
combined.
So you can't look at something like what's happened in the 20th century to Christians
and say, yeah, that's not the tribulation.
That's pretty easy.
In no way, shape or form.
It is entirely biblical to say that it is part of the tribulation, but it's part of
the latter part, the intensification.
And here's the thing, you think it's bad now.
Just think about as time goes on, how much worse it's going to get.
I mean, have we not even in the past five years seen an intensification of tribulation
and persecution for Christians here on earth?
I mean, look at what they're doing, especially with the shutdowns that happen.
I mean, you read about states that are literally refusing to, well, just one state, you all
can guess which one it is, that are refusing to publish Christian books.
I mean, they will not distribute them or publish them anymore.
You read about Christian ethics that are just going down the drain.
You've got a person who goes into a Christian school, has a manifesto to literally hunt
down Christians and kill them in cold blood and the media says nothing about it, at least
in terms of Christians.
They don't care about the Christians.
It's for this other community that the shooter was a part of.
They get the sympathy.
They get all the attention.
The Christians get murdered.
So you see this intensification.
This is what is happening as time goes on and it's going to continue to happen and it's
going to continue to get worse until Jesus returns.
Does that mean it's going to be all about?
No.
We still see a lot of good in our world too, right?
We've got medical advancements.
We've got advancements in science and things like that, our interconnectivity, our communication,
all that kind of stuff.
We do see great things.
So it's not all doom and gloom, but it's like the parable of the wheat and the weeds, right?
Both are going to grow until the end.
There's going to be a lot of good and a whole lot of bad and both are going to grow until
the end and then Jesus is going to return and he's going to make all things right.
Which is literally the whole point of the book of Revelation.
It's like, hey, yes, things are bad.
They are going to get worse, but Jesus is coming back and then things will be great.
So look forward to that and say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
So we're looking at this and we're saying, okay, well, who are these people?
They are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation and we're learning it's
not some future seven year period, but it's this ongoing time in human history.
It's all these people who are coming out of this time after Jesus' ascension.
And what's interesting is in your Bibles, I think it says the ones coming out of the
great tribulation.
Do you all have anything different than that in verse 14?
Anyone have anything different than the ones coming out of the great tribulation?
Oh, that's interesting.
So the only other time that in the Bible that the word great appears in, let me repeat the
question for those who might not know.
So Michael was asking, is there any difference between when the word tribulation occurs on
its own versus when it occurs with the word great in front of it?
Only happens twice in the Bible here in Revelation 7.14 and also Matthew 24, which is when Jesus
is talking about all the things that are going to happen until he returns.
And so it really goes with this same idea.
And we've addressed Matthew 24.
You all can find that on the website as well.
But Matthew 24, remember there's that view that says it all happened pre-70 AD or right
at 70 AD because of the destruction of the temple.
And then there are those who say it's going to happen right at the end.
And then there's the mediating approach like me who says, yeah, bad stuff happened in 70
AD.
Bad stuff's going to happen towards the end.
And it's all going to be kind of bad until then as well.
So Jesus is saying, these are the type of things you can expect to happen here on earth
until I return.
So he's using it in pretty much the exact same way.
But back to this where it says the ones who've come out of the great tribulation, it's not
a reference to those who are coming out of a future tribulation.
It's actually a present participle in Greek, which means it's the ones who have come out.
Not ones who are going to come out, ones who have come out of a great tribulation, which
is interesting because think about it like this.
We're seeing a vision of all of God's redeemed people, those who are the redeemed of Christ.
And I asked you earlier, are you part of the redeemed of Christ?
And John has just said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, every one of those people,
you can say of them they came out of the great tribulation, which means when you stand among
that group, it will be said of you that you came out of the great tribulation.
So what does this mean?
Well you put all this together and you see that this innumerable multitude is all of
God's people from both covenants who have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus and
remain faithful to Jesus through great trials and difficulties and persecution and tribulation
in life and they endured, they kept the faith and they've been rewarded with the crown of
life that is promised to those who persevere.
And you read about the reward in 715 through 17, notice what it says very quickly.
It says, therefore they are before the throne of God and they 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 any more, 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 every tear from their eyes.
That's a beautiful reward isn't it?
Just looking forward to the promise that is offered to us in Christ to those who persevere
and keep the faith.
Now one last thing I want to say here because we're saying who are they and from whence
they came and all that kind of stuff.
Here's my question.
This vision that we're looking at, is it a vision of heaven or is it a vision of eternity?
Is it a vision of heaven or is it a vision of glory or of eternity of our final place
of being?
You don't get that answer.
Okay you can answer if you want.
I'll answer it.
Oh, Joseph said what?
Joseph says eternity.
Does anyone want to disagree with our resident theologian?
Oh those were fun interesting questions.
Good podcast questions.
Emily get on that.
Okay.
Do you notice anything else Michael?
Because I'm willing to give you the title and strip it from Joseph.
There is one other thing in there Michael.
If you can get it, man kudos to you.
That's right.
Yep.
So we got one with Michael right now.
Anybody else notice there's one other hint in there?
Does Joseph see it now?
Where are they serving him?
What does it say about eternity?
The new Jerusalem.
What does it say Joseph?
Is there?
There is no temple.
So this is a vision of heaven meaning this is a vision of all Christians who die before
Jesus returns and they get to be with Jesus until he returns.
And the reason we know that rather than it being a vision of eternity in the new Jerusalem
here on earth as it descends down.
Two clues as Michael pointed out as we had agreement with.
First of all there's a son but in eternity in the new Jerusalem there's no need of a
son because Jesus is there and the glory of the Lord shines.
But also it says here that these people are serving him day and night in his temple.
But Mazzan, Revelation 21-22 says, and I saw no temple in the city where its temple is
the Lord God and the Almighty and the Lamb.
So is there any significance to this?
Maybe not.
But to help us be careful readers of God's word.
Don't just read over the passages.
Don't just read over the words.
Pay attention to them because if you had noticed these two clues you could have noticed that
this group does not include every single Christian who ever was and whoever will be but specifically
those who die before Jesus' return and await his return with him in heaven and then he's
going to bring them back with him when he comes back to earth and gets his kingdom to
present back to the Father.
So again it's just paying attention to the details.
I do have some other things to say but we will have to save that for next week.
So thank you all for being with us here.
The whole point is remain faithful to Jesus.
Those who persevere to the end will be with the Lamb and they will receive the reward.
Michael Stevenson.