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Specifically, Revelation chapter 7.

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Revelation chapter 7.

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We're making our way slowly, slowly, slowly through the book of Revelation.

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Started it in January.

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We are in chapter 7 and there are 22 chapters.

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But that's okay.

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We're just going very slowly, verse by verse.

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And I don't expect us to get too far this evening, which is okay because Lord willing,

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there's always next Wednesday.

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And that's fine.

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So, we're picking up though.

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We've been in this section for a while now talking about the 144,000, who they are.

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And we said the 144,000, that's the number that John hears of the sealed of God.

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But then he turns around and he sees this innumerable multitude, this huge crowd that

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consists of people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.

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And we see that they're before the throne of God.

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And so as we were going through some of these verses last week, we were talking about the

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implications that this has for us as God's people, as the church.

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And we said it means that we have to reach all people for Christ.

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We have to actually go and witness to all people, not just people we're comfortable with.

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And we said that that means we also have to promote this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural

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body of believers.

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That we're not just to get people who look like us, that we like to be around, or part

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of our economic status and things like that, or who cheer for our football team.

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We have to go to people who aren't like us and who do come from different places and

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encourage that because we're all made in God's image.

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And then we were also saying that we need to make sure that people know the one true

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way of salvation.

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And you remember we said that this crowd and this vision here, they're all standing there

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in heaven and they are shouting that glory belongs to God alone and to the Lamb because

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salvation is in Him.

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In other words, they're not there because they're good.

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They're not there because they earned it.

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They're not there because they were the one teaching and preaching and going to Sunday

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school and going to church, they are there for no other reason than they have been saved

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by the blood of Jesus.

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And so we had to make sure that people know the true way of salvation.

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But the question is, as we're looking at this crowd, and we've said that this is a people

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from all tribes and tongues and nations and languages, the question was, well, who are

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they exactly?

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And when do they get to heaven?

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When does all this occur?

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And so look with me at verses 13 and 14.

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If you have your Bible, as we are starting to consider who this multitude is, the Bible

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says, begin in verse 13, then one of the elders addressed me, so that's John, saying, who

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are these clothed in white robes?

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And from where have they come?

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Now you see where I get my questions, right?

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Like these aren't original to me.

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I just yank that right from the Bible.

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So who are these?

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And where have they come from?

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

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great tribulation.

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They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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So notice this, John, this elder comes to John and he asked John to identify who this group

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of people is.

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And he says, yeah, who are these people?

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And John gives the answer that I would have given if I was there.

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You know, I mean, you're the one showing me around here.

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This vision is coming from God.

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So you tell me who are they?

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And he tells them, he says, yeah, these are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.

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And believe it or not, I know this is going to shock you because, as we've said many times,

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when it comes to revelation, everybody agrees on every aspect of it.

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So this is going to shock you that there's debate about these verses, right?

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Does that surprise anyone here?

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Like, you can just close your eyes and put your finger in the Bible and whatever verse

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you land on in revelation, it's debated.

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I promise you.

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This is one of those debated verses because there's a group of people that says that this

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multitude here that John is seeing, these are all the people who are coming out of the

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seven-year tribulation.

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So if you remember back to one of our very first studies in the book of Revelation, we

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said that there's a view of the end times in eschatology, which is just the end times.

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And it's a viable view.

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Many people hold this.

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They've held it throughout church history.

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It's a view that is based on the Bible.

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It's not one that I hold to, but I'm not saying that it's wrong.

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It's just I don't personally hold to it.

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But they would say that what's going to happen is Christ is going to return, you remember

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this, part way to the earth.

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So he's a, I'm not an artist, but that's close enough to the cloud, right?

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So he's going to descend basically to the clouds.

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And what does he do?

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This is the rapture in their view.

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And so he calls people up to the clouds to meet him in the sky.

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At this point, if you'll recall, Jesus takes the church and brings them back to heaven.

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So they are there in heaven.

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But what happens on earth at that point?

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Do you remember?

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In this view.

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That's right.

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So in this view, what happens here on earth is you have this time period of the seven-year

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tribulation.

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And this is a time when no Christians are on the earth at all.

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Why?

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Easy question.

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They're in heaven, right?

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And so the seven-year tribulation is happening in this point, in this view.

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And there are no Christians on earth, but this view would say that during the seven-year

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tribulation, there are going to be 144,000 Jewish people saved.

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Okay?

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So the 144,000 that we've already talked about, they would say that they are 144,000 Jewish

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people who are saved during the time of the tribulation.

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I think they would say most likely, since there aren't Christians there proclaiming

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the gospel, probably through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, most likely.

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I would imagine through Bibles left here on earth, through the reading of the Bible,

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New Testament in particular, Holy Spirit working.

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I think that would be the only way that I can imagine someone coming to faith during

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that time since there aren't evangelists and preachers and things like that.

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So they come to faith, but then they become witnesses and then they begin to proclaim

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the gospel to people who are here on earth during the seven-year tribulation.

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Okay?

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We follow in this.

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So no Christians, but there are Jewish people, 144,000 are saved, then they become witnesses.

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And here's where they tie this all together.

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The witnesses end up with proclaiming the gospel to so many people that you end up with

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an innumerable multitude.

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Okay?

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So they would say in Revelation 7, the 144,000 are all Jews who are saved during the seven-year

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tribulation and that this innumerable multitude that is saved here are all those who are brought

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to faith by the Jewish evangelists during this time.

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So what do we think about that?

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Sir?

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Yeah?

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Yeah, that's for sure.

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Based on everything that we've read, you know, as I've said, I don't particularly hold

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to this view, but again, they base it on the Bible.

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It's their interpretation of it, and that's fine for them to believe that.

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But I do believe that there are reasons here to think that it's something else that's going

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on.

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Okay?

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So first of all, notice that the 144,000, as we've already talked about, when we went

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back to that, remember, we said that the whole reason that it's put in contrast or in conjunction

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with the multitude is because it's just harkening back to Revelation 5.

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The elder tells John about a lion of the tribe of Judah who's going to open the seals.

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That's what he hears, but when he turns around, what does he see?

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Do you remember?

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A lamb.

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That's standing as though it's slain.

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So he hears about a lion, but he sees a lamb.

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Same thing is happening here.

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He hears about 144,000 that are sealed.

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You can see that back in verse 4, but when he turns around, he sees an innumerable multitude.

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And we don't have time to go back through everything in verse 5 through 8 about all the tribes

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and everything.

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If you're interested in that, it is on our website, so you can go and watch that.

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But the list itself indicates that it's not to be taken literally here.

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But also, notice that the multitude, it comes from every tribe and tongue and nation and

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language.

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We also learned that the 144,000, they are the innumerable multitude.

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But remember that we also said in Revelation chapter 14, I don't know if y'all remember

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this or not, but Revelation 14 references the 144,000 again and it describes them as

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all of God's people, that they are the redeemed of Christ.

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Now let me ask you something.

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If you're a Christian here in the room tonight, can you say of yourself that you are part

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of the redeemed of Christ?

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Yes, absolutely.

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If you are washed by the blood, if you've been redeemed by Jesus, then absolutely,

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praise God, you are part of the redeemed of Christ.

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So when the Bible says something about the redeemed of Christ, guess what?

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It applies to you.

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And it says the 144,000 are the redeemed of Christ, not part of the redeemed of Christ,

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not some of the redeemed of Christ, but the redeemed of Christ, which means you are part

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of that group.

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All of God's sealed people from both covenants, old covenant and new covenant.

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And it's not just the Jewish people who were saved during this seven-year tribulation,

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which again, you won't find that in the book of Revelation at all.

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You have to go back to Daniel chapter 9 and then you have to interpret Daniel's 77s in

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a very particular way to even end up with that in the first place.

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We have a video on that on the website too.

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But third and most importantly, this is something that should really tip us off.

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This word tribulation, okay?

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We're going to get down to the heart of this.

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It's a word church people like, right?

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Come on, we can admit it.

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It's one of our words, okay?

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We have all these church words that we throw around.

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We talk about justification and salvation, glorification.

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And if someone in the church says tribulation, what do we immediately think of?

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Yeah, the end times, right?

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The end times, the seven-year tribulation stuff like that, okay?

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Now if we're going to have a thought process like that and we're going to form a belief

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system like that, then it should be based on how Scripture talks about the tribulation,

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correct?

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It should be how Scripture uses it, right?

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So again, I've said this many times, if you're going to believe something as a Christian,

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it has to come from the Bible.

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And if you're going to believe something from the Bible, it should be in accordance with

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how the Bible teaches it, not how you want the Bible to teach it, which is a problem

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we run into in the church.

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That's not this sermon, but I could preach that one.

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Just read Romans 1, okay?

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Anywho, you go back to tribulation.

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Now I want you to notice something.

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Every single instance.

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You can write this down if you want to, or you can just write the references in a second.

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Every single instance of the word tribulation that has occurred so far in the book of Revelation

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is present tense, or the very immediate future.

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In other words, there is no single place in Revelation that talks about some future far

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off tribulation.

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You will not find it.

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For instance, let's just go through them together.

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The very first chapter of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 9, I, John, your brother and partner

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in what church?

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In the tribulation.

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So when John was writing this, because God told him to write down the vision that he

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was giving him, when John was writing this, did he believe that he was going through a

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tribulation right then?

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Yes, he was.

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And he referred to it as the tribulation, not just some tribulation or a tribulation.

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He said your brother and partner in the tribulation.

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Notice this too.

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In Revelation chapter 2, verses 9 through 10, this is Jesus speaking to one of the

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churches.

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He says, I know your what?

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Your tribulation.

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So he's writing to this church, and that church is presently experiencing tribulation right

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then in that moment.

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And then he talks about how they are going to have tribulation for 10 days.

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So a near future tribulation that's going to only last 10 days.

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And then Revelation 2, 22, this is Jesus talking about what he's going to do to Jezebel.

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He says, I'm going to throw her onto a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her,

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I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her work.

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So notice this.

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These are all the references to tribulation so far in the book of Revelation, and every

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single one of them are present tense or in the immediate future.

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And I know what you could be thinking.

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You could be thinking, well, Pastor, we're just in chapter 7.

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And those are early days for a book that's got 22 chapters.

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So surely, surely there is some other place in Revelation that is going to talk about

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a future tribulation, this great coming seven-year tribulation that we talk about so much in

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the church that we hold to and form this doctrine.

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But here's a fun fact for you.

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The verse that we're in now, Revelation 7.14, is the very last occurrence of the word tribulation

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in the entire Bible.

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You will not find it anywhere else in the Bible.

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It doesn't occur again later.

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So there is in Revelation, as you continue, there is no mention of a later tribulation,

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a further tribulation, a coming seven-year tribulation, every instance is present tribulation.

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And so people have asked me, actually someone asked me this recently at Jordan School.

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Jordan let me teach for him last week.

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And as I was teaching, at the end of class, some of the kids got to ask a question or

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two.

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And one of the kids said, when is the tribulation?

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I said, what do you mean by that?

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She was, what do you mean?

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What do you mean by that?

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She's like, the tribulation.

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I'm like, I don't know what you mean.

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She's like, the seven-year tribulation.

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When does that happen?

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I'm like, I don't know.

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Find it in the Bible.

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You tell me.

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And she's like, well, where's the seven-year tribulation occurring in the Bible?

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I'm like, you're going to have to find it and tell me.

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And she's like, can you not just give me an answer?

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When is the tribulation?

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And what's it going to be like?

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And I'm like, well, the tribulation started when Jesus ascended back to heaven.

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When he ascended back to heaven, that's when all the bad stuff started happening.

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I mean, bad stuff was going on before then, but it got even worse for the church after

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Jesus ascended, right?

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I mean, if you want to just read a little bit of church history, go see what the first

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and second centuries were like for Christians.

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Look how they hunted them down.

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I've told you before what Nero did to them and Domitian did to them.

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I mean, Nero used to get Christians, put them on a stake, put them with oil, and then light

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them on fire to use the street lamps at night.

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Would you say that they were going through tribulation?

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Yes, absolutely.

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So it's not like, oh, everything's just good and dandy and fine.

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And then one day there's going to be this seven-year tribulation where everything all

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of a sudden just gets bad.

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That is not the biblical picture at all.

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Instead, the Bible portrays this tribulation as kind of being more like this, right?

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I would say this is a better biblical understanding of the tribulation, that it starts and gets

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really intensely started at Jesus' ascension.

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But as time progresses, it gets worse and worse and worse until eventually there is

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going to be a rebellion somewhere here close to the end.

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The Bible tells us about a man of lawlessness who's going to come.

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You can read about that in 2 Thessalonians 2.

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We know about the Antichrist and the beast and things like that.

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And the Bible says Jesus is going to return and he's going to defeat them and it's going

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to be real quick.

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I mean, you read 2 Thessalonians 2 and Paul's just starting to describe this man of lawlessness

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and how bad he is in this rebellion.

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And it's like Jesus returns and you're like, okay, what's Jesus going to do?

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And the Bible is like, and he opens his mouth and defeats him.

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You're like, okay, that was easy.

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I guess he wasn't that bad after all, you know?

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But it's this intensification that as time progresses, as we get closer to the time of

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Christ's return, you do see an intensification of tribulation.

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You see an intensification of persecution.

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You see an intensification of martyrdom.

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Which is why as many martyrs as we had here in the 1st and 2nd centuries, over here in

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the 20th century, there were more Christian martyrs than in the previous 18 centuries

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combined.

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So you can't look at something like what's happened in the 20th century to Christians

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and say, yeah, that's not the tribulation.

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That's pretty easy.

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In no way, shape or form.

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It is entirely biblical to say that it is part of the tribulation, but it's part of

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the latter part, the intensification.

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And here's the thing, you think it's bad now.

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Just think about as time goes on, how much worse it's going to get.

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I mean, have we not even in the past five years seen an intensification of tribulation

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and persecution for Christians here on earth?

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I mean, look at what they're doing, especially with the shutdowns that happen.

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I mean, you read about states that are literally refusing to, well, just one state, you all

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can guess which one it is, that are refusing to publish Christian books.

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I mean, they will not distribute them or publish them anymore.

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You read about Christian ethics that are just going down the drain.

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You've got a person who goes into a Christian school, has a manifesto to literally hunt

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down Christians and kill them in cold blood and the media says nothing about it, at least

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in terms of Christians.

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They don't care about the Christians.

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It's for this other community that the shooter was a part of.

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They get the sympathy.

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They get all the attention.

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The Christians get murdered.

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So you see this intensification.

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This is what is happening as time goes on and it's going to continue to happen and it's

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going to continue to get worse until Jesus returns.

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Does that mean it's going to be all about?

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No.

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We still see a lot of good in our world too, right?

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We've got medical advancements.

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We've got advancements in science and things like that, our interconnectivity, our communication,

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all that kind of stuff.

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We do see great things.

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So it's not all doom and gloom, but it's like the parable of the wheat and the weeds, right?

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Both are going to grow until the end.

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There's going to be a lot of good and a whole lot of bad and both are going to grow until

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the end and then Jesus is going to return and he's going to make all things right.

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Which is literally the whole point of the book of Revelation.

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It's like, hey, yes, things are bad.

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They are going to get worse, but Jesus is coming back and then things will be great.

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So look forward to that and say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.

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So we're looking at this and we're saying, okay, well, who are these people?

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They are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation and we're learning it's

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not some future seven year period, but it's this ongoing time in human history.

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It's all these people who are coming out of this time after Jesus' ascension.

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And what's interesting is in your Bibles, I think it says the ones coming out of the

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great tribulation.

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Do you all have anything different than that in verse 14?

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Anyone have anything different than the ones coming out of the great tribulation?

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Oh, that's interesting.

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So the only other time that in the Bible that the word great appears in, let me repeat the

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question for those who might not know.

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So Michael was asking, is there any difference between when the word tribulation occurs on

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its own versus when it occurs with the word great in front of it?

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Only happens twice in the Bible here in Revelation 7.14 and also Matthew 24, which is when Jesus

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is talking about all the things that are going to happen until he returns.

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And so it really goes with this same idea.

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And we've addressed Matthew 24.

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You all can find that on the website as well.

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But Matthew 24, remember there's that view that says it all happened pre-70 AD or right

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at 70 AD because of the destruction of the temple.

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And then there are those who say it's going to happen right at the end.

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And then there's the mediating approach like me who says, yeah, bad stuff happened in 70

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AD.

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Bad stuff's going to happen towards the end.

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And it's all going to be kind of bad until then as well.

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So Jesus is saying, these are the type of things you can expect to happen here on earth

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until I return.

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So he's using it in pretty much the exact same way.

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But back to this where it says the ones who've come out of the great tribulation, it's not

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a reference to those who are coming out of a future tribulation.

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It's actually a present participle in Greek, which means it's the ones who have come out.

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Not ones who are going to come out, ones who have come out of a great tribulation, which

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is interesting because think about it like this.

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We're seeing a vision of all of God's redeemed people, those who are the redeemed of Christ.

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And I asked you earlier, are you part of the redeemed of Christ?

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And John has just said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, every one of those people,

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you can say of them they came out of the great tribulation, which means when you stand among

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that group, it will be said of you that you came out of the great tribulation.

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So what does this mean?

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Well you put all this together and you see that this innumerable multitude is all of

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God's people from both covenants who have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus and

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remain faithful to Jesus through great trials and difficulties and persecution and tribulation

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in life and they endured, they kept the faith and they've been rewarded with the crown of

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life that is promised to those who persevere.

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And you read about the reward in 715 through 17, notice what it says very quickly.

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It says, therefore they are before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in

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his temple and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

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They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, the sun shall not strike them nor

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any scorching heat for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he

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will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

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That's a beautiful reward isn't it?

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Just looking forward to the promise that is offered to us in Christ to those who persevere

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and keep the faith.

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Now one last thing I want to say here because we're saying who are they and from whence

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they came and all that kind of stuff.

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Here's my question.

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This vision that we're looking at, is it a vision of heaven or is it a vision of eternity?

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Is it a vision of heaven or is it a vision of glory or of eternity of our final place

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of being?

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You don't get that answer.

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Okay you can answer if you want.

404
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:25,480
I'll answer it.

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I'll answer it.

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Oh, Joseph said what?

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Joseph says eternity.

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Does anyone want to disagree with our resident theologian?

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Oh those were fun interesting questions.

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Good podcast questions.

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Emily get on that.

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Okay.

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Do you notice anything else Michael?

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Because I'm willing to give you the title and strip it from Joseph.

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There is one other thing in there Michael.

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If you can get it, man kudos to you.

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That's right.

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Yep.

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So we got one with Michael right now.

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Anybody else notice there's one other hint in there?

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Does Joseph see it now?

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Where are they serving him?

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What does it say about eternity?

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The new Jerusalem.

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What does it say Joseph?

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Is there?

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There is no temple.

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So this is a vision of heaven meaning this is a vision of all Christians who die before

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Jesus returns and they get to be with Jesus until he returns.

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And the reason we know that rather than it being a vision of eternity in the new Jerusalem

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here on earth as it descends down.

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Two clues as Michael pointed out as we had agreement with.

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First of all there's a son but in eternity in the new Jerusalem there's no need of a

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son because Jesus is there and the glory of the Lord shines.

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But also it says here that these people are serving him day and night in his temple.

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But Mazzan, Revelation 21-22 says, and I saw no temple in the city where its temple is

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the Lord God and the Almighty and the Lamb.

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So is there any significance to this?

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Maybe not.

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But to help us be careful readers of God's word.

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Don't just read over the passages.

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Don't just read over the words.

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Pay attention to them because if you had noticed these two clues you could have noticed that

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this group does not include every single Christian who ever was and whoever will be but specifically

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those who die before Jesus' return and await his return with him in heaven and then he's

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going to bring them back with him when he comes back to earth and gets his kingdom to

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present back to the Father.

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So again it's just paying attention to the details.

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I do have some other things to say but we will have to save that for next week.

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So thank you all for being with us here.

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The whole point is remain faithful to Jesus.

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Those who persevere to the end will be with the Lamb and they will receive the reward.

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Michael Stevenson.