GRACE IN TIME OF TRIBULATION

#432                                   GRACE IN TIME OF TRIBULATION

Scripture  Revelation 7:1-17, NIV                                                                  Orig. 2-4-1973 (12-1978)

                                                                                                                                 Rewr. 4-30-1989

Passage: 7  1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,

from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,

from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,

from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,

from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,

from the tribe of Levi 12,000,

from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,

from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,

from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

The Great Multitude in White Robes

9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
    will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
    never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’[a]
    nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
    will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’[b]
    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’[c]”

Purpose: Continuing a Church Training study in Revelation, here calling attention to the suspension of judgment as the opening of seals reaches its climax.

Keywords:        Bible Study                  Grace               Revelation                   Judgment

Timeline/Series:           Revelation      

Introduction

            The suspension of judgment so clearly seen after the opening of the sixth seal is a place to pause.  Here we are offered a vantage point useful in looking back over where we have been.  This can help us to keep the entire book in focus as we try to grasp an immediate context. Chapter one introduces the author and his work.  Chapters two and three personalize the people for whom the book was first intended: seven letters to seven churches.

            Suddenly, in chapter four, we find John having being transported to the throne room of God.  Around the throne were four “living creatures” and twenty-four lesser thrones.  On and off these thrones were “elders” giving praise to God.  Chapter five introduces a testamental document sealed with seven seals.  The following chapter noted the opening of six of these seals, and represents six phases of judgment through which the world has gone.

1.       The White Horse: an unsuccessful effort to bring order out of the chaos of creation, the rider, with bow and crown, bent on conquest.

2.       The red horse: next we see the personification of evil set free by this zealous spirit of conquest.  Peace is shackled.

3.       Then came the black horse: moral order had been degraded, evil enthroned, peace immobilized.  Sin’s self-gratification brings a social and material imbalance breeding discontent.  Without bow or sword, but with a “balance.”

4.       After this came the pale horse: the final result of sin’s presence on the world’s scene has to be sin’s judgment, and death and destruction are the signs.  The rider was called “death” and followed by something called “Hades.”  Remember that four is the great world number, and three is the divine number.  There have been four judgments relating to the world, but the theme of the seals clearly changes here.

5.       This seal brought into focus the souls of martyrs under the altar.  The Word of God was brought to bear, and man in sin rejects it.

6.       Seal six revealed a cataclysmic event of world proportion adding the sin of rejecting the living word as it had the revealed word.

            Thus, we come to that moment in destiny just before the opening of the seventh seal.  Chapter six concludes:  V7 “The great day of his wrath has come; and who shall be able to stand?”  There is a terrible similarity to other such declarations.  Nahum 1:3f “The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, . . . he rebuketh the sea, . . . the mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, . . . .  Who can stand before his indignation?”  Luke 23:30 “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, cover us.”

            Chapter seven, then, will become a suspension in judgment.  The time of the end has come, but God, in love, will not cease His grace while time remains.  The hiding place is not “in the rocks” but “on” the ROCK.  “Who will be able to stand?” Those who stand on the ROCK.

·         Matthew 7:25 “And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a ROCK.”

·         Habakkuk’s prayer (3:2) should become our prayer as well.  “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”  (V19 “The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.”  (See Habakkuk 3:15 for “Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses.”)

I.          Note the Suspension of Judgment.

            These ancient peoples have us at somewhat of a disadvantage.  They didn’t know about secondary causes.  If an event was beyond human power, it was of the gods.  Or, in the Hebrews’ case, of Jehovah.

            Hail and wind damage, tornadoes and earthquakes would have been acts of God.  We know about atmospheric pressure.  Mountain configurations, weather variations.  The impact of the moon, and sunspots.

            The four angels represent this suspension.  Genesis 19:1f angels delivered Lot from Sodom.  Matthew 2:13 warned Joseph to flee to Egypt.  Hebrews 1:14 angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

            This suspension was for the purpose of sealing the believers in safety and security.  Then, a fifth angel (v2) appears on the scene.  From the east as sunrise.  As the star of annunciation.  Prophecy of Zechariah Luke 1:67f, 79 “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  This angel bears the seal of God.  Same word for “living”  in 5:6,14; “Living” creatures not identified, but God is here identified.  Various exemplifications of god/God: Isaiah 44:14f “He heweth him down cedars . . . warmth, . . . bread . . . he maketh a god, and worshippeth it.”  Joshua 3:10, “Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you.”  Note the conjunctive of purpose: “till.”  Reference to the already saved; others will be saved during this time of suspension.

II.         Note Then the Sealing of the Servants.  V3 “. . . till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” 

            This can, of course be related to a prior _____.  One with an inkhorn is instructed to go through the city marking the ones “who grieve the abominations.”

            Such seals give evidence of authority.  Genesis 41:42 Joseph was given Pharaoh’s seal:  “Without thee shall any many lift up hand or foot in all . . . Egypt.”  Esther 3:10 It was with the king’s seal that Haman ordered the death of Jews.  8:10 likewise Mordecai countermanded the order.

            Note the significance of the number and the identification of those sealed.  Jehovah’s Witnesses declare this number to be the first order of the saved; Others may be saved but supplementary.  Futurists believe that it speaks of Jews to be saved out of the tribulation (144,000 Jewish evangelists).  In the study of numbers this is the equivalent of 12 x 12 x 1000.  And 12 may be thought of as the product of 4 x 3.  Not a number in limitation, but a number in perfection.  12 represents perfection, 1000 complete.

            What we learn of the identification of the sons of Jacob here named.  Judah, the 4th of Leah supplants Reuben; Reuben; Gad, Zilpah’s first; Asher, her second; Naphtali, Bilhah’s second; Manasseh, Joseph’s; Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon--2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th sons of Leah; Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Rachel; Dan is omitted:  Genesis 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path;  Leviticus 24:11, Judges 18; I Kings 12:28-30.  Jeremiah 8:16 speaks of “the snorting of horses heard from Dan”—Some believe that the anti-Christ will be a descendant of Dan.

            A final word is spoken relative to the sealing of believers.  Ephesians 1:13 “. . . in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.”  II Corinthians 1:22 “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts.”  Ephesians 4:30 “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption.”  Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.”

III.       Note, Next, the Glory of the Unnumbered Throng.  V9 “After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number of all nations, kindred, people, tongues, stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, and had palms in their hands.”

            If the prior verses speak of Jews saved during the tribulation, this must speak of Gentiles.  Romans 1:16 “according to the Jew first.”  These Gentiles would be won to salvation through Israel’s restoration.

            Did God know that toward the end believers would lose the thrust of influence?

            Remember also, believers have been taken up and are not in tribulation.

            The angels take up the shout of the unnumbered throng.  V12 “Saying amen, Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and Thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God.”

IV.       Finally, the Bliss of the Redeemed.

            There is angelic praise.  The angels are in a circle about the throne.  Around the elders and living creatures—See 4:6, 5:6.  They fall (again) upon their faces—See 4:10.  The white robes: Victorious faith; Righteousness of Christ; Victory by sacrifice (v14) is regularly stated. The palms were symbols of joy.

            There is washing from sin.  Rewards: Living/serving forever in presence of God; no more hardship imposed by nature (v16); contact forever with the source of life (v17); God will be their Comforter (v17b).