Before we read the passage, I’ll give you a little bit of context. We’ll be in Revelation 7 this morning. Revelation 5 asked, who is worthy to open the scroll containing the plan and the control of history, the scroll with seven seals. No one in heaven or on earth was worthy or had authority to break the seals, save the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb who is slain, Jesus the Christ. Revelation 6, Jesus the Lamb, opens the seals, and each seal unleashes judgments upon the Earth, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Finally, the sixth seal looks forward to the day, the final day of cataclysmic wrath. The heavens are falling, the Earth shakes, and people are running in terror. And Revelation 6 ends with the question, who can stand in the day of God’s wrath? As we’ll see, it’s those who have been sealed by the living God. Before we read, let’s pray. Lord of hosts, Father of all mercies, Alpha and Omega, we pray that you give us a taste of the heavenly worship for which we patiently long. We pray that you would open up your word to us this morning. Holy spirit, we pray that you would illumin our hearts and our minds, give us wisdom in applying your word to our lives this week.
We ask that you would move us to cry out, Salvation belongs to our God. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy spirit. Amen. Revelation 7: 1-17. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. And he called with loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. ‘ And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of God, 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulin, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
After this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne to the Lamb. And all the angels are standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, Who are these, clothed in white robes? For where have they come? I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the Throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.
The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb in the mist of the Throne will be their shepherd. He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. The word of the Lord. What do you say to a loved one who is about to go through a scary medical trial? Maybe it’s the last of their life. You truly, honestly don’t know if they’ll make it. Now, I know some of you are in the midst of this right now. Some of you have recently come through this, and many and a lot of us will be facing this at some point. Death comes for us. We don’t want to give false promises or empty words. I think this passage, it’s meant to set expectations, realistic expectations that we will go through hard things. It’s especially meant to reassure us that in the end, it’s all going to be okay, and it will all be worth it. Last week, Pastor Lloyd preached about the six seals as the lamb breaks, each seal enleashes God’s judgments upon the earth. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the white horse of conquest, the red horse of wars, the removal of peace, the black horse of famine, hunger, economic collapse, the pale horse of destruction, pestilence, death.
As Pastor Lloyd explained, the four horsemen are not active just at the end of time. They’re unleashed throughout this age. These are trials and judgments that we share, too, in this life. And then finally, seal number 6, it points to the very end, the day of God’s wrath when Christ returns in power. Verse 14, it points to the same timeline when it speaks to the great tribulation. Some interpret the great tribulation as a short, distinct period of time at the end of this age with the hope that Christians will be removed before the tribulation, and we won’t have to face this. But in line with the rest of our interpretation, as we’ve been going through Revelation, this tribulation covers the whole age we’re living in, from Jesus’s resurrection until his second coming. I do think that there will be an intensifying of calamities. It will crescendo at the end. But these are things that we are facing as well. When John asks in Revelation 7: 13, Who are these clothed in white robes? The angel answers, They are the ones coming through the great tribulation. That includes every Christian who has died and will die until Christ returns.
The whole Book of Revelation is a call for us to persevere. Jesus is letting us know there will be hard times and tribulations. Persevere in faith. In his book, Making Sense of God, Pastor Tim Keller, he pointed out a cultural change that he’s seen in the West. People have always had hardships and trials. But in the last several decades, he’s seen a shift. It’s become or they become a reason why people reject God and walk away from faith. It’s been different than past centuries. And Keller attributed it to a shift in our underlying beliefs that in the last several decades, we’ve shifted and we have this expectation that we should be able to do something about it. There’s wonderful medicines out there. There’s wonderful cures and procedures. There should be something to fix it. Why do we have to suffer? We shouldn’t have to suffer. And so when the sufferings come, when the hardship comes, it catches us by surprise. We shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus warned us over and over. He said, take up your cross and follow me. He warned us there will be more opposition if we follow him. Jesus said, blessed are you when others revile you and persecue you, utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who are before you. And so they persecuted Jesus, and so they persecuted the Apostles. And it’s continued. I’ve seen people go through the same trials. Two people go through the same trials with completely different results. For one, it’s a chance to exercise faith and to show deeper dependence on God. For another, it’s an opportunity where they struggle and walk away. One brother is strengthened, another falls away. Brothers and sisters, don’t be surprised. You will go through tribulations, some on account of Christ and standing up for Christ, and some are just sharing in the trial and the things of this world. Cancer, calamities, pestilence, famine, we share in these things as well. Don’t avoid the pain. Don’t compromise to get out of it. Push into it. Jesus’s promise isn’t that we won’t face pain. God, he’s not a helicopter parent trying to keep us from ever scraping our knees, ever having our heart broken, ever going through any hard thing. No, his promise is that we will go through tribulations, but that he will be there with us, and it will be worth it.
The question, who can stand the day of God’s wrath? The answer is those who have sealed by the living God. In the face of these cataclysmic judgments crashing down upon the earth, God pushes the pause button. In Revelation 7: 1, it says, After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. God pauses the judgment. The four angels hold back the destructive winds. Verse 2, Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who have given power to harm earth and sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. ‘ So out of the mist of this chaos and this darkness, the sun rises with the angel in the light bearing the seal of the living God. As a sixth seal of judgment brings God’s wrath, God seals his servants on their forehead.
What is this seal that is applied on their foreheads? Later, Revelation 14: 1, it clarifies the seal. It says, Then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him, 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. They are sealed by having God’s name written on their foreheads. It’s not a physical mark. It’s a spiritual mark that is spiritually visible. 144,000. Some interpret that as a group, a distinct group of Jews that will be here at the end of the age. I think it is a symbolic number. It’s all the tribes of Israel, the 12. 12 is the number of fullness. 12 times 1,000 times 12, 144,000. It symbolizes the full people of God on earth, the full church, everyone who believes in Christ. It’s interesting. It’s not a list that’s from anywhere in the Old Testament. It’s a unique list. It doesn’t have the tribe of Dan, as commentators think, because Dan apostasized and continually led Israel into idolatry. Joseph is given a place in the list. This is different, a symbolic list of tribes, with a symbolic number representing God’s people on earth, including us.
And In several other places in the New Testament, they identify the seal as the Holy spirit. Second Corinthians 1: 11 says, for example, And God, who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, The Holy spirit seals us with a spiritual seal. He writes God’s name on our foreheads, symbolizing that we truly belong to God. He protects us. He marks us out for resurrection. The image of the seal comes from ancient seal, like a signet ring. In a letter, for example, a king would close up a letter and he would drop wax, warm wax, to close the letter, and then he would press his seal into the wax and to leave his image there. And it was a guarantee that this authentically came from the king, that it belonged to the king, and only someone designated could open it. Being sealed means that we belong to God because we belong to him. He protects us. Right now, I have a beautiful sheet of plywood across the front door of my house. Everyone asked, What’s up with the plywood? I’m sure the neighbor’s favorite right now.
But our front door needed work. So I finally, after several years of looking at it every time I walked to the door, took it off, put it in my garage. See, there was an invisible clear coat of sealant on the outside of the door. It’s a beautiful wood door. But that clear coat failed. The seal failed. And so water was getting in the door and the sun was beating on the door. It was drying out the wood and it was cracking and everything. And it was getting damaged. So I had to take it off, reapply a seal. God’s seal, in contrast, it doesn’t fade. It doesn’t fail. Holy spirit protects us with an invisible spiritual seal. As I mentioned earlier, God’s protection, it doesn’t mean that we won’t go through persecution or hardships in this life. We face trials with the rest of mankind. No, God spiritually protects us. His seal means that we will withstand at the day of judgment, when everyone is losing their head and they are screaming and running in terror, we will stand. We will persevere. We will not compromise and lose our faith be consumed by death. It is the seal of the living God.
Those are sealed with his name are living. It’s like the striking paradox that Jesus reveals. He reveals himself in Revelation 118. He says, I am the living one. I die. Behold, I am alive forevermore. I have the keys of death and Hades. Jesus, the living one, died. He holds the power of death and life, and he is alive forevermore. We, too, will die, most of us, if the goal doesn’t come first. But the living God who holds the keys of death and hell will raise us again. There’s very little that’s actually wholly new in the Book of Revelation. It’s really doctrines from the rest of the Bible and the rest of the New Testament that are put into a dramatic form. So God’s seal, it’s a dramatic way of saying the same thing that the apostle Paul said in Romans 8: 35. Paul said, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, For your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I’m sure that neither death or life or angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Jesus’ promise is that nothing can separate us from his love. He will protect us, that our sacrifice will be worth it. One of the elders asked John in verse 13, Who are these clothed in white robes? From where have they come? These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The ones who have withstood the trials are those who’ve washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. ‘ What a strange image. When you think about blood, it stains. Jesus’s blood makes us white, pure. He gives us this beautiful picture of hope and reassurance, verse 15, Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.
The sun shall not strike them or any scorching heat. God will shelter us with his presence. He will be there with us. No more hunger, thirst, weariness, no more trials, tribulations, hardships. We will be done. Rest. Even better, verse 17, For the Lamb in the midst of the Throne will be their shepherd. He will guide them to springs of living water. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Again, beautiful images. Looking forward to the end. Revelation 21: 20 to our eternal life with God. It’s a taste that eternal life springs of living water, full refreshment, the real fulfillment of our true desires. And God will wipe away every tear. No more pain. He will calm. He will comfort us. He will heal every tear, every heartbreak, every scraped knee, every insult and rejection. He will make it all better. And we will know that it will have been worth it. And then perhaps best of all, it will lead us into worship. The first eight verses in the 144,000, they give us a symbolic vision of God’s people, us on earth, in the midst of the struggle. It changes in the last verse, the last nine verses, they give us a heavenly vision, a spiritual vision of worship in heaven.
That’s all of the saints in heaven. We get this amazing image, verse 9, And after this, I looked to behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm which is in their hands. God will bring a worldwide people together into one. This is our hope for missions. This is why we send missionaries out so that every people, every tongue, every language, every tribe will be represented and they’re with us. Can you imagine? Can you imagine the deafening roar? Millions of saints praising God? What an image. Causes us to think to our brothers and sisters around the world and down the street, we’re all going to be joined together one day in song together, right? That’s the unity that will come. We know that’s coming, so we should work towards that now. And together, verse 10, crying out with a loud voice, they cry out, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Salvation belongs to our God. Somehow he takes all the mess of this world and the mess in our lives and works this amazing salvation out of it.
Just think about the conflicts that you have in your life right now, the struggles, the frustrations at work, whatever pain that you are feeling right now, and it feels hopeless. Somehow God is redeeming it. Christ will bring it all back together and make it new. You’ve heard the nursery rhyme? Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again. All the powers of man, all the king’s They couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again. They did not have the power. But God does impossible things. Christ is putting it all back together. Only he won’t be Humpty Dumpty, he won’t just be some regular old egg. When he’s put back together and you can see all the cracks filled with gold or whatever beautiful filling is in there, it’s going to be an amazing egg. And the redemption that he is working is going to be so much richer and so much more beautiful for the salvation that he has wrought. Christ is working his resurrection, the cross and the resurrection into all of creation, into every one of our lives.
And he is renewing all things. Somehow, all the wars, the fights, the tiffs between brothers and sisters, lives cut far too short. Diseases, miscarriages, estranged families, the list goes on and on. By his death and resurrection, Christ is putting it all back together, and it is going to be more amazing. The white robe martyrs, the ones who were killed for their faith, who were attacked by the world in chapter 6, they become part of this throng, victors, praising God. Salvation belongs to our God. Not to be outdone, all the angels are standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worship God saying, Amen, blessing, glory, wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. He will give a sevenfold doxology. Truly, Amen. What an amazing God. I think we will all be clamoring, striving, hoping, trying to be there, wanting to put our voice into the throng, the multitude, and tell our story of redemption, the amazing things that he’s done in our lives and those around us. And all of it will be a big cacophony of praise.
Far richer, infinitely worth it. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you that you are sovereign all of life, all of history, everything in our lives, that you have a plan. We thank you for your seal that you mark on our foreheads. We trust that you will raise us from the dead, that you will make it all worth it. We long to praise you with all the saints around the world for the miracles and the mighty salvation that you have brought. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy spirit. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.