Revelation 7:4
In Revelation Chapter 6 we were told about
the many destructive things that will take place during the time of the Great Tribulation.
We were also told that in spite of all the disasters, many people on the earth
will still try to hide from God instead of turning to Him for salvation.
History tends to repeat itself. Over the centuries people could have turned to Jesus
for help, but many have not. The same thing will happen during the Great
Tribulation. But in spite of the millions who die and in spite of all those who
continue to turn away from God, there will be those who will be touched and
reached in their hearts before it is too late. There will be those who will
realize that the sorrows of the tribulation are a result of the judgment of God
and who will take the one last chance that is given to them and who will turn
to Jesus. Some of the people who turn to Jesus in the end-time period of the
Great Tribulation are described for us in Revelation 7:4-8 where the Bible
says, "And I heard the number of them which
were sealed, and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all
the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Mannasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand."
In Revelation Chapter 7 God is making it
very clear to us that there will be people saved during the time of The Great
Tribulation. When He describes for us the people who get saved, we are first
told about Jewish people who get saved. It is very important to notice the
attitude that God has towards the Jewish people because there is a lot said about
the Jews even in our day and age. Some people hate the Jews and persecute them
and think of them as enemies. But if you wish to have the same attitude towards
the Jewish people that God has, then you will be kind and compassionate towards
them. A little later in the book of Revelation we will see that the persecution
of the Jews comes directly from the Evil One. It is the devil who hates the
Jews, and the devil will use any human that he can to persecute them. It is the
desire of God to save the Jews. When the Gospel was preached during the time of
the apostles, it was preached "to the Jew
first, and then also to the Gentiles." And when God tells us about
the people who get saved during the time of the Great Tribulation, He tells us
about the Jews first, and then He tells us about the Gentiles.
When the Bible lists the twelve tribes of
Israel here in Revelation Chapter 7, it mentions the tribe of Judah first.
Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. In Revelation Chapter 5 Jesus is called the
lion of the tribe of Judah. The sorrows of the Great Tribulation will affect
the whole earth, but they will have their greatest concentration in and around
the land of Palestine. The Jewish people have yet to see the day of their
greatest sorrows, but those among them who are wise will turn to the lion of
the tribe of Judah for their salvation. It was revealed to the apostle Paul
what the final destiny of the Jewish people shall be, and he said in the book
of Romans, "All Israel shall be saved."
It will take the greatest sorrow that the world has ever seen, but the Jewish
people will finally realize by the thousands that Jesus is the Messiah. In our
time they realize it one here and one there, but in that day "all Israel shall be saved."
The Jewish people are not the only ones who
will turn to the Lord in great numbers during the time of the tribulation. Revelation
7:9 says, "After this I beheld, and lo, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands." We get a small glimpse of
the final destiny of those who are saved by God. It is a wonderful destiny. It
is what God would like to be able to give to everyone who is born into the world,
and probably the greatest reason for the Great Tribulation is not to bring
judgment to the world, but is to wake people up before it is too late. Some
people will only look to God for help when they are at the end of their rope
and have no place else to look. The Great Tribulation will be the greatest
sorrow that the world will ever know, but there will be at least one wonderful
result even from this greatest of all calamities. Thousands and thousands of
people will turn to Christ of Jews and Gentiles who would have never turned to
Him had it not been for the woe and the sorrow of the Great Tribulation.
What happens to a person in this life is
not near so important if at least their souls are saved and they end up
spending an eternity in heaven. Jesus said, "What
shall it profit a man should he gain the whole world but lose his own
soul?" One of the things that everyone in heaven will participate
in is described in Revelation 7:10-12. It says, "And
cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and
about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their
faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and
thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and
ever. Amen."
Heaven will be a time of joy and rejoicing.
It is no wonder that Christians are encouraged in the Bible to "Rejoice always, and again I say, rejoice."
We have much to rejoice about. As a matter of fact, if we think good thoughts
about the good God, then we can rejoice about the same things that those in
heaven rejoice about. We are given in Revelation 7:10-12 a long list of things
about which the people who are in heaven rejoice. Notice the first thing that
is mentioned that causes joy in heaven: "salvation."
Salvation is a wonderful word, and it is only because of the goodness of God
and the love of God that there is such a thing as salvation. Without salvation
no one would be in heaven. Jesus came into the world as a lamb coming to the
slaughter, and He died on a cruel cross in order to be able to offer salvation
to sinners such as you and me. There is no doubt that when we get to heaven,
salvation will be the first thing on our list for which we will also praise
Him.
In the list of things for which God is
praised in heaven we find that most of them are things that God has given us in
this life. When we are in heaven, our eyes will be opened to understand things
as we have never before understood them. If we only had a clearer spiritual
understanding of all the things that God is now doing for us, we would praise
Him more than we do, and we would not have to wait to get to heaven to do it.
We will praise God for "thanksgiving". The
ability to be thankful is a great gift from God. The birds of the air and the
animals of the forest enjoy the bounty of the earth just as humans do, but only
man has the capability to bow his head and to say, "Thank you, Lord."
If you learn to look on the good side of things, because there always is a good
side, and to be thankful to the good God who has brought you all these good
things of life, then you will be able to enjoy life in a way that many people
never achieve. Some countries such as Canada and America have a national
holiday called the Day of Thanksgiving because the citizens recognize that they
have many things for which to be thankful, and they recognize the importance of
being thankful. In heaven we will be thankful forever. In heaven God is praised
because He invented thankfulness and gave man the capacity to express it. If
you would like your life on earth to be a little bit more like heaven, then
learn to be more thankful.
In Revelation 7:12 we see that Jesus is
also praised in heaven for "blessing" and
"honor". These two words are
closely related. The word that is translated "blessing"
comes from the Greek word from which we get the word eulogy, and literally
means to say good things about someone. If you honor someone, you also will say
good things about them. In heaven we will honor God, and we will discover more
things about Him and we will say the good things that we know and discover. We
will honor God, and He will also honor us. Not only will He give us so great a
salvation that is based upon the forgiveness of our sins, but He will also
honor us. He will share His glory and His honor with us, even though we do not
deserve it. On earth sometimes humans honor other humans, and often they do it
when they should rather honor God. After all, if a human has accomplished
something it is only with the ability and the strength and opportunity that God
has given.
When we are in heaven, we will know as
never before that strength and power, ability and enabling come from God. God
placed man on the earth and created mankind in His own image, and the creative
abilities of human beings are a gift from God. If you want to follow the
example of those that are in heaven, then you will not praise man when
something is accomplished, but you will praise God because He is the source of
all strength and power. That is why Paul said, "I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That is why
Jesus said to the weak apostles, "With God all
things are possible."
The apostle John wrote in Revelation
7:13-14, "And one of the elders answered, saying
unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and from where do
they come? And I said unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the lamb." John saw that 144,000
Jews will be saved during the time of the Great Tribulation, and now he sees
many others who are also saved. The significance of being arrayed in white
robes, and the symbolism of having their robes washed refers to the forgiveness
of sins. When Jesus was on the earth, He would say to people, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." It was
correctly noted by observers in His day that only God can forgive sins. Of
course, the forgiveness of sins is only possible because Jesus shed His blood
on the cross, and so Revelation 7:14 says that the robes were made "white in the blood of the lamb."
Revelation 7:15-16 says, "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and
serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell
among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat." We are talking about the good
things that are going to happen for those who die and go to heaven because of
Jesus Christ. Why were we born into the world? What is the purpose of life?
Human beings were created so that they could walk in fellowship with God. If
you do not walk with Jesus, then you are not experiencing life as it can be
lived. The goal of the spiritual life is not to serve God one day out of the
week, or part of a given day; but the goal is to serve Him seven days a week
and both day and night. One of the problems with organized religion is that it
can become easy to only serve God when participating in the activities of the religion
and then to not serve Him so much when at home or work, but we are called to
serve Him and to walk with Him wherever we are, every day. Sometimes we walk
with the Lord for a little while, but we often have trouble staying focused on
Him. Other interests can crowd their way into our lives, or self-will can take
over before we know it. Sin will battle against the soul. But it will not be
that way in heaven. We will all serve Him day and night, with no failures, no
inconsistencies, and no lapses of judgment. How great a salvation God has
offered to us, because we will not only be delivered from the penalty of sin,
but we will also be delivered from the daily sins that so easily plague us in
this life!
One of the most wonderful things about
heaven is recorded in the last part of Revelation 7:12 when it says that God "shall dwell among them." We know that
God dwells among us now in a couple of important ways. Since He is omnipresent,
He is always with us. "In Him we live and move
and have our being." We also know that Jesus made a special promise
to His believers that He will always be with us. He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
But when we are in heaven, we will experience the presence of God in a much
greater way than we can experience in this life. "We
shall know Him, even as now we are known." We shall see Him face to
face. For every believer, some of their happiest moments in this life come when
they are at their closest to Jesus. Think of how happy we will be in heaven
when we are closer to Him than we have ever experienced before!
In Revelation Chapter 6 a description of
the troubles and sorrows of the Great Tribulation was begun. Now we are being given
a little glimpse of heaven. This is a good lesson for us to remember whenever
we think of life on this earth. Do not dwell too much on what is happening on
the earth. If you know the Lord, you are going to be in heaven one day, so make
sure that you spend enough time thinking about it and looking forward to the
wonderful things that God has prepared. Remember that we are only going to be
on the earth for a very short time compared to eternity. No matter what you
might suffer in this life, your sufferings are limited. Your sorrow will turn
to joy if you know the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way.
Some people ask the question why there is
pain and suffering on the earth. We may not be able to answer such a question
to everyone’s satisfaction, but one thing is very clear: God has a plan whereby
He will put an end to all suffering. That is why Revelation 7:16 says that; "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more." Once the Great Tribulation is over the promises that Jesus
made 2,000 years ago shall be fulfilled. "Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they
that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall
inherit the earth." All of this shall happen after the Great
Tribulation, and Jesus returns to the earth as Judge and King to right all
wrongs and end all sorrows. Only those who have been born again through faith
in Christ shall be permitted to enter this great kingdom of God.
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Copyright; 2000 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved