Latest / THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together / Tribulation Saints, Part 1 (Revelation 79–12) John MacArthur

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Tribulation Saints, Part 1 (Revelation 79–12) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

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Speaker 1: It's that time now for us to look together to
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Speaker 1: the wonders of prophetic Scripture, and I invite you to
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Speaker 1: open your Bible to the seventh chapter of the Revelation,
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Speaker 1: the seventh chapter of the Revelation. And tonight our text
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Speaker 1: is taken from verses 9 through 17, the second half
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Speaker 1: of this wonderful chapter. To begin with, some things that
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Speaker 1: will help us find our way into the text. There
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Speaker 1: is a great awakening ahead. There is coming a worldwide
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Speaker 1: revival like nothing this earth has ever experienced or heard of,
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Speaker 1: an international harvest of souls that will exceed anything in
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Speaker 1: human history up to that point. Certainly all of us
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Speaker 1: who are Christians and all Christians through the ages have
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Speaker 1: prayed for the salvation of souls worldwide. We have prayed
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Speaker 1: for great awakenings and great revivals and great movings of
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Speaker 1: God's Spirit, and we have prayed for people and families
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Speaker 1: and cities and nations to come to Christ. We have
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Speaker 1: prayed that someday there would be a sweeping revival across
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Speaker 1: the world that would bring millions of souls into the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: It has been the prayers of God's people through the
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Speaker 1: centuries that God would bring a great harvest of souls,
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Speaker 1: and He will.
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Speaker 2: One day it will come.
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Speaker 1: It will be the greatest movement of God's saving power
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Speaker 1: in terms of sheer numbers that the world has ever known. Now,
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Speaker 1: the anticipation of that should not shock us because God
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Speaker 1: longs to save us. In fact, just a couple of
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Speaker 1: scriptures point that out to us. 1 Timothy chapter 2,
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Speaker 1: verses 1 through 4 says, First of all, then, I
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Speaker 1: urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be
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Speaker 1: made on behalf of all men for kings and all
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Speaker 1: who are in authority in order that we may lead
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Speaker 1: a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
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Speaker 1: This is good and acceptable in the sight of God
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Speaker 1: our Savior who desires all men to be saved and
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Speaker 1: to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there
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Speaker 1: is one God, further down into verse 5 and 6,
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Speaker 1: and one mediator also between God and men, the man
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all.
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Speaker 1: God desires all men to be saved. That's why He
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Speaker 1: gave Christ, and that's why He calls on us to pray.
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Speaker 1: And then that familiar text of 2 Peter chapter 3 says,
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Speaker 1: Verse 9, the Lord is not slow about His promises,
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Speaker 1: some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing
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Speaker 1: for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
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Speaker 2: God is a saving God. That is His nature.
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Speaker 1: And we have been studying, as you well know, on
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Speaker 1: Sunday mornings in the pastoral epistles. We have in the
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Speaker 1: past covered 1 and 2 Timothy, and now we're in Titus.
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Speaker 1: The pastoral epistles feature much about God as Savior. For example,
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Speaker 1: in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1, it says, Paul,
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Speaker 1: an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of
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Speaker 1: God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus who is our hope.
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Speaker 1: Down in verse 14... And the grace of our Lord
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Speaker 1: was more abundant, more than abundant, with the faith and
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Speaker 1: love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a
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Speaker 1: trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into
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Speaker 1: the world to save sinners. God is a saving God.
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Speaker 1: Christ is a saving Lord. Over in chapter 4 of
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Speaker 1: 1 Timothy.
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Speaker 1: We find again a reference to this in verse 10,
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Speaker 1: we have fixed our hope on the living God who
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Speaker 1: is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. In
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Speaker 1: other words, His saving power shows up on behalf of
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Speaker 1: all men in a temporal way and of believers.
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Speaker 2: In a spiritual and eternal way.
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Speaker 1: In Titus chapter 1, again, God is designated in verse
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Speaker 1: 3 as God our Savior, and then in verse 4, Christ.
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Speaker 2: Jesus our Savior.
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Speaker 1: Titus chapter 2, And verse 10, again, speaks of God
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Speaker 1: our Savior. Verse 13, our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And then into chapter 3, verse 4, the kindness of
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Speaker 1: God our Savior. And verse 6, through Jesus Christ our Savior.
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Speaker 1: The Scripture characterizing God and Christ as our Savior. These
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Speaker 1: and many other texts of Scripture identify God as a
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Speaker 1: saving God. He desires and He plans to save sinners,
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Speaker 1: and that is why Jesus came. He even bears the
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Speaker 1: name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
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Speaker 1: And so as we come to Revelation chapter 7, we
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Speaker 1: come to a text in which we see God in
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Speaker 1: His saving activity.
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Speaker 2: In numbers....
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Speaker 1: Never seen up to this time, a time in future
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Speaker 1: history when His most massive saving work will take.
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Speaker 2: Place in a very brief period of years.
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Speaker 1: It is at the same time a most unexpected time,
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Speaker 1: for since God is going to be saving people in
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Speaker 1: a volume never known before in that short space of time,
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Speaker 1: we would want to call it the best of times.
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Speaker 1: But the fact is, it is the worst of times.
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Speaker 1: It is the worst time in human history. It is
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Speaker 1: the day of Satan's full fury. It is the time
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Speaker 1: of the unleashing of demonic power over the face of
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Speaker 1: the earth. It is the time when the restraining influence
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit is taken away and sin runs
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Speaker 1: absolutely unchecked and wild. It is the time of the
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Speaker 1: terrorizing dictatorship of Antichrist and his cohort, the false prophet,
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Speaker 1: It is the time of the hellish, murderous reign of
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Speaker 1: terror that causes people to slaughter each other all over
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Speaker 1: the globe. It is the time of God's unrestrained fury
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Speaker 1: as the whole world is engulfed in His wrath as
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Speaker 1: He lets loose powerful judgments that destroy men and women.
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Speaker 2: It is a time of war.
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Speaker 1: It is a time of famine, earthquakes, pestilence, wild animal
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Speaker 1: destruction and death, plagues, a collapsing universe, a splintering and
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Speaker 1: fracturing earth that will kill billions of people and culminate
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Speaker 1: in a time called the day.
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Speaker 2: Of the Lord, the ultimate fury of God.
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Speaker 1: It is in the very midst of that time that
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Speaker 1: God will be who He is, the Savior, saving people
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Speaker 1: in a way and to an extent unknown before. And
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Speaker 1: the prayers of all the saints through all of the
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Speaker 1: centuries for such a time to come will be answered.
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Speaker 1: Now the saving work of God in this time period
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Speaker 1: to come will be twofold. And it's important to remember
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Speaker 1: that it will be. It will involve on the one
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Speaker 1: hand Israel and on the other hand the nations of
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Speaker 1: the world We know as Gentiles, another word for nations
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Speaker 1: other than Israel. Now just to give you a little
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Speaker 1: bit of quick background because I don't want to belabor
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Speaker 1: the point, we know that God has promised to save Israel.
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Speaker 1: And we are waiting for that day. We are longing
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Speaker 1: for that day. The Apostle Paul certainly prayed for that
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Speaker 1: day passionately, zealously. His heart's desire was for Israel that
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Speaker 1: she would be saved as he expresses in the ninth
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Speaker 1: chapter of the book of Romans.
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Speaker 2: His passion. was for the redemption of Israel.
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Speaker 1: In chapter 10 of Romans and verse 21, as for Israel,
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Speaker 1: the Lord says, all the day long I have stretched
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Speaker 1: out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. God
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Speaker 1: Himself even longing for the Jewish people to turn to
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Speaker 1: Him and they would not. In Romans 11, Paul writes,
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Speaker 1: I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?
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Speaker 2: May it never be.
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Speaker 1: And then in verse 2, he says, God has not
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Speaker 1: rejected His people whom He foreknew. God has not turned
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Speaker 1: His back on them. He has not obviated His promise.
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Speaker 1: Over in verse 11, I say then, did they stumble
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Speaker 1: so as to fall?
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Speaker 2: Did they? May it never be. May it never be.
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Speaker 1: And then finally, down in verse 25 of Romans 11,
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Speaker 1: I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, He says,
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Speaker 1: or uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in
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Speaker 1: your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to
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Speaker 1: Israel until the fullness of Gentiles has come in. It's
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Speaker 1: partial and it's temporary. And then He says, all Israel,
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Speaker 1: verse 26, will be saved.
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Speaker 2: That promise will come to pass.
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Speaker 1: And here in Revelation chapter 7, we've already gotten a
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Speaker 1: taste of that in the first eight verses, haven't we?
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Speaker 1: For there we meet 12,000 Jews out of the 12
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Speaker 1: tribes who will be redeemed, who will be sealed and
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Speaker 1: protected during the time of tribulation. They will become the
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Speaker 1: evangelists and the preachers of the gospel that will crisscross
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Speaker 1: the globe. And at their preaching, Israel will hear the
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Speaker 1: message of the saving gospel. Eventually, they will look on
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Speaker 1: the one whom they've pierced. They will be redeemed, as
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Speaker 1: Zechariah says, that a fountain of cleansing will be opened
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Speaker 1: to them, and their salvation promise will come to pass.
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Speaker 2: Salvation for all Israel is coming.
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Speaker 1: But secondly, and this is what is featured in our
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Speaker 1: text tonight, there is coming salvation to the Gentiles. And
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Speaker 1: do you know that this too is promised in Scripture?
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Speaker 1: And because this is rarely ever dealt with, I want
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Speaker 1: to spend a few moments dealing with it, if I may, tonight.
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Speaker 1: Go with me back to the book of Genesis, and
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Speaker 1: I want to set in your mind the promise of
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Speaker 1: God to the nations of the world for the ultimate
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Speaker 1: time of salvation. It really finds its beginning in the
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Speaker 1: twelfth chapter of Genesis with God's promise to a Verse
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Speaker 1: 1 of chapter 12, the Lord said to Abram, go
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Speaker 1: forth from your country and from your relatives and from
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Speaker 1: your father's house to the land which I will show you,
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Speaker 1: and I will make you a great nation.
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Speaker 2: That's the nation of Israel.
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Speaker 1: I will bless you and make your name great, and
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Speaker 1: so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless
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Speaker 1: those who bless you, and the one who curses you
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Speaker 1: I will curse.
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Speaker 2: And then here is this, and in you.
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Speaker 1: All the families of the earth shall be blessed.
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Speaker 2: Now that can have a number of specific fulfillments.
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Speaker 1: It was through them in the Old Testament that any
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Speaker 1: nation or any person of another nation heard the truth
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Speaker 1: because the law and the prophets and the testimonies, the ordinances,
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Speaker 1: the covenants, all the promises of God were given to
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Speaker 1: the nation Israel. And it was then through the means
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Speaker 1: of Israel as the witness nation that others heard the
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Speaker 1: It also has the implication about the Messiah, for it
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Speaker 1: was through the nation Israel, through the very loins of Abraham,
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Speaker 1: that ultimately the Messiah came in whom is provided salvation,
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Speaker 1: not only for Jews, but for Gentiles. And then finally,
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Speaker 1: I believe it will be through the witness and testimony
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Speaker 1: of a converted Israel and certainly in great part 144,000
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Speaker 1: Jews that the rest of the world in the time
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Speaker 1: of the tribulation to come, hearing the truth of Christ,
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Speaker 1: will be saved and thus in Israel they will be blessed.
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Speaker 1: So there is a promise there at the very outset
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Speaker 1: in the Abrahamic covenant related to the salvation of nations.
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Speaker 1: Now look at Psalm 67, and I want to show
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Speaker 1: you just briefly a few places in the Psalms to
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Speaker 1: set this in your mind. Here is a psalm of
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Speaker 1: praise that the Jews would read and sing.
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Speaker 2: It speaks about God's blessing to them.
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Speaker 1: Verse 1, God be gracious to us and bless us
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Speaker 1: and cause His face to shine upon us. Why? That
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Speaker 1: Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation
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Speaker 1: among all nations. And then down in verse 7, God
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Speaker 1: blesses us in order that all the ends of the
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Speaker 1: earth may fear Him. God had designed them to be
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Speaker 1: His witness nation. And they were in part and temporarily,
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Speaker 1: and then of course they failed and had to be
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Speaker 1: set aside, and a new people was called out, namely
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Speaker 1: the church. But I believe again, in the end, in
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Speaker 1: the future, at the great testimony of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists,
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Speaker 1: the nations will hear and fear the Lord and turn
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Speaker 1: to Christ. One psalm further, Psalm 68. Verse 32, sing
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Speaker 1: to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to
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Speaker 1: the Lord. From the very beginning, there was a call
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Speaker 1: to Gentile salvation. Psalm 98 will be the last psalm
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Speaker 1: that I'll draw to your attention, although there are other
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Speaker 1: places you can find. In verse 3 of Psalm 98,
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Speaker 1: you have it summed up very well. He has remembered
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Speaker 1: His lovingkindness.
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Speaker 2: And His faithfulness to the house of Israel.
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Speaker 1: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation
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Speaker 1: of our God. In other words, God put His saving
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Speaker 1: power on display through Israel. in order that He might
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Speaker 1: reach the nations of the world. Israel was never, ever
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Speaker 1: called His people to be an end in themselves. They
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Speaker 1: thought that. That wasn't God's plan. God didn't save them
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Speaker 1: as an end. He saved them as a means to
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Speaker 1: reaching the nations of the world. And eventually, though they
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Speaker 1: failed the first time, they will succeed the second time
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Speaker 1: as God converts them, sets aside these marvelous witnesses preach
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Speaker 1: and the result is massive Gentile salvation. Look at Isaiah
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Speaker 1: chapter 11 verse 10, it will come about in that day,
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Speaker 1: and here we're looking at the future time of the
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Speaker 1: glorious reign of the Messiah, it will come about in
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Speaker 1: that day that the nations will resort to the root
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Speaker 1: of Jesse, that's a messianic term, they will turn to
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Speaker 1: the Lord the Messiah. And He will stand as a
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Speaker 1: signal for the peoples. That means Gentiles. And His resting
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Speaker 1: place will be glorious. In other words, there's coming a
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Speaker 1: time when the nations of the world bow their knee
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Speaker 1: to the Messiah. Isaiah 49 deserves at least a look
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Speaker 1: in verse 6. And I'll read it to you and
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Speaker 1: just make a brief comment. Isaiah 49, verse 6. He says,
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Speaker 1: it is too small a thing that you should be
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Speaker 1: My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and
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Speaker 1: to restore the preserved ones of Israel.
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Speaker 2: That wouldn't be enough. It's too small.
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Speaker 1: I will also make you a light of the nations
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Speaker 1: so that My salvation may reach to the end of
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Speaker 1: the earth. Always God's plan with Israel was through them
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Speaker 1: to reach the world.
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Speaker 2: Just as when they were set aside.
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Speaker 1: His plan was through the church to reach the world
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Speaker 1: as made clear in the Great Commission. Go into all
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Speaker 1: the world and preach the gospel to every creature. In
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Speaker 1: Isaiah 52 10, it says, the Lord has bared His
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Speaker 1: holy arm in the sight of all the nations that
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Speaker 1: all the ends of the earth may see the salvation
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Speaker 1: of our God. That looks to that future time when
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Speaker 1: the Messiah comes and the world is going to see
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Speaker 1: the power of God. And as they see the power
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Speaker 1: of God, They will be saved. Joel, the prophet, has
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Speaker 1: something to say about this that demands our attention. In
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Speaker 1: Joel chapter 2 verse 28, it will come about after
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Speaker 1: this that I'll pour out My Spirit on all mankind.
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Speaker 1: And this looks at the future glorious kingdom. Your sons,
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Speaker 1: your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams.
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Speaker 1: Your young men will see visions. Here what you have
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Speaker 1: in the kingdom is all mankind. All mankind in the
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Speaker 1: millennial kingdom. What that means is they have to be
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Speaker 1: redeemed during the time of the tribulation to go into
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Speaker 1: the kingdom because there will be no unbelievers in the kingdom.
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Speaker 2: Initially.
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Speaker 1: Some will be born and reject. But there will be
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Speaker 1: believers from all mankind going into the kingdom as the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of God is poured out on them all.
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Speaker 2: And, of course, that's repeated in Acts chapter 2.
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Speaker 1: Now go into the New Testament, Matthew 24, very, very
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Speaker 1: familiar turf for us in dealing with these eschatological issues.
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Speaker 1: Matthew 24, 14. Now we're in this chapter right now
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Speaker 1: in the time of tribulation. Verse 14 says, the gospel
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Speaker 1: of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world
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Speaker 1: for a witness to all nations, and then the end
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Speaker 1: will come. So right before the end of the tribulation,
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Speaker 1: when the Lord comes back and sets up His kingdom,
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Speaker 1: there will be worldwide gospel preaching across the face of
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Speaker 1: the earth. That is part of the Lord's plan for
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Speaker 1: the period we know as the tribulation. And the Messiah
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Speaker 1: is one called in Luke 2.32, a light of revelation
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Speaker 1: to the Gentiles as.
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Speaker 2: Well as the glory of the people of Israel.
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Speaker 1: Well, clearly then from those and many other scriptures, God
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Speaker 1: has promised salvation to the Gentile world and it will
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Speaker 1: come to pass. In John 11, one of the most
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Speaker 1: curious prophecies in all the Bible because it was given
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Speaker 1: by an avowed hater of Christ by the name of Caiaphas,
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Speaker 1: he made this statement, simple statement, it is expedient for
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Speaker 1: you that one man should die for the people and
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Speaker 1: that the whole nation shouldn't perish. He meant one thing,
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Speaker 1: but God put those words in his mouth and meant
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Speaker 1: something else. In verse 51, now this he didn't say
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Speaker 1: on his own initiative, but being high priest that year,
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Speaker 1: he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation.
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Speaker 1: Then verse 52, and not for the nation only, but
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Speaker 1: that He might also gather together into one the children
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Speaker 1: of God who were scattered abroad.
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Speaker 2: Not just for Israel, but the world.
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Speaker 1: And there again, the promise that Christ died to redeem
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Speaker 1: people from the world, Romans 3. Is God the God
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Speaker 1: of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes,
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Speaker 1: of Gentiles also, Romans 3, 29.
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Speaker 2: When is this going to happen?
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Speaker 1: Oh yes, there are Gentiles coming to Christ all the time,
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Speaker 1: but when is this great massive revival that's going to
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Speaker 1: sweep Gentiles from across the face of the earth, when
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Speaker 1: is this going to happen? Let's look at Revelation 7,
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Speaker 1: verse 9 and find out. After these things I looked
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Speaker 1: and behold a great multitude which no one could count,
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Speaker 1: from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues,
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Speaker 1: standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in
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Speaker 1: white robes and palm branches were in their hands. And
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Speaker 1: they cried out with a loud voice saying, Salvation to
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Speaker 1: our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
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Speaker 1: And all the angels were standing around the throne and
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Speaker 1: around the elders and the four living creatures, and they
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Speaker 1: fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, Amen,
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Speaker 1: blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
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Speaker 1: power and might be to our God forever and ever.
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Speaker 2: Amen.
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Speaker 1: And one of the elders answered, saying to me, These
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Speaker 1: who are clothed in the white robes, who are they?
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Speaker 1: And from where have they come? And I said to him,
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Speaker 1: My Lord, you know. And he said to me, these
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Speaker 1: are the ones who come out of the great tribulation,
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Speaker 1: and they have washed their robes and made them white
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Speaker 1: in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they
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Speaker 1: are before the throne of God, and they serve Him
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Speaker 1: day and night in His temple. And He who sits
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Speaker 1: on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They
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Speaker 1: shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
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Speaker 1: the sun beat down on them, nor any heat.
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Speaker 2: For the Lamb is the center of the throne.
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Speaker 1: The Lamb in the center of the throne shall be
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Speaker 1: their shepherd and shall guide them to the springs of
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Speaker 1: the water of life, and God shall wipe every tear
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Speaker 1: from their eyes. Here we find According to verse 9,
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Speaker 1: a multitude beyond counting from every nation and all tribes
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Speaker 1: and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and singing
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Speaker 1: about salvation.
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Speaker 2: Who are they? And where did they come from? John
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Speaker 2: is asked. To which he replies, you tell me.
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Speaker 1: As our text unfolds, we're going to meet this group
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Speaker 1: and we're going to find out not only the answer
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Speaker 1: to John's question, but some other things. Let's begin with
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Speaker 1: some key words. The first word is description. It starts
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Speaker 1: out with a description. The description, of course, is in
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Speaker 1: verse 9. It says, a great multitude beyond counting out
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Speaker 1: of every nation, tribe, people, and tongue.
23:02
Speaker 2: Standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
23:07
Speaker 1: Now all kinds of suggestions have been offered as to
23:09
Speaker 1: who these people are.
23:11
Speaker 2: You read it and probably say, well, it's pretty obvious
23:14
Speaker 2: who they are. I mean, there are people from every nation.
23:16
Speaker 1: And over there in verse 14, it says they came
23:18
Speaker 1: out of the great tribulation and pretty clear. Well, you'd
23:21
Speaker 1: be amazed at how foggy commentators can get.
23:27
Speaker 2: Some people say this refers to.
23:30
Speaker 1: All the people who have been saved through all the ages,
23:32
Speaker 1: it just sort of sums them all up.
23:35
Speaker 2: This is just a representative group of.
23:37
Speaker 1: All the people who have ever believed in God, Old Testament,
23:41
Speaker 1: New Testament, everybody is sort of represented in this group.
23:47
Speaker 2: It's just a symbolic group.
23:50
Speaker 1: Some have suggested that it represents the spirits of just
23:54
Speaker 1: men made perfect, as it says in Hebrews, the spirits
23:57
Speaker 1: of the saved who are now in heaven awaiting their bodies.
24:01
Speaker 1: Others say it is the raptured church. Some believe it
24:06
Speaker 1: is just the accumulation of all the martyrs through all
24:08
Speaker 1: the ages. Some have suggested that what you're seeing here
24:12
Speaker 1: is the millennium, and this is a millennial scene, the
24:16
Speaker 1: scene of saints. Some have even said, no, what you
24:21
Speaker 1: have here is really a symbol of the triumph of
24:25
Speaker 1: the Christian faith under the conversion of Constantine in the
24:29
Speaker 1: fourth century.
24:31
Speaker 2: That's what's called a historicist view.
24:34
Speaker 1: And then others have said, no, it's just a big
24:36
Speaker 1: general symbol of how the Christian faith will ultimately be victorious. Well,
24:43
Speaker 1: let's look at the description and find out who these
24:45
Speaker 1: people are. John begins by saying, after these things I looked,
24:51
Speaker 1: and I comment on that because that's a kind of
24:53
Speaker 1: a key little phrase. When he says, after this I looked,
24:59
Speaker 1: or back in verse 1, after this I saw, or
25:03
Speaker 1: back in chapter 4, verse 1, after these things I looked,
25:08
Speaker 1: each time that phrase is there, we have a new vision.
25:13
Speaker 1: So starting here in verse 9, we have a vision
25:15
Speaker 1: that is separate from the one in Chapter 7, verses
25:19
Speaker 1: 1 to 8, different from the vision in chapters 4
25:22
Speaker 1: and 5. The phrase is used to mark off a
25:25
Speaker 1: new vision distinct from the previous one. And then he says, behold,
25:31
Speaker 1: which puts exclamation in it. It's a startling vision. It's
25:34
Speaker 1: a shocking vision. Now remember, by the time John was
25:39
Speaker 1: on the Isle of Patmos in his old age, in
25:41
Speaker 1: say 96 A.D., and this is 30 years after the
25:45
Speaker 1: last real apostolic action, and he's really alone as it
25:51
Speaker 1: were now in receiving revelation that late in the century,
25:54
Speaker 1: by that time he knows Gentile churches have been established
25:57
Speaker 1: all over every place. He knows that Asia Minor has
26:00
Speaker 1: been evangelized by the Apostle Paul. He knows that Timothy
26:03
Speaker 1: and Titus have been working in their respective areas, and
26:06
Speaker 1: there have been others who have evangelized Gentiles. So he
26:09
Speaker 1: knows the Gentiles are going to come to Christ.
26:12
Speaker 2: He knows that.
26:13
Speaker 1: But what he sees here is way beyond what he
26:16
Speaker 1: could even imagine. For the most part, it should be
26:19
Speaker 1: obvious to you that the Gentile churches were not large.
26:23
Speaker 2: They were beleaguered in many ways and.
26:26
Speaker 1: For all intents and purposes, the Gentile churches that we
26:29
Speaker 1: know in the biblical sense that existed in Asia Minor
26:33
Speaker 1: have for the most part passed out of existence. There
26:36
Speaker 1: is nothing left of the testimony today in most cases.
26:41
Speaker 1: And so they were small and beleaguered and persecuted and
26:45
Speaker 1: to see a massive Gentile multitude Singing salvation to our
26:51
Speaker 1: God was a very shocking experience. Now this is different
26:59
Speaker 1: than the 144,000, although some other commentator wrote that he
27:02
Speaker 1: thought this was another way to describe the 144,000, which
27:06
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense to me since it tells you they're Jews,
27:08
Speaker 1: names the tribes, and these are not, they're from the nations.
27:13
Speaker 1: But he sees them as separate. Let me show you
27:16
Speaker 1: how they are different. First of all, the number of
27:18
Speaker 1: people here is indefinite, and the number of people in
27:21
Speaker 1: the prior vision is definite, 144,000. Secondly, the tribes of
27:25
Speaker 1: Israel were mentioned there. Here, every nation and tribe and
27:29
Speaker 1: people and tongue. And there the people were prepared for
27:34
Speaker 1: perilous persecution. Here they are victorious and beyond any persecution.
27:40
Speaker 1: So it is a distinctive group and a distinctive vision
27:43
Speaker 1: that John sees. And as I said, it's a shocking
27:46
Speaker 1: thing for him to see Christianity for which he is
27:51
Speaker 1: now suffering exile on the island of Patmos. And he's
27:55
Speaker 1: going to be sending these letters, these seven letters to
27:58
Speaker 1: the churches.
27:59
Speaker 2: Only two of those churches were faithful.
28:01
Speaker 1: Five of them were into sin at one level and
28:04
Speaker 1: some of them were even told that they were going
28:06
Speaker 1: to pass out of existence if they didn't shape up.
28:09
Speaker 1: John has probably got the worst case scenario in his mind.
28:14
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, in spite of the littleness
28:17
Speaker 1: of the church, he sees the massive volume of Gentiles
28:21
Speaker 1: in this vision.
28:24
Speaker 2: What hope that must have put into his heart. What joy.
28:28
Speaker 2: What exuberance. What exhilaration. What anticipation.
28:33
Speaker 1: He said, I saw an aklaspalus, a large multitude. And
28:40
Speaker 1: then he says, which no man could count. The number
28:45
Speaker 1: was too high. The crowd was too large. God knew,
28:49
Speaker 1: but it couldn't be counted. Well, they counted a million
28:53
Speaker 1: in Nineveh. They counted 3,000 on Pentecost and kept counting
28:58
Speaker 1: and counting in the early years of the church so
29:00
Speaker 1: they could count to some degree, but not this crowd.
29:03
Speaker 2: This is beyond counting.
29:08
Speaker 1: I'm sure if there were some modern evangelists there, they'd
29:10
Speaker 1: figure a way, but it can't be done humanly. And
29:15
Speaker 1: these people come from every nation and all tribes and
29:20
Speaker 1: peoples and tongues. Now that same fourfold description appears, as
29:27
Speaker 1: you remember earlier, in the book of Revelation. It is
29:31
Speaker 1: a way to designate the people of the world. It
29:35
Speaker 1: is a way to identify broadly and comprehensively the people
29:42
Speaker 1: of the world, every nation, tribe, people, tongue. As we
29:47
Speaker 1: noted earlier in our study of this tremendous book, those
29:51
Speaker 1: four things speak about descent, language, race, and political association.
29:58
Speaker 1: And it's just crisscrossing them so that nothing is left out,
30:02
Speaker 1: no one is left out. By the way, that same
30:04
Speaker 1: phrase appears again and again. It appears back in chapter 5,
30:10
Speaker 1: verse 9, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. At that
30:13
Speaker 1: time we went into it in detail. You'll find it
30:15
Speaker 1: again in chapter 11, verse 9. from the peoples and
30:19
Speaker 1: tribes and tongues and nations, and you find it in
30:21
Speaker 1: chapter 13, verse 7, chapter 14, verse 6. It just
30:25
Speaker 1: means the mass of humanity crossing all barriers, all lines.
30:31
Speaker 1: The persecuted believers fleeing and preaching all over the world,
30:37
Speaker 1: the flying angel with the everlasting gospel, the two witnesses,
30:41
Speaker 1: the 144,000 are going to be going all over the
30:44
Speaker 1: place preaching the gospel, and they're going to ignite a
30:47
Speaker 1: revival that is going to result in this massive number
30:51
Speaker 1: of people embracing Christ. I suppose we could conclude that
30:56
Speaker 1: the church may not succeed in reaching every nation, but
30:59
Speaker 1: the tribulation saints will.
31:01
Speaker 2: They're going to get a little help. They're going to
31:02
Speaker 2: get some help from the miraculous.
31:05
Speaker 1: The two witnesses who have a miraculous ministry and even
31:07
Speaker 1: are risen from the dead in front of the whole
31:10
Speaker 1: gaze of the world. The angel flying through the heavens
31:14
Speaker 1: preaching the everlasting gospel in some supernatural way, like some
31:18
Speaker 1: supernatural celestial sky writer. And then the 144,000 who are
31:25
Speaker 1: sealed and protected from any harm doing the same thing.
31:28
Speaker 1: and then the persecuted believers who are running everywhere calling
31:31
Speaker 1: people to come to Christ for whom they are willing
31:35
Speaker 1: to die. Now, they are further described. Look back at
31:38
Speaker 1: verse 9. They are further described at the end of
31:42
Speaker 1: the verse as being clothed in white robes and palm
31:45
Speaker 1: branches were in their hands. Now, first of all, being
31:49
Speaker 1: clothed in white robes gives us some insight into their condition.
31:55
Speaker 1: The word white is a word that doesn't really conjure
31:58
Speaker 1: up in English what it does in Greek. The word lukos, stolos,
32:05
Speaker 1: from which we get stole, describes a robe. Lukos, from
32:08
Speaker 1: which the word white comes, is really a word that
32:12
Speaker 1: means brilliant or dazzling. It's a dazzling, brilliant, shining light
32:17
Speaker 1: kind of white. And they have robes that are dazzling
32:21
Speaker 1: and brilliant. Now, the only other people we see in
32:25
Speaker 1: the book of Revelation who are dressed like that are
32:27
Speaker 1: back in chapter 6.
32:28
Speaker 2: Look at verse 9.
32:30
Speaker 1: And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath
32:32
Speaker 1: the altar the souls of those who had been slain
32:34
Speaker 1: because of the Word of God and because of the
32:36
Speaker 1: testimony they had maintained. And we said that sometime back
32:39
Speaker 1: in the first half of the tribulation period, even before
32:41
Speaker 1: the abomination of desolation hits at the midpoint, believers, people
32:46
Speaker 1: who have come to Christ in those first few years,
32:48
Speaker 1: are going to start to be killed. There will be persecution.
32:52
Speaker 1: People are going to begin to take the life of believers.
32:56
Speaker 1: They're going to die. They're going to die for the
32:58
Speaker 1: Word of God and the testimony that they had maintained,
33:00
Speaker 1: a testimony of Christ. And here these believers are seen
33:04
Speaker 1: in chapter 6, verse 9.
33:05
Speaker 2: They've been martyred. And it says they're under the altar.
33:09
Speaker 2: And what are they doing?
33:10
Speaker 1: Verse 10, they're crying with a loud voice,' How long,
33:12
Speaker 1: O Lord, holy and true?' Will you refrain from judging
33:15
Speaker 1: and avenging our blood on those who dwell.
33:16
Speaker 2: On the earth?
33:17
Speaker 1: And here they are, they're saying,' Lord, when are You
33:19
Speaker 1: going to stop this bloodshed? When are You going to
33:21
Speaker 1: stop this persecution? When are You going to take Your vengeance?'
33:24
Speaker 1: Verse 11,' And there was given to each of them
33:26
Speaker 1: a white robe.' There's that lukos stolas again. They were
33:30
Speaker 1: told they should rest a little while longer until the
33:33
Speaker 1: number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were
33:35
Speaker 1: to be killed, even as they had been, should be
33:37
Speaker 1: completed also. He says,' Just be patient and just wait.'
33:42
Speaker 1: and it'll happen. It's going to come. And here we
33:46
Speaker 1: find a similar group. Here are people from every tongue
33:50
Speaker 1: and nation, and they have white robes. They then would
33:53
Speaker 1: be identified with those people in chapter 6 verses 9
33:56
Speaker 1: to 11 as people who had been identified as believers
34:01
Speaker 1: and had been martyred. They are the believers martyred. not
34:07
Speaker 1: just in the first half as those in chapter 6,
34:09
Speaker 1: but now in the second half when the martyrdom is
34:12
Speaker 1: even exaggerated as Antichrist has now taken charge of everything
34:17
Speaker 1: and massacres believers everywhere he can. So here starting in
34:24
Speaker 1: the middle or starting before the middle, starting early in
34:27
Speaker 1: the first half of the tribulation or somewhere in the
34:30
Speaker 1: first half, People start to die for Christ and it
34:33
Speaker 1: accelerates and accelerates. And now there was some under an
34:37
Speaker 1: altar praying. We don't know because there's no number indicated.
34:41
Speaker 1: But from chapter 6 to chapter 7, as you move
34:43
Speaker 1: through the tribulation, that group that's under the altar has
34:47
Speaker 1: swollen to a mass that can't even be counted. And
34:50
Speaker 1: that shows us the tremendous spiritual revival that is going
34:54
Speaker 1: to happen even during a time when Christians have to
34:57
Speaker 1: pay the high price. Don't you ever think that people
35:00
Speaker 1: come to Christ when it is as easy as possible.
35:03
Speaker 1: The greatest revival the world will ever experience will come
35:06
Speaker 1: when the price is the highest it's ever been. So
35:12
Speaker 1: there they are. Phillips calls them majestic martyrs. And those
35:18
Speaker 1: white robes are symbols of exaltation. They are symbols of righteousness.
35:23
Speaker 1: They are symbols of victory. They are symbols of celebration.
35:26
Speaker 1: All of those.
35:27
Speaker 2: Things are related to the wearing of white robes.
35:31
Speaker 1: Now, there's no need to assume they had actual bodies
35:34
Speaker 1: because we know they don't have actual bodies at this time.
35:37
Speaker 2: You say, how do you know that?
35:38
Speaker 1: Because Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4 says, I saw
35:41
Speaker 1: thrones and they sat on them.
35:44
Speaker 2: And judgment was given to them.
35:46
Speaker 1: And I saw the souls of those who had been
35:49
Speaker 1: beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of
35:51
Speaker 1: the word of God. Those who had not worshipped the
35:54
Speaker 1: beast or his image and had not received the mark
35:56
Speaker 1: upon their forehead and upon their hand.
35:58
Speaker 2: And they came to life and reigned with Christ for
36:04
Speaker 2: a thousand years.
36:05
Speaker 1: So up until that time, chapter 20, verse 4, they
36:08
Speaker 1: haven't yet come to life. Verse 5, the rest of
36:12
Speaker 1: the dead didn't come to life until the thousand years
36:14
Speaker 1: were completed. This is the first resurrection. So they're still
36:18
Speaker 1: waiting for their bodies to come to life. That doesn't
36:21
Speaker 1: happen until the time for the initiation of the kingdom
36:25
Speaker 1: there as indicated in chapter 20.
36:30
Speaker 2: So here they are, just souls. You say, well, how
36:33
Speaker 2: can you put a robe on a soul? It's symbolic.
36:36
Speaker 1: If you didn't put a robe on a soul, John
36:38
Speaker 1: couldn't see it. because the soul is invisible. So the
36:42
Speaker 1: symbol of those souls is that dazzling robe that they
36:47
Speaker 1: wear that symbolizes their righteousness, their exaltation, their victory, their rejoicing.
36:53
Speaker 2: So in the vision, the souls, by the way, they're.
36:56
Speaker 1: Even called souls back in chapter 6 verse 9, the
36:59
Speaker 1: souls of those who had been slain. They don't get
37:00
Speaker 1: their bodies until as I read in Revelation chapter 20
37:04
Speaker 1: verse 4, the end of the tribulation time in preparation
37:07
Speaker 1: for entering the kingdom. Second thing about them is they
37:11
Speaker 1: have palm branches in their hands. That's a very interesting thing.
37:16
Speaker 1: Palm branches were associated with celebrations. To the ancients, the
37:22
Speaker 1: palm tree was the perfect tree because it had so
37:24
Speaker 1: many uses. I don't want to go into all of that.
37:26
Speaker 1: Look it up in your encyclopedia and you'll see. But
37:29
Speaker 1: the palm branch was, of course, a tree very familiar
37:33
Speaker 1: in that part of the world, very useful to those
37:35
Speaker 1: people because of all that it provided.
37:38
Speaker 2: And whenever there was a time of joy.
37:40
Speaker 1: Or a time of triumph or a time of celebration,
37:43
Speaker 1: palm branches became prominent.
37:44
Speaker 2: They were waved like fans or flags.
37:47
Speaker 1: You remember, for example, in John chapter 12, verse 13,
37:50
Speaker 1: the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is called Palm
37:54
Speaker 1: Sunday because the people were waving palms in their hands.
37:57
Speaker 1: They associated palms with deliverance, with celebration, with joy. Especially
38:03
Speaker 1: prominent were palms in the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast
38:07
Speaker 1: of Tabernacles was a Jewish commemorative feast, which was a
38:11
Speaker 1: remembrance of the wandering in the wilderness when the children
38:15
Speaker 1: of Israel lived in tents or tabernacles. They would use,
38:19
Speaker 1: when they reconstructed those booths, they would use palm branches
38:23
Speaker 1: for the roofs. During the Feast of Tabernacles, they would
38:25
Speaker 1: put up little booths to remember the time of their
38:28
Speaker 1: wilderness wandering, and they would put palm branches on the
38:31
Speaker 1: top as roofs. You can read in Nehemiah chapter 8
38:34
Speaker 1: verse 17 about that. Even the Greeks and the Romans
38:38
Speaker 1: would use palm branches as symbols of great celebrations and triumphant,
38:42
Speaker 1: victorious times.
38:44
Speaker 2: So here we see them in righteousness, in victory, in celebration,
38:50
Speaker 2: and the celebration.
38:51
Speaker 1: Not only represented by the white robes but by the
38:54
Speaker 1: palm branches in their hand. Now remember, the Feast of
38:56
Speaker 1: Tabernacles was in many ways the supreme feast because it
39:00
Speaker 1: remembered God had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt,
39:04
Speaker 1: which was God's great Old Testament deliverance act, and provided
39:08
Speaker 1: for them and cared for them as they wandered through
39:12
Speaker 1: the wilderness. So it has a sort of a deliverance,
39:16
Speaker 1: salvation feel. So here the palm branches are waved at
39:19
Speaker 1: the Messiah and the triumphal entry as if to say,
39:22
Speaker 1: here comes the Deliverer. And here again, we see them
39:27
Speaker 1: celebrating their salvation with symbolic palm branches. branches in their hands,
39:32
Speaker 1: a fitting backdrop for the One who had delivered them
39:37
Speaker 1: from the world, Satan, Antichrist, death and hell. So much
39:43
Speaker 1: for the description. A word about the location, back to
39:46
Speaker 1: verse 9. Where are they? It says in the middle
39:50
Speaker 1: of the verse, they were standing before the throne and
39:52
Speaker 1: before the Lamb. Now, we know where that is because
39:55
Speaker 1: we've gone through chapter 4 and chapter 5, and the
39:58
Speaker 1: throne is very clearly identified for us. Chapter 4, verse 1,
40:02
Speaker 1: John says, I looked, and behold, a door standing open
40:05
Speaker 1: in heaven. The first voice which I heard, like the
40:08
Speaker 1: sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here,
40:10
Speaker 1: and I'll show you what must take place after these things.
40:13
Speaker 1: Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne
40:15
Speaker 1: was standing in heaven.
40:17
Speaker 2: So where are they?
40:19
Speaker 1: They're not on earth, they're in heaven. These are the
40:22
Speaker 1: souls of these folks who are now in heaven. And
40:26
Speaker 1: the throne is described, the throne, it says right here
40:30
Speaker 1: in chapter 7 and verse 9 that they are standing
40:33
Speaker 1: before the throne, the throne that is described as a
40:37
Speaker 1: magnificent throne in chapters 4 and chapter 5 as well.
40:42
Speaker 1: It is the throne of God. It is the throne
40:45
Speaker 1: where the Lamb is as well. Back in chapter 5,
40:49
Speaker 1: the Lamb, verse 6, is right there in the midst
40:53
Speaker 1: of the throne, the throne of God, the throne of Christ.
40:56
Speaker 1: They're in heaven.
40:58
Speaker 2: How did they get there? Well, you have to die
41:00
Speaker 2: to go there. They died. They were martyred.
41:05
Speaker 1: Chapter 20, verse 4 that I just read to you
41:08
Speaker 1: tells us they were beheaded. They were killed because of
41:14
Speaker 1: the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of
41:16
Speaker 1: God and because they didn't worship the beast, they didn't
41:19
Speaker 1: worship His image, they didn't take His mark. And so
41:24
Speaker 1: their souls left their bodies when their bodies were killed.
41:29
Speaker 1: They died as martyrs like those in chapter 6 verses
41:32
Speaker 1: 9 to 11. Again, it says they died for the
41:35
Speaker 1: same things, because of the Word of God and because
41:37
Speaker 1: of the testimony they had maintained. And so these saints
41:48
Speaker 1: are in heaven because of death.
41:49
Speaker 2: Now let me just add this. Many of them had
41:52
Speaker 2: been martyred.
41:53
Speaker 1: Others of them had probably died in the holocausts that
41:57
Speaker 1: are going on in the world as the judgments of
42:00
Speaker 1: the first six seals hit. Others of them perhaps died
42:03
Speaker 1: through other more natural means. But here is a massive
42:08
Speaker 1: group of people, not just martyrs, but certainly in great
42:12
Speaker 1: measure martyrs, and others who have died. It is an
42:15
Speaker 1: international crowd. It is so large it defies counting. Victorious, celebrating,
42:21
Speaker 1: righteous saints who have been faithful to the testimony of
42:24
Speaker 1: Jesus and the Word of God and are now in
42:27
Speaker 1: the presence of God at His very throne.
42:31
Speaker 2: They're now out from under the altar.
42:32
Speaker 1: Would you please note that? They were under the altar
42:36
Speaker 1: praying that the Lord would take vengeance. They've now seen
42:39
Speaker 1: enough to know He's already done it. We have them
42:43
Speaker 1: praying in verses 9 to 11 of chapter 6 and
42:47
Speaker 1: the sixth seal breaks right after that and the whole
42:50
Speaker 1: universe begins to disintegrate and they.
42:52
Speaker 2: Know the end is near.
42:54
Speaker 1: And the seventh seal, the last seal, spells the final end.
42:58
Speaker 1: So they're no longer under the altar interceding, they're now
43:02
Speaker 1: standing triumphantly before the throne. They've gotten up, come out
43:05
Speaker 1: from under the altar and they're standing ready to see
43:08
Speaker 1: the triumph and to receive their resurrected bodies and come
43:13
Speaker 1: back to inherit the earthly kingdom of Christ. The third word,
43:22
Speaker 1: the first is description, the second is location. The third
43:25
Speaker 1: word that unlocks this text is action. What are they doing?
43:30
Speaker 1: Standing there, what are they doing? Well, the answer to
43:34
Speaker 1: that is in verse 10. They cried out with a
43:37
Speaker 1: loud voice saying, Salvation to our God who sits on
43:40
Speaker 1: the throne and to the Lamb.
43:42
Speaker 2: They're worshiping. That's what they're doing.
43:45
Speaker 1: Their prayers of intercession have stopped for the moment.
43:49
Speaker 2: They're not pleading, how long, oh Lord, how long are
43:51
Speaker 2: You going to let this stuff go on?
43:53
Speaker 1: Now that's changed. Now what they're doing is crying out
43:58
Speaker 1: in worship, joyful exuberance. In fact, it says they cry
44:03
Speaker 1: out with a loud voice. God likes things loud. It's
44:07
Speaker 1: interesting to me, but He does. And they say, salvation
44:13
Speaker 1: to our God who sits on the throne and to
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Speaker 1: the Lamb. Just those two words, our God, our God,
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Speaker 1: just startling. I mean, we look at our world and
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Speaker 1: we get so discouraged, don't we? Nation after nation after
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Speaker 1: nation rejecting Christ.
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Speaker 2: You look over to all of Europe.
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Speaker 1: Where Christianity was so strong once. Times of the Reformation,
44:37
Speaker 1: you look at Europe and it is dead and little, tiny, insignificant,
44:41
Speaker 1: infinitesimal churches are here and there and the great mass
44:45
Speaker 1: of humanity have rejected Jesus Christ. In Western Europe, you
44:48
Speaker 1: look at Eastern Europe and it's been locked up in
44:50
Speaker 1: communism for decades and now is emerging and trying to
44:54
Speaker 1: find its way as it screens itself through the religions
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Speaker 1: of the world.
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Speaker 2: You look at.
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Speaker 1: Latin America and you see it steeped in an unbiblical
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Speaker 1: and non-saving kind of Catholic system. You look at Canada
45:08
Speaker 1: and it's as pagan as the United States or more
45:10
Speaker 1: so indifferent to religion, few churches having impact. You look
45:14
Speaker 1: at Asia and it is steeped in all kinds of
45:17
Speaker 1: false religious systems. You look at India and you just
45:20
Speaker 1: keep moving around the globe and you say, where are
45:23
Speaker 1: the believing people?
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Speaker 2: You look at Africa, the same thing.
45:29
Speaker 1: But here is a mass of humanity from everywhere and
45:33
Speaker 1: they're saying, salvation to our God.
45:38
Speaker 2: God has become their God.
45:40
Speaker 1: And they're now worshiping the God who sits on the
45:43
Speaker 1: throne and they're worshiping the Lamb.
45:46
Speaker 2: They've had a change of heart.
45:49
Speaker 1: To be real honest with you, I'm not surprised in
45:52
Speaker 1: one sense since we already know what they've just experienced.
45:56
Speaker 1: There are many people who curse God, but there will
45:59
Speaker 1: be many others when this stuff begins to break loose
46:03
Speaker 1: who will turn to the gospel under the judgments that
46:08
Speaker 1: are falling. This multitude of people from all over the
46:12
Speaker 1: world are saying salvation to our God. That simply means
46:14
Speaker 1: we give Him the credit for our salvation. Salvation is
46:18
Speaker 1: the theme of their worship just like it is of ours.
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Speaker 1: They have now entered into the fullness of salvation. They've
46:24
Speaker 1: been delivered from sin and delivered from death and delivered
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Speaker 1: from hell and delivered from Satan. They're now in the
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Speaker 1: very throne room of God and they're right in His
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Speaker 1: glorious presence and the presence of the Lamb. And their
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Speaker 1: praise is very much like some others. Go back to
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Speaker 1: chapter 5 for a moment. We met a group called
46:41
Speaker 1: the 24 elders there. And at the time we studied them,
46:46
Speaker 1: I told you that it is most likely they represent
46:50
Speaker 1: the For a number of reasons, they have harps. Harps
46:56
Speaker 1: are associated with prophecy. They have bowls of incense, which
47:01
Speaker 1: are there characterized as the prayers of the saints. They
47:05
Speaker 1: are saints, and they are praying saints, and they are
47:08
Speaker 1: those who spoke and heard the word, the prophetic word.
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Speaker 1: And they sang a new song, Worthy art thou to
47:13
Speaker 1: take the book and break its seals, for thou wast
47:15
Speaker 1: slain and didst purchase for God with thy blood men
47:18
Speaker 1: from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And
47:20
Speaker 1: thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests
47:23
Speaker 1: to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.
47:26
Speaker 1: They're simply praising God for the church, praising God for
47:30
Speaker 1: redeeming the church. And here again in chapter 7, a
47:35
Speaker 1: new group shows up and they're praising God for redemption
47:38
Speaker 1: as well. They're not the church, they're a new group
47:42
Speaker 1: who have come out, verse 14 says, of the great tribulation.
47:46
Speaker 1: What we learn here is that the action of heaven
47:48
Speaker 1: is primarily praise, isn't it? Back in chapter 5, certainly
47:53
Speaker 1: we saw that the 24 elders start the praise along
47:58
Speaker 1: with the four living creatures, the four living beings. And
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Speaker 1: then there's more praise in verse 12 when all the
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Speaker 1: angelic creatures chime in and say, worthy is the Lamb
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Speaker 1: that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom
48:09
Speaker 1: and might and honor and glory and blessing. And then
48:11
Speaker 1: every created thing joins in to Him who sits on
48:14
Speaker 1: the throne to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and
48:16
Speaker 1: glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living
48:19
Speaker 1: beings kept saying amen and the elders fell down and worshiped.
48:22
Speaker 1: And that's what heaven is. It's just all praise. We
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Speaker 1: find over in chapter 11, look with me at verse 16.
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Speaker 1: There is praise in verse 15, the Kingdom of the
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Speaker 1: world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of
48:37
Speaker 1: His Christ.
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Speaker 2: He'll reign forever and ever.
48:38
Speaker 1: The twenty-four elders will sit on their thrones before God
48:41
Speaker 1: fell on their faces and worship God saying, we give thanks,
48:45
Speaker 1: O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast
48:48
Speaker 1: because Thou hast taken Thy great power and has begun
48:50
Speaker 1: to reign.
48:52
Speaker 2: Over in chapter 12 verse 10.
48:56
Speaker 1: I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the
48:58
Speaker 1: salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
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Speaker 1: and the authority of His Christ have come for the
49:03
Speaker 1: accuser of our brethren has been thrown down who accuses
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Speaker 1: them before our God day and night. And there again
49:09
Speaker 1: is the praise for salvation and power and kingdom and authority.
49:14
Speaker 1: We find it again, don't we, in chapter 19, verse 1,
49:18
Speaker 1: after these things I heard as it were a loud
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Speaker 1: voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation
49:24
Speaker 1: and glory and power belong to our God. They're always
49:28
Speaker 1: singing about salvation in heaven. That's because it's the redeemed
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Speaker 1: and the saved that are doing the singing. By the way,
49:38
Speaker 1: all of the worship of heaven is to be focused
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Speaker 1: on God and the Redeemer. Chapter 19 verse 10, John
49:43
Speaker 1: falls down to worship an angel and he says,' Don' t
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Speaker 1: do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and your
49:49
Speaker 1: brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus.
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Speaker 2: Worship God.' Over in chapter 22.
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Speaker 1: Verse 9, John says he did it again. He fell
50:00
Speaker 1: down at the feet of the angel and he said,'
50:02
Speaker 1: Don' t do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours, your brethren,
50:04
Speaker 1: the prophets, and those who heed the words of this book.
50:06
Speaker 1: Worship God.' All the worship in heaven focuses on God
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Speaker 1: and the Lamb. Well, we meet then a.
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Speaker 2: Group of redeemed and.
50:23
Speaker 1: Ascended souls in the presence of God engaged in worship.
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Speaker 1: Let me introduce just one more word, and I won't
50:35
Speaker 1: cover all of it. because it's so wonderful. But I
50:38
Speaker 1: want to give you the fourth word, and that's the
50:39
Speaker 1: word association. I already told you that they have a song,
50:46
Speaker 1: a hymn of praise, very much like the 24 elders.
50:49
Speaker 1: But I want you to notice in verse 11, and
50:53
Speaker 1: all the angels were standing around the throne.
50:57
Speaker 2: And around the elders and the four living creatures.
51:00
Speaker 1: And they fell on their faces before the throne and
51:02
Speaker 1: worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and
51:05
Speaker 1: thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our
51:08
Speaker 1: God forever and ever. Amen.
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Speaker 2: Association. It must be wonderful. It must be wonderful to
51:21
Speaker 2: go to heaven and hang around holy angels. It must
51:25
Speaker 2: be wonderful.
51:27
Speaker 1: When you know what a wretched, vile, rotten, undeserving sinner
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Speaker 1: you are, and only by God's grace are you there,
51:34
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden wake up someday and be
51:36
Speaker 1: in the presence of holy angels standing before the throne
51:38
Speaker 1: of God and the throne of the Lamb, that's a
51:41
Speaker 1: pretty classy association. And that's where these folks find themselves.
51:49
Speaker 1: In fact, their very presence and their very worship elicits
51:54
Speaker 1: the worship.
51:56
Speaker 2: Of the angels.
51:58
Speaker 1: And it says in verse 11, and all the angels,
52:00
Speaker 1: it's pontes, it's emphatic, and all the angels, those worshiping,
52:07
Speaker 1: celebrating creatures that God designed to praise Him are stimulated
52:13
Speaker 1: and they all join in praise. After all, that's their,
52:16
Speaker 1: as the French say, raison d'etre, that's their reason to be.
52:22
Speaker 1: We have heard them doing it before, haven't we, in
52:24
Speaker 1: chapter 4 and chapter 5. They're joining in. You say,
52:30
Speaker 1: have they ever experienced salvation?
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Speaker 2: No.
52:33
Speaker 1: No.
52:34
Speaker 2: Angels don't experience salvation.
52:36
Speaker 1: The ones that fell are damned and can't be saved,
52:39
Speaker 1: and the ones that didn't fall aren't lost, don't need
52:41
Speaker 1: to be saved. But they're very curious about salvation because
52:46
Speaker 1: it's something they can't experience. 1 Peter 1.12 says, angels
52:50
Speaker 1: long to look into it. They want to understand this
52:58
Speaker 1: miraculous thing that God does called saving people. In Ephesians 3,
53:07
Speaker 1: we are reminded that the Lord saves the church so
53:12
Speaker 1: that He can make known through the church, through the
53:16
Speaker 1: salvation of the church, to the rulers and the authorities
53:18
Speaker 1: in the heavenly places His manifold wisdom. His saving work,
53:23
Speaker 1: they can't experience, but they're fascinated by it, and it
53:26
Speaker 1: puts God's power on display. They have never experienced and
53:31
Speaker 1: never will experience salvation, but they love to praise God
53:35
Speaker 1: for it. And so there is an immense crowd coming
53:43
Speaker 1: into the presence of God, wearing robes of righteousness, triumphant, victorious,
53:50
Speaker 1: celebrating God. who spend their time worshiping God with such
53:55
Speaker 1: worship for salvation that it elicits the attendant praise of
54:01
Speaker 1: all the angels, all of them. Well, in conclusion, and
54:11
Speaker 1: we'll save the rest for next time, in conclusion tonight,
54:16
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but that gives me a
54:18
Speaker 1: lot of hope, doesn't it, you? It's wonderful to know
54:21
Speaker 1: that We struggle along in this life and we have
54:26
Speaker 1: such strong desires and such intense wishes that the gospel triumphs.
54:31
Speaker 1: And as I said this morning, you know, it's inexplicable
54:33
Speaker 1: to me how people can hear the gospel and walk
54:36
Speaker 1: away from a rational standpoint.
54:39
Speaker 2: It's irrational.
54:41
Speaker 1: It is absolute folly, foolishness, idiocy, mindlessness, and sometimes we
54:50
Speaker 1: Christians do.
54:52
Speaker 2: Get a martyr complex, don't we? We feel like we're outnumbered.
54:58
Speaker 1: I think a lot of Christians thought when Clinton got
55:00
Speaker 1: elected that was the end of the Christian faith.
55:04
Speaker 2: There was tremendous despair.
55:08
Speaker 1: And you know, we want to crawl into our little
55:10
Speaker 1: corner and say, you know, just a few of us,
55:13
Speaker 1: you know, like Elijah, I, only I am left.
55:17
Speaker 2: We're on the losing end of this deal.
55:20
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to be a part of
55:21
Speaker 1: the conquering force. Well, the day is coming when by
55:25
Speaker 1: God's grace and His mercy, the gospel will triumph. It
55:31
Speaker 1: will triumph across the world and the promise of salvation
55:34
Speaker 1: to the nations of the earth will come to pass.
55:38
Speaker 1: It will be the best of times during the worst
55:41
Speaker 1: of times. But that's just like God who in the
55:46
Speaker 1: midst of wrath remembers mercy in the midst of judgment,
55:51
Speaker 1: remembers grace. More about this group next time.
55:56
Speaker 2: Let's pray.
55:58
Speaker 1: Father, what wonderful, triumphant, victorious news this is, that while
56:06
Speaker 1: the world will get worse and worse and plunge into
56:10
Speaker 1: the darkness of the time of tribulation and the horror
56:13
Speaker 1: of Antichrist's rule and Hell belching loose demons all over
56:19
Speaker 1: the globe and Satan and demons being cast out of
56:23
Speaker 1: the sky as it were and down to the earth
56:25
Speaker 1: will exaggerate anything this world has ever known about evil.
56:30
Speaker 1: Withholding of the restraining work of the Holy Spirit will
56:33
Speaker 1: let sin run amok and unchecked. Satan will have his
56:37
Speaker 1: day and have his way. The horrors of devastating judgment
56:42
Speaker 1: will fall. It all would seem so bleak if it
56:45
Speaker 1: weren't for this wonderful little chapter that says, but in
56:49
Speaker 1: the midst Israel will be saved and become the nation
56:53
Speaker 1: of evangelists that you wanted them to be originally. And
56:58
Speaker 1: through their instrumentation and their faithfulness, the gospel will reach
57:04
Speaker 1: the farthest corners of the world and you will redeem
57:08
Speaker 1: a people for yourself.
57:12
Speaker 2: The few.
57:13
Speaker 1: who find it will become many. We thank you for
57:18
Speaker 1: that triumphant future that you will be vindicated, that the
57:23
Speaker 1: work of Jesus Christ will culminate in that great revival.
57:30
Speaker 1: In the meantime, Lord, help us to know the gospel
57:32
Speaker 1: can still triumph in the hearts of those.
57:38
Speaker 2: Who are open. Give us open hearts, Lord, to reach
57:43
Speaker 2: and to teach. In Christ's name, amen.
57:49
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