Revelation 7:4-9 The 144,000 Greg L Bahnsen /Revelation Verse By Verse {Part 26 of 63}

Thank you for this glorious morning. You've given us the beauty of it. We thank you for your creation that teaches us in such a marvelous fashion who you are and what you are, what you require of us. Lord, we would recognize the far surpassing beauty of our Savior Jesus Christ, and that revelation of yourself that he brings to us. We thank you that he has revealed himself in the pages of Scripture and that this book that we're now studying this day holds for us message of hope and encouragement, a message that teaches us how to live in the midst of adversity. We pray that we would be of soft heart to receive that message and that your spirit might empower us and strengthen us to obey it. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. We're in chapter seven of the book of Revelation, and I'd like to read the entire chapter again this morning. And we'll begin our consideration with the question, who are the 144,000 sealed saints? And who belongs to the innumerable number of the great multitude? And then we'll try to get through the rest of the chapter today, but I have my doubts that we'll be able to. But that'll be our goal anyway. After this. I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or on the sea, or upon any tree. And I saw another angel ascend from the sun, rising, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a great voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we shall have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were sealed, 440 and 4000 sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel, of the tribe of Judah were sealed. Twelve thousand of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed. Twelve thousand. After these things I saw and behold a great multitude which no man could number out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes and Palms in their hands, and they cry with a great voice, saying, salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about the throne and about the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God, saying, amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, these that are arrayed in the white robes, who are they? And whence came they? And I say unto him, my Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they that come out of the great tribulation. And they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more. Neither shall the sun strike upon them nor any heat. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. That's a beautiful chapter, isn't? Begins with the angels at the four corners of the earth, restraining the judgmental wind of God from blowing upon the earth and harming the earth and the trees and the sea. And then after that short introduction, John sees an angel ascending from the sun, rising from the source of blessing, from the. From the source of light, from the east, an angel in the east arising, having the seal of the living God. Now, somebody rehearsed for me what we said last week about the seal of the living God. What is the general a use of a seal in the ancient world? Yes, and an earnest is the English archaic way of saying what? It's another down payment, right? The first installment, the guarantee. Okay, so a seal would be like a down payment, but even more, the seal marked ownership and protection. And to violate, like the seal of a king is to violate the person of the king. And one would be subject to severe punishment if he did that. Now, this angel arising from the east has the seal of the living God. What's the importance of the title the living God? Always takes us a little while to get warmed up here, doesn't it? Well, as opposed to what? The dead God. Right. The impotent gods of the pagans. Here you have the living and true God, the Creator and Redeemer, the one who's sovereign over History, who works in history. The living God has a seal. And we go on to see that the reason the earth and the sea and the trees are not to be hurt is because first God's people must be sealed. Must be sealed. Sealed where? On their foreheads. So that's a literal mark of God upon the forehead of every believer. Right. So you can tell who are the Christians and who aren't the Christians by what's on their foreheads. Obviously, it's a symbolic kind of indication. And the seal on the forehead of the saints is in contrast to what that we find on the foreheads of those who are not saints. The mark of the beast. Should we expect the mark of the beast to be any more literal than is the mark of the seal of God on the forehead of believers? No, we shouldn't. Okay. Everybody has a mark on his forehead. Symbolically speaking, everybody belongs to God or belongs to the beast. And that in itself is worth probably an hour's worth of reflection, maybe even a sermon on it. But the fact is that people who are not subject to the decree of the living God, who don't come under his covenant and its blessings, they are under the covenant of the beast. They are, in one form or another, under absolute allegiance to the state or to some humanistic organization or to some humanistic aspect of man. Now, the reason that the saints of God have to be sealed is to mark God's ownership and protection on them. What Old Testament story does that remind you of? The Passover. Exactly. The saints of God in the Old Testament marked their doorways, you see on the side, post and lintel, over the top, with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. So when the angel of death came through Egypt that night, it passed over the houses of God's people. It saw the mark of ownership, the mark of salvation there, and so would not strike dead the firstborn of the Hebrews. And in the prophecy of Ezekiel, we see that there's a similar type of symbolic use of this marking procedure. When a man with an inkhorn was to go through all of Jerusalem, marking on the forehead those people who truly belong to God. And then when God sends his judgment against Jerusalem, there will be a protection for the people marked with his particular ownership. All right, that. By way of review, John then tells us in verse four, I heard the number of them that were sealed, 144,000 sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel. Then he lists the tribes, and we'll talk about the listing here in a moment. Verse 9. After these things I saw and behold a great multitude which no man could number. And this multitude comes out of every nation and tribe and people and tongue. And a good. A good homework assignment for anybody who would like to exercise his skills in biblical hermeneutics is to try to decide who belongs to the 144,000, who belongs to the great multitude, if they are different, if they are the same, then who they are. Last week we began a discussion of this, and the various answers come down to this. Of course, either the 144,000 in the great multitude are different or they're the same. That's obvious enough. But there's the question of whether it's a literal indication or a spiritual indication or a symbolic indication of the membership of these two groups, and then whether it refers to spiritual Israel in the first case case or to literal Israel in the first case. And then finally whether either one of these groups refers specifically to the martyrs. And as I recall, I got about as far as indicating that the martyrs are not being spoken of here. There's nothing in the context to indicate that it would be specifically martyrs that are being referred to. And then I went on to suggest that the 144,000 really pertain to spiritual Israel to the church. And let me just review the evidence for that in terms of the broader context of the New Testament. You will see in James the first chapter and Luke 22 that the church of Jesus Christ is referred to as the 12 tribes. And in First Peter chapter one, the church is referred to as the Dispersion, which is another common term in the New Testament era for the Jews who were scattered throughout Asia Minor because of the deportation of the Jews in the Old Testament. Those who never came back, of course, formed colonies throughout various ancient cities, and they were called the dispersed or the dispersion. Peter calls the church the Dispersion. In Romans the second chapter, the Christian is called the true Jew over a over against the Pseudo Jew who is only circumcised in an external way and is not circumcised apart in Titus 2:14, the church is called God's peculiar people. The exact language applied in the Old Testament to the Jews. They were his peculiar people. Abraham's seed According to Galatians 3:29 are all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. In Philippians 3, the circumcision are called believers in Jesus Christ. And in Galatians 6, the Israel of God is applied to the church in a benediction of Paul's over the church. Now John himself in the Book of Revelation, against that New Testament background, speaks of certain pseudo Jews. Revelation 2:9, Revelation 3:9. Moreover, John regards the Christian's home in Revelation 21 as the new Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem has the names of the twelve tribes on its gates. So I suggest that given the New Testament background, and then more particularly, the Context of Revelation 144,000 should be seen as those who are truly God's people, the true heirs of the promise, the true Israel of God. The great multitude then includes all nations, including Israel, because Israel is one of the nations, one of the tribes, and the 144,000 thus would be spiritual Israel. Now, before I go on to support this, I want you to have clearly in mind two alternative theories so that as we explore the evidence, you can be, you know, sorting it out and deciding, you know, what really is supported and what isn't. One would be the view of Dr. Adams at Westminster Seminary, formerly at Westminster, who in his Commentary on Revelation, writes that the 144,000 are Christian Jews. This is something of a unique blend of the two alternative theories. He says it is literal Israel that's being referred to here, but being referred to symbolically. That it's 144,000 isn't to be taken literally, but the fact that they are Jews is to be taken literally. And specifically, these are the Christian Jews in Jerusalem at the time of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. We've already seen in chapter six that there is an allusion to the fall of Jerusalem, a fairly clear allusion to the fall of Jerusalem. And we're going to see in chapter 8, 9, and 10 a detailed prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem. And so Dr. Adams thinks that these are Christians, spiritual Israel, but Christians among literal Israel, the 12 tribes. Okay, so that. That's a rather unique theory today. A blend of the two and then over against that is perhaps the most popular view, popular in terms of what is being published and preached over the radio and all that. That's the view of premillennialism. And I'd like to read for you a little bit out of Hal Lindsay's commentary in the Book of Revelation so that you'll understand exactly what they believe. All right, after this section. In Revelation 7, verses 4 to 8, Lindsay says, who says, the tribes are lost? I never cease to be amazed at how far afield many interpreters go when they approach the Book of Revelation. This particular passage seems to drive some to new heights of imagination. Some say that these couldn't possibly be literal Jews. Others add that the numbers certainly are merely symbols, not to be taken literally. To all of this sort of speculation, I say, why not? The fact that God redeems 144,000 literal Jews and ordains them his evangelists not only makes good sense, but fits in with the counsel of God's purposes, as previously noted in the introduction to this chapter. So may I say loud and clear, the 144,000 described here are not Jehovah's witnesses or Mormon elders or some symbol of the church. They are Jews. Jews, Jews. It's amazing to realize that even though most Jews today don't know which tribe they stem from, God does. And he selects 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. There's a religious group called the British Israelites who believe that the 10 tribes. Well, I'll skip the rest of that. He says he doesn't agree with Herbert Armstrong and his son Garner Ted on that, but I wouldn't expect that he would. Okay, as you read through the list of the 12 tribes in verses five through eight, perhaps you notice that two of the original tribes, Dan and Ephraim, are missing and that two others are substituted in their places. Okay, I'll give you his interpretation first of that fact. Many scholars believe that the tribe of Dan is missing because the Jewish Antichrist, the false prophet, will come from it. This certainly seems to be the meaning of the ancient prophecy that Jacob gave about the tribes of Israel in the last days. In Genesis 49, we read, Dan will be a serpent in the way, a venomous viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. Now, Lindsay says that certainly is a prophecy of the Jewish Antichrist. Ephraim is left out because it led the way in causing the civil war which divided the 10 tribes of the north from the two in the south. The tribes of Dan and Ephraim were the first to lead Israel into idolatry. Individual members of these tribes can certainly be brought into God's kingdom by faith, but no representatives of these tribes are given the honor of being the great evangelists of God. In the Tribulation, the priestly tribe of Levi is substituted for Dan and Joseph, Ephraim's father, is substituted for Ephraim. All right, the 144,000 are going to be God's evangelists during the tribulation. He says, how are the 144,000 to be converted? By the way, the tribulation, remember, on this theory, is a future event seven years in length, or three and a half years in length, depending on you know how you focus on that. And it's going to be a great time of turmoil in the world. Previous to it, those who belong to Jesus Christ will have been raptured from the face of the earth. And then 144,000 Jews are going to be left as God's evangelists. But how are they going to be converted? Many have asked the question, if all the Christians are snatched out of the world in the Rapture, how are these evangelists going to be saved? There are several ways. Some Jews will have been witnessed to by Christian friends and will surely have heard something about prophecy related to the disappearance of Christ followers. Though it may sound wild to them now, when cloud fulls of Christians all around the world are suddenly missing, the Holy Spirit will convince his selected witnesses that the Gospel message is indeed true and they will believe. And so, first of all, you see it's the doctrine of the Rapture that's going to convince these Jews that they were wrong all along. The difficulty is a good number of godly Christian exegetes have a hard time even now before the Rapture, finding any evidence in the Scripture that it's taught there. And even without that, the advantage of the premillennialists to exegete the passages for us, without them being here, the Jews are going to be converted. Others will surely be perplexed by this strange phenomenon of missing people and will not accept the reasons given by various satanically inspired groups. They will seek out an answer, find Christian literature of years past which explains the prophetic gospel, then believe. And for that reason, William E. Blackstone buried hundreds of Bibles in the deserts of Israel, so that those who were left, those Jews left after the Rapture, would have some way of reading the prophetic Scriptures and coming to faith. And so others are going to be searching for an answer. And the Bibles left behind will give it to some. Jesus may even appear in person in much the same way he did to Saul of Tarsus who became the Apostle Paul. It's important to remember that the Holy Spirit will still function in his role of drawing people to Jesus. However, he will relate to believers as he did during Old Testament times. He will regenerate the human spirits of those who accept the Messiah. But he will indwell and empower only those whom God has chosen for special service. This will surely include more than the 144,000. For never will believers be more in need of the Spirit sustaining power. By whatever means, however, God will see that these Jews are quickly brought to true faith in Jesus. As their Messiah and will send them on their ways with his message of forgiveness and deliverance. They will be like 144,000 Jewish Billy Grahams turned loose at once. The next section of his commentary, and this is the last paragraph, is entitled what a Revival. He then looks at verses nine and ten, the great multitude, and he says, the effectiveness of the evangelism during the tribulation is overwhelming. What a revival. It's enough to make a Southern Baptist evangelist's mouth water. It's almost impossible for us to really appreciate what these converts of the 144,000 will have to endure because of their faith. The fact that they are standing here before the throne of God in white robes during the tribulation confirms that they were martyred because of their belief in Christ. There you have it. Directly from one original source, you see, premillennial, or at least Dispensational interpretation is 144,000 are the Jews left after the rapture who are converted through some of these strange ways. Jesus will appear to some, like Saul on the road to Damascus. Some are going to find Bibles and realize that that's the explanation for these missing Christians, things like that. Then the 144,000 will be God's evangelists who will convert a great multitude of people who, because of their faith, will be martyred, and that's why they have white robes. Well, now, against that interpretation, I would note first of all that we're talking about John's own day. We're not talking about a future period at all. John says the time is at hand. And he goes on to tell about what the church is undergoing right here and now is in the midst of a prophecy. You know, the seals are being broken, a prophecy that's going to deal with the fall of Jerusalem. And then he says, but before God sends that judgment, some sealing must take place. And this sealing obviously has application at least that in AD 70 and is not reserved to a future period. Moreover, Mr. Lindsay is saying that we have a list of the 12 tribes here that is rather unusual because we are missing two of the tribes, Dan and Ephraim. And he suggests that that's because Dan and Ephraim were bad tribes. And I think he's right to that extent. They were. They were the tribes that led Israel into idolatry. And for that reason, they are in fact excluded from this list of the 12 tribes. But it hardly will do to say that these are still literal Jews. And we're naming the 12 tribes. When you see that Levi is Named, which is not a tribe of inheritance in the Old Testament, and that Joseph is named in the place of Ephraim. For you see, if the Father is to be blessed, if he's received the inheritance, the inheritance will be divided by Manasseh. Ephraim, what's the problem? Ephraim was supposed to be excluded because of idolatry. But if Joseph is blessed, the sons of Joseph are blessed as well, in terms of the Jewish inheritance pattern. Moreover, Manasseh, who already receives 1/12 of the blessing here, then receives 1 what? 24th of the blessing, because half of Joseph's blessing. And so Manasseh gets special reference here. The father of Manasseh and Manasseh himself, as tribes, receive a blessing, and then Levi, which was not a tribe of inheritance in the Old Testament, is named anyway. I would suggest to you that in fact these tribes are listed the way they are, because these are the tribes which did not defect to idolatry. And that's just another way of John indicating. You are not to take this literally. You're to see this as those who are faithful to God. It's the faithful remnant that are blessed of. Of God. It's not all of Israel, but 144,000. And it's not even all the tribes of Israel. It's those who have been faithful Jews. It's their names that are listed. And so Levi is included, you see, and Joseph is included. But Dan, the idolatrous tribe, is excluded, and Ephraim, the tribe that led Israel into idolatry, into defection, into civil war, is excluded. But even more importantly, I think we can see that the Book of Revelation itself itself teaches us who the 144,000 are. Let's look at Revelation chapter 21. Now, in Revelation 21, we get a description of the New Jerusalem. Look at verse 10. And he saith unto me, seal not up the words of the prophecy of this. I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter. Chapter 21, verse 10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Now notice how he describes this New Jerusalem, or what is attributed or associated with the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, verse 3. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, behold the ten. The tabernacle of God is with men. He shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. The tabernacle of God is with men. Now, in Revelation 7, 15 therefore are they before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. Okay, now turn back to Revelation 21. Look at verse 4. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. Now look at Revelation 7:17. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, shall guide them to fountains of waters of life. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. Verse 6 of chapter 21. And he said unto me, they are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Chapter 7, verse 17 again. For the Lamb that's in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life. God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. I think the parallel is rather obvious, isn't it? Those who are the 144,000 or, and or those who belong to the great multitude are the citizens of the New Jerusalem. They are all those who have been redeemed by God in Revelation 21. Let's note some things very quickly in verse 12. The there are 12 gates of the New Jerusalem with the names of the 12 tribes on them. And when we get to verse 12, you'll notice that. Let me see here. Yeah, okay. I suppose that's about the only point I want to make then. The 12 tribes have their names written over the gates, and the names are given to us in Revelation 7. In verse 14 of chapter 21, there are 12 foundations to the new Jerusalem. In verse 16, the new Jerusalem is seen as a 12,000 furlong cube. That is, it is 12,000 furlongs wide, high and long. And that 12 gates, 12 foundations, 12,000 furlongs on every side. It corresponds to the fact that in verse 17, the wall of the new Jerusalem is 144 cubits, the square of 12. All right, so you can see rather obviously the New Jerusalem is described in a 12 orientation. However you want to take that, usually that's seen as the number of God's people, the Old Testament. But even if you don't want to go that far into biblical numerology, the fact is the New Jerusalem symbolically is described in factors of 12. What Revelation 7 contributes to that 12 oriented imagery is the population of the New Jerusalem seen as 12 squared times 10. Or if you will, the fullness of all of Israel, the fullness of God's people. So Revelation 21 certainly suggests. It seems to me that The New Jerusalem, that is the 144,000, are the occupants of the new Jerusalem. The same description is given them. The 12 orientation is the same in both cases. But then in Revelation 14, verse 1 and following, we have a clear identification of the 144,000. John says, I saw and behold the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with him 140 and 4,000, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. Clearly this is identical with what we've read in Revelation 7. It's 144,000 saints. Secondly, they are sealed on their foreheads, just what we're told in chapter seven. And who are they? And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters and so many voice of a great thunder. And the voice which I heard was the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No man could learn the song save the hundred and forty four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth. These are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they defiled. Follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men to be the first fruits unto God, and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie. They were without blemish. God interprets his own word. We're told of the 144,000 in chapter seven, and I think there's plenty of indications in chapter seven that it pertains to all the church of Jesus Christ. Chapter 21 confirms that in of terms interpretation, they are the occupants of the new Jerusalem. But chapter 14 is even more. It says, these are they who? And so it goes and tells you specifically the ones purchased out of the earth, the ones who are spiritual virgins, Christ's bride, the ones who follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth, those who have been purchased from among men as the first fruits of God. The 144,000 pertain to all the saints of Jesus Christ, whoever follows the Lamb, whoever is purchased from the earth. So in chapter seven, the 144,000. I think, given the New Testament background, that the church is the new Israel, the true Israel, the Israel of God, given the fact that the two tribes are excluded because of their apostasy and the faithful tribes are listed, given the fact that chapter 21 and chapter 14 interpret them as the followers of Jesus Christ. We must see the 144,000 as the church. And the 12 tribes are a type, then are a symbol, a foreshadowing of the whole church of God. The listing of the tribes. You know, when we read this out loud, it gets a little difficult. Of this tribe, 12,000. Of that tribe, 12,000 wouldn't have been sufficient simply for John to have said, and from each of the 12 tribes, 12,000. That's what most people do when they get to the commentary on this point. They say all those verses can be disemmarized as that one sentence. But I think the reason John draws it out and makes you read about every one of those tribes, and he says, 12,000 here, 12,000 there, 12,000 here, 12 thousand is because he wants you to have really etched upon your mind the full inclusion of God's people, that it's all of God's people, people, the full church that's being referred to. Now then, John heard of the 144,000. He heard of the 144,000, verse nine. After these things, I saw. And behold a great multitude which could not be numbered. He heard of 144,000, but he saw a great multitude. We have that same pattern throughout the book of Revelation. But perhaps the most dramatic instance of it is in chapter five, verses five and six. We've dwelt on this in the past, but let me just review for you. And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Behold the lion that is of the tribe of Judah. The root of David hath overcome to open the book. And the seven seals. John hears of a lion. And the elder saith unto me, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, verse 6. And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures in the midst of the elders, a lamb. John hears of a lion, but he sees a lamb. Now, does anybody want to insist that they have to be different? That the lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lamb of God are different individuals? No, it's just two different ways of describing the same individual. He is the lamb, isn't he? He's the sacrificial lamb of God, but he's also the almighty king, the lion of the tribe of Judah. And so John also hears of 144,000. That is, he understands the multitude in one way to be the new Israel of God, the full number of God's people. But when he turns and looks, he sees that. That 144,000 are in fact, innumerable. Amazing. They've been numbered already. But John's now told they're innumerable. Innumerable. In fact, symbolically, 144,000. Symbolically, they are the Jews, the faithful Jews, the seed of Abraham, the inheritors of the promise, the Israel of God. And when he looks, he sees really a cosmopolitan, international group, innumerable. And so the church is being seen in two ways. Ways seen as what? The new Israel. And then seen as the full number of God's elect, this international innumerable tribe. I mean, innumerable number of people from all tribes. But the church is being seen in two ways that are different from those two ways also. The Church is seen as sealed from coming trials and seen as triumphant and at peace. The 144,000, why do they have to be sealed? Certain trials are going to come upon the earth. God's going to send his judgment, but his people are protected. His people are taken care of. They are eternally secure in their Savior. And so John sees them as the sealed tribes, as those who have the Passover lamb's blood sealing them. So the angel of death sent upon the earth will not strike those families. They are sealed in light of the coming historical judgment. But then when he turns and sees them as the full multitude of all of God's people, from every tribe, tongue and nation, they are standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes with palms in their hands. One image is the image of tribulation and enduring through the tribulation. The other image is an image of triumph and peace. It's a great number, the people of God. I saw and behold a great multitude. No man can number the multitude out of every tribe, out of every nation, of all tribes, peoples and tongues. Now, that way of designating this group from every nation, tribe, people and tongue is common throughout the Book of Revelation. In the Old Testament, you have a similar type of thing. Maybe I can illustrate it this way. We have a common idiom in the Old Testament. The heavens, the earth, and the waters under the earth, or the heaven, the earth and those things under the earth. This three tiered pattern is used as an idiom throughout the Old Testament to describe all of creation, whether it be, you see, the heavenly creation, the earthly creation, whatever happens to be under the earth, it includes everything. Now, when John speaks of every nation, tribe, people and tongue, that's also an idiom, an idiom found throughout this book, which means fully inclusive, every group, every possible way of breaking down the world's population. Every group of the world's population is included. It's an unforgettable picture of a vast crowd of people then from every nation on earth, now in the bliss of heaven, free from pain, free from anxiety and free from sorrow, a vast number. And the reason I want to get across to you that it's a vast number is by way of answering V.B. warfield's question, Are they few that be saved, especially those who are Calvinists? You don't have to be simply a general evangelical or fundamentalist, but especially Calvinists have had often a tendency to say, since God elects those who shall be saved, since God is the one who does the discriminating choosing. Obviously, those who are going to be saved will be very few. And after all, don't we read Jesus say many are called but few are chosen. Isn't that axiomatic? Isn't that the way God operates throughout history? It is God's desire to call many, but to save only a few. Many are called, few are chosen. And so B.B. warfield has written what is probably a classic article on that subject entitled Are they few that be Saved? Well, I ask you now, when you look upon these, this way of designating the church of Jesus Christ, are they few that be saved? John says they are innumerable, like the stars of heaven and the sands of the sea. See, that was the way God told Abraham that his people that his, the ones upon whom the covenant blessing will fall will be innumerable, absolutely immense in number. Well then, what do you do with things? Well, actually it turns out to be only one verse. That seems indeed that God calls a lot of people but saves only a few of them. Many are called fewer chosen. Greg? Yeah. The way that people who argue this theological point put it is are these many absolutely, or many proportionately. Now, an absolute large group would mean that when you see the full number of the saved, you would say there'd be no doubt in your mind that it's a vast group that is absolutely speaking, it's vast. But now, does it have to be vast disproportionately? I can illustrate it, I think let's say that some rich uncle of mine dies and he has a will and he leaves some money to me and to my brother. So when I arrive on the day that the will is executed, I'm not executed, but probated and I receive my inheritance. It turns out that I've been willed $10 million. Is anybody here today in a position to say that's not a lot of Money, Absolutely speaking. Boy, he made me rich. But lo and behold, he gave my brother $90 million. And so that which is absolutely vast turns out to be proportionately small. And so now a lot of people seeing, and there's more than just this particular verse, a number of verses in the New Testament indicate the vastness of the redeemed multitude. Say, yes, absolutely vast, proportionately small, because many are called, but few are chosen. Well, I hope I whet your appetite enough that you'll all go and pick up Warfield's article and read it. Warfield's answer to that, and one which is, I think, exegetically indisputable, is that when Jesus says many are called, few are chosen, he's speaking directly to the Pharisees. Right in the midst of the adversity where the Pharisees were rejecting the Messiah, he said, obviously many are called fewer chosen. Not axiomatic for all of history, but when it comes to this crowd, I'm calling a lot of you. Clearly God has only chosen a few, though. And Warfield makes it very clear that that is in fact Jesus intention right then and there, that it's not historically the case that many are called fewer chosen, but right then, in that particular instance, the Pharisees and the Jews of Jesus Day, after all, Jesus came to his own and his own received him not. Then Warfield does a study of all the passages in Scripture that speak in one way or another of the. Of the redeemed and all the passages that speak of those who are not redeemed. And the comparison is. Although I was favorably disposed to this optimistic view of evangelism before I read it, I was really even myself surprised at the ability evidence. For instance, Warfield talks about whenever you, wherever you read of the realm in which the saved live, it's a vast realm, you know, the new Jerusalem. It's a wide field or, you know, a country or something like that. But whenever you read of the place of the damned, it's always a pit or a lake that is just a small area, a small hole in the ground at one spot, a a vast country. And then he goes, he talks about a number of things. That's only one of the many illustrations he gives overall. Warfield concludes then that we should stick with the immediate impression we get when we read of this great multitude which no man can number. He said, that's precisely right, that there it isn't going to in the long run be that few are saved, but many shall be saved. Jesus came to save the world, and then Some out of the world will be lost. Yes, in Revelation 1 it says that the sea should be no more. And I've heard some people say the reason for that is because of the vastness. Does that infant have any validity? It's a question now whether that is strong or weak or even possible evidence for the idea that the redeemed will be vast in number. And I guess I have to confess that I've not yet been convinced. This idea that the sea will be removed has to do with the sea of ungodly men. The vastness of the sea being the. In the Old Testament you have references to the sea and the nations being like a foaming sea, you know, always beating against the kingdom of God and against the will of God. And now the sea being removed means that God has conquered that situation. And I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced that it's wrong, but I'm not convinced that it's right either. So I better just leave it there. I saw some other hands. Are they few that be saved? Yes, dad. Warfield used the as an explanation for use gated, narrow and the way it's constricted that leads by the few that be to find it. Again, he's dealing with that particular generation. Yeah, he does deal with that as well. The narrowness of the gate, as I recall, Warfield says, has nothing to do with the number that can go through it, but with the strictures that are put upon the way you enter in the kingdom. You won't enter the kingdom in a sloppy, indiscriminate way in a broad road, you know, where you can just wander where you want. But the only way to enter the kingdom is through the narrow gate, through the very definite standards of God. Now, the few that be that find it. He does explain in the same way that as he was preaching. I mean, after all, how many faithful disciples of God were there on the day that Jesus was crucified? For all the sermons you may hear about this or that other person, you know, indirectly being faithful at the time, the scripture makes it very clear that the true Israel of God was narrowed down to one man on one day in human history. Only Christ was faithful. Only Christ was the Israel of God. And so that narrowing procedure, you know, it starts very broad. All of mankind and Adam, and then it's narrowed down to Abraham. And then, of course, you see, to the particular son of Abraham and to the particular tribe out of which the Messiah shall come. It's narrowed down to Christ as the true son of God, the true Israel. And then after the crucifixion, you see, there is this very broadening emphasis that all men are coming into Christ Jesus says, and I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men to myself. And so, yes, Warfield sees it in terms of that pattern that in Jesus Day he came to his own, and his own received him not. You can find that in the reprint of Warfield's articles, Biblical and Theological Studies, put out by Presbyterian Reform Publishing and still available and still very worth reading. I hope many of you will pick it up and look at it. We can't spend too much time here this morning, though. The point is that the 144,000 are the church of Jesus Christ Christ or is the church of Jesus Christ? The great multitude is the church of Jesus Christ. And it's being seen in two different ways. First, as the new Israel sealed through tribulation. Secondly, as the triumphant international multitude of saved people at peace before the throne of God. Dr. Alice puts it this way. In Revelation 7, we find two scenes. One on earth prior to the hurting of the earth, the second in heaven, where God's people stand before the throne and the Lamb with the heavenly host. I guess I can't go on to the next verse without making some reference to the fact that 144,000 are unable to be counted. I hope that there's a lesson for you there in how to interpret the Bible. Hermeneutical lesson for you. A hermeneutical principle. How literal are we to be when we interpret the book of Revelation? Is it the type of book that we are to read as newspaper reporting in advance? Clearly it's not. You find all sorts of indications of that fact. In chapter one, Jesus is said to have in his right hand seven stars. The very next verse, he is said to pick up John, who is prostrate before him with his right hand. Now, if we were to take that literally, there'd be something awkward about that, right? His hand is already full. It's full of seven stars. And he still is supposed to be picking up John. I suppose if you want to press it, you can say, well, you know, we can make out some way in which that's very literal. Obviously that's not the intention of the author, though. And here what we read of 144,000, that can't be numbered. It's clear that the intention of the author is that he not be taken literally. But since symbolically, the number of the redeemed is vast, as I've said, like the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky, the Abrahamic covenant being fulfilled. And we read in verse nine that the church of Jesus Christ, those who are in the church, wear white robes. Verse 14 tells us why their robes are white. And I say unto him, my Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they that come out of great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The robes of Jesus saints have been made white through his blood. In Romans 5, verse 9, we read these words of Paul. Much more then being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God. Through him we are justified through Christ's blood. Justification means to have a right standing before God, that one can undergo the judgment of God. We read in the Bible that when sinners stand before God, the cry is, who can be justified? Who can be declared righteous in his sight? Well, we can only be declared righteous. We can only be seen as wearing white robes and pure before God. If we've been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, justified by Christ's blood then gives us robes of righteousness. Now, in Isaiah 61, verses 10 and 11, you will find that's an Old Testament motif, an Old Testament image of having white robes before the throne of God. Isaiah, chapter 61. Let's look at verses 10 and 11. I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah. My soul shall be joyful in my God. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth its bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. I think John very likely is alluding to Isaiah 61, when he brings together the idea of the robe of salvation and the fact that God's righteousness will spring forth before all the nations. There's going to be this worldwide number of redeemed and saved people, and they will be wearing robes of righteousness. And so John sees this great multitude which no man could number, and they wear white robes made white in the blood of the Lamb, so that men are righteous before God because of Christ's sacrificial death. In contrast to chapter 6, verse 9, or in contrast to chapter 20, verse 4, where you read of martyrs and a definite indication of martyrdom, you find no indication in this passage that these people who stand before the Lamb, before the throne, these who have been made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ, are somehow martyrs. That's just purely reading into the text without any contextual basis whatsoever. And what we Read in verse 14 is true of all of God's people, all of the saved, they have their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. And so we'll next week finish up chapter seven and make some applications on the basis of it. But today the point is simply this. The hundred and forty four thousand in the great multitude are not different. They are the same. It's not literal Israel, it is spiritual Israel. And it's not specifically the martyrs. Yes, Barry, That's really something of the theme of next week's lesson, so I'll kind of defer it to then. But to give you some anticipation of the answer, it's given. Unto all who are righteous, you see, all who are godly in Christ Jesus to undergo persecution and tribulation in this world. Jesus says, in this world ye have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have over the world. And so while we know that we are triumphant in Christ and we have overcome, while we know that we are sealed eternally with God's blessing of salvation, while our robes are white in the blood of the Lamb, we still all come as the Church triumphant before the throne of the Lamb out of great tribulation. And I will next week be arguing that is not a specific period of time. And if it is a specific period, it's specifically the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. But it is the lot of all of God's people to go through that tribulation, whether it be John who says he is the fellow sufferer in tribulation in chapter one, or whether it's a person living today who knows the tribulation of the world, all of God's people undergo that. Any other questions before we end? Dave? I don't understand why the greatest multitude can be numbered. What's the point in making a specific thousand out of each tribe? And why make a specific number in the first place? Well, because of the importance of the symbolism of the number. In Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem is oriented around the number 12. 12 gates, 12 foundations, a wall, 144 cubits. Each of the sides of the New Jerusalem and its height are 144,000 furlongs. And so 12. The description of the New Jerusalem centers around the symbolism of 12. And the reason it's a thousand out of each one of the tribes. Of course, it's not out of each one of the tribes, not out of Dan, not out of Ephraim, but ironically, out of Joseph and Levi, which were not tribes at all. The reason that it's a thousand out of each is to emphasize the four fullness of it, I.e. god's faithful people. A thousand out of each tribe. We read in the Psalms, the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills. We say, well, if you're not supposed to take that literally, what's the point of saying a thousand at all? Well, because thousands, a great number, you know, I don't know if it's exactly literally the same as what we do today, but sometimes we say, man, there must have been a million people at the game yesterday, right? We don't mean that somebody, you know, numbered them. It was close to a million or exactly a million. That's just a way of indicating vastness. And so the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills, means he owns all the cattle. So that if you come to Hill 1001 somewhere in this world, don't think the Lord doesn't own those cattle. He does. That's just a way of saying he owns them all. And so it's a thousand out of every tribe, an innumerable number in the long run. But the fullness of God's people is what's being indicated, I think. And so Jesus also reigns for a thousand years. Don't think that you're going to get to a year, 1001 and not find that Jesus is still the Lord of history. Okay, let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for the beauty of your word, for the glorious way in which you describe your people, where we freely confess that we really don't deserve that status. We've done nothing to earn it. But then, in fact, if we should stand before you in our own righteousness, you would see nothing but filthy rags. And so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you have, through your son, Jesus Christ called us through yourself, that you have washed us clean in the blood of the Lamb and that we do now wear white robes. We thank you that your people come from all tribes and peoples and nations, and that you're doing a marvelous work in this day, a work which has not been seen previous to the coming of your son. We thank you that you are, in fact, sending the Gospel to the earth's remotest ends, and that Jesus is extending his kingdom over every nation. And we pray, Father, that you would make us more faithful to the great commission that you have given us that you might help us to hasten that day in which the kingdoms of the world are indeed the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. For it's in his name that we pray with thanksgiving. Amen.