“Militant
and Triumphant”
Revelation
7:1-17
March
10, 2024 YouTube
Between Jesus opening the sixth and seventh seal, we have the
interlude of chapter seven of the book of Revelation in which we are given a
picture of the Church militant (during the tribulation) and the Church
triumphant (in the Kingdom.)
We begin with the description of the Church militant –
during the tribulation.
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners
of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow
on earth or sea or against any tree.
The number four symbolizes order, stability, and the perfection of Creation. We see there
are four Gospels, four angels (here), the four corners of the earth, the four
winds of the earth – the perfect completion – the entirety of the earth, the entirety
of the wind, the perfect perfection and knowledge of the Gospels – the Good
News of Jesus Christ.
The
four angels are keeping the wind from blowing on the earth. They are holding
back the full Judgment of God. It is not
time for the full Wrath of God to descend upon those who never believe savingly
in Jesus. They are told to wait. Don’t do anything until God says to.
“Then
I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the
living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been
given power to harm earth and sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or
the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’
This
other angel is Jesus. He is the
Sovereign Who has the seal of the living God on Him, Who has Sovereign
Authority over all of the angels. The four angels are told to wait until all of
the servants of God have been sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads.
What
is the seal of God?
Jesus
tells John that the number of the sealed, who, apparently, will escape God’s Wrath
is 144,000. What about those who believe
savingly in Jesus after the 144,000 believe? The Jehovah’s Witnesses take this
number literally and find other places than the Kingdom to store all of those
who believe after the first 144,000.
What
is John told?
“And
I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons
of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.”
The first thing to notice is that the tribes listed are not
the twelve tribes of Israel. A few of
them have been changed out with the names of relatives of the original persons who
made up the actual twelve tribes of Israel.
There are reasons for why this is, but we will not get into that this
morning.
Instead, let us think about the numbers 144,000 and 12,000.
We will remember in chapter four we saw John records there
being twenty-four thrones around the throne of God, and we determined that the
twenty-four thrones are symbolic of the twelve sons of Abraham – the twelve
tribes of Israel – plus the twenty
apostles. Twelve plus twelve equals twenty-four.
If we multiplied the two twelves instead, we get 144.
There is one more step here to understand: this section is
about the Church militant – the Church fighting against the wicked during the
tribulation. What we need to know is –
at that time – a military unit consisted of 1,000 men.
144 times 1,000 equals 144,000.
Take a moment and let that sink in.
The people of John’s day would understand this. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, and any who take
this number literally, are wrong. Taking
the number 144,000 literally just makes no sense. That would be to say there
are only 144,000 people saved by the work of Jesus. No, they would have
understood that Jesus was confirming what Paul wrote:
“But
it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended
from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they
are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This
means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but
the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:6-8, ESV).
The
believers of national Israel and the believers of the New Testament make up the
Israel of God. This is the fulness of God’s covenant people. The 144,000 are symbolic of all the true
believers who will fight during the tribulation for the truth of the Gospel –
those who have been sealed by God. And, as Paul writes to Timothy, “Indeed, all
who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil
people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived”
(II Timothy 3:12-13, ESV).
What
does it mean to be sealed?
Hear
what Paul tells the Ephesians:
“And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption” (Ephesians 4:30, ESV).
Believers
are sealed on the head by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – not a physical
seal, but a spiritual seal given by – and of – the Holy Spirit. As Ezekiel records:
“Now
the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested
to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who
had the writing case at his waist. And the LORD said to him, ‘Pass through the
city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh
and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” (Ezekiel 9:3.4 ESV).
In biblical symbolism, it is the place of authority and
power. Believers are symbolically sealed
on the head with and of the Holy Spirit so we can understand the Word of God
and so we have the authority and power to carry it out.
All those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit have security
of not losing the salvation God has given us.
We have the identification of being Christians because we suffer for
Jesus. We have the authority We have the
confirmation that we will receive our inheritance.
Peter
writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to
his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s
power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time” (I Peter 1:3-5, ESV).
The Church militant is every believer throughout time and
space who fights against the wicked during the tribulation and to its great end. All of these believers will witness salvation
only in Jesus, against the wicked who never believe. And every believer will suffer persecution.
All we who been sealed and empowered by the Holy Spirit
will fight and be persecuted to one degree of another. Yet, we have the sure
promise of victory in Jesus because He Alone is salvation.
Now, John sees the Church Triumphant.
“After
this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from
every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the
throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their
hands,
It
is not 144,000 that John sees now, but a great multitude that no one can number
standing before the throne and the Lamb.
And, as we came to understand, the 144,000 are more than national
Israel, but all those who believe in Jesus for salvation from the beginning
until Jesus brings the Kingdom in all its fullness and brings in the Church triumphant.
This
is the promise given to Abraham:
“And
the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, ‘By
myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not
withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely
multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the
seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your
offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have
obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:15-18, ESV).
The
Church militant becomes the Church triumphant through Jesus by the Holy Spirit
from every nation, people, tribe, and language.
There will be people of every type throughout time and space in the
Church triumphant – in the Kingdom of God.
There is no type of person in all of time and space that will not be present
in the Church triumphant.
And
they are wearing white robes – they have been purified by God. And they wave palm branches – the symbol of
victory.
“and
crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels were standing around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their
faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”
They
cry out that salvation is the work and the gift of God and the Lamb. Not even
our bearing witness during the war from the beginning of the tribulation to its
great end merits anything. Just as God
brought Israel through the wilderness, God has brough all of His people through
the wilderness – through the entire journey of His people – into the Kingdom,
where God has made the Church triumphant. He has brought us into His Glory
which is living in the presence of Jesus.
And
what is the only thing that makes sense to do when you are in the presence of
God and the Lamb? The angels fall on their faces, the elders fall on their
faces, the four living creatures fall on their faces, and you and I fall on our
faces, because all of Creation – including all believers – are overwhelmed with
being in the presences of the Almighty God.
And
we all cry out the praise of His Attributes, affirming, Amen and Amen – it is
now and forever will be. “’Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”
“Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are
these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?’ I said to him, ‘Sir,
you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great
tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb.’”
Does this sound familiar?
The fifth seal:
“When
he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out
with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will
judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth’ Then they were each
given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their
fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as
they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:9-11, ESV).
What are we told in addition to what was revealed in the
fifth seal?
The white robes are washed by the believers in the Blood of
the Lamb. Although salvation is wholly
of Jesus Alone, until we are received into the Church victorious – the Kingdom
– we have sins to confess that can only be forgiven through the Blood of the
Lamb.
“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them
with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun
shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the
throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living
water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
These words are similar to a reading later in the book of
Revelation that is often read at a funeral. This is how things will be in the
Kingdom in all its fullness. This is Heaven on earth. This is the Church victorious bought and
sealed by the Lamb and the Holy Spirit.
What ought we take from the vision of the Church militant
and the Church triumphant?
From the promise of God to Eve after the first sin to the
last day and the return of Christ, the Church will be as war with evil and the wickedness
of the world. As soldiers and witnesses to the salvation spoken and sealed in
us by the Holy Spirit, we are to proclaim the Gospel of salvation in Jesus
Alone, no matter what happens to us.
As we look forward with the hope we are sealed and destined
for the Kingdom, we ought to find ourselves excited, looking forward to the day
when all will be restored, washed in the Blood of the Lamb.
Now there is persecution with the knowledge that we are
forever sealed for Jesus’ sake.
After the tribulation is over – from now until then – we
look forward with ecstatic excitement to the triumph of the Church, being
brought into the fullness of the Kingdom, and the Glory of God forever.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, keep us from despairing and being frightened
as we go through these militant days – as we proclaim the truth of the Gospel
to the Glory of God and in line with the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation.
Keep us set upon the work of the Triune God Who brings us into triumph and is
worthy of all glory. In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
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