Amen. You may be seated. That is meant to be our response to the book of Revelation in the midst of the struggles and trials and troubles of this life. I will not be shaken. Why? Because he has conquered and he has conquered for me and therefore I conquer in him. It's really a simple message in a simple book when you see it the way it's put together. I've said before that my goal, one of my goals, one of my main goals for our study in Revelation is just to demystify the book, just to show you that the Bible interprets the Bible, just to show you where to look for how to interpret these simple symbols. We started in the Old Testament with introduction to those books, and now we're ending the prophetic series in the book of Revelation. And we've seen, and I'll keep repeating that The key, the answer key for the book of Revelation is in the Old Testament. Not in your newspaper. It's in the Old Testament. In books like Ezekiel and Daniel and others, Zechariah that we've looked at. But this morning, I'm gonna read from the end of chapter six. One thing, Cindy and I were talking about again yesterday. Just remember, chapter divisions were not inspired. That came about later. There are helpful tools, but they're not inspired, and sometimes they really break things up, right? So we're going to read from the last verse in chapter 6. Actually, I'm going to read a little more than that. because it won't, I'm just, that's jumping in too far. But anyway, what sets the stage for chapter seven is the end of chapter six, and we'll talk more about that in a minute. But let's pick up in verse 15 of chapter six. Sorry, Ian. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks, calling to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." Judgment. Judgment day, right? For the great day of their wrath has come. And here is the question that sets the stage for chapter 7. Who can stand? After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind might blow in the earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and the sea, saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God. on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of 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. And 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, 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, the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. We've seen this before, haven't we? Chapter five, saying, amen, blessing, glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever, amen. That's for God's word, let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much for Your truth. We thank You that we know You through Your Word, that Your Spirit illumines and applies Your Word to our hearts as we read it, and as we preach it, and study it, and as it makes its way into our hearts. So we just pray that You would be at work today converting Your people, sanctifying Your people, blessing the preaching and the hearing of the Word of God, building Your church, and your kingdom. And we thank you for the encouraging words that we find here in the book of Revelation. The victory of our Savior and our victory in Him. So again, bless the preaching and the hearing of the word of God. We give you all the praise in Christ's name. Amen. Take you back to chapter one. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." Why did I do that? I'm going to keep hammering from here. Revelation is a book of symbols. It is what we call apocalyptic literature. It's highly symbolic. And it is a book of symbols. Why did I read those verses? Seven churches. You see it there? To the seven churches that are in Asia. Well, there were more than seven churches in Asia at the time this was written. But these seven are chosen as representative of the true church, of the whole church. How about seven spirits in verse 4 at the end? Clearly a reference to the Holy Spirit. It's symbolic for the Holy Spirit. God's church. God's Spirit. God's work. See, numbers are used as symbols in Revelation. How about the number four? We've seen that, haven't we? We've seen the number four as in the four corners of the earth. The earth doesn't have any corners. It's symbolic of the whole earth. The whole creation. It's fullness. The number 7 for fullness and completeness. And today we're going to see another number. A number that a lot of people have spilled a lot of ink over. And you may have a lot of questions about. The 144,000. That's the total number of Reformed Baptists in the world. No. It's close, right? No. No. There's many different understandings of this number. Some ignore. Listen, we get in trouble. We get in deep trouble really quickly in the book of Revelation when we ignore the nature of the book. It's apocalyptic literature. It's highly symbolic. We expect it to be filled with symbols, and it is. And so when we begin to treat these symbols literally, we get in trouble in the book. We start turning locusts into helicopters and all kinds of weird things like that. But this number here, I'm going to hope to be able to present to you, this number 144,000 is a symbol. There are many who don't take it that way. Some who are not within the orthodox realm who were members of cults. Probably most of you would be familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses to some extent. But to them, the 144,000 are what they call the anointed class who will go to heaven and reign as spirit beings with Christ. The rest of the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses, the lesser, at least can't help but see it that way, they are the great crowd who will live forever on Paradise Earth. Evidently, they've never read chapters 21 and 22 where all that comes down to Earth. And Christ is on the Earth with His people. But that's an example of trying to make this number literal, to turn the symbol into something literal. On the more orthodox side, there are many true and good and godly people in the church who take this number literally. in the futurist camp, or you may have heard dispensationalists. The 144,000 are Jewish evangelists after the rapture of the church, and most of this camp would take it literally. And again, I want to repeat, I did quote a cult at first, but I'm quoting, when I say that, orthodox brothers and sisters who love the Lord, who just, in my opinion, over-literalize some of the symbols in Revelation. But what are we to make of this number? And what does the Bible make of this number? How does the Word help us interpret this number? If you'll remember, we started, we're in the second of seven visions in the book of Revelation. And the book of Revelation is seven visions. Each vision covers the time between the first and second coming of Christ. And we've been able to show how there's repetition and cycle and all of that already. And you'll see that more as we go through the book. But we are in the midst of an interlude here. If you remember, we talked about the sixth seal, but we haven't seen the seventh seal yet. That comes in the first part of chapter 8. So this is one of a few interludes in the book of Revelation, and it has a purpose. And this interlude in chapter 7 is answering the question that was posed at the end of what we call chapter 6. And that question there is right at the end in verse 17. The great day of their wrath has come. Who can stand? Chapter 7 is answering that question. Who can stand in the great day of God's wrath? Who can stand in the judgment? Who can survive the judgment without condemnation? which is what we all richly deserve. The answer to that, those who are sealed. Those who are saved. Those who are God's people. Those who have been justified. Those who are in Christ. Many ways to say that. And we looked at verses 1-3 last time talking about being sealed. And I would point you back to that sermon because I can't go back through that in depth. We'll mention it a little bit. And that today we're going to look in Revelation 7 from verses 4-12 and talk about the 144,000. And this is not an orthodox sermon, right? Why do you say that? Because look at your main point. It's a question. It's a question that we're going to seek to answer as we walk through the text. I'm going to just try to walk you through the text and show you how the Bible answers that question. Who are the 144,000? How does God's Word identify these people? So let's look back. We're going to look at verses 4-8 first. I titled this, The Narration of the 144,000. And you'll see why in a minute. But in verse 4, he says, and I'm not going to read the whole list again, but he says, and I heard the number of the sealed. And again, we've talked about those who are sealed. When you come to faith, you are sealed. God puts His stamp of ownership on you. He gives you His Spirit that is a guarantee of your salvation. You are sealed, guaranteed, protected. Your faith is protected. You'll go through many sufferings in this world, It's protected and He will take you all the way home. But look what, this is an important word. He says, and I heard, I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000. John hears a description of the sealed. Those we talked about in verse 3. The servants of God. Those who bear the name of God and the Spirit of God. What are we talking about? God's covenant people. That's what we talked about in verses 1-3. And then we get the number. I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000. Sealed from every... Notice it. Look. From every... tribe of the sons of Israel. You have to stay with me here. 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Now, I've told you already that numbers are symbolic in the book of Revelation. What is this? Let me break it down a little bit for you. So what we have is 12 x 12 x 1,000. We get 144,000. Clearly, the 12 tribes of Israel, we have a listing here. And the 12 apostles. Later in chapter 21 and 22, we're going to see that number used symbolically more when it talks about 12 gates and 12 angels and 12 foundation stones. And also, in chapter 22, 12 kinds of fruit from the tree of life. That being symbolic of abundant and complete life in the new creation. So we have 12 times 12 getting us to 144. This is what I'm calling and what I've read in the commentary, symbolic math. And then you have, that's a shout of joy by the way. They finally understand. No. Then the multiplication by a thousand. In the book of Revelation, a thousand intensifies completeness. With a thousand here representing a large complete total. So you have twelve. And within that you see how twelve is used. And sometimes literally, yes, twelve tribes, twelve apostles, but here being used symbolically, twelve times twelve times a thousand. The complete total. Here's some interesting facts about this list if you read the list. You'll first notice this is not in birth order. Like the Old Testament lists were. It's not in birth order. Judah is listed first. And then we go down from there. The sons of the concubines are moved up. And some see that as symbolic of Gentile inclusion. I'll just mention that to you. You know, some people say that. But it starts with Judah, and this is a different list. This list doesn't appear anywhere in the Old Testament in this form. I'll just let that sit a minute. John's doing something on purpose here, but the list that he gives us is a list that doesn't match any of the lists we have in the Old Testament. And notice what he says he's doing is he's telling us those who are sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. When you look at that list, is that a list of all the tribes of the sons of Israel in the Old Testament? It's not, is it? There's one missing, isn't there? And there are various forms even in the Old Testament. We don't have time to talk about that. Dan is not here. There's no mention of Dan in this list. Judah goes to the top. Sons of the concubines elevated. This is the only place in the Bible that this list in this form can be found. Also, remember, it is a list of the sealed. Who are the sealed? Those are the ones who truly know the Lord. So this is, if you want to put it this way, a purified list. This is representing Israel purified. It's a list of the sealed. This doesn't really prove anything, but just so you know, if you go on Jewish websites, you'll find this today. Almost no Jews know what tribe they came from today. That's been lost to history. See, this configuration, I think, is a clue that the list is not about ethnic Israel, but about spiritual Israel, true Israel, purified Israel, those who are faithful to Christ. Listen, we're going to see this number again. We'll talk about it when we get there, but I'll talk a little bit about it right now. In chapter 14, we're going to see the 144,000 again, and we get a little more detail there. He says, Then I looked, notice he's looking, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb. There's that Lamb standing again. with Him, 144,000, who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. And later in verse 3, this group is called the redeemed from the earth in chapter 14. So we're getting a little more information. This list of 144,000, this is the redeemed from the earth. I don't know, when I was working on this, it reminded me, it just flashed in my mind when we went through Romans chapter 11 and the olive tree. Israel is the olive tree in the Old Testament. And Paul takes that symbol and explains it in light of how God is saving Jew and Gentile in chapter 11 of Romans. And I'm going to let you go read it. You can go read from chapter 11 verses 13-24. But the olive tree was Israel and the olive tree represented true Israel in the New Testament. If you go read that description, the unbelieving branches had been broken off. and believing Gentiles had been grafted into that same olive tree. Why does that matter to me? I'm not a Jew. I'm a believing Gentile who's been grafted into all of those covenant promises. I am more Israel than a Jew, a real blood Jew who doesn't know Christ. And you are too if you're in Christ. Paul is saying this New Testament fulfillment of Israel, and it is fulfillment, it's not replacement. People get all messed up with that. But unbelieving Jews broken off, believing Gentiles grafted in, one new tree. There's a lot of joy happening this morning as we're studying this. Believing Gentiles are grafted into the one tree, the one true people, the true Israel, the Israel of God, those sealed that we saw in verses 1-3 we looked at last time. And I think we're on the right track when we see it this way in chapter 7. But if we only had an indication that we're on the right track, wouldn't that be cool? If maybe we could look at other Scriptures that would interpret this Scripture and help us see that we're on the right track, that would be helpful. I think we can do that. Look at point two, the vision of the 144,000. Now, point one was the narration. It's what John heard. He heard a description. Now, he will see what he heard. Look in verse 9. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one can number from every tribe, from every nation, from all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne 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 in worship, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever." Why would I say that that explains it and helps us see that we're on the right track? Well, there's a pattern in apocalyptic literature. where what is heard is explained by what is seen. It happens more than once in the book of Revelation. It happens in other books. But I just want to point you to one example. Take your fingers and flip over maybe one page to chapter 5. Go back to chapter 5 of the book of Revelation. And what has happened there is John has seen the scroll sealed with seven seals, and nobody's found worthy to open it. And he's bawling, much like you've heard in a couple of children this morning. He's letting it rip, right? He is crying. Because nobody can open the scroll. And look in verse 5, And one of the elders said to me, Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seals. So what is John told to expect? A lion. That's what he hears described. What he hears is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Which is interesting, Judah is the first part in our list. But what does he see though? His description is the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered. But when he looks, we're talking about the same thing here in verse 6. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though slain. And we talked about resurrected Christ where lambs who had been slain didn't stand up. Christ is the resurrected Lamb of God. Those are two very different descriptions. What John heard was lion. Imagine you're not looking towards the throne at that point, but you're looking at the angel that's talking to you. And he says, don't cry. The lion has conquered. Cool. You turn and look. It's a very different picture. It's a lamb who has been slain. But it's the exact same person The exact same thing that the symbol is representing. The lion is the lamb. The risen and reigning Christ. John heard lion, but he saw lamb. The lamb interprets the lion. That's how the lion conquered. By being the lamb of God. He conquered through sacrifice. He conquered through sacrificing Himself, making Himself the sacrifice that truly atones for sin and can answer for the sins of His people. That's why Christ came. He didn't just come to live a perfectly sinless life, which He did. He kept the law and thought, word and deed. But He came to die for His people. The wages of sin is death, remember. And the day of you eat of it, they were told, you shall die. The penalty for sin is death, not just physical, but spiritual. Separation from God. Hell. So that's what Christ came to answer for. He lived for us, fulfilling all righteousness. He died for us on that cross, paying the penalty for our sins. He went through the grave and was raised the third day, proving it's all true. He is the Lamb. standing as though he's been slain. But don't miss in chapter 5, what John heard was lying, what he saw was lying. And that's just a device that's here in the book of Revelation that explains things. Go back to chapter 7. Look, you can see this pattern. In verse 4, I heard, this is what I heard, the number of the sealed. And he breaks that out. He heard a description of God's sealed people using symbolic numbers and an edited list to show that the 144,000, remember 12 x 12 x 1,000, represent God's completed people. What he heard was 144,000. What did he see? Look. I looked. I heard about these people and then I looked to see them. And in verse 9, I looked and he saw, and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every tribe. People, language, standing before the throne. We've talked about this already, the priority of God's people. And that this interlude is a flashback that takes us back before the first seal was broken. And we can see, we're kind of back in, we'll see this into chapter 5. Explaining who can stand in the judgment. And John is saying those who are sealed. Heard described as 144,000, but then he looks and he sees a great multitude. From every tribe, every nation, every people, every language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. Notice again, every, look, look at that again. Every nation, tribe, and people, that would include the Jews. The elect of Israel. One people in Christ. Listen, this is what is taught all through the Bible. In Ephesians, one new man in Jesus. And if you read through Ephesians 2, you'll see Him talking to Gentiles and telling them they were at one time separated from the commonwealth of Israel and the covenants of promise, but now they are in I think it's 12 and 19. You can compare them. But read Ephesians 2. Read Galatians 3. If you're in Christ, you're Abraham's seed. Heirs according to the promise. If you're in Christ, you're part of the olive tree. Romans 11. One people in Christ, not two. The church, look at me. Christ's bride is not plan B. Christ's bride is plan A. since the foundation of the world. And we see them here. I hope you can see that. We'll see this pattern again in the book of Revelation. You can see it in some of the Old Testament books where what is heard is explained by what is seen. So what John heard was 144,000. What he saw, look at this, now think about this. What he saw was a people that no one could number. It reminded me of the speaking of as many as the grains of sand. In other words, the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham of what his descendants would be is what John saw. And those are the ones represented by the symbol of the 144,000 in that non-standard list that we have there. So the 144,000 of verse 4 is the great multitude of verse 9. They are two ways of describing the same group of redeemed people around the throne in white robes. What does that mean? We've already seen why it is a symbol of purity. And what we have here is a symbol of being clothed in Christ's righteousness and therefore justified. And what about the palm branches? That's an interesting figure there. The palm branches, that's an allusion to the Feast of Tabernacles. You can go back and read in Leviticus 23. Where they celebrated deliverance from Egypt and anticipated arrival in the Promised Land. They're celebrating deliverance from a greater enemy, which is sin, and anticipating arrival in the promised land, which we get to in chapters 21 and 22. A true and greater promised land. The true and greater Lamb. A true and greater creation. And they're shouting, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and on the Lamb. This is the people of God. And I don't know, I've been, I enter each week nervous and it seems like I leave each week encouraged, just studying the book of Revelation. I think that's what it's supposed to do. When we see that Scripture interprets Scripture, that it's not this book of uninterpreted, uninterpretable, I think that's the word I'm trying to say, symbols. that it's really John's pulling from those Old Testament prophets to comfort God's people and point them to the victory that is in Christ. So you can go, you can wrestle with that, but I think we're on the right track here when we see this heard and seen pattern that we see in other places, and the 144,000 are explained by what he saw, which is the great multitude and fulfillment to God's promise. Let's finish it up in verse 11. And all the angels were standing around the throne, and the elders and the living creatures, and they fell on their faces around the throne and worshipped, saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, might be to our God forever and ever. Look back at the end of chapter 5. In verse 13, And I heard every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne until the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might and power forever and ever. And the four living creatures said amen. We're taken back to chapter 5 in this flashback where it's answering the question of who can stand. And the answer is those who are sealed. Those who are God's people from every tribe, nation, and language. Jew and Gentile. One new people around God's throne celebrating the great victory that is theirs in Christ. This sealing took place before any of the seals were ever opened. We've read about in chapter 6. God is committed to His people. He will save every one of them and He will take us all the way home to the new heavens and the new earth. See, this message was a huge encouragement to the early church. It was directly applicable to them in the struggles and trials they were going through. They weren't reading this and saying, well that's pretty cool for a people far away in history. We're going to talk about great tribulation next week, but you have to wait on that. You'll see it in the text if you keep reading. This message was a huge encouragement to the early church and it is meant to be a huge encouragement to us now. Salvation belongs to our God. Dennis Johnson says this in his commentary, those marked as God's treasure. Stop. Do you think that way about yourself? Not because you're treasurable. Not because there was anything good in us. He made us His treasure. Chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ came to save us and has accomplished our redemption. Therefore, for His glory and by His grace, if you are His people, you are His treasure. Stop thinking too little of his grace. Oh I'm just an old sinner saved by grace. Well that's true. But there's far better news than that. God's word calls you a saint. Look at me if you're trusting in Christ God's word calls you a saint. That's not some extra level you earn doing something weird. You are a saint if you're in Christ. You are forgiven for all of your sins. You are clothed in His righteousness. You are part of this number. And Dennis Johnson says this, those marked as God's treasure by the seal of His name are secured and sheltered from His burning wrath to come. Who can stand? End of verse 6. They are the people of His covenant, portrayed as twelve complete tribes. But now that Lamb has conquered through His death, God's covenant people embraces all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. The Israel secured by God's seal is a multi-ethnic multitude, dressed in robes washed white in the Lamb's blood, praising Him for His salvation. What an encouraging piece of Scripture, if read the right way. What should this do in our hearts? One of the things I'll tell you it should do is that it should give you a gospel optimism. Every single one of His people will be converted from every tribe, nation, people, and language. We'll be around His throne celebrating His grace. And if you want to look back at verse 9, it is a great multitude that nobody can... This is not a little group. compared to the sands on the seashore. A multitude who have experienced His grace from every tribe. He will save all of His people. And that's what this specific symbolic list, one of the things it is communicating to us. They'll all be there. So listen, we can't mess it up. We can relax and be instruments in His hand. Share that glorious Gospel with those who don't know Him. Second thing it should produce, and this is not an exhaustive list of application in any form, but when we really get the Gospel, it produces all. I mean, where did hymns like Amazing Grace come from? John Newton knew who he was. And yet he knew who Christ was. And he knew that even though he was who he was, through faith that God had given him in Christ, he had been cleansed and forgiven of all of his sins. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Adopted into the family of God. So, that's where hymns like Amazing Grace, how about And Can It Be? That I should gain an interest in His love. All hail the power of Jesus' name. When we really get the Gospel, we get off the treadmill of trying to earn our way. We start glorying and standing in awe of our Savior, which produces also alongside that gratitude. Think about this. I was refreshed this week. When you read this list in Revelation chapter 7, If you're in Christ, and I'm not just talking generally, but if you are trusting in Christ this morning, you are part of that number. You're in! You win! Because He has won for you. Thank You, Lord, for Your amazing grace extended to sinners like me. And then humility. We know we don't deserve it. We can treat others the way Christ treats us and not the way we think they deserve because He has treated us that way. We don't have to get a pound of flesh. We can love our enemies. We can bless those who curse us. Do good to those who persecute us. Not keep a record of every sin our spouse has ever done so that we can bring it up later. If I really get the Gospel, I'm not going to be quick to hold things against people. Because I know whatever they've done to me, I've done far worse and been forgiven for all of that. It doesn't mean we don't call for repentance and growth and change and all of that. It doesn't mean that at all. But a humility and a gratitude and an awe and an optimism in God and His sovereign grace, lastly, should produce a Gospel passion. I want every one of you who don't know Jesus to know Him. I want you to have confidence in Him. I want you to know for sure you are forgiven for all of your sins, that you are righteous in God's sight through the righteousness of Christ, that you have been adopted into His family, that He will take you all the way home. I want you to have that confidence. That confidence can't be in you. It must be in Him and in His grace. And if you really have gotten it, you want others to know about it. As hard as that is sometimes. Why is it hard? Just think about that. Why is it hard? Because I'm focused on myself. That's why it's hard. What will they think of me? They might not like me anymore. Who cares? Hopefully, I'm not going to be a jerk and that's the reason they don't like me anymore. But if Christ is the reason they don't like me anymore, that's not on me. We should have a passion to go. eager and willing to get out of ourselves and go, man, let me tell you about this Savior. Let's talk about the important things in life. Somebody was telling me a great question this week. We should have a gospel passion if we really get this grace. This grace that comes to all tribes, peoples, languages, and nations. This grace that will have an innumerable multitude around His throne. We will be passionate for Him and for His Gospel. So our main point was the question, who are the 144,000? Here's our answer. You! Shut up preacher. No, true. If you're in Christ, and if you're rejecting Christ, I'm not talking to you. But if you're trusting in Christ this morning, that's you. You are the sealed. Ephesians tells us so in other places. God's put His name on you. That's a stamp of ownership and protection and blessing. He's protecting your faith. Yes, you're going through many trials. Christ even said it, in this world you will have trouble. Count it all joy though, James says, when you find trouble, if you're in Christ, because you know He's going to use it for you. But the thrilling thing about reading this chapter and seeing the herd and seeing interpretation and what this really means is the 144,000 is us. It's the people of God. It's you if you're in Christ. You are the 144,000. You are part of the great multitude that no one can number. So this symbolic figure of 144,000 represents the entirety of God's covenant people who are sealed and protected and faithful. And if you're in Christ, you are sealed and protected and faithful. Growingly faithful in the midst of a fallen world. See, this one people transcends ethnicity. It's Jew and Gentile. It's every nationality. It's all believers in Christ. It's another symbolic number like the sevens that we talked about and the fours in verses 1-3 representing Christ's complete church. The 144,000 are the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ who need encouragement to live kingdom lives in the midst of a fallen world. And that's exactly what the book of Revelation gives us. We find that encouragement in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His covenant promises to work for, in, and through us. And so getting a better grasp of His grace, we too can be part of this cry to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Amen. Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's pray. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a God. What grace. Lord, I pray that you would Just refresh us, renew us, recalibrate us to a deeper apprehension and understanding of your grace toward us in Christ. I pray that we would have a gospel infection that is contagious because we are living for and speaking for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That we would receive the comfort that You mean for us to receive from this glorious book of Revelation. That it would encourage our faith and strengthen us just like it did for the early church and the church down through the ages. As You have by Your Spirit have applied this book, this Word to Your church. Strip away all the fear and intimidation that some have for the book, and help us to see the glorious simple message of our Savior's victory for us, and therefore our victory in Him. May we be fueled and encouraged to live for You in this dark and fallen, sinful and under-judgment world. And therefore, in that darkness, shine as bright lights for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray if anyone be under the sound of my voice that doesn't know Christ this morning, that you would convict them of their sin and their need of a Savior, that you would point them to Christ as that Savior, that they would rest in Him, trust in Him, trust in you, Lord Jesus, as you are presented in your word. For those of us who do know you, just for a time of deep thought and rededication as we participate in your supper, you are the Lamb of God, the Lamb standing as though slain, the one who lived for us and died for us and was raised for us. reigning for us now and returning for us someday. And you will take us all the way home to the new heavens and the new earth. We give you praise and we ask our prayer in Jesus' holy name. Amen. We're going to transition to the Lord's Supper now. You can remain seated as we sing and men will pass out the elements. Just a couple of things I want to say about that one. Do we have the slide? Wine is around the outside and juice is in the middle. So according to your need, that's the way it's laid out. And all the bread is gluten free, so you don't have to worry about that. But wine around the ring, and juice in the middle, so you'll know where to reach for yourself and your children according to your need. And then the other thing I would say to you is this, as we've talked about God's covenant and His promises today, this is a covenant meal. This is a time of communion with Christ, our Savior. This is a meal for believers. One of the things that's happening when you take the meal is you're professing trust and faith in Christ. So if you're not trusting in Christ, let it pass. Hear the gospel in it. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're coming from a church of like mind and faith, you don't have to be a member of Grace Church, we would invite you to partake. If you're under-disciplined from another church and kind of running to this one or away from that, let's talk about that. Don't partake. But if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and healthy in the faith and growing in the faith, I didn't say you were perfect, right? We invite you to partake. And we trust your children to you. You know whether your kids have made a profession of faith and been baptized. But we are going to enter into the Lord's Supper. It is called that because it is His Supper. It is a time of communion with Him. It is a time that not only that it's not just a profession of faith and it's not just a remembrance. We actually by faith are feeding on Christ. We are partaking of His sacrifice by faith in our hearts, right? We're remembering His grace and being fortified in our faith. because we're looking through the elements to Christ and feeding upon Him. But if you'll remain seated as we sing, hold on to the elements until the end, and then I will lead us and we will partake together once we've sung the songs and the elements have been passed out. But with that, I will turn it over to the music team so that we can sing. Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea. His love, whoever lives and feeds for me. My name is written on His head. My name is written on His heart. I know that God, with many steps, no tongue can bid me thank the Lord. No time can bid me hence depart, When Satan tells me to despair. and tells me of the guilt within. Upward I look and see Him there, who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me To look on Him and pardon me Behold Him where the prison lamp Perfect, spotless, righteousness, the great unchangeable I am, the King of glory and of grace. Armed with Himself, I cannot die. My soul is purged. With Christ my Savior and my God. With Christ my Savior and my God. With Christ my Savior and my God. His love, vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood, when the prince of life, our ransom, shed for us his precious blood, through his love we'll not ♪ Who can cease to sing His praise ♪ ♪ He can never be forgotten ♪ ♪ Throughout heaven's eternal days ♪ ♪ On the mount of crucifixion ♪ ♪ Fountains open deep and wide ♪ ♪ Through the floodgates of God's mercy ♪ ♪ Flowed a past and gracious tide ♪ ♪ Grace and love like mighty rivers ♪ ♪ Flowed incessant from above ♪ Heaven's peace and perfect justice is a guilty world in love. Let me all your love acceptee, love you ever all my days. Let me seek your kingdom only, and my life be to your praise. You alone shall be my glory, nothing In your truth, you still direct me. By your spirit, through your word, and your grace my need is meeting, as I trust in you, my Lord. Of your fullness you are pouring your great love and power on me. Father, we thank you for this covenant meal. We thank you for This visible, tasteable gospel. These elements that are common elements, Lord, yet You set them aside for a gospel purpose. So sanctify them and use them as a means of grace. That we might look through them to Christ, who was crushed for our sins. who died that we might live, who took the cup of wrath due us and drank it dry, and said on the cross, it is finished. Help us, Lord. to be fortified, strengthened in our faith as we look through these elements to Christ, and by faith in our hearts, feed upon His broken body, His shed blood, His sacrifice on our behalf. Thank you for this supper. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul says this in verse 23 and following. He says, I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body. which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Eat this bread and believe that Christ was crushed for you, paying the penalty for your sins. Eat and remember Christ. Paul goes on to say, in the same way, also he took the cup after supper. This is the cup that was taken after supper in the Passover meal. Jesus is transforming that and showing himself the fulfillment. In that same way, also he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Drink this cup and look to Christ and believe that by his death all your sins are washed away. Lord Jesus, we look to you this morning and to your sacrifice on our behalf. You fulfilled all righteousness for us by keeping your own law in thought, word, and deed. You paid the penalty due, our sin, by sacrificing yourself and drinking the cup of God's wrath dry that we deserve. That we might be here today, drinking your cup of grace, eating your supper, believing that we are forgiven, pardoned for all of our sins and accepted as righteous in your sight. Father, only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Through your gospel, we have the confidence that we need. Forgiven, righteous, empowered by the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. that we might encourage one another in those truths and go from this building as light and salt for you. Thank you for the glorious good news of the gospel that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture and he was buried. He was raised the third day according to the scriptures. Appeared to over 500 at one time. Lastly, to the apostles. Lord, give us resurrection confidence in our Savior. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.