All right, so have your Bibles open to the book of Revelation and stand with me for the reading of God's Word. Our passage for this morning is Revelation chapter 7, and we are making good progress through the book of Revelation here. In our text for this morning, verses 9 to 14 is the passage that we will be reading and expounding. Passage is Revelation chapter 7 beginning with verse 9. After these things, I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, and all tribes, and all peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands. And they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen. The blessing, and glory, and the wisdom, and thanksgiving, and the honor, and the power, and the strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, These clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come? And I said to him, My Lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Amen. Please be seated. In contrast to the definite numbers that we have studied in the previous passage, the 144,000, in this passage we have an indefinite number of innumerable people. And in contrast to the 144,000 who are from every tribe of the people of sons of Israel, a very specific ethnic group and nation, here There are innumerable people from all the nations, all peoples, and tongues. And so what we have are not only the Jews but the Gentiles. And in contrast to the protective ceiling against the onslaught of the troubled during the Great Tribulation period that we have learned in the previous passage of the sealing of the 144,000, here the multitudes express worship and victory and security as we shall soon see, as they have palm branches in their hands. And in contrast to the earthly sealing of the 144,000, we have the heavenly worship of the tribulational saints. That's a direct and purposeful contrast. And the contrasts are many, but it seems to connect with the other. There's a sense that John's presentation in this episode of the visions is that there's a direct correlation between the sealing of the 144,000 and the triumphant innumerable multitudes in heaven. What could be that connection? Well, this is part of the homework that we have as we ask these questions, these observational and interpretive questions as we go through the book of Revelation. And they will be slowly revealed to us that God has an awesome, incredible, in time, cosmic purpose for salvation, that He will save so many souls, that they're so innumerable that John could not even fathom a number. Isn't that amazing? That's an amazing reality of the goodness of God. Right now we see the world and we see all the chaos and all the sin and evil and all the satanic forces and some of you may be just jaded. Some of you may be so pessimistic and say, can this ever get any worse? Well, I assure you that the goodness of God will triumph. And that's what this passage teaches us very clearly. And we're so thankful to the Lord. So we're going to see the great multitude of the tribulational saints who begin the worship of God and of Christ. And then we're going to see the 24 elders and the angelic hosts joining in the worship of God and Christ. And then finally, we're going to see the identity of the multitude Who are these people? Who are these Tribulational Saints? And we're going to look at some of these passages together. First, the worship of the Tribulational Saints commencing in heaven. Notice they're the ones who begin to praise God. Salvation belongs to our God and of the Lamb. Verses 9 and 10. And then immediately following that worship in the heavenly host continues the worship with great elaboration of the salvation of our God. And they praise God for His character and His characteristics. Verses 11 to 12. And finally the identification. In a dialogue format, one of the 24 elders engages in a conversation with John, asks him a question, and then gives him the answer. So there's a revealing, a revelation of the identification of these people, verses 13 to 14. So that's the segment that we will be studying this morning. Throughout this chapter, the main theological theme is the doctrine of election. 144,000 are elect, sealed, and here are the tribulational saints who are elect, innumerable, but they are the ones who are elect. They enter into the presence of God in heaven. And their presence of God in heaven is very important because they're not down on earth. So this is not talking about the millennial kingdom. This is not the aftermath of the judgment. They're still in heaven while there is judgment going on. The seventh seal hasn't been opened yet. The seven trumpet judgments haven't come yet. And so what we see is a tremendous multitude that God would bring forth into heaven in the first part of the tribulation period, in the first three and a half years. Great revival, great transformation of souls, great lives are changed, great persecution and martyrdom. And yet God would do an amazing harvest of souls during that time. This is a fantastic, positive picture of the future. even though if you focus on the things happening in the world, it's pretty bleak. But when you focus on what God is doing, it's very, very positive. So let's take a look at verses 9 and 10. The worship of the tribulational saints commencing, verses 9 and 10. After these things, again, this is sequential in John's reporting of the vision that he saw. looked and behold now in contrast to the previous vision this time something surprising grabs John's attention and so he adds behold an unexpected scene unfolds before John's eyes a Huge gathering of people literally and many a crowd. That's the Greek highlighting the numerical greatness many a crowd Numerical greatness here translated as great multitude so numerous that John adds that they were uncountable a great multitude which no one could count," he said. No one. As mentioned earlier, this is in contrast to the very specific number that John could count and that others could count. The 12,000 from each one of those tribes mentioned and 144,000 in summation. Certainly countable. That specific number is given. And then take a look at Revelation 9, verse 16. There's another number. This is the largest number reported in the Bible. largest specific number reported in the Bible. Revelation 9 16. It's the number of specific military force. Revelation 9 16 it says, and the number of the armies of the horsemen. Notice what it says. Armies of the horsemen was 200 million. I heard the number of them. armies of the horsemen point to more specifically well-trained, well-equipped military force. And he heard a specific number, 200 million. So when he says, no one could number them, logic dictates that the number of the saved that come out of the tribulation must be much greater than 200 million. It can't even be approximately similar. It can't be like 300 million or 400 million. or even ten times the 200 million. It must be numerous. So it's amazing that God would reap such a harvest in these dark days when we see great billions of people rejecting the Lord, going against the Lord. And we see few communities of faith huddling here and there all over the planet. And yet What we see here is a tremendous harvest. Something will happen during the first period of three and a half years and we will study later on as more details are given that God sends the two witnesses to work during this period. where the Antichrist is emerging and gaining power and reigning, these two will have great spiritual influence all over the world and the 144,000 will be mentored by the two witnesses sent in these last times. And a heavenly message from the angels will be given from heaven. I don't know how God will do that. I don't know if He will just send a message in letters in every nation, every country that they could read. I don't know if there will be a vision. Whatever it is, there will be a Gospel message preached by the angels in Heaven. I don't know if God will allow audible voices to be heard in the Gospel message. I don't know if it will come, but Scripture is very clear it will be a supernatural source of angelic preaching of the Gospel. Earthly witnesses, two witnesses, and 144,000 Jewish evangelists will all be preaching the truth in these end times. That's fantastic. That's much better than what's happening now where, yeah, the gospel is being pumped all over the world through mass media, the internet, and through local preaching, but still many people are really ignorant, refusing to hear, and they are purposefully ignorant. They're not passively. They say, no, I don't want to know. Don't tell me about that. That's the kind of rejection and rebellion that's going on today regarding the truth of God. And yet, God does not give up on this sinful humanity. He has a plan and purpose to save a great numbers of this humanity, great multitude. So, since this is the case, We cannot be pessimistic regarding our work in the gospel here and now, even though situations look pretty dark in many parts of our world. Scripture says from every nation, in contrast to the Jews from every tribe of Israel this time, a great multitude includes the Gentiles from every nation. Even the Buddhist nations of Asia, the Hindu nations, you know, the largest Muslim nation in the world is in Asia, it's in Indonesia. Large populations in Malaysia, they're Muslim. So, and you know, in the north of India, like Pakistan, it's all Muslim. Huge populations, millions there, in the far eclipse, the Muslims that we normally think in the Middle East. Asian Muslims are huge in number, and they dwarf the tiny numbers in the Middle East. Will they come to know Christ? Well, our scripture says from every nation, even Saudi Arabia, from Qatar, from Iraq, Iran. Yes, from every nation, from Indonesia, all of the nations. So have hope. Have this global vision as you pray, as you serve locally. Pray and trust God for this global purpose that he has for the future. And don't just look at what's going on in your immediate circles. Pray with this big picture in mind. Now the Greek preposition, from, is a partitive, which expresses a part of the whole of universal humanity. So not every single individual will be saved, but they will be saved from every nation, a part. But if you add them all together, they're so numerous they cannot be counted. And we saw the phrase organized slightly differently in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9. John says, So all four categories are represented here. So it's really a repetition of what we have already studied. But there, all the nouns were singular, where here, they're all plural. There, the focus was on Christ, what he had done in his redemptive work. Here, the focus is on the result of the redemption of what Christ has done. And so, all nations and all tribes, so whether nation or tribes, people or tongues, separated by geography, nations are separated by geography. but they could be from the same stock of people, tribes, ethnicity, or peoples, culture. We say European people, we're talking about generally their culture. And tongues, say the English-speaking people, even though Australia is really down under there and New Zealand is part of what we would call the Far East and the Asian aspect, they're English-speaking people. So are the Singaporeans. Asian-speaking people. So tongues, separated by geography, ethnicity, culture, and languages, they're all united here under Christ in worship. Ah, this is what God had originally intended, what man decided to do in the human solidarity under a satanic rule and leadership of a human dictator in the Tower of Babel, like Nimrod, who gathered together. Let us not be scattered together. Let us make a name for ourselves. Build a tower that reaches up to the heavens. What did God say? God said be fruitful and multiply. Be scattered. Subdue the earth. And he has a plan for salvation. That's why. Now he's gathered all the people together from all these separate places and then you united them together as God's people. As God's people. They are standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Where are they? They're in heaven. This is not on earth. Keep that in mind as we look at and study this prophecy. So in the context of prophecy, these are innumerable saints who have died by natural or violent deaths during the period of the first half of the Great Tribulation period, the first six seal judgments, and the first three and a half years, and they come out of the tribulation. They come out of the Great Tribulation. And they're clothed in white robes. Again, the color of the robes, white, represent righteousness as well as purity. And we already saw them being given white robes to the martyr saints in chapter 6. Chapter 6, verse 11 says, And a white robe was given to each of them. And it was told them that they should rest a little while longer. Those who cried out, How long, O Lord, faithful and true, will you not avenge our blood against those who dwell on the earth? These are the martyr saints crying out to the Lord. Under the altar, they're crying out to the Lord, and the Lord clothed them with white robes, tell them to wait a while, and now here they are joined by innumerable multitudes who joined them. So the first martyrs were joined by latter martyrs, as well as those who died, you know, natural death of old age or persecution or hunger or whatever, they died, and so here they are. The prayers of the complaint answered. The victory is accomplished. How do we know? Because they have palm branches in their hands. The palm branches were universally understood at this time as symbol of victory and triumph. So in a great victorious war victory, in the procession of the parades, they waved palm branches. And we recall the Jews waving palm branches and shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a donkey in John 12, verse 13. A commentator, Robert Thomas, mentions that the Greeks and the Romans employed palm branches with the same symbolism. Because that whole area, the Mediterranean climate, is warm, so there are palm trees everywhere. And so palm branches were used to celebrate this special occasion. And the palm branches were associated with the Feast of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles, Hakha Sukkot, which is the only festival feast mentioned in Zechariah, that was mandatory for Gentiles to attend. In the book of Ezekiel, both Passover and Tabernacles are mentioned because they pertain to the Jews only. The entire tenor of this scene is celebratory, therefore, and filled with joy. They have palm branches in their hand as a sign of victory. This is the kind of victorious war parade that the Romans and the Greeks and the people of the ancient Near East and the biblical times were used to. And here they have these palm branches. Verse 10, And they cry out with a loud voice, saying, The verb is in the imperfect tense. which indicates ongoing activity. So a loud voice points to overwhelming gratitude and joy and exaltation. When you get excited, when you're joyful and you're thankful, your voice goes up. And here it is, the elect keep going on and on and on with the imperfect tense. They continue to shout and praise. That's the sense. And here's the first lyric, the first lyric of the content, the major theme, salvation. What is the focus of their praise? Salvation to our God. Obviously salvation is from God, but it is also directed toward God. All things are for Him and by Him and through Him. But it is to Him. All things. So we normally think about salvation We are saved by Christ's work on the cross from our sins. The focus is usually on man and the result of salvation. But salvation is really God's plan and purposes of his mercy and his grace poured out upon the undeserving. And so salvation is truly God's. This is not man's achievement. This is God's accomplishment. Salvation belongs to our God. They're possessive. Our God points to the fact that they belong to God. These are God's people. who sits on the throne, he is sovereign, in control, absolutely powerful and authoritative, and to the Lamb. What an image. We continually see the Lamb, Lamb, Lamb, the sacrificial animal that is a representative of the finished work of Jesus Christ. And yet he is powerful, he's almighty, and he receives worship. Notice it says, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. The praise and worship of these tribulational saints are rendered unto the Lamb. We saw this, all the same language already previously rendered unto the Lamb, unto Jesus Christ. These details clearly portray the equality of their essence. of Christ and God the Father. The Son and the Father are not only of the same essence from the same divine family, the divine Godhead, they receive the same worship, they must be of the same value. Equality of essence, only inequality of roles and function. And this is an amazing reality because the heavenly hosts recognize all this. So central topic of their loud, continuous exaltation is, with a definite article, the salvation. The salvation, which is entirely work of God and not of man. For it is by God's grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is not the result of work so that no one can boast. And so we are told in Ephesians chapter two, Verses 8 and 9, that salvation belongs to our God. The entire phrase is in the dative case in the Greek, which is used as a dative of advantage, which highlights what salvation does for God and for the Lamb. It's not only we who are advantageous because we receive salvation. Salvation does something for God and for the Lamb. That's the reason why the NSB and LSB translators added the italics, belongs to highlight what salvation does for God. We can say salvation is not about you, but includes you. Isn't that great? Salvation is not about you. Salvation is about God, but includes you. God is a savior by nature, and he saves. And the angelic world was saved by God's divine protection by saying thus far and no more, But we are saved through the precious blood of the Lamb, the work of Christ, finished work on the cross, the redemptive work of Christ. This, the angels are passionately interested in. How is this, God's gonna pull this off? Because they understand how they were prevented from falling into sin. But how is God gonna deal with people who have already fallen into sin? They are of great interest. And so here, the angels understand. When God's purposes of salvation that is fulfilled, they go, oh, we get it. God is awesome. And that's why they join in the praise and worship. So we are not yet told how salvation glorifies God in Christ until we hear the chorus of the heavenly hosts continually worshiping God in the next passage. So now that we've seen the worship of the elect tribulational saints commencing, now let's focus on the worship of the elect heavenly hosts continuing. Here they are, verses 11 to 12. And all the angels were standing around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures. We already saw this heavenly entourage And notice, and they all fell on their faces before the throne. Notice the unity. You know, when you go to a great athletic competition or great concert, there's not individuals like hiding in there like a communist dictatorship and saying, hey, you better, it's time for you to cheer. You better cheer right now because the camera's on you. If you don't cheer, you're gonna be in trouble. Nobody does that. Something comes upon them, a spirit, a spirit of the core, a team spirit comes upon them of excitement, of joy. And then all of a sudden, all the crowd simultaneously, when they see their team score a point, win that decisive moment, they all cheer. They'll get off of their seats. It's a knee-jerk reaction. This is exactly what we're seeing, but it is perfect, unadulterated, It is induced by the awesomeness of the glory of God. Now, if you can understand the thrills of your team, or your man, or your woman, the champion, winning, and you have associated yourself, even though that individual, that team doesn't even know you, or that you even exist, but the fact of the solidarity there, and you get excited, don't tell me you don't know how to worship God. That just shows you that our capacity for joy, exaltation, praise, and worship has been completely, completely adulterated, distorted. By what? By sin. but that will be removed. And what we see here is a group of creatures, individuals, that their sin and their perception is clear. Sin is removed and their perception is clear. And they see the glories of God. So of course, they instinctively fall down. Now, you know, you've seen many, many footages and may have actually seen individuals, the postures among Muslims, as part of their religious duties. They all simultaneously seem to bow down. But that's because of their religious duty. And they're trained that way. But here the heavenly hosts are voluntarily prostrating. As soon as the first chorus, salvation belongs to our God, are sung by the saints, the tribulational saints, everybody joins in. And you know, I've been in situations like that. When somebody starts singing a tune that I like, that I know, I join in. Unless that individual says, hey, this is my song, you better stop. I just join in and keep singing with them, right? It's a spirit of core. It's a team spirit kind of a thing. And they worship God, it says. Not only their humble posture of worship, but also the proclamation of worship and the sevenfold praise of God. But interestingly, all feminine nouns, The seven praises match up with the seven we've already studied and seen in Revelation 5, which was rendered unto the Lamb alone here. Revelation 5, 12, you can go there, seeing, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing. That's seven. Only one noun has changed from riches to thanksgiving here. And this makes sense, since the praise was directly and solely rendered unto the Lamb in Revelation 5, but both to the Father and the Son here in Revelation 7. It means that six out of the seven words are identical. The seventh one is really a correlation of riches, which was given, and then thanksgiving. The proper rendering of having received such riches is thanksgiving. Well, who should be receiving all the thanks? God. Of course, that belongs to God. So it's unmistakable that both Christ and the Father received worship from the heavenly host, pointing to the quality of their nature. This is the kind of stuff that the early believers saw and saw, oh, Jesus is the same, in essence, receiving worship. Because even the Jews knew, who could receive worship? Who could forgive sins except God alone? And here he is. Who wanted to receive worship even though he's a creature? Satan. What happened? He fell. Because of pride, right? So here it is. This is the kind of theology that gave us the doctrine of the Trinity. This is not man-made. Please, people who have a superficial understanding of the Scriptures will listen to a lot of false teaching regarding, oh, this is what the Roman church have conjured up in the 4th and 5th centuries. This is farthest thing from the truth. The biblical data clearly teaches the Son and the Father are of the same nature and essence. Of course, the only person that's remaining is the Holy Spirit. Is He of the same nature? And the Bible teaches, yes, He is. So this is the Trinitarian doctrine also coming out, even from passages like this. Verse 12 says, saying, Amen. You'll notice that there are two amens in this verse. This is the first amen that opens up the solemn confirmation of the tribute of their worship, according to Robert Thomas. The first of the seven praises of the heavenly worship is the blessing. Heiulogia. literally well-speaking, which is another way of saying praise. When you speak well of God who receives all good things, then this is praise. You're praising God and Christ. The Father and the Son are praiseworthy. Are they not? Yes. So we sing praises unto the Lord Jesus and unto the Father. And then The second word is glory, daksa. This is the intrinsic qualities that God in Christ possesses, the full radiance of the marvelous characteristics which they share equally. Right? This is the kind of shine and the sparkle that the diamond possesses as it reacts to light. So we talk about, oh, that's a beautiful gem. And so all of God's qualities, if you look at it, it's glorious. This is the daksa. And wisdom. This of course deals with the greatness and the perfect execution of the plan of salvation. Somebody who is infinitely intelligent, wise, and practically manifest his plans to execute in the world the plan of salvation surely is all wise. This is the wisdom of God. And thanksgiving. Eucharistia. This deals with the free giving Charis is a gift, so this is the good gift of God, freely giving nature of God, which evokes thanksgiving for all who have received from Him. Only those who understand the greatness of the giver, not focusing only on the gift, but the greatness of the giver, can properly respond to Him. The only proper response is thanksgiving. And the honor, this is the high esteem You want to rob honor from God by focusing attention on you? You want people to notice you rather than noticing the Lord whom you worship? Then you may be a thief of the honor of God. No, we give all honor to God, all glory to Him. And this is what the heavenly hosts are doing. And the power, this is the power which is executed and displayed. This is the dunamis, the dynamic power of God. And the strength, this is the same power. It's a synonym of dunamis. This is a sense of power. God is powerful whether He exercises it or not. He has infinite amount of power on tap that He can exercise at any moment. You'll see some of that power being exercised in His judgments in the next chapter. When understood against the central theme of salvation, God and Christ are worthy of praise for saving sinners, displaying glory and majesty in saving sinners, demonstrates perfect wisdom in carrying out the plan of salvation, generally gives salvation, and therefore deserves thanksgiving, recognized with high esteem for granting salvation, who is like Him, only He, and mighty to save, since salvation was wrought against the powerful forces of both fallen angels, the demons, Satan and demons, and men and governments and human leaders who oppose God, trying to thwart His plan of salvation. Many governments have put political pressure upon believers to recant, to deny Christ. Communists have done this. Communists have killed more Christians. than any organized governments. Secular governments, and even religious governments too. You know, one government that says, we're Roman Catholic, therefore, if you're Protestant, you're a heretic, then you deserve to die. And so, it's really, it's the so-called Christian governments, or Roman Catholic governments that killed many true Bible-believing Christians throughout history. And you've learned this from European history. So, secular governments, whether organized, and powerful, communist, or even religious, have persecuted. Of course, the greatest was the secular, atheistic, communistic type of governments that are persecuted. But of course, we see even today, Muslims and Buddhists and Hindu nations are persecuting Christians. Christians are the only one who are commanded to love our neighbors, pray for those who persecute us, and forgive our enemies. So therefore, you can't say you're a Christian, and you organize yourself, and then persecute other people. Can't do that. You can bear good testimony, appeal to them with truth to their conscience, but you can't force your religion down and force them against their will. And if they don't, you can't persecute them. That is against what Christ taught. So how can you be a Christian? How can some nations be a Christian nation? Incompatible. So salvation belongs to our God because it flows from His character, from His characteristics. That's quite a praise of worship. It's possible because people in their relationship and right relationship to God can proclaim their belongingness to God so they can praise God because they know His character. And that's why it says, to our God. Such praise, such worship, such exaltation of our great God is not just for time. It's not just a moment, but for all eternity. That's the phrase, forever and ever. Forever and ever. Can you replicate the excitement, the joy, the exuberance, and the camaraderie of your team winning the decisive competition in a large auditorium? Can you repeat that over and over and over again? When you're beholding the awesome, glorious, perfect, eternal Being, and you're in His presence, and you are eternal, you're living forever and ever, and you're seeing the greatest act, the greatest work, the greatest of all accomplishments, of the greatest being of all time, believe me, the joy and the exaltation and the camaraderie And our relationship, I can't believe I belong to him. He knows me and he saved me. He adopted me into his family. He's invited me to be a member of his team. This times a million, continually forever and ever is the joy of worship. See, people who don't know this type of worship, this type of emotional elation, this type of belongingness, this type of awe, they're not living life as it was meant to be lived. Imagine celebrating this together with people that you love the most in the entire world. This is awesome. It just knocks off anything, anything that in comparison to your married people, to your honeymoon, to the best years of your lives, nothing can compare to such an awesome fellowship of worship. And so, this is the second amen, or truly, that's what amen means in Hebrew, from the aman verb, to be truthful, truly. This validates the truthfulness of their characterization of God. Everything they praise God for is true of God. So you cannot properly worship God unless you are worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. Yeah. You have to be factually correct about the God that you envision in your mind. Hopefully that's informed by the truth of who God says He is rather than man's vain interpretation, false interpretation, which is idolatry. So we saw the worship of the elect tribulational saints commencing, the worship of the heavenly hosts continuing, and thirdly and finally, the identity of the tribulational elect, the identity of the tribulational elect. An interview of a dialogue is being now reported by John in a typical Jewish fashion with Jewish idiom, which gives response to the underlying question or the issue. Regardless of whether someone asks a question or not, this is the Hebrew idiom. And, you put in the bracket someone, answer. You say, and Jesus answered. and David answered, and Joshua answered. You could put anything in there. Whether someone is asking a question or not, it doesn't matter. This is a Hebrew idiom frequently found in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament also, because, especially in the Gospels, it's an entirely Jewish context, right? You would expect Jews and those who interview Jews to speak and talk like Jews. And this is exactly what's going on. And the context is Jewish. So it is here. John is Jewish. He's a Jew, born as a Jew in Israel, in Galilee. And so this is his thinking. These are his vocabulary. As John is thinking very much like a Hebrew. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, well, did John ask a question? No. But still the answer is coming, why? Because this Hebrew idiom is introduced when someone is about to explain something. So you're getting the explanation of all that John is seeing. Even before he could ask the question, who are these people? One of the elders answered and engages in a dialogue, conversation with John. Now when you look at some of the Old Testament passages, you'll see examples of that. I should give that to you before we proceed because you need to have some sort of a context. In Jeremiah, Yirmeyahu chapter 1, verse 11, we see this. Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, what do you see, Yirmeyahu, Jeremiah? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. See the question? What do you see? And then he responds, I see a rod of an almond tree. And then if you continue to follow along, the prophet only sees some things. He can't make sense of it. So an explanation is given to him. So now what's Jeremiah's response? Okay, okay, I need to write this down because the Lord told me to write it down, and then I need to go tell the people this is what God said. He's communicating his will through a vision, through a prophetic vision, through the medium who's a prophet. This is exactly what's going on here. John is the last prophet. disciple of Jesus Christ, an apostle of the Lord, and yet the final prophet who's giving the inspired message in this church age. Zechariah chapter 4 verse 2, similar. And he said to me, what do you see? And I said, I see and behold a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps on it with seven spots belonging to each of the lamps which are on top of it. What do you see? Very detailed. I see this, I see this. question and answer, a dialogue, one from heaven to earth through the mediatory role of the prophet. So with this mindset that was very familiar to all the Jews, now read, then one of the elders, there's 24 elders already introduced, one of the elders. That tells you, right, that this is an elder who is now translated, because John was translated in a vision, a prophetic vision into heavenly places, he's now engaging in a conversation and he is about to receive a revelation from God through one of the 24 elders. These, here's the explanation, clothed in white robes, who are they and from where have they come? The question, obviously, is a thought-provoking question because John sees it, but does he know what he's seeing? Zechariah 2.5 says, Did Zechariah understand what he saw? No. You don't understand what you see unless God gives the explanation. This is exactly what's happening. And so here, John basically says, I don't have the answers, but I know you do. That's what he says. And I said to him, this is very interesting phrasing in the Greek, because in verse 14, it says, and I said to him, my Lord, you know, Now, we would expect the verb, and I said to him, to be aorist, a simple past tense. That's what we would expect because John is relaying a conversation that he had with one of the 24 elders during this interlude between the opening of the 6th and the 7th seal. He's just describing us a vision that he saw. And so, is he just reporting? Well, that would be the case if the verb tense would be the aorist tense, simple aorist, but that is not what we find. What we find is the perfect tense. That's surprising. This is the verb that John uses instead of the expected aorist tense. John is using the perfect tense in the Greek to convey this past conversation. It is so vivid and so fresh in his mind as if he is engaged in the same conversation now. This is the great genius of the Greek tenses. That they can convey vividness through these tenses. John is writing, but is informing the audience. I'm telling you, I still remember vividly that conversation. It's like I'm having a conversation with you right now. This is what one of the elders asked me. And this is what I said, as like if I'm saying it to you right now. I said to him, my Lord, you know, and it's difficult to tell in the English, but in the Greek, it is easy to tell because there is the emphatic pronoun. You, you know, we can say that, but that's redundant. But in many languages, like the Spanish language and other languages, the person and number and even gender is embedded in the verb. So you can say, tengo dinero. and in Tengo, the tener verb, say, I have money. Dienes, dinero, you have money. So the verb tense can contain person. And in the Greek, it can contain even number and gender. And I say that to you because you don't need the pronoun in a simple conversation like this. But he says, my lord, you yourself know. So the emphasis is there, I. I don't know why you're asking me this," John says, I don't know, but you know. That's why I know that you are asking this question. Because I know that you're about to reveal something that I don't know. The identification of who this innumerable multitudes are. This is very important for God, through one of the angels, one of the 24 elders, to explain to John so that John could communicate this message to the readers. And this may include you. This may include me. Not in a literal sense, if we're believers, but in a sense that the people that we impact and influence, people that we nurture and we give birth to, people that we love and we share the good news of the gospel to, they could be standing around the throne, depending on when the tribulation is and how we are connected. This is how God works in history, through his people. for His purposes, for the praise of His glory, for God is a Savior by nature. Salvation belongs to our God. Here's the message. Who are these people? They're the saved ones. They're the elect. Who are the elect? They're the saved ones. Who are the saved ones? They're the ones who repented from their sins, received the truth of God, the reality of God as their creator, their maker, their redeemer, the one who gave the greatest gift to humanity, the gift of his only begotten son, that through his finished work on the cross for their sins, that whosoever should believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life through his glorious resurrection, that they're clothed with this perfect white robe of righteousness, which they didn't earn, which he earned, but they were clothed. And now they're in his presence. beholding His glories, worshiping Him. Who knows these things? Well, God knows them. And God wants John, and God wants us to know. Will you be part of those innumerable? Well, all the raptured elect are already there. That's why it's innumerable. But this group is a special group. How do we know? Well, let's read on. And he said to me, these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation. They're the ones who are leading the praise and worship. The phrase the great tribulation only occurs three times in the entire Bible. and only in the New Testament, and twice in the book of Revelation. First, in the Lord's address to the church of Thyatira, that we have already studied, Revelation 2, verse 22. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. This is the false prophetess. And this is a warning to the church who engages in immorality and idolatry. Here in Revelation chapter 7 verse 14, both referring to the original statements made by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Olivet Discourse. So both the phrase great tribulation refers to the original speaking by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24-21, a passage that we know very well by now. There it is. Then there will be great tribulation. Great tribulation. So this phrase is entirely original and from the Lord, spoken by him, described by the Old Testament prophets, but coined and labeled by Jesus in his reiteration and teaching to his apostles at the Mount of Olives. Therefore, it is his loving warning as well as omniscient preview which has now come to pass for the tribulational elect. So we're seeing a vision of the future from our vantage point. Jesus was pointing to the distant future when it will happen. We're still seeing this. This is a vision of the future. So, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Well, the obvious interpretive option that we have, this has to be figurative. Why? Have you tried washing any garment with the blood? I mean, you know, the blood has the proteins and it just embeds in there. It's hard to extract that. It's very difficult to clean. Most of us will give up and we'll just toss the garment because the stain is too difficult. So how do you wash any garment in blood? So this has to be a figurative language in the blood of the lamb. Well, this is not obviously lamb, the literal lamb. This is a figurative metaphorical language of Jesus, the one who was slain for our sins. So how do you wash your robes and clean them in the blood of the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ? Obviously this is spiritual language, talking about spiritual purity, spiritual cleansing. Obviously. And so that's how you interpret things. This is a very plain reading of the scriptures and it makes no sense literally, therefore it's a spiritual explanation. So how do you make them white? What does that mean? Perfect righteousness and purity. Sinlessness, which is only possible through perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cruel cross for our sins. There's only one who could remove sin, one who could deal with sin, one who could separate sin as far as east is from the west, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why. But what is the focus? The focus is on the people. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The focus and the action is really what the people have done. The innumerable tribulational saints, what do they do? They wash their robes. Indicates their willingness to suffer for Christ and overcome the world by faith. How do you know you have been clothed with Christ's righteousness? You know because you genuinely believe. You trust in the Lord and only Him for salvation. Because He alone can save you. He alone can die for your sins. He alone can remove sin. and He alone can purify and purge and clothe you. And since people who trust in Jesus believe this, genuinely believe this, not superficially, not just acquiesce to the fact, so I agree with that statement. No, no, no, that's not genuine biblical faith. Biblical faith has to do with trust. Therefore, you know they're righteous because you just wait and see what they do. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. If they know that Jesus is the one who died for their sins, who rose again from the grave, who washed them clean, and who gave them an eternal inheritance, what do you think they would respond to someone like this? Do you think that they would just like, oh, that was cool, that was nice, that was a good religious experience? I agree with these people who believe in similar things. I'd like to join them. I'm part of this Christian group. I live in this culture. Do you think this is the way people respond? No. That is never the way peoples whose hearts and whose lives have changed ever respond to their Savior. The emphasis, since it's on the people, let's take a look at Revelation 17, verse 14. Because they believe they're willing to suffer for His sake, for His name, So when people are willing to suffer, suffer greatly for what they believe, what kind of emotional energy that comes from internally can do this? Well, we have a generic term in the English language, it's called courage. And what's the opposite of courage? Cowardice. Do these people seem cowardly to you or courageous to you? Read Revelation 17, 14 with me. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are called the elect and faithful. They're faithful because they're full of faith, and they trust, and they trust because they belong to the Lord, and they are the elect. Who are the elect? They're the ones who trust the Lord. Who are the ones who trust the Lord? They're the elect. if they are presented with the option to suffer for Christ or to cowardly say, no, no, no, I changed my mind and I don't believe in Jesus. I disassociate myself with those people and with Him in this faith because I want my comfort. What is that? That can be sometimes called apostasy. These people are cowardly. These people are non-elect. They don't really believe. They just told you they believe. Men are liars and they lie all the time. They lie religiously. They are non-elect. There is no coward in heaven. We can fear, but when push comes to shove, ultimately, when it's life or death, if you say Jesus is Lord, and you say that you belong to Jesus, you die. But if you say Jesus is Lord, Jesus is not Lord, and here, here's the Bible, you step on this Bible, you spit on this cross, and you deny Jesus, you curse Jesus, then you live. This is what the communists have done every time they invaded a city, and with their machine guns, they riled out all the Christians on Sunday. And this is what they did. They summarily executed the ones. These are the ones who were crying out, how long will the Lord be holy and true during the tribulation period? But this has been true throughout history. So right now, I'm sure some of you are shaking in your boots and going, oh, I hope that day doesn't come to our country. our neighborhood, in our land, in my lifetime. Can you assure this? No, you can't. Now let's ask a better question. I know you're saying, okay, well then, can I be that courageous? Can I wash my robes and make them white by trusting in Jesus alone, believing that He really died for my sins and that He alone can save me, that I can be with the elect and be in the glorious presence of God and worship in heaven and have eternal life and Yes Yes Christians are for the courageous not for the cowards Christianity is not a belief system. It's a living relationship with the one who laid down his life to give you eternal life How you respond to that truth? Will demonstrate what you actually believe and to what extent you believe And if you're saying, oh, my faith is so little. Don't worry. Even a small genuine faith can move mountains. Don't worry. God will grant you the strength to when that time comes, you will do it. Don't worry. Even if you failed in the past, you can continue to be bold in the present and in the future. If you truly believe. It's not about your works. It's about what you really believe. But what you really believe will ooze out of you. in your attitudes, in your decisions, in your life. Are you part of the elect? I pray that by faith that you would be. Are you part of the elect and faithful? I pray. That is my entire mission, is to proclaim to you the truth and present to you the living Savior so that you will find Him marvelously attractive and you say, I want to believe in Jesus. My entire life mission is to present to you the truth of who He is so that you would latch on to Him and say, yes, I believe in Jesus. Yes, I believe He died for my sins. Yes, I will live for Him. Yes, I will die for Him if necessary. I belong to Him. It is my prayer and it is my goal that God's will in His salvation, since it belongs to Him, and His purposes and election will come to pass in the hearing of His Word. 1 John 5, verse 4 says, For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world. You see these people in heaven before the throne of God with the palm branches? They're overcomers. They're victorious. John says in 1 John 5, for everything that has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the overcoming that has overcome the world, our faith. Salvation is of God, it is the grace of God through faith. And it's not of yourself, it is entirely the work of God. But the only proper, only logical response is a response of faith. That's what Paul says in Romans chapter 12. In view of God's mercies, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. That means live for God, you don't have to die for God, live for God. Living a holy sacrifice, which is your reasonable act of worship. Logitimai, logic, the word is used there by Paul. This is a logical response. There is no other response. than a response of faith, of living trust, holding on to that and saying, yeah, I believe that, internalizing that. It is the exercise of your will. Yeah, why? Because if God has changed your heart, this makes sense to you, it's logic to you, you appreciate the Lord, you love the Lord, of course you're going to say, I believe. Now since you believe, now live for Him. And when that time comes, if He graces you with this awesome privilege of dying for Him, what a way to go. What an incredible, blessed way to exit this world. Not old and decrepit and sick and drugged up, but... And that's also a gift of God's grace. We can't engineer that, but God has planned that for some. And here they are, coming out of even the tribulation period. I know there's some of you thinking, oh, I hope that doesn't happen. It may happen way, way into the future. You're thinking wrongly. Every generation of genuine believers believe that this could happen in their lifetime. Now, we are so close that we can understand these details. We feel it viscerally. You're the ones that need to be ready. Those who suffer for Christ in this age or during the tribulation are victors and conquerors. See it very clearly. These are not cowardly people. These are victorious and courageous believers in Christ. Those who refuse to suffer for Christ because they love their worldly comforts will end up denying Christ, revealing their true spiritual colors that they never belong to Him. like the immoral and idolatrous gathering of religious people of Thyatira, who were warned by the Lord Jesus, the certainty of God's judgments and the certainty of his word and the certainty of his reward of victory should incentivize all hearers of God's word to believe, to trust, to obey, to live for, and to worship the Lord before it's too late. Those who suffer for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are leading the worship in heaven. That is amazing. Salvation of the Lord is the central theme of worship that highlights His amazing qualities which are at the core of true worship. So let's continue to worship Him. Worship is a life that's lived for God in faith. Our gathering together once a week on Sunday, a couple times a week on midweek, Those are called corporate worship. That's just gathering together with all the saints to focus our attention on the Lord. But every day we should be worshiping God. Every day we should be living for God. Every day we should be recognizing His amazing qualities, His character, His being, and His works. by faith and through a life of obedience. And those who look forward to a glorious age of the future. Oh, eye has not seen nor ears have heard the things that God has prepared for those who love Him. So you who love the Lord, live your life as living sacrifices in worship of God. When we gather together, let's remind each other of the reality of who God is and our belongingness to Him. Salvation indeed belongs to our God. Let's give Him praise. Father, thank you for granting us this glorious vision of heaven, the end result of your amazing work throughout the ages, and your incalculable, infinite, patient love towards sinners, and you have sent your only begotten son to redeem. Thank you, Lord, that you give assurance to your people, the faithful elect. Thank you for incentivizing us through your word, by your spirit, to remain faithful to you to the very end. Lord, we pray that you would strengthen us who are weak, that you will help clarify things for those who have gone astray and are fuzzy in their thinking. and that you would reinvigorate those who are passive and blasé regarding these eternal truths, and those who are faithful, that you would cause greater faithfulness, and that we would all one day look forward to gathering together with the hosts of the saints when your work of salvation, your plan, has been worked out exactly the way you proclaimed it. So we worship you in awe and in wonder of your glory. In Jesus' precious name, amen.