Well, good morning to everyone. We have a couple handouts up front. If you want to grab the handout in the box, this will show you the series of questions we've been studying in the book of Revelation. And for the few, the remnant, that's interested in the advanced handout, there is a larger handout off on the side. There's three or four copies. And that will give you a more expansive version of the same argument that I'm going to give today about the meaning of Revelation 7. And I've joked before, as the material gets more and more advanced, I'll just print out fewer and fewer copies. So when the dissertation is ready, I'll just have like one copy there. There'll just be one sitting there. So anyway, we have this rhetorical outline of questions and revelations. So we could start with this. If you take a look at the handout in the box, yeah, those five pages all go together. So they should be numbered. Yeah, this should be basically like a packet, if you want the advanced version. So there you go. As for the main handout, you should see bold up at the top, it says rhetorical outline, and then down at the bottom, you have three questions in these boxes here. These are all questions of identification. They are who questions. So two weeks ago, we saw in Revelation five, the question who is worthy to open the book and we saw the question was answered ironically with the lion who conquers by becoming a slaughtered lamb, which is to say that God's Messiah conquered by being conquered at the cross. And so that was the first irony. Irony is the opposite of what we expect, and yet it fulfills God's truth. In Revelation 6, we saw the question, who is able to stand before the wrath of God? And you see the expectation in the middle box there says no one could possibly stand before God and lamb and the lamb and the great day of their wrath. That's the expectation. So all of these questions in Revelation are packaged with an expectation. But there's an ironic reversal that happens right afterwards. So ironically, Countless people stand before God on the day of wrath. That was our study last week in Revelation 6 and the beginning of Revelation 7. Although no one should be able to stand, God seals his elect and causes countless people to survive the day of his wrath. And then today we'll look at the question in Revelation 7 13. Which is a question of identification. Again, these who are clothed in the white robes, who are they and where have they come from? So we'll take a look at that. Please turn with me in your copies of God's word to Revelation 7. And we can begin reading in verse one. And so we're going to follow this same idea of the expectation that is raised with each of these questions, the ironic reversal that comes with each of these questions. And then, of course, the Old Testament prophecies that are being fulfilled with each one of these questions. Revelation 7. And after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed. And there were sealed 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Nephilim were sealed 12,000. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed 12,000. of the tribe of Simeon were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Levi were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Issachar were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Joseph were sealed 12,000, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 12,000. After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall the sunlight on them nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Amen. Thus far the reading of God's word. Let's bow our hearts in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you in thanksgiving, Lord, for your mercy endures forever. We thank you for the grand scheme of redemption that you have not only planned, but you have revealed to your people. The Lord God does not do anything without revealing his secret counsel to the prophets. And your prophets speak to us as your people. And you give us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we could understand what is the revelation of Christ, his person, his work for our redemption, but also for the judgment of this present evil world, Lord. So help us to understand what it means to be numbered, so to speak, among this countless, innumerable multitude. Help us to understand our calling in this spiritual warfare. And we pray, Father, that you would give us discernment and help us to exercise our senses. to have a mature understanding of prophecy in this passage and the fulfillment of your Old Testament promises in Christ and in your church. We pray these things for your glory, asking that you bless this time, remove distractions, in Jesus' name, amen. So as we begin here in Revelation 7, a great number of things are already in play. This really hinges on some of the things that we studied last week. And so I'll just call to your your memory 617. The great day of his wrath has come. Who shall be able to stand? And we saw that language. No one could possibly stand. That's the key word. In the previous verse, it's before the throne and before the lamb. And then what John sees in Revelation 7, 9 is they stand. There's the key word. They stood before the throne, before the lamb. And so they survived the great day of God's wrath. So we talked about that irony last week. But today we are looking first at specifically how God seals them from his wrath and he seals them with a mark upon the forehead. And so you see this, the initial response to the question, who is able to stand, is a host of angels, God's angelic servants, in the beginning of chapter seven, come and they start sealing God's people. Who is able to stand in the day of wrath? And they say, wait, don't bring the judgment yet. Who is able to stand? Let's seal God's bond servants. Don't hurt the earth yet. Don't hurt the sea yet. Don't hurt the trees. Wait until we've sealed God's servants, because only the ones that are sealed are the ones that can stand. That's the idea. This is God's protective seal upon his chosen, his elect people that he has saved from the day of wrath. And this passage tells us very clearly how they are saved. There's a spiritual seal on every single one of God's people. And we see that these are the people who follow the lamb wherever he goes. And so can you think of anywhere in the Old Testament where you have a mark upon the forehead? This is really, really profound, the connection between the Old Testament and this mark here. Can you think of a passage or perhaps you have a cross reference here in your Bible about an Old Testament passage that could describe this seal? There's a very specific background. Freeland. Well, there is the mark of Cain, right? The mark of Cain. And you can actually say that's closer to the satanic counterfeit of God's seal. That would be the dark side of a seal or a mark. And so you've actually touched on something very deep there because God's servants are sealed and those who follow the beast receive a mark. That's the opposite of God's seal. So God's people have the seal on their foreheads. The beast worshipers have a mark on their foreheads or upon their hand. And so there is the mark of Cain would be the first example. Ezekiel 9. This is where it comes from. Ezekiel 9. Please turn back with me to Ezekiel 9. So this is remarkable. Ezekiel 9. We'll turn there a short chapter of just 11 verses. And if I could ask one person to be ready to read Ezekiel 9 1 through 1 through 11, yep, 1 through 11, the entire chapter here. This is the background of the mark upon the forehead. This is what John is really talking about. He's saying, do you remember Ezekiel's seal? It applies today. That's what he's saying. Do you remember the seal upon the forehead that Ezekiel was talking about? Well, if we do, we know exactly what John is talking about. If we don't, we better explore the Old Testament and pick up the keys to interpret this passage. Someone who could read Ezekiel 9. cried also among ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charged over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the way of a higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's ink-horn by his side, and they went in and stood beside everybody's altar. whereupon he was to the threshold of the house and he called to the man who clothed with linen which had the writer's incorn by his side. The lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others, he said in mine hearing, go ye after him through the city and smite, let not your eyes spare, neither have you slain utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women. But come not near any man upon whom is a mark, and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began the ancient men which were before the house. And he said unto them, defile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Going forth, they went forth and slew the city. And it came to pass while they were slaying them, I was left and I fell upon my face and cried and said, ah, Lord God, would thou destroy all the residue of Israel the night pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness. For they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. Yes, amen. So here in Ezekiel, we have to remember we're standing at sort of the back end of a long history and a very complicated relationship between God and his people, where he has been warning his people through the prophets, not for days, not just for a few years, but for generations and generations. and generations. They have continued to cast his words behind their back. He warned them they would go into exile. He warned them all these judgments would come, all the forwards of exile, of being torn apart in the siege, men, women and children dying and saying, this is really an Old Testament picture of God's day of wrath is what this is. And he warned them for generations that this would come. But God never forsakes his mercy for his people. And so what is coming as a judgment is pictured here in what is shown to Ezekiel that would slay utterly old and young, right? In verse six, maids, little children, women, everyone is going to be under the judgment. It is a catastrophic and a terrifying judgment. However, they cannot touch anyone upon whom is the mark. The mark is going to protect them. And so, at the very beginning, he has this writer's inkhorn, and where is the mark placed? You see this in verse 4. So this whole kingdom, which purportedly claims to be the people of God, are committing gross abominations, gross sin, gross idolatry, and the God that they claim to worship is warning them to break off from their sins, repent, and turn back to him, and they never do. And they never do. So God is true to his word, even to the point of judgment. So the judgment that he promised would come for these types of sins must come. And so here it comes. Now, the difference is it's a universal judgment, except for those who are set apart by this mark. That's the clear idea here. Now, what do you notice about the character of the people who are marked? What distinguishes them from the rest of this wicked kingdom that's falling under the judgment? They're grieving. They're grieving. And so there is a real sense in which it's a true expression of faith for the believer. When the world is just rejoicing in their sins, in their pleasure, in their luxuries, all these things that characterize Babylon and the city of man. Believers are grieving at these things. Grieving at what we've done with sexuality. Grieving at what we've done with spirituality. grieving with violence, grieving with crime, all these things that we do as human beings that some would boast about. And so these people that are saved are grieving. They have the changed heart and God actually seals them and protects them from the day of wrath. Now, back in Revelation 7, we have to flash forward a little bit here. This is where we get the mark on the forehead. But in Revelation 7, how is the mark activated? How is the seal actually made effective? Let's turn back to Revelation 7. So you have this mark, it is a protective seal. But in Revelation 7, now we can look at the specific question. Who are these people that are sealed? And so you see this in Revelation 7, 13, the ones that are in the white robes, the victory robes. Who are these, says the elder? And where do they come from? This is one of the elders in heaven. And so John responds with great discretion. and says to the elder who resides in heaven, you should know better than I do who these are. I'm not going to speculate about who these people are. He says, sir, you know, you live here. I've just been brought here for the vision. So he says, sir, you know, and so the elder. then continues, these are the ones that came out of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. So how is this protective seal actually made effective? It's made effective by the blood sacrifice of Christ. It's made effective by the Lamb. So you see how John, as he constantly does, is bringing two prophecies together and saying the protective seal that Ezekiel was talking about that saves us from the day of wrath, that is made effective by the blood of Christ. And those who are identified with Christ and washed in his blood, these are the same ones that are protected by the spiritual seal from God's wrath. So what is the Old Testament background here if we're talking about this washing in the blood of the Lamb? Does anyone remember? The blood of the Lamb. Okay, it must be Passover. It must be Passover. And so here in the book of Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, you remember back to that first question in Revelation five, how was Christ revealed? The throne room revelation was that the lion is the lamb. The conquering Messiah is the Passover lamb. And so the great irony of Christ's arrival was that the lamb of God that would die for sins was a person. The lamb of God was a person. Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Now let's turn back to Exodus 12. And this is the Old Testament background for this Passover sacrifice. someone who could read in exodus 12 actually i'll go ahead and read this one someone can read the next one so exodus 12 i'm going to pick out three verses here that are very relevant exodus 12 7 this describes of course the application of the blood and the passover this is the picture of the messianic sacrifice being applied to the community of faith and so in exodus 12 7 They shall take of the blood. The blood is the key. This is the sacrifice. They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And then in verses 12 and 13, God warns, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." Now when you think about that background in Ezekiel, about the mark, the protective seal, and the judgment of the kingdom, And then you think about this description here about the avenger of blood going through Egypt and striking everyone. What parallels do you notice between Ezekiel and Exodus here? This is very rich. Any thoughts? There are many, many parallels here. Absolutely. So actually, these are extremely closely related here. When you think about the protective mark, both of these passages were, these were the wellsprings that John was drawing from to say, this is Christ's salvation pictured in the Old Testament. They're both protective marks. It's very, very clear. Yes, so it's a universal judgment in both cases, right? All of Israel and Ezekiel and all of Egypt, everyone in the land of Egypt. But what God is doing in Exodus is saying, even though this is the kingdom of Egypt, these people are mine. These are the people who are covered by the blood. And so when I see the token, that's what he calls it in verse 13, it's just like the protective mark on the forehead. When I see the token on the houses and the blood, he'll pass over them. They won't be under judgment. Now let's go a little further. So if we say, okay, they were set apart in Egypt to say, these are not Egyptians. These are the people of God. Why is the situation much worse in Ezekiel for them to be set apart? Because they're all supposed to be God's people. They all claim to be God's people. Exactly. They're not in Egypt anymore. They're not in Babylon. He's talking about the people of God in their land that claim to be his people. And what God is doing is judging them just like Egypt, saying, you're just like Egypt to me now. But there's still a smaller remnant in here that's still my people. And these are the ones that are set apart. These are the ones that are grieved by sin. These are the ones with the changed heart. And so they're actually protected by the blood. Any other thoughts? Yeah. I'd say if you want to stop the redeeming, the holder shall return. Originally redeemed here in the Old Testament, you know, positionally, as a people of God, they rebelled, right? And then, as a promise to a new order, to a new order, the job of receiving the bounties. Is there a return? Is there a choice? Certainly, absolutely. This represents, there's an irony here. I don't know the exact precise word. It's a heart, not a soul. Absolutely. Yeah, it is. It is spiritual. And that's actually the significance of the term forehead there. This term for forehead occurs only in the book of Revelation in the entire New Testament. And it is actually tied to someone's character internally in terms of their soul. So if you think about, you know, the mind or the spirit, that kind of idea, it's appropriate for the mark to be placed on the forehead. And that's also the same reason why when you have spiritual descriptions of the parody that Satan uses, For Babylon, it's written on her forehead. For the Mark of the Beast, it's written on the forehead. So these are all spiritual realities. And yeah, without going too far off, this is the reason why we couldn't say the Mark of the Beast is a physical thing, because there's a symmetry here between the spiritual seal and the spiritual Mark of the Beast. Both the positive and the negative are spiritual realities. It's very, very important to see that. And it's useful to think about the progression there. If everyone remembers in Exodus 12, it's a token over the doorframe. So it sort of represents the whole household, right? Well, by the time you get to Ezekiel and then you have the corporate redemption of Israel, the whole kingdom in a picture being redeemed. By the time you get to Ezekiel, it's saying not everything that glitters is gold. Many are called, but few are chosen. It might look like everyone was redeemed. They claim to believe. But now we're going deeper. We're saying it's an individual mark. It doesn't matter if you claim to be in a believing household, if you don't have a born again heart, right? If you don't have the spiritual mark on your forehead. And so by the time you get to Revelation, it's following that same idea of a spiritual reality. And now we can actually unpack that from Revelation 7. Let's see how exactly it is a spiritual reality. Let's go to Revelation 7. And let's think about this description about how they receive. First, they have the protective seal in line with Ezekiel. But second, they have the Passover blood in line with Exodus. So in 714, they emerged from great tribulation and they have washed their robes. which in Revelation refers to their perfect righteousness. You can study the robes in Revelation. This is the victory robe. This is a perfect garment of righteousness, representing that they are holy and righteous now. And how did this happen? Because they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. So this is the only blood that can stain your garments clean, if you want to think about the irony here. This is the only blood red that can turn your garments white because the blood of Christ washes us, washes away. Though our sins be like scarlet, he will make them whiter than snow. And the robes are washed white in the blood of the lamb here. Now, if we think about this, this ties in with the seal and the mark. How do we have access to the blood of Christ? It is certainly not physical. There is no possibility of anyone even dreaming of attempting a physical washing in the blood of Christ. We have no access to it, right? That's not what it's about. So that shows how absurd that line of thinking would be. It's not a physical mark any more than it's physical blood. This is a spiritual identification with Christ being washed spiritually in the blood of the lamb. Now, where does this language come from? The washing of the robes. This is tough, this is tough. You may remember this from a previous study, or you may know the passage or have a cross-reference here. Where does the washing of the robes come from? Potentially, there is the sprinkling of the blood on the robes in Leviticus, and this does show up elsewhere in Revelation. It's not the specific passage here, but that is a very significant background for another passage in Revelation. That's a great contemplation though. Great contemplation. Somewhere else. Oh, the changing of the garments. That's a great parallel. That's actually showing how the robes refer to righteousness. We could tease that out. So, Joshua stands before the Lord. He's accused by Satan. And how is he dressed? He's in filthy clothing, right? Filthy garments, because it represents all his sins. And so there has to be a changing of the garments to have perfect and spotless and clean garments which represent his righteousness. That's the same motif here. That's the same idea. But there's a very specific background where a robe is washed in the Old Testament. And not only that, the robe is washed symbolically in blood in the Old Testament. Any ideas? Or maybe you see a cross-reference there. Anyone have a cross-reference? We'll pull up some Old Testament backgrounds. The only place that I can kind of think of is at the ball, right, when the Lord makes clothes for Adam and Eve. Ooh, that is the alpha point for this entire progressive revelation here, is that after the first gospel, there was a blood sacrifice and a covering with the clothes. This is the same idea of what's happening here at the Omega point in Revelation. There is a blood sacrifice. They're covered with the skins of an animal. So that is the starting point. But there's a very even more specific passage. Isaiah 1. We are going to look at a passage in Isaiah. Let's turn back to Genesis and we'll turn to one in Isaiah after this. Let's go to Genesis 49. You may or may not be surprised to know it's the same passage we looked at two weeks ago about the messianic lion from Genesis 49. In the original description of the lion's conquest, it talks about the lion conquering and washing his robes. Let's take a look at it. In Genesis 49, 8 through 12, if someone could read 8 through 12 for us, Judah, thou art by whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be at the neck of thy enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion as well. From the frame thy son thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his asses colt unto the choice vine. He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with lint. Yes, amen. So look here, this is where you find that Old Testament passage that talks about washing the garments, washing the garments, washing his clothes, verse 11. And symbolically here, it's washed in blood. Here, yes, it is the blood of grapes, but if you follow that line of thinking, there is a reason why we know the expression, the grapes of wrath. Because the grapes of wrath refer to the great wine press of the wrath of God and the judgment of God that comes. So the blood of the grapes here is not a positive symbol. The blood of the grapes refers to the shedding of God's wrath, the outbreak and the outpouring of God's wrath. And so what you see here in the original symbolism of the prophecy in Genesis 49, this is very in-depth. This is the reason why I tried to spell out some more of these arguments in more detail elsewhere. There's this idea that the Messiah is actually brought into the judgment himself. He's under the grapes of wrath. And so he is washed in the blood of the grapes in the original prophecy here. And then when you turn to Revelation, they follow that same line of thinking. The lion is brought down into the judgment himself. If he's washed in the blood of the grapes, that lion is the Passover lamb whose blood covers us. And John sees both of the prophecies come together. And then when we think about Revelation 7, what it says is, just as he washed in the blood of the judgment, now we wash our robes. He washed his garments first. Now, what's the difference? He washes his garments in the wrath of God directly. To state the obvious, but it's very, very important, Christ has no mediator between himself and the wrath of God. There is no mediator for Christ. He is exposed fully to the wrath of God for his people. He is that mediator who does that for us. And so he is washed, he washes his garments in the blood of the grapes in Genesis 49, 11. As for our washing, we do not wash in the grapes of wrath directly. Where do we wash? We wash in the blood of Christ. We're covered by his blood. And so there's that mediatorial layer between Christ experiencing the wrath of God for us and then us being brought in union with Christ and washing our robes white, not in the blood of the grapes of God's direct wrath, but in the blood of the lamb who covers us from all of our sins. The idea of the garments washed in blood in Genesis 49, but then via Isaiah, Revelation 19, they are washed in the blood of his enemies, as it were. Yes. So, how would you understand the connection between, to put it my way, the victory motif being emphasized in Genesis 49? Because I would draw the line from Genesis 49 to 19 through Isaiah talking about the victory as his clothes are washed in the blood of his enemies. Yeah. not like Genesis forty-nine of, he washes his garments in their blood because his garments were, as it were, made bloody with his own. Yeah. But that was just in imagery reflection. How would you formulate Genesis forty-nine via Isaiah and then the blood in Yeah, absolutely. Pastor's reading my notes. He's reading my notes. This is, no, no, this is, this is amazing. This is why I said, Mike, we got to go to Isaiah after this because Isaiah 63 is the hinge between Genesis 49 and then between Revelation 7. So let's turn there next. Isaiah 63, let's go there, because there is a very clear description of whose blood we are talking about in Isaiah 63. And then we can draw the lines of this prophecy with our remaining minutes in our study today. So Isaiah 63, 1 through 9, I'll read these verses. This is about the winepress of wrath. This is about the mediator again. But now it's a picture of not only his judgment and entering into our affliction, but the judgment he'll bring on God's enemies for those who didn't wash. in his blood, so to speak. So in 63.1, who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Batra? This is that that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Now we have a question, we should become sensitive to these kinds of interpretive questions now. In verse two, wherefore, this is a why question, why? Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that shreddeth in the wine-fat? And what's the answer? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help. And I wondered, and there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. I will mention the lovingkindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies. and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie. So he was their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted. So we do have a clear picture here of the Messiah entering into our affliction in verse 9. He became our Savior. This is the angel of the Lord, the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament, now identified with his people, entering into our affliction to save us. But the blood in the passage refers to the blood of God's enemies. Look at it in verse 3. Their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments. And so I would say, This is the great irony of the first coming of christ is one of the things they expected is when he when he comes he'd be stained with all the blood of god's enemies and yet in his first coming he arrived like the passover lamb and his blood was stained over all his people in his second coming he returns like the avenger of blood to shed the blood of all the spiritual outsiders that are not in Christ. And so that's, I think, the difference here. The lines I would draw would be, in Genesis 49, it's the Messiah's suffering, and in Revelation 7, we wash in the blood of Christ, and we're identified with his suffering. But in Isaiah 63, it's not referring to his first coming, it's referring to his second coming. And then you see the shedding of the blood of the enemies, which brings us to our last passage in Revelation 19. This is why it's a question in Revelation 19. And scholars do discuss this in Revelation 19 because they say, wait a minute, in terms of the scheme in Revelation, this must be Christ's blood shed for his people. But those that are very sensitive to the Old Testament say, no, no, no. When he comes with his blood stained for the last time, This is going to talk about the blood of his enemies that are coming on to him. So this is why when heaven opens in Revelation 1911, they see the white horse. They see his eyes, verse 12, like a flame of fire. They see the many crowns. And then in 1913, he's clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. This is when, verse 15, he strikes the nations with the sword that comes out of his mouth. This is when he rules them with a rod of iron. And there it is in Revelation 19, 15. This is when he treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God Almighty. So I think the distinction there is very clearly in the first coming, he comes like the Passover lamb, but in the second coming, he comes like the avenger of blood. Well, we're right at time, so let me pray for us and we can still discuss. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your love toward us and thank you for your mercy. Thank you, Lord, for showing us something more of the height and the depth and the width and the breadth of the love of Christ for us and to let us behold the goodness and the severity of God. so that we can understand you are faithful to your word, even to the point of judgment, even to the point of judgment of your only begotten son. to be our mediator and to enter into our affliction, that we could then be washed in his blood. And you will be faithful to your word to the very end for all those whom you warn. And you tell them to flee from Babylon. If they do not, then all the judgments that are in store for Babylon will come on them. So help us, Lord, to gospel this gospel throughout the world and help us to call others out of Babylon, just as we were once called. So please forgive us our sins and bless our worship again for the rest of this day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You guys are going at warp speed here. It sure is. I think that Isaiah 63 passage, that is the most profound contemplation in the middle of it all. But he doesn't all himself. No. He just, he trusts one person. Only himself. He's the only Lord.