from being in the house of God and you're just laying out. People don't know what they're missing, I have to say. Alright, let's look at verse 9 in Revelation chapter 7. You have your place there. Please say amen. That sounds good. Follow along with me if you'll be so kind. He says, after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man can number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongue stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. Father Lord, tonight we thank you and we praise you for all of this service that we've already had already. Lord, from the teaching, from the prayer, Lord, from the blessed singing, Lord, that we've tried to do and then that Deborah just knocked it out of the park, Lord. What a blessing to be able to serve you and to minister to others in such a way. Now, Father, tonight, Lord, I pray that you'll have me behind the cross, Lord, to anoint these lips of clay, that they may speak forth your truth. And, Father, just open our hearts and minds and our understanding that we might be drawn closer to you through the knowledge of your word and, Lord, through the power of the Holy Ghost. So, Lord, go with us, lead us, and guide us. In Christ's name, amen. Well, last week, we learned who the 144,000 really are. They're not part of the church. They're not Gentiles, they're Jews. They were saved and sealed by God in order to do a specific work and that is preaching the gospel. Now, tonight we look at another group that we see and this is the crowd in heaven. What is this crowd doing? Well, notice it's kind of interesting that you see that right on the heels of these 144,000 witnesses, we see this group up in heaven. So, once John heard the completed number of the sealed 144,000 Jewish evangelists, we observe the next event that happened because he said, after this. He beheld, that means he looked upon, he saw this. Previously, he heard the numbering. And again, to me, this is a clear understanding that John is not seeing a vision. He is not having some trance, as some Bible scholars are apt to teach, but rather, I truly, honestly believe, he has literally been transported to that third heaven. He has then traveled through time, becoming a true, genuine, bona fide time traveler, and he is writing down the things that he hears and the things that he sees. And he says that there was a great multitude, no man could number. Now J. Vernon McGee, he said, now dearly beloved, someone will say, you mean to tell me that these men couldn't count that crowd? What it says is that no one man could number this crowd. It doesn't say anything about a computer numbering the crowd. It says that no one man could number that crowd because it was such a huge crowd. That's so true. So what is this crown composed of? Well, he tells us. He says it's of all nations and indicates this group is comprised of people of every nation. Now, I want you to understand something, guys. A lot of times, some people, they say, well, nations don't matter. We should be globalists. Well, that might be Hillary Clinton speaking, but God is the one who, in Genesis chapter 10, established nation. And nations are so important to God, by the way, that when you get to the end of time and he sets up the millennial kingdom, God is going to reestablish the, quote, nations of the saved. And that's gonna be based upon, you look in Matthew 25, how those nations have treated his people. And I believe that those people are going to be divided into two classes. It'll be the Jews, and I also believe it'll be the Christians as well. So based on those nations, how they treated both Jew and church, that's gonna determine whether that nation survives and goes into the nations of the saved in the millennial kingdom. When it says, and kindreds, this represents three things. It represents races. It represents families. And it also represents either tribes or clans. Those are kind of sometimes interchangeable there. So that's the kindreds. And then it says, and people. Now, what in the world would that be? Aren't all these divisions people? Sure they are. But this group here refers to people not in a tribe or a nation. In other words, God isn't leaving anyone out or unaccounted for here. And then there's tongues. The one in the world is tongue. Well, a lot of times you hear about people talking about people speaking in tongues and stuff like that. Well, biblically, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what it means. It is not some unknown language. It is a known language. But many times when you're talking about the gift of tongue, it is a language that is spoken by someone who doesn't know what they're saying. In other words, the speaker is actually speaking a known language in the world that other people would know, but the person doing the tongue speaking, they have no clue what they're saying. It is a spiritual understanding there, in that regard, that that is the power of God, not the person. The interpretation of tongue naturally would be someone who knows the language. It's not necessarily God giving the person supernatural clarity and saying, oh, I know exactly what you're saying. This is the interpretation. And I'm standing behind the pulpit on this one. I honestly believe that when you read about tongue, the speaking in tongue, that that was done away with as a temporary spiritual gift after the completion of the Word of God. And, you know, when you look at the modern tongues movement, I'm going to go ahead and tell you guys that a lot of it, not all of it, because I can't speak for all of it, but a lot of it, it is done outside of the parameters of God's commandments and of His understanding. For example, the big one, the biggest one in my book, is if you're going to speak in tongues, there's two things you've got to have. One, you've got to have an unsaved Jew. He's got to be present because it says that tongues were a sign for them that do not believe. And specifically, it was for the Jews. Because in Isaiah 28, there's the prophecy about that. That when you hear men speak with stammering lips, that would be an indication of judgment coming. They heard that in 30 AD, and then judgment is going to hit 40 years later when Jerusalem is wiped out and destroyed in 70 AD. Secondly, one of the biggest ones that nobody seems to understand outside of we Bible believers who actually do, you know, Bible doctrine, No woman is supposed to speak in tongues. Whenever the Bible says, let your woman keep silence in the church, it's specifically rooted back in that whole section, back to tongue. Oh, and by the way, guess where the modern tongues movement began? I think it was 1901, 1902, maybe 1903, one of them 19-something. It started over in Topeka, Kansas, and it was Agnes Osmond, a woman, So now, if you're gonna speak in tongues and do all that, you're gonna do it right. That's what you're supposed to do by the Bible. Also, no more than two or three are supposed to speak at a given time. A lot of times when you hear tongues being spoken, it's all over the place and it's pandemonium. I'm not saying our brethren are 100% out of line with everything, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There's a lot of good Bible believers in there, but if they're going to do this stuff, you're supposed to, like we are, everybody who's a believer, you're supposed to be subservient to the Word of God and what it says. If you're going to run it, run it right, is what I say. Now I'll throw this out here for food for thought. Another thing about tongue is that you're going to be sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're going to be sharing the good news of Jesus. That's what happened when all the disciples started speaking in tongue. The people on the street who spoke different languages, they said, how is it that we hear every man in his own tongue, that is his own language, the great and mighty wonderful works of God. What was the great and mighty wonderful work of God that God did? It was he sent Jesus to die for our sin and he rose from the dead. That's what he did. Now, a lot of people don't like that, what I just said. They'll immediately turn me off or, that's fine, you can turn the player off, as you know, you can be wrong if you want to. Just kidding. No, but anyway, it's true. Just because we disagree with somebody over doctrine doesn't really necessarily mean to break 100% fellowship. We can agree to disagree. I got a lot of friends that are in the charismatic, holiness, Pentecostal churches. I've preached in these churches before. And as long as we get Jesus, we're all right. And we have some good time over there. Many times. But this jibber-jabber junk, that ain't tongue, biblically. Now they like to go to the spoken and unknown tongue. If you look in your Bible real close, that word unknown is in italics. That means it was not in the text. The translators put it in there to help us understand. And what they're saying is it was an unknown tongue to the person that was doing the talking. They didn't know what they were saying. It was unknown. It wasn't yickle, yickle, yickle, yickle, yickle, tickle. It wasn't that. My former brother-in-law, David Foss Jr., he said he had a friend in college. He went to one of these churches and he stood up and he started quoting something in a foreign language. And right after he got done, somebody stood up and said, I have the interpretation. And the preacher said, what is it? And he was saying something about you need to be faithful to the church and tithe and do all these things. And that young man that spoke, he spun around, he said, you're absolutely wrong. And everybody, he said, because I'm a student at the seminary and I just quoted Psalm 23 in Hebrew. He said, that ain't of God what you're doing. And he just turned around and walked out. Talk about killing the spirit, but he called the truth out. I mean, I might have done it in a different way, but he called him out. So just understand, guys, look at the context whenever you're dealing with it, because tongue, sometimes the talk of that, that's the tongue, the muscular tongue. But a lot of times when you're dealing with tongue, you're talking about the mother tongue, the language that you speak. I'll say this out, I gotta close the box because my time's running away. I remember two people, very important in my life years ago, came to me separately, they didn't talk to each other about it, and it was the same thing. One of them was Mama. And Mama told me, she said, well son, I understand what you're saying, but I still think I might have spoken in tongues. I said, explain this to me. And she said, she woke up one night, out of a dead sleep and she said she heard in her mind something that sounded like another language and to her it was like praying and it sounded like her voice so she figured she was speaking in tongues she just wasn't doing it audibly and I said mama I said I don't know about that I said I believe what the Bible's telling us is pretty clear here I'll have to do some figuring on that. So I prayed about it and I said, Lord, I don't know, I don't know what the answer is. So you're going to have to tell me these things. See, I have to talk to God a lot about things like that. I know one time when we were doing the revelation study years ago, I got to a point where every single commentary I read, even commentary that defended the King James Bible, They said, well, this is not translated right. It doesn't mean that in the King James. I'm thinking, what? What are you saying? And I had a little debate with God. I said, I'm not leaving this office or chair until you give me the answer. Because I got to feed this flock the word of God. And I'm not moving. So help me. 12 hours later, I got the answer. And it wasn't out of no commentary, it wasn't out of no other, nothing, it was from God. And what it was talking about, which I'm sure we'll get to it, that there should be time no longer. It's talking about this, not time, but more on that later, preview coming attraction. So I asked God about it, I said, what does it mean? And then a few days later we had a lady here, Mildred Chafin, and Mildred used to be a Jehovah's Witness, and she converted to become a Baptist. And Mildred came, and one night we were having a Bible study, Mildred said, preacher, I know we don't really believe in tongues, but I got something that's weighing on my mind. And I said, well, tell me about it. She said, I woke up in the middle of the night, and I heard myself, and I was talking in what sounded like some other language. And I wasn't speaking it out loud. And I said, have you been talking to anybody else about this? She said, no, you're the first person I've ever told. I said, so you're telling me you haven't spoke to my mother about this? She said, no, I haven't talked to Susan. I said, when did this happen? She said, it always happened years ago. So I had two independent cases, I had not talked to each other, and I said, this is puzzling. Well, I think God showed me what it was. The Bible tells us about the Holy Ghost, how he makes utterings and groanings that are unable to be understood, even unable to be uttered. So I think that these two ladies were filled with the Spirit, So much so that in the middle of the night when they woke up, I personally think they heard, they heard the Holy Ghost praying for them. Now you talk about a privilege, wouldn't that be amazing? That answers the question and that honors the Bible and it does not contradict and it does not compromise anything inside of the scripture. But there was one time that it happened. When Heather was in Germany, she was witnessing the flow in German. And Heather told me, she said, I said some words in German, I did not know what they were. Because she was sharing the gospel with this homeless girl. And she said, flow understood exactly what I was saying. And I said, well, I don't think you were speaking in tongue because you knew what you were saying. But in that one or two instances, God must have given you the words you needed because God ain't going to let anything stand and limit the spread of the gospel. So can God do that? Absolutely, he can do it. But it wasn't her speaking in tongue. She knew the language. It was just a word here or there. And evidently, God must have plugged in there that helped this lady know. And guess what? Flo got saved. And then the waiter did, and hoo hoo. So tongue, we're not talking about speaking in tongues here, we're just talking about languages. So this crowd of people in heaven, they're from all over the world, and they speak in different languages. Now that right there, coupled with previous verses, from verses four through eight, it shows us conclusively this, that the church is no longer on the earth. Notice that in verses 4-8 we have Jews getting saved, they're being sealed by the Holy Ghost. Remember God is loaning the Holy Ghost to them to accomplish a mission just like he did back in the Old Testament. And what we see here is we see people from all over the world that are saved. In other words, these are Gentiles, they are not Jews. This cannot be the church because it was in the church that God was making one body. Notice 1 Corinthians 12, 13. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. Galatians 3, 27 and 28. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, that there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And then we have another section out of Ephesians, and that whole lengthy section basically says that God is bringing together two into one. In Ephesians 4.4 it says there is one body, one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. So that's what we understand. So this big, huge crowd there, they stood before the throne and before the lamb. Notice the location of the standing universally, this innumerable multitude. It is important because what we understand is unlike the earthbound 144,000, this group is in heaven and notice they stood. It's in the perfect participle. That is very important because it indicates that the universally enumerable multitude is one group. In other words, they are not assembling together, they are assembled. It's an interesting note here, and it's led some to conclude this, that this, one, is tribulational martyrs, or two, it might be a scene at the end of the tribulation where all the tribulational saints are gathered together. But neither of those viewpoints are correct, because one, there is no mention of martyrdom, and two, this is sandwiched between the opening of the sixth seal and the seventh seal. So these are saved Gentiles from all over the world. They're clothed with white robes. Reference is made to this later in that these are saved. They are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And then they have palms in their hand. Now this doesn't mean palms. This is not a pun. They have palms. They have palm branches. So, that's what we're talking about here. This is another type of plant, by the way, that is in the Garden of Eden, or the Garden of Eden that had been moved into Heaven. Now seeing this, it reminds us of what is usually called the triumphal entry in John 12, 13. They took branches of palm tree, they went forth, remember they cried out, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Typically we call that Palm Sunday, which technically should actually be Palm Wednesday. More on that later on. J. Vernon McGee says, they are the sound of victory, victory and cry. This multitude is a part of the great triumphal entry that will occur when Christ returns to the earth. The triumphal entry really has never taken place yet. That was actually more like a triumphal exit when he rode into Jerusalem on that little donkey. He was getting ready to leave the earth and he was on his way to the cross. Since then, there's been a great company who have come to him and in the great tribulation, another great company. When he returns to the earth, the great company will be included in the first resurrection. But now begs the question, why? Why? Why is this being done? While we could conclude that this is a mirror to the start of the new year upon the earth to the Jews, that's not the case. Rather, this is the scene of the Gentile praising the Lord. It does hearken back to the time in the fall, right before the Jewish Festival of Booth, found in Leviticus 23, where we're told how they will take on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." So again, this is a way and manner of worship and praising and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what we're going to be looking at next week when we get into the next few verses, and that is the worshiping crowd. So what we've seen tonight is the crowd in heaven. And then next week we're going to see this worshiping crowd, see what they're going to be doing. So guys, what a blessing. As wonderful as Deborah's song was tonight, we're actually, all of us, whether you can carry a tune in a bucket or not, you're going to be able to sing and to praise God in heaven. There's going to be singing like nobody's business up in heaven. We're going to be singing the song of the redeemed. I don't know if we're going to have amazing grace and stuff like that, but I'd like to think we would, but I don't know for sure. We're going to have the song of the lamb, the song of the redeemed, as we mentioned before. It's going to be a wonderful time and we're going to be praising the Lord and There's gonna be all kinds of stuff, but folks, I can't help but just stop and think just for a moment, that crowd in heaven. As much as we know and understand about the narrow path and the narrow way, understand, guys, that a lot of us here, we got family, we got friends up in heaven. We got loved ones. We're gonna see them again. I was just talking today about someone, about children. Talking about Alex over here and how I was proud to have him and Chris and Andy and even Daniel as my sons. They may not be of my loins, but they are of my heart. But I have, as far as I know, at least five children up in heaven that I'll get to see. But what a blessing to see my children here on the earth. But when you get to heaven, It's gonna be neat. You'll get to see your mom and dad. You'll get to see your grandpa and grandma. Now, of course, that is if all these folks were saved. You'll get to see them. There's a song we sing in a little hardback book. There'll be a happy meeting in heaven, I know, there with all the loved ones we've lost here below. That reunion day is coming. And I well remember we were singing about that, and right about right there, that's when Peggy lost it, and she got the cane to help her. She squealed, and at that time I had no idea what was happening. I just kept leading the choir. But as I went on, I said, I know exactly what she's doing. She's just getting a glimpse of glory, and it's just coming out. So it's just like Brother Rex would tell people, and he showed it through his life. If you want to say amen, you say amen. If you want to get up and run, you run. You just obey the Spirit, that's the main thing. Obey the Lord. I used to think he was a better term of it, showboating. But after I sat with him a long time, I learned he ain't showboating, he's just showing Jesus. I'll never forget when Heather and I were over at Lovelace Baptist Church, that poor old preacher was up there preaching, and I said, Amen! And everybody kind of looked like I said a cuss word in church. And he just kind of got startled, and he started preaching harder, and I said, bless his heart, this poor old preacher ain't got an Amen corner. And every time he said something that I agreed with, I said, amen, preacher man! And oh, he just got to preaching harder and harder. And after the service was over, he run over and made a beeline to me, he shook my hand, I thought he was gonna take it with him. And he said, sir, I wanna thank you for being here in church this morning. I said, well, brother, you did some awfully good preaching up there. He said, well, we wanna invite you back. I said, yeah, I bet you would. I said, but I'm preaching myself over in, And he just deflated. Bless his heart. I shouldn't have told him. But anyway, I said, you keep on keeping on. You'll get your amen corner around here some, hopefully, sooner or later. But that was a good time. But yes, guys, if you believe it, you say amen. That's right. You just let it go. All right, let's go ahead. And Alex, if we can do 25, just briefly. If you can, guys, let's go ahead and stand just briefly and stretch those legs. We're about to dismiss. Let's bow our heads. Oh, yes, Brother Jerry. That's right. That's right. Hey, that's all right. You get there. That's right. You let it out. Amen. So let's bow our heads. We'll close our eyes.