Who’s your favorite super hero? Have you ever thought about being a super
hero and if so what your special ability might be? What if you could be invincible? Have you ever considered that as Christians
we actually are? I don’t mean to say
that we are spiritual superheroes or that we are spiritually bulletproof, but
because our salvation ultimately belongs to God, His people are ultimately
invincible. Nothing will stop God from
finishing the work that He starts in them.
Nothing can pluck God’s people from His hand and nothing can separate
them from Himself, and in that sense, God’s people are very much invincible.
In Revelation
7:1-17, John recorded two visions of God’s people in order to encourage
believers with the truth that God’s people are invincible because God will be faithful to keep them to the very
end. When you consider all that
believers are called to face in Revelation, it stands to reason that God would
offer such encouragement. Whether we are
called to face the persecution and temptation that these believers did,
believers today still need to find encouragement in this truth. God will keep His people through everything
that they face. In the end, it will be
seen that they are invincible. My prayer is that God would use this
passage to stir you up and encourage you today.
May the truths we learn here encourage you to trust in the faithfulness
of God to finish what He starts in you. What does an invincible people kept by God
look like? These two visions in this
chapter yield three descriptions of a people who are kept by God. Let’s read the passage together.
[4:1] After this I saw four angels
standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the
earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. [2] Then I
saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the
living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been
given power to harm earth and sea, [3] saying, “Do not harm the earth or the
sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their
foreheads.” [4] And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from
every tribe of the sons of Israel: [5] 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were
sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, [6] 12,000
from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the
tribe of Manasseh, [7] 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe
of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, [8] 12,000 from the tribe of
Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin
were sealed.
[9] After
this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every
nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
[10] and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits
on the throne, and to the Lamb!” [11] And all the angels were standing around
the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell
on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying, “Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be
to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
[13] Then
one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes,
and from where have they come?” [14] I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he
said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
[15] “Therefore
they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. [16] They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat. [17] For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be
their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:1-17 ESV)
- A
Protected People (7:1-3)
The first description given of an invincible people who are being
kept by God is that they are a protected
people. This is the main idea behind
their sealing in verse 3. Four angels
are standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of
the earth and they are told not to harm anything until the servants of God have
been sealed on their foreheads. The
imagery is communicating that universal destruction (the “four corners of the earth” is away of describing the whole world)
is being held back until God’s people
can be sealed, so that when God’s wrath is unleashed, they will be protected. The background for this vision is Ezekiel 9:1-6: [9:1] Then he
cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the
city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” [2] And behold, six men
came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon
for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a
writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
[3]
Now
the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested
to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who
had the writing case at his waist. [4] And the Lord
said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the
foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are
committed in it.” [5] And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through
the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no
pity. [6] Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and
women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So
they began with the elders who were before the house. This is also the way this seal functions in Revelation 9:4: “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or
any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their
foreheads.” The seal itself is the
name of the Lamb and of the Father (Revelation
14:1), and therefore is a mark of ownership. It signifies that these people belong to God
and will therefore be protected from His wrath.
That this seal protects God’s people from His
wrath does not necessarily mean that it protects them from persecution,
temptation, or martyrdom. Remember the context of this passage. In Revelation
6:9-11, we learned there is a number of fellow servants and siblings that
must still be slaughtered to bring in
the rest of the sheep. So the same
people who are being sealed here are very likely to be slaughtered by those who
dwell on the earth. What they are being
protected from is the wrath of God,
not necessarily temptation, suffering, or death.
What are we to take from this understanding of
God’s protection of His people? Ephesians 1:13-14 says that we as
believers are also “sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit” as a guarantee that
we acquire our inheritance. In other
words, we too are sealed and will be kept until the very end. We may suffer, we may struggle, and we may
even die, but we will be protected from what matters most. We will be protected from the wrath of
God. Do you preach this to yourself when
you are suffering persecution? Do you
preach this to yourself when you are struggling with sin? It should never be used as a license to sin,
but as a potent remedy to get back on your feet and continue fighting sin.
- A
Militant People (7:4-8)
The second description that we are given of an
invincible people who are being kept by God is that they are a militant people. The main idea with the mentioning of the
census of the 144,000 seems to be for readers to see God’s people as an army.
In the Old Testament, a census was normally done to determine the size
of one’s army in preparation for battle.
Commentators disagree as to whether these are literal Israelites or
whether this is symbolic language for the church. I believe that the church is being described
here. John has already spoken of Jewish
people as not truly being Jews (Revelation 2:9, 3:9). Elsewhere in the New Testament a Jew is
described as someone who is inwardly a
Jew (Romans 2:28-29) and the church
is called “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). Furthermore, this very group of people is
called the “redeemed from the earth”
in Revelation 14:3. Either way, we are safe to call them the people of God described as the army of God.
What is also interesting about this
description is that the tribe of Judah appears first. This is a fulfillment of Genesis 49:8 and when we put Revelation
7:1-8 together with Revelation
14:1-5, we learn that this is the army of God who is led by the Lion of the
tribe of Judah and they follow Him wherever He goes. This is a militant people who are resolved to
follow Jesus wherever He leads them and make war with the world, the flesh, and
the devil at any cost.
Are you a militant believer? Do you
see yourself as a soldier in God’s army?
We are at war as followers of Jesus Christ and we must put on the full
armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20) and
resolve follow Jesus at all cost. We
must daily make war with the sin in our lives.
We must daily make war with the lies this world and the devil try to
seduce us with. Could you say that your
spiritual life looks like a soldier making war right now? If not, then you are probably losing the
battle. Perhaps the reason that there is
so little victory in some of our lives is because there is so little
militancy.
- A
Victorious People (7:9-17)
The final description that we are given of an
invincible people who are being kept by God is that they will be a victorious people. Robert Mounce says that the purpose of this
vision “is to grant a glimpse of eternal
blessedness to those about to enter the world’s darkest hour” and point
them to the ultimate hour of triumph.[1] I won’t deal with everything that is said
about this second vision of God’s people because I want to spend an entire
sermon doing so next time, but for now simply notice this inspiring picture of
God’s people victorious. John now sees,
not 144,000, but a great multitude
from every nation, tribe, people, and language on the planet that cannot be numbered. That this is a description of the church is
obvious, but what I want to point out is that this description is also an Old
Testament description of the offspring of Abraham. Abraham was promised that his offspring would
be innumerable (Genesis 15:5: stars, 32:12: sand). It is another Old
Testament, Jewish description being applied to the church.
This is either the same group of people as verses
1-8 being described in a different way (much like Jesus was described as a Lion
and then John saw a Lamb) or is a description of God’s people from all of
history and contains the group of
people described in verses 1-8 as well.
Either way, the main point of this vision is to show readers that the
group who were sealed in verses 1-8 makes it to heaven with the group in verses
9-17. The message is simply that God is
faithful to keep His people by His power to the very end. In he end, they prove invincible, not because
of anything within themselves, but because of God’s grace to save them and keep
them. This is why they cry out “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on
the throne and to the Lamb!” as they victoriously stand before the throne
of God.
The theme of this passage reminds me of John 10:27-29: [27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. [29] My father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s
hand.” Jesus promises that He will
never lose any of His sheep. That is
seen to be true here. He will be
faithful to finish what He started in every one of His people.
The story of Derek Redmond is a good illustration
of what I have in mind by “invincible.”
He was favored to medal in the 400-meter sprint in the 1992 Olympics in
Barcelona. 150 meters into the race,
Derek tore his hamstring and went to the ground. Derek, however, refused to not finish the race. He got up and started hobbling around the
track. A man then broke through security
and came to his aide to help him finish the race. The man was Derek’s father. With his arm around his father’s shoulders,
Derek Redmond finished the 400-meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and
received a standing ovation. This is
such a beautiful picture of what it means to be the invincible, militant, &
victorious people of God. Derek
displayed all the resolve of militancy, even in his pain, and yet it was only
through the help of his father that he was able to cross the finish line. This is what it means to be invincible: our
Father in heaven will see to it that every one of His people finish their race.[2]
Does this encourage you? If the blood of the Lamb has washed you and
you are now sealed and protected from the wrath of the God, what have you to
fear? These believers have come out of “great tribulation,” but they all come through it. None of them
were ultimately taken by it. Does it
encourage you to know that the sin that you feel like you just can’t lick will
not lick you? I hope so, and I hope it
stirs you up to be a militant soldier for the cause of your great King, Jesus
Christ. Risk everything and make war for
His glory in your life. Make war with
sin. Fight for holiness. Risk everything to tell others about Him and
His finished work. Lose your life for
His sake. If you don’t you will only
waste it. May we never forget that the
reason we are invincible before the wrath of God is because we have been washed
by the blood of the Lamb and sealed by God, not because of anything in and of
ourselves.
