Revelation 7:4

 

In Revelation Chapter 6 we were told about the many destructive things that will take place during the time of the Great Tribulation. We were also told that in spite of all the disasters, many people on the earth will turn to God and receive His grace and mercy amidst the chaos and destruction while still many others will try to hide from God instead of turning to Him for salvation.

 

History tends to repeat itself. Over the centuries there are many people who could have turned to God for help, but have not. The same thing is going to happen during the Great Tribulation. But in spite of the millions who die and in spite of all those who continue to turn away from God, there will be those who will be touched and reached in their hearts before it’s too late. There will be those who will realize that the sorrows of the tribulation are a result of the judgment of God and who will receive the grace and mercy of God through this one last chance that is given to them and will turn to God.

 

Some of these people who turn to God are described for us in Revelation 7: 4-8 where the Bible says,

 

"And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Mannasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand."

 

In Revelation Chapter 7 God is making it very clear to us that there will be people saved during the time of The Great Tribulation. When He describes for us the people who get saved, we are first told about Jewish people who get saved. It’s very important to notice the attitude that God has towards the Jewish people because there is a lot said about the Jews even in our day and age. Some people hate the Jews and persecute them and think of them as enemies. But if you wish to have the same attitude towards the Jewish people that God has, then you will be kind and compassionate towards them. In fact the Bible declares that God will bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews. A little later in the book of Revelation we will see that the persecution of the Jews comes directly from satan himself.

 

It's the devil who hates the Jews, and the devil will use any human that he can to persecute them. It's the desire of God to save the Jews. When the Gospel was preached during the time of the apostles, it was preached "to the Jew first, and then also to the Gentiles." And when God tells us about the people who get saved during the time of the Great Tribulation, He tells us about the Jews first, and then He tells us about the Gentiles.

 

When the Bible lists the twelve tribes of Israel here in Revelation Chapter 7, it mentions the tribe of Judah first. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. In Revelation Chapter 5 Jesus is called the lion of the tribe of Judah. The sorrows of the Great Tribulation will affect the whole earth, but they will have their greatest concentration in and around the land of Israel. The Jewish people have yet to see the day of their greatest sorrows, but those among them who are wise will turn to the lion of the tribe of Judah for their salvation. It was revealed to the apostle Paul what the final destiny of the Jewish people shall be, and he said in the book of Romans,

 

"All Israel shall be saved."

 

It will take the greatest sorrow that the world has ever seen, but the Jewish people will finally realize by the thousands that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. In our time they realize it one here and one there, but in that day "all Israel shall be saved." There has been much speculation and consternation over this particular passage of scripture, whether it means every Jew, or it is speaking of the nation as a whole, my position is quite clear regarding this in that I am leaving it up to the Lord how He intends to handle it. Regardless of the number, there will be a remnant who are saved. I am not about to enter into a debate as to what the Apostle Paul meant here, just that I know it does declare there will be those who are saved out of the Tribulation.

 

The Jewish people are not the only ones who will turn to the Lord in great numbers during the time of the tribulation. Revelation 7: 9 says,

 

"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."

 

We get a small glimpse of the final destiny of those who are saved by God. It’s a wonderful destiny. It’s what God would like to be able to give to everyone who is born into the world, and probably the greatest reason for the Great Tribulation is not to bring judgment to the world, but is in actuality one last great outpouring of His grace and mercy upon all people before it’s too late.

 

The Great Tribulation will be the greatest sorrow that the world will ever known, but there will be at least one wonderful result even from this greatest of all calamities. Thousands and thousands of people will turn to Christ of Jews and Gentiles alike, who would have never turned to Him had it not been for the chaotic events of the Great Tribulation.

 

What happens to a person in this life is not near so important if at least their souls are saved and they end up spending an eternity in heaven. Jesus said,

 

"What shall it profit a man should he gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"

 

One of the things that everyone in heaven will participate in is described in Revelation 7:10-12. It says,

 

"And cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sits 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 worshipped God, Saying, Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."

 

Heaven will be a time of joy and rejoicing. It’s no wonder that Christians are encouraged by the Apostle Paul from his jail cell in Phillipians 4: 4 to:

 

"Rejoice always, and again I say, rejoice."

 

We can rejoice about the same things that those in heaven rejoice about. We are given in Revelation 7:10 -12

 

"And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: "Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

 

A long list of things about which the people who are in heaven rejoice. Notice the first thing that is mentioned that causes joy in heaven: "salvation." Salvation is a wonderful word, and it’s only because of the goodness of God and the love of God that there is such a thing as salvation. Without salvation no one would be in heaven. Jesus came into the world as a lamb coming to the slaughter, and He died on a cruel cross in order to offer salvation to sinners like you and me. There is no doubt that when we get to heaven salvation will be the first thing on our list for which we also give praise Him.

 

In the list of things for which God is praised in heaven we find that most of them are things that God has given us in this life. When we are in heaven, our eyes and minds will be opened to understand things as we have never understood before. If we only had a clearer spiritual understanding of all the things that God is doing for us now, we would praise Him more than we do.

 

We would not have to wait to get to heaven to do it. We will praise God for "thanksgiving". The ability to be thankful is a great gift from God. The birds of the air and the animals of the forest enjoy the bounty of the earth just as humans do, but only man has the capability to bow his head and to say, "Thank you, Lord."

 

If you learn to look on the good side of things, because there always is a good side, and to be thankful to the good God who has brought you all these good things of life, then you will be able to enjoy life in a way that many people never do. The Apostle Paul calls upon us to think this way in Phillipians 4, verse 8:

 

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

 

Some countries such as Canada and America have a national holiday called the Thanksgiving Day because many of their citizens recognize that they have many things for which to be thankful, and they recognize the importance of being thankful. In heaven we will be thankful forever. In heaven God is praised because He invented thankfulness and gave man the capacity to express it. If you would like your life on earth to be a little bit more like heaven, then learn to be more thankful.

 

In Revelation 7:12 we see that God is also praised in heaven for "blessing" and "honor". These two words are closely related. The word that is translated "blessing" comes from the Greek word from which we get the word eulogy, and literally means to say good things about someone.

 

If you honor someone, you also will say good things about them. In heaven we will honor God, and we will discover more things about Him and we will say the good things that we know and discover. We will honor God, and He will also honor us. Not only will He give us so great a salvation that is based upon the forgiveness of our sins, but He will also honor us. He will share His glory and His honor with us, even though we do not deserve it. On earth sometimes humans honor other humans, and often they do it when they really ought to be giving the honor to God. After all, if man has accomplished anything it’s only with the ability and the strength that God has given him.

 

When we are in heaven we will know as never before that strength and power, ability and enablement come from God. God placed man on the earth and created mankind in His own image, and the creative abilities of man are a gift from God. If you want to follow the example of those that are in heaven, then you will not praise man when something is accomplished, but give praise to God instead, because He is the source of all strength and power. That’s why Paul said,

 

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

 

That’s why Jesus said to the weak apostles,

 

"With God all things are possible."

 

The apostle John wrote in Revelation 7:13-14,

 

"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and from where do they come? And I said unto him, Sir, you know. 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." John saw that 144,000 Jews will be saved during the time of the Great Tribulation, and now he sees many others who are also saved. The significance of being arrayed in white robes, and the symbolism of having their robes washed refers to the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus was on the earth, He would say to people, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." It was correctly noted by observers in His day that only God can forgive sins. Of course, the forgiveness of sins is only possible because Jesus shed His blood on the cross, and so Rev. 7:14 says that the robes were made "white in the blood of the lamb."

 

Rev. 7:15-16 says,

 

"Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat."

 

We are talking about the good things that are going to happen for those who die and go to heaven because of Jesus Christ. Why were we born into the world? What is the purpose of life? Man was created so that he could walk in fellowship with God. If we do not walk with God, then we are not experiencing life as it was created for us. The goal of the spiritual life is not to serve God one day out of the week, or part of a given day; but the goal is to serve Him seven days a week, day and night.

 

One of the problems with organized religion is that it can become easy to only serve God when participating in the activities of the religion and then to not serve Him so much when at home or work, but we are called to serve Him and to walk with Him wherever we are, every day. Sometimes we walk with the Lord for a little while, but we often have trouble staying focused on Him. Other interests can crowd their way into our lives, or self-will can take over before we know it. But it will not be that way in heaven. We will all serve Him day and night, with no failures, no inconsistencies, and no lapses of judgment. How great a salvation God has offered to us, because we will not only be delivered from the penalty of sin, but we will also be delivered from the daily sins that so easily plague us in this life!

 

One of the most wonderful things about heaven is recorded in the last part of Revelation . 7:12 when it says that God

 

"shall dwell among them."

 

We know that God dwells among us now in a couple of important ways. Since He is omnipresent, He is always with us.

 

The Apostle Paul tell us regarding the Lord that,

 

"In Him we live and move and have our being."

 

We also know that Jesus made a special promise to His believers that He will always be with us. He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." But when we are in heaven we will experience the presence of God in a much greater way than we can experience in this life. "We shall know Him, even as now we are known." We shall see Him face to face. For every believer, some of their happiest moments in this life come when they are at their closest to God. Think of how happy we will be in heaven when we are closer to Him than we have ever experienced before!

 

In Revelation Chapter 6 a description of the troubles and sorrows of the Great Tribulation was begun. Now we are being given a little glimpse of heaven. This is a good lesson for us to remember whenever we think of life on this earth. Don’t dwell too much on what is happening on the earth. If you know the Lord, you are going to be in heaven one day, so make sure that your election and calling are sure. Look forward with faith and hope for the wonderful things that God has prepared.

 

Recall the words of the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 2: 9-10:

 

"However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit."

 

Remember that we are only going to be on the earth for a very short time compared to eternity. No matter what you might suffer in this life, your sufferings are limited. Your sorrow will turn to joy if you know the Lord Jesus Christ in a personal way.

 

The psalmist said it best in Psalms 30: 5:

 

"That weeping may last for the night, but joy cometh in the morning."

 

Some people ask the question why there is pain and suffering on the earth. We may not be able to answer such a question to their satisfaction, or even our own, but one thing is very clear: God has a plan whereby He will put an end to all suffering. That’s why Rev. 7:16 says that;

 

"they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more."

 

Once the Great Tribulation is over the promises that Jesus made 2,000 years ago shall be fulfilled.

 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

 

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."

 

All of this shall happen after the Great Tribulation, and Jesus returns to the earth as Judge and King to right all wrongs and end all sorrows. Only those who have been born again shall be permitted to enter this great kingdom of God.