{"id":18973,"date":"2019-01-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-06T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-025-gods-faithfulness\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:16:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:16:38","slug":"revelation-025-gods-faithfulness","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-025-gods-faithfulness\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 025 – God’s Faithfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18973","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 025 - God's Faithfulness","sermon_date":"20190106","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":20013,"sermon_slides":20014,"sermon_mp3":"","sermon_id":"16191612296615","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"7:1-8","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nGod\u2019s Faithfulness\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1-6-19\n\nRevelation 7:1-8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 25\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles, if we could, and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 7, trying to look at verses 1-8 this morning.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is God\u2019s Faithfulness.\u00a0 And before we get into our study today of God\u2019s Word I want to talk about money!\u00a0\u00a0 You guys are saying oh no!\u00a0 No, you all will like this one.\u00a0 If you look at your bulletin, the very back page, it gives you a total for giving for 2018 and a total of expenses for 2018 and you\u2019ll notice that the giving is higher than the expenses.\u00a0 Is that a good thing?\u00a0 [clapping]\u00a0 In fact, according to my old math that would make a surplus wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Roughly rounding up $32,000.\u00a0 So what does that mean?\u00a0 What it means is\u2026 you know at this ministry we hardly\u2026 I don\u2019t think we even mention money, do we?\u00a0 I mean, at Sugar Land Bible Church we don\u2019t even pass an offering plate; there\u2019s some offering boxes in the back if you feel so led to give.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s very encouraging to us as church leaders that simply by teaching God\u2019s Word the Holy Spirit is obviously working in the hearts and lives of a lot of people to get behind us under no duress from us, no emergency we\u2019re constantly talking about.\u00a0\u00a0 You want to get behind us financially and we just wanted to not come back and say give us more, we just want to say thank you.\u00a0 Can we do that?\u00a0 So let\u2019s give the Lord a praise the offering there.\n\nOn February 3, Dr. Thomas Ice is going to be here; he is the Executive Director of the Pre-trib Study Group \u00a0and he\u2019s going to be teaching the Sunday School hour and he\u2019s going to be teaching the sermon that follows.\u00a0 And you\u2019re not going to want to miss him, him and his wife Janis will be here; he\u2019s going to be teaching you the end times, catch this, from the Book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0 Did you know the Book of Deuteronomy talks about the end times?\u00a0 I watched\u00a0 him do this whole presentation at Prophecy Watchers and I said you\u2019ve got to come and do that at our church.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve got that scheduled for February 3.\u00a0 I just want to make\u00a0 you aware of that.\u00a0 You say well Andy, where are\u00a0 you going to be?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m actually going back to Israel, don\u2019t worry, not permanently, in early February so he\u2019ll be here for that particular Sunday that I won\u2019t be here.\u00a0 You say well, didn\u2019t you just go to Israel?\u00a0 Why are you going back to Israel?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m getting involved in some real estate deals over there [laughter].\u00a0 The reason being is the Bible tells us I\u2019m supposed to live there for a thousand years so I\u2019m trying to get my property all purchased and ready for myself.\u00a0 What do you think about that?\u00a0 You ought to think about doing it too, because you\u2019re going to be there for a thousand years also.\u00a0 So there we go.\n\nBut this morning we\u2019re taking a look at Revelation 7:1-8.\u00a0 You might recall that Jesus is in heaven and He\u2019s opening a seven-sealed scroll which is bringing various judgments to the earth.\u00a0\u00a0 And chapter 6 is sort of a layout, if you will, of those judgments.\u00a0 We focused last time on verses 12-17, the sixth seal judgment which concludes with these words, Revelation 6:17, \u201cfor the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?\u201d\n\nI mean, these judgments are of such a sever and epic proportions, is there anything good taking place in this terrible time period?\u00a0 Can anybody stand?\u00a0 And the answer is found in chapter 7 where you start to see the bright spot amidst the darkness, where there is a group of people that are standing for God as they are sealed by His Holy Spirit and here is where we start getting a treatment of the future 144,000 Jewish or Hebrew evangelists.\n\nNow I haven\u2019t had a lot of time to talk about this but in the Book of Revelation there are three sets of judgments: seal judgments, most of which we\u2019ve studied, one seal left; trumpet judgments, and the bowl judgments.\u00a0 And when we get to the seventh seal in chapter 8 I\u2019m going to be making the case that these judgments are not recapitulated.\u00a0 In other words, they\u2019re not concurrent, they\u2019re not all happening at the same time, they don\u2019t overlap, but rather what happens is the seventh seal will unleash the trumpets.\u00a0 The seventh trumpet will\u00a0 unleash the bowls and so they sort of pull out, sort of like a telescope.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like a telescope view of these judgments. We\u2019ll say more about that when we get to Revelation chapter 8.\n\nAnd generally speaking the content in the Book of Revelation in this futuristic vision that John is seeing, the content flows chronologically.\u00a0 However, there are five times where the chronology stops.\u00a0 The best illustration that I have ever heard of this was I think from Donald Grey Barnhouse, he described it as a lunch break.\u00a0 When you go on a\u00a0 hike what do you do?\u00a0 You kind of walk up the mountain in order and all of a sudden someone gets hungry and says I want to stop for lunch.\u00a0 And so what kind of place do you pick for lunch on this hike on the mountain?\u00a0 You pick the most scenic place you could find, right?\u00a0\u00a0 Because when\u00a0 you\u2019re in a good scenic place you are allowed to, with good vision and a good location, look backward from where you come from and it allows you to look forward to where you\u2019re going.\u00a0 And then once you had this view and had your lunch then you get right back on the road and you keep marching up the mountain.\n\nIn essence that\u2019s what the Book of Revelation is doing; it\u2019s moving chronologically but there are five \u201clunch breaks\u201d found.\u00a0 And the lunch breaks are all related to something that has already happened or is about to happen in the sequence; it\u2019s not irrelevant data, it\u2019s not random data just thrown at you, it\u2019s designed by the Holy Spirit to give further clarification to something you just read.\n\nFor example, we are in Revelation 7 which is our first lunch break, and it says, \u201cwho can stand,\u201d so now there\u2019s a stop in the chronology where we learn who it is that\u2019s standing, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\u00a0 Once that discussion or part of the vision is over then the chronology will continue on.\u00a0 And this will happen in the Book of Revelation five times.\u00a0 This is why a lot of people are confused about the Book of Revelation, they don\u2019t know how to put everything in sequence and in order and the reason they don\u2019t know how is no one has ever taught them that it\u2019s generally chronological except for five times the chronology stops.\n\nNow when I was living in the Dallas area I had a very good friend, a very smart friend, a business investor type of guy and I was trying to explain this to him and I called them\u00a0 non-chronological parenthetical insertions.\u00a0 He came back and he said, and he started talking with me about this, and he said five NCPI\u2019s and I didn\u2019t know what he was talking about, what\u2019s an NCPI?\u00a0 Well that stands for Non-Chronological Parenthetical Insertion.\u00a0 So there are five NCPI\u2019s in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 \u00a0And there\u2019s where they are.\u00a0 [(1) Revelation 7 \u2013 144,000 Jews, (2) Revelation 11 \u2013 Two Jewish witnesses, (3) Revelation 12 \u2013 Israel flees, (4) Revelation 20:9 \u2013 Jerusalem in the kingdom, (5) Revelation 21:12 \u2013 13-Gates of the eternal city.]\n\nWe are at our first one here in Revelation 7.\u00a0 You say well where do these occur.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you can see this chart but it\u2019s on our website, it demonstrates exactly where these NCPI\u2019s, Non Chronological Parenthetical Insertions or better said, Lunch break take place.\u00a0 Every time\u00a0 you get to a 6 in the judgments, number 6, expect a lunch break. So we are at seal judgment number six, that has just happened so now we\u2019re getting our first lunch break, Revelation 7.\u00a0 There is going to be another one at the end of Trumpet six before Trumpet seven and another one at the end of bowl six but before bowl seven. See that?\u00a0 Every time\u00a0 you get to six you just say aha, it\u2019s time for a lunch break.\n\nAnd then the only thing to remember is there\u2019s two more after that, one after trumpet seven and one after bowl seven.\u00a0\u00a0 So the first Non-Chronological Parenthetical Insertion in between seal six and\u00a0 seal seven.\u00a0 The second one, in between trumpet six and trumpet seven and there\u2019s another one after trumpet seven.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s another one in between bowl six and bowl seven.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s another one after bowl seven.\u00a0 You say that\u2019s a lot to remember.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I put that chart together and don\u2019t worry if you don\u2019t have it all down at the first sitting, we\u2019re going to be referring to this chart repeatedly but it\u2019s going to help you sort of make sense of the chronology in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 These lunch breaks are not just random information, it\u2019s designed to amplify truth that we have just been studying.\n\nWe have received the question \u201cwho can stand?\u201d at the end of seal judgment six and now we\u2019re receiving our first lunch break where we\u2019re learning who it is that can stand during this time, these 144,000 Jewish evangelists.\n\nI can say categorically this, based on Revelation 7, that there is coming upon the earth before the Lord returns the greatest spiritual awakening the world has ever seen.\u00a0 The greatest time for evangelism and the harvest of souls is yet future. And that\u2019s really what Revelation 7 is talking about.\u00a0 Now verses 1-8 are the instruments of the awakening, the 144,000 , and verses 9-17 is the description of the awakening itself.\u00a0 And if we\u2019re fortunate, as God gives us grace today we may make it through Roman numeral I, the instruments.\u00a0 I mean, who exactly is it that God is going to use to bring the greatest harvest of souls that was ever seen in world history to our world.\u00a0 The instrument that he will use are described there in Revelation 7:1-8.\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice first all verses 1-3 their sealing.\u00a0 Notice if you will verse 1, \u201cAfter this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.\u201d\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll notice the expression \u201cafter this;\u201d \u201cafter this\u201d when it\u2019s accompanied by a verb of perception, like \u201cI saw,\u201d and \u201cI heard,\u201d it\u2019s not making a statement that chapter 7 is going to follow the information in chapter 6.\u00a0 Whatever meta tauta<\/em>, \u201cafter this\u201d in the Book of Revelation is followed by a verb of perception, \u201cI saw\u201d and \u201cI heard\u201d it\u2019s not saying here\u2019s what\u2019s going to come after seal judgment number six.\u00a0 What it\u2019s saying is this is the next thing John saw.\u00a0 This is the next thing God saw fit to disclose to John.\n\nNow sometimes when this is used it\u2019s referring to the next thing that\u2019s coming, but not when it\u2019s accompanied with a verb of perception, I saw and I heard.\u00a0 This is something that\u2019s being taken out of order, as I\u2019ll be showing you, \u201cafter this\u201d is not following necessarily the sixth seal judgment, it\u2019s just the next thing that John saw is your, if you will, lunch break, taking information from the beginning and taking us all the way to the end.\u00a0 You see that there in Revelation chapter 7.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he means by \u201cafter this.\u201d\n\nNow look at this here, \u201cAfter this I saw four angels standing at the four corner of the earth,\u201d oh-oh, so the earth has four corners, right?\u00a0 We have a problem today because\u2026 when I first learned of this I thought it was a gag or a joke; I learned it was a real phenomenon, but there are people over this world that claim to be Bible readers and Bible believers and want to honor the authority of the Scripture that are now teaching that the Bible says the earth is flat.\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you heard of this movement?\u00a0 What is my response to that?\u00a0 And by the way, the only reason I\u2019m bringing this up is they use verses like this, there it is, \u201cfour corners of the earth.\u201d\n\nWell, my response to that is this; if the earth is flat then the moon must be flat also so I\u2019m going to start a flat moon society and we can give ourselves the name Lunatics.\u00a0 Now if people want to go out and make fools of themselves go right ahead, but please don\u2019t blame that on the Bible.\u00a0 And such people have never learned the distinction between plain language and figurative language.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is this is how language functions.\u00a0 You can make a statement in one breath that\u2019s literal and you can make a statement in another breath that\u2019s figurative.\u00a0 For example this morning my wife says to me, \u201chow did you sleep last night?\u201d\u00a0 And I said \u201cgreat, I slept until 8:00 a.m. and I slept like a log.\u201d\u00a0 And she doesn\u2019t say to me well, what do you mean by 8:00 a.m.?\u00a0 No, she understands exactly what I mean by 8:00 a.m., she assigns a literal understanding to the words 8:00 a.m.\u00a0 When I say \u201cI slept like a log\u201d she doesn\u2019t say well, gee whiz, I know our last name is Woods so maybe you turned into a piece of wood in the middle of the night.\u00a0 NO, she would understand that as a simile or a figurative expression and what gives it away is the word \u201clike\u201d that makes it a simile.\n\nThe Bible does this all the time.\u00a0 Language does this all the time.\u00a0 Sometimes it wants to be understood literally, as I\u2019ll show you later in this chapter; sometimes it wants to be understood figuratively. So to take a statement like \u201cthe four corners of the earth\u201d and develop around it this idea that the earth is actually flat and all of the pictures that we see from NASA or wherever are part of the conspiracy, because that\u2019s what they say, they say it\u2019s just a conspiracy out there, this globe idea is not true.\u00a0 Well what about all the pictures from outer space?\u00a0 Well, they\u2019re all, NASA and all these groups are part of the conspiracy to convince us that the earth is a sphere or round when they want us to believe that the earth is flat.\n\nIf that\u2019s true then what do you do with Psalm 113:3, \u201cFrom the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised.\u201d\u00a0 You see, Revelation 7:1, Psalm 113:3 is an example of figurative language.\u00a0 The technical name for it is \u00a0phenomenological language, language narrated from the perspective of man because we all know that the sun doesn\u2019t rise; it\u2019s the earth rotating around the sun in our heliocentric solar system.\u00a0 But you know, we were in Venice, my wife and myself and we were having this fantastic breakfast at the top floor of this hotel and we could see out in the water beautifully and we could see the sun coming up and I didn\u2019t say to my wife, \u201cwhat a wonderful earth rotation we\u2019re looking at\u201d because I\u2019m using some phenomenological language.\n\nIn fact, if you go to verse 2 there it is again, the rising of the sun, phenomenological language which is common in the Scripture.\u00a0 [And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,\u201d Revelation 7:2]\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of sad I even have to cover this issue, if it weren\u2019t for this worldwide movement out there of what we call the flat earth society, the fact of the matter is the Bible makes a lot of statements, I believe giving a lot of hints of the sphere of the earth, the roundness of the earth.\n\nJob 26:7, the oldest book of the Bible, says this of the earth?\u00a0 \u201cHe stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.\u201d\u00a0 That is a scientific statement in the oldest book of the Bible, the Book of Job, that is so far ahead of its time, because the ancients taught that the earth actually was on an elephant and the reason there was earthquakes is because the elephant was moving.\u00a0 Think how different your Bible is, which makes it a scientifically advanced statement.\n\nIsaiah 40:22 talks about the circle of the earth\u00a0 [Isaiah 40:22, \u201cIt is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.\u201d]\u00a0 And Jesus, in Luke 17:34-36 says that when the Second Advent happens it\u2019s going to affect people sleeping in bed, grinding at the mill, working in the field.\u00a0 [Luke 17:34-36, \u201cI tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.\u00a0 [35] There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left.\u00a0 [36] [ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.\u201d]\n\nDoesn\u2019t that sort of imply that people are living at different distances from the sun on a round globe earth?\u00a0 And when the Second Advent happens it\u2019s going to affect everybody on the planet instant\u00adaneously.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is this \u201cfour corners of the earth,\u201d that\u2019s phenomenological language, it\u2019s a cultural idiom.\u00a0 In fact, when you look into the distance and you see a ship coming up over the horizon, that should be a hint, shouldn\u2019t it, that the earth is not flat.\n\nSomeone asked me, well what will it take to convince you that the earth is flat?\u00a0 And here\u2019s my offer\u2014someone needs to get me a picture of the edge; if you can get a picture of the edge, I don\u2019t care if you\u2019re in a helicopter, plane, whatever it is, get me a picture of the edge and I\u2019ll convert to the flat earth society; until then I believe that the earth is a globe.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 You say what did\u00a0 you learn at church today?\u00a0 Just tell people that the earth is not flat.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice also it talks about, \u201cAfter this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.\u201d\u00a0 Now what does that mean?\u00a0 Take a look down at verse 2, \u201cAnd I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,\u201d so one angel who\u2019s holding a seal\u2026 now why is he holding a seal?\u00a0 That\u2019s very important because there\u2019s 144,000 Hebrews that are about to be sealed by the living God.\u00a0 And he\u2019s crying out to the other angels who are given the responsibility to come and destroy the earth via the events of the tribulation to wait just a moment.\u00a0 Before there\u2019s any physical destruction or harm to the planet hold everything back because God wants to do something first.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that this angel is called an angel holding \u201cthe seal of the living God.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0And I think that\u2019s a wonderful description of God, He is \u201cthe living God.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, Revelation 9:20 speaks of idols that people will worship in the last days, idols which can neither see nor hear nor walk.\u00a0 [Revelation 9:20, \u201cThe rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;\u201d]\n\nWhy spend your time involved with an idol (they can\u2019t even communicate with you), when you could be in a relationship with the living God.\u00a0 I love Isaiah 46:1-4 where the children of Israel are carrying their idols around, these statues.\u00a0 And God, through the prophet Isaiah, speaks to the nation of Israel and He basically says are those getting heavy?\n\n[Isaiah 46:1-4, \u201cBel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; their images are\u00a0consigned<\/em>\u00a0to the beasts and the cattle.\u00a0 The things that you carry are burdensome, a load for the weary\u00a0beast.<\/em>\u00a0 [2] They stooped over, they have bowed down together; they could not rescue the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity.\u00a0 [3] \u201cListen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb;\u00a0 [4] Even to\u00a0your<\/em>\u00a0old age I will be the same, and even to\u00a0your<\/em>\u00a0graying years I will bear\u00a0you! <\/em>\u00a0I have done\u00a0it,<\/em>\u00a0and I will carry\u00a0you; <\/em>And I will bear\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0and I will deliver\u00a0you.<\/em>\u201d]\n\nI mean, you\u2019re carrying this idol around with you all the time; are your arms getting fatigued, are they getting heavy?\u00a0 And you know, God says, the day is going to come where you\u2019re going to be too sick and old to carry those things around; what are you going to do then?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God says I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019ll do for you as the living God\u2014when you get too old to carry something I\u2019ll carry you.\u00a0 Now isn\u2019t that a better deal, having a relationship with the living God who in your old age can carry you, versus hauling around with you this stature, metallic slab of whatever it is that can\u2019t do anything for you, it can\u2019t even see, it can\u2019t walk, it can\u2019t communicate.\u00a0 And this is the foolishness that we move into when we begin to worship things over the God that made those things.\u00a0 May God deliver us from the mindset of idolatry and return to a relationship with the living God.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice verse 3 starts to give some more information.\u00a0 It says, \u201csaying, \u201cDo not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.\u201d \u00a0Don\u2019t do any harm to the planet until this sealing occurs to the bondservants of our God\n\nNow this would lead me to conclude that this sealing either takes place just before the tribulation starts or maybe better said at the beginning part of the tribulation period, because the first seal was opened, the antichrist, the rider on the white horse came forward, and he seemed to solve the world\u2019s problems, as we have talked about, in a false hope and a false peace that quickly collapses.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a reference to this temporary peace that comes to the earth and since this sealing happens before any harm comes to the earth I would gather that these 144,000 are sealed by God before the second seal judgment and the subsequent seal judgments which bring so much destruction to the planet.\n\nThere are many verses that talk about this temporary peace that the antichrist will bring in.\u00a0 Daniel 9:27 talks about it. [Daniel 9:27, \u201cAnd he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s what gives peace to Israel.\n\n1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, \u201cWhile they are saying,\u201d what? \u201c\u2018Peace and safety!\u2019 then destruction will come [upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.]\u2019\u201d\u00a0 That can\u2019t happen unless peace and safety occurs first.\n\nEzekiel 38 verse 8 and verse 11 talks about an invasion of Israel, I believe during this time period while the nation is dwelling in security without walls.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 38:8, \u201cAfter many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them.\u201d\u00a0 Ezekiel 38:11, \u201cand you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates,\u201d]\n\nRevelation 6:2 describes this antichrist that\u2019s coming as the rider on the white horse with a bow and it was given to him to conquer.\u00a0 Revelation 6:2, \u201cI looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.\u201d]\u00a0 And when the second seal is opened war breaks out and peace is taken from the earth.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t have peace taken from the earth until peace is first established on the earth, a false peace, a pseudo peace, something that happens very early on in the tribulation period and I think that\u2019s sort of a hint as to the timing of the sealing of these 144,000.\n\nThe fourth seal judgment, number two comes, these 144,000 are sealed by God.\u00a0 What is a seal?\u00a0 A seal, or being sealed by God is His mark of ownership on a person.\u00a0 By the way, according to Ephesians 1:13 you have that seal as well as a Christian.\u00a0 It talks about our salvation having also believed you were sealed in Him, in the Holy Spirit of promise.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:13, \u201cIn Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.\u201d]\n\nEphesians 4:30 tells the church age believer, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u201d\u00a0 This is one of the reasons I don\u2019t think a believer, once in Christ, can lost their salvation because that seal is a permanent spiritual mark upon the Christian.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting to me how Satan imitates the things that God does.\u00a0 When we get into Revelation 13:6-18 we learn about a satanic system that will similarly give people a mark preventing them from participating in the one-world economy of that time. Revelation 14:9-11 talks about the same thing, as does Revelation 20:4.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0[Revelation 13:6-18, \u201cAnd he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,\u00a017<\/a><\/strong>and\u00a0he provides<\/em>\u00a0that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark,\u00a0either<\/em>\u00a0the name of the beast or the number of his name.\u00a018<\/a><\/strong>Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.\u201d\n\nRevelation 14:9-11, \u201cThen another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, \u2018If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,\u00a0[10]\u00a0 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.\u00a0[11]\u00a0 \u2018And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:4, \u201cThen I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I\u00a0saw<\/em>\u00a0the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.\u00a0\u201c]\n\nWhat can Satan offer?\u00a0 Nothing but a cheap imitation, a cheap counterfeit of what God does.\u00a0 When we trust Christ we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and these 144,000 I understand it as suddenly they come to an awareness that their Messiah, Jesus Christ, when their nation has been in rejection for over two thousand years, it suddenly dawns on them that Jesus is their Messiah.\u00a0 Hebrew Bible or Old Testament points to Jesus Christ, they hear, they read, they understand, they believe the gospel and the 144,000 of them are converted.\u00a0 And yet what are they called in Revelation 14:4?\u00a0 Firstfruits of greater things to come.\u00a0 [Revelation 14:4, \u201cThese are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.\u201d]\n\nWhat was firstfruits?\u00a0 Firstfruits was the initial crop or harvest that came in in Old Testament times giving confidence that a greater harvest or crop is certain and right around the corner.\u00a0 You see, these 144,000 are called the firstfruits because they are the initial converts that God is going to use in this darkest time of history to evangelize the entire world, hence the title \u201cfirstfruits.\u201d\n\nAnd I believe that God will move very fast once the rapture of the church takes place to seal these 144,000.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 It relates to the character of God and the nature of God.\u00a0 God does not leave the earth EVER without a witness of Himself.\u00a0 The church through the pre-tribulational rapture\u00a0 will have been removed from the earth and God very fast moves into the conversion of the instrument that He will use for worldwide evangelization, these 144,000 Jewish evangelists. God does this because He never leaves the earth as wicked as\u00a0 it is without a witness of Himself.\n\nI ran into this very, to me a fascinating historical point from William Martin\u2019s book entitled A Prophet Without Honor:<\/em> The Billy Graham Story<\/em>.\u00a0 And what he says is this:\u00a0 \u201cAn interesting note of history, November 6, 1935,\u201d now he goes on and he says, \u201cthat was a scant year before the death of famed crusade evangelist Billy Sunday.\u201d\u00a0 We all know the name Billy Graham, we don\u2019t really know the name Billy Sunday who was sort of a pre-cursor to Billy Graham and had a tremendous influence as well.\u00a0 William Martin says, \u201cAn interesting note of history, November 6, 1935, a scant year before the death of the famed crusade evangelist, Billy Sunday, a teenager named Billy Graham had just declared his intention to spend his life preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, just before Billy Sunday died it so happens that a teenager walks into a revivalist tent, receives Christ as Savior, and commits his life to proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nThings in God\u2019s time can get somewhat tight but He\u2019s always on time, and He works this way because He does not leave the earth without a witness of Himself.\u00a0 The church is gone and the 144,000, Revelation\u00a0 7:1-3, are converted, they are sealed by God.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:1-3, \u201cAfter this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.\u00a0[2] \u00a0And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, [3] saying, \u201cDo not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.\u201d\u2019]\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice what it says, these 144,000 are called bond servants.\u00a0 The Greek word for bondservant there is doulos<\/em>, it basically means a slave.\u00a0 And that in essence is what a disciple of Jesus Christ is.\u00a0 We\u2019re not here to do our own thing.\u00a0 We\u2019re not here to formulate our own ideas. We\u2019re not here to pursue our own agenda. We\u2019re not here to pursue our own program.\u00a0 We\u2019re here to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ as Christians and walk out the life of discipleship where we become a doulos,<\/em> a bondservant, a slave if you will.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that when the apostles wrote letters in the New Testament they didn\u2019t tout their credentials.\u00a0 Today when people write letters and write things they always have a laundry list of their credentials and their accomplishments. You don\u2019t find that with the apostles.\u00a0 2 Peter 1:1, Simon Peter calls himself at the beginning of that book, \u201ca bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ\u2026\u201d\u00a0 [2 Peter 1:1, \u201cSimon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:\u201d]\u00a0 Now only am I an apostle of Jesus Christ, I\u2019m a bondservant, I am a slave.\n\nAnd I hope as we enter the year 2019 that more and more of us as Christians would become like that in our daily walk, wake up every day saying you know, Lord, You\u2019re the One that saved me, You\u2019re the One that redeemed me, You\u2019re the One that sealed me, have\u00a0 Your way in my life today.\u00a0 Have your way in my life in the\u00a0 year 2019.\u00a0 Have a year in me where it\u2019s not my will and my desire and my aspirations but what is it that You have for me.\n\nSo these servants are called doulos<\/em>, bondservants of God.\u00a0\u00a0 And so we have their sealing, verses 1-3, and then we have their number given, verse 4, \u201cAnd I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the\u201d First Baptist Church\u2026 no, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201cfrom every tribe of the sons of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 Now people say well, gee whiz, 144,000, I mean, is that a literal number?\u00a0 You just told us that the earth is not flat, we don\u2019t have four corners, that\u2019s a figure of speech.\u00a0 Obviously 144,00 must be sort of a symbolic number, right?\u00a0 Allegorical.\u00a0 The problem is when John wants to be loose with numbers he\u2019s very good at it. If you look down at verse 9 it says, \u201cAfter these things I looked and behold a great multitude,\u201d this is another group, \u201cwhich no one could count.\u201d [Revelation 7:9]\n\nSee that?\u00a0 Group two no one could count; group one, 144,000.\u00a0 If John wanted to say it\u2019s about 144,000 he could have said that, couldn\u2019t he?\u00a0 In fact, in the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:41 there were 3,000 people converted.\u00a0 Is that a literal 3,000?\u00a0 Could it be 3002?\u00a0 Yes, because it says there, \u201cwere added about,\u201d Acts 2:41, three thousand souls. [ Acts 2:41, \u201cSo then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.\u201d]\n\nDo you see the word \u201cabout\u201d here in Revelation 7:4?\u00a0 Not at all, it\u2019s just a specific number.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:4, \u201cAnd I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:\u201d]\u00a0 So I believe that this number is an actual mathematical number.\u00a0 In fact, Robert Thomas says in his very excellent commentary on the Book of Revelation, \u201cNo number in Revelation is verifiably a symbolic number.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 8 to 22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), 408<\/em>]\n\nEvery single number you run into, unless there\u2019s some sort of compelling evidence not to take it that way, you take it as an actual literal number.\u00a0 And by the way, did you see where these tribes came from?\u00a0 Or these 144,000 came from? \u201cFrom every tribe of the sons of Israel.\u201d Robert Thomas says this, very interesting information.\u00a0 \u201cOf the 404 verses in the Apocalypse,\u201d or the Book of Revelation, \u201c278 allude to the OT Scripture. No other NT writer uses the OT more than this. Yet the book is marked by an entire absence of formal quotations from the OT.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0[Revelation 1 to 7: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), 40.<\/em>]\n\nIsn\u2019t that interesting, you go through the Book of Revelation and there\u2019s not a single Old Testament quote but there are at least 404 verses, 278 of them referencing, alluding in some way, to the Old Testament.\n\nNow let\u2019s think about this.\u00a0 If John is using in this visions, as God is giving John this vision, the Old Testament so frequently how were the tribes spoken of in the Old Testament?\u00a0 Well, the twelve tribes are always literal, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 In fact, the beginning of the tribes you\u2019ll see in Genesis 29 and 30.\u00a0 If the tribes are literal in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation depends so heavily on the Old Testament then the tribes must be literal here.\u00a0 And if the tribes are literal maybe the number is literal as well.\u00a0 Do you see that?\n\nNow I know what some of you are thinking, Andy, what\u2019s the matter with you?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you understand that in the\u00a0 year 722 B.C. the tribes were lost?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you understand that seven hundred years before the time of Christ the Syrians came against the northern kingdom, the ten northern tribes, scattered them into worldwide dispersion and consequently those tribes have been lost, never to be restored, never to be regained.\u00a0 When you begin to talk about a literal 144,000 stemming from the twelve tribes of Israel this is the counter argument you run into\u2026 we all know this can\u2019t be literal because the tribes are lost.\u00a0 I mean, they were lost seven centuries before the time of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Let me answer it this way?\u00a0 Lost to who?\u00a0 Maybe lost to man but God knows exactly where they are, doesn\u2019t He.\n\nIn fact, Acts 26:7, this is 700 years after they were supposedly lost, the Apostle Paul says all \u201cour twelve tribes.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0I guess Paul didn\u2019t think they were lost. \u00a0[Acts 26:7, \u201cthe promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 By the way, have you read the Book of James lately?\u00a0 How does the Book begin?\u00a0 \u201cJames, a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes [who are dispersed abroad:\u00a0 Greetings.]\u201d \u00a0The whole book 700 years after they were supposedly lost is addressed to the full tribe.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they are lost as far as God is concerned.\n\nBy the way, in\u00a0 your Christmas greeting, early Luke, did\u00a0 you run across a prophetess named Anna?\u00a0 In Luke 2:36?\u00a0 Did you notice that Anna is of the tribe of Asher?\u00a0 I mean, her tribal identity is documented.\u00a0 [Luke 2:36, \u201cAnd there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher\u2026.\u201d] \u00a0Her tribal identity is known after supposedly these tribes being lost for 700 years.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t really care what the history channel says.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what all the skeptics say.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is the tribes are not lost, God knows exactly where they are and it\u2019s just a matter of time before He reveals where they are so that these 144,000 can be, number 1, saved, regenerated, sealed, and number 2, used by God.\n\nNow at Chafer Theological Seminary we have an annual conference and it\u2019s typically held not too far from here at West Houston Bible Church, there\u2019s an extensive archives of presentations that are given at that particular conference, and in the year 2017 we had a speaker whose name was Bennet Greenspan, he is one of the world\u2019s leaders in genealogies, DNA, all of the things that go into that.\u00a0 To my mind he is not a Christian, he is not a believer.\u00a0 We had him come speak to us as an expert in what he knows, genealogies.\u00a0 The title of his talk is this: Are Modern Jews Descended From the Biblical Israelites?\u00a0 If you somehow bought into this lost tribes mindset I would encourage you to access his presentation and watch it because he proves that the Jews, living in the land of Israel today, are indeed Israelites and tribal identities can be known.\n\nYou say well, Andy, why is this subject so important to you?\u00a0 I mean every time I come to this church you talk about the Jews, you talk about Israel, I mean, can\u2019t you talk about something more practical, can\u2019t you talk about something more relevant?\u00a0 The reality of the situation is talking about the Jews and Israel is one of the most relevant subjects you could ever get into, because it\u2019s a revelation of God\u2019s character, which is 100% faithful.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is God has made specific promises, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He will fulfill every single promise. You say well they don\u2019t deserve it, the nation rejected Christ.\u00a0 Look at the unbelief of the nation of Israel all the way through Old Testament times.\u00a0 Look at the unbelief of the nation of Israel today.\u00a0 Are\u00a0 you telling me that this nation is going to be converted?\u00a0 Are you telling me that there\u2019s 144,000 firstfruits in their midst, that are going to be won to Christ and are going to evangelize the whole world? \u00a0How could you think that, don\u2019t you know that the ancient Israel doesn\u2019t deserve that privilege?\n\nAnd you\u2019re right, they don\u2019t deserve it. But you know who else doesn\u2019t deserve it?\u00a0 You don\u2019t deserve it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t deserve it.\u00a0 You don\u2019t even deserve to be sitting here.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even deserve to be standing here. And isn\u2019t it interesting that we will bask in the grace of God and we will deny it to somebody else.\u00a0 The reasons that God is going to use the nation of Israel is to magnify His character of faithfulness.\u00a0 What does 2 Timothy 2:13 say?\u00a0 \u201cIf we are faithless, He remains\u201d what? \u201cfaithful, for He cannot deny Himself.\u201d\u00a0 And when I see the scattering of Israel into the land beginning in 1948 in preparation for these events that we\u2019re speaking of here, I don\u2019t get upset about it, I don\u2019t get mad about it.\u00a0 I say PRAISE THE LORD!\u00a0 Because if God is going to keep His Word to them He\u2019s going to keep His Word to who else?\u00a0 To me, because I can be disobedient and faithless just as they have been.\n\nIt does move me somewhat emotionally to think about this, that this nation that has spent so much time rejecting Christ, denying Christ, even God forbid turning Christ over to Rome for execution as a formal decision, committing Matthew 12, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 This nation that persecuted early Christianity, stoned to death the first martyr of the church age, a man named Stephen.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet God is going to put His hand back on that nation and use them again because of promises He\u2019s made.\u00a0 This can\u2019t be on the basis of human merit; this has to be completely on the basis of grace.\u00a0 And I say PRAISE THE LORD!\u00a0 \u00a0God has a future for the 144,000.\u00a0\u00a0 He has a future for the tribes; if the tribes are literal then the number coming from the tribes have to be literal as well.\n\nRoy Zuck, one of my mentors, writes this:\u00a0 \u201cWhen John wrote that a hundred forty-four thousand will be sealed there is no reason to not take these numbers in the normal literal sense.\u00a0 Since the tribal names are all literal, not symbolic, there is no reason to take these numbers symbolically.\u201d\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure you heard the breakdown as Ed was reading the verses; it\u2019s not just a hundred forty-four thousand from the various tribes, it\u2019s twelve thousand from each tribe.\u00a0 The number is divisible by twelve, and the tribes themselves are mentioned.\n\nYou see, if you don\u2019t get straight on some of these prophetic truths you will be deceived by the kingdom of the cults who are coming to your door.\u00a0 It\u2019s not if they come but when they come because when they come there\u2019s going to be a group of people out there, very nice friendly people, two of them generally, the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, and you\u2019ll engage them in conversation and at some point they\u2019re going to say only a hundred and forty-four thousand people get to heaven, the rest of the believers who persevere in good works are going to populate the earthly kingdom and the unbelievers will be annihilated, in other words, they\u2019ll disappear.\u00a0 They don\u2019t believe in the eternal retribution of eternal punishment.\n\nAnd you say well, that\u2019s very interesting, where are\u00a0 you getting this hundred and forty-four thousand figure from.\u00a0 And they\u2019re going to pull out Revelation 7 and say it\u2019s right there in your Bible. And you say wait a minute, I go to Sugar Land Bible Church, and my pastor preaches prophecy and he thinks prophecy is practical and he said, and I believe him (if you do believe me) based on the Scripture that these 144,000, who is it speaking of here?\u00a0 Of a special group of people that persevere in good works and get to heaven?\u00a0 Absolutely NOT!\u00a0 These are a literal 144,000 Jews coming from the twelve tribes of Israel.\u00a0 That\u2019s who they are.\n\nSee, if you don\u2019t have a literal framework for interpreting prophecy you\u2019re vulnerable to anybody who wants to come along and manipulate the truths of God\u2019s Word for their own benefit.\u00a0 The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses completely and utterly demolish the context of these verses.\u00a0 In fact, the way Walter Martin speaks of a man who apparently was one of the 144,000, he got that special title because he persevered in good works and supposedly in their system was on his way to heaven.\u00a0 Well, he got saved and he wrote a book about his salvation.\u00a0 Know what the title of the book is?\u00a0 One hundred and forty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety nine.\n\nAnd I can pick up any evangelical commentary today, George Ladd\u2019s Commentary for example, on The Book of Revelation<\/em>.\u00a0 He says, boldly in his commentary, this is the church, this is the church fulfilling the great commission. That\u2019s kind of funny, I don\u2019t see the word \u201cchurch\u201d here. Do\u00a0 you?\u00a0 The fact of the matter is after the church is removed from the earth, chapter 4, although the word church is found nineteen times in Revelation 1-3, I don\u2019t see the word church again.\u00a0 In fact what I see is God putting His hand back on Israel and is using Israel for His purposes.\u00a0 This is not the church, this is not some special group within the Jehovah\u2019s Witness system that makes it into heaven.\u00a0 These are literal Jews coming from the twelve tribes of Israel that God is sealing, winning to Christ in other words and preparing them for their mission, which is world evangelization.\n\nThe tribes are mentioned there in verses 5-8, \u201cfrom the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, [6] from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, [7] from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, [8] from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were<\/em> sealed.\u201d\n\nNow you say well pastor, I have a problem here, I don\u2019t see the name Ephraim. Well, don\u2019t lose too much sleep over that because Ephraim was one of the twelve tribes; in fact, Joseph had two sons, [Genesis 46:27, \u201cand the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were two...\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0One son was named Ephraim, the other son was named who?\u00a0 Manasseh.\u00a0 So many times what happens in the Bible is Ephraim is used as a synonym for Joseph.\u00a0 If Joseph is on the list, and he\u2019s right there\u00a0 in verse 8 isn\u2019t he?\u00a0 And Ephraim is on the list as well.\u00a0 You say does this happen anywhere else in the Bible.\u00a0 In Ezekiel 37 and verse 16 you\u2019ll find Joseph being used as a synonym for Ephraim, \u201c'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim.\u201d\u00a0 [Ezekiel 37:16, \u201cAnd you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, 'For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'\u201d]\u00a0 And so I wouldn\u2019t lose too much sleep over the fact that Ephraim is not mentioned.\n\nNow the one that everybody camps on is Dan.\u00a0 Where in the world is Dan?\u00a0 And so people develop this view that well, Dan must have done something pretty bad so the antichrist must be coming from the tribe of Dan.\u00a0 I call this the Bad Boy Dan Series.\u00a0 And Dan did do a lot of bad stuff, that tribe.\u00a0 Leviticus 24:11, there\u2019s an idolater there from the tribe of Dan.\u00a0 [Leviticus 24:11, \u201cThe son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)\u201d\n\nDan, Judges 8:30-31 brought idolatry into the land of Israel after Joshua had conquered the land.\u00a0 [Judges 8:30-31, \u201cNow Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives. [31] His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.\u201d]\u00a0 And in fact, false worship centers were set up in Beersheba and where else?\u00a0 Dan!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01 Kings 12:28-30. \u00a0[1 Kings 12:28-30, \u201cSo the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, \u201cIt is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.\u201d [29] He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. [30] Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship<\/em> before the one as far as Dan.\u201d]\n\nSo many people speculate, well that\u2019s why Dan is left off this list.\u00a0 The problem with that is Dan shows up again in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 In fact, in Ezekiel 48:1 and verse 32 you\u2019ll see a reference to Dan receiving her tribal allotment in the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 48:1, \u201cNow these are the names of the tribes: from the northern extremity, beside the way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, as far as Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, toward the north beside Hamath, running from east to west, Dan, one portion.\u201d\u00a0 Ezekiel 48:32, \u201cOn the east side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.\u201d]\u00a0 And so I guess my question sort of is well if Dan and her sin was enough to exclude Dan from being on the list of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists why does Dan show up again in the millennial kingdom?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make sense.\n\nI think a far better view of this is the one postulated by a Hebrew Christian scholar, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and he simply notes that Joseph begat Ephraim and Manasseh, \u00a0Genesis 41:50-52, \u00a0Genesis 46:20.\u00a0 [Genesis 41:50-52, \u201cNow before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. [51] Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, \u201cFor,\u201d he said,<\/em> \u201cGod has made me forget all my trouble and all my father\u2019s household.\u201d [52] He named the second Ephraim, \u201cFor,\u201d he said,<\/em> \u201cGod has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 46:20, \u201cNow to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.\u201d]\n\nSo according to my old math that brings the number of names not to twelve but to thirteen.\u00a0 For whatever reason the biblical writers, especially John, liked the number twelve, and so what you\u2019ll notice in the Bible when the tribes are mentioned someone gets bumped off the list.\u00a0 For example, Moses addressed the tribes in Deuteronomy 33, the twelve tribes are mentioned but you don\u2019t see Simeon on the list in Deuteronomy 33.\u00a0 In Ezekiel 47-48 it mentions all the land that the various tribes will inherit but you don\u2019t see the name Levi inheriting land.\n\nSo I think what is happening, rather than developing all of these theories about Dan I think it\u2019s simply stylistic.\u00a0 You\u2019re dealing with thirteen, the biblical writers like the number twelve, so for whatever reason somebody gets left off the list and it\u2019s not always Dan, sometimes its Levi, sometimes its Simeon.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of my explanation for the missing Dan.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t lose too much sleep over that, to me it\u2019s simply stylistic.\n\nBut it is interesting that these tribes, from these tribes will come forth these 12,000 from each tribe, 144,000.\u00a0 And they\u2019re going to usher in verse 9 which we won\u2019t be able to get to today, a global harvest without our denomination, without our pulpits, without our Christian television stations, (thank God for that, Amen!)\u00a0 Without our Christian radio stations, without our Christian bookstores, without our Christian sermons, without our [can't understand word] organizations, without anything related to the church age God is going to fulfill world evangelization.\u00a0 What the church has left undone will be completed by the 144,000.\n\nAnd see, we have a tendency to look at ourselves and our ministries as if we\u2019re SO important.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is God doesn\u2019t need me, He doesn\u2019t need you, he doesn\u2019t need any of us.\u00a0 In fact, He\u2019s got the whole thing under control whether we participate or not.\u00a0 The only issue is are you going to get the blessings\u00a0 of being used by God?\u00a0 God\u2019s work is going to get done, the only issue is do you get the privilege of being used by God.\u00a0 See, when my daughter was very little we were teaching here to do some chores around the house and we started\u00a0 her off with emptying the dishwasher and she was little and she was struggling with taking things out of the dishwasher and reaching up and putting them in the drawers and all of this kind of stuff.\u00a0 And I said to myself, you know, why don\u2019t I just do it myself, I could get it done a lot faster.\u00a0 Then I thought to myself well if I did it all myself I would be depriving her of the joy of contributing to the household.\u00a0 I would be depriving her of life lessons that she needs to learn to develop into a responsible human being.\u00a0 See that?\n\nWorld evangeli\u00adzation is going to happen, whether the church drops the ball or not world evangeli-zation is going to happen.\u00a0 The issue is, is the church in the last days in her waning moments on the earth going to submit to the authority of God and cooperate with Him.\u00a0 That\u2019s the issue.\u00a0 I hope\u00a0 that does happen.\u00a0 I hope the church goes out with a blaze of glory, accomplishing everything that God wanted to do through the church and the church in the twenty-first century, assuming the rapture happens this year, enters heaven fully rewarded.\u00a0 That would be my desire.\u00a0 That\u2019s God\u2019s desire too.\n\nBut oh no, what if the church drops the ball?\u00a0 What if the church moves into apostasy?\u00a0 Do you think God\u2019s sitting around with sweaty palms saying what am I going to do?\u00a0 How am I going to pull this off?\u00a0 You see, a passage like this brings a lot of humility to us because you start seeing that God has it all figured out.\u00a0 It\u2019s all figured out, it\u2019s just a matter of who\u2019s He going to use in these last days.\u00a0 The 144,000 Jewish evangelists will, as we\u2019ll see next week, blanket the whole world with the gospel. \u00a0But is the church in its waning moments going to fulfill the great commission?\u00a0 I think that latter issue is sort of up in the air right now.\n\nI also think\u00a0 it\u2019s kind of up in the air with your life, with my life, as we go into a new year.\u00a0 Look how [can't understand word] is going be.\u00a0 God\u2019s work is going to get done but is He going to use you to do that work, because he loves you and wants to see you participate in what He is doing and He wants to give you the joy of being used.\u00a0 Talk about New Year\u2019s resolutions, that ought to be one.\u00a0 Lord, I know You\u2019re going to do what\u00a0 You\u2019re going to do in 2919 what You\u2019re going to do but I want to be not on the bench, I want to be one of the starting five.\u00a0 How about that for a prayer request?\u00a0\u00a0 How about that for a New Year\u2019s resolution?\n\nHow do you get into the starting five? Well, you submit to God by becoming a doulos<\/em>, a bond\u00adservant.\u00a0 But before you can become a bondservant there\u2019s something else you need to do, you need to get saved.\u00a0 You need to get sealed by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 You need to be regenerated and that can\u2019t happen until you what?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to believe, because as we celebrated the Lord\u2019s Table Jesus has done everything that can be done to allow us to enter into a relationship with Him He simply asks us to trust in His message, receive Jesus Christ as a free gift as your Savior. And there\u2019s only one way to receive a gift from God and that\u2019s by faith.\u00a0 You can do that right now even as I\u2019m talking, in the quietness of your own mind and heart, it\u2019s not a matter of raising a hand, walking an aisle, joining a church, giving money, etc.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust in Him and Him alone for salvation.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\n\nBut for those of us \u201cin Christ\u201d what\u2019s the issue?\u00a0 Now the issue is doulos<\/em>, bondservant, not my will be done but Thy will be done.\u00a0 And suddenly you find yourself in the starting five, you find\u00a0 yourself being used strategically in the work of God which is going to get done one way or the other.\u00a0 My God at Sugar Land Bible Church give us, number one, believers in Christ, and number two, disciples cooperating with His plan and program for the church in its final hours just prior to the rapture.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we are grateful for Revelation 7:1-8, the things that it reveals to us.\u00a0 Be with us this next week, we ask, as we study the great work that will be brought forth to these prepared instruments coming from the lineage of Israel.\u00a0 We\u2019ll\u00a0 be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.\u00a0 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t