May 18, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Before entering the worst years of the Tribulation, God does
something unexpected yet completely consistent with his nature. He demonstrates
his grace. Today on Turning Point, Doctor David Jeremiah explains
exactly how and why this happens as he continues his
series in Revelation Escaped the Coming Night to introduce his
(00:28):
thought provoking message, Revival in the Tribulation.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's David, and thank you for joining us today as
we begin a new week together. We are studying the
last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and
today we open to the seventh chapter for an intriguing
discussion on Revival in the Tribulation. You know, it's easy
to think that the Tribulation period is going to be
(00:51):
nothing but darkness and horror and death. But like so
many other dark days on planet Earth, with God, there's
always light. In fact, God releases one hundred and forty
four thousand points of light to roam the earth and
collect the elect for eternity. This is one intriguing lesson
today and tomorrow. You don't want to miss Revival in
(01:11):
the Tribulation. And by the way, during this month, our
resource for the month is the Book sixty Days of Prophecies,
the Truth behind End Time Warnings. Each day you'll learn
about a specific prophecy, you'll learn how the prophecy relates
to the world today, and there will be key takeaway
scriptures that will help you apply what you've learned. And
(01:32):
this is yours for a gift of any amount to
Turning Point. When you ask for this resource, we'll send
it to you right away. Once again, the book is
called Sixty Days of Prophecies, brand New from Turning Point,
and it's yours for the asking when you send your
gift today. Now, let's get started with this interesting message
called revival in the Tribulation.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
During the time of one of the most vicious of
all Jewish persecution on the earth, Adolf Hitler wrote out
a mandate to be read in all of the state
churches of Germany. The tragic procedure went like this, Will
all of the men in this church who are Jewish
stand up? Those standing will now turn and leave the church.
(02:21):
Now will all the women in this church who are
Jewish stand up? And here and there they stood up.
Those standing now leave the church. Will all of those
in this congregation who had a Jewish grandparent on the
maternal side, stand up, Some stood up.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
You will now leave.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Now will all of those who have a Jewish grandparent
on the paternal side stand up?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
And here and there they stood up. You will now leave.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Now will all of those who have any Jewish blood
anywhere in the family line on the maternal side stand up?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
And here and there they stood up. Now you were
ordered to leave.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And when they were ordered to leave, As someone has written,
we can imagine the Lord God Christ coming out of
the stained glass window high above the altar, down from
the cross, and walking the length of the aisle and
leaving the church.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
For you see, he was Jewish too.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
One of the things we forget is we study the
Bible is that God has a plan for his people Israel.
Sometimes today when we preach from Prophecy, we make a
tragic air in confusing God's plan for Israel with his
plan for the Church. When I was growing up, we
used to sing a little chorus that went like this,
(03:40):
every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse,
every line. I used to think that was a wonderful
chorus until I found out that every promise in the
book wasn't mine. Some of those promises were for Israel.
Some of those promises weren't for me at all. God
has a plan and specifically for his nation, the Jews,
(04:03):
and we cannot disassociate. We cannot take out of the
Holy Scripture of God his elective purpose in his people.
And if we do, we have nothing left of the Bible.
The more I study the Bible, the more I understand
its truth, and the more I observe human history, the
more I read the newspapers, and the more I understand
(04:24):
God's covenant purposes, the more I am convinced that the
Jewish people yet will have their day. The time of
Jacob's trouble, which we have been discussing in the Bible
concerning the Tribulation, is a time of great judgment upon
the earth, judgment basically upon the.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
People of Israel.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
It is judgment for two reasons, to punish them for
their rejection of their Messiah and to get them ready
to accept the Messiah when he comes here. In the
seventh chapter we have the story of one of the
greatest revisal that will ever take place on the face
of this earth, and it is a revival basically that
(05:06):
is centered around the Jewish nation now the setting of
that revival is important.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
For here we.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Have a parenthetical chapter. The first sixth seals we have examined,
and I hope you remember what they are. They're listed
for you right there in the text. The sixth Seal
we discussed last time. It was a devastating, catastrophic seal
opening up the convulsions of the world as the judgment
of God falls upon this earth. At the end of
(05:35):
the sixth Seal, before the seventh seal is opened, there
is a little parenthesis. There's a little window, there's a
little pausing, and it's the seventh chapter. It is interesting
as you study the Book of Revelation to discover that
there is a parenthesis in each of the seventh judgments
that are listed in the tribulation, for instance, in the
(05:58):
New Testament. In the Book of Revelation, we have the
sixth Seal judgments A parentheses, and then the seventh Seal.
Then we have the six trumpet judgments a parentheses, then
the seventh Trumpet. Then we have six bowl or vile
judgments A parentheses, and then the seventh and the parentheses
are always an evidence of God's grace in times of judgment.
(06:22):
The picture of Chapter seven is sketched against the dark
background of the seal judgments.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Which we have already looked at together.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
In reality, we must locate chapter seven between the beginning
of Sorrows and the beginning of the Great Tribulation. The
first six seals have been opened, and before the seventh
seal is open, there will be a time when people
will be sealed. Now in this chapter there are two
visions set apart by two very distinct phrases. If you
(06:56):
will look down in your Bibles, you will notice at
the beginning of the first verse a phrase that says,
and after these things, I saw, and look at verse nine,
and after this I beheld. That is basically the same
phrase in the Greek language, and it sets out two
visions that the writer of the book John saw. The
(07:17):
first vision chapter seven, verses one through eight, is of
a scene that takes place on this earth. The second vision,
verses nine through seventeen, is of a scene in heaven.
The first vision reveals one hundred and forty four thousand
representatives of the Godly Remnant of Israel. The second vision
(07:40):
is of a great multitude of martyred dead who are
now in heaven. Those are the ones who have died
for their faith, from every kindred and tongue and nation.
The first vision is Jewish, the second vision is Gentile.
The first vision is the ceiling of the servants on earth.
(08:00):
The second vision is the glory of the saints in heaven.
We read in the first verse, after these things, I
saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind
should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea,
nor on any tree. As John is given his first vision,
(08:24):
he beholds four angels standing at the four corners of
the earth. His vision is not of a square earth.
Some have said John wasn't very scientific, but rather he
reflects the four quadrants of the compass, or the four directions.
Just as our weathermen would say the winds are out
(08:44):
of the east. So John repeats that these four winds
are restrained in four different directions.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
That's what he's talking about.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
The winds in the scripture, if you study prophecy, are
often the providence agencies of God's judgment. They are sent
by God to execute his purposes. And of course what
this verse is teaching is that until the elect servants
are safe, these winds may not be allowed to blow.
(09:15):
Once again, we are impressed by the tremendous powers that
are delegated to the angels in the Book of Revelation.
The angels literally are restraining the four winds that are
about to blow upon the earth.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Now we read and.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the
seal of the Living God. And he cried with a
loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was
given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, do
not hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees
till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads.
(09:54):
Let me stop for just a moment and answered the
question that is in your mind if you read this carefully,
what is he talking about when he talks about hurting
the earth and the sea and the trees. Some expositors
have fancifully given interpretation to that, but it's very plain
what it means.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Look in your bibles.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
At chapter eight, Versus six and seven, the beginning of
the trumpet judgments, which are wrapped up in the seventh seal,
We read, and the seven angels, which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to sound, and the first angel sounded.
Then there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and
they were cast upon the earth, and the third part
(10:33):
of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass
was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as
it were, a great mountain burning with fire, was cast
into the sea, and the third part of the sea
became blood. So when we read that the winds from
the four corners of the Earth are going to be
restrained so that they hurt not the earth, the sea,
(10:54):
and the trees, what John is talking about is he
wants to hold off the judgment that is about fall
upon the earth. The next judgment upon the earth has
to do with the earth and the trees and the mountains.
So he is saying here that these angels now are
controlling the four winds of the Earth. And now all
of a sudden, as we look at this vision, they
(11:15):
are joined by a fifth angel. And the fifth angel
comes from the east and instructs the four angels not
to hurt the earth, not to hurt the sea, not
to hurt the trees, until the servants of God are
sealed in their foreheads. Some have suggested that this fifth
angel might be the Lord Jesus Christ. The text says
(11:38):
that he the Angel, arises slowly from the east, like
the rising of the sun.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
His voice is loud and his authority is clear.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
He reaches the four angels in the four corners of
the earth and immediately they stop. Now what his message
is is this, you may not allow this judgment to
come upon this earth until something happens.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
What has to happen is this.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
There has got to be a moment of time when
we are given the opportunity to search out the servants
of God and put a stamp or a seal upon
them so that they cannot be hurt. Now, of course,
this is where we get into the controversy. Question number
one is what is the seal? This is the first
(12:24):
of many questions in this controversial passage. The second verse
says that the fifth Angel has the seal of the
Living God. We are not given in this text any
information about this seal. We are not told what it is.
It is simply there to protect the servants of God
from the judgments of God upon the earth. But this
(12:45):
is not the first time God has sealed some people
off from judgment. For instance, when God sent the flood
to the earth. He sealed Noah and his family from
the rest of the human race, and the flood did
not hurt them. When God destroyed Jericho, he sealed Rahab
and her household by means of the scarlet thread. When
(13:09):
God told Abraham that he would have spared Sodom if
he could have just found ten righteous men and women
in the city, he was talking about the potential of
sealing off a city from judgment, And even though Elijah
did not want to believe it, God had already sealed
seven thousand other prophets in the day who had not
(13:31):
bowed their knee to bail. When Elijah thought he was
the only one, God's history has always been a history
of sealing individuals. In fact, God sealed the firstborn of
all the Jewish families who were faithful in applying the
blood to the doorposts of their Egyptian homes. What it
means is this he set them apart for protection. It
(13:54):
was also a very common custom in John's day for
masters to seal or to brand their slaves. Often they
would brand them in the forehead or on the hand
to indicate ownership and to guarantee their servants protection from
anybody who wanted to steal or misuse them that was
(14:14):
common in John's day. We are all acquainted with the
seal of the Antichrist. In Revelation thirteen, we are told
that that seal the number six sixty six, will be
emblazoned upon the forehead and on the hand of individuals
who have sworn allegiance to the false Christ.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
According to the Book of Revelation.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
That seal will be necessary in order for you to
purchase food. You will not be able to buy food
in the tribulation time unless you have the seal of
the Antichrist on your forehead or on your hand. Eventually,
those who are unwilling to be so marked will be.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Murdered for their refusal.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
In that day, Satan will have his sealed followers, and
we are told here that God is going to have
his sealed followers.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Well.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
The Bible says that God is going to have his
marked people. Ezekiel spoke of a ceiling or a setting
apart when he wrote of a man with an inkhorn
who was commanded to set a mark upon the foreheads
of the men who hated wickedness. Revelation fourteen says that
(15:30):
the one hundred and forty four thousand had the mark
of the Father in their forehead.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
What is that mark we do not know.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Before we go on to identify the individuals who are sealed,
we need to add this one additional thought. This seal
that is going to be placed upon these individuals in
the tribulation time, sealing them off for God will not
merely be an external seal, but it will also be
a moral badge. Revelation fourteen, which we will study later,
(16:01):
talks about the morality of the one hundred and forty
four thousand. What great people they are. These people are
described as servants of God. They have not bowed to
the anti Christ, but they have devoted themselves totally and
sincerely to God, and they are sealed. Perhaps the seal
in Revelation seven is nothing more than the seal of
(16:25):
Ephesians chapter four, verse thirty. Perhaps it's just the Holy Spirit.
The prophet Joel seems to coordinate the events of Revelation
to its own prophecy, and it talks about how in
that end day there's going to be this great judgment
and then there's going to be the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. It may well be that these one hundred
(16:45):
and forty four thousand who are sealed are simply individuals
who have a fresh anointing of the Spirit of God,
kind of a second pennecost if you will, and they
will be filled and empowered and baptized in the Holy Spirit,
and with that power surging through them, they will go
out into the tribulation as flaming of Angelis for the
(17:06):
Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine one hundred and forty
four thousand Jews who didn't know the Messiah was here,
all of a sudden, they discover their Messiah is here,
and they get excited about it.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
They're filled with the Spirit.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Of God, and with courage they go out and give
witness to the Word and to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the seal would be their outward appearance. How can
you tell if somebody's filled with the spirit, Well, you
can't always tell that by looking at him. But you
sure knew Moses was filled with the spirit, and when
he came down off the mountain, didn't you. You could
(17:40):
sure tell that Stephen was filled with the spirit when
he stood before the Sanhedrin. And I have an idea
folks thought Jonah was filled with the Holy Spirit. When
he came out of that whale and went into nit
of it to preach the gospel, folks could tell there
was something different about him. And maybe the one hundred
and forty four thousand will be so filled with the
spirit of God that they'll almost be a holy glow
(18:02):
about them. When you see them coming, you can tell
there's something different about these folks.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
They are going to make a difference in their world.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I can't imagine what it would be like to observe
these Jewish evangelists. Just to think what happened after the
eleven Apostles and Matthias were set on fire the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost. You remember that the
first twelve Jews who were filled with the spirit of God,
twelve spirit filled Jews turned their world upside down in
(18:32):
the early days of the church. Multiply that effect by
one thousand, Multiply it by one hundred and forty four thousand,
Multiply it anyway you want to, My friend, you got
a bunch of spirit filled Jews who are going out
and turn their world upside down. That's what it's talking about.
They are sealed in the forehead with the mark of Jehovah.
(18:54):
And they are sealed inwardly with the power of the
Holy Spirit. By the way, did you know you were sealed?
You are sealed with the spirit of God. God has
given to you and to me his seal, which is
God's Holy Spirit. Look at Ephesians one in Ephesians four
and you'll find it.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
All right. That's the first question. What is the seal?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
It's the outward expression of allegiance to the Father, and
it's the inward indoment of the Holy Spirit. Second question,
who are these who are sealed? And I heard the
number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed,
and one hundred and forty and four thousand of all
the tribes of Israel, without question, This is the most
(19:36):
important and at the same time the most controversial question
in the entire book of Revelation. Before we identify who
these servants of God really are, I want to take
a few moments and tell you who they.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Are not all right.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
First of all, they are not the same as the
multitude at the end of this chapter. If you look
down in verse nine, you can see that there's a
group of people who are in heaven, from every kindred,
from every tribe, from every tongue. These sealed witnesses are numbered.
The multitude is unnumbered. These sealed witnesses are from Israel.
(20:15):
The multitude is from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
These sealed witnesses are on earth, the multitudes in heaven.
These sealed witnesses are preserved in the tribulation. The Multitude
is removed from the tribulation. These sealed witnesses are unrewarded.
The multitudes stand there with palms and rows. They're not
the same at all. They're two distinct groups. Quite frankly,
(20:38):
I believe the multitude at the end of the chapter
are all the converts of the Jewish evangelist at the
beginning of the chapter, all the people they want a multitude.
You can't imagine. These one hundred and forty four thousand
are not the church. A lot of folks have interpreted
this to mean that there's one hundred and forty four
thousand witnesses. This is the Church. But do you remember
(21:01):
the Church is already in heaven. The Church, as the
Redeemed Elders, is in heaven. If you remember they were
raptured back between chapter three and four of the Book
of Revelation, and in Revelation fourteen, the one hundred and
forty four thousand are present, the elders in Heaven are present.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
There are two distinct groups. They can't possibly be the same.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
May I suggest to you that no error of interpretation
has destroyed the unity of the Bible, like substituting the
Church for Israel.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
You cannot do it.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
One of the great errors in Bible interpretation today, which
gets caught up in what we sometimes call amillennialism and
all of that system of interpretation. It gets allegorical and
fanciful in its structure. All of that is simply taking
all the Old Testament promises for the Jews and bringing
them over in the New Testament and trying to make
(21:52):
them all work for the Church. The Church is a
distinct unity and the Jewish nation is a distinct unity,
and you can't mix them up to get other without
making the Bible an unintelligible mess of information. Don't do it.
Don't let anybody talk you into doing it, because it's
a road of no return. So we're not talking here
(22:12):
about the multitude. At the end of the chapter we're
not talking here about the Church. These one hundred and
forty four thousand are not the Jehovah's witnesses. They are
not the Seventh day Adventists, they're not the Christians, They're
not the Israel of God. They are one hundred and
forty four thousand of all the tribes of the children
of Israel. The Holy Spirit actually names the tribes of Israel,
(22:32):
so that you won't have any doubt about who he's
talking about. I mean, if you read this passage, it
looks redundant. Who is he talking about? He's talking about
the Jews. How do you know he names the tribes?
How do you get that into Seventh day Adventism? Where
do the Jehovah's witness fit all those tribes? These are
the Jews, the Old Testament Jews. Now, throughout the scripture,
(22:56):
the number twelve has always been associated with Israel. For instance,
if you saw a Jewish high priest today, he would
wear a breastplate on which are twelve precious stones representing
the twelve tribes. On the table of showbred in the
temple and in the tabernacle are twelve holy loaves representing
(23:17):
the twelve tribes.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Of Israel.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
In the Great City, the New Jerusalem, are twelve gates,
and on each of these gates has written the name
of one of the tribes of Israel. And there are
twelve gates in the City of God, representing the twelve tribes.
I Love Matthew, nineteen twenty eight. It says that there's
a future day when the twelve apostles will be seated
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The
(23:43):
number twelve always refers to the Israelites in their enumeration,
and we'll pick it up.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
There tomorrow when we join together once more from the
Book of Revelation. You know, during this month we have
been telling you about our special resource, but I want
to remind you also we have additional resources that will
help you as you study this book. There are four
full length study guides for the Book of Revelation. When
we did this series years ago, we did it in
(24:14):
forty two straight Sunday nights. I'll never forget it, and
all of that's been recorded. You can probably hear a
little bit of youth in my voice, but it's me
and we're teaching the Book of Revelation and it's the
same today, even more relevant than it was back then.
If you'd like to know more about the resources for
this series, you can go to David Jeremiah dot org.
(24:36):
There you will find everything you need to know to
equip yourself to really study and understand the Book of Revelation.
Thank you so much for joining us today, and be
sure to join us tomorrow right here on this good station,
I'm David Jeremiah, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
For more information on Doctor Jeremiah series Escape the Coming Night,
please visit our website, where we also offer two free
ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points
magazine and our daily email devotional Sign up today at
David Jeremiah dot org slash radio. That's Davidjeremiah dot org
slash Radio, or call us at eight hundred and ninety
(25:17):
four seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of
David's timely and valuable new book, Sixty Days of Prophecy,
The Truth behind Endtime Warnings. It's yours for a gift
of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study
Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King
James versions available in your choice of versatile and attractive
(25:40):
cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website.
Davidjeremiah dot org. Slash Radio, This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the
Coming Night on Turning Point with Doctor David Jeremiah
Before entering the worst years of the Tribulation, God does
something unexpected yet completely consistent with his nature. He demonstrates
his grace. Today on Turning Point, Doctor David Jeremiah explains
exactly how and why this happens as he continues his
series in Revelation Escaped the Coming Night to introduce his
(00:28):
thought provoking message, Revival in the Tribulation.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's David, and thank you for joining us today as
we begin a new week together. We are studying the
last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and
today we open to the seventh chapter for an intriguing
discussion on Revival in the Tribulation. You know, it's easy
to think that the Tribulation period is going to be
(00:51):
nothing but darkness and horror and death. But like so
many other dark days on planet Earth, with God, there's
always light. In fact, God releases one hundred and forty
four thousand points of light to roam the earth and
collect the elect for eternity. This is one intriguing lesson
today and tomorrow. You don't want to miss Revival in
(01:11):
the Tribulation. And by the way, during this month, our
resource for the month is the Book sixty Days of Prophecies,
the Truth behind End Time Warnings. Each day you'll learn
about a specific prophecy, you'll learn how the prophecy relates
to the world today, and there will be key takeaway
scriptures that will help you apply what you've learned. And
(01:32):
this is yours for a gift of any amount to
Turning Point. When you ask for this resource, we'll send
it to you right away. Once again, the book is
called Sixty Days of Prophecies, brand New from Turning Point,
and it's yours for the asking when you send your
gift today. Now, let's get started with this interesting message
called revival in the Tribulation.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
During the time of one of the most vicious of
all Jewish persecution on the earth, Adolf Hitler wrote out
a mandate to be read in all of the state
churches of Germany. The tragic procedure went like this, Will
all of the men in this church who are Jewish
stand up? Those standing will now turn and leave the church.
(02:21):
Now will all the women in this church who are
Jewish stand up? And here and there they stood up.
Those standing now leave the church. Will all of those
in this congregation who had a Jewish grandparent on the
maternal side, stand up, Some stood up.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
You will now leave.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Now will all of those who have a Jewish grandparent
on the paternal side stand up?
Speaker 4 (02:44):
And here and there they stood up. You will now leave.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Now will all of those who have any Jewish blood
anywhere in the family line on the maternal side stand up?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
And here and there they stood up. Now you were
ordered to leave.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
And when they were ordered to leave, As someone has written,
we can imagine the Lord God Christ coming out of
the stained glass window high above the altar, down from
the cross, and walking the length of the aisle and
leaving the church.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
For you see, he was Jewish too.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
One of the things we forget is we study the
Bible is that God has a plan for his people Israel.
Sometimes today when we preach from Prophecy, we make a
tragic air in confusing God's plan for Israel with his
plan for the Church. When I was growing up, we
used to sing a little chorus that went like this,
(03:40):
every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse,
every line. I used to think that was a wonderful
chorus until I found out that every promise in the
book wasn't mine. Some of those promises were for Israel.
Some of those promises weren't for me at all. God
has a plan and specifically for his nation, the Jews,
(04:03):
and we cannot disassociate. We cannot take out of the
Holy Scripture of God his elective purpose in his people.
And if we do, we have nothing left of the Bible.
The more I study the Bible, the more I understand
its truth, and the more I observe human history, the
more I read the newspapers, and the more I understand
(04:24):
God's covenant purposes, the more I am convinced that the
Jewish people yet will have their day. The time of
Jacob's trouble, which we have been discussing in the Bible
concerning the Tribulation, is a time of great judgment upon
the earth, judgment basically upon the.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
People of Israel.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
It is judgment for two reasons, to punish them for
their rejection of their Messiah and to get them ready
to accept the Messiah when he comes here. In the
seventh chapter we have the story of one of the
greatest revisal that will ever take place on the face
of this earth, and it is a revival basically that
(05:06):
is centered around the Jewish nation now the setting of
that revival is important.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
For here we.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Have a parenthetical chapter. The first sixth seals we have examined,
and I hope you remember what they are. They're listed
for you right there in the text. The sixth Seal
we discussed last time. It was a devastating, catastrophic seal
opening up the convulsions of the world as the judgment
of God falls upon this earth. At the end of
(05:35):
the sixth Seal, before the seventh seal is opened, there
is a little parenthesis. There's a little window, there's a
little pausing, and it's the seventh chapter. It is interesting
as you study the Book of Revelation to discover that
there is a parenthesis in each of the seventh judgments
that are listed in the tribulation, for instance, in the
(05:58):
New Testament. In the Book of Revelation, we have the
sixth Seal judgments A parentheses, and then the seventh Seal.
Then we have the six trumpet judgments a parentheses, then
the seventh Trumpet. Then we have six bowl or vile
judgments A parentheses, and then the seventh and the parentheses
are always an evidence of God's grace in times of judgment.
(06:22):
The picture of Chapter seven is sketched against the dark
background of the seal judgments.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Which we have already looked at together.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
In reality, we must locate chapter seven between the beginning
of Sorrows and the beginning of the Great Tribulation. The
first six seals have been opened, and before the seventh
seal is open, there will be a time when people
will be sealed. Now in this chapter there are two
visions set apart by two very distinct phrases. If you
(06:56):
will look down in your Bibles, you will notice at
the beginning of the first verse a phrase that says,
and after these things, I saw, and look at verse nine,
and after this I beheld. That is basically the same
phrase in the Greek language, and it sets out two
visions that the writer of the book John saw. The
(07:17):
first vision chapter seven, verses one through eight, is of
a scene that takes place on this earth. The second vision,
verses nine through seventeen, is of a scene in heaven.
The first vision reveals one hundred and forty four thousand
representatives of the Godly Remnant of Israel. The second vision
(07:40):
is of a great multitude of martyred dead who are
now in heaven. Those are the ones who have died
for their faith, from every kindred and tongue and nation.
The first vision is Jewish, the second vision is Gentile.
The first vision is the ceiling of the servants on earth.
(08:00):
The second vision is the glory of the saints in heaven.
We read in the first verse, after these things, I
saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind
should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea,
nor on any tree. As John is given his first vision,
(08:24):
he beholds four angels standing at the four corners of
the earth. His vision is not of a square earth.
Some have said John wasn't very scientific, but rather he
reflects the four quadrants of the compass, or the four directions.
Just as our weathermen would say the winds are out
(08:44):
of the east. So John repeats that these four winds
are restrained in four different directions.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
That's what he's talking about.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
The winds in the scripture, if you study prophecy, are
often the providence agencies of God's judgment. They are sent
by God to execute his purposes. And of course what
this verse is teaching is that until the elect servants
are safe, these winds may not be allowed to blow.
(09:15):
Once again, we are impressed by the tremendous powers that
are delegated to the angels in the Book of Revelation.
The angels literally are restraining the four winds that are
about to blow upon the earth.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Now we read and.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the
seal of the Living God. And he cried with a
loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was
given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, do
not hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees
till we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads.
(09:54):
Let me stop for just a moment and answered the
question that is in your mind if you read this carefully,
what is he talking about when he talks about hurting
the earth and the sea and the trees. Some expositors
have fancifully given interpretation to that, but it's very plain
what it means.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Look in your bibles.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
At chapter eight, Versus six and seven, the beginning of
the trumpet judgments, which are wrapped up in the seventh seal,
We read, and the seven angels, which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to sound, and the first angel sounded.
Then there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and
they were cast upon the earth, and the third part
(10:33):
of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass
was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as
it were, a great mountain burning with fire, was cast
into the sea, and the third part of the sea
became blood. So when we read that the winds from
the four corners of the Earth are going to be
restrained so that they hurt not the earth, the sea,
(10:54):
and the trees, what John is talking about is he
wants to hold off the judgment that is about fall
upon the earth. The next judgment upon the earth has
to do with the earth and the trees and the mountains.
So he is saying here that these angels now are
controlling the four winds of the Earth. And now all
of a sudden, as we look at this vision, they
(11:15):
are joined by a fifth angel. And the fifth angel
comes from the east and instructs the four angels not
to hurt the earth, not to hurt the sea, not
to hurt the trees, until the servants of God are
sealed in their foreheads. Some have suggested that this fifth
angel might be the Lord Jesus Christ. The text says
(11:38):
that he the Angel, arises slowly from the east, like
the rising of the sun.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
His voice is loud and his authority is clear.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
He reaches the four angels in the four corners of
the earth and immediately they stop. Now what his message
is is this, you may not allow this judgment to
come upon this earth until something happens.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
What has to happen is this.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
There has got to be a moment of time when
we are given the opportunity to search out the servants
of God and put a stamp or a seal upon
them so that they cannot be hurt. Now, of course,
this is where we get into the controversy. Question number
one is what is the seal? This is the first
(12:24):
of many questions in this controversial passage. The second verse
says that the fifth Angel has the seal of the
Living God. We are not given in this text any
information about this seal. We are not told what it is.
It is simply there to protect the servants of God
from the judgments of God upon the earth. But this
(12:45):
is not the first time God has sealed some people
off from judgment. For instance, when God sent the flood
to the earth. He sealed Noah and his family from
the rest of the human race, and the flood did
not hurt them. When God destroyed Jericho, he sealed Rahab
and her household by means of the scarlet thread. When
(13:09):
God told Abraham that he would have spared Sodom if
he could have just found ten righteous men and women
in the city, he was talking about the potential of
sealing off a city from judgment, And even though Elijah
did not want to believe it, God had already sealed
seven thousand other prophets in the day who had not
(13:31):
bowed their knee to bail. When Elijah thought he was
the only one, God's history has always been a history
of sealing individuals. In fact, God sealed the firstborn of
all the Jewish families who were faithful in applying the
blood to the doorposts of their Egyptian homes. What it
means is this he set them apart for protection. It
(13:54):
was also a very common custom in John's day for
masters to seal or to brand their slaves. Often they
would brand them in the forehead or on the hand
to indicate ownership and to guarantee their servants protection from
anybody who wanted to steal or misuse them that was
(14:14):
common in John's day. We are all acquainted with the
seal of the Antichrist. In Revelation thirteen, we are told
that that seal the number six sixty six, will be
emblazoned upon the forehead and on the hand of individuals
who have sworn allegiance to the false Christ.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
According to the Book of Revelation.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
That seal will be necessary in order for you to
purchase food. You will not be able to buy food
in the tribulation time unless you have the seal of
the Antichrist on your forehead or on your hand. Eventually,
those who are unwilling to be so marked will be.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Murdered for their refusal.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
In that day, Satan will have his sealed followers, and
we are told here that God is going to have
his sealed followers.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Well.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
The Bible says that God is going to have his
marked people. Ezekiel spoke of a ceiling or a setting
apart when he wrote of a man with an inkhorn
who was commanded to set a mark upon the foreheads
of the men who hated wickedness. Revelation fourteen says that
(15:30):
the one hundred and forty four thousand had the mark
of the Father in their forehead.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
What is that mark we do not know.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Before we go on to identify the individuals who are sealed,
we need to add this one additional thought. This seal
that is going to be placed upon these individuals in
the tribulation time, sealing them off for God will not
merely be an external seal, but it will also be
a moral badge. Revelation fourteen, which we will study later,
(16:01):
talks about the morality of the one hundred and forty
four thousand. What great people they are. These people are
described as servants of God. They have not bowed to
the anti Christ, but they have devoted themselves totally and
sincerely to God, and they are sealed. Perhaps the seal
in Revelation seven is nothing more than the seal of
(16:25):
Ephesians chapter four, verse thirty. Perhaps it's just the Holy Spirit.
The prophet Joel seems to coordinate the events of Revelation
to its own prophecy, and it talks about how in
that end day there's going to be this great judgment
and then there's going to be the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. It may well be that these one hundred
(16:45):
and forty four thousand who are sealed are simply individuals
who have a fresh anointing of the Spirit of God,
kind of a second pennecost if you will, and they
will be filled and empowered and baptized in the Holy Spirit,
and with that power surging through them, they will go
out into the tribulation as flaming of Angelis for the
(17:06):
Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine one hundred and forty
four thousand Jews who didn't know the Messiah was here,
all of a sudden, they discover their Messiah is here,
and they get excited about it.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
They're filled with the Spirit.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Of God, and with courage they go out and give
witness to the Word and to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the seal would be their outward appearance. How can
you tell if somebody's filled with the spirit, Well, you
can't always tell that by looking at him. But you
sure knew Moses was filled with the spirit, and when
he came down off the mountain, didn't you. You could
(17:40):
sure tell that Stephen was filled with the spirit when
he stood before the Sanhedrin. And I have an idea
folks thought Jonah was filled with the Holy Spirit. When
he came out of that whale and went into nit
of it to preach the gospel, folks could tell there
was something different about him. And maybe the one hundred
and forty four thousand will be so filled with the
spirit of God that they'll almost be a holy glow
(18:02):
about them. When you see them coming, you can tell
there's something different about these folks.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
They are going to make a difference in their world.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I can't imagine what it would be like to observe
these Jewish evangelists. Just to think what happened after the
eleven Apostles and Matthias were set on fire the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost. You remember that the
first twelve Jews who were filled with the spirit of God,
twelve spirit filled Jews turned their world upside down in
(18:32):
the early days of the church. Multiply that effect by
one thousand, Multiply it by one hundred and forty four thousand,
Multiply it anyway you want to, My friend, you got
a bunch of spirit filled Jews who are going out
and turn their world upside down. That's what it's talking about.
They are sealed in the forehead with the mark of Jehovah.
(18:54):
And they are sealed inwardly with the power of the
Holy Spirit. By the way, did you know you were sealed?
You are sealed with the spirit of God. God has
given to you and to me his seal, which is
God's Holy Spirit. Look at Ephesians one in Ephesians four
and you'll find it.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
All right. That's the first question. What is the seal?
Speaker 3 (19:14):
It's the outward expression of allegiance to the Father, and
it's the inward indoment of the Holy Spirit. Second question,
who are these who are sealed? And I heard the
number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed,
and one hundred and forty and four thousand of all
the tribes of Israel, without question, This is the most
(19:36):
important and at the same time the most controversial question
in the entire book of Revelation. Before we identify who
these servants of God really are, I want to take
a few moments and tell you who they.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Are not all right.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
First of all, they are not the same as the
multitude at the end of this chapter. If you look
down in verse nine, you can see that there's a
group of people who are in heaven, from every kindred,
from every tribe, from every tongue. These sealed witnesses are numbered.
The multitude is unnumbered. These sealed witnesses are from Israel.
(20:15):
The multitude is from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
These sealed witnesses are on earth, the multitudes in heaven.
These sealed witnesses are preserved in the tribulation. The Multitude
is removed from the tribulation. These sealed witnesses are unrewarded.
The multitudes stand there with palms and rows. They're not
the same at all. They're two distinct groups. Quite frankly,
(20:38):
I believe the multitude at the end of the chapter
are all the converts of the Jewish evangelist at the
beginning of the chapter, all the people they want a multitude.
You can't imagine. These one hundred and forty four thousand
are not the church. A lot of folks have interpreted
this to mean that there's one hundred and forty four
thousand witnesses. This is the Church. But do you remember
(21:01):
the Church is already in heaven. The Church, as the
Redeemed Elders, is in heaven. If you remember they were
raptured back between chapter three and four of the Book
of Revelation, and in Revelation fourteen, the one hundred and
forty four thousand are present, the elders in Heaven are present.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
There are two distinct groups. They can't possibly be the same.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
May I suggest to you that no error of interpretation
has destroyed the unity of the Bible, like substituting the
Church for Israel.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
You cannot do it.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
One of the great errors in Bible interpretation today, which
gets caught up in what we sometimes call amillennialism and
all of that system of interpretation. It gets allegorical and
fanciful in its structure. All of that is simply taking
all the Old Testament promises for the Jews and bringing
them over in the New Testament and trying to make
(21:52):
them all work for the Church. The Church is a
distinct unity and the Jewish nation is a distinct unity,
and you can't mix them up to get other without
making the Bible an unintelligible mess of information. Don't do it.
Don't let anybody talk you into doing it, because it's
a road of no return. So we're not talking here
(22:12):
about the multitude. At the end of the chapter we're
not talking here about the Church. These one hundred and
forty four thousand are not the Jehovah's witnesses. They are
not the Seventh day Adventists, they're not the Christians, They're
not the Israel of God. They are one hundred and
forty four thousand of all the tribes of the children
of Israel. The Holy Spirit actually names the tribes of Israel,
(22:32):
so that you won't have any doubt about who he's
talking about. I mean, if you read this passage, it
looks redundant. Who is he talking about? He's talking about
the Jews. How do you know he names the tribes?
How do you get that into Seventh day Adventism? Where
do the Jehovah's witness fit all those tribes? These are
the Jews, the Old Testament Jews. Now, throughout the scripture,
(22:56):
the number twelve has always been associated with Israel. For instance,
if you saw a Jewish high priest today, he would
wear a breastplate on which are twelve precious stones representing
the twelve tribes. On the table of showbred in the
temple and in the tabernacle are twelve holy loaves representing
(23:17):
the twelve tribes.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Of Israel.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
In the Great City, the New Jerusalem, are twelve gates,
and on each of these gates has written the name
of one of the tribes of Israel. And there are
twelve gates in the City of God, representing the twelve tribes.
I Love Matthew, nineteen twenty eight. It says that there's
a future day when the twelve apostles will be seated
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The
(23:43):
number twelve always refers to the Israelites in their enumeration,
and we'll pick it up.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
There tomorrow when we join together once more from the
Book of Revelation. You know, during this month we have
been telling you about our special resource, but I want
to remind you also we have additional resources that will
help you as you study this book. There are four
full length study guides for the Book of Revelation. When
we did this series years ago, we did it in
(24:14):
forty two straight Sunday nights. I'll never forget it, and
all of that's been recorded. You can probably hear a
little bit of youth in my voice, but it's me
and we're teaching the Book of Revelation and it's the
same today, even more relevant than it was back then.
If you'd like to know more about the resources for
this series, you can go to David Jeremiah dot org.
(24:36):
There you will find everything you need to know to
equip yourself to really study and understand the Book of Revelation.
Thank you so much for joining us today, and be
sure to join us tomorrow right here on this good station,
I'm David Jeremiah, thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
For more information on Doctor Jeremiah series Escape the Coming Night,
please visit our website, where we also offer two free
ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points
magazine and our daily email devotional Sign up today at
David Jeremiah dot org slash radio. That's Davidjeremiah dot org
slash Radio, or call us at eight hundred and ninety
(25:17):
four seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of
David's timely and valuable new book, Sixty Days of Prophecy,
The Truth behind Endtime Warnings. It's yours for a gift
of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study
Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King
James versions available in your choice of versatile and attractive
(25:40):
cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website.
Davidjeremiah dot org. Slash Radio, This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the
Coming Night on Turning Point with Doctor David Jeremiah
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