Revelation Series: Chapter 7 - "The Bond-Servants Are Sealed"

***BONUS EPISODE***
We take a very detailed look at the 144,000 sealed and the multitude of Tribulation Saints in Revelation Chapter 7. Who are they? Where do they come from? It's all about to get really intense!

Transcript

[Music] good morning good afternoon or good evening wherever or whenever you're listening to us right now and welcome to this bonus episode of the Churchosity podcast my name is Heath Brady and I'm Andrea Brady and we are your Churchosity podcast Personnel these are the types of episodes that we like to call the postscripts because these are the things that we like to think and talk about when the record button is off so thank you for listening and welcome to the Inner Circle all right Andy yes we're starting to get into the thick of it oh no into the thick of it okay uh are you still enjoying our study I am yeah you are you learning something yeah a lot is your faith in Jesus being edified yes absolutely and stretched uh-huh and challenged increased increased I love it yes well I hope that our listeners I'm pretty sure our listeners all feel the same mhm I hope so I mean maybe that's arrogant presumption on my part but uh they keep listening so they must like something about it right that's right I know that this is a crazy Journey going through this book of Revelation and when we complete today's episode we will be approximately oneir through the entire Book of Revelation oh my gosh is that all yeah so at best estimate we should be done by January of 2026 whatever I'm just kidding hopefully the Lord comes back by then yeah right oh my goodness well I I'm thoroughly enjoying this trip through the book and how we're taking our time and really dissecting the language and the history and patterns and you know contradictions and controversies and and different conversations around the scriptures it's just been a lot of fun yeah and this episode yeah is going to be a tough one how come I have to I have to confess okay why well Revelation 7 is kind of a

Landmark that dispensational eschatologist Park on okay as far as separating those dispensations right oh okay so you've got you know some interesting things being written about here in chapter 7 you've got this Infamous ceiling of 144,000 from the tribes of Israel mhm and then you've got this great multitude from every tribe tongue and nation and language that appear in heaven okay and many dispensational scholars would say that this 144,000 are sealed Jews who become Christians during the tribulation period the S years tribulation period and they become God's evangelists on the Earth and share the gospel with all of the nations of the world and they become Christians but then they're martyred for their faith and they end up in heaven that's kind that's kind of in a nutshell what that dispensational view of this chapter is okay we're going to find some things that not only challenge that view but that also may surprise us and of course we're going to do that by letting scripture explain scripture okay and once again we are going to continue to follow expositional consistency we're going to keep unpacking this book like we have from chapter 1 verse one okay all right mhm so you ready to get into this yes all right well as kind of a quick review uh in chapter 1 verse 19 we're given this what I like to jokingly call the holy outline of how John writes the book where Jesus tells John to write the things which you have seen which is essentially all of chapter 1 the things which are which is chapters 2 and three and then the things which will be after these things which is chapter 4 on to the end of the book I see in chapter 1 we have John's vision of the resurrected Christ in chapters 2 and three we have the instructions given to the churches chapters four and five are kind of a preamble uh John is teleported to a different location and time and encounters Jesus as the goel the kinsman redeemer right chapters 6- 16 which is the section that we are currently in the middle of is known as the day of the Lord oh okay chapters 17 and 18 there's a shift in time where John goes and sees some other interesting Visions then you have chapter 19 where Jesus Jesus is preparing to climb a top his White Horse which by the way there are actually five Horsemen of the Apocalypse including Jesus oh I see and then chapters 20 to 22 Jesus intervenes and returns so that's kind of the outline of the book If you will MH there's an interesting verse that I'm going to share now that will come back into play later in our episode but it's from the book of Hosea 5 verse 15 the prophet Hosea is commissioned by God he's in the South when the kingdoms are split between the North and the South at this point Hosea is in the South and God commissions Hosea to go to the north and basically issue God's verdict on how he is going to allow their enemies to destroy them but in verse 15 of Hosea 5 the Lord through the prophet says I will go away and return to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face in their Affliction they will earnestly seek me and the they are the technically that's the kingdom in the north so this verse is going to come back in the play later but I wanted to put this here at the beginning because two things number one one God says that he will go away and return to his place okay I would argue that he went away and returned to that place a long time ago and is preparing to come back because two number two he is going to return to his place read that his throne room until they acknowledge their guilt or literally bear the punishment of their guilt and seek my face H so Israel as a whole needs to have a complete shift in acknowledgment of the Messiah nagid Christ the Messiah and until that happens they will be in Affliction interesting and it is in their affliction that they will earnestly seek the

Lord so as I said we're in this section of the Book of Revelation chapters 6-6 known as the day of the Lord and as we've been discovering this is the Tribulation this this lengthy period of time that Jesus hints to people in Matthew 24 Mark 13 and Luke 21 of what these things are going to look like but from the heavenly side where John is viewing all of this he's going to see three sets of judgments Seven Seals seven trumpets and seven bowls and these judgments go in patterns H so for instance in chapter six you have the first six seals opened right chapter 7 which we're going to look at today is kind of this pause or this parenthesis and then the seventh seal is broken which contains the seven trumpet judgments oh and we see the first six of these trumpet judgments in chapters 8 and n and then chapters 10 through 14 is this long pause this long parenthesis and then you have the seventh trumpet which turns out to be the seven bold judgments and you have the first six bold judgments in chapter 15 and then in chapter 16 you have this brief pause and then the seventh bull judgment H so you see there's a pattern six pause s six pause s six pause seven in other words just like a good Jew John explains these prophecies being fulfilled in patterns so we've we've looked at the first six seals so far they were in chapter 6 The First first one was the White Horse with the rider and he is an impostor remember I mentioned that there's actually five Horsemen in the apocalypse yeah well Jesus in chapter 19 is on a white horse this first judgment seal judgment is a rider on a white horse also oh I see but the difference is Jesus is the lion of Judah the king who is coming to overthrow the usurpers with the title deed of the earth and take it back whereas in Revelation chap 6 that writer is an impostor that goes out to conquer and to rule and have the spirit of man rules here on the earth M the second seal judgment was the rider on the red horse which was all kinds of Wars the third one was the Black Horse and Rider that was famine the fourth seal judgment is the Pale Horse or the gry horse and on it sat two writers remember death and Hades right and with that judgment comes all kinds of death and then the fifth seal judgment was the martyrs or the witnesses mhm who were put to death because of their testimony yeah and they're now in heaven saying how long oh Lord until you avenge us and he says hold on just a little while longer and then seal judgment number six is this total Global upheaval now what's interesting is that it with this pattern you have these six seal judgments but these same these are in the same order as the six signs and wonders that Jesus gives in Matthew 24 Mark 13 and Luke 21 as signs to when the end is near H so here you have like the prophetic signs and wonders fulfillment of what Jesus described in the synoptic gospels to his disciples and to the people around the temple and on the Mount of Olives MH remember all that yeah so just as another side note we have our four gospels right Matthew Mark Luke and John uhhuh Matthew Mark and Luke are considered the synoptic gospels because they're so similar in a lot of what is written the depictions of events and things what have you yes the Gospel of John has no mention of any of this conversation but here John is writing about it yeah in Revelation so he got his chance right yeah all four gospel writers are covered that's true so at the end of Revelation chapter 6 you have all of the leaders and rulers and people of the earth the earth dwellers those who seek to dwell on the earth they're hiding in caves and begging for the rocks to fall on them and they they all cry out and say that the the Wrath of the Lamb has come and who is able to stand chapter 7 tells us who is able to stand you ready to get into this yes absolutely all right here we go okay Revelation chapter 7 we have this parenthesis this pause verse one after 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 now first of all this should kind of remind us of Matthew 24 and Mark 13 those passages where Jesus is talking with the disciples about the signs of of the and all that stuff yeah in Matthew 24 starting in verse 29 it says but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light and stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken H that sounds like the six seal judgments MH and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and and great Glory catch this verse 31 and he will send forth his angels in other words before the son of man comes he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from where the Four Winds from one end of the sky to the other H all right let's look at Mark 13 verse 24 but in those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the Stars will be falling from Heaven and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken then they will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory and then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from where from the Four Winds from the farthest end of the Earth to the farthest end of heaven interesting so here in chapter 7 of Revelation verse one after 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 huh now remember signs and wonders mhm do we take this plain literally or do we take it figurative literally well it's kind of interesting that Earth idiomatically represents Israel in the scriptures oh does the sea idiomatically represents Gentiles in the scriptures and trees are idiomatic of a combination of both huh so in other words there's some specific Israelites and Gentiles and people from the uttermost parts of the earth that the angels are about to blow the wind on if you will oh okay but then verse two and I saw another Angel so there's the Four Angels standing at the Four Corners of the earth and I saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun safe to read that from the East mhm having the Seal of the Living God the Seal of the Living God H this is a very interesting word in the Greek for seal yeah we'll come back to it in a little while but just hang that in your hat for right now so you got the Four Angels at the Four Corners of the earth John says I saw another Angel ascending not descending 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 notice it does he didn't say trees he just said Earth and sea idiomatic of Israel and Gentiles saying do not harm the Earth or the sea or the trees so now he includes the trees Earth Israel sea Gentiles tree a mixture of both with me yeah until we have sealed the bonder Servants of our God on their foreheads now just at the surface as I'm reading this and of course I I know it's not fair to everyone else that hasn't studied the Book of Revelation as much as I have and I and I appreciate that but when I look at these three verses especially uh verse three it reminds me of the Kingdom parable of the wheat and the tears oh where Jesus explains well the the the person who owns the field explains that they can't go into the field and pull up the tears because they might pull up the wheat with them mhm they're going to save that for the end for judgment where the angels will be the one the ones that do it okay so you're seeing that imagery in my opinion here in Revelation 7 don't harm the Earth the nation of Israel or the sea the Gentiles or the trees the mixture of everybody else until we've sealed the bonder servants the Duos and remember in chapter 1 John said that he was what a fellow Bond servant and partaker in Tribulation so these are people on the Earth be they Jews and Gentiles who have made the choice to sell out for Jesus Christ and live the rest of their lives in service to him so this Angel tells the Four Angels don't do anything to harm the Earth or the sea or the trees don't do anything because you might hurt the ones who were going to seal and we don't want that right you follow me and notice he says that we're going to seal the bond Servants of our God where on their forehead on their forehead wow okay and foreheads are idiomatic of what Andy three guesses oh gosh um the things that you think about it's part of it um your mind yep your mind what are we supposed to love the Lord Our God with all our heart and strength and mind and uh what else love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength yes so that's that's what the forehead is idiomatic of your whole being I see if you will in other words we whoever we are cuz this Angel is telling the other four don't harm them until we have sealed God's bonder servants on their foreheads he's going whoever we are they're going to Mark the bond Servants of God okay catch my drift mhm yeah all right this whole idea of them being sealed well that should remind us of Ephesians chapter 1 like sealing of the Holy Spirit the sealing of the Holy Spirit let's look at a few verses in Ephesians chap 1 starting in verse 11 also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will to the end that we who were the first to Hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory verse 13 and in 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 guess what yeah same Greek word for sealed okay cool so the Holy Spirit has marked you and I don't have the time to go into all of the cool cultural details of how significant this ceiling is to a human under these conditions but let me just summarize it by saying that if you're sealed you're sealed and God doesn't change his mind about it nice so in Revelation 7 there are still apparently those who have yet to be sealed be sealed interesting yeah those that are uh predestined correct apparently yes and we know who are predestined because John writes about it oh so we get to verse four and I heard the number of those who were sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel now I mean no disrespect but if someone knocks on your door and wants to know if you're prepared for Jehovah's return oh dear uhhuh ask them which tribe they're [Music] from I know I'm being sassy are you an instigator I an instigator seriously though remember signs and wonders m is it literally 144,000 or is it something else okay I will tell you that numerology in scripture is very curious very interesting it's not really anything to build Doctrine on but there are so many consistencies with certain numbers in Scripture that it's fairly safe to say that they're probably pretty accurate like for instance the number seven isn't perfection it's completion okay so like we look at the patterns of the judgments right you have six which incidentally is the number of man because it's one short of completion mhm so you have six judgments a pause and then seven so the seven seal judgments are completed with the seventh one oh and then the same thing with the trumpets and the same thing with the bulls that's pretty consistent all through scripture that seven means that eight typically means uh is the number of new beginnings how many people got off of the Ark when it settled on the mountains of arra eight right five is typically the number of Grace and it goes on and on for there 12 because it is a multiplication of four and three typically represents completion in a Judicial sense like like in a governmental sense okay so here you have 144 which is 12 * 12 which is like the ultimate expression of this so when you go back to Genesis chapter 49 and you see the very first Prophecies of the 12 tribes of Israel this is when when at the end of Jacob's life and he's calling each of his kids in to his bedside one by one to to bless and prophesy over them each of them is Promised an inheritance of land Jacob prophesies over them as to what their future and their their descendants are going to look like and how they're going to be viewed and labeled and that each of them is going to be given the position of Authority or rule over the people so with this 12 * 12 it's the ultimate expression of this Perfection of leadership this Perfection of government like how it would be if it was perfect and then the 1,000 is just a number that they would use to say it's a heck of a lot and I can't count them all so in other words this is not literally 144,000 Jewish people but it's a lot okay yeah but he says I heard the number of those who were sealed same Greek word those who are marked by God 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel M well you know what seems interesting to me what's that is that it looks like there he's communicating that every tribe seems equal yes at least the ones who are sealed yes yeah cuz it's not like you know there's 10 of $1,000 of this tribe and 15 of this tribe they're all the equal right number yes so like not one tribe is better than another maybe sure I don't know yeah but I just I just noticed that like that's cool that's a cool observation I never picked up on that H look at you Theologian you well it's pretty obvious but we'll read through it anyway okay from the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed from from the tribe of Ruin 12,000 from the tribe of GAD 12,000 from the tribe of Asher 12,000 from the tribe of Natali 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000 from the tribe of Levi 12,000 from the tribe of issachar 12,000 from the tribe of zebulun 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph 12,000 and from The Tribe of Benjamin 12,000 were sealed now at first glance if you have any comfortable knowledge of all of the tribes of Israel H you're going to look at this list of tribes who are sealed and you're going to notice two very peculiar things well I could see one what's that that there's no tribe of Dan yeah where's the tribe of Dan yeah the second one is the tribe of Ephraim oh he's not there either H in all actuality listeners there are 14 tribes of Israel oh and you have to go back and look at Genesis 49 to really get the the grasp on this because eph frame's not listed as being sealed and there's a reason for that which we'll get to later I believe but he's still covered because Joseph had two sons manasse and Ephraim okay so when it says the tribe of Joseph that includes Ephraim you follow me yeah so you have three two are shown that leaves one you follow me mhm okay yeah so the one that is omitted of those three Joseph Manasseh and Ephraim the one that is omitted from being mentioned as being sealed here is Ephraim and I believe there's a reason why and it's similar to the even greater reason I believe of why Dan is not mentioned as being sealed 29 times in the scriptures the tribes are listed and there's always 12 and they're not always in the same order which is a fun study to do on your own by the way so as I said in Genesis 4 9 you have Jacob who's calling each of the sons in and he's blessing them and there's an interesting thing that happens when when uh when Jacob calls Joseph in because then Joseph Al had his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh he calls Jacob calls his grandsons and blesses them as well mhm Only He blesses them in the opposite order from what they were born and Joseph gets a little bit out of shape about that that's a whole another conversation so Andy uhhuh in order to answer this question where's the tribe of Dan where is the tribe of Ephraim right we have to really look at some Jewish history here so are you prepared to go on a journey okay all right it's important to me that people understand that there's biblical support for the Bible it's it's just it's important to me shock yeah that that this isn't just opinions okay so what we're talking about here is the division of the land amongst the 12 or what what you would have 14 tribes of Israel after Joshua's 7-year campaign the subsequent Generations which would get us into the time of the judges it's a terrible terrible time like the Israelites were great at possessing the land but they were horrible failures at followup the land was divided up between the tribes and it was all allocated by God and I won't go into all the details because it's something you have to see it would be a waste of time for just for you to hear it but I encourage you Google it you can pull up a map of how the tribes were divided for our conversation here what's important is that Dan was between where Benjamin was which is where Jerusalem is by the way but to the West so between the coast and The Tribe of Benjamin and what's interesting is that when Samson dies again we're in the we're in the time of the judges yeah when Samson dies they aren't able to subdue the Philistines so Dan takes over Lish in the

north the tribe of Dan doesn't stay where they were supposed to they move north to the to the most northern border point of the kingdom and then after Solomon dies there's a civil war that breaks out in the Kingdom of Israel and the kingdom is divided you get to 9:30 BC Jer boam ruled the northern kingdom from his capital in Samaria you can read about that in First Kings 11: 43 through 12:33 jeroboam does not want his people going all the way down to Jerusalem to worship so he turns to idolatry and he sets up two golden calves for the northern kingdom to go and worship at one is in the most southernmost part of his kingdom which is in Ephraim and the other one is in the northernmost part which is Dan oh interesting when jeroboam turned the northern kingdom to idolatry the Levites and others who desired to remain faithful migrated South where where rabo was King and you can read about that in 2 Chronicles 11: 14- 17 so you have all of these folks in the north that desire to remain faithful they don't want to be idolatrous so they migrate south so that they can be with the true worshippers of God right now it doesn't say it in the scriptures but it's almost safe to infer that the opposite was probably true as well that there were those in the South who like the idea of being idolatrous and migrated North to be with jobon oh maybe even before the Assyrian captivity very substantial numbers from the northern tribes had identified with the House of David look at First Kings 12:1 16-20 and 2 Chronicles 11617 huh but worried that jeroboam set up a rival religion with golden calf Worship in bethl and Dan many Northerners moved South where they could worship at the Temple of Mount

Mariah those who favored idolatry probably moved North but later when ASA was the southern King another great influx of Northerners came you can read about that in 2 Chronicles 15 and then the north goes from bad to worse they go through 20 different regimes there's lots of abuse thievery and murders materialistically they do outstandingly but not in God's eyes right and this may be some of the PLL that got the Northerners to stay and the southerners to migrate because of all the prosperity but they were not doing fantastic in God's eyes and as I mentioned God commissions Hosea in the South to go north and convey his judgment that they had abandoned their Heritage and even though God had provided Prosperity their disloyalty was forcing God's Vindication through judges and hosea's message is that God is going to use their enemies to Wi them out and then they're eventually conquered by the Assyrians oh interesting years after the Assyrian deportation king of Judah Hezekiah issues a call to all Israel to come and worship in Jerusalem and celebrate Passover we can read about that in 2 chonicles chapter 30: 5- 21 80 years later King Josiah of Judah also issues a call and an offering for the temple was received from Manasseh Ephraim and all the remnant of Israel 2 Chronicles

34:9 understand this that in the southern Kingdom at this time there are people who are literally from all 12 tribes huh okay the same is true in the North why that's important is because all of Israel is addressed in Judah and Benjamin look at 2 Chronicles 11:3 the tribe of Judah is sometimes used idiomatically for the whole Southern Kingdom uh 2 Kings chapter 17 for example oh interesting but but here's what's the most important when you're studying tribal designations it is always important it is always is important to distinguish between the territories allocated to the tribes and the people themselves so like here in Revelation 7 when you see Dan omitted and Ephraim omitted M it doesn't necessarily mean that it's talking about the people themselves but rather their territories oh okay you follow me yeah in 724 BC shaman the 5th besieged Samaria for 3 years now remember Samaria was capital of the Northern Kingdom jeroboam's capital fell in 722 BC 2 Kings 18:2 in 721 BC Sargon II seizes power the Assyrians go in pull down the towers take 27,29 people captive they place a Syrian rulership in place and they loot the area

not all from the northern kingdom were deported though and archaeologists have uncovered the animals of the Assyrian Sargon where he tells of carrying away literally 27,29 people and 50 chariots and they discovered that in the year 1943 by the way oh wow it's estimated that the population of the northern kingdom was between 400 and 500,000 but less than 12 20th of them were deported if you do that math it was mostly leadership from around the capital in Samaria the rest were co-mingled from other places why because the Assyrians had this Infamous policy of mixing conquered peoples to keep them from organizing a Revolt oh so by by the time of the Assyrian deportation ending the political entity of the northern kingdom was completely gone and also understand that not only in the north but also in the South Israelite captives have been mixed with Persians Etc mhm so the northern captivity is still distinct from the southern captivity because the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians and then the Persians conquered Babylon and then Israel is expressing promised and it's fulfilled that they returned to their land because of the promise given to David and so because the Assyrians were involved heavily in the north not so heavily in the South the result of these Israelite Persian mixes yeah comes the Samaritans oh so you want to know how far back the New Testament displeasure for the Samaritans was pretty far back all the way back to then oh my gosh that's where that history comes from H in 722 BC while the northern kingdom is in captivity all 12 tribes are also represented in the South M in 586 BC Babylon takes the southern Kingdom captive and members of all 12 tribes are involved when the Babylonians take over Assyria the descendants of the north were probably again co-mingled with the captives of Judah in the South H Isaiah prophesying to Judah refers to them as quote the house of Jacob which are called Israel that's Isaiah 48 1-14 and after the Babylonian captivity the the terms Jew and Israelite are both used interchange and you can see that all throughout the Book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah huh and after that whole period that 70-year period of captivity for the southern Kingdom when they go back to the land yeah only a Remnant returned is less than 50,000 people and yet according to Malachi 1:1 all are represented as quote the nation and this point is going to make more sense in just a few minutes but it's important to understand that the total physical descendants in other words the pure Bloods were not to whom the promises were made alone and we're going to see that in Romans chapter 9 in just a few minutes so where is the tribe of Dan yeah where is the tribe of Ephraim well in Genesis 49: 17 Jacob prophesies over his son Dan and says that he is a serpent uh-oh and that his tribal standard is going to be a serpent now in their culture serpents got a bad rap I wonder why I wonder why so because that didn't sit too well with Dan and his tribe they decided that they would go off script from what Jacob prophesied they were they should be doing and they changed their standard to an eagle oh holding a serpent in its mouth oh okay so they felt a little bit better about that but then eventually their tribal standard shifts to just an eagle and we also know this from our previous study about the four living creatures and that one of them was like an eagle uhhuh and that that was attributed to the tribe of Dan oh right Moses in Deuteronomy 32:22 when prophesying over the tribe of Dan says that they will quote leap from Bashon or in other words take off jump Escape well remember what I said originally when Dan went to its promised allocated land that was west of Benjamin uhuh out towards the coast and then because after Samson's death they couldn't conquer the Philistines Dan voluntarily left to go north on their own and they completely lost interest in the Israelites and what they were supposed to be doing long before the Assyrian Invasion Debra in the Book of Judges while in the middle of a big fight with cicara applauds the tribes that help but disparages Dan for staying on their ships and not helping oh judges 5:1 17 and why that's interesting is because they weren't

Sailors but somehow they ended up being long shoremen of some type huh in judges 18 we read that they had left the allocated territories and now there's evidence that the tribe did become seafaring and that they populated all across Europe H but what's interesting is that in 1 chonicles 1-8 Dan is completely omitted from the

genealogies and they're not sealed here in the tribulation in Revelation 7 right it seems that from the very beginning Dan had a destiny of being left out H well Dan was the tribe through which idolatry entered the land Leviticus 2 24: 10-16 and judges 18 they were the tribe that led the apostasy under jeroboam First Kings 12 and then 100 years later again in 2 Kings 10: 29 they were nicknamed the voice of Calamity in Jeremiah 4 and Amos chter 8 and they were cursed in Jeremiah chter 8 oo now I want to read something interesting to you out of Deuteronomy chap 29 starting in verse 18 so that there will not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord Our God to go and serve the gods of those Nations that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood interesting word wormwood it shall be when he hears the word of this curse that he will boast saying I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry the Lord shall never be willing to forgive him but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will burn against that man and Every curse which is written in this book will rest on him and the Lord will blot out his name from under Heaven oh gee then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel according to the curses of the Covenant which are written in this book of law he's talking about idolators yeah idolators names are blotted out and yet in Genesis 49:16 Dan will judge his people as one of the 12 tribes of Israel H and yet they're not sealed during the tribulation H so that's why Dan's not there okay now why is ephra not there well as I said he's quote unquote hidden under Joseph but he's not specifically mentioned there I believe because he was also associated with jeroboam's idolatry in Hosea 4:1 17 that's specifically called out now remember Dan had the golden calf statue in the northernmost part of the kingdom and in the southernmost part of the Kingdom om was ephra it was in bethl oh that's why I believe ephraim's name is not specifically called out in Revelation 7 now so that's the 144,000 that are sealed in Revelation 7 that are marked by God okay mhm this is from the earth do not harm the Earth remember the idiom of Israel right but he also the angel also said don't harm the sea okay well what does that look like if the sea are Gentiles and the trees are a combination of both let's see what happens okay verse 9 after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one can count from where from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing Before the Throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands huh and they cry out with a loud voice saying salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the [Music] lamb so depending on which school of thought you have

eschatologically this could mean anything

really but if we're following expositional consistency we're going to discover something rather fascinating about what's going on here I'm jumping ahead without reading there yet but this great multitude yeah are the people who come out of the tribulation M and they're from every tribe Nation people and tongue they're from all over the world all over the Earth right including the 12 tribes because it's from every nation right not every nation except for the 12 tribes it doesn't say that does it no the 12 tribes are included in every right I looked it up in the Greek it means every okay so this brings Bible scholars to such a weird like impass like this weird conundrum what is going on here why the ceiling of the 12 of the 144,000 and differentiating between the 12 tribes and then in these verses this great multitude from all tribes tongues peoples and Nations well Andy H who did Jesus go to First well the Jews first and then the Gentiles the Gentile

you ready to have your cookies baked yeah Romans chapter 9 starting in verse 6 but it is not as though the word of God has failed for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants but through Isaac your descendants will be named that is it is not the Children of the flesh who are children of God but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants in other words in Revelation 7 you have the calling out of the Jewish Bond servants specifically as a fulfillment of the Jew first and then the Gentile right yeah because then in verse 9 it says after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes to is in heaven yep so the ceiling takes place on Earth but the multitude is in heaven huh okay verse 11 and all the Angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worship God saying amen blessing and Glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving and honor and power and might guess how many things there are there seven seven be to our god forever and ever amen verse 13 then one of the elders answered saying to me these who are clothed in the white robes who are they and where have they come from you just imagine right like this this is one of the 24 Elders right this is this is one of the uh levitical priesthood yeah asking John asking John who are these people and where did they come from like dude you've been up here longer than me you tell me you know well I love along those lines I love Jon's response I said to him my Lord you know in other words beats me you tell

me I just I just find that right and he said to me these are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb so these are what you would call the quote tribulation bonder servants because these are the ones that were sealed right these are the ones that the one Angel told the Four Angels don't do anything to harm the Earth the sea or the trees yet until we seal the bond Servants of our God in their foreheads and the number who were sealed were 144,000 metaphorically speaking specifically named from 12 of the 14 tribes but the multitude that comes out of the tribulation as a result of all of the bond Servants of God being sealed is this great multitude that nobody can count from every nation tribe people and tongue standing Before the Throne in heaven [Music] H these are the ones who have come out of that period of time whatever that is known as the tribulation which which is essentially from Pentecost forward right like from the moment the church was born it was already under persecution and tribulation that's true so I think that's pretty cool yeah don't you yeah it's very encouraging verse 15 for this reason they are Before the Throne of God what reason they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the [Music] Lamb they've been purified uhhuh they're sealed they're Bond servants they've traded their soiled garments for the Lord's white robes and they're white because of his blood it's an interesting contrast mhm made white in the blood of the Lamb right very interesting M for this reason they are Before the Throne of God and they serve him day and night in his Temple and he who sits on the throne will spread his Tabernacle over them this is such beautiful imagery of intimacy community and just being in the presence of God for eternity like notice the contrast here he who sits on the throne will spread his Tabernacle over them H contrast that with the church of leoda in Revelation 3 behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone opens I will go into to him and I will Tabernacle with him yeah in the Church of leoda had to open the door to let Christ in here they're in and God says I'm tabernacling with you is that cool it's also imagery from the Old Testament right but notice there isn't a chief priest that's in the Tabernacle no it's the multitude H isn't that awesome yeah they will hunger no longer amen nor thirst anymore right nor will the sun beat down on them nor any heat for the lamb in the center of the throne see Jesus is not on Earth yet for the lamb in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd and will guide them to Springs of the Water of Life and catch this and God will wipe every tear from their eyes that's how the pause in heaven ends before the seventh seal is broken it's a very interesting chapter yeah I believe it's one that has probably caused more division eschatologically with Scholars than most of the passages in Revelation to be honest with you mhm I can see that I can too I think I think it's it's fair I mean I you know the argument there is fair because I think you I think that the the important part there is to determine for yourself through a careful study of the scriptures what is the Tribulation and that's why I've that's why I've taken the time to build my C for the tribulation being all of chapter 6 through 20 and that Jesus talked about what this stuff would look like in Matthew 24 Mark 13 and Luke 21 and here you have this L almost literal uh fulfillment of that with the four angels from the four corners of the Earth part true yep and the next thing that's about to happen is trumpets are going to get blown it still matches the pattern yeah you know remember prophecy through patterns through patterns through

patterns such an interesting chapter it's a tough one yeah it's not in my opinion it's not the toughest we we're we'll be there soon when I feel is the toughest one but I thought long and hard about the end of this chapter mhm because the very last line in this chapter gives me immense pause where John writes God will wipe every tear away from their

eyes and it begs the question if this multitude of saints has come out of the tribulation and they've traded their soiled garments for white robes and they are standing before God and singing to him day and night why are they

crying why do they need to have tears wiped away from their

eyes I have a lot of speculative answers I think possibly because they're in the presence of God yeah so there's that fear element right they're in the presence of of God there's that gratitude element

mhm but they're also in the presence of God and many of the people that they knew are not

H and it made me wonder if it's possible that part of the reason why they have tears in their eyes is because one people that they loved dearly were not there or two missed opportunities

yeah remorse yeah mhm maybe so as obscure and odd as this chapter is I mean it really it's this parenthetical chapter there's still I believe is application all of scripture is living and active right

right this is the application that hit me like a ton of

bricks I don't want to be crying over missed opportunities when I'm in the presence of God one day doesn't mean I won't you know but it made me think about what am I doing while I'm still on this side of Eternity for the purpose of the Kingdom right these are the Lord's bonder servants M who have come out of the

tribulation oh how wonderful it would be to take as many people with us as we can amen and that's all we have to say about that thank you for listening to the Churchosity podcast the post scripts on our next episode we will begin taking a look at the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and maybe chap chapter 9 as well we'll have to see how it goes but until next time this is the Churchosity podcast Personnel saying peace