To Be Or Not To Be Series

Revelation 7: 1 – 17

To Be Or Not To Be

1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: 5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed. 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

As I mentioned in some previous teaching on the book of Revelation many teachers have taught that John had undergone one continuous vision. This is not so. We are going to take a look at today’s vision which is actually another vision thrown at John.

The more I study our Precious Holy Spirit’s Word the more I am in awe of El Shaddai’s, Almighty God’s Majesty. With all the apocalyptic devastation described in the end times we have to stop and understand how Great and Merciful our Wonder Creator Is.

In Chapter 7 we see an interlude in God’s Judgment on a sinful evil world. Please take note that this will happen throughout this book. John is going to receive numerous visions of devastation and in order for him to not be overwhelmed our Holy God will interject some visions of good things that will happen. In this chapter we are going to see how our Holy Father Is going to take care of believers.

There are many teachers who take a position that there is going to be a thing called the ‘Rapture’. There are many who teach that after chapter 3 the ‘Rapture has occurred. I believe as this chapter indicates our God has not indicated that He Is going to take out believers from the earth. No, He Is going to ‘Seal’ them with His Name. They [we] are His people. So, before we take a look at those who are sealed, we are going to discuss how this term – Rapture – came about. We are then going to look at some Scripture that might speak on behalf or against this theory.

I grew up in my Christian life being taught about and accepting as fact this position of a two part return of my Savior to earth. I even had a bumper sticker that showed a pair of sneakers with a puff of smoke. This displayed the instant disappearance. I am sure you have also seen a bumper sticker that says, ‘Warning, in the event of the Rapture, this vehicle will be unmanned.’