So far, God has given us a glimpse into the things of the end time. Why? To warn us to turn to His Son. Christ can save us from the judgment to come. We have seen Jesus break open six of the seals that bind the book. We’ve seen the four horsemen who represent the wars and killing, famine and pestilence, hunger and starvation, death and hell that the antichrist will unleash upon the earth. But this terrible devastation is nothing compared to what is yet to come.
We are coming to the section that the Lord Jesus labeled the Great Tribulation. This period takes place after the church leaves the earth, after the church concludes its mission and is taken to be with the Lord.
John tries to make it as simple as possible for us to understand the book of Revelation. From here on through this Great Tribulation period John introduces series of sevens. Notice, there were seven seals. There will be seven trumpets, seven performers and seven bowls of wrath.
Between the 6th and 7th of each group, there is an interlude which explains the action and answers certain questions. This is what chapter 7 will do. So let’s look at the question that is probably on everyone’s mind, what about people turning to God and getting saved during this period?
How are people going to get saved during the period of the Great Tribulation? The Great Tribulation is the Devil’s holiday. That is the day when he is going to have freedom to do as he pleases. Despite that, there may be more people that get saved in the Great Tribulation and in any other seven-year period in the history of the world.
So here we are in the interlude, between the 6th and 7th seals. The reason for the interlude is given to us in the first three verses. READ verse 1. The four corners represent the North, South, East, and West. They are holding back the winds of judgment. They are held back for a period when multitudes will turn to Him.
Some will still turn away from Him but many will turn to Him. How can that happen? Analogy: when the sun shines on a piece of clay it hardens it. When it shines on a piece of wax, it melts it. In our lives, when trouble comes, it will cause some to draw close to God and others it will drive away. READ 2 & 3.
So this fifth angel, who appears to be higher ranking than the other four because he gives them orders says, “Hold everything! Because we have to seal these folks so they can make it through.” What is the seal? I don’t know. We can speculate but then again that is not the purpose of this study. We only know they will have a seal.
There will be two great companies sealed, one out of the nation Israel, and the other out of the Gentiles. So the reason for the interlude between the 6th and 7th seals is to make sure that these sealed ones are going to make it through.
First, the remnant of Israel is sealed. READ v. 4. There is not speculation here of this company of the 144,000. It’s nonsense for any group to claim that they are the 144,000. Two cults did that at one time, but then they passed 144,000 in membership. I guess they weren’t very optimistic when they started out.
In verse 5-8 the twelve tribes are listed. There will be 12,000 saved from each tribe. That’s not very many. I think Joel Osteen has more than that in his church.
You might notice from this list that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are omitted. Both of these tribes are guilty of leading the nation into idolatry. In this list, Joseph takes the place of Ephraim and Levi takes the place of Dan. READ 9 & 10.
Now we see a great multitude of Gentiles. This means that during the Great Tribulation period the gospel of the Kingdom will be preached throughout the world. And a great multitude will be saved.
They are clothed in white robes. This again represents the righteousness of Christ. We can’t stand before God in our own righteousness. They have palm branches—the sign of victory—the victory of Christ.
When Christ returns to the earth, the great company, martyred for Him in the Great Tribulation, will be included in the first resurrection, and they are going to be there. Actually, this is a glorious picture that is given to us. READ 11 & 12.
Now we see a scene of universal worship of God by His creatures. The church is here, the Old Testament saints are here, and the tribulation saints are here. And now the angels join in on it.
I hope that this will begin to broaden your vision and your comprehension as to what heaven is going to be. A lot of people think that the only ones to be in heaven are their little group, their little church, or their little denomination. This tells us that there will be other redeemed people there besides even the church. That might surprise a lot of people when they get to heaven. If only we would realize it now, we could worship God in a more real way, in spirit and in truth.
Now one of the elders steps up to bring John up to dare on what is taking place. READ 13 & 14. So one of the elders asks John, “Who are these believers in their white robes?” John tells him, “You know who they are.” Basically John is saying, “I don’t know who they are. You tell me.”
So the elder tells John that these are the ones who came out of the Great Tribulation. When John says he doesn’t know who they are, this tells us that these people were not the church. John knew the church. He wrote to the believers in his day. He knew the body of believers.
He didn’t know these so these had to be the unbelievers that came to God during the Great Tribulation. This tells me again that the church, the believers will not have to go through the Great Tribulation.
So where is the church during all this? The church went to be with Christ. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself. . .” The church is with Him in heaven as we move through the Revelation.
This great multitude that stands before the throne of God is wearing white robes. How did they get white? They washed them in the blood of Christ. The only reason you and I will be able to stand before God is because Christ paid the penalty for our sins.
The world thinks that the gospel message is asking them to do something. But actually it is God telling us that He has done something for us. The gospel is not your giving to God; the gospel is God’s giving something to you. It is His gift.
So we have this great multitude of Gentiles who are not part of the church. We need to broaden our thinking to go beyond the borders of the church.
READ 15-17.
So this company has been through the Great Tribulation. Now we see things mentioned that they must have endured. They are not going to hunger or thirst any more—apparently they did. They have been out in the burning heat of the sun.
They have also been thirsty for spiritual things which they didn’t have. And they wept, but now God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. They made it through the Great Tribulation because of the blood of the Lamb. And this is the beautiful picture we are given here.
They will have the living presence of God with them forever. They will have all their physical needs met. Hunger and thirst stand for all the physical necessities they lacked when upon earth. They will be protected. They will have all their spiritual needs met. They will have the leadership and direction of the lord to guide them. They will have all sorrow wiped away from their eyes.
So some of you are probably sitting out there asking, “Then why do we go to all the trouble? Why should we have to be so good and go to church and do good to others and be Christians? Because the believer in Jesus Christ will not have to go through the Great Tribulation. And we haven’t seen that yet in our study.
Maybe after seeing some of that you will better understand why we do what we do.
But tonight’s study has also caused us to realize that the Lord has other sheep besides us. Jesus told His disciples, and it was hard for them to understand. In John 10:16 he said, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.”
He could say the same thing to the church today. “I have other sheep that you do not know anything about.” This company of Gentiles are some of the other sheep who will be redeemed but are not a part of the church.
Why do Christians go through right now what they do? Peter said in 1 Peter 4: 12-13. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is
revealed.”
