Another Change for Grace
Revelation 7, 8, & 9
Michael H. Koplitz
We continue today with our look at the book of Revelation by examining chapters 7, 8, and 9. In chapter 7, there is a pause in the destruction that is being leveled against the earth that we saw in the opening of 6 of the 7 seals. The angels standing at the four corners of the earth are instructed to hold back the winds to prevent any destruction to the earth. This is commanded so that 144,000 of God’s people can have a seal placed upon their foreheads. This seal would signify them as servants of God.
The 144,000 people are from the Tribes of Israel. If you examine the list of the tribes in chapter 7, you will discover that the list is not correct. The Tribes of Israel were named after the 12 sons of Jacob, who was one of the patriarchs. The tribe of Dan is missing from the list in Revelation chapter 7. Also, the tribe of Manasseh is listed, which isn’t a Tribe of Israel but rather is a half-tribe of Israel. Remember in Genesis that Joseph, Jacob’s son, had two sons, Manasseh and Ephriam. Also, the Tribe of Joseph is on the list of 144,000. Manasseh was a part of Joseph, so why is this sub-tribe listed twice? Also, with the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, 10 of the Tribes were destroyed. Only Judah and Benjamin existed in Jesus' time. Actually, by Jesus’ time, the tribe of Benjamin, being small, had integrated with Judah. So is John referring to 144,000 living souls or dead souls when he makes that claim.
John is met by an elder and engages in a conversation about the multitudes of people wearing white robes. Since they are wearing white robes and worshiping the Lamb, it is safe to assume that these people are believers in God’s Christ. However, these people will not have the seal of God placed on them. This will become important later.
In chapter 8, the seventh seal is opened. There is a moment of silence in heaven. In the book of Habukkuk, in chapter 2, we encounter a time of silence in heaven. The moment of silence in heaven can also be read in Zephaniah 1 and Zechariah 1. This silence could also reference Psalm 46:10, which reads: “Be still, and know that I am God!’
John now sees seven angels standing before the throne of God. Each angel is given a trumpet and will be commanded to sound it. The trumpet blast signals an alarm to the people that one is about to come into God’s awesome presence. We can see this in Exodus chapter 19 and Joel chapter 2. In Revelation, the trumpet blasts will signal disaster for the people of this world.
The first trumpet blast brings hail mingled with blood upon the face of the earth. One-third of the population of the earth is destroyed. Hail and blood can be found in Exodus 9, two of the ten plagues God leveled against Egypt, and in Ezekiel chapter 38. The second trumpet blast causes a fiery mountain to be cast into the sea. This would have been similar to the events of 79 AD when the volcano Vesuvius erupted in Italy.
The third trumpet brings a fiery bolt from heaven, and the star named wormwood falls from heaven. The rivers and springs of the earth are targeted. Wormwood is familiar to those who have read the minor prophets. Amos, chapters 5 and 6 speak about justice and wormwood. There is also a similar reference in Jeremiah chapter 9.
The fourth trumpet blast strikes the sun. The fifth trumpet blast initiates a star to fall from heaven. This time when the star strikes the earth, a large bottomless pit is created. This abyss has smoke rising out of it, which is like the smoke from a furnace. Locust comes out of the Abyss and torments all those whom God does not seal. The locusts are described as being like war horses prepared for battle. Their description rings similarities to Joel's chapters one and two.
The sixth trumpet is followed by a voice coming from the golden altar that is before God. The four angels that are at the river Euphrates release the river. 1/3 of humankind is killed by the flooding waters. Then John hears horsemen coming. He tells us that there are 200 million horsemen. His description of the horsemen is similar to the leviathan found in the book of Job in chapter 41.
Then there is a pause at the end of chapter 9. As we have been examining the book of the Revelation, we have been looking for God’s grace. Revelation is usually seen as a book of God’s wrath that will occur at the end of time. Indeed, we have read a lot of God’s wrath. However, we wanted to look for God’s grace. Again we find grace at the end of chapter 9. God’s grace is found as a continual warning to us about what will happen if we don’t turn away from our sins and toward God.
Remember September 11, 2001? We call it 9/11 now. Four jetliners were hijacked, with two of them being flown into the World Trade Center, killing over 2 thousand and destroying the center. One plane hit the Pentagon, and the last one would have hit the White House if it wasn’t for the heroic efforts of the passengers of that flight.
People flocked to churches that day. We had an organized time of prayer that evening also. I read an article in the Circuit Rider Magazine, that’s a United Methodist publication, which was an interview with a pastor of a Presbyterian church just two blocks north of ground zero one month after 9/11. This pastor said that so many people flocked to this church in the days and weeks after 9/11 that he had to add two additional worship times to his already full Sunday schedule. This wasn’t the only church in New York City that was experiencing skyrocketing attendance. Churches all over this country saw increased attendance.
The TV evangelists and preachers declared that this attack was the sign of the end of times described in the Revelation. People flocked to the churches so that they could make themselves right with God before Christ returned. Millions were convinced that Christ’s return was exceptionally soon. They filled the churches to offer prayer, confession, and take communion. For many, it was the first communion that they had since their Confirmation. They didn’t want to be left out of the rapture after all the TV guys proclaimed that the end of times was now.
It has been two and three-quarters years since 9/11. Church attendance is back to what it was pre-9/11. In most cases, church attendance is lower today than it was three years ago. What happened? Nothing. That’s the point. Since the rest of the calamities of the Revelation didn’t occur, the now faithful of God went back to their secular lives and left God.
This is whom Jesus calls the “lukewarm” who will spit out of the mouth of God. You have to be on fire for God, which means believing in Jesus Christ as God’s Messiah, using the Bible as your manual of life, and serving Christ with your time, gifts, skills, and tithing. That’s right, biblical tithing of money, time, and talent. Doing anything less makes you lukewarm.
The Passion of the Christ movie came out during the Lenten Season this year. It grossed over $300 million in the United States alone. WJTL, a Christian music radio station in Lancaster County, interviewed dozens of people after seeing the movie. They set up a phone number which you could call after seeing the movie and leave your impressions. I listened to many of them while in the car, and I would venture to say that over 99% said that they were so moved at the sacrifice Jesus made for their salvation that they were going to go out and serve Christ.
The religious magazines reported the same thing. People would see the movie and come out wanting to serve Christ in all kinds of ministries. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen any multitude of Christians dedicate themselves to the work of Christ. If all those people did what they said that they would do, the Gospel would have spread all over this country. There wouldn’t be a place in the US that you could find where the Gospel wasn’t demonstrated.
I bet within two months after Easter, 99% of those people forgot about their commitments to service Jesus Christ. These are lukewarm people. And again, the book of Revelation tells us that God will spit these people out of His mouth. It can’t be any plainer than that.
Suppose you are not doing even one of the requirements of discipleship. In that case, the book of Revelation says that you are lukewarm and will be rejected by God on judgment day. The basic requirement of discipleship is to first believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior who was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven. That Jesus was God incarnated, that is God in human form, who then sacrificed his humanity on the cross so that we could be made right with God because of our inherited sins.
After you come to know Christ personally, then as a disciple, you take on the responsibility to serve God. We serve God with our money, our time, and the gifts given to us by God. Serving God also means doing real ministries for Christ. It is essential to be here on Sunday morning to worship God, but that is not enough.
What is our purpose? Why did God create us? We will be taking a good examination of that question starting in September with the book “The Purpose Driven Life.” In a nutshell, our purpose is to worship and serve God. Our being on this earth is a test. God is testing us. God wants to see how we handle the resources that He entrusts to us while we are here. We are here to worship and to serve God.
The grace of God is shown to us again at the end of chapter 9. The pause in the destruction is a warning to us. Don’t you want to be one of the people who is clothed in a white robe washed in the blood of Jesus? Jesus told us that life wouldn’t be easy, especially when you declared Him as your Savior. However, He did promise us eternal life in heaven for our discipleship, that is, our worship and service to Him.
Several times in describing the wrath to come, God tells John to pause the vision and remind us that God loves us and that God has created us so that we can love him and join him in heaven when our time on the earth is finished. God expresses his disbelief that there could be anyone who would continue with their sinful ways while the wrath of God is being doled out upon the Earth. God’s love for us is so real and so substantial that He sent us this book of Revelation as a warning.
God created the universe for us. God didn’t need this material world for himself. He has everything that God needs. God wanted to have us. He wanted to create a world for us and to give it to us. God wanted to create Adam and Eve. He placed them in a beautiful garden where there was only God’s love and beauty. Even after Adam and Eve screwed up the world, God still showed us His ultimate love for us.
His grace ever ends. He commanded Moses to bring His people to Mount Sinai, and there He gave Moses His Law. God’s consecrated people didn’t follow the Law and continued to sin. Did God abandon them? No, on the contrary, he sent His prophets to try to talk some sense into the people. God’s grace abounds in the words of the prophets. When that didn’t work, God sent his ultimate love for us by sending His Son Jesus. Our Christ demonstrated by human example how much God loves us. Jesus demonstrated God’s love and grace for us by dying on a cross.
Even after Jesus’ ascension, God sent us people like Paul to preach the Good News. Finally, God sent us the last book of His Word, the book of Revelation. In it we read about the wrath of God that will come when God is finally tired of dealing with the sins of this world. Nevertheless, in it are moments of grace where God tells us what we have to do to be in heaven on judgment day. At the end of chapter 9 of Revelation is another moment of grace.
God loves each and every one of us. That is why he gave this vision to John to warn us of the future. God is telling us to get within and to fulfill our purpose of worship and service to Him. If you haven’t come into full service and discipleship for Christ, you must ask yourself, “what are you waiting for?” Suppose you wait until the wrath of God described in the book of the Revelation comes, like those who flocked to churches after 9/11. In that case, you will find that God will spit you out of His mouth as being a lukewarm Christian. If you are not in ministry and service to Christ, you need to come into service now. Don’t be like those who saw the movie, the Passion of the Christ and promised the Lord that they would do and never did. They, too, will be declared lukewarm and rejected on judgment day.
For those who are serving Christ, our responsibility is to help those who are not. Those who are serving Christ are the ears, eyes, hands, and feet of Christ. Our responsibility is to spread the Gospel, to encourage the lukewarm to become hot for Christ and to bring the Word of God to those who haven’t heard it yet. To you hot Christians, may God continue to bless you as you continue in His service.
I offer you a time for your prayers. If you aren’t in service to Christ, then pray that the Spirit will touch you right now and show you the service that God wants you to be in if you are in service to Christ, pray for renewed strength to go out into a lukewarm and cold world.
Let’s pray.
