In Scott Brown's sermon 'Who Can Stand,' he examines the sixth and seventh chapters of Revelation, focusing on the imagery and doctrinal significance of the sixth seal. Brown discusses two main doctrines: the second coming of Christ and the sealing of the saints. The sixth seal represents a cosmic upheaval and divine judgment, raising the question 'Who can stand?' which is answered in Revelation 7 with the sealing of God's people, symbolizing their protection and salvation. Brown emphasizes that this doctrine reassures believers of their security in Christ, urging them to trust in the enduring truths of the Bible amidst societal challenges and moral decay. The sermon further explores the suddenness of divine judgments, the idolatry of non-believers, and the ultimate triumph and protection of the church, depicted through the symbolic 144,000 sealed servants of God.

Please back up from Revelation 7 to 6 and find verse 12 will begin there and we'll continue on into chapter 7. This is the inerrant all-sufficient life-giving Word of God. Revelation chapter 6 verse 12. I looked when he opened the sixth seal and behold there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and Said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand and as we move to chapter 7 we find ourselves in an interlude Continuing on in this sixth seal the seventh seal doesn't come until chapter 8 and So we find in verse 1 This vision of the protection of God's people from the wrath of God. 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. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east 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, saying, Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads And I heard the number of those who were sealed 144, 000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed of the tribe of Judah 12, 000 were sealed of the tribe of Reuben 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Issachar 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Zebulun 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Joseph 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Benjamin 12, 000 were sealed. And 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 and crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, you've laid before us these remarkable images.

Help us now to understand your will. Teach us your ways. Help us to walk in your ways, oh Lord. Show us who we are. We pray Lord that you would equip the saints, we pray that you would save any who don't know you through your tender mercies.

In Jesus name, Amen. Please be seated. What we have here before us is doctrine, but it's doctrine in pictures. This is what the book of Revelation gives us. It gives us pictures.

It's a picture book, and it takes the great doctrines of the faith and the events that take place in the world and frames them in pictures. And so we have these pictures of two great doctrines. And it's very important that we have our minds, our lives, our hearts guided by doctrine, not by our own feelings. They almost always lead us astray, but God never does with his doctrine. And we have these two great doctrines of the second coming of Jesus Christ laid before us, and then the sealing of the saints, this wonderful doctrine of the protective seal of God on his children.

Now, we're living in days where we find ourselves tempted to be, we feel like we're trapped on this train, this freight train headed off a cliff. And we can read the news and we can think about how we're just going to be victims of this freight train called the LGBTQ movement. That we're going to be rolled over by the woke movement, by this Marxist revolutionary movement that's rolling through our society. We wonder how or if we're going to get caught in the crossfire of big tech or big media. And what will it mean for us that the greatest corporations in the world, the most powerful in the world, the Googles and the Amazons and the Facebooks, you know, all of them are policy driven in their hatred of Christianity.

You know, what are we going to do? We're already seeing just the dramatic impact of what education did to a whole generation banished of Christian morality. The changes in the historical record, the praises of secularism and transgenderism in our schools, the promotion of every kind of immorality. So what's going to happen to us? That's the question that I know that many are asking and We've already seen the government trying to control the freedom to assemble of the Church of Jesus.

We've seen the government want to control our health care decisions. So there are all these dangerous headlines that we see. And we need the doctrines of the Bible to help us steady ourselves. It's easy to become upset or fearful. We can become resentful of those who don't know the Lord.

They're just operating out of their worldview. And without a solid doctrinal foundation in our thinking about the world and everything that's going around us, Our love for the lost can so easily be dampened. It can poison our spirits toward those who've been made in the image of God, who don't know God. It can distract us from the spread of the gospel in our own homes. We're all searching the internet for the next crazy story that break seems to be breaking every two days you know in the media and It can distract us just from the simple life of walking before the Lord and and sharing the gospel with our children and our neighbors.

So it's so easy to get distracted. What are we gonna do? Fill your mind with the great doctrines of the faith and that's what this testimony before us gives us. The biblical testimony makes it clear that the church is not and never has been victims. We're really we're caught up in a story that God has written and it's a story of how a sinful and broken people forgiven by God are brought before his throne to live in everlasting happiness.

By the way we'll cover that part next week. The last section in chapter 7 will all be about heaven. I want to preach about heaven next week. But in Revelation 6 beginning in verse 9 to the end and then into chapter 7 were brought these these really vivid pictures. The first picture was, we covered it recently, just the hatred of unbelievers toward the church and the martyrs who are under the altar and they're crying out to the Lord, how long?

And then right after that, this picture of what God will do toward those who hate him, and we'll focus on that. That's verses 12 through 17. And then finally as we get into chapter 7, the sealing of God's people, those who follow the Lord and their final resting place. So in chapter seven we encounter what theologians they call an interlude that proclaims the protection and the victory of the Saints in the midst of the wrath of God that will come down on the whole world. Now there shouldn't be a chapter break between chapters six and seven, it's a continuation of the sixth seal.

And what you find, you find in chapter six at the end of this sixth seal, the terrible judgments on those who who've rejected the Lamb of God, and then the blessings that God has bestowed upon his children. Now as you who have been with us know I've been encouraging us to read Revelation in the natural way that it has been written. And the way I'm able to read Revelation, there are a number of narratives that end in the second coming. There are cycles. We're coming now to one of those cycles in the opening of the seals, it ends with the Second Coming and we find the same pattern when we get to the trumpets, the same pattern when we get to the Bowls of Wrath.

These are cycles of history that represent historical realities during the church age from the time of the resurrection to the second coming. And so we've seen this picture of the four horsemen so far who are wreaking havoc in the earth, really to punish the wicked, these various categories of the judgments of God and the world to to show the world how bankrupt the devil is to show him how show the world how bad he is so that the world will turn to him and then then we come to the the fifth seal which is the martyrs under the altar, and then the sixth, which is the second coming. And so we've covered all of these things, and what we find here is the great day of his wrath has come and that brings us to this sixth seal. And in the sixth seal, it really comes as a warning. And here's the warning for all of you who have not turned to the Lord and who persecuted the church.

The time of your persecution of the church has come to an end and here's what it will look like. The time has run out and heaven and earth is shaken. In other words, the gig is up, there's no place to hide, and the perpetrators are caught and they're absolutely terrified in the verses that are ahead. They did not love his appearing, they did not want to see his face. They hide themselves from his face.

And that's actually a very significant theological theme in the book of Revelation. So when we get to the sixth seal in verse 17, there's this shaking of the heavens and these cosmic cataclysms where God, he disarms his enemies and he sends them to flight. And so we read this in verse 12. And I looked and he opened the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the last wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come And what I think is one of the most pivotal interpretive questions of this section appears and who is able to stand.

Who is able to stand. The wicked are asking that question. They're terrified and saying who can stand? And then the answer comes in the next chapter. Now so here as we pause on this sixth seal you have this complete celestial upheaval and FYI, man is not in control of the environment.

All the commentators that I read believe that these verses either speak of the final judgment or they speak of temporal judgments that come throughout history that are actually recorded many, many places in the Bible. In these judgments, there are well over a dozen Old Testament texts that use the same kind of language that speak of temporal judgments, that speak of the fall of Egypt or Babylon or Nineveh and it's the same kind of language that is used and they mention these same elements of the shaking of the earth and the mountains falling and the moon and the stars and the sun and you know all these kinds of things are mentioned in the Old Testament numerous times I have pages of them in my notes I'll try to give maybe an example or two of them now so some believe that these are the temporal judgments that fall upon the earth, as I've just mentioned, and some think that they are the final judgment. You know, several years ago I was preaching through Isaiah, reading through many of these. They occur more than once in Isaiah. And my understanding at that time, and it still holds, is that these judgments that you see in the Old Testament they are real historical events that really took place in Egypt really took place in Nineveh really took place in Babylon at the same time they are foretaste, they are foreshadowings of the final judgment because when you get to the text on the final judgment you see the same language and what God does when he judges the world in temporal space and time history he's putting the world on notice that there is a final judgment coming.

So I do understand that this language does occur all over the Old Testament. But with the sixth seal, there seems to be an immediate response to those who are persecuting the church who have put the martyrs under the altar, and he's shaking the heavens, and he's vindicating his martyrs, and he's vindicating his name. And what he's saying is that they will never get away with it. It will come to an end. And when you think about all the things happening in our culture and all the apostasy, don't worry about it.

It will come to an end. God will set all these things right. So, Revelation is taking us through these cycles of events. And I think as we look at these celestial phenomenon and changes, we're talking about, I'm just gonna call it the principle of suddenness. These things will come upon the earth like an earthquake and the earthquake is mentioned first.

I look and he opened the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and you know earthquakes are the most instantaneously devastating of all the natural disasters. They come without warning. I grew up in Southern California where you have earthquakes. But earthquakes are like no other natural calamity. They get people's attention like no other natural calamity.

And they, in many ways, they're more psychologically destabilizing. If you've lived in a place where there are a lot of earthquakes and it's shaken a lot of times, like where the Carringans live. You know, hundreds, maybe thousands of aftershocks. Every time you begin to feel the slightest part of an aftershock, there's a psychological and a physical reaction that you experience like no other Natural disaster and It's a realization of God's power In 2003 in northern Turkey there was a an earthquake that lasted 62 seconds 18, 000 people were dead. It's the The death is almost instantaneous in an earthquake.

In 2010, there was an earthquake in Haiti. It just lasted a few seconds. 222, 570 people died at that moment. It's astounding how sudden earthquakes are to kill. In Japan in 1923, 123, 000 people died in a very short earthquake.

In Shaanxi, China on January 23rd, 1556, 830, 000 people died. You remember the tsunami that we just experienced in 2004. The tsunami was touched off by a 9.1 magnitude underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean and it set waves rolling at 500 miles per hour and it scattered across the region and killed over 200, 000 people. You know earthquakes are swift, they're devastating And I think that's the principle that the Lord wants us to see in this situation. In 1750, John Wesley preached a sermon called The Cause and the cure of earthquakes.

And he tells all kinds of earthquake stories. I've been reading about earthquakes this week, as you can tell. But what, Wesley says, what causes earthquakes? Sinful mankind. What is the cure for earthquakes?

Repentance from sin. That's his sermon and he tells lots of earthquake stories. He quotes passages of Scripture all over about about earthquakes. I'm just going to read you an excerpt from his sermon. Earthquakes are set forth by the inspired writers as God's proper judicial act or punishment of sin.

Sin is the cause, earthquakes the effect of his anger. So the psalmist said, the earth trembled and quaked, the very foundations also of the hills shook and were removed, and he was angry, Psalm 18, verse seven. And then he tells stories. I'm just going to read you an excerpt of one story of an earthquake that he writes about that occurred in 1692 just a few years before he preached the sermon on June 7th. It was in Jamaica.

Here's how Wesley describes it. It threw down most of the houses, churches, sugar works, mills, and bridges throughout the island, tore the rocks and mountains, reducing some of them to planes, destroyed whole plantations and threw them into the sea, and in two minutes time shook down and destroyed nine-tenths of the town of Port Royal. The houses sunk outright, 30 or 40 fathom deep. The earth opening swallowed up people and they rose in other streets, some in the midst of the harbor, being driven up again by the sea which rose on those beaches. Some escaped.

All of the wells, one fathom to six or seven fathom deep. The water flew out of the top with a vehement motion. While the houses on one side of the street were swallowed up, on the other they were thrown into heaps. The sand in the street rose like waves of the sea, lifting up every body that stood on it and immediately dropping down into pits and at the same time A flood of water breaking in rolled them over and over while catching hold of beams and rafters to save themselves. Ships and sloops in the harbor were over set and lost.

A vessel by the motion of the sea and sinking of the wharf was driven over the tops of many houses unsunk there. The earthquake was attended with hollow rumbling sound like that of thunder. In less than a minute, three quarters of the houses and the ground they stood on with the inhabitants were sunk underwater. And the little part left behind was no better than a heap of rubbish. The shock was so violent that it threw people down on their knees on their faces as they were running about for shelter.

The ground heaved and swelled like a rolling sea and several houses still standing were shuffled and moved some yards out of their places. A whole street was said to be twice as broad as it once was. In many places the earth would crack and open and shut fast into opening and then open again two or three hundred might be seen at a time in some some of the people were swallowed up others the closing earth caught by the middle and squeezed them to death and in that manner they were left buried with only their heads above the ground, some heads the dogs ate. The minister of the place in his account said that such was the desperate wickedness of the people, that he was afraid to continue among them, that on that on the day of the earthquake some sailors and others fell to breaking open and rifling warehouses and houses deserted while the earth trembled under them and the houses fell upon them in the act and he met that he met many swearing and blaspheming and that the common harlots who remained still in their place were as drunken and impudent as ever.

While he was running toward the fort, a wide open place, to save himself he saw the earth open and swallow up a multitude of people and the sea mounting up upon them over all the other fortifications. It destroyed a large burying place and washed away the carcasses of their graves dashing their tombs to pieces. He goes on and on. I've read about half of his testimony. There is a suddenness of the final judgment.

There will not be time. You know, people are standing around now trying to figure out when to get out of the stock market before it crashes. You will not be able to beat this crash. It will come. It will come before you know it.

So you have these celestial and terrestrial calamities that come upon the Earth in the final judgment. And then you have the sun becomes black like sackcloth of hair the moon becomes like blood at last Wednesday astronomers Called the super blood moon appeared in the Pacific In Australia, New Zealand The stars of heaven are falling to the earth the sky recedes like a scroll which is actually a statement from the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 34 uses the same words when he describes a temporal judgment, Nebuchadnezzar's attack on Jerusalem, which is just a foretaste of the final judgment. He says, all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll. All their hosts shall fall down as a leaf falls from the burnt ground as fruit falling from a fig tree.

This is the same language in Revelation. Then you have the mountains and the islands moving out of their places. So this kind of thing is referred to throughout the Old Testament. I'll just read you a couple of them in Haggai 2 verse 6. God promised to shake heaven and earth.

For thus says the Lord of hosts once more I will shake heaven and earth the sea and dry land and I will shake all nations and they shall come to the desire of all nations these temporal judgments are really designed to turn people's head toward the Lord to see how dangerous it is to not walk with Him. In Psalm 102 there's a description of the suddenness of this. It really happens as fast as you can change your coat. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure.

Yes, they will grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will change them and they will be changed. In Isaiah chapter 13 there's this picture of the great day of wrath where God will come and he'll finally destroy evildoers. In Isaiah 13, 9, behold the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he will destroy its sinners from it they're in such danger they're in such danger For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened and it's going forth and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth will move out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger." Now you find the same kind of language in the book of Revelation that you can find in over a dozen places in the Old Testament. For example, in Revelation 20 verse 11, there's this picture of the earth and the heaven actually flying away. Then I saw, this is Revelation 20 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great standing before God and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it.

Death in Hades delivered up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death in Hades were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire and then in Revelation 21 very similarly, there's this picture of the first earth and the first heaven passing away, Revelation 21, verse one. Now I saw a new heaven and new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away Also, there was no more sea then I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God and God will wipe every tear from their eyes there should be no more death nor sorrow nor crying there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away that verse verse 4 about the wiping of tears from their eyes is a direct quote from chapter 7 with which we're reading now.

Then he who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new and he said to me write for these words are true and faithful and he said to me it is done you know the writer of Hebrews says a very similar thing he says that God will shake the earth yet once more Hebrews 12 27 26 I will shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken. That is things which are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire." And here the writer of Hebrews, he speaks of things that can be shaken and things that can't be shaken and the things that can't be shaken are the holy things of God and the things that cannot be that can be shaken and will be shaken are all of the unholy things all of this should just cause us to want to be holy all of us all of this should cause us to want to remove every unholy thing that can that will be shaken that will be destroyed so what's the response?

Well panic verse 16 or verse 15, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man. There are seven categories of people. It includes every kind of man, from the richest to the poorest, to the one on the top, to the one on the bottom. Every single person will respond. No one will be insulated.

And they hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks and the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand." They're crying out. They want to be away from the face of Jesus Christ. That's the greatest tragedy. The greatest blessing in the world is the face of Jesus Christ. And they want, they hate His face and they're crying out for the rocks to fall on them.

Do you think the rocks are gonna fall on them? Do you think they're commanding the rocks to fall on them? Will it cause the rocks to fall? No. My wife, Deborah, was telling me a story When she was a little girl and her dad was explaining this to her, and her dad said, you know, it's God who controls nature.

And even gravity will be upended by God if he desires it. And if he does not want the rocks to fall on you, they will not fall on you. My guess is these rocks would not fall on them, and they would see his face, which is more terrifying than rocks falling on them and killing them. You know, I had this book in my library called Shining Like the Sun, a biblical theology of meeting God face to face. And this author went through the whole Bible and traced this doctrine of the face of God.

It's very beautiful actually. And one of the most remarkable statements in the book is this, when God met people face to face, changes took place both physically and spiritually. And one of the things that he says is that when you see the face of God it changes you, You're never the same again. But if you hate the face of God, there will be a change in you that you cannot control. And so you have these categories of men who, these worldly men and women, and they, I'm confident they were aware of the terrible mistake that they made at that time and now they're so terrifying and the door is closed it's over And the grace that was once available is no longer available.

This is the greatest tragedy. It's such a horrifying picture. You know, their minds are racing. You know, their hearts are pounding. You know, their defiled consciousnesses are tormenting them.

And their emotions are just running wild, and they're talking to the rocks now. And they're just insensible, and it came upon them so fast. This is the doctrine of the second coming of Jesus Christ. And Paul told the Thessalonian church that it would come like a thief in the night. Jesus told his disciples that it would be like in the days of Noah where they're eating and drinking and marrying and giving and marriage and then the end will come.

It comes so suddenly. I think this section has its focus on the absolute suddenness and the terrifying nature of the second coming for those who do not want to see his face, who want to hide their faces from him. And they placed their hopes in this world. They loved this world and they worshiped the creature rather than the creator. And now the created world is being taken from them, the thing that they love the most.

You know, Jonathan Edwards was preaching a sermon to the Mohawk Indians in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. And he said this to these Indians who worship nature, who worship the rocks and the trees and the skies and the seas. And he said to them, He said, we invite you to come and enjoy the light of the word of God, which is 10, 000 times better than the light of the sun. And then he said, the reason even the most miserable people in the world cling to life is because they cannot bear to lose sight of the beauty of the world. And Edwards is making this case that loving the beauty of the world while it has its place, and Jonathan Edwards loved the beauty of the world but recognize that this world is passing away it's going away don't get too hooked on this world don't get too locked in to its things and its properties and its pleasures.

There's much beauty in the world. One of the commentators, Gregory Beale, speaks of this in these words. I thought it was very helpful. He's talking about those who who are running in terror and they don't want to see his face. The idolaters have committed themselves wholly to something in this creation, whether to political, economic, or social idolatries.

In contrast to Christians who are the pilgrims of the earth and whose citizenship is in heaven, the ungodly earth dwellers quote are at home in this present world order men of earthbound vision trusting in earthly security and unable to look beyond the things that are seen and temporal It is for this reason that the remainder of the apocalypse uses ones who dwell on the earth exclusively for idle worshippers. The emphasis is on these unbelievers. The idle refuge of the earth must be removed because it has become impermanent by the pollution of their sins but the eternal home of believers with their God will remain. So this phrase ones who dwell on the earth is only always exclusively used for idolaters. And so that's what is on the table.

And that's why John Wesley preached that sermon about the cause and the cure of earthquakes. And there's such a despair here. And the question is who is able to stand they ask who is able to stand and and and that question is answered in chapter 7 So let's turn the page to chapter 7. The natural world which was once reliable with all of its rhythmic controls and all of its beauties is now has been suspended and God's people are at the same time protected and there are two I believe two phases of this in in this section and the first we get a glimpse of in verses one through three which is really a picture of the protection of God's people who had been sealed. I'll just read it again.

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 this is obviously events taking place on the earth you remember in the inter when we introduced Revelation the number four is the number of the earth and you have this comprehensive protection of the Saints on the earth then I saw another angel ascending from the east 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, saying, do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. That's the critical phrase. There's an interlude of peace and protection so that the servants of God would be sealed. And it says here on their foreheads, we'll get to that in a minute. And then we read of these tribes, these 144, 000, these 12 tribes who are sealed, and I won't read it again, but you can see that which spans in verse verses 4 through 8 and then after these things in verse 9 a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

Now the way I understand this is that from verses 1 through 8 you're seeing a picture of earth and time given for the saints to be sealed. In other words, saved. And then there's a picture of the same group in heaven and they're worshipping. And the whole rest of the chapter is dedicated to that section. Now let's take this first part of the 144, 000 who were sealed.

These Saints are in the world I believe most likely before the second coming And there's this holding back of the winds. And I think it's a depiction of the entire world, and the winds of the troubles of the world are held back and it's a momentary pause. It's an interlude that represents the salvation of people in the world. They are protected in that sense And so you have this interlude and there's a supernatural restraint where the saints are cared for and protected And that's the calm is the time of the saints being sealed where God marks his own and What does it mean to be sealed? I think this is the most Critical matter in this part of the text And there are a number of things.

I'll just identify two meanings of being sealed. First of all, it's identification. To be sealed is to be identified with. And to be sealed is to be owned. It's a mark of ownership.

You could also say it's a mark of protection. But let's talk about this matter of identification. The imagery of sealing of course comes goes back to the Old Testament. You know when you're interpreting Revelation you always want to go back to the place where the language originated. And this language of sealing begins in the Old Testament.

For example, in Ezekiel 9 beginning in verse 4, this is a very striking text and I would encourage you to read it in chapter 9 verse 4 all the way into the next chapter. But in this you have a picture of people who are identified who are disturbed by the abominations. You have some who are disturbed by the abominations and those who aren't and It's connected with being sealed. So I'm going to read this Ezekiel 9 4 and the Lord said to him go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over the all the abominations that are done with it to the others he said in my hearing go after him through the city and kill do not let your eyes spare nor have pity utterly slay the old and the young men the maidens and the little children and women but do not come near anyone who has the mark and it's the same word for seal in the Septuagint and begin at my sanctuary So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

So you have this picture of those who are marked by whether they're disturbed about the abominations and those who are not. They're marked by their disposition. And there's another Old Testament illustration. A seal was placed on Aaron's forehead on his turban, which was a representation of God's people. Exodus chapter 28 verse 36.

You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signet and you shall put it on blue cord that it may be on the turban. It may be on the front of the turban. It shall be on the front of the turban. So it shall be on Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts and it shall always be on his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. So you have this you have this sign, this seal on Aaron's forehead.

You also have a very similar thing but it's for the harlot in Revelation in Revelation chapter 17 she has a name written on her forehead mystery Babylon the great the mother of harlots and Of the abominations of the earth in Revelation chapter 9 verse 4 the saints who are sealed are not harmed I'll read it They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. You know this is kind of a picture of Goshen where the people of where the children of Israel were protected in Egypt while the rest of the Egyptians were judged by God and punished. They had this little cocoon of protection. I don't believe that he's always talking about the protection of your life or your body, but the protection of your soul. We already know that there are martyrs under the altar.

We already know that those who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. We already know that. So it's a different kind of protection. It's the protection of who you really are your everlasting soul and It's that kind of ceiling. It's also the picture of ownership.

I I'm pretty sure this ceiling is related to the sealing of the Holy Spirit. It's the mark of the Holy Spirit. It's the protection that the Holy Spirit brings. In 2nd Corinthians 1, 21, the Apostle tells that church there in Corinth, he says, he who establishes us with you in Christ has anointed us, it is God who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, as a seal. And everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.

And it's that Holy Spirit of promise that guarantees that you are the children of God in Ephesians chapter 113 and 14 It tells us when a person believes they are sealed in him You also trusted after you heard the word of the truth The gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession? That's heaven to the praise of his glory. So you have this picture of the person who believes and they are sealed with the Holy Spirit. And the seal, the sealing is the work of God. God does it, we do not do it.

He takes the action, it is a gift of God. Now, I take this matter of ceiling, particularly the ceiling of the Holy Spirit and these other things, is that, for example, the mark of the beast, it's not a physical mark. The mark of the beast is what marks you as identified with the world. It tells you who you are. It's the way that you believe.

It's the way you think. It's the way you position yourself in the world. It's what you do. That's the mark of the beast. And in the same way, the seal of the spirit, the mark of the believer, is his identification with Jesus Christ.

William Hendrickson speaks of this matter of protection. He says, Dear reader, if the seal of God is upon your forehead, you need not fear the trumpets of judgments. These woes are punishments for the wicked, persecuting world. You know, I do think that this sealing is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. And it is the most important matter of life in the world.

The Spirit of God guides you. The Spirit comforts you. The Spirit teaches you. That's all you need in the world to be protected by God. You have everything for life and godliness within you by the Holy Spirit and the proper understanding of the Word of God.

And this is the great protection of the people of God. It's the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why when the disciples asked Jesus, you know, what's the sign of your coming? And Jesus said it's not for you to know times and seasons, but the power of the Holy Spirit is coming upon you. That's what you need during that time.

That's the ceiling. That is the this matter of these 144, 000. Who are the 144, 000? Why 144, 000? Well the number 12 and multiples of 12 are significant all over the Bible, and particularly in Revelation.

It's a symbolic number. You do have 12 apostles and 12 patriarchs. The New Jerusalem has 12 gates, it has 12 foundations. The wall is 144 cubits high. 12 and multiples of 12 are symbolic numbers.

There are 24 elders before the throne, and now you have 144, 000, which is 12 squared. Many make the argument that this is a basic military unit, and that this is a picture of a victorious church. It's a picture of God's army. It's an image. It's a symbol.

Remember, we're getting theology in pictures. This is theology in pictures. We had the pictures of the second coming, and now we have this theology in pictures of the protection and the sealing of the saints. And these 12 tribes are sealed. Now, who are they?

The Mormons say that they are gods who have become perfect and are now high priests ordained to the Holy Order. In Islam, the 144, 000 are the Sahaba or the prophets of Muhammad. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that there are a literal 144, 000 Jehovah's Witnesses who are the faithful and they are the only ones who have been collected off the earth from Pentecost to the second coming. Some biblical interpreters, dispensationalists, say that they are Jewish evangelists who are evangelizing and converting the multitude that we find in the following verses. Now, I don't think they're Jewish evangelists.

There's not a single breath in this text that says that they are evangelists. If you say they're Jewish evangelists, it doesn't. You have to get it from somewhere else and you're not gonna get it in this text. I don't know where you're gonna get it. You're gonna get it from a system.

That's where you're gonna get it. So who are they? Look at the text. Look at the text. First of all, the list is not in the original order of the tribes.

The listing of the tribes in these verses is never listed this way anywhere else in the Bible. Judah is not normally mentioned first, but it is here. And some would say that's because it's an indication of the covenant of David being fulfilled and that David will reign over all the tribes of the earth, all the peoples of the world who come to Christ. Dan, the tribe of Dan is missing, and Ephraim. Some conclude that they're missing because of the idolatry that plagued them, that they weren't true believers.

That's a possibility. You can figure that one out. Joseph is listed instead of Ephraim. So my view of this is that this is not a picture of literal ethnic Israel. It's a picture of true Israel, what the Bible calls the Israel of God, what Paul was referring to in Romans 9, 6 when he said all Israel is not Israel.

That when you encounter Israel, you encounter the people of God, and you encounter those people from every tongue and tribe and nation in Scripture. So I think that the 144, 000 are not only ethnic Jews, they include them, but also from those from every tongue and tribe and nation. And that's why when you get to verse 9, there are a great multitude. Verse 9, after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb. Now the picture shifted to heaven.

You have these 144, 000 on the earth. Now the perspective has shifted. You have this doctrine that's pictured with this kind of language here. And look at them. Look at what, they're standing before the throne and before the Lamb and they're clothed with white robes.

Interesting, they're white. This is strange isn't it? Their white robes were washed in blood. How did that happen? They are dyed red but they come out white.

They've trusted in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their sins. And then they have palm branches in their hands. This is a picture of just victory and joy and they're crying out with a loud voice salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and they're talking about salvation these are the saved I love this word salvation it's so we just use the word salvation. It just becomes so routine, doesn't it? What does it mean?

Well, it pictures a dramatic act where God snatches someone from peril. It's deliverance, it's help, it's getting to a safe place, it's being pulled out of raging waters that were too strong for you. There's a threat, a death threat, and you get rescued from it. That's what salvation means. We just throw the word around but wow What does it mean?

He saves your whole soul and and then The rest of the chapter continues on this picture of heaven. And it's such a beautiful thing. You can also read about these 144, 000 who are not Jewish evangelists, but they're before the throne in Revelation 14 verses one through five. You'll see that these, they were purified by Christ, their character has changed, they no longer lie, they follow the Lamb wherever he goes, they've been redeemed. So that's why I think these are the saints, the 144, 000 are the saints.

So there you have this picture of the second coming. It's a picture of a doctrine. And you have a picture of God's care for his children. He seals them, he fills them with his Holy Spirit. He, you know, the Bible says he writes, your name is inscribed on his hand.

You know, the song says, and my name is written on his heart. We sing a song about that. And that's the beautiful protection of God's people in the world. No matter what waves, no matter what changes in the world, no matter what political upheavals there are, no matter what economic difficulties, no matter what attacks, whatever persecutions, One thing you can know absolutely for sure, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. And in being sealed by the Holy Spirit, you have everything you need to get through whatever happens.

And so this is this great doctrine in pictures. I'm gonna end with reading something from Ephesians. O'er the Lord Jesus Christ, most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself so he has granted the Son to have life in himself and he has given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the son of man.

Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have shown us these two great doctrines. Lord, would you help us, all of us together, if it is true, that we would say with our hearts, here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it.

Seal it to thy courts above. Amen.