Sermon: Sunday, 25th May, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Revelation 7
If we are honest, it is all too easy to skip over passages like Revelation chapter 7, particularly the first half of the chapter. But that would be a big mistake. You’ll miss out on so much encouragement. Encouragement? At first, it might be hard to see what the ‘sealing’ of 144,000 people has to do with us today. However, that’s why it’s so important to be a regular in church and go through all of God’s Word. A preacher’s job is to help people to understand God’s Word and apply it to our lives and situations today. Jehovah Witness often speak of how only 144,000 people will make it to Heaven, interpreting this number literally. Are we meant to? No! Most numbers presented to us in this apocalyptic book are symbolic. So, what is going on here?
Let’s briefly recap. In chapter 4, we were given the magnificent image of the occupied throne. We were reminded that the great ruler at the control centre of the universe is not one of the rulers of the superpowers like the US, China or Russia, and it is not chance or chaos ruling us, but it is the Lord God Almighty. However, John’s vision does not end with a throne. Next, in chapter 5, we saw a scroll with writing on both sides in the hand of God the Father. This scroll symbolises God’s plans for human history. At first, no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll, and bring God’s plans to fulfilment. However, there is a lion-like Saviour who is going to put things right! This lion is also a Lamb who has been slain.
In chapter 6, we were introduced to the four riders of the apocalypse. Through these coloured horses, and the opening of the first four seals, God is telling us what must take place between the first coming and the 2nd coming of Jesus, which includes right now. God wants us to be prepared for the great suffering on the earth from the time of Jesus’ ascension in the 1st century, until the day Jesus returns, at the end of the world. God says to expect a world of military conquest (the white horse), war (the red horse), famine (the black horse) and death (the pale horse). And this is our experience of life. God’s warning is exactly right. The 5th seal transported us from the earth up into Heaven, where the martyrs ask God how long the suffering of Christians on earth must last for; God tells them it will be until he has finished gathering in all the saints. Then, most soberingly, we saw that the opening of the 6th seal marks the Day of Judgement. Those who have rejected God in this life will have nowhere to hide from God’s justice on that day. They will have missed their opportunity to receive God’s mercy. They must now face the consequences of their own failures.
Why have I spent time recapping the events of the first 6 seals? Because in verses 1-8 of Revelation chapter 7, we have a flashback to an event that takes place before the opening of the first 4 seals, before the judgment of the horsemen begins. Then, in verses 9-17, there is a flash-forward to a scene in Heaven after the 6th seals are opened and the Day of Judgement has taken place. We are used to watching films with flashbacks and flash-forwards – so I am confident we cope with this! It really is a joy to appreciate what is going on here.
1. A flashback, giving us wonderful security
In verse 1, John sees four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. These angels are not allowed to harm any of the people on earth until 144,000 of God’s people are specially sealed on their foreheads. In other words, judgment cannot begin until God’s people receive special protection. Who are these 4 angels? The best answer is that these 4 angels are the 4 horsemen we have already studied together. Why do I say that? Because in Zechariah, where the 4 horsemen are first mentioned, these horsemen are also identified as the: ‘…the four spirits (or winds) of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.’ (Zechariah 6:5)
Who are the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel? This number should not be taken literally. The 144,000 stands for the church across the ages. 12×12 = 144, and this refers to the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles, in others words, the whole of the church from both the Old and New Testaments. The number 1000 is a number of completeness, telling us that God has the entire church in mind here, and not a specific number. This is the completed church symbolised in special numbers. This stands for all of God’s people in every age. This is where is gets personal. If that is true, then we (if we are Christians) are included in the 144,000.
What is God saying to us here? He is saying that yes, as Christians we must live in a world full of trouble, tribulation, persecution, suffering and death. But will we make it through all of this? Will we be able to keep going and make it to Heaven? Or to use the question found in chapter 6 verse 17, on the Day of Judgement, who will be able to stand before God? Yes, we will be able to stand because God will keep us secure amidst it all.
So, if we are willing to dig into these theological numbers and images a wee bit, we arrive at a marvellous truth- right now, all Christians are being kept by the power of God, and although we will stumble and fall, we will make it to Heaven, not because of our own power but because of his power at work in us. We know this to be true because he has sealed us.
What, then, is this seal? Seals are made on something to mark ownership, authenticity, and to protect them. For example, I sealed the 4 bins at the back of the church with the numbers 191, even painting those numbers on them. This proves they belong to the church. We will look after them. Genuine Levi jeans have a special label and red tag on them to seal them as genuine items and not fake goods. So what is the seal God places on our foreheads to mark us as his (verse 3)? Well, in chapter 14 we read: ‘Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.’ (Revelation 14:1)
We are sealed with the names of God the Father and God the Son. But we are also sealed by God’s Spirit: ‘When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.’ (Ephesians 1:13-14) This mark on us is God’s protection on us. It says that we belong to him, and that means although we will suffer and might even be martyred for our faith in Jesus, we are protected spiritually by God by his own special seal.
This is the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. True Christians cannot fall away and be lost. ‘…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 1:6) God never abandons his work! ‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.’ (John 10:28-29 6:5) Sometimes we double wrap our shopping if we are carrying heavy bottles of Irn Bru, and we don’t want the bag to burst. Double wrapping something makes it doubly secure. We are double wrapped – held by both the Father and the Son. ‘The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore.’ (Psalm 121:7-8) As well as being double-wrapped, we also have a triple seal, involving Father, Son and Spirit.
What a tremendous comfort this must have been to the early church, persecuted as it was by the Romans. And what a tremendous comfort to those we read about in our Steadfast Global notes last week- those 45 Christians from 10 families expelled from their village in India just for being Christians. And think of the 10 Christian children detained with their 5 Sunday School teachers in China. Yes, they must suffer now, but God will keep them safe spiritually and will keep their inheritances safe in Heaven for them. : ‘This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.’ (1 Peter 1:4-5)
Here’s a crucial question. Who has this seal? Is it those with perfect faith or really strong faith? No! The seal is upon all believers. That includes those struggling with sin and those with doubts and fears. As long as you have faith in Jesus, and receive him as your King, you can be confident about your eternal future, because you have been sealed with the Spirit of God. This makes you an authentic believer. This means you belong to God, and if you belong to God, he will not let any ultimate harm come upon you.
Not many people have job security these days. But it remains a desirable thing to have. How much more desirable is eternal security- to know that we’ve a secured tenancy in Heaven. Can you be a Christian one day, and then lose your Christian faith the next? No. The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere to the end have been truly born again.
2. A flash-forward – our celebration in Heaven
As we move on to look at this great multitude in Heaven in verses 9 – 17, we are looking into the future, and if we are born-again Christians, then we are looking at our own futures! Now the suffering church has become the celebrating church. We could happily spend weeks in these verses, but let’s take a bird’s eye view of they key things. What does the apostle John see?
He sees that the church in Heaven is uncountable and international. It is (verse 9) a great multitude that no one can number. Sarah’s gran was present in London on the 8th of May 1945 for VE Day. More than 100,000 gathered to celebrate with the royal family. This was the biggest crowd she had ever experienced. The crowd in Heaven is far bigger than that. We think back to God’s covenant promise to Abraham in Genesis: ‘He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ (Genesis 15:5) God will keep this covenant promise. Revelation 7 is a prophecy of what will certainly come to pass. And we will be there.
It is an international family, with Christians united forever from all tribes and nations, dressed in white. That’s why we celebrate having believers in KFC from Scotland, Nigeria, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, the US, India and even Northern Ireland. This is a wee foretaste of Heaven on earth. Because it is Jesus who binds us all together. In fact, we shall be standing together in the presence of the Lamb. We will know that we don’t deserve it. We will have that sense of wonder, that although we were sinners on earth, lost and blind and dead, God in his loving-kindness dealt with our greatest need, that of forgiveness. We will cry out in unison: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ (Revelation 16:10)
At football matches when our team wins, we sins songs of self-congratulation. We have done it! Not so in Heaven. There the songs reverberate with praise to God. He alone saves. He has done it all. He chose us and called us and kept us and has now glorified us! We shall be wearing white robes, speaking of the removal of our guilt and shame and also of the fact that we are now a kingdom of priests forever, through our union with Christ. We’ll wave palm branches, even as the disciples did back in John chapter 12, to mark the coming of God’s King into the world. We too will joyfully acknowledge that Jesus is our King. We will forever give our allegiance to him.
Again, let us ask: who are these Christians in Heaven? This is a crucial question to answer as surely we all want to join this crowd. We do not want to miss out. We are told: ‘Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come? I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ (Revelation 16:13-14)
Those in Heaven are those who have come through the great tribulation. In other words, the pathway to Heaven is one of suffering. For Jesus, his entry to Heaven followed his suffering. That is the order. Suffering now on earth and then glory forever in Heaven.
Robert Murray McCheyne: ‘No pain, no palm. No cross, no crown; no thorn, no throne; no gall, no glory.’
What a tremendous encouragement to us all as we suffer in the Christian life – without the cross there is no crown. In the hard times, we must focus on our future bliss in Heaven. ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.’ (Colossians 3:2) A swimmer was swimming the channel in the fog and started to struggle. She gave up with just a mile to go. However, the next time she attempted the crossing she could see the shore and she kept on swimming. We can see the shore of Heaven and this propels us forward, to keep on keeping on amidst the trials of the Christian life.
Those in Heaven are those whose filthy, sinful, stained robes have been washed white in Jesus’ blood. Friends, think of the simplicity of salvation. Were we to die tonight and God were to ask us why he should let us into his Heaven the answer is this: we don’t deserve Heaven, not one of us, but we trust not in ourselves and what we have done, but in Jesus and what he has done on the cross, and it is his blood and his blood alone which can wash away our guilt and sin.
What will we be doing in Heaven? We will at last enjoy unbroken fellowship with God. The words are all so beautiful and tantalising; (verse 15) we shall be before God’s throne, serving him with great joy, sheltering in and basking in his presence. It sounds too good to be true. But it is true.
The troubles of this fallen world (verse 16) shall all be gone. Hunger and thirst – gone. Sickness and death – gone. And perhaps most wonderful is this, that he who died for us will care for us forever and ever. The Lamb will be our Shepherd, knowing exactly what we need and able to provide it. We will drink from springs of living water and God will wipe every tear from our eyes. How we ought to yearn for that day. It is coming. No more doubts and no more fears. Just face-to-face fellowship with Jesus, the Lamb who loved me and gave himself for me.