October 11th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Missed any of the Revelation posts? You can find them all indexed here.

Last week we started looking at what I think is one of the most beautiful descriptions of worship in the New Testament, Revelation 7:9-17.

This passage is so striking to me.

A multitude of people from every tribe and tongue and people worshiping around the throne. These people had lived through many of the horrors of the tribulation – political upheaval (Rev. 6:2), wars and unprecedented bloodshed (Rev. 6:3), widespread famine (Rev. 6:5-6), deaths of unfathomable numbers of people worldwide (Rev. 6:7-8), horrific persecution against those who had come to faith in Christ (Rev. 6:9-10), an earthquake unlike any earthquake the world had seen before that moved every mountain and island from their places (Rev. 6:12, 14) and terrifying changes in the sun, moon, stars, and atmosphere (Rev. 6:12-14).

Sometime during these years of terror these individuals had realized that God was judging the earth – and instead of raising fists of rebellion to His face, they bowed their knees and clung to Christ Jesus as their only hope. They probably lost their lives because of their trust in Christ.

They had experienced so much pain, so much suffering… if there was ever a group of people who could have responded with the proverbial, “how could a good God allow this?”… but they don’t.

These people understand what they deserve – they have seen and experienced the wrath of God first hand. They were almost too late, but God in His rich mercy saved them. The astonishing reality of that moves them to worship with all that they are. They worship with one theme – “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The amazing thing is… what they have been given is so much more than just not suffering the punishment for their sin.

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 spread his tent over them.

Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat upon them,

nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;

he will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 7:15-17

Remember, God Himself is the real treasure. He gathers these precious souls into His presence and shelters them. Those who suffered through brutal famine will hunger no more. Those who have lived in a world ravaged by war, earthquakes, and natural disasters will never have the sun beating down on their weary backs again. The Lamb Himself will shepherd them… God Himself will wipe away the tears from their eyes.

As I stated last week, I have come to see the tribulation as a time of incredible mercy in the midst of God’s wrath. Even as He begins to pour out rightly deserved judgment on the earth, He also is drawing many who will humble their hearts to Himself. When He could choose to immediately destroy the earth with no warning, He delays seven additional years.

This multitude is rich evidence that we serve a merciful and gracious God. A God who does not give us what we rightly deserve when we take refuge in Him. A God who not only spares us from judgment, but gathers us gently to Himself, shelters us, cares for us, shepherds us, and wipes away the remnants of our suffering.

October 7th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Today we continue on in Revelation 7 and have finally arrived at a passage which surely is one of my favorites in the entirety of Scripture. [Missed any of the Revelation posts? You can find them all indexed here.]

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

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 spread his tent over them.
Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 7:9-17

Now, because this passage is just so strikingly beautiful and I simply cannot bear to rush through this post, I’m not going to give you any of my thoughts today. What I would encourage you to do is to read this passage yourself a few times, preferably in a few different translations (out of your own print Bibles or use something like www.biblegateway.com to easily access various versions). Savor it.

And ponder:

1. Just picture what this will look like! A great multitude so vast we wouldn’t even be able to quantify how many people are there. Individuals from every nation, every tribe, every people, every language. Redeemed in vast diversity gathered around the throne consumed with one focus: worship.

2. Imagine what this will sound like! This vast sea of people crying out in unison, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Then in response, all the angels falling on their faces and saying, “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

3. Notice that this multitude of the Redeemed is specifically described as having come out of the great tribulation (v. 14) – apparently, these individuals died as a result of the tribulation judgments or persecution. Considering the judgments that have already occurred on the earth, how do you think the amazing promises of vs. 15-17 would be particularly meaningful to them?

4. Typically when we think of the great tribulation, we only associate it with God’s judgment and wrath. I am convinced that these seven years are also an evidence of God’s great mercy – these judgments serve as a wake-up call, a warning before all time has run out, a window of time allowing for repentance. Many will harden their hearts and turn their backs on God in a final act of rebellion, but the 144,000 and these individuals in the vast multitude in Revelation 7 remind us that many will hear and soften their hearts before it is too late. Does viewing the tribulation in this light change your perspective of God’s judgments?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these things… won’t you click over to the KristiStephens.com facebook page and share in today’s discussion thread? If you aren’t already a “friend” on facebook, I’d love to see you join our little facebook community. It’s so fun to see your profile pics and become familiar with your names, and I love sharing favorite verses, quotes, links and just interacting with all of you there! :)

October 5th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

My, my, my. Between disappearing for a while because of the retreat I spoke at and then last week adjusting to being on bedrest and neglecting my blog, it has been almost a MONTH since I last posted for our Revelation series!! Oy vey!

Please accept my sincere apologies. :)

In fact, it has been SO long that perhaps some of you are thinking, “what? A Revelation series?” Yes, we have been working our way through the amazing book of Revelation. If you’re a new reader or have missed some of the posts along the way, you can catch up with past Revelation posts here.

In our last post in the series we finished up Revelation 6. Chapter 6 ended with the unbelieving on earth cowering in fear before God’s wrath – not the fear of God grounded in proper belief and awe, but fear of His judgments.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called 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 their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Revelation 6:15-17

Who can stand? The question ushers us into the text of chapter 7 as we find out who indeed will stand.

After this I saw 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. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

Revelation 7:1-4

In the timeline of the tribulation, so far 6 seal judgments have unfolded. (You can read a brief summary of how the judgments appear in Revelation here.) In this chapter we pause between the 6th and 7th seal. We see again that God is completely sovereign over these judgments – they are not random natural disasters, but divinely ordered events fully under His control. His angelic messengers are ordered to pause in carrying out these judgments for one purpose – to seal 144,000 very special individuals who will stand.

Who are these 144,000? Speculations about this lead people to some pretty crazy conclusions. But, as always, the best approach to Scripture is to let it speak for itself. Verse 4 specifically says that these 144,000 are “from all the tribes of Israel.” If there was any remaining doubt, verses 5-8 are so clear it would be ridiculous to try to interpret this any other way:

From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

Got it? 12,000 from 12 tribes of Israel, amounting to 144,000. Apparently these 144,000 are believers in Jesus Christ, who have come to faith in Him during the time of the first 6 seal judgments, for verse 3 calls them “servants of our God.”

What is the purpose of sealing these 144,000 Jewish believers in Jesus?

Those sealed will go unscathed through the great tribulation. They will be a perpetual thorn in the side of the beast and a constant reminder to the devil that, while millions may bow to his will, God still has him on a leash and says to him, ‘thus far and no father.’ The mobilized armies of the earth will not be able to touch a hair of the heads of these sealed ones. The concentration camps and torture chambers of the beast’s fearful inquisition will leave them unscathed… The secret police will have dossiers as thick as prison walls, but they will be unable to harm them. The seal of God rests upon them, and they are saved and secured, come what may. They will be a living proof to the devil that not only is his secular power strictly limited by divine decree, but in the end he cannot win. If he cannot conquer these, then he cannot possibly win in the end. No matter how many millions he liquidates in his insane rage, he is obviously under the control of God. (Phillips 122)

In addition:

This critical passage reinforces the biblical truth that God is not through with the nation of Israel. (Romans 9-11) Though Israel failed in its mission to be a witness nation in the Old Testament, that will not be the case in the future. From the Jewish people will come the greatest missionary force the world has ever known. The result of their effort will be a redeemed Israel, as promised by God, and innumerable redeemed Gentiles. (MacArthur 220)

God is sovereign. He is fully in control of the judgments, He is fully in control of the power He has allotted to Satan for this time, the lives of His people rest fully in His hands.

A God like ours deserves all worship, and in the next passage we will get a profound glimpse of the amazing worship service yet to come.

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September 8th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Missed any of our Revelation series? You can catch up here!

Scoffers have always been present in the world.

Scoffers dismissed the message of Noah for years as he built the vessel which would carry him and his believing family through the horrors of the flood safely.

Scoffers dismissed the Old Testament prophets as they forewarned of God’s judgment against Israel and Judah.

Scoffers will dismiss the first five seal judgments in unbelief as wars, savage persecution, famine, disease, and pestilence wrack the earth. The sixth judgment will bring even the most hardened scoffer to a point of recognizing the supernatural nature of what is happening.

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Revelation 6:12-14

The world will be falling apart around them. Henry Morris suggests that a massive earthquake such as referenced in these verses would trigger huge volcanic eruptions, spewing ash, steam, and smoke; this would darken the atmosphere and cause the sun to appear red.  Added to this terror will be meteors plunging to the earth and the earth’s crust shifting violently.

Fear will grip the inhabitants of the earth on an unprecedented level. And they will know, without a doubt, that they are experiencing the wrath of God against sin.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called 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 their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Revelation 6:15-17

The heartbreaking part of this passage to me is that the people know they are experiencing the beginning of God’s wrath against their sin…

But they do not repent.

As believers, we should fear the Lord. But this fear is a reverence, an awe for His power and holiness that is proper when dealing with the sovereign Creator and Lord of the universe.

Those who do not bow the knee will not fear Him in this proper way – they will stand in utter terror of Him. The demons shudder in His presence; they do not fear Him, they are afraid of Him. In the same way, the unbelieving of the world, of every station in life, will cower before Him but refuse to submit with proper reverence.

The great day of His wrath has come. Reading these judgments is a sobering call to pray fervently for those who do not yet know Jesus Christ as Savior – and it is also a call to remember the extravagant grace He has shown to those of us who are already in Christ.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! What amazingly good news we have to share with those around us – as time marches steadily on toward the day when God will judge sin, we must share about His amazing grace and pray that scoffing hearts will be opened to the Truth.