The Jewish Evangelism Explosion
Sermon Transcript
0:00:14.0
You know, seven years is a long period of time. In seven years you can almost complete two terms for the President of the United States. In seven years a child is born and reaches the third grade. In seven years a student goes off to college, completes his undergraduate degree, goes on to medical school, and nearly finishes medical school. Seven years is a long period of time, isn’t it? Can you remember what you were doing seven, long years ago? Well, seven years is also that period of time in Bible prophecy known as the Tribulation. And it’s a long time for calamity and, yes, the wrath of God to cascade upon planet earth as it is talked about in Revelation 6 through 18. But some of you may be wondering where do we come up with the idea that the Tribulation, this event in future Bible prophecy, is seven years long? Well, to answer that question we have to go back in time to approximately 586 B.C. to a time when a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged the city Jerusalem, took the Hebrew people, the Israelites captive, and the Israelites went into 70 years of bondage, disciplined by the Lord during that time. Among those captives was a young teenage boy the name of Daniel. And you can read about Daniel in the Old Testament. The book of Daniel is a fascinating read. Daniel was an incredible young man. He lived an exemplary life, grew up in a pagan culture, and rose to power in the Babylonian government. But Daniel remained faithful to the one, true God, who is the God of Israel, the God of the Hebrews. We know Daniel as the one who refused to bow down to the king’s image. We applaud Daniel for that in the midst of great pressure from the culture to worship a pagan idol, Daniel said, “No, I won’t do that.” We know Daniel and his three friends, who miraculously were saved from the mouths of lions as they said that they would rather die at the lion’s mouth than to worship the pagan god. I mean, Daniel was an incredible young man. Daniel was gifted in leadership. He was gifted in administration. That’s why he rose to power even in a pagan culture. But the one thing we remember about Daniel, perhaps the most exciting, most exhilarating, is that God had gifted Daniel to look into the future. And Daniel was a prophet in that way. Yes, he was government worker. He was God’s man in that pagan culture. But God had given Daniel a prophetic gift. And the reason we know that the Tribulation in Bible prophecy is seven years long is because of a prediction that Daniel made 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
0:03:17.5
Now, rather than turning to the book of Daniel, I just want you to look inside your notes that I gave to you. And we’re gonna put a chart up on the screen here. And that chart looks pretty intimidating, as charts do. But it’s my best attempt to try to break down Daniel 9:24-27. It is really hard to understand the book of Revelation completely without understanding this very important prophetic section of scripture. Daniel 9:24-27. And in that section of scripture God gives Daniel a vision and a prophecy known as Daniel’s 70 weeks. You’ve probably heard me throughout this series refer to the Tribulation as that time in the Old Testament called Jacob’s trouble, also called Daniel’s 70th week. Where do we get that idea? Well, Daniel 9:24, the prophecy says, “Seventy sevens,” or another translation says, “Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city.” Now, you don’t have to be a math genius to understand that in prophetic language a week is not seven days but seven years. And so seventy weeks is seventy times seven years, or 490 years. The prophecy that Daniel received was about how God would use the people of Israel, His chosen people, for a period of time lasting 490 years. And the time, the prophecy says, the timeline began was when the king made a decree. Now, by now we’ve gone from Nebuchadnezzar to a buy named Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes by now, 70 years some later after the Babylonian captivity, he is the king. And we know from scripture that in 445 B.C. King Artaxerxes gave a guy named Nehemiah permission to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. You can read about that in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. And that’s when the timeline for the 490 years began. Now, Daniel 9:24-27 kind of breaks down this 490 years, or 70 weeks, into seven weeks, 62 weeks, and then one week. It started in 445 B.C. Let’s fast forward 483 of the 490 years. Are you with me so far? Or are some of you saying, “I didn’t sign up for a man lesson this morning?” All right. You’ve got to be a little bit of a basic math person in Bible prophecy, at least as it relates to Daniel’s prophecy here. So fast-forward from 445 B.C. using the Jewish calendar. Different than our Roman Greco calendar, the Jewish calendar is 360 days a year. You fast-forward that 483 years to the time when the prophecy says “the anointed one”, a reference to Messiah, “will be cut off.” This is what Daniel’s prophecy says, 483 years to that date, Jesus mounted a donkey in Jerusalem, rode in on Palm Sunday, declared Himself to be the Messiah, the euphoric crowd says, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” and days later the anointed One was cut off. He was crucified. You see, God loves to make promises and predict the future. And every time He predicts the future, He fulfills it 100% of the time. And these aren’t just vague, general, kind of Nostradamus predictions. No, these are very specific ones. And He always fulfills His promises. He always makes good on His predictions. And He does so in a very, very precise way. I mean, 483 years to the day. And scholars have done the calculation using the Jewish calendar. Jesus mounts that donkey. You thought Palm Sunday was all about palm branches, didn’t you? No, it was the 483 years of fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.
0:07:37.2
Now, it leaves us with a little math probably, doesn’t it? There’s seven years, or one weeks, remaining in Daniel’s prophecy. According to the chart—and I’ve put it on there—we are living in this prophetic gap—it’s called the times of the Gentiles, the Church age—between Daniel’s 69th week, which ended when Messiah was cut off, and the 70th weeks that remains. You say, “Well, what happened to the last week of Daniel’s prophecy? If God is going to make good on all of His predictions, if He’s gonna make good on all of His promises, where is the last seven years?” Ah, I’m glad you asked this morning, because that’s where the book of Revelation solves the mystery of the remaining week in Daniel’s prophecy. That’s the 7 year period of time, future to us, known as the Tribulation, Daniel’s 70th week. A time, the Old Testament refers to as Jacob’s trouble. It’s a tumultuous time on earth, but God makes good on His prediction. He makes good on His promise. The book of Revelation, in great detail from chapter 6 through chapter 18, with chapter 19 being the culmination of the second coming of Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon, it’s in that section of scripture where we have all these details about the 70th week, the last seven years of this 490-year prophecy. Are you still with me?
0:09:08.7
I mean, when you study Bible prophecy, friends, and you look at how God makes good on His promises and keeps His prophecies to 100%, our jaws ought to drop to the floor at the precision by the way God reveals Himself in scripture. And more than that, our knees ought to fall to the ground worshipping Him for how He has revealed Himself in the pages of scripture. Oh, it takes a little bit work. It takes a little bit of math. It takes a little bit of piecing together prophecies from, you know, 600 years before Jesus was born to where we are today. But this is the most exciting, thrilling, exhilarating study, Bible prophecy is, because if God is that meticulous in making good on prophecies and fulfilling them up to this point, don’t you think He’s gonna do that with the remaining prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled that we read about in the book of Revelation? Of course He is. The book of Revelation solves the mystery. And it solves it in this way, because God has a plan for His chosen people Israel. He has a program for them. And 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, there was a prophecy about 490 years. And God hasn’t forgotten the other seven years. You ever wonder why the nation of Israel, which is probably the size of the state of Connecticut, is in the news about every day or every other night? You ever wonder why so many people hate the Jews? You ever wonder why the Islamic nations call Israel the “little Satan” and every friend of Israel—and there aren’t many, but like the United States and Great Britain—the “great Satan”? You wonder why the devil has Israel in his crosshairs and at times throughout history has tried to wipe off the planet every remembrance of God’s chosen people? There’s only one reason for that, and that’s because Israel is the apple of God’s eye. He loves His chosen people. And He has a program for Israel. And He has a plan for Israel. And I’m not one of those ones that confuse the Church and Israel. No, look at the chart there. My best understanding of Daniel’s prophecy—and other scholars very much agree with this—we are in that prophetic gap. We are in the Church age. And there is coming a time, an event known at the rapture of the Church, where the times of the Gentiles will end. And that ushers in God’s attention again, primarily then, to the nation of Israel to fulfill Daniel’s 70th week. It’s a time of trouble and tribulation on this earth, Jesus said, like this world has never experienced before. This is why I would say to every politician that they need or remember God’s promise to a guy named Abraham. Every politician needs to remember that our blessing as a nation is directly tied to the United States of America being a friend of Israel. Why do I say that? Because Genesis 12:1-3 the Lord says to Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And in you all the families of the earth should be blessed.” It should be required reading for every politician in Washington to read Genesis 12:1-3 and to form policy according to it. I’m not saying Israel is perfect, but God blesses the nation that blesses Israel. You withdraw our diplomatic and even military support of Israel, and God withdraws His blessing. Mark His word, not my word. Mark His word, because this is the promise He made to Abraham many, many, many years ago.
0:13:21.9
Revelation 7…and that’s brings us up to where we are in study of Revelation 6 and 7. Revelation 7, speaking of God continuing to use the Hebrew people. Revelation 7 talks about a future what I would call Jewish evangelism explosion. Because although the Tribulation period is a time of great trouble and great turmoil and, yes, a time when the Antichrist takes the world stage and deceives so many people, there will also simultaneous to that be the greatest spiritual awakening that this world has ever experienced led by—and you can read about it, and we will in a moment in chapter 7—144,000 Jewish evangelists who come to faith in Jesus Christ, recognizing Jesus as their Messiah after the rapture in the early stages of the Tribulation. And think of a guy like Billy Graham and his worldwide evangelistic ministry and the impact that one servant of God had. Multiply that by 144,000 Jewish evangelists that God uses to produce this worldwide spiritual awakening. Some people say that more people will come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation period than perhaps the collective amount of saved souls over the entire Church age. And at the same time, there will be an equal number of martyrs during that, which brings us back to chapter 6 of Revelation. Last time we were together we talked about the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the first of the four seal judgments. And remember, Revelation 6-18 detail the cascading judgments and the wrath of the Lamb in 21 specific judgments collected into seven judgments—the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet judgments, the seven bowl judgments. Those are all detailed in chapters 6-18. We got through four of the seal judgments last time, commonly known as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
0:15:32.5
But let’s pick it up in the middle of chapter 6 and take a look at the fifth seal. The opening of the fifth seal, there’s a shift from earth to heaven. And John sees the blood of many, many martyrs. Those who, for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, lost their lives. Revelation 6:9 he says, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” Again, following the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, we have the fifth seal. And John sees under the altar of God the souls of those who had been slain and martyred for the Word of God and for their testimony in Jesus Christ. Who are these slain souls? Certainly in church history we can point to all kinds of people, you know, that have been martyred for their faith. Some say the persecution of Christians today worldwide is more intense than it’s ever been. But certainly throughout church history as one scholar said many, many years ago, the blood of martyrs has stained the Church and built the Church in many ways. But these I do not believe are Church-age martyrs. These are people who come to faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation period who are slain for their faith. Because as soon as they profess faith in Jesus Christ, remember, the Antichrist and his terrorist merchants unleash unprecedented levels of persecution against followers of Jesus. And this is what John is picturing, these martyred souls who came to faith in Christ during the Tribulation period.
0:17:45.4
Now, some of you may be saying, “Why, I thought the Holy Spirit was gone during the Tribulation.” Well, He is in a sense. You know, the Restrainer is lifted, the Restrainer who indwells the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church is raptured out, and his ministry indwelling the Church and using the Church as the salt of the earth to restrain the encroachment of evil, that is taken out. And as soon as that happens, all hell literally breaks loose on this earth. But that doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit is not active in the world during the Tribulation period. And He certainly is, evangelizing souls and winning souls to faith in Jesus Christ through the 144,000 Jewish evangelists plus two mysterious witnesses that appear in Revelation 11. We’ll talk about them in weeks to come. But the Holy Spirit is very active through these agents, winning souls to Jesus Christ. And, again, some suggest that there are more people who come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation period than all the combined saved souls throughout church history. It’s the greatest spiritual awakening to ever come to planet earth. Simultaneously, the greatest amount of persecution that followers of Jesus have ever (0:19:00.0) experienced. There is more bloodshed during the Tribulation period, not only through wars and rumors of wars, but through martyred souls. And this is what John sees. These souls beneath the altar of God, reminiscent of the blood from the sacrifices of the Old Testament, beneath the Old Testament altar. These souls are under the altar. They’re crying out to the One who sits on the throne, “When will You avenge our blood? When will You avenge our blood?” And He says, “The time is not yet. Rest a little while longer, because more of you need to be killed and slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” It’s an awesome scene. It’s an awesome scene. I want to suggest to you that those who come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation period will be less safe than a Jew during the Nazi Holocaust. Except for the 144,000, who are marked with a special protective (0:20:00.0) seal from God Himself. He protects the 144,000. Those they lead to faith in Christ, I get the impression they’re martyred. They’re slain. They pay the ultimate price for their faith during the Tribulation period. That’s the fifth seal. It’s an awesome scene what John sees in his vision.
0:20:23.1
He goes on to talk about the sixth seal in verse 12 of chapter 6. “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slaved and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” This is an awesome scene. I mean a breathtaking scene. Jesus opens up the sixth seal. And what pours out upon the earth are natural disasters and celestial catastrophes like this world has never seen. John says, first of all, there was a great earthquake. How many of you have ever been in an earthquake? Anybody? Maybe you have friends in California. You know, Californians are always worried about the big one. Right? That San Andreas Fault that everybody’s worried about, and the whole state of California sliding in the Pacific Ocean. I was in Washington, D.C., for the last ten years. And there was a time not too long ago I got woken up in the middle of the night about 2:30 in the morning. My wife and I were just, like, “Wow! What is this?” The ground was shaking. Learned the next morning there was an earthquake. An earthquake. An earthquake in northern Virginia? Are you kidding me? And then I’m reminded of what Jesus said. In Matthew 24 He says as we’re racing toward the end of the age there will be earthquakes in various places, the strangest places. Various places, He says. Like birth pangs of a pregnant woman. In other words, as we get closer and closer to the end of the age, earthquakes in a variety of places will increase with intensity and with frequency. And you could study the, you know, Geological Society’s map of earthquakes. And you see through the 20th century and on into the 20thcentury an increase and a spike in the frequency and intensity of earthquakes. But as everybody’s worried about the big one, the really, really big one happens shortly after the rapture and in the early stages of the Tribulation. That’s what John sees here with the opening of the sixth seal.
0:23:14.5
He goes on to say the sun became black as sackcloth and the moon, he says, became blood red. Isn’t it interesting that, well, some people see not only earthquakes here, but the effects in the heavens, perhaps the result of volcanic eruptions all across the planet. You say, “Well, how is that?” Well, apparently there was something similar to this back in 1883 on August 27th. A massive volcanic eruption on the island somewhere in the Dutch East Indies. The eruption was so large it was heard 3000 miles away in South America. And the volcanic ash that billowed up, it blackened the sun for as far as away as 100 miles. You couldn’t see the sun. They say it turned the moon blood red as well, and tidal waves traveled 7000 miles, as far away as Cape Horn. Thirty-six thousand people lost their life in that disaster in 1883. Now, you just take that and it’s not too farfetched to imagine such natural disasters, earthquakes and perhaps volcanic eruptions that result from the seismic shifts of the earth’s crust and the blackening of the sun from the volcanic ash and the discoloration of the moon and so forth. I mean, you just intensify this many, many times over, and you have some sense of just the cataclysmic natural disasters taking place during the Tribulation period. But John doesn’t stop there. He mentions some celestial catastrophes. I mean, other things that are happening in the heavens that cause people’s hearts to palpitate. He says, “The stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.” It’s not too farfetched to imagine a meteorite rain storm, as it were. Meteors pummeling this earth. “The sky vanished,” he said, “like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” With the natural disasters, with the celestial wonders that are happening, there’s just major shifts in the topography of the earth. And it has to bring the inhabitants of the earth just to a fearful moment. I mean, what is going on around here?
0:25:45.2
Now, all this discussion about celestial wonders kind of makes me reminiscent of Joel’s Old Testament prophecy. I really think that the sixth seal is the final fulfillment of a prophecy made by a prophet named Joel in the Old Testament. It’s the same prophecy that the apostle Peter quoted on the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago. If you go in your Bibles to the book of Acts, Acts 2. Remember on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came in tongues of fire and people were speaking in other languages. And there were dreams and vision and signs and wonders and all of that happening. Some of the observers thought the apostles were drunk, you know. And Peter stands up and he says, “No, it’s only 9:00 in the morning. We’re not drunk.” This is what Joel talked about in his prophecy years ago. And Peter goes on to say that in the last days and after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, listen to this, “wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of the smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.” And you go back to Acts 2 and you study the Day of Pentecost. And you study Joel, who talks about signs and wonders and dreams and vision, and now all these celestial things happening. Yeah, we know that during the apostolic age there were signs and wonders and dreams and visions. We read about that in the book of Acts. But nothing like the celestial wonders that Joel also prophesied about and that Peter prophesied about. That’s because the celestial wonders, the final fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, comes at the sixth seal. And you read carefully back in Acts 2. The interchange between the language “the last days” and “the day of the Lord”. Those are technical terms in prophecy language. The last days, starting the day that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and going to the end of the age, but that awful and terrible day of the Lord that Joel talked about, which is specifically linked to the celestial wonders, that’s the Tribulation period. Those are the last days or the final days of the last days. So this is why I believe the sixth seal and the celestial wonders that are happening, the celestial catastrophes, are really a fulfillment of Joel’s ancient prophecy, which was partially fulfilled at the Day of Pentecost and will be finally fulfilled when the sixth seal is released in the Tribulation period.
0:28:22.1
And did you notice the response of people during that time? The rich and the powerful, the generals, the presidents, the prime ministers, the influence peddlers in the world will run to the caves and to the mountains. And they’re so full of fear John suggests they will know that it’s the wrath of the Lamb who sits on the throne that is pouring this out onto planet earth. They will know that. And they will run into their bunkers. And they will call for the mountains and the caves and the rocks to fall on them. They will desire death as fear grips their heart during this time. Made me think of that place called the Bunker the Greenbrier Resort. Have you been there, just over in the West Virginia Mountains? The federal government built this bunker apparently back during the Eisenhower Administration. And it was used during that administration. It was a place for the rich and powerful to go to in times of disaster. It was built, you know, hundreds of feet beneath the ground into the mountains of West Virginia; 112,000 some square feet, 21-ton door blast and dormitories and clinics. I mean, it was a little city beneath the mountains there. The Washington Post exposed it in the 90s, and the federal government had to shut it down. But it kind of makes me wonder if the federal government just didn’t build a bunker for the rich and powerful someplace else in another undisclosed place. The rich and the powerful during the Tribulation will run to their bunkers. They’ll run to the caves. Think of Osama Bin Laden and his terror merchants who hid in the caves of Afghanistan for all those years. All across the globe the rich and powerful and the influence peddlers will run to their caves, to their bunkers, to their hideouts because they know the wrath of the Lamb is cascading upon planet earth. No wonder it’s called the Tribulation, and no wonder Jesus said it’s a time like earth has never seen before.
0:30:37.4
Now, let’s move on to chapter 7. Let’s get back to this 144,000 and to this great harvest of souls that takes place. John has already pictured them under the altar of God. That’s the fifth seal. But now he goes on to say this in verse 7. “After this I saw four angels,”…chapter 7, verse 1. “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed,” listen to this, “have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,” and so on. All 12 of the tribes of Israel are mentioned there. Now, John sees four angels holding back the winds from the four corners of the earth. And I take these to be tumultuous winds, you know, blustery winds of tornados and hurricanes and things like that. They’re to hold back the wind from destroying the earth or even cooling the earth for that matter, until—and this is an interesting thing—until the 144,000 are sealed on their foreheads by the living God. These 144,000 Jewish believers in Jesus will be protected by God during the Tribulation period. It’ll tough for them, but they’re not among the martyrs. The martyrs of the Tribulation, those people who come to faith in Christ, are pictured beneath the altar of God. Later John sees them in euphoric worship in heaven. But, you know, throughout church history there’s been a lot of discussion about who the 144,000 are. And there have been some groups, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a cult, that have laid claim to this number. The problem is when their worldwide numbers grew past 144,000, they had to rewrite their theology, you know, conveniently. But this is not referring to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Seventh Day Adventists want us to believe that the 144,000 will be those Adventists who are faithfully observing the Sabbath when Jesus returns. Well, come on. That would mean that every one of the Seventh Day Adventists are Jewish believers who can link themselves to one of the twelve tribes of Israel. No, I think it’s just simple enough to say that the 144,000 are Jews who come to faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation period and after the rapture. You know, I have some Jewish friends. I love my Jewish friends. I have a few Jewish friends who are Messianic Jews. They recognize Jesus as their Messiah. But they’re few in number. And have you ever wondered why? Have you ever wondered why it’s hard to reach a Jewish person wish Jesus as their Messiah? Well, Romans 11:25 talks about the sovereignty of God and His plan and program for Israel. And Paul writes these words. “A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come.” We are in that prophetic gap, the Church age, the times of the Gentiles. And the Bible says in no uncertain terms that there has been a partial hardening or a blindness over the nation of Israel during this time. It’s why it’s hard to reach Jews for Jesus, although there are many across our planet who profess Jesus as their Messiah. But all of that will change after the rapture. That partial hardening, that partial blindness will be lifted. And at least 144,000 Jews worldwide will says, “Oh my, Jesus Messiah.” The scales on their eyes will be lifted, almost like the apostle Paul when he saw the risen Christ and the scales later fell from his eyes.
0:35:21.0
When we go to Israel later this year—and I hope you go along with us in November—we connect up with a wonderful Jewish guide there named Bernice. She was with us last time we went. And she really knows her sights well and her history well. But she’s not a Jewish believer in Jesus Messiah, and so we have some interesting conversations. And one of the conversations we had was about how Jews and Christians are both waiting for the coming of Messiah. And I said, “Oh yes, we are. And when He returns Christians will say ‘Welcome back’ to Jesus, and Jews will say, ‘Welcome.’” But there will be some during the Tribulation period who say, “Welcome back, Jesus. Sorry we missed it the first time.” There will at least be 144,000 and many countless numbers of more, John says, who come to faith in Jesus during this time. It will be one of the greatest spiritual awakenings that happens on planet earth ever, of all time. In one sense, I wish I could be there during that time. But in another sense, I also know that it’s also one of the greatest times of intense persecution. Because those that the 144,000 plus the two witnesses in Revelation 11 that the Holy Spirit uses to bring about this spiritual awakening, those who come to faith in Christ will experience, again, just great persecution and the loss of their lives. They’ll be slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ as the Antichrist and his minions pour out great persecution upon God’s people.
0:36:58.7
So John goes on in chapter 7 to picture these slain martyrs in worship. He says after this, “And behold, a great multitude,” verse 9, “that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, 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, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” It’s a picture of the Tribulation martyred saints now in euphoric worship, joining in with the angels and the 24 elders, which represent the Church, and the four living creatures, these special, angelic beings, worshiping God and worshiping the One who sits on the throne and His lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. By the way, all this talk about Jewish evangelism explosion reminds me of something Pope Francis said about a year ago in one of his catholic encyclicals, one of his decrees that he writes from time to time. It was a decree where he voices his opposition to Jewish evangelism. Basically, the Pope told Catholics worldwide, “Don’t tell Jews that Jesus is their Messiah.” And I read that, and I thought, you’ve got to be kidding me. Because there’s coming a day where at least 144,000 of them, sealed and protected by God, will tell the world that Jesus is Messiah. And they will lead this great spiritual awakening on planet earth.
0:38:29.9
Maybe you watched on Friday the funeral of Mohammed Ali, as I did. Mohammed Ali was one of the greatest boxers, if not the greatest. Of course, he told us all that he was the greatest, very humbly, didn’t he? But he really was an incredible heavyweight champion. He was formerly Cassius Clay. He converted to Islam and took the name Mohammed Ali. And he scripted his own funeral, wrote his own effigy. And he wanted representatives from every major world religion to be there and say something at his funeral. And so if you watched it on television or saw some of the video clips you would have seen, you know, the Jewish rabbi, the Muslim imam, the Christian pastor, the Buddhist monk, the Hindu, the American Indian. You know, they were all there and they all had something to say. A lot of it turned into, you know, a civil rights rally from the 1960s. I mean, it was a lot of that kind of stuff. There was one Jewish rabbi that stood up, turned it into a leftist political rant and an endorsement at Hillary Clinton as President of United States. I mean, come on. Really? I mean, let it rest. I mean, you’re at a funeral here. Missed his opportunity to say something nice about the deceased. But what I noticed when every one of those religious leaders stood up and had their time to really speak to the world, not one of them mentioned the name Jesus. And I was finishing up some thoughts on the message, and I came to chapter 7. And I saw the Tribulation saints martyred. Their blood flowing understand altar, chapter 6. The picture of them in euphoric worship in chapter 7. And them crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.” There’s no ambiguity in the hearts of these martyred Tribulation saints who the real God is any more than Daniel had any ambiguity in his heart. He refused to bow down and worship the king’s image because he stayed faithful and true to the one true God, the God of Israel. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God to whom…He made a promise to Abraham that, “I’ll make a nation out of you.” And from the seed of Abraham came Messiah Jesus. No, salvation—make no mistake about it—salvation belongs to our God, to the One who sits on the throne and to His lamb. That lion that looks like a lamb, that lamb that looks like a lion. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That’s Bethlehem. The lion who comes back to conquer the earth, that’s the second coming of Jesus Christ. Salvation belongs to Him regardless of what all the religious leaders of the world want to say. The world wants us to all join hands with all world religions and sing “Kumbaya” together. You know, when I hear people say that, I think, you know, you’ve never read the books. You’ve never read what all these religions are about. None of them agree with one another except to say love one another. But if you’re gonna reduce it to the least common denominator, come on now. “Salvation belongs to our God,” they say. “To the One who sits on the throne and to His Lamb.” And let’s never forget that, friends.
0:42:28.3
The Tribulation is a terrible time on planet earth. You can escape all of that. We talked about that in weeks past. Because we’re in that prophetic gap. We’re somewhere between Daniels’ 69th and 70th week. Oh, as sure as I’m standing on this platform today, God will fulfill the rest of that prophecy. He always does. He doesn’t miss dotting an I or crossing a T in any of His promises or any of His prophecies. You just wait and see. But until then, the Bible always expresses with a sense of urgency today is the day of salvation. Will there be some people who come to faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation? Oh yes, many. And they’ll pay the ultimate price for it. But there’s no guarantee that if you say no to Jesus today, your heart will open up to say yes to Him tomorrow. So say yes to Him today. Escape that whole time of Tribulation. Be part of the glorious Church that is raptured away one day, and place your faith and trust in Jesus today. Let’s pray together.
0:43:46.6
God, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for giving us such detail in Your scripture. For those that are willing to kind of roll up their sleeves and their minds and their hearts and dive into it and piece together fascinating promises and prophecies from many, many years ago that have impact in our lives today and on into the future. Father, we’ve heard Your Word today. But the danger is that we would hear but not really hear. That we would listen to something like this, but not be doers of the Word. That somehow we would walk out of here with our curiosity aroused, but without a commitment made, a spiritual decision made. And I pray that, in the time that we have remaining this morning, You would urge, in a way that only Your Holy Spirit can do, every one of us in this place to either come to the cross of Christ for the first time as a sinner who needs a savior—and perhaps there is one, perhaps there is a handful, perhaps there are many here today who need to do that—or as believers in Jesus Christ to wake up from the slumbery sleep we’ve fallen into and to fix our eyes upon the eastern sky and to live every day in anticipation of our Savior’s coming. To get right with You where we need to get right with You. To put our hands to the plow of ministry and the work that You’ve given us to do as our days race closer and closer to the end of the age. Father, don’t let us walk away from this place just indifferent to the truth we’ve heard, but fill us with a sense of urgency. Bring us to our knees worshipping You and saying in our collective voices, “Salvation belongs to our God, the One who sits on the throne and to His lamb.” And we pray this in Jesus’s name and for His sake, amen.
0:46:38.2