Revelation
is full of numbers. They make great conversation starters. They also make for terrible
fights. They ought to quiet our souls before God in humility that he has
deliberately, and beautifully, revealed his mind about the last hour without
giving us anything that would enable us to know the times or seasons he has set
by his own authority.[1] By
denying us access to what is his, he encourages the child-hearted to settle
down and pay attention to what is ours.
The
Church’s work is to be filled with the Spirit and go into the world as Jesus’
witnesses.[2]
Revelation is given, at least in part, to assure us that God is looking after
the times and seasons he has fixed by his own authority, just as promised, no
peeking allowed, so stop worrying about those things,[3]
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and trust him for daily provision
now, and eternal provision later.
As
I turned to the seventh chapter of Revelation, I was confronted with the fact
that God does not immediately describe the seventh seal. After presenting the
first six seals in consecutive order,[4]
leaving us hanging with the imagery of God shaking out his divine diorama so
that his enemies are terrified by the day of wrath, the Revelation Symphony then
leads us to an interlude between movements.
I
have come to appreciate greatly the way John introduces new scenes. In this
case he says, “After this I saw…”[5] followed by, “After this I looked…”[6] It is important to note that John is
describing the order in which he saw and heard things. This does not tell us
the order in which they occur in history (as though God was really telling us
the times and seasons he has set by his own authority after all), but the order
in which the divine revelation presents these things to create the effect God
has purposed for this book.
So, after showing us the cataclysmic
things that will take place at the coming of Christ, and the horrified response
of the Worldlings who have refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Creator and
Redeemer, it is time to show us something else. There are thoughts God wants in
our minds as we transition from the sixth seal to the seventh seal.
The next two pictures show us that a
symbolic number of 144,000 “servants”
of God, “from every tribe of the sons of
Israel,” are sealed; and, “a great
multitude that no one could number,” made up of people who have come “out of the
great tribulation,” are
standing before the throne, joining with angels, elders, and living creatures
in worship of their God and the Lamb.
Last week, I began my consideration of
the sixth seal by wondering if the catastrophic description was figurative, to
get John’s focus on the reaction of the world to the coming of Christ, or
literal, meaning that something was going to happen to the creation at the time
of Jesus coming. By the end of the week it was clear that the coming of Christ
will include these terrible changes to the present creation. To whatever extent
the description is real or symbolic doesn’t change the fact that it will be a
terrible time for the unsaved, and the real-time events will fit the description
perfectly.
This week I begin my consideration of
this interlude with lots of questions about the 144,000, and the great
multitude no one could number.[7] While there is a whole week to
ponder these things in prayer, I already see that the first group pictures God
sealing those who are his before further disaster plays out on the divine
stage, and the second group pictures the glorious presence of God for those who
have already gone through tribulation.
Since the focus of the first group is
that they are sealed by God before he releases his angels to wreak havoc on
earth, there is an assurance that God’s people are identified so clearly to God
that, when his angels come to “gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other,”[8] they will have no difficulty knowing who belongs to God.
And,
since the focus of the second group is to show how glorious their eternal joy
in heaven will be after whatever tribulation they go through, we can welcome
the assurance that this affirms Paul’s example of, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”[9]
Those
who are sealed by God before the clock strikes midnight, are welcomed into God’s
presence “after the tribulation of those
days.”[10]God
stops everything to show his children that they are sealed, and therefore safe
from the coming judgment. And, God rolls the clock ahead to show the wonderful
experience of his presence that comes after whatever tribulation his church
goes through, so that we can endure all things in the assurance that we are
sealed now, and safe then.
It
is kind of like what Paul said as the conclusion to his glorious expression of
praise for all our “spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places.”[11]
He wrote, “In him you also, when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,
were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our
inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”[12]
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~
in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright ©
2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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