Blog

The Sealing of God’s Children

• Four angels control the four winds — they are holding them back.
• John would have seen the four winds as judgment.
• Salvation for mankind is important to the angels.
• The fifth angel restrains the other four.
• It is the fifth angel that actually seals God’s children. The angel is not identified, but could it be Jesus? Maybe. It is our belief in the Savior that seals us.
• We know Jesus will return in the eastern sky. Jesus was also referred to as the sunrise when Zechariah prophesied at the naming of his son John (the Baptist). That is why Jesus is called the morning star.
• I get salvation is the seal of the living God. When we have God’s seal, we have His character.
  But what does on the forehead mean? Maybe the prominent placement on the forehead means our salvation must be visible.
• Maybe the seal was to indicate God has a specific plan for our lives. We know it shows that we are true believers.

Glossary

Salvation

Do not Harm the Sealed

• Salvation comes to Israel first.
• Israel is God’s chosen people. They were chosen long before Jesus came to be their Savior. But this doesn’t imply that the salvation is automatic. Salvation only comes through belief in Jesus.

• This outpouring is possible because of God’s grace and mercy. It leads to true repentance. That makes the Holy Spirit the Spirit of grace. We would not have grace in our hearts if the Spirit did not come and show us our need for God’s forgiveness.
• True repentance leads to inward transformation of our hearts. This changes our minds and nature. If we have a complete transformation that stems from our understanding of the sins we have committed and we turn from these sins, that can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t do that on our own either. It must come from God’s grace.
• “… that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah” (Zech. 12: 7 ESV) is a fancy way of saying God’s salvation was available to all. The house of David is the royal elite. Everyone else was identified as the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
• The Jews — as do everyone — must acknowledge the condition of their hearts. They are without a Savior. They need to repent.
• God’s Word tells us that He will pour out His Spirit on His people. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit, promised at the ascension, was fulfilled at Pentecost. It will also be a future event. I believe that Pentecost was just one instance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
• We might want to justify the Jew’s actions because Jesus had to shed His blood to redeem us. Salvation would not be available without His death. However, the Jews must acknowledge the previous disobedience and repent of it. Where their ancestors refused to acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son, they must. This is similar to our choosing obedience where Adam and Eve chose disobedience.
• We all must look to a crucified Jesus through faith to guide us toward God and repentance. This is to break us so that we mourn our disobedience. This is the beginning of humility and faith.

• The Holy Spirit only points us toward Jesus. He convicts us of our need for the Savior. That is His only message — our restoration to a relationship with God through the forgiveness gained by belief in the Savior.
  When we accept God’s gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit is the one who regenerates us.
• Salvation is more than just saying the words. Our hearts must break at the thought of our disobedience to God. That must be shown by a changed heart and lifestyle. In other words, our desire for salvation must be shown by genuine obedience to God.
• We can’t read God’s Word and figure it out for ourselves. That is because we can do the actions without looking to the Savior.

Glossary

Grace

Redeem

Repentance

Sealing God’s Children and People

• God’s children are sealed by the presence of the Holy Spirit because of our faith, showing we are set apart.
• Who are the angels holding the winds back protecting? It is those who have ABCDed and are walking in the Spirit by keeping His commandments. He specifically names “… the servants of our God …” (Rev. 7: 3 ESV).
  Regardless, the sealed are those who commit to believing Jesus as their Savior and live their lives accordingly.
• We are sealed at our conversion. In a way, that appears to make this verse meaningless. There would be no one time that a Church-wide seal is performed — like can easily be read into verse 3.
• We also have to realize — not what but — Who the seal really is. The seal is the Holy Spirit. We are given the Holy Spirit to live within us at conversion.
• One of the main purposes of being sealed is to secure us. These are under God’s protection from what occurs in the sixth seal.
• So, none of the events of the sixth seal in Revelation 6 can happen until Revelation 7 occurs.
• There are other reasons why we are sealed. It shows we were given to the Son by the Father. It acknowledges the high price the Son paid for us. It shows we mourn in response to the high price He had to pay. It shows we remain faithful to Him.
• If the sealing is going on now, that makes it a time of salvation, not of judgment. That, in itself, is a huge act of graciousness on God’s part.
  A remnant of God’s people will be sealed.
• The normal tribal list isn’t given in Revelation 7: 4-8. This doesn’t list the twelve sons of Israel. This list is interesting because Dan is replaced by Manasseh. That is the only substitution.
• The other thing that doesn’t seem to be right is the 144,000. One thing we have to remember is that number signifies completion and perfection.
• I believe the Israelites/Jews who have circumcised their hearts will make up the 144,000. To me, God will expect obedience and faith from them – just as He does us.
• Heaven will be populated by a great multitude.
• Think of the magnitude. Every nation. All tribes. All peoples. All languages.
• I doubt that John would have seen many believers up to this point. Think how humbled John would have been that he and the rag-tag bunch of men he ran around with started all of this.
• Think about the promise to Abraham. “and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22: 18 ESV). John was seeing the visual culmination of that.

• Salvation is for everyone. God does not limit salvation to only the Jews. He doesn’t slam the door shut to those who do not fit a specific photo or profile. Salvation is available to all.

• It doesn’t say they will all become as one. It says we will be one community.
• If this life is to be practice for eternity, and we are expected to be a community here, we will be expected to be a community there.
  The multitude is standing in close proximity to the throne. We know that those awarded this honor will deserve it. Not only will their service be exemplary, but also their integrity will be also.
• In Heaven, we will have access to the throne of God. We will have fellowship with Him and the Lamb. The multitude are standing, not bowed down. They have nothing to be ashamed of in the presentation of their work for God. They were obedient. They toiled and succeeded.
• What is relevant is that the multitude are clothed in white robes and holding palm branches.
• The white robes are identical. Yes, their purity is the same. They are also the same in every way.
  God graces us with His immediate presence. Heaven isn’t like it is here on earth, where we can’t see God. In Heaven, God will be right there.
• They do, however, make a distinction between God and Jesus. God is sitting down, and Jesus isn’t. That does not make them equals. Yes, Jesus will have a throne by His Father’s throne and is already sitting there (Heb. 12: 2). That being said, Jesus never considered Himself to be God’s equal. He always saw Himself as God’s Servant.
• What is evident is that there are two of them. God and Jesus are two separate People even though They are One. As two separate Persons, they are celebrated separately.
• For all their Oneness and cohesiveness, They each had a separate part to play in the Plan of Salvation. God was the Designer. Jesus was the Conqueror.
• What is also evident is that it is a victory celebration. They are celebrating the opening of the seals because the Lamb is worthy. Maybe they are celebrating now because the tenor of the seals is changing. Maybe they are anticipating the final victory.
• We won’t need to be asking in Heaven. We will already be receiving — no asking necessary. We won’t have to ask for salvation, provision, healing, discernment— any of the things that make up our prayers.

• How does few-will-follow-the-narrow-path mesh with the multitudes John saw in Heaven? We initially may think they are contradictory. We have to remember the few-will-be-chosen in the context that many choose the wide path. There will be multitudes there as compared to the remnant choosing salvation. However, when all is said and done, there will be a multitude in Heaven. Many will choose eternal life.

Glossary

Faith

Holy Spirit

Prayer

The Multitude Explained

• The angels and living creatures broke into a worship service. In this worship service around the throne, the angels and the living creatures join together.
• One thing is for sure, angels do not value free will and independence at the same rate as mankind does.
• The angels are grateful that God has provided the opportunity for salvation to mankind. They are grateful to both the author of the salvation and the vehicle for the salvation.
• The theme of the angels’ song is salvation. No, they themselves are not in need of it, but they are overjoyed when we find salvation.
• Tribulation just means trouble of any kind. Their whole purpose is to return us to God’s Will. True, Romans 2: 9 hooks tribulation with punishment. That could just mean that tribulation is a result of the original sin. Every human being has a sinful nature because of the original sin.
• This is the first time that we have heard the term the great tribulation. It may or may not be used as a title. The thing is, none of the translations capitalize it nor give it — most of the time — the article the. Some even translate it as suffering or persecution. We like to give this term to the time period seals, bowels, and trumpets. But then we like to think the Church has gone by them.
• If these are new converts after Rapture, they would no longer be going on faith unseen. They would be going on sight.
• Moral of the story, I don’t think the great tribulation is a specific time period. So, we don’t know when, what, or how long. What we do know is that disciples will be persecuted beyond anything previously known that will disrupt things for everyone.
• Disciples are going to encounter sorrow. We won’t be exempt from it. That is because we will be subjected to all types of temptations.
• But remember these are the entire great multitude from verses 9 and 10. They overcame the tribulation they were in by the blood of the Lamb. That blows apart what I have been taught. I was told these are the ones who came to be believers during the Great Tribulation. This isn’t discussing a subset of the multitude that found their Savior after the Church flew.
• If we look at the great tribulation as meaning the Great Tribulation, we would have only one answer to the question from where they came. We all come from this life.
• When we accept the multitude is “… from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages …” (Rev. 7: 9 ESV), everyone comes from this life.
• What if the great tribulation is this life? That would explain the multitude coming through it. It would also explain why each age since the disciples felt they were in the end times. That would mean we are in it now as they were in it then.

• What I am having trouble understanding is the last part of verse 14. It sounds like the white robes were soiled by some sin after conversion. They had backslidden and had to return to their Savior. I am having a problem with who it says does the washing. They made a choice. It wasn’t something done to them without their permission.
• But Jesus is the One Who washes us in His blood.
• Each has their own trials to encounter. Those are what will best grow them to maturity.
  The robes we get at the wedding feast will be the white robes of victory.
• A major problem I have with this just being people surviving the Great Tribulation is I don’t see levels in Heaven. That puts the focus on us and what we’ve done or the strength of our faith.

A Song of Worship

• Worship – which is worship perfected – happens 24/7/365/eternity before the throne of God.
• John made it clear that the multitude were in this elevated position because of the Lamb. It is only through the cleansing of His blood that we can access the throne of God.
• Before the throne means we had access to God. We will talk to God as Moses did.
• God is on His throne because He is the Sovereign Ruler. He deserves the worship we offer Him.
• This communion with God will bring disciples much happiness when we get to Heaven.
• Worshiping Him will bring us much satisfaction and joy.
• Our main duty in Heaven will be to serve God continuously. We will be serving God day and night.
• Getting to Heaven isn’t automatically going to up our worship game from mediocre to perfect. Our heavenly bodies aren’t going to make something out of nothing.

• If we don’t have God’s spiritual character and holiness, we won’t have perfect worship. Yes, God is interested in our actions. He is more interested in our hearts.
• Service is to be performed because of gratitude and devotion. We must serve God because of a thankful, willing heart.
• If we’ve read the last two chapters of Revelation, this section of verse 15 may lead to a little confusion. How do we reconcile in His temple with no temple?
• Earthly temples are patterned after the heavenly temple. I don’t think God had the Jews construct an exact replica – I’m not sure that is possible. But John would have known a temple when he saw it. That tells us there have been temples in Heaven.
• We can’t forget that Revelation 21 talks about a new Heaven as well as a new earth. Heaven is set to change, also.
• Where there is a need to have a temple now, in the new Heaven, there won’t be. God won’t have to have martyrs under the altar or stuck other places.
• We will have unlimited access to God. We won’t need to go to the temple for seek Him. God will be right there in front of us.
• God’s presence shelters us in Heaven from the lasting effects of the tribulation.
• Heaven will be our sanctuary from sin. We won’t have the temptations to ensure us into sin.
• Our enduring the tribulations that try to take away our salvation will be rewarded in Heaven by God’s sheltering us for eternity.
• We will be taken care of because we will be serving God throughout eternity.
• Because we will have this access to God in Heaven, we will see His moral perfections displayed. We will see His holiness, goodness, mercy – all of His attributes.
• Even if we don’t have a description of what Heaven is like, we have a description of what Heaven isn’t. We won’t hunger any more, get thirsty, get sunburned, and have extremes in temperature. We can loosely lump that together to say there will be no more pain – no painful want or infliction. In other words, evil won’t be in Heaven.

• The Lamb will be in our midst to be our guide while God comforts us.
• Jesus will take care of our needs. We are to look to Him for everything. Jesus is our Shepherd because we have been given to Him. Because of this, Jesus has authority and rule over us in Heaven.

• Jesus will lead us to living water because He is the living water.

Glossary

Blood

The Seventh Seal

• The seventh seal brought silence and suspense. It accomplishes something that will probably never be done again – it brings silence to Heaven. All worship stops.
• Silence isn’t that we can’t speak. We choose not to speak. The ability to speak is a great responsibility. We need to submit our speech to God’s control.
• If the judgments are kicking into high gear, wouldn’t we rather Heaven take a little pause before the judgment to end all judgments starts their steam roll? Wouldn’t that be the caring thing to do?
• We can’t imagine that this silence in Heaven means that God has cut earth adrift. It doesn’t mean He has turned His back on mankind and His plan for us has ended.

• We must learn to stand before God and await His bidding.
• The angels are waiting until they get their marching orders.
• Given to each angel is either a metal trumpet used for worship or a ram’s horn used for battle.
• The prayers of saints that call for the Day of the Lord will be answered even though they are now delayed.
• At the end of the half hour silence, another angel shows up with incense. If the seven angels are carrying battle instruments, to me it seems appropriate an angel shows up with an instrument used for worship.
• Jesus stands in the gap between God and us. We can only gain access to God through belief in and cleansing from Him.
  God designed the Plan of Salvation with Jesus as the focal point. That is why the Lamb Who was slain and the “… angel ascending from the rising of the sun …” (Rev. 7: 2 ESV) can be the same Person. This is just describing a job duty of the Lamb.
• While I don’t think earthly things will be in Heaven, I think they reflect heavenly things. I do think the heavenly things will be more – more beautiful, more ornate, more priceless.
• Saints are to pray for the redemption of sinners. It is up to them to receive the gift of salvation. Really, what we are praying for is a decision on their part.
• When the time of judgment comes, they will have made their decision. Unfortunately, a decision against God is going to lead to pain and suffering. But really, that is what we have been praying for — the time when the decision is made.
• If the Church has been raptured by now, are they stored incense — the delayed answers to our prayers — or fresh incense? If there is worship in Heaven, is there still prayer in Heaven? I would have always said no because we are in God’s presence.
• We are still going to be communicating with God – and all of us at the same time, still. Is it prayer by another name? Is whatever way we communicate with God still considered incense to Him? I would think He is looking forward in a God-like way to seeing us face to face as much as we are Him.
• The prayers of the saints are used as a specific tool. They really don’t inflict destruction on the earth. They herald the destruction as a warning system.
• We are to be sincere in our prayers — and humble.
  Now, the angel takes the censor, fills it with fire, and hurls it at the earth. Fire is associated with wrath.

To read devotions in the On the Day of the Lord theme, click the button below.

On the Day of the Lord theme

Devotions in the Opening the Seals series

Opening the Seals series