Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20010520.htm

REVELATION:CALL TO HOLINESS IN VIEW OF PROPHECY
Part III: The Things Hereafter'
"E. Salvation During The Great Tribulation Period"
(Revelation 7:1-17)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

There is a day coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will return for us believers in the clouds of the air. The dead in Christ will rise in glorified bodies, and then we who remain alive will be changed, and rise to meet Him and these saints in the air. We will proceed with Him back to heaven in an event known as the rapture of the Church, cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13-18; John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58.

At that moment, every believer will have been removed from the earth, leaving only unsaved people here below!

What will happen to the unsaved left on the earth? Are these people, some of whom may be associates we know now, doomed to be eternally lost though still living on the earth?

(1) Some believe that those who had rejected the Gospel before the rapture will be hardened by God against believing. They understand 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 to mean that the "strong delusion" God sends them for not believing in Christ's gospel will doom them not to be able to believe in Christ after the rapture.

In fact, I have heard ministers preach that we had better believe in Christ "today" lest the rapture occur "tomorrow" and we be doomed never to have the chance to be saved again!

(2) However, others hold that though the delusion will be strong, people by their own choice will believe in antichrist where they will have the opportunity, as did the Apostle Paul, to turn from total rejection of Christ to acceptance.



Well, will there be any hope for people left on the earth to receive eternal life after we are raptured? What about unsaved associates we NOW know on the earth -- can they be saved? If NOT, and if I think the rapture is very close, is it worth even to CONTINUE witnessing to them? WHY?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "I heard when the rapture occurs, the unsaved left behind will have no more opportunity to obtain eternal life! IF so, HOW can God keep someone LOST even if he THEN wants to be saved?! What will happen to unsaved friends if the rapture occurs TODAY?"
  1. As we learned in the last message, the expression of God's wrath during the Tribulation Period will be so intense people on earth will wonder how anyone can survive it, Revelation 6:16-17.
  2. Yet, in WRATH, God remembers MERCY (cf. Habakkuk 3:2c), so He will offer people salvation DURING the Tribulation Period:
    1. In this Tribulation Period era, there will be a need for God to raise up a witnessing body of people to replace the Church which is absent due to its having been already removed from earth by the rapture:
      1. Christians are sealed until the day of redemption, the rapture, by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30.
      2. However, God will need to seal people on their foreheads during the Tribulation so they will be recognizable to demons as being those who are not to be tormented by them, Rev. 7:3 with 9:1-4.
      3. Now, certainly demons would be able to recognize the Supreme Spirit, the Holy Spirit if these people were sealed by the Holy Spirit as are those belonging to the Church.
      4. Hence, the Church has been raptured before this time, so God needs to seal others to be a witnessing body of His truth on earth!
    2. Since the Church ERA will be past at this time, God will prepare witnesses to His truth from ISRAEL for the Tribulation Period, 7:1-8:
      1. When the rapture occurs, at least 144,000 Hebrews will put their faith in Christ and become God's servants, Rev. 7:3 with 7:4.
      2. Since they are not sealed with the Holy Spirit as in the Church era, God will renew a Jewish Old Testament sealing practice of putting a seal on the foreheads of godly Jews to keep them physically preserved during their period of great trouble:
        1. These saved Hebrews will be sealed on their foreheads for preservation from harm in judgment, Rev. 7:3-4; 9:1-4.
        2. This recalls the sealing event of Old Testament Ezekiel 9:4-5 where God called an angel to set the mark of the Hebrew letter, taw (at the time it was written much like a cross!) on the foreheads of godly Hebrews to preserve them from harm by angelic beings through means of an invading army, Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 1245; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Ez. 9:4.
        3. These sealed ones would be preserved from angelic vehicles of judgment during the Tribulation much like the godly Hebrews had been spared in the Babylonian invasion long before!
      3. These sealed will be 12,000 Hebrews from every tribe in Israel as enumerated in Revelation 7:4, 5-8. (Though the tribe of Dan is not named here, it does appear in Ezekiel 48:2 in the future Millenial Kingdom's land aportionment, Bible Know. Com., N.T., p. 949.)
    3. As a result of this sealing and their witnessing ministry, people from every people group on earth will be justified by faith in Christ, 7:9-17:
      1. Since the 144,000 are seen as God's servants in Rev. 7:3-4, and since in combination with their sealing is the event recorded in Revelation 7:9-17, we deduce Revelation 7:9-17 portrays the results of the service of these 144,000 Hebrew servants of God.
      2. Well, the results of their effort is a worldwide discipling outreach!
        1. After the seeing the sealing of the 144,000 servants of God, John beheld a great multitude of all the world's people groups standing before God clothed in white robes and holding palms in their hands, Rev. 7:9. This alludes to the people with palms who celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in Lev. 23:40, a feast which anticipates the coming Messianic Kingdom, Zec. 14:16.
        2. This group praised the Father and the Son for their salvation, an act eliciting antiphonal praise from the angels, Rev. 7:10-12.
        3. One of the 24 elders, a member of the glorified Church in heaven, revealed to John that these were people who were saved from sin by faith in Christ during the Tribulation era, 7:13-14.
        4. Of note is the reference of release from the sufferings of the Tribulation for these saints now that they are martyred and in heaven, Revelation 7:15-17 with Revelation 6:9-11.
Application: (1) If we have not done so, believe on Christ for salvation from sin and ESCAPE the coming Great Tribulation through the rapture, Jn. 3:16; 1 Thes. 4:13-18. (2) If for some reason the rapture occurs BEFORE we make this decision, making the likelihood of martyrdom for faith high, know EVEN THEN, God will STILL justify EVERY person ON EARTH who puts his faith in Christ's atoning work for him, Revelation 7:14!

Lesson: Throughout God's program on earth, up until death ends the opportunity for faith in Christ for salvation (Heb. 9:27), God will always extend an offer of salvation for anyone on earth to be saved, 2 Peter 3:9. >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 (1) To understand the issue of God's "strong delusion" predicted by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 in light of the many who will be saved in the Tribulation Period (Revelation 7:9-17), all we have to do is review the current situation of the Jew in relation to Christ's truths:

(a) On the one hand, Paul tells us that spiritual blindness has come to the Jewish people in part as a people until the rest of the Gentiles who believe in Christ will be saved, cf. Romans 11:25.

(b) On the other hand, a remnant of Jews are believing in Christ now to become part of the body of Christ, among whom are people like the Apostle Paul from the tribe of Benjamin, etc. (Romans 11:1)

(c) Hence, the "strong delusion" in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 must be the antichrist and false prophet activities that, in the form of miracles done in deceiving wickedness, cause those disposed to reject the truth to be hardened against it (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10). This is much like the way Pharaoh was allowed to be deceived to reject Moses' word by the way God allowed his pagan magicians to copy Moses' miracles to a point, cf. Exodus 7:10-13. Since Pharaoh had already rejected Moses' call to let Israel leave Egypt in Exodus 5:1-2, God was thus "greasing the slide" for Pharaoh to continue going down the wrong path he had already chosen!

(2) Also, recall that even fully deceived, hardened people can and do change their minds to come to faith in Christ. Acts 6:7 tells us a great company of Jerusalem's priests believed in Christ, and it was the priests along with the elders and sanhedrin that put Christ on the cross, cf. John 18:3. Similarly, Paul himself was a member of the religious body that gnashed its teeth in rage at Stephen in Acts 7:54 (Acts 7:58; 8:1) but who later became the great Apostle Paul in promoting the Christian faith, Acts 9:1, 11-16.