Go a little deeper
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick reads Revelation 7 as an intermission in the judgments of chapter 6 and an answer to its question about facing a holy God. He first presents Revelation as an unveiling of Jesus that prepares people rather than frightening them. He recalls John’s outline of the book, then turns to the angels restraining judgment until God’s servants receive his seal.
The sealed 144,000 are identified from the text as Jewish people from the tribes of Israel, and Pastor Keith ties the forehead seal to Ezekiel 9, where a mark is placed on those who grieve over sin. He explains the number twelve as perfect authority, and notes that the absence of Dan is not explained in Scripture; he relays scholarly speculation about Dan's idolatry and draws a lesson about how a life can affect later generations. He also connects the seal to Ephesians 1 and Romans 8, teaching that believers in Jesus are sealed by the Holy Spirit and cannot be separated from God's love.
The second half turns to an immense worldwide community worshiping God. Pastor Keith interprets their white clothing as righteousness received from Jesus and their palm branches as celebration. When John defers to an elder’s question, Pastor Keith sees an example of God using questions to guide people toward truth. He closes with Jesus’ care for his people and the end of suffering, then invites listeners to believe, pray, worship, and choose to serve God.
Take this with you
Revelation unveils Jesus
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick stresses that the book is the revelation of Jesus Christ, not a collection of confusing predictions, and that the opening vision, the letters to the churches, and the judgments all point to him. That framing is offered from Revelation 1 as a reason not to be intimidated by the book but to read it looking for Jesus.
Grace pauses before judgment
Chapter 7 is presented as an intermission: the winds are held back until God's servants are sealed. Pastor Keith reads this pause in Revelation 7 as evidence that God gives opportunity to turn to him even in the hardest days, and that his grace steps in before judgment proceeds.
The seal marks the mind
Drawing on Ezekiel 9 and the helmet of salvation in Ephesians 6, Pastor Keith treats the forehead seal as symbolic of thinking and belief. What a person believes shapes how they live, so he urges a renewed mind rather than conformity to the surrounding patterns of the world, echoing Romans 12.
Believers are sealed and adopted
Pastor Keith uses Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 to describe the Holy Spirit as the assurance that believers belong securely to God. Drawing on John 1 and Galatians 3, he teaches that those outside Israel’s bloodline are welcomed into God’s family through Jesus and share equally in its inheritance.
Suffering will be made right
Pastor Keith reads the closing verses of Revelation 7 as a promise that suffering and deprivation will end and that Jesus will care for his people. He acknowledges the difficulty of the tribulation while encouraging listeners to trust that their future with God outweighs present hardship.
The sealing belongs to God alone
Drawing on Revelation 7, Pastor Keith explains God's seal as an act of ownership rather than something people earn. He uses the example of a signet ring marking wax to identify the owner of a document.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
you are redeemed you are reconciled you are forgiven you are loved this is what it means to be a child of god you're not here by mistake today god loves you so much let's pray god we thank you that because of who you are we can call ourselves children of god not because we've earned it not because we deserve it but because of what you've done for us we just want to say thank you for letting us be a part of your family god forgive us when we forget how good you are forgive us when we keep going back to our sin god let us live into the destiny that you called us to you're an awesome god [Music] your mercies are new every morning so i just pray that we will live in that today that we would be washed by your blood forgiven of our sin
oh god i love you so much thank you for your church this is your plan have your way i pray in jesus name so be it amen and amen and amen oh welcome to journey church my friends my name is keith if we've not had the honor to meet yet i would love to meet you sometime if you're visiting for the first time at journey church i just want to say welcome home please make yourself at home here you're the reason that we exist and we're just really honored that you'd spend a part of your weekend with us at journey church we believe there's hope for everyone and that includes you was anyone here last sunday for easter sunday come on let me know you were here let me tell you last sunday was incredible for me my morale just went way up we had over a thousand people on sunday i'm so excited
we haven't had that for over a year so it was it was a great day and most importantly 24 people surrendered their lives to jesus christ so we're really excited about that and what god's doing and he's not done yet if you're just joining us we're back into the book of revelations i just want to ask that god would speak to us so right where you are would you just ask god to speak to your heart just let's pray a short prayer and and welcome god to to have his way lord we thank you that you're a god that can do anything that is never too late with you we thank you that you're a god that still speaks today i ask that as we get into your word your word would get into us that you would become even greater that we would know you even more if there's anyone here today that doesn't know you i i believe that today is the day that you would have your way that that i would step aside and you would speak
in this place i pray in jesus name so be it and amen and amen well we're on this journey through the book of revelation if i hope you brought your bibles and you can find this book it's pretty easy to find it's the last of 66 books in the bible if you turn with me to that book of revelation john the author lets us know right at the beginning his opening words he declares this is the revelation of jesus christ that's what the book is all about it's all about jesus that word revelation in the greek is apocalypses it's where we get the english word apocalypse it means to reveal to unveil this book reveals jesus christ who he is who he was and who he will forever be it's amazing to me how many people still
call this book revelations assuming this is about a book of future events and although it does declare that it does so much more this is the revelation of jesus christ everyone shout revelation come on you preach it let's just say one more time here we go revelation now you know it's not revelations it is revelation now god gave a divine outline to the author john in the opening chapter in revelation chapter 1 verse 19 jesus speaks to john and tells him right therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those that are to take place after this that's the outline for the book of revelation so that you could better understand this god does not want you to be confused god
does not want to scare us with this book he gave us this book to prepare us in revelation chapter 1 john writes down what he sees he gives an incredible description of jesus these are the things he sees it is the revelation of jesus christ in revelation chapter 2 and 3 john writes down the things that are we find seven letters to seven churches these are seven actual churches in the first century god speaks to the first century church and then he speaks to every church and every age thereafter god continually reminds us that we are conquerors in him he reminds us not to abandon our first love he reminds us not to compromise or get complacent but to repent which means to change your thinking
that's what the church ought to do we are living in the age of opportunity this is the age of grace this is the church age we are living in the in the in the time of the things that are that's that's as john describes and then he says write down what will take place after this that greek word after this is meta tauta we find it woven throughout the book of revelation it means these things is what it means and in revelation chapter 4 john the author says after this we find that word metatalta after what after the church age we're going to see a great tribulation a seven year period we see this tribulation and revelation 6 through 19 and in revelation chapter 4 john begins to describe the things that
will take place after this john is caught up in heaven the very thing that will happen to the church when jesus returns which he will he always keeps his word the church will be caught up with him some call this the rapture coming from the latin word to be caught up after the church is caught up there will be a great judgment upon those who have rejected jesus and this is what you find in that great tribulation period we left off last time in chapter 6 pastor david did a great job revealing to us the beginning of this great tribulation in chapter 5 john gets a glimpse of a scroll it looks like the title deed to the earth the devil has done much damage on the earth and god created it but now we watch the enemy satan seems to be
ruling on this earth and this this title deed is sealed with seven seals and john the author when he sees this he weeps who can redeem the earth who could take back the earth from the devil and he's told the lion of the tribe of judah can and as he goes to look at the lion he sees a lamb that was slain standing jesus is both the lion and the lamb he is the sacrificial lamb he died for the forgiveness of our sins and he's going to take back what's rightfully his this title deed to the earth and so we see in these opening of the seals god's judgment upon the earth it starts with a horse a horseman that looks a lot like jesus
but the enemy is a fraud he disguises himself to look like god but he's a fake so we've got to look out for the real deal we've got to look for the the way the truth and the life and that's found in jesus we go on to see three more horsemen these are described as the four horsemen of the apocalypse remember the word apocalypse comes from revelation we go on to see this great judgment upon the earth and it will be a trying time this great tribulation will be the worst time ever on the earth it will be even harder than what we've been through this past year it will be a terrible time of judgment we pick up today in revelation chapter 7 reminding ourselves of how chapter 6 leaves off the question was asked by the kings and generals that no longer wanted to live
because of what they were going through and the question was asked who can stand for the great day of the wrath has come and who can sin who can stand before god if god is holy if god is all-powerful if god is all-knowing who can stand before god is anyone good enough to get into heaven can can anyone actually stand before god and the answer that question is found here in revelation chapter seven so let's dive right in at revelation chapter seven starting with verse one after this there's that greek word metatalta after these things after we just read about six of the seven seals being opened i saw four angels standing
at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth and that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree john to remind you is actually in heaven he's been caught up in this vision with this revelation of who god is in chapter 4 of revelation he sees the center of heaven is a throne god himself he is supreme he reigns over all he still is seeing this vision from heaven what does he see four angels covering the entire planet now some may look at this text and say see this is why i don't believe in the bible this proves that the bible has all kinds of things wrong with it there are no four corners of the earth the earth is not flat it's round this is why i don't believe the bible because of a text like this but my friends may have remind you the
book of revelation is written in what's called apocalyptic literature we see a great heavy use of symbols and signs and metaphors even a heavy use of numbers and these numbers have have deep meaning and this is just a poetic description covering the entire planet think about the four points of a compass north south east west it describes that god is in control of the entire earth we go on to see john says in verse 2 then i saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun some translations say from the east this is from the city of jerusalem god's holy city 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 the earth and see saying
do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our god on their foreheads today we take a pause in this great tribulation with an intermission we see several intermissions in this great tribulation we'll see three judgments of god the first are the seven seals the second are the seven trumpets that are opened up at the seventh seal and the third are the great bowls of wrath the judgments get greater each time today we have an intermission in this great tribulation and we see that woven throughout this and partly it's just like when you go to a play do you remember going to plays back in the days of old you sit through act one and then there's an intermission
sometimes you wish it was over but it's an intermission and the intermission is saying it's not over yet we're just taking a break you can look back at what you just saw you can talk about it but you you know that more is coming today is an intermission in this great tribulation what we're about to read is is a pause but there's more coming and what we'll see in this pause is we have a great god of grace that no matter how difficult the days are we have a god that gives us an opportunity to turn to him to trust in him to see that he is god alone and he's worthy of us giving our hearts to him in fact before there's destruction we're told that there are going to be some that are sealed on their foreheads what i love about the book of revelation is that there are hundreds of references
to the old testament god wants you to get to know the whole bible the bible is god's story and as you get to know the god of the bible you get to know how your story can collide with god's story and how that changes everything and although we can't cover every single reference to the old testament it's worthy of looking back to see god has constantly been working through the ages he never changes this reference leads us back to ezekiel chapter nine this old testament prophet and ezekiel chapter nine it seems like an obscure verse but it actually parallels here in revelation seven we're told of an angel that's to mark the foreheads of those that follow the lord ezekiel 9 4 and the lord said to him pass through the city through jerusalem sounds similar to what we read in
revelation 7 with the angel ascending from the east from jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it so to those that care about what god cares about to those that hurt over sin to those that want what god wants they're going to be marked on their foreheads and to those who do not have the mark on their foreheads they're going to be wiped out every single one of them as you continue to read in ezekiel chapter nine the word mark here in the original language that ezekiel was written in it's hebrew and the word is tav for mark it literally means a cross put a cross on their foreheads that's
how we'll know who follows the lord now this is long before the birth of jesus this is long before the crucifixion what we see is the story of jesus is woven throughout the entire scriptures for jesus is god it will give us a glimpse of what god does in our lives and what he's done for us because of his finished work on the cross we are sealed we are marked we are chosen by god we are his and he is ours and what we see here in revelation chapter 7 is a direct reference to be marked on the forehead it's symbolic your forehead represents your head your head represents your thinking your thinking represents who you are your beliefs will shape your behavior that's why but the bible speaks about how important it is what you think about in ephesians chapter 6 we're
reminded that this is a spiritual war that we live in we battle not against flesh and blood it may feel like you're fighting against other people it might feel like you're fighting against your ex you may feel like you're fighting to get somebody that's in a different political party than you are but the bible tells us this is not a battle against flesh and blood this is a spiritual battle and in the spiritual battle you should have spiritual armor and a part of that armor is the helmet of salvation protect your mind remember that you're saved and start thinking like it in romans chapter 12 verse 2 we're told do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind don't think like you used to think don't think like other people think think the way god wants you to think so protect your mind be marked by god have the top that cross
on the forehead of your life now john gets this vision that there are going to be these angels that are going to destroy the earth but before that happens god's grace steps in at just the right time and some will give their lives to the lord jesus this is absolutely awesome of our god it's never too late with god remember this is during the great tribulation the church has been caught up the only ones left are those who have rejected god's free gift of grace those who have said i don't want jesus i don't want anything to do with it and during this trying time some want to die and they surrender their lives to jesus so who are these that are sealed on the forehead verse 4 and i heard the number of the sealed 144 000 sealed from every tribe of the sons
of israel now what is up with the number 144 000 remember that question who can stand these 144 000 are the ones that are sealed by god god says they're mine and i'm yours and they're connected together so many people over the ages have claimed to be the 144 thousand the jehovah's witness say worth 144 000 if you work hard enough if you're good enough if you do enough to please jehovah you'll be a part of the 144 thousand that would be a terrible thing to be 144 thousand and one jehovah's witness aren't alone different groups of the seventh day of venice have said the same thing and many other religious groups have claimed to be the same thing
we are the 144 000 in the book of revelation so join our group and you could be the ones that are sealed by god but remember this is during the great tribulation so who are the ones that are sealed let's look at the text look at the text and you tell me shout out who are the 144 000 the tribe of the sons of they're the jewish people so we don't have to make it up we don't have to read between the lines these are jewish people that are part of the jewish nation of israel we don't have to come to our own conclusion we see that god has cared about israel and he still does even during this great tribulation now the bible speaks often of the jewish people jesus chose 12 jewish men
to follow him as disciples jesus himself the messiah the lord and savior the world is a jewish man three quarters of the bible three quarters of the bible is devoted to the jewish nation of israel so why do we at journey church care about israel we care about israel because god cares about israel you know journey church has given thousands of dollars to the evangelizing of the jewish people in israel and i am so excited to let you know that so many people have come to faith in jesus because of journey church supporting israel you might wonder what's so important about a jewish person coming to faith in jesus i'll tell you why because they're raised from an early age
that the scriptures promise a messiah god says he has a plan for his people and when a jewish person gives their lives to jesus they're giving their life to the promised messiah the chosen and anointed one of god and there's only one so when they believe in yeshua hamashiach which is a hebrew way of saying jesus christ which simply means this the lord the savior the christ the chosen messiah when they believe in him the fulfilling the promise of what god has for his people god has always has a plan he's always had a plan and his plans will never stop it may seem like they stop governments might come through and it looks like these governments are in charge and control but i'm here to let you know god is still sovereign and sits on his throne he's in charge he's in control you can celebrate that
with a golf clap or however you want to celebrate it but but we can know confidently in our hearts that we serve the lord god almighty now remember what a seal is if we go back to understand the historical context a seal is simply a melted wax on a document a scroll and then the imprint the signet ring would be placed on uh the the warm wax and it would be a seal of who owns the content so if it's a deed to a property you know that seal is the owner now we're told that these 144 000 will be sealed so who owns them god in fact in revelation 14 we see very specifically john says then i looked and behold on mount zion zion means the city of god
stood the lamb who's the lamb jesus it's always safe to say jesus at church and with him a hundred and forty four thousand who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads so here are the 144 thousand they're sealed by jesus they belong to jesus they're a part of the family of jesus these are jewish people that said i believe in jesus and his finished work and what he's done for me you see when you believe in jesus it changes everything i want you to know today when you believe in jesus you're sealed in ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 paul is writing to a church in ephesus and he says this about jesus and what you get the the holy spirit in him that's jesus in him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel that means good news of your salvation and when you believed in him you were
sealed with the promised holy spirit the holy spirit is god himself we have one god in three persons a triune perfect god when you believe in jesus you get god the holy spirit he's your seal who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory my friends when you believe in jesus you get god so even when you don't feel like you're saved you're sealed and you're still saved even when the whole world says you're not saved when the world says you're crazy when the enemy comes after you and accuses you of your past and brings back all the things that you've done if you've believed in jesus you're forgiven of all your sins and you're still sealed and saved by the power of god paul asked this question in romans chapter 8 who can separate us from the love of god
and you can go into every detail on the planet can satan separate you from the love of god can nakedness or famine or hunger can politics separate us can mask separate us come on can anything separate from the love of god i'll tell you right now the enemy is trying hard but the promise of god says this nothing can separate you from the love of god which is in jesus christ when he seals you you're sealed indeed and so we see in this great tribulation a hundred and forty four thousand jewish people who are going to evangelize the world they're gonna let the whole world know during the most difficult days that planet earth has ever seen during this great tribulation jesus still is the way he's the truth and the life we get to see who these
hundred and forty four thousand are john goes into great description he says twelve thousand from the tribe of judah were sealed twelve thousand from the tribe of reuben 12 000 from the tribe of gat 12 000 from tribe of asher 12 000 from the tribe of naftali 12 000 from the tribe of manasseh remember manasseh will come back to who he is in just a moment 12 000 from the tribe of simeon 12 000 from the tribe of levi twelve thousand from the tribe of issachar twelve thousand from the tribe of zebulun twelve thousand from the tribe of joseph any guess how many from the tribe of benjamin twelve thousand y'all are great at math all of those were sealed so we've got 12 groups of 12 000 now the number 12 in the scriptures means perfect authority remember there's 12 tribes so you got the perfect authority of god's people
jesus chose 12 disciples 12 apostles the word apostle means sent out is perfect authority in revelation chapter 4 around the throne of heaven we've got 24 thrones we've got two twelves we've got the twelve of the old testament the twelve of the new testament we've got the prophecies and the fulfillment we've got the old covenant and the new covenant we've got god's people around the throne in heaven but this is much more than 12 plus 12 this is 12 times 12 000 which means countless perfection about to do something great through his people that believe in him these 12 tribes reflect the original 12 tribes of israel but there's one tribe missing it's the tribe of dan dan is a part of the original 12 tribes of israel and the name is nowhere to be mentioned here
but there's still 12 tribes why isn't the tribe of dan mentioned like many portions of the book of revelation it's not explained we don't know exactly why the tribe of dan is not in here but some scholars have speculated that dan chose not to follow yahweh the great i am who i am but dan decided to do their own thing they decided to follow their way and as a result they're not found here as the ones that will be sealed in the days to come in judges chapter 18 we're told that the tribe of dan worship greatly idolatry idolatry is to give worth or worship to anything other than god and the tribe of dan saw the other idols around them and they they worship the other gods the tribe of dan took land that was not rightfully theirs
if there's one lesson that i would learn from this is that if you live in evil ways it could impact generations to come your wickedness may impact the the future generations but there are still 12 tribes so who replaced dan it's manasseh manasseh was the son of joseph so now you've got a grandchild of israel in the 12 tribes which tells me that if you live for the lord you will impact future generations you could impact your kids and your kids kids so it's important that you choose this day who are you going to follow who's the lord of your life who determines how you live and what you do so we we have these 144 000
jewish people that believe in jesus as the messiah and we're reminded of the exclusivism of the book of revelation it's all about jesus they're not many ways to god there's not many ways to bring about unity or to get to heaven there's one way and that's through jesus christ i love how the last book of the bible revelation reminds us it's all about jesus because the bible starts the same way in the book of genesis in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth and everything was great he made mankind uh man and woman in his image all was good and then by revelation genesis chapter 3 satan steps into the story and tempts humankind and they give into sin and sin enters the story but in the very same chapter genesis chapter 3
god promised a solution to sin and then we have throughout the entire bible this redemptive story pointing us to jesus every single book of the bible reminds us of jesus it's god's story and the book of revelation is the culmination of the story when we go back to the book of genesis we see that god had a plan for his people it started with a man named abram god said out of you will come a family so great it'll be like the stars in the sky abram you have a family so big he'll be more numerous than the sand on the seashore but the problem is he had no children and he and his wife were too old to have children but god will always fulfill what he promises they ended up having a child named isaac isaac ended up having a son named jacob jacob wrestled with god and he gets renamed by god the wrestler which means
israel jacob's name is israel israel is jacob israel has 12 sons these are known as the 12 tribes of israel and so you see god working through his people not to say he has an exclusive group of people but to say he's an exclusive god his people point to who he is years ago i took a an ancestry.com dna test i spit in a vial and i sent it in to find out who am i i'm still on that journey who am i i don't really know who i am i have a small broken family i don't have a clue who i am so i had two dreams and sending my dna in i hoped i had jewish blood in me so i could be a part of the family of israel that was a big dream of mine that i would have something jewish in me i don't care if it was .005 i just wanted something
jewish in me so i can call myself an israelite my second wish is that i had african blood in me i just believed deep down inside that i had african blood in me so i sent it in and i waited for weeks i was so nervous to get the results because i was pretty convinced i was african jew i'm convinced of that i got the results back contrary to what you might believe and what it looks like and what you think i had no african in me but i identify as an african i also had no jewish blood in me none i'm just this much gentile gentile means a non-jew and i'm like a gentile of the gentiles of the gentiles i mean i there's like nothing in me that brings
me close to this family of god so i could read these stories and say oh no i'm not a part of the family of god am i out of god's family am i not a part of god's people i want you to know some really good news that when you believe in jesus you're actually adopted into his family in john chapter 1 it says to all who did believe in him and received his name he's allowed you to become a child of god and here's what's great about jesus there are no step children in heaven you're adopted into the family you're born again you're brought into this the the the terms in the scripture you're grafted into the tree you become a part of this family tree forever and no one can separate that from you the enemy can try to say you're a gentile the enemy could try to say you were born into the wrong family the enemy could try to say you don't have the right
skin color or the blood or whatever that might be but jesus will tell you every time if you get to the gates of heaven you just have to know his name and when you know what he's done for you it changes everything when paul writes a letter to the galatians galatia was a region and there were different churches in this region and many of them are jewish people who had believed in jesus and they believed that if you want to believe in jesus and become a christian you've got to convert to judaism first now if you're a man that's a pretty big deal back in the day so you'd have to follow all the rules and rituals to become a christian but the message of jesus is the opposite you don't have to get right to get right with jesus you have to believe in what he's done for you that he did what needs to be done it's the message of grace you cannot earn it you cannot buy it cannot be into the
born into the right family so paul writes them a great letter it's a really small book if you want to go read it and he reminds them of the theology of jesus that actually in jesus there's neither male nor female jew or greek it doesn't matter who you are in jesus we're actually one and so he tells them in galatians 3 29 he says if you are christ meaning if you believed in jesus you're his you've got that seal you're identified with jesus then you are abraham's offspring heirs according to promise this means you are now in you may not have been born into the right family but the good news is this is not about what family you're born in are you born again because when you know jesus you get the
same inheritance it's yours all that god has to offer for eternity which we're going to look at more in the same chapter revelation is awesome that it reminds you heaven will be better than you could ever dream or fathom hollywood cannot do justice and how great heaven will actually be and so as we look at this i love what we see next and and that john's going to describe what that's going to look like after this there's that greek word meta taut again revelation 7 9. after this i looked and behold a great multitude 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 who okay who's the lamb that's the test
jesus always the right answer right so now john remember he's already in heaven but he gets this vision and he sees so many people he could not count them in that moment now these people are not jewish people he heard about the hundred and forty four but they're sent out to evangelize the word world during the great tribulation now he sees some that are before jesus wearing white robes now by the way when we read this in the book of revelation it doesn't mean we're all going to be wearing white robes in heaven okay so it'll be much more creative than that this represents righteousness it means you weren't good enough to get into heaven god gave you his righteousness and we will all have the same righteousness there won't be some people like oh you are really good on earth and you were it doesn't work like that in heaven you
either have jesus righteousness or not and they have they have white robes which represents his righteousness they've got palm branches which symbolizes celebration do you remember when jesus entered in jerusalem the last week they were waving palm branches saying hosanna in the highest hosanna means save you're the savior you're the king and they were celebrating that jesus was the king little did they know though the king came to give his life they thought he would come by force that he would take over the roman empire but jesus does not need to take things by force he's the king no matter what no matter who's ruling right now so john gets this vision they're celebrating that that's what heaven will be it will be a celebration so we continue on the story and john sees these countless christians before the throne celebrating and crying out with a loud voice everyone say loud voice loud voice heaven will be loud
it will be a party but better than anything you've ever experienced so all the lies that the enemy has said that it's going to be this quaint place where maybe you can golf or you see little chairs playing harps and no no it's going to be loud it's going to be great what are they saying salvation belongs to our god who sits on the throne and to the lamb who's the lamb that's right and all the angels remember angels are mighty creatures there's myriad upon myriad revelation chapter 5 says there's millions upon millions there's armies of angels they were standing around the throne and around the elders this is the church and the four living creatures they fell on their face before the throne and worshiped god saying amen
blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our god forever and ever amen come on this is worship i don't know what you anticipated in coming to church today but if we have a great god he's worthy of great worship any time we have little worship is because we have a little view of god now i recognize that there's different preferences and style for worship so i'm not saying one is better than the other or anything of that nature but what i am saying is our god is worthy of our worship of giving him everything recognizing that everything you have is because of
him he gets all honor and glory and praise he he gets all thanksgiving for anything good you have for he's a good god this gives us a wonderful look at what worship is like it's a continuation of what john sees back in revelation 4 and verse 5. then one of the elders this is a leader of the church addressed john saying who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come he gets a pop quiz don't you hate pop quizzes i mean he's like all out of nowhere like hey who are these all these guys in white with their palm branches is it kanye's choir is it why are there so many all where and why how how do we know who they are and in verse 14 john gets really honest and he said i said to him sir you know that's always the safest answer to the
teacher you know the answer to that we all know the answer to this i have no clue and he said to me these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb you see when you follow jesus you do not have to have it all figured out you do have to remember who does have it figured out god will constantly ask us questions to come to a conclusion and a right answer jesus frequently asks questions and the reason he asks questions is he wants to lead the person in front of him to an answer in the book of ezekiel he brings ezekiel into a vision of a valley full of dry bones i mean these people have been dead a long time and god says to ezekiel can these dry bones live
that's a trick question we all know the answer to that i mean but now you're talking to god do you want me to tell you the right answer god because the answer is no they cannot live but ezekiel much like what john how he responds he says oh lord you know you know the answer to that i know they can't live but you're god so you could do whatever you want to do and he actually brings those dry bones to life and they live but only with the help of the spirit of god you can look like you're alive and not be alive and so now john asked this question who are these that are right in front of you and the answer is they're the ones coming out of the great tribulation this is not the church that was caught up with god these are those that follow
jesus in the tribulation and they're not made clean because of their good deeds but by jesus christ this is the dichotomy that when you dip your life in the blood of jesus now you're white as snow this is a beautiful picture of what it means to follow jesus and it's in that place that we conclude this chapter the the church is caught up now we get a glimpse of what will happen in the days to come during these trying tribulation days verse 15 through 17. therefore they are before the throne of god this is this is a future things remember this is after the church age they're before the throne of god and they serve him day and night in his temple and he who sits on the throne will will shelter them with his presence so they get the gift of eternal life as well they shall hunger no more neither thirst no more that the sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat for the lamb who's the lamb jesus is in
their midst on the throne will be giving will be their shepherd that their leader and he will guide them to springs of living water and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes i i can't stress this enough particularly in the days to come as we study this book the great tribulation will be far worse than anything the earth has ever experienced and it doesn't matter if you choose to follow jesus after the church has been caught up raptured if you're here on earth it will be terrible difficult difficult difficult days inflation will be unlike anything that earth has ever seen you want a loaf of bread it will take a day's wage you'll have to walk in the scorching
heat to get there you'll be dehydrated only to find out that there's no water because the water has has all been ruined and wrecked it will be awful and typically what happens when we go through difficult days we blame god and we ask god questions rather than answering the questions rather than seeing the result of sin rather than seeing the sovereignty of god we say things like this when i get in heaven i'm going to ask god why he did that no you won't you won't be asking god anything you'll be falling on your face flat because you'll see that he truly is who he's always claimed to be but now we're told when you have jesus every wrong on this earth will be made right every pain that you had every ache of
the soul anything physically cancer disease sickness it will all be made right in heaven there's no economy in heaven the streets are made of gold you pick it up and be like i found gold there's like there's nothing look ahead of you for miles paved roads of gold there'll be food you know you'll eat in heaven no calories endless buffet bars that's one thing coveted killed is buffet bars if you notice that i'm still grieving and lamenting buffet bars in heaven a whole food food everywhere what we read here is that when you believe in jesus your reward will be greater than anything you fathom so the suffering you're going through now is absolutely worth it i know it may not seem like it but you
go study romans chapter five no pain in your life is wasted god will use it for his glory you can go study second corinthians chapter one that why would god allow you to suffer so you would minister to others that suffer so you would comfort them because now you can empathize just like your god came down and he suffered for you he knows everything you've been through he knows every betrayal he knows every hurt he knows every temptation he knows every physical pain he did it for you that's our god in jesus so the question is today do you know him you can believe in him today because if you don't believe in him that this is what we see in the book of revelation there's judgment
there's a consequence to your sin and god is perfect he's holy he's right and he has to judge today if you've never believed in him there's no better day than today the bible says you don't have to get your life right with god before you can be right with god that's good news so he's not asking go clean up your life then come back that's that's not how jesus works he just says i love you right now so will you give your life to me right now there's not a better day you can do this i want to ask you if you want that today right now it's yours all you have to do is believe in your heart that jesus did die on the cross once and for all for your sins he's the only person that's ever lived a sinless life and when he died on the cross he died once
and for all for all your sins and if you're willing to confess him as lord of your life because he defeated death he rose from the grave and that seals you with the holy spirit that gives you the gift of eternal life you're now forgiven of all your sins you now have the identity of the one that made you in your mother's womb god never makes mistakes it doesn't matter what any earthly person says god knew you and had a plan for you from the beginning now you might have been wondering what story is god writing in my life it's a great story the end is better than you could dream he's not done with you yet so i just ask you today if you've never made that decision it's yours it's incredibly simple you have to make it in your heart but you got to be willing to confess it with your mouth i'm going to ask that you just close your eyes for a moment this is the time
between you and the lord and now i want to speak to you if that's you you want to surrender your life to jesus christ i want to warn you it may not be easy but it will be worth it if that's you today i would love to pray with you i'm just going to ask with your eyes closed would you slip your hand up and let me know that you're making that decision today to follow jesus and i want to pray for you praise god i see the hand yes amen [Music] two people right next to each other now they get to pray for each other be with each other anyone else come on it's the greatest decision you can ever make it's more important than who you'll marry this is more important than where you live do you know your eternal destiny if you want jesus today throw your hand up
in the air right now i want to pray with you praise god amen yes amen praise god so many today are saying i need jesus i want to pray with you when you pray you're talking to god the bible teaches us that we should pray without ceasing which means don't stop talking to god there are no magic words he doesn't need eloquent words he just wants you to get real with him so you get real with god in your heart i'll pray words and you can pray something similar in your heart something like this lord jesus i choose you [Music] i want your grace forgive me of my sins thank you for the gift of the holy
spirit and the gift of eternal life in jesus name amen amen well i just celebrate and praise god for those that made a decision today man nobody nobody is more excited for you than god luke 15 says heaven has a party when you give your life to jesus we would love to pray for you would you just let us know you made that decision today it's really simple you can get out your phone and text one word life that's what you get in jesus life text us the word life to this number [Music]
we 541-527-7277 when you make these decisions you know this year already before today we've had 123 people give their lives to jesus come on we've had many baptisms already we're going to do some more i just talked to a gentleman first service who has surrendered his life to jesus and did not grow up in the church and said he's been on this journey and he's excited he's like i want to get baptized i don't even understand this thing but i'm ready i want to do this i want to align my life so that's the next step is now you follow jesus now remember if you mess up it's not over [Music] even i get discouraged i mess up and then i get paralyzed and i think oh no this is it that's a lie of the enemy god loves to use people who are totally unqualified and says i choose you and then the rest of the world says what
that's our god church i'm going to ask that you stand and as you stand to your feet i want to just challenge you with one last challenge if you've already believed in jesus do you worship him greatly do you know what he's done for you john chapter one gives a scary reality that when jesus came light stepped into the darkness but the world did not know it jesus is here right now we've got to choose this day whom will we follow like in the days of elijah with wicked king ahab and jezebel elijah thought he was alone but he wasn't there was a remnant you you go back and moses stepping up into leadership he didn't want to do it but god says you're the one i chose you this day joshua when he comes into this promised land sees all these false gods and
idols everywhere that are tempting the people he says as for me and my house we will serve the lord jesus says if you if you claim me if you know me i'll know you but if you deny me i'll deny you this day will you choose the lord even if the whole world continues in wickedness and evil can we rise up let us rise up and serve the lord let us get on our knees and pray god we give you this song our hearts cry is to know who you are and what you've done you are the light of the world you did what needed to be done oh we thank you for your finished work jesus oh i pray that you'd call your
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Reading Revelation as revelation
The message opens by correcting a common misreading of the book's title and purpose. Pastor Keith argues that Revelation is meant to unveil Jesus and to prepare God's people rather than to frighten them, and points to the outline Jesus gives John in chapter 1 as a map for the whole book.
Revelation 1:19
- When you have heard Revelation discussed, has it sounded more like a threat or like a revelation of Jesus? What shaped that impression?
- Pastor Keith distinguishes the church age, the tribulation, and the things to come. Which part of that outline raises the most questions for you?
- How might reading the book with Jesus at the center change the way you approach its difficult passages?
An intermission of grace
Chapter 7 interrupts the sequence of judgments with a pause: angels hold back the winds until God's servants are sealed. Pastor Keith uses the image of a play's intermission to explain that the story is not over, and to highlight that God's grace acts before judgment falls, giving people opportunity to turn to him.
Revelation 7:1-3
- Pastor Keith says the pause shows God giving opportunity to turn to him. How does that picture of God's patience land with you?
- What does it mean to you that the seals are placed before harm is allowed to proceed?
Sealed on the forehead
Pastor Keith connects the seal in Revelation 7 with Ezekiel 9, where a mark is placed on people who grieve over the evil around them. The forehead is treated as symbolic of the mind, and the message ties it to the helmet of salvation and the call to a renewed mind.
Ezekiel 9:4 · Ephesians 6 · Romans 12:2
- Pastor Keith says belief shapes behavior. Where have you seen that pattern in your own life, for better or worse?
- How does Pastor Keith connect remembering salvation with protecting your mind?
Secured by the Spirit, adopted by grace
Pastor Keith uses Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 to describe the Holy Spirit as the assurance that believers belong securely to God. Drawing on John 1 and Galatians 3, he explains that those outside Israel’s lineage are welcomed into God’s family through Jesus and share equally in its inheritance.
Ephesians 1:13 · Romans 8 · John 1 · Galatians 3:29
- When do you most find yourself doubting that you belong to God's family, and what does this message offer in that moment?
- Pastor Keith contrasts earning acceptance with receiving grace through Jesus. How would you describe that difference in your own words?
- What does adoption into God's family mean practically for how you see your own background?
The multitude and Jesus’ care
Revelation 7 depicts an immense worldwide community in white clothing celebrating with palm branches. Pastor Keith interprets their clothing as righteousness received through Jesus’ death rather than earned by good deeds. He reads the closing shepherd and water imagery as Jesus’ care for his people and the promise that suffering will end.
Revelation 7:9-17
- Pastor Keith says white robes represent Christ's righteousness and not our record. Where are you tempted to dress yourself in your own accomplishments instead?
- What tear in your own life or someone else's life do you most long to see wiped away?
- The Lamb is described as shepherd here. How does that picture help or unsettle you as you think about God's care?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
Why does Pastor Keith say the book is called Revelation and not Revelations?+
Pastor Keith explains that the singular title names the book’s purpose: the Greek term means revealing or unveiling. Drawing on Revelation 1, he presents the book as showing who Jesus is rather than simply listing future events. Jesus’ eternal identity becomes the focus for reading the visions and judgments that follow.
Who are the 144,000 and why is the tribe of Dan missing?+
In the tribal list of Revelation 7:4-8, Pastor Keith lets the text identify them: people from the tribes of the sons of Israel, listed as twelve thousand from each of twelve tribes. That is why the message says they are Jewish people from the nation of Israel. The number twelve is explained as perfect authority. The absence of Dan is not explained in Scripture, and Pastor Keith says so plainly, then relays that some scholars connect it to Dan's idolatry in Judges 18. Pastor Keith also notes that Manasseh, Joseph's son, takes a place among the twelve, and treats this as a lesson about how choices affect later generations.
What does it mean to be sealed by God?+
Pastor Keith compares God’s seal with a signet ring stamped in wax to identify ownership. He interprets the forehead symbol as referring to the mind, connecting it with Ezekiel 9 and the protective armor imagery in Ephesians 6. He uses Romans 12 to encourage a changed way of thinking, then cites Ephesians 1 to assure believers that the Holy Spirit confirms their belonging to God even when their feelings are uncertain.
Why does the message spend so much time on Israel and the Jewish people?+
Pastor Keith ties it directly to the text, since Revelation 7 lists the twelve tribes by name, and argues that God has cared about Israel and still does. He points out that Jesus chose twelve Jewish disciples and says that three quarters of the Bible is devoted to the nation of Israel.
