A Parenthetic Vision by Woodrow Kroll

Transcription

1 A Parenthetic Vision by Woodrow Kroll Today s Radio Study: 1 A Parenthetic Vision Woodrow Kroll: We know that John was a disciple of the Lord Jesus. We know that at the cross, Jesus committed the care of Mary, His mother, to John, this disciple, and John to her care as well. We also know historically that John went to the city of Ephesus and probably took Mary with him to the city of Ephesus and lived there during the later years of his life. We know that the emperor banished John from Ephesus to the tiny island of Patmos as a punishment for his preaching the Gospel. He spent some time there and it was on that island that John receives this Revelation from God. The Revelation is not about the Antichrist. The Revelation is not about the false prophet. The Revelation is not about the Battle of Armageddon. It s the Revelation of Jesus Christ. So if our focus in the Book of Revelation is anywhere other than on Jesus, if we re so enamored by the beast and the false prophet and the number 666 on all the things we ve studied in this book if we focus there and miss the intent of the book, and that s to show the grace of God even in tribulation, even in judgment, through the Person of Jesus Christ, we ve missed the whole reason why John got this Revelation in the first place. Apparently, after he received the Revelation, John returned to the city of Ephesus and there he died; and I m going to guess it s somewhere about A.D. 96, toward the end of the first century A.D. If you think about the Revelation that John received, as I said, not everything in this Revelation is in chronological order. The first three chapters deal with history and the present. Then in chapter 4, remember, the very first verse John is caught up; he is called to go up to heaven probably not physically to go to heaven. But in this revelatory state, he s caught up to heaven. He s taken up spiritually so he can see these things that are yet to come. John caught up to heaven, the first thing he sees is this sealed scroll this sealed scroll that has seven seals. He begins to weep because there is nobody worthy to open this scroll. Then an angel comes to him and says, John, don t worry. God s taken care of this. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God Jesus Himself can open the scroll. Now, the scroll and the seals on the scroll are the judgments of God. Remember, John is struggling to get the right language that you and I can understand based on what he is seeing. So, he describes God s judgment as a scroll that has seven seals. You open one seal and unroll the scroll. And there you read about the first seal judgment. You break another seal, deeper into the scroll; unroll a little more and you see the second seal. He does that for six of the seals. But when he gets to the seventh seal, which is in chapter 8, the seal opens the door to all the judgments that are going to be the trumpet judgments of God. There is this little parenthetical chapter at chapter 7. It talks a little bit more about what s hap-

2 pening in the world at that time. So, chapter 7 doesn t move the narrative on any. And you see the same thing in chapter 11 and chapter 10, the narrative is not moved forward. It s just more information about what s going on. Now, we come to chapter 14 in our study. And the same thing is true. This is another parenthetical chapter. It kind of gives John just a little bit of a glimpse about the future, a little bit of a glimpse about the end of time. Now, let s face it, John is working his way through some pretty tough stuff. John has seen seven seal judgments. And they re horrific. Then he sees seven trumpet judgments. They re worse than the seven seals. Then he s about to see the seven bowls or vial or goblet judgments. They are worse than the first two series of seven judgments each. So, John needs pumped up at this point; just needs a little bit of encouragement. And you know what? God is so good at that. Just as He s telling him about another series of judgments coming, chapter 14 occurs. This is a way simply to encourage John. Well, let s jump right into chapter 14. Let me read the first 3 verses. You ll see how God brings courage and comfort and encouragement to John in the middle of this great judgment. John says, Then I looked and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth, (Revelation 14:1-3). Now, this, of course, is not the first time we ve encountered these 144,000. These are people who were in the first half of the Tribulation period. These are Jewish people. These are people who trusted Christ as Savior. These are people who had to flee because of their faith. And now they re martyred and they re caught up to heaven and they are in the throne room of God. So, as a result of that, John gets a little vision, not of what s happening on Earth but of what s happening in heaven while all this is going on, on Earth. Now, what you ve got to see is that these people in heaven are enjoying the presence of God. And the people on Earth who have banned God from everything they don t want to have anything to do with God they are enjoying the wrath of God. How we relate to God shows whether or not we enjoy God s grace or we have to fear God s wrath. That s true today, isn t it? If you come to the Lord Jesus as Savior, if you trust what the Bible says about your sin and about God s provision of Jesus as Savior for your sin, if you believe that what Jesus did at the cross of Calvary is all God requires to pay the penalty for your sin, you don t experience the wrath of God. You can sing a song too. But if you reject all that, then the wrath of God awaits. See, God isn t mean in bringing about His wrath. God is just honest. God said, Do not disobey because disobedience brings consequences. We ve said that to our children all their growing up years. Isn t that true? Our parents said it to us. God, the Father, says it to His people. And yet when we did disobey, it was only the grace of God that kept His wrath from us. So, now we see these 144,000 who were in the first half of the Tribulation. They are in heaven now. And it says that he sees, first of all, notice, he sees a lamb standing on Mount Zion next to God, the Father. Now, is there any way we can identify who this lamb might be? Well, first of all, it is a lamb standing on Mount Zion. Mount Zion is the place of God. I think the lamb probably is an identification of the Lord Jesus standing next to the Father bringing comfort to these 144,000 Jewish believers. These are ones who have been sealed by God. Notice in verse 1 that they have the name of the Father written on their foreheads. The Antichrist couldn t stand that so he had to come up with his own identification on the foreheads. They were sealed. So, the false prophet sealed those who follow the Antichrist. I mean if you can t do the right thing, you try to mimic Him. And that s what the beast and the false prophet and Satan are trying to do. Verse 2, says, I heard a 2 A Parenthetic Vision

3 voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters. That s just to say, This was a loud choir of people. Now, if you ve ever heard the thundering roar of a falls, you ve stood before Niagara Falls and all you can hear is the roar of the water...i ve stood before Victoria Falls in Africa and heard that tremendous roar of water. When you think about loud noise, deafening noise, the roar of water comes to mind. And he uses that as a symbol for how loud these 144,000 people are singing. And besides that, they have an orchestra accompanying them on harps. So, you have harpists; you have singers; and they are singing a new song before the throne of God. Now, this is a song that the four living creatures don t sing. This is a song the elders in heaven don t sing. This is a song that no one can sing except these 144,000. Why is this song restricted to them? Well, I think it s the song of their redemption. They sing about what they know. They are singing to the glory of God for what He has done in preserving them alive and then, at their deaths, bringing them to heaven so that they can, in fact, enjoy the presence of God. They are singing the song of the redeemed. You and I sing that same song today. It s a different kind of redemption. It happens in a different way. But it s still the grace of God that brings it to us. So, when we sing songs like, *Redeemed how I love to proclaim it! You can just project that in the future there will be 144,000 Jewish people singing something very similar. Now, John, I mean, bless his heart, John has seen all these terrible judgments falling on the Earth. He s a little bit taken back by all of this and God says, Hey, don t worry, John. It s going to be OK. In fact, I ve got people up here right now singing about redemption because in the middle of My judgment, I brought My grace to people who trust Me. It s always been that way, hasn t it? Even in the middle of judgment, God will bring His grace to those who trust Him. Tami Weissert: How about a little clarification? This 144,000 is the same 144,000 we read about in chapter 7? WK: That s right. TW: And then they fled into the wilderness. WK: Yes. TW: And now we are talking here about them being in heaven. So, what happened between the wilderness and here in heaven? WK: I m not really sure. Remember, this is a vision that s given to John. This may depict a future event and not a present event. We just don t know. It s entirely possible the 144,000 are still hiding in the Moab Dessert. But John sees the ultimate end of those sealed by God s protection. Well, let s come back to chapter 14 of the Book of Revelation. [In] the first three verses, our attention has been on heaven. And that has been a great encouragement to John. He sees what s going on up there while things are going on down here. Notice it says in verse 4, These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they were without fault before the throne of God (Revelation 14:4-5). But notice verse 6, Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water (Revelation 14:6-7). Now, what I want you to notice in this passage is that the Gospel is being preached. This is after the seven seal judgments and after the seven trumpet judgments and just before the seven 3 A Parenthetic Vision

4 bowl judgments. This is the darkest day in history. And yet, he says, I see another angel having the everlasting Gospel to preach to the whole world. In the middle of judgment, the Gospel is still being preached. Now, the Gospel is always the message of the death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, when you look at this passage, first of all, you see the Gospel is still alive and well right here in the middle of the Great Tribulation. There are still people believing the Gospel. The fact that it is Gospel means that the message of Jesus is still alive and well. People are still responding to that message, the message of the Gospel. And notice how I know they respond to it. Look what it says in verse 7; the angel says with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him. Well, those who don t fear God are the ones who fear Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet. And they give glory to Satan. So, what he s doing in the middle of Satan doing his dirty work on Earth, there is this angel that comes out of heaven and says, Don t fall for any of that; fear God; give glory to Him. Now, notice, For the hour of His judgment has come. All the way through the New Testament, we keep hearing about the coming judgment of God. Now, in the Book of Revelation, He says, It s here; this is it; this is what I ve been promising since Genesis 3 when the Fall of man occurred and the curse came on the Earth and mankind had to pay the consequences for his sin. This is what I ve been talking about, and here it is. Now, see, we always ask, Why would God bring judgment on the world like this? My question is, Why would He wait so long? It s the grace of God that kept this judgment back for all these generations. So, He says, Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs. This is the message of God given by an angel flying out of heaven to tell us there is still an opportunity for salvation even in the midst of God s judgment. Now, look at verse 9: a third angel appears, Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Now, there s a warning for you. See this whole Book of Revelation is designed to be a warning. It s a warning now of what God will do in the future. But he s saying this in the present tense. He s saying that God is now pouring out His wrath. We ve seen two complete series of seven judgments each. We saw the trumpets and before that we saw the seals. We are about to see the seven bowl judgments starting in the next chapter. Chapter 14 is this tiny little respite, this tiny little bit of encouragement where this poor John, receiving this vision that he can t even understand and writing it down, John is encouraged to know that something good is going to happen in the end. Now, finally, this parenthetical chapter comes to an end with the reference that we find here and the reference that becomes extremely important. Notice down at verse 15, Another angel [this is the angel chapter], came out of the temple [the temple of God in heaven], crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So, he who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. Reaped of what? The earth is reaping the judgment of God. This is the day of the wrath of God. Now, the Old Testament mentioned it again and again. The New Testament mentions it again and again, but now we ve come to the day when God actually pours out His wrath on this earth. See, all we ve known so far is the grace of God. All you ve ever seen in your life is God s grace. But the Bible is clear: the day will come when the curtain of God s grace will come crashing down, and another curtain will rise. And it will be the curtain of God s wrath. What the world is going to see here is the wrath of God. The sickle will be used to cut down the people of the earth because they have disobeyed God, and they have never repented of their sin. In fact if you look all the way through the Book of Revelation, every time it talks about repentance, it 4 A Parenthetic Vision

5 makes note of the fact mankind did not repent of his sin. So, under the grace of God, man does not want to repent of sin. And under the wrath of God, man does not want to repent of sin. So, the end of all this is the fierce judgment of God. While there are people who say, Why would a God of love bring about this judgment? we have to remember that the God of love is an honest God. He promised this judgment. We disobeyed in spite of that promise. As a result, that judgment has to come upon the earth because God is an honest God; He s a holy being. He could not be holy and make a promise that He doesn t keep. And, as a result, now, we re seeing the judgment of God. This chapter is a brief interlude between the judgments of God from the trumpets and seals and what s about to happen. And that s the judgment of God in chapter 15. Now, tomorrow, we re going to be focusing on chapter 15 and a bit of chapter 16 to see that everything that God has planned in judgment will take place. Today, though, let s rejoice in the fact that in the midst of the judgment of God, the Gospel is still being preached. And even in the Tribulation period, people are coming to trust Christ as their Savior. Unless otherwise indicated, scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 2012 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to the Bible P.O. Box Lincoln, NE backtothebible.org 5 A Parenthetic Vision