Grace In The Midst Of Chaos

 

 

"After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. ² And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, ³ saying, "Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads."

Revelation 7:1-3

 

Good Morning my beloved,

 

We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord. We're glad to have you here with us today, thank you for joining us. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been continuing to share the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to God's Word!

   

I want to let all of you know that we are thankful your prayers. Prayer is powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. All for His glory!

Resistance is ingrained into our culture. Our society craves independence and autonomy. We instinctively want to be the ones calling the shots and making the rules. While rebelling against authority is certainly not new, the Covid-19 pandemic has assuredly given it a modern twist. It seems we are constantly being told what to do. Stay at home, wear a mask, social distance and now, the threat of be vaccinated or loose your rights. 

Psychological reactance, is your brain’s reaction when you feel a threat to your freedom or feel that your choices are being limited. In fact, many people instinctively become annoyed, panicked or even angry when rules or regulations are put in place. Most often doing the opposite of what they've been advised. Often leading to unsafe or self-destructive behavior.  

People are increasingly unwilling to do things just because someone in authority tells them they should. Moreover, everyone seems to have an opinion on truths that were once considered to be self-evident. Because someone suggests something, does not necessarily mean they are trying to control us. However, when we are no longer given the choice to decide something for our ourselves, we feel are freedoms are being infringed upon. Everyone suffers injustices to one degree or another.

Viktor Frankl once wrote "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days."

 

Let us pray

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We are thankful that because we’ve put our trust in Chris, we no longer have to fear Your wrath. Help us to be faithful to warn others, who do not yet know Christ as their Lord and Savior. We pray for those who are losing their lives because they are standing for the gospel, and their testimony for Christ, grant them endurance O Lord and receive them into Your presence. Touch the hearts and the lives of their persecutors that they would be transformed. Let us rejoice in the advantages of persecution. May it all be for Your glory and for Christ's sake.

It is in His name we pray

Amen

 

Today's Message:  Grace In The Midst Of Chaos

In our last message, we finished looking at the first six seals which lay out the divine judgment of God over the period of time called the tribulation. A time which is yet to come. In chapter seven, it describes various groups who are standing. It begins in verse 1, with four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. Then, in verse nine,  there is a great multitude of the saved stands before the throne of God. And, in verse 11, we find angels who are standing around the throne. This is important, because only those who can "stand" will remain safe when the wrath of God strikes. For unbelievers, the end brings despair and hopelessness. The pride and self-sufficiency, which fill the hearts and minds of men today, will be shattered and ultimately destroyed. 

 

The world has rejected Christ, its Creator, Who in His Authority, has the right to exercise punishment,  rather than to punish evil, would much rather see His creatures repent. 

 

Open your Bibles to Revelation the seventh chapter. Revelation chapter 7. Chapter 7 is inserted in between John's vision of the sixth and the seventh seals. Because God pauses to demonstrate His grace one more time. So, after the devastating judgment of sixth chapter and the first six seals, chapter seven offers a moment of calm, a moment of promise, and a moment of hope,  before the incomprehensible horror of the trumpet judgments begin. God's Grace In The Midst Of Chaos.

 

As we have been learning, with each of the six seals, there is a period of wrath, which is to come. These are preliminary judgments that serve as a warning before the final day of the Lord comes. The sixth seal, described in chapter six, is what triggers the day of the Lord. Yet, the world has not been willing to acknowledge God. Even though believers have been giving testimony to the Word of God and telling people that what is happening is the judgment of God. Ultimately, in an attempt to silence them, they are persecuted and killed. However, when the culminating fury comes, they know it’s God. Chapter 7 helps us learn the answer to the question in chapter 6:17, "Who can survive?" 

The ungodly will not survive. Paul writes in II Thessalonians 1, "when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." 

 

I invite you to follow along with me as I read to you verses one through three, to set the text in our minds as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit is saying to each of us. Revelation 7:1-3.

 

"After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads."

 

Just when destruction seemed sure, four angels held back the four winds of judgment until God’s people were sealed as His own. This sealing occurred in this interlude between the sixth and seventh seals. In the midst of judgment, there is to be mercy. God will protect the righteous, and they will enter into His kingdom, then He will destroy all of the wicked. The wrath belongs to those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And the wrath will come. However, we need to remember, that same seven-year period is a time of salvation and redemption. 

In chapter 6, we met the redeemed out of this period, we saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And, later in chapter 7, we will meet those who were redeemed out of this period.

Verse 1, begins with the phrase "After this," which is a very important phrase.It is used numerous times in the book of Revelation. Wherever you see it, it introduces a new vision. The sixth-seal vision is set aside now, and he sees a new vision. We see that the winds of judgment are in the hands of God and His angels, not in the hands of evil. This is a most wonderful truth, and is exactly what is being declared here. The four corners of the earth are the four main points of the compass; North, South, East and West. And these four places on the compass are the four points from which wind originates. So, it is accurate to describe it in this way. 

 

These four powerful, active agents of judgment are carrying out God’s will in this great time of the wrath of God. They work with the elements of nature, and we see that elsewhere. The verb "holding back" indicates that the wind would like to blow, and they are restraining it. By the way, in Scripture, wind is often associated with God’s judgment. Jesus, in His parables, talks about the angels being a part of the final fury and the final judgment. So, they are holding back the wind so that it doesn’t harm the earth, it doesn’t harm the sea, and it doesn’t harm any tree.

 

By the way, another interlude comes between the sixth and seventh trumpets, but not between the sixth and seventh bowls. God does not open the seventh seal until He has marked His people as His own.  The four angels hold back the winds so that not a leaf rustles in the trees, and the sea became still and as smooth as glass. This is in contrast with the earthquakes and meteor showers that had just occurred in the previous chapter. The sun is not shinning, the stars are not shinning, meteors are falling to the earth, and now the wind has stopped blowing. God's wrath is restrained.

 

Now, in verses 2-3, John says, "And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads."

 

Now, John's vision not of the judgment on the ungodly, but a vision of a special protection on the godly. In other words, don’t let that wind go; don’t let those trumpets be blown, until we have sealed the  "doulous," the slaves of our God on their foreheads. Many have thought this to be Christ, however, is another of the same kind. I believe we can see that because of the use of the plural pronoun "we" in verse 3. The angel identifies himself with the other four angels. I believe that this fifth angel is of a higher rank than the other four because he gives them orders.  At this point, the Lord is not coming back as an angel, He’s coming back as the glorified Christ.

 

I'd like to point out that the sun always rises in the east. Notice, that John says the angel ascends from the rising of the sun. Therefore, this angel is ascending from the east. We know that the sun always rises in the east. As a footnote, the isle of Patmos, from which John is writing, is in the Mediterranean toward the west. And the land of Israel would be toward the east. So, John sees this coming from the Holy Land. Here comes this angel, and he’s got the seal of the living God. This is not the seal of some earthly monarch, but the true and living God. 

The Antichrist, the false deity, who will demand that everybody take his mark in the forehead or on the back of the hand to publicly identify him as their god, and if they refuse, they will die. Scripture refers to this as the "mark of the beast." It is the seal of the Antichrist, identifying those belonging to him. 

 

Throughout Scripture, God to put His mark on people. You remember, that He put a mark on Lot when He wanted to save Him. He put a mark on the children of Israel who were to be spared in the slaughter of the firstborn. He put a mark on Rahab. God has repeatedly marked those who are loyal to the true and living God, belonging to Him. Here, we see that God is going to again spare the people that are marked with His seal. The seal of God is then, His protection. 

 

So, the angel is saying, "Don’t let the wind go. Don’t let the devastation carry on. Don’t blow the trumpets yet until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads." These are the redeemed, they are not converted here, they've already been saved. They have not died as martyrs; they’re still alive. And they are to be protected. They have been faithfully preaching the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. They had the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father on their foreheads. They are obediently following the Lamb. 

 

Next time, we will see the 144,000, who have already been converted. They are the first fruits of a redeemed Israel. So, be sure to come back for that.

 

In Closing..

 

In today's text, we find that God's seal indicates His ownership. When God seals His own, He is declaring that no more transactions are coming. This gives us the security that He will not transfer that ownership to anyone. If you have believed, and placed your trust in Jesus Christ, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, the Holy Spirit’s work in our everyday lives is a constant reminder that we belong to God. The Lord knows those who are His, and, everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness and sin.

 

Because salvation belongs to the Father and the Son it cannot be obtained in any other way. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!

 

May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

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