Welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the book of Revelation. This will be study #11 of Revelation, chapter 1. We are presently reading in verse 4, where it says:

John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

In our last study we were discussing the number 'seven,' as 'seven' is found throughout the Bible, the number 'seven,' the word 'seven,' and especially in the book of Revelation it is found therein 54 times. So as we are undertaking this study of the book of Revelation, we are going to find that we come across this number time and again. So we want to make sure that we understand this number as well as we can, by God's grace, if He gives us understanding, that we look to the bible for its definition of this word, the word 'seven.' What is the spiritual meaning?

We were looking at some of these verses and I want to go to one verse in particular that really helps us in learning about this word, the number 'seven.' It says in Psalm 12, verse 6:

The words of JEHOVAH are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

That is, the word of God is pure or perfect. Purity and perfection have very much in common. It is hard to distinguish between the two, and the Bible is certainly perfect; it is pure. It is without error or fault or blemish of any kind, in its original: no mistakes, no wrong statements, and nothing that was said by God that has been proven false or wrong. The Bible, the word of God, is perfect.

We were looking at the number 'seven' and we got into a discussion of the 'seven' thousand years from the flood until the year 2011, and I do want to discuss that during this study. But let us back up a little bit to look at another verse that has the number 'seven' in view.

I want to go to the book of Numbers. Now we have already seen 'seven' used in Psalm 12. And we have seen it used in Leviticus 16 in the context of the Day of Atonement - that the blood was sprinkled 'seven' times upon the mercy seat, pointing to the work of Christ as He paid for the sins of His people. And what did Jesus do when He made payment for their sins? He cleansed His Elect people. He took their sins upon Himself and He paid the penalty: "The wages of sin is death," and Christ made payment before the world began for His people, or on behalf of them, and thereby guaranteeing that their sins would be washed away, once the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus was applied to them at some point in their lifetime. This relates very much to purification. So, again, the number 'seven,' the sprinkling of the blood 'seven' times, points to the perfecting of the whole company of the Elect, the cleansing of God's people, the purifying of them.

Also, we looked at Naman the Syrian general, as Elisha the prophet had told him to dip himself 'seven' times in the river Jordan. After the 'seventh' time his leprosy was washed away and his skin became like that of a young child, a picture of salvation; again, the washing, the cleansing, the purifying of sin for God's people.

Now let us go to Numbers, chapter 12, and here we have the historical account of Miriam, Moses' and Aaron's sister, and when Miriam and Aaron attempted to usurp Moses authority and to take the position that God had assigned to Moses, then God acted and struck Miriam with leprosy. We read about that in verse 9-11 of Numbers 12:

And the anger of JEHOVAH was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

So Miriam became a leper, and leprosy is a picture of sin. Here Miriam has been struck or plagued with leprosy and Aaron, the High Priest of Israel, is beginning to beseech on her behalf that the leprosy might depart from her. It says in verse 12:

Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.

Sin, of course, brings death. Man is spiritually dead. We are dead in sin, if God has not saved us, and "the wages of sin is death," and a person will die forever, being eternally destroyed, unless God has had mercy upon them. So Miriam is an example of someone who is in an unsaved condition because she is plagued with leprosy. And then in verses 13-16, it says:

And Moses cried unto JEHOVAH, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

Well, God struck Miriam with leprosy, but He did not remove it from her for 'seven' days. She was to be shut out of the camp. It is not too specific here, and it is possible that God removed the leprosy earlier than the 'seventh' day; maybe He did it right away and she just had to remain outside of the camp in order to be proclaimed clean after 'seven' days. It is not too specific, but the point is that she was a leper and outside the camp of Israel until 'seven' days had passed; and then as Moses and Aaron interceded on her behalf, she was permitted to come back into the camp, which indicated her leprosy was gone. Certainly, if she still was a leper, there is no way she would have been permitted back into the camp. So she was cleansed from her leprosy and this happened after a period of 'seven' days.

Now we are interested in this due to the number 'seven' and a period of 'seven' days. That is what we read in Genesis chapter 7, in verse 4, and I will read it again:

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Then 'seven' days later, what happened? God shut Noah and his family into the ark and the flood waters began, and all outside of the ark with the breath of life perished. God brought a worldwide judgment after a literal 'seven' day period, as He made the statement to Noah on the tenth day of the second month of Noah's calendar, and 'seven' days later, on the seventeenth day of the second month, God brought it to pass.

And as we learned, as the Lord showed us how to make the connection from the discussion of the flood and the End of the world in 2Peter, chapter 3, where in the midst of that discussion God placed a verse indicating that "one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day."

In the Bible, of course, we have to follow God's lead. He has taught us how He does things; the word of God, the Scripture, is full of spiritual meaning. We must follow the Scriptural direction that God gives us, and He directed us back to the flood, and there we saw, "Oh, it is 'seven' days. God is saying 'seven' thousand years, historically. Yes. It was 'seven' days to find safety in the ark or perish."

Spiritually, it is 'seven' thousand years to find safety in He who the ark represented, the Lord Jesus, or perish! After that 'seven' thousand year period, the door was shut, (just as) literally, historically, after 'seven' days, the door was shut. Spiritually, following 'seven' thousand years on the date of May 21, 2011, which had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of the seventeenth day of the second month, God shut the door to Heaven. He had already saved all of His Elect, just as He had rescued Noah and his family, and they were guaranteed safety and deliverance from the wrath of God that destroyed all with the breath of life with the flood.

Well, by May 21, 2011, God saved all the Elect whose names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They were all safe and secure in the kingdom of Heaven, in the person of Christ; they were guaranteed not to perish, as God then shut the door to Heaven and is no longer allowing or permitting anyone to enter in, because now it is a time of Judgment, of wrath.

No one was saved after the seventeenth day of the second month in the flood, although people could have lived for some days, or even a couple of weeks after, we do not know. Certainly, for some length of time after that door was shut, some people did survive as they would seek higher and higher ground, until finally they perished. There was no mercy of God to reach out to them, or to sail the ark to where they were so they might get aboard. There was no reopening of the door of the ark. There was no more calls from Noah, the preacher of righteousness, to get onboard. There was no more physical action of building the ark. It was already constructed, and so the witnessing that took place over the long 120 years leading up to that date was complete; it was finished. Now it was a matter of bringing the judgment to pass, and God did that.

And, likewise, now that God has shut the door of Heaven, there will be no more opening of the door, even though the Bible does tell us something interesting in Matthew 7, verse 21. (And is it not interesting that God tells us this concerning Judgment Day? Why do you think He would put this language in the Bible? What is the point of it? Except we know very well now what the point is, because we have seen this taught in the Scripture, and then what we see outside amongst people debating these things, it is as though we are seeing the word of God come to pass right before our eyes.) It says in Matthew 7, in verses 21-23:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

God is saying many are going to dispute with Him in that day. Well, let us see a little further in Matthew 25. Here they are disputing with God that they are not God's Elect, and then it says in Matthew 25:10:

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Just as we read concerning that the historical door of the ark was shut after the 'seven' days, and just as we have learned that the door to Heaven was shut after 'seven' thousand years, so here it is the bridegroom coming in judgment. God can come in judgment and that does not mean you have to 'see' Him. He began the judgment process on the churches, so He came as the Judge for the churches back in 1988, and no one ever 'saw' that; no one could 'see' Christ come as Judge. Likewise, on May 21, 2011, He came as Judge for the world to begin the Day of Judgment, and no one needed to 'see' Him.

But, anyway, let me continue reading in Matthew 25:11:

...and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

That is just what we read, as they were crying, "Lord! Lord!" back in Matthew 7, and continuing in Matthew 24:12-13:

But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

So there, in the context of Judgment Day, God speaks of a shut door, and then people coming AFTER the door is shut and crying out, "Lord! Lord!" That is, "Now we want to get in! We want to come in!" And God tells us further in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 13, some more information about the Day of Judgment in verse 24 of Luke 13:

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

God says to "strive," to put forth effort, to enter in at the strait gate. That is the narrow gate and a gate is a door. Remember, "Wide is the way that leads to destruction, but narrow is the way that leads to life." It is a strait gate. "Many are called but few are chosen." The Elect go through the narrow way of the true Gospel of the Bible, because God brings us through - no one else can make it. And, so, here God is giving direction: "Strive to enter in" that way. Why? He goes on to explain, "...for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door..."

Now this verse is telling us something highly unusual! It is telling us that AFTER the Master of the house (God Himself) has risen and shut the door, then many are going to seek to enter in. That is very unusual. And they are not seeking to go "the broad way," but they are seeking to go the "strait gate" way! They want to go the way that God has always established in His word.

You know it reminds us of God telling the Israelites to go into the land of Canaan and take the land, not long after they came out of the land of Egypt. Then after the spies searched the land and came back with an evil report: "Oh, we are not able! We cannot do this! There are giants in the land." All of the dangers were presented to the Israelite people, and they were all frightened and they refused to go and take the land. Then God judged them. He "shut" that door. While that door was open, they did not want to go that way.

That is the nature of man. They always have to do things contrary to God. They always have to dispute with Him. They always have to argue with Him. His way is never pleasing to men.

It is never, seemingly, satisfactory to them, just as when it was God's plan to save a great multitude during the time of the Great Tribulation; the door to Heaven was flung wide open. "Come one! Come all! Seek the Lord, crying out to Him while He may be found!" God had this message broadcast all over the Earth. And did man seek Him? Did they come the narrow way, crying to Him and begging for mercy? Well, only those that He moved within to do so did that - only they responded in a proper way. The people of the world did not. Those in the churches dismissed it. Those in the world laughed at it and mocked. It was foolishness! They had no interest.

Alright, finally, the time came, and by the way, there were some that criticized God's people for saying He would save a great multitude. You see, you cannot please man no matter what you say, no matter what truth of the Bible, there are going to be critics. We were criticized for indicating God was saving tens upon tens upon tens of millions of people around the world. Then God shut the door to Heaven after He accomplished His plan and saved that great multitude, and this verse in Luke is telling us that now (some) people are beginning to get the idea that they now want to go into the Kingdom of God: "Oh, yes, we will cry for mercy." The idea is that they are more willing to do it God's way, on His terms. So many, we can expect, will attempt to enter in, and yet they will not be able, because "what God has shut," the Bible says, "no man can open."

You know, people respond to the child of God, the true believer, when they hear these things, and they act as if we shut the door. They are angry. They are upset. They are disputing about it, yet their dispute is not with us. It is not with the believer. We do not have any power or authority to open a door. We cannot fling it far and wide open and say, "Now God is saving a great multitude." Only God could do that, according to His timing, during a certain short little season of Great Tribulation.

And, likewise, we do not have any power or ability to close that door to Heaven. Of course not! We are only doorkeepers. The Bible says that we keep the door, and a doorkeeper is a lowly servant. If the Master of the house says, "Open up that door and beckon all to come in, that they may come to me that they might enter in," then the lowly doorkeeper holds the door open and we tell people, "The door is open. Will you not seek the Lord that you may enter His Kingdom?"

And when the Master of the house arises and shuts the door and now He gives command to His servants, the doorkeepers, and He says, "This door is shut. The door to my Kingdom is now closed. I made a point of telling all the world this in the days leading up to May 21, 2011, Judgment Day, the day the door to Heaven shuts forever. Now you are my servant, you are my doorkeeper, and you are to inform people, just as you were to inform them that the door was open, if anyone asks, or if you need to share truth, this is what you share: Heaven's door is now shut."

I am sorry. If it were my salvation plan, well, I might do things differently. But it is not mine. It has never been mine. The child of God is not the determiner. We are not the one to say when the church age is under way, and we are not the one to say when the church age is over. We are not the one that decides when it is the day of salvation, and, certainly, we are not the ones that determines when that day of work, the day of salvation, has come to an end, and "the night cometh when no man can work." That is not for us to decide when the sun is to shine brilliantly in the heavens all over the Earth, and when the sun is to be darkened. It is not for us to allow people to enter in. We cannot.

The churches try to take over that role, the role that is only God's, and they try to be the determiners of who is saved and who is not saved. They develop gospels where they are the ones, supposedly, that allow people to enter Heaven, if people just follow what they say and 'accept Christ,' or walk down an aisle, or be baptized with water, or do this or do that - perform some work - and they will get you into Heaven. Certainly, churches and men think they have that power, but the fact is, the truth of the word of God is, no man has that power. Only God does, and He says here that many "will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are."

Now how is God going to verbally break the supernatural barrier and speak to people who are knocking at the door of Heaven? Well, first of all, how can anyone knock at that door? It is a spiritual door! It is not a literal door. It is an invisible door: no one could ever see if when it was open and no one can see it now that it is closed.

And that tells us that since they are knocking on a door that men cannot see, that this is figurative, spiritual language that is telling us that people are knocking at the door when they are trying to indicate from the word of God that salvation is continuing, that God is still saving. They can encourage one another and they can encourage others, "Yes, go to God and He will grant you entry into Heaven. He is merciful. He is gracious." And, yet, God's response is...

Well, we have come to the end of our time today and we will have to look at this when we come together in our next study.