Good afternoon, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday Bible study.  Today we are going to look at Revelation 7, once again, and we will read Revelation 7:1-3:

And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

I will stop reading there.  We will continue to read in Revelation 7 later, but we will stop to consider what God is setting up here.  He is speaking of the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, and He told them not to hurt the earth or the sea or the trees until He had sealed the servants of God in their foreheads.  That is actually setting forth a biblical principle regarding God’s judgment.  Later we will look at the idea of being “sealed in the foreheads,” and what that means, but for now, I will just say that it points to salvation, and what is in view with this is that it would first apply to salvation taking place in the corporate church over the course of the church age.  It refers to that.  “Do not hurt anything until we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads.”

Then this very same truth has application to the Latter Rain period during the Great Tribulation when God would send forth the Latter Rain just prior to judgment on the world.  During the Great Tribulation, the churches were being judged, so the “hurt” that was held back had been unleashed upon them, but not yet upon the whole world.  So, once again, God would have made this type of statement, “Hurt not the earth (world) until we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads,” but it would have been regarding the great multitude.

In Revelation 7, we find both groups of people, or we could say both seasons of fruit, or both seasons of rain, and they are in view in this chapter, and we will look at that. 

But according to this biblical principle, the proof of that (the salvation of people during the church age) is in 2Peter 3:15:

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…

In other words, God would patiently wait before bringing judgment, or before “hurting” the unsaved in the churches, and later. the unsaved in the world.   He patiently waited until the rain fell and the fruit was brought in, or until He had saved all He intended to save during each particular “time and season.”  Another bit of evidence for that is in James 5:7:

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth…

It is just like where it says, “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.”  The husbandman is God, according to John 15:1: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”  

Again, it says in James 5:7:

…Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

This same idea or same principle regarding this declaration to the angels (messengers) of God is in Revelation 7:3:

…to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Regarding the word “hurt,” if we go to Revelation 9, it is the same word we find in Revelation 9:10:

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

Remember what I said about God holding back His wrath and how “hurting not” can apply to judgment on the churches, as well as judgment on the world?  But here in Revelation 9, it is describing God’s judgment on the world which began on May 21, 2011.  If you remember regarding that date, we had an incorrect idea prior to May 21, 2011 that the “five months” would be a literal time period from May 21, 2011 to October 15, 2011.  We have since learned that the “five months” is figurative, pointing to the entire length of time of the prolonged Judgment Day, which turns out to be a number of years.  The biblical evidence points to 22 years, or 23 inclusive years.  It began on May 21, 2011, and it will conclude on a currently unknown date in the year 2033.  That is the “five months” figure, and over that course of time God is “hurting” men.  Again, it says, “And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.”  This is the revelation of God’s righteous judgment that is coming forth from the Bible, and it is pronouncing the “hurt,” the wrath on the unsaved.

The word “hurt” is the Greek word “ad-ee-keh'-o,” and it is from another Greek word “ad'-ee-kos.”  The word “ad-ee-keh'-o,” that we find in Revelation 7 is Strong’s #91, and the word “ad'-ee-kos,” is a word translated as “unjust,” for example in Matthew 5:45 where it is said that He sends the rain on the just and the unjust.”  This word “hurt” is a related word to that used in Matthew 5:45, and this word is also translated as “unjust” in Revelation 22:11:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still…

That is, “He that is hurt.”  It is the five months in which men will be “hurt,” and Revelation 9:10 declares that they will “remain hurt still.”  So, really, “to be hurt” in the context of Revelation 9:10 and in Revelation 22:11 means to be unsaved, and to be in one’s sins without any salvation possible.  And that is why it says here, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still…”  Or, we could say, “He that is hurt, let him be hurt still.”  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 22:11:

…and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

In other words, if the hurt, or the filthy and spiritually dead people remain that way, then their spiritual condition will not change.  And if the righteous and the holy (made righteous by the righteousness of Christ) remain that way, then they will continue to be saved.  Everyone’s spiritual condition is fixed and established.  It cannot change.  It will not change.  God determined it and locked it in when He shut the door of heaven.  He brought the world into the condition of “hell” or “death,” and we know that when people die, their spiritual condition is fixed at the moment of death.  If you died unsaved, you would remain unsaved.  If you died saved, you will remain saved, and you will be “righteous still.”  Conversely, the unsaved will be “filthy still.”  The world, or the nations, have been turned into hell, as hell is the grave, and the grave identifies with death. 

One of the big reasons that the Lord speaks of turning the nations into “hell,” as He does in Psalm 9, is due to the fact that man’s spiritual condition was fixed on May 21, 2011, if he had physically died, although he may be physically alive.

Let us go back to Revelation 7:3:

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

What does it mean to be “sealed” in the forehead?  When we look up this word, it identifies with that wonderful point in time of salvation.  When God comes into the life of a sinner (as He did within the boundaries of the day of salvation), He would come through His Word, and the Word created a new heart and new spirit within that person.  “For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  That person has been “sealed” in the forehead, and we will look at that word “forehead” a little later.

But as far as the word “sealed,” we can go to 2Corinthians 1:21-22:

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

First we are established in Christ, and God has anointed us, and to be anointed points to the Holy Spirit coming upon you.  That is what the anointing with oil in the Old Testament represented.  A prophet, like Samuel, would go to a prospective king, like David, and anoint him with oil.  It signified the Spirit of God coming upon him.  Likewise, when God uses this word “anointed,” it indicates He has saved that sinner, and at the point of saving him, He turns him into a “spiritual king,” so it would fit with that idea.  The Holy Spirit has come upon us, and we are now qualified, like kings of old were qualified by God to reign.  We are now qualified in the spiritual realm as spiritual kings, including all that accompanies that in service to God, and in doing the will of God.

Furthermore, after we are anointed, it tells us in 2Corinthians 1:22:

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

We read a little more about this “sealing” in Ephesians 1:13:

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

It was “after that ye believed.”  And we now know more perfectly what the Bible means when it comes to “believing,” or true belief.  After you believe truly, you are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.  The Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you are, indeed, an elect child of God. 

It is not the case with multitude of professed Christians who merely profess to believe.  It comes out of their mouth, “I believe,” but in their heart it is a different story.  In their heart they are just as much a rebel as they have ever been because they still have a heart of stone that is “desperately wicked, and deceitful above all things.”  So there is a mismatch between what their mouth is saying with what is going on within their soul, so it is not “true belief.”  They are false believers.  But when God saved a sinner, He saved them in heart, and it is from the heart that they believe.  By the way, that is what the Lord tells us in Romans 10.  This is one of the many errors that those in the churches make when they try to build their congregations by getting people to profess belief.  Sure, they can do that, and they can get masses of people to profess belief, and yet, they are doing a tremendous disservice because they are lying to them, giving people a false sense of hope and security that they should not have.  They have only served to strengthen their hand (will) in iniquity because they are convinced they are now saved, and they will never go back from it.  We read in Romans 10:9:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus…

Yes, profession is a part of it.  It would go along with God’s salvation.  We confess, but not only with our mouths, but with our heart and life we profess Christ.  We believe in Jesus, and we live for Him.

But the churches cannot go that far.  They can get people to speak words (confess), but they cannot do this part, in the second half of the verse in Romans 10:9:

…and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

So to confess the Lord Jesus and to believe in thy heart must go together, hand in hand.  You are not saved if you only have the profession, or the words coming out of the mouth.  They are just lying words if there is no agreement with the heart condition.  That is why salvation is of the Lord.  It is not of man.  No man can impart it.  No pastor or preacher can give anyone salvation, and man cannot take it to himself through his own words.  It is not some kind of magical formula: Just say the word, and "Voilà!" all of a sudden you are born again!  No – it is an act of creation.  Who is the Creator?  Only God can create.  He is the only One who can create a new heart and a new spirit, and that is why salvation is of the Lord, and God says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” 

Where does man fit into that?  “I will take salvation when I decide to take salvation.  I will apply the mercy of God to myself when I decide to apply God’s mercy to myself.”  It is more than foolishness!  It speaks evil of God’s salvation program.  It attempts to belittle and diminish God.  The God of the Bible is the Sovereign One seated upon the throne, the King of glory!  He is the One who decrees to save, or not to save, or to put to death, or not to put to death.  He is Sovereign Lord over His salvation program, and it is a monstrous thing that the corporate church has done, and what so many professed Christians have eagerly engaged in, with the false gospel of “free will” and of taking God’s salvation to themselves.

Again, here in Ephesians 1, it says in Ephesians 1:13. “…ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise…”  And this can get complicated because we know that God had His salvation program of pouring out the Holy Spirit. And there were two outpourings of the Holy Spirit, but that is a different matter.  This is another added complication to that wherein God first accomplishes the salvation of the soul of His elect people, and then after saving them all, He brings judgment on the world, and on the very last day He carries out the completion of that salvation with the salvation of our bodies.  The people that became saved over the course of history have experienced the salvation of their souls, the spiritual part of them, but their physical bodies were not saved.   That is why they died physically.  And if we died today, our bodies would die, and our souls would go to be with the Lord, waiting for God to complete that salvation with the resurrection of our bodies on the last day (the Rapture).  It is the changing of the physical body into a new resurrected spiritual body, and that completes the salvation, which is why it says in Ephesians 1:14:

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

That is, the new heart that the Lord has blessed us with, and which none of us deserved.  What a glorious gift God has bestowed upon us who do not deserve it.  It is unmerited favor.  That is why it is by grace.  It is the gift of God to those who deserve no gift.  We were children of wrath even as others, and we deserve to be destroyed like all the others, but for the grace of God who has given us the “earnest of the spirit,” as it says in 2Corinthians 1,  which is like a “down payment.” 

The Greek word translated as “earnest” comes from the Hebrew.  It is really like a transliteration of a Hebrew word, and that Hebrew word is a word that is translated as “pledge” in the Old Testament, in regard to Judah and his encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar whom he thought was a prostitute.  He went in unto her, and he gave her certain items as a “pledge” that he would return and give her full payment.  So that word “pledge” is what the “earnest” of the Spirit means.  God has pledged to return and complete the process of His salvation, and to fulfill it in the fullest sense of the word in giving us “ultimate salvation” in both body and soul, and that comes on the last day.  Until then we are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.  It is the down payment or pledge that God has made to each and every elect child of God.

You know, it is proof to us.  It is confirmation to us that God will fulfill His promise to us as stated in His Word in many Scriptures, guaranteeing that it will come to pass.  In the meantime, we hold onto the pledge.  We hold onto the Spirit.  Of course we do not have to do anything to hold onto the Spirit, as it is not like we can lose it.  God has given it to us, and the Spirit will indwell us for evermore into eternity future.  We can never leave the Spirit, and the Spirit will never leave us.

Let us go back to Revelation 7:3:

… till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

If you wanted to physically point to your mind, you would probably point to your forehead.  You would say, “I am thinking, I am thinking,” and you would point to your head.  We just spent some time talking about the “heart,” and believing in your heart.  Is God referring to our physical heart?  Obviously not.  The “heart” is a synonym for the “soul,” and the soul of man is dead, and that is why it is impossible for a man to believe in his heart because a dead thing cannot believe – it has no life.  And this means that God would first have to give you a new heart and a new spirit.  He would have to give you life in your soul before you can believe from the heart, and that explains why the Bible says, “He first loved us,” and then our response to Him is love.  He takes the first action.  Salvation is of the Lord.  We are saved by the faith of Jesus Christ, and not by our own work of faith.  We are not saved by our own works of any kind.  It all starts with God.

When God uses the word heart, He is not speaking of the physical heart.  So, too, God refers to the “mind” in a similar way.  These are all synonyms: heart, mind, and soul.  So when we are “sealed” in our foreheads, there is no literal seal.  There is no brand placed upon us, just as there is no “seal” for the ungodly, as we read in Revelation 13:16-17:

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

This is looking at the negative aspect of having a “mark” in your forehead.  Again, it is nothing literal.  People who take the Bible’s parabolic statements literally are way off course.  We have to understand these things spiritually.  And it is the same idea for the unsaved regarding their “foreheads.”  It is where there soul is, and they have a mark or a brand upon their soul, so to speak, that indicates ownership by the beast, and the beast is Satan.  So they are under the power and authority of Satan in their unsaved condition.

But those that are sealed in their foreheads have become saved.  It is the Holy Spirit that has come upon them, and they are born again in their hearts.  That is what it indicates.

Let us go to an Old Testament passage that will give us a good picture regarding this sealing of the forehead.  It says in Ezekiel 9:1-4:

He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; And JEHOVAH said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Jerusalem is a type of the New Testament corporate church, and here we find the “man,” who would be Christ, and He was with others with destroying weapons in their hands.  They were ready to destroy the city and the people of the city, and to bring judgment upon the people of the New Testament churches.  But, again, what was God’s instruction to them first?  Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”  That is, they were to be sealed with the Holy Spirit.  “Save these first, and make sure they are sealed.”  And who would be the ones that sigh and cry?  They are those that the Lord had predestinated before the foundation of the world.  If you read Ephesians 1:3-4, God speaks of His predestination program before He speaks of being sealed with the Spirit.  They are the ones God had determined to save, and to whom He granted salvation.  And the Lord Jesus had paid for their sins at the foundation of the world, and therefore God was obligated to save those specific people in every generation, the elect children of God.  They would be the ones that were troubled when the churches went apostate and away from the truth because they, alone, are the ones that have ears to hear the truth, and to hear Christ’s voice.  They were the individuals to receive this mark in Ezekiel 9, and that had to be done first.  So this part of Ezekiel 9 was carried out over the course of the church age.  But then we read in Ezekiel 9:5-6:

And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

Judgment began at the house of God.  That was the process.  Notice that this followed after the others had received the mark in their foreheads.  Then these six men were loosed with their slaughter weapon.  These are like the “four angels” in Revelation 7:3-4:

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

One hundred and forty-four thousand were sealed.  Then it says in Revelation 7:5-8:

Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

Twelve tribes were listed, and twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes totals 144,000.  Just as Jerusalem represents the corporate church, so too does Israel, and the tribes of Israel would be a type and picture of the New Testament churches and congregations.  In the corporate church from the beginning of the church age in 33 A. D. to the day before Pentecost in May 21, 1988 during the 1,955 years of the church age, this “sealing” was going on in the churches.  It was being done through the preaching of the Word as God blessed the Word preached to the hearts of certain individuals within various congregations and denominations.  These were the ones who were said to “sigh and cry” in Ezekiel 9.  These were the ones elected to obtain salvation, so God brought it through His Word and delivered it to them, and they became saved.  Then as we got closer to 1988, there were fewer and fewer saved, until there was a final elect child of God within the church that the Lord saved, and that was it.  That was the complete fulness of the “firstfruits,” or all who were saved during the early rain period of the church age.  That would have occurred during that 1,955 years when the Spirit of Christ was still in the midst of the churches.  The light of the Gospel was present in the congregations.  Then the very last soul was saved, and the figure of “144,000” was complete.  It represented the “complete fulness,” as this number breaks down to multiples of “10,” which relates to completeness, and “12 x 12,” which represents “complete fulness” of all to be saved during the early rain. 

Then came the “hurt” when judgment began at the house of God.  We read in Revelation 14:1:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

This is just as we read in Revelation 7.  Then it says in Revelation 14:2-4:

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

They are the firstfruits, if you have heard EBible Fellowship speak of the period of rains.  We read in James 5:7 that the Husbandman (God) waits and has long patience before He brings His wrath as He waits for the precious fruit.  In order to get that precious fruit, He had to wait for both the early rain and the Latter Rain.  There were two periods of rain.  The early rain brought in the firstfruits.  This idea is not out of our minds.  It was not out of Mr. Camping’s mind as he laid these things out in his writings.  And it is not out of our minds.  We are not following Mr. Camping but the Bible, as we followed Mr. Camping insofar as he followed the Lord, the Word of God.  There are seasons of rain.  There are periods of fruit that the rain produces.  So when we are looking at Revelation 7, God speaks of not bringing “hurt” until certain ones are sealed in their foreheads, and then we read of 144,000 of twelve tribes of Israel being sealed – they became saved.  That is as clear as the Bible can get.  It is absolute.  It is definite.  It is speaking of the salvation of firstfruits, according to Revelation 14, and the firstfruits identify with only one period, the period of early rain. 

It does not identify with the Latter Rain.  The Latter Rain did not bring in firstfruits.  It is not true concerning seasons in this world, and it is not true concerning God’s spiritual seasons.  Because James 5:7 tells us that the Father waits for both the early and Latter Rain for His precious fruit, that reveals two types of fruit.  All of this fits and goes along with the book of Joel in the Old Testament where the Lord tells us of these rains in the context of fruit.  We read in Joel 2:22-23:

Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in JEHOVAH your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately…

By the way, this is yet another rain that we are not going to get into here, but it identifies with the Old Testament period.  The word “moderately” is the word “righteously,” so it literally says, “the former rain righteously.”  Then it says in Joel 2:23:

…and he will cause to come down for you the rain…

And now He is speaking of the New Testament era.  Then it says in Joel 2:23:

…the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

The former rain is another way of saying, “the early rain.”  This would better be translated as “the former rain, and the latter rain as the first.”  So there are two rains: former (early) and latter.  Notice what is says next, in Joel 2:24:

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

That is the fruit, the wheat and the tares, which is explained in a parable by the Lord Jesus.  It is obvious who the wheat represent.  The wheat are the elect, and the tares are the unsaved – those professing Christians who are not true believers from the heart.  There are wheat and tares.  But you can only get “wheat” when you have a period of rain, and then comes the fruit, the 144,000 that were the firstfruits unto God.  That is what the Bible says, and that lets us know that the passage in Revelation 7 that lists twelve thousand of the twelve tribes is telling us of the firstfruits that became saved.  And the only way that they could become saved and become fruit was through the Lord sending the rain.  So they received the early rain, and that sets up Revelation 7:9:

After this I beheld…

This was after the 144,000 were sealed, so we know that must have been after the church age and after the early rain had fallen that judgment came upon the churches, according to Ezekiel 9.  First, they put a mark on their foreheads of all that “sigh and cry” in Jerusalem, and then came the men with the destroying weapons, and they began at God’s sanctuary:  “Judgment begins at the house of God.”  After the sealing was accomplished, the judgment came, and the Great Tribulation is another way of saying the time of God’s judgment on the corporate church.  There is evidence of that because a “great multitude” then appears, as it goes on to say in Revelation 7:9-15:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Then it continues with some important information we will have to look at another time, but in this passage from verse 9 to the end of the chapter, it is another group of people.  They are not the firstfruits.

There are some people that try to say this is just speaking of everyone God has saved.  The fact is that idea is not true at all because God gave us a figurative number of 144,000 that were sealed in their foreheads, and to be sealed means to be saved.  Then after that, there was a great multitude that no man can number.  Obviously, that must be a different group.  The first group was identified with a number of “144,000,” but this group was a group that no man could number.  And that sets it apart, as well as other things that set them apart. 

We are not going to have time in this study to get into all the things I would like to discuss, as there is so much information here.  But we can see that there is a heavy emphasis on this group being before the throne with palms in their hands.  We will take a look at that.   It is a very revealing statement that they have palms in their hands.

But for right now, we just want to see that there are two groups.  For example, these are the same two groups spoken of in Revelation 6:9-11:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

(The “little season” is the Great Tribulation.)  There are two groups.  There are the “souls under the altar” that are crying out, and there are their fellow servants.

Also, it says in Revelation 20:4:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

So if you did not have the “mark of the beast,” it means you were saved.  These are the first group.  Then in the next verse, we see the second group, in Revelation 20:5:

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

The “rest of the dead lived not again until,” which means they do live again when the thousand years were finished, which was the period when Satan was loosed, the Great Tribulation.  So, once again, we see that both groups are in view.  There are also two groups in view with the two seasons of rains we talked about, the early rain and the Latter Rain, or the firstfruits and the final fruits. 

And there are two groups in view with the two fishing expeditions in the New Testament.  The first fishing expedition in Luke 5 was when the net broke.  There was a great multitude, and the net typified the kingdom of God.  They caught them, but the net broke, which means that many of the fish could slither out of it, but they were brought onto the ship because it typified the corporate church.  So the fish that came out of the net were no longer in the kingdom of God, the eternal kingdom of God that the net typified, but they were onboard the ship which represents the corporate body, the outward representation of God’s kingdom on the earth.  It is the difference between a professed Christian and a true elect Christian, in that case.

But in John 21, we read of the second major fishing expedition.  There was a great catch of fish in the net that did not break.  All that great multitude was safe and secure in the eternal kingdom of God.  There were two fishing expeditions representing two outpourings of the Holy Spirit, the first beginning in 33 A. D. and the second beginning in 1994, and these are the two seasons of fruit.

In Revelation 7, the Lord is basically drawing us a diagram of His New Testament salvation program: the firstfruits that were sealed, and then the great multitude.  We will have to look at this more, Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study.  Thank you for being with us, and I hope you are able to join us next time as we get together around God’s holy Word, the Bible.