The Coming Global Salvation

Well, the scene that we will see this morning in the word of God will be the consummated heavenly reality of what we have just experienced in our worship here and it will be much more wonderful and amazing. I'm going to do the best I can. To let the word of God speak to you about what heavenly worship will be like by having you look at Revelation chapter 7, you can open your Bibles, excuse me, Revelation chapter 7 and in our continuing study of this incredible book of visions that were given. until the apostle John at the end of the first century we have come to another vision of Heaven there have been two chapters that took us to Heaven I read one of them before Revelation 5 and Revelation 4 it was also a scene of the throne in heaven what it is What What happens is that we are accumulating an understanding of the glory of heaven, so let me read to you chapter 7 verse 9-1 17 After these things I looked and saw a great multitude, which no one could number, from every nation and from every tribe and peoples and They had tongues in their hands standing before the Throne and before the lamb dressed in white garments and palm branches and they cried out with a loud voice saying

salvation

to Our God who is seated on the throne and to the lamb and to all the Angels who were standing.

They stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and be to our god for the centuries of centuries amen then one of the elders responded by telling me these who are dressed in white garments who they are and where they have come from I told him my Lord you know and he told me these are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their clothes and they made them white in the blood of the lamb, so they stand before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple, and he who sits on the throne will spread his Tabernacle over them; they will no longer hunger, nor will they thirst, nor will the sun. will punish them nor any heat because the lamb in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd and will guide them to Springs of the Water of Life and God will wipe every tear from their eyes it is an amazing image It represents a

global

salvation

event, a

global

salvation event

coming

.

Now remember that the Book of Revelation goes back to the future, to the first century, to understand the end of all human history and here is John's next vision and he sees this incredible world. work of Salvation the theme comes in the words of verse 10 salvation to our god is about a

coming

salvation event that has had no historical equal surpasses anything in human history and will exceed anything in human history up to this point when it is fulfill now we have always prayed obviously for the Salvation of Sinners that is why the church exists we have always preached the gospel for the Salvation of Sinners that is our calling we bear witness we bear witness to the work of Christ in our lives for the Salvation of Sinners We pray to God who would save sinners and God who is by nature a savior desires to save sinners the son of man came to give his life as a ransom for many he came to seek and save what was lost God is a saving God and that It is why the church is in the world as its instrument to achieve the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit to change hearts to give sinners salvation Salvation from death and hell Eternal judgment this is the work of God this is the will of God and I guess in this moment that we live in now we have asked ourselves if there could be some great global work of salvation, some massive response to the gospel throughout the Earth and I suppose in these days.

We think about it more than perhaps in the past, although we were expected to think about it more today because there are means that make possible the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the Earth in ways that were never possible in the past. We could ask ourselves the question: Will there be a global work of salvation different from anything that has happened in the history of humanity? And the answer to that question is yes, and you have just read the Bible's description of that astonishing and amazing event in Revelation chapter 7, now in order. To understand this you have to understand that the setting here is in the Book of Revelation and chronologically chapter 7 comes right after chapter six and chapter six is ​​where you have the beginning of the final period of time before the kingdom of Christ is called in. the Bible the tribulation the trouble or the Great Tribulation by our Lord Himself now we look at the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation which see the church on Earth chapters four and five we find that the church is in heaven represented by the 24 Elders who represent to the church then the church has been removed from the earth the Rapture of the church we talk about in detail in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 so we are living in the history of the church this period will culminate when the Lord raptures us and brings us together It takes us to bring ourselves out of the world into His presence and that is why we see the scene in heaven in chapters 4 and 5 and what is happening in heaven is worship but at the same time the machinery of God's wrath is heating up in chapters 4 and five and it is unleashed in chapter 6 and you have from chapter 6 to 19 the Prophecies of divine judgment that will come to earth after the church is already in heaven on Earth God will release judgments under Seven Seals , seven trumpets and seven bowls and that brings us to the end of the tribulation chapter CH 19 the return of Christ to establish his kingdom during that time there will be a great Global work of Salvation like nothing that has happened before and it will not be because um Christians of any way they did it.

We take control of all the institutions and organizations of the world and we take control of the levers of power and the media and we can spread the gospel more freely than we can now that that will not be the reason, in fact, during this period of time. It will be the worst of all time in history. The Church will disappear, it will not be in the world gathered in heaven, so the world will be left without the Church. Satan is unleashed right now. The total fury comes from his strength. The definite demonic flocks of him even represent images.

In the Book of Revelation hell coughs up demons that have been bound there to unleash the full force of Satan's demonic power on earth there have always been antichrists the Bible says but there will be a final Antichrist who will be the worst of them all an terrifying dictator with hellish and murderous intentions towards anyone who trusts in Christ who perpetrates a Reign of Terror the likes of which the world has never seen so horrible, so destructive and so deadly that there is nothing to compare to it, not only is that happening in this time the strength of Satan but you have the wrath of God unfolding in all its power Seven Seals the seven Trumpets the seven bows describe these wrathful events of divine Fury as God unleashes his judgment on sinners so think about this this is a time when Satan will be unleashed at a level never seen before, all bondages will be removed from the demonic forces of Satan and run rampant over the face of the Earth, evil will be at a level never seen in the history of humanity, at the same time, God will will be spilling.

Raging judgment there will be wars there will be famines there will be earthquakes there will be diseases pestilence wild animals will cause destruction there will be plagues there will be collapse Heaven an Earth collapsing polluted water and billions of people will die a quarter of the world's population and then a third of the world's population for you to have the full explosion of hell's force and all the explosion of divine judgment on the day of the Lord, this would be a time when there would be no useful strategy to try. to overcome the evil of the world or the Divine wrath you would then expect that there would be no possibility of a great Global salvation but if you believe that you would be wrong because what God is going to do in Salvation never depends on listening carefully to the adaptation of the culture, never It depends on that, when the culture is literally hell on Earth and God's fury is unleashed, so if people take any kind of offense from the god of the Bible now one could only imagine what they will do. think of the Bible coming out as it unleashes the Terror in that future time, but it is exactly at that time that the greatest work of Salvation in the history of humanity will be carried out, which reminds us of a very important truth that the advancement of the kingdom of God.

It is not connected to the culture in any way when the earth is at its worst, when men collectively are at their worst, when Satan offers his most optimal arsenal, and when God is doing everything possible to show people how hostile , how angry, how furious, how furious. It is about sin and evil. It is precisely in that environment that this global salvation will occur and what that tells us is that salvation is the work of God and that is exactly what it will be. Now we have learned it and we will see more about it. in the days to come but we already learned in the initial part of this seventh chapter verses 1 to 8 that the salvation of Israel is going to be carried out that is, the salvation of Israel we learned that there will be 12,000 of each tribe in Israel making 144,000 Jews who will be protected by God to evangelize the nation of Israel and the world, it would be a time when it would be assumed that the Jews who have resisted the truth since Jesus was on earth, at least as a nation, as an ethnic group of people, in that future time will be less likely to want to recognize Christ, God and the gospel, but the opposite is true because God is going to save Israel, that is his promise, he promised it throughout the Old Testament and he promised it in the New Testament , particularly in Romans. chapter 11 then all of Israel will be saved and this will take place during that period of time, so first of all the salvation of Israel will be part of this overall work but second of all it will be the salvation of the nations.

Notice verse n Every nation. all tribes people tongues all of them standing Before the Throne and before the lamb dressed in white garments this is Gentile salvation and that is something that the Bible promises throughout the Old Testament Genesis 12 Psalm 6768 98 throughout the book of Isaiah Jeremiah the promise of not only Jewish salvation but Gentile salvation and in the New Testament listen for example to Acts 2: 17-21 and it will be in the last days God says that I will pour out my spirit on all humanity and it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord they will be saved what is going to happen under the fury of satan and the fury of God people are going to call on the name of the Lord people from all parts of the planet Matthew 24:14 says it like this and this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come Christ will not return until the Global proclamation of the Gospel has occurred Luke 2:32 Simeon upon seeing the child Jesus said of this child a light for Revelation to the Gentiles and for glory of your People Israel Simeon knew that the Messiah would come not only to save Israel but to save the Nations listen to John 11 5152 the strange prophecy of Caiaphas who had no idea what he was saying, but what he said was true, he said that Jesus was going to die for the nation of Israel and not only for the nation, but also to be able to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

God's final work of salvation will be. Be Jews and Gentiles together listen to Romans 3:29 30 Is God the god of the Jews alone? one God, one salvation for Jews and Gentiles and it will come, all Israel will be saved and the whole world will experience this salvation, so let's start by looking at the text and looking at the introduction that comes in verse 9, this is what we have. we have a global work of Salvation that involves every nation, the people of the tribe speak from every possible angle, they look at the national identity and they are standing before the Throne and we know that the Throne of chapters four and five is the Throne of God and before the lamb who is also on the throne as we remember from chapters four and five they are dressed in white robes with palm branches in their hands this is this unique massive crowd it is defined in simple language a great multitude a great multitude besides the 144,000 this is an indefinite time.

There are so many that come from every language, tribe, people and nation. There have been some notable works of salvation in the history of Redemption. Indeed, the salvation of the city of Nineveh was astonishing under the preaching of a reluctant man. Prophet by the name of Jonah, some people estimated that he could have reached a million people in Nineveh who repented and turned to the true God God, that is an amazing thing. We remember the day of Pentecost 3,000 saved and a little later in the book. of Acts 5,000 saved, there have been times in history when there have been outbreaks of gospel response that we would say fit into the category of a widespread saving work of God, but nothing comes close to this, nothing, nothing, this is For everyone, what is it like? is going to happen, how do you wash in the blood of the Lamb?

How is this carried out? Well, they'll have to hear the gospel. The church is gone, so how are they going to hear the gospel well? 144,000 who will come to understand thegospel will become Aries missionary to Israel and the world will begin to preach the gospel and people will be converted there will also be two witnesses who will meet in chapter 11 two witnesses who literally are the witness for the entire world and they are killed and then they return to the life and the whole world sees that and that has a powerful impact for the gospel, but there is a unique way that the gospel will be proclaimed to everyone and I want you to look at Revelation chapter 14 verse 6 now, to come to faith, you have to believe in the gospel, so the gospel has to be preached.

Jesus said I quoted. that in Matthew 24 the gospel of the Kingdom will be preached during this period and then the end will come but how it will be preached well chapter 14 says John had a vision of an Angel flying in the middle of heaven that would be where it could be seen, not the heavens of the dwelling place of God nor the atmosphere immediately on Earth where we breathe our air, but in the sky above the middle Heaven there is a flying angel who has the Eternal gospel to preach to those who live on earth to Every Nation. language of the tribe and people, so how is it that every nation, tribe, tongue and people is going to hear the gospel of a flying angel?

I've heard people say oh wow, that's cool because it has to be a satellite and there's even a satellite called Angel, you can have your satellite. I'm going to continue with my angel gaze. I'm not going to speculate because I don't need to. God says there will be an angel. I don't know if this is an angel writing in the sky. I don't know if it will have a booming angelic voice, but it is an angel, it is an angel that shows the power of that type of being, but what is important for you to understand is that the whole world cannot respond to the gospel until they hear it.

It won't necessarily be the only means because I said there will be two witnesses, there will be 144,000 Jews who will also proclaim the gospel, but somehow the whole earth will receive the message in some amazing supernatural way. So, what can we do now? learn about these people in this opening verse, they are standing before the throne and before the lamb, so John sees these people in his vision. This is a vision of the future. John sees that in the future this massive crowd from all over the Earth will go. standing before the Throne of God and before the lamb, so they must be added to the group in chapters four and five and that group was the angels, four living creatures, also certain angels and the elders who represent the church, so we have already seen. the church and the angels around the throne praising God and the lamb and now we have this new crowd that appears and adds to the hosts of Heaven this is um this is interesting because they are dressed in white robes how how does that happen?

Do you dress in white garments? Well, if you go down to verse 14, the end of the verse says about them that they washed their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb so that they would have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Lamb have been justified they have been declared righteous by the blood of the lamb so here is a truly redeemed group that gathers around the throne in heaven in addition to those who are already there they have palms in their hands palm branches that We know were used in celebration, even the Greeks and Romans used them for that in parades of certain Joy.

We know that the Jews also used them for the Feast of Tabernacles and even used them to build the roofs of the tents they built. for that memorial celebration you see that in the eth chapter of Nehemiah so this is a celebration of people who have literally been washed and given white robes with the symbol of righteousness covering them, so this is the description that John sees and the location what is the location of this standing before the Throne and before the lamb in heaven John sees the vision of his exaltation now many of them had obviously been praying for this to happen, we saw it back in chapter 6: 9 to 1 , where where The saints were under the altar praying for deliverance from persecution and the persecution will continue during the time of the tribulation.

It will be as if there was never persecution. Satan will persecute those who believe. The Antichrist will massacre those who believe. But Juan sees them here in heaven. then the description the location the action what are they doing they cry out with a loud voice saying salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb then what are they doing in heaven this is pure praise they cry out with a loud voice joyful exuberance, so if you You ask what heaven is and you think it could be, it could be something that is happening in terms of your experiences, like if you have an experience in heaven today and another tomorrow, know that there is no tomorrow and there is nothing. today there is only Infinity, only eternity, no time passes, so what you have is an endless experience of joyful and exuberant worship and praise in which you cry out salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb, salvation will be forever and ever the topic. of Praises from Heaven salvation Salvation will be a moment that never ends in which constantly without limit without limit without limits without fatigue without fatigue we burst into Praise for our Salvation which will motivate two things that you are in heaven and you are realizing what God prepared for you and you are perfect so you have nothing to drag down your exuberant praise this is heaven this is heaven now there is also an association that these people join and that is in verses 11 and 12 and all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and we saw that in chapters 4 and five and the four living creatures refer to four angels in particular and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God and what are all these angels? and the glorified Church represented by the elders?

What are they saying? Amen, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and power to our God forever and ever. Amen, this is heaven, it's not that someone will lead you in praise, it's not that there will be a praise group or a worship leader, it's that you are sanctified, glorified and perfect, you will do nothing but praise, you will not need someone to guide you, it will simply come out of you as the angels and the glorified church do, amen, blessing, glory, wisdom and Thanksgiving, honor, power and power to our God forever and ever. Amen, that is just a summary of the C categories of Our Praise in Heaven so that we enter into intimate association with the angels when we go to heaven and this group in the future.

This particular group will join us in eternal praise, so there is a massive circle of glorified angels and saints pouring out endless praise to God and the lamb. This is the theme of all heavenly worship. Salvation. You say well. Angels do not experience salvation, no, but you can glorify God for what he did to save sinners. There will be no weariness from worship in heaven. There will be no sense of isolation. You will not be sitting alone on your own cloud playing your harp. the image is of the Saints all gathered around the throne, what an amazing association this is for the humble faithful believers, persecuted, murdered, who have been praying for deliverance, praying for rescue, praying for God to judge the enemies, for suddenly awaken and find themselves in the company of angels around the Throne of God praising Him for salvation and realizing that they have the ability to praise God for salvation in a way that Angels do not because they have never known salvation, never They have known victory over sin and Temptation, the angels rejoice, of course, but over what. they rejoice Luke 15 tells you three stories the lost coin the lost sheep the lost son and every time the coin and the Sun and the Sheep were found there was a celebration and Our Lord's comment of course is that there is more joy in heaven among the Angels when a sinner repents all Heaven will forever celebrate salvation now who we are talking about specifically we talk about the description of this Vision the place where John sees him in heaven the action is praise the Association is there gathered with the angels and the glorified church what is the origin this is the key to understanding this group verses 13 and 14 then one of the elders responded by telling me these who are dressed in the white garments who they are and where they have come from the elder asks that question for John This is a representative of the church so it is not the church as we know it today who are these where have they come from I told him my Lord you know and he told me these are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation they have washed their robes and they have whitened in the blood of the Lamb oh these are the Tribulation Saints they came out of the Great Tribulation which defines the time specifically the tribulation is that 7 year period after the Rapture of the church before our Lord returns to establish his Earthly Kingdom the time of Jacob's trouble the 70th week of Daniel the time of the tribulation in particular is the time of the Great Tribulation as our Lord called it in Matthew 24:21 they have come out of the Great Tribulation steadily during that seven year period and in part particularly mostly during the second half of that period these people have been coming out, literally coming out of the Great Tribulation, you notice that it is spoken in the present tense, these are the ones who Coming out of the Great Tribulation, the period of time will present the worst of hell and the worst of Divine wrath, but also the preaching of the Gospel people who convert and then are martyred and, upon being martyred, immediately gather around the Throne. of God they were rejecters when time began because if they were not they would have been taken with the church these are tribulation saints they are coming out present time continuous action prolonged processes in view anyone who loves the Lord anyone who loves people would rejoice in The incredible reality of this, the gospel will triumph and triumph in the worst of times, is a good reminder that you can trust it to do its job now.

I don't know why there are so many preachers who think that the gospel is not enough to save and that God does not save by his own sovereign power and they think that somehow they can manipulate the culture in a way that overcomes the resistance of the sinner at its worst. the times God will save the majority of people this is his promise it is his plan and we are eagerly waiting for that wonderful reality to happen how they got there they have washed their robes they have made them white in the blood of the Lamb it is not blood that stains it is blood that cleanse the stain of sin So we see the description in verse 9, we see the location in heaven, the action, the worship, the association with all those who are gathered around the throne, the origin of this particular group, they came out of the Great Tribulation and then we see some of its function. in verse 15 for this reason they stand before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his naos in his holy place uninterrupted service so in the midst of all this worship and praise and adoration there will be service and the Lord said a lot about that, You know, he talked about the fact that if you are faithful in a little, he will make you Lord over much in the future, he talked about heaven being a place of rewards and your rewards in heaven will be related to the ministry you have there as he you serve this is a group of those who are serving the lord even in heaven we will do our best work there and then just two other things to see the term protection comes to mind when I get to verse 15 the second half of the verse the one that is sit on the throne he will spread his tabernacle over them God will cover them God will shelter them in his tent it is simply a wonderful promise of eternal protection and security listen to Revelation 213 I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they will be his people and God himself will be among them where will you be when you go to heaven in the presence of God around the throne his presence will cover you he will cover you like a canopy of shelter shakina with his glory upon you so that you enjoy the immediate reality of his glorious presence now remember that God is a spirit God is invisible but somehow his shikia presence literally covers all those in heaven gathered around his throne so that we are in the fullness of his presence in the midst of his glory forever and then finally provision verse 16 says that they will no longer hunger not only do we get protection from his presence but provision they will no longer hunger or thirst nor will the sun beat them nor any heat will ever nothing will be missing when it says no hunger no thirst it simply means that everything will be provided for you everything to sustain that eternal life there is the Tree of Life in heaven (see later in the Apocalypse) there is the River of Life in heaven, symbol of God's full provision, that's the positive and the negative, there will never be anything that can harm you if you follow the Book of Revelation as we will.

We are going to see a time when God will increase the heat of the sun and burn the entire Earth. None of that could happen in heaven. You will have everything you need stocked and there will be nothing that can cause harm. all why it is like this verse 17 because the lamb in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd and thewill lead to springs of water of life and God will wipe every tear from their eyes, which is going to happen to us in heaven. The beauty of this protection and provision will be done by Our Shepherd for us in a wonderful play on words.

The lamb becomes the shepherd. Our Shepherd and guides us to everything we need, symbolized by the springs of the water of life. That's what pastors do. They guide their sheep through the Water of Life and God will wipe every tear from their eyes that beautiful promise means nothing will ever disappoint nothing will ever grieve everything will be perfectprovision perfect protection Perfect joy perfect praise to finish turn to chapter 21 of Revelation in verse three and I'll just read this and make a comment Revelation 213 and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold that Tabernacle or the tent of God is among men, we just read about it and he will dwell among them and they will be His people and God himself will be among them, that is what it means that he pitches his tent with us, we will be in the midst of his glorious presence and he, as we just read in chapter 7, will wipe away every tear from their eyes and no longer there will be death there will be no more mourning or crying or pain those are the first things that have happened and he who is sitting on the throne said behold I am making all things new and he said well because these words are faithful and true then he told me it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end I will give to one who thirsts for the spring of the Water of Life without cost he who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son How do you overcome well?

John writes in his epistle that faith is the instrument by which we overcome. Placing our faith in the Lord so that those of us who have put our trust in Him are given everything we need from the Springs of the Water of Life at no cost, we will overcome to the extent that our faith achieves Salvation And thus inherit all the things and I will be his God and he will be my son and then tearing apart verse eight in stark contrast to all those heavenly promises, but for the cowardly, the unbelievers, the abominable, the murderers, the immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters and all the liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death which is dazzling it is one of the two for you for everyone it is either heaven and all the joys of heaven as it will be for the saints of the tribulation and the glorified church or is the lake that burns eternally with fire and brimstone that is the choice, you must wonder how is it that God can promise us so much bliss in heaven and people can reject it and choose hell, but some of you do , that's why we are still here as a church. our lord said: go and preach the gospel, preach the gospel to the whole world, to every creature, tell them the good news of heaven, let us bow down in prayer.

Do we feel so inadequate trying to explain heaven? We have been given such a magnificent truth and yet Our minds cannot comprehend it but we can understand this. Everything we know about heaven is wonderful and everything we know about hell is horrible and both are forever. So Lord, open the hearts of those who are here and have not bowed the knee to Christ by believing. him and his gospel his saving work confessing him as Lord and thus receiving eternal life Lord open our hearts to believe today to move from Death to the life of Darkness to the light of wrath to the blessing of hell to heaven we thank you for your mercy in the midst of our own sinfulness, thank you for opening our blind minds and our darkened hearts, do it Lord, for your glory even today and we rejoice that you will have the last word in human history, with all the powers of the hell unleashed, you will still generate the greatest. work of global salvation in history as you gather that final collection of your saints in glory before Christ returns to establish his kingdom.

Lord, help us to be faithful in proclaiming the gospel to live it and make it attractive for our love and the truth that lives and proclaims and we long for the day when we will be around the throne with you and all the hosts of the redeemed and all the angels of heaven and We will forever praise your saving grace Keep us faithful to that end we pray the name of your son amen