Who Does What In The Tribulation?
- we're studying the tribulation period, the seven year
period of judgment on the earth and its inhabitants after
the rapture of the church
- we've been talking about this subject for three evenings,
and we've studied
- the duration of the tribulation, from the books of
Daniel and Revelation and we've seen how the material
in each of those books fits together perfectly
- we also studied Matt. 24-25 and saw how Jesus thought
it was important for his disciples to understand this
subject so that they could carry out their ministry
effectively
- last week we did a whirlwind study of the book of
Revelation, and we saw the perfect organization of the
tribulation judgements, and the terror of those
judgements
- Input - what were the three categories of judgements we
studied? (seals, trumpets, vials)
- before the seventh of each of these judgements, there is a
group of material that we gave a certain name to - what was
that name? (parenthetical material)
- in other words - God chose to organize this material by
telling about a series of judgements, and then by stopping
and telling us about some of the persons and groups and
what they will be doing in the tribulation period
- tonight, we'd like to begin studying some of those persons
and groups to find out "who's doing what during the
tribulation?"
- before we get into that specifically, I'd like to make a
comment about Bible study in general
- I've heard of several folks from outside our church in the
last couple of weeks say, well - you can't really say
anything from the Bible with certainty - people make it say
whatever they want
- INPUT - what's wrong with that?
- I think that is real application to our study of the book
of Revelation
- there's no question that there are things we don't
understand about the end times
- God didn't choose to clearly reveal some things to us about
prophecy
- But He has revealed a number of things about the end times
that can be understood by any believer who wants to study
them
- The book of Revelation was not designed and given to
mystify, but to clarify!
- I don't believe God is pleased with individuals who
intellectualize and intellectualize the Scripture until by
time its gone through their great mind
- there's no truth left
- there's no absolutes
- there's nothing that can be said with certainty
- so while we certainly don't know everything about the end
times, God has given us much revelation that can be clearly
understood about what's going to happen in the end times
I. What Will The Holy Spirit Be Doing?
One of the passages that teaches us the most about this
subject is II Thess. 2
- Why had Paul written the book of I Thess?
(Paul had taught them about the rapture when he was
there, but in the interim time, some of their loved
ones had died - therefore question was - what will
happen to them?
- also, some had taught that the rapture had already
taken place, Paul had written to assure them that
that wasn't so)
- because the persecution in their day was increasing, Paul
wrote II Thess. to assure them that the rapture still
hadn't happened
- they hadn't somehow missed the rapture and were now living
in the trib.
- read II Thes. 2:1-10
- stop at verse 2 - INPUT - what is Paul talking about in
verse 2 when he says, don't be disturbed by a letter?
(someone had sent the church a letter with false doctrine
in it and signed Paul's name - a fairly common practice)
- read 3-10 (point out - man of sin-Antichrist/ restrainer -
Holy Spirit)
A. no longer will be restraining Satan
might ask - how do we know that this is the Holy
Spirit in this passage?
1) Person has to be a member of the godhead,
because He is stronger than the Anti-christ
and Satan who energizes him
2) the Holy Spirit is the One acting as the
restrainer now
INPUT - in what sense is the HS acting as a
restrainer now?
- John 16:7-11 - convicting of sin
- I John 4:4 - greater is He that is
in you than he that is in the world
- we are not saying that Satan is bound now - that
will happen in the millennial period
- but the work of Satan is clearly being restrained
in the sense that Satan does not have clear run of
the events that happen on earth
- that is one of our major differences with the
charismatics
- they would view the world in much more of a
dualistic fashion today
- they would never say that it was God's will
that a person have cancer or some other illness
today
- their position today would be that God always
wants you to be well and to be prosperous, and
if you have enough faith, you will be
- thats how some charismatic leaders can justify
such lavish lifestyles
- see, in their minds, thats not an example of
greed, its an example of faith
- the more stuff you have, the more faith you
have!
- thats why the charismatic movement is so
popular in America and why it hasn't caught on
in communist countries
- can you imagine preaching health and wealth
theology in Russia?
- now, with the changes in the communist world,
its conceiveable that charismatic theology
could become very popular
- but the point is, the Holy Spirit is
functioning as a restrainer today - but he will
not perform that function during the
tribulation
B. Still very active on earth
- how do we know that to be true? (because of the
many people who are saved during the tribulation)
- I've listed some of the many passages that teach
this important truth
- Jer. 30:7; Ez. 20:37-38; Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:31-32;
Zech. 13:1, 8-9; Isa. 2:2,4; Isa. 60:3-5; Isa. 62:2
- so even though the Holy Spirit isn't functioning as
a restrainer, He's still active because no one
could be saved without the ministry of the Holy
Spirit (proof - John 3:5 -Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God)
C. Implications
there are a couple of implications of this:
1. another thing to be thankful for!
- its important for us to be growing in our
thankfulness and one of the keys to that is
learning news things to be thankful for
- when's the last time you thanked God for the
restraining work of the Holy Spirit?
- probably been a while, yet when you think about it,
many of the privileges and freedoms we have today
are because of this special ministry
- how would you fill in this blank - because of the
restraining ministry of the holy Spirit, I'm able
to _________ (teach children, worship freely...)
- another implication
2. gives a new perspective of the tribulation
- you might say, I hear what you're saying about the
Holy Spirit restraining, but things are pretty bad
now!
- they are pretty twisted, pretty evil
- thats right, but think about what thats means the
tribulation will be like, when that restraint will
be removed!
II. What Will The 144,000 Be Doing?
- we're going to look at this group next because they are
the first ones that are discussed in the first
parenthetical section
- read Rev. 7:1-4 (mention 5-8)
- read 14:1-5
- INPUT - who are the ones that recieve this seal?
A. Recipients
- representatives from the 12 tribes of Israel
- INPUT - was there anything in the two passages we read
that tells what the seal might be like?
B. Nature
- 14:1 - his Father's name written on their foreheads
- NASB - having his name and the name of his
father written on their forehaeds
- just like those who follow the antichrist will have
a mark of the beast, the 144,000 sealed witnesses
will have a seal
- INPUT - Is this the first time God has sealed a group
of people? (no - Christians are sealed with the
Holy Spirit - Eph. 1:13-14)
(denotes ownership and protection -
we're saved and safe because of
the Holy Spirit's seal)
C. Significance
- the same (as believer's seal) is true with this
seal for the 144,000
- it denotes God's:
1. ownership
INPUT - what statements from the passage
indicate that they are children of God?
- 7:3 - servants of God
- 14:1 - Father's name on foreheads
- 14:3 - sang a new song before the throne
- 14:3 - redeemed from the earth
- 14:4 - follow the lamb wherever He goes
- 14:4 - first fruits unto God
- 14:5 - no guile found in their mouths
2. protection
- protected from "four winds" - i.e. coming
judgements
- we also read last week about something they
were protected from - INPUT?
- Rev. 9 - locusts could not hurt those who
had the seal of God on their foreheads
- you might ask:
D. How could this many Jews be saved during the
tribulation?
1. ministry of the 2 witnesses during the first half
of the tribulation (Rev. 11 - will talk about
them in more detail next week)
2. Jews will be shielded from much of the judgement
of the first half of the tribulation
- we'll see next week that in the 2nd half of the
trib., the satanic activity of the antichrist
will be especially focused on the Jews - but
Scripture does teach that the Jews will be
shielded from much of the judgement of the
first half
1) Isa. 26:20-21 - Come my people, enter thou
into my chambers, and shut thy doors about
thee; hide thyself as it were for a little
moment, until the indignation is past. For
behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to
punish the inhabitants of the earth for
their iniquity...
2) Antichrist's peace pact - Dan. 9:27 - not
cut off until the second half of the
tribulation
3) in Matt. 24:15ff, Jews are doing "normal"
things when the great tribulation begins
(up on the housetop, in the field, having
children)
- so 144,000 Jews will be saved during the tribulation
period and function as special servants of God
- Now, you might be wondering, what about the person who
says that he is one of the 144,000 today?
(some Jehovah's witnesses would claim that - though I
understand thats been modified)
- based on what we've studied, how would you answer the
person who claimed to be one of the 144,000?
- Let's see your proof! - prove to me that you're a
descendant of the tribe of Reuben
- the truth is - nobody could prove that - that kind of
documentation doesn't exist
- which brings up a rather knotty problem
- who is a Jew? - how does inter-marriage affect whether
a family is still Jewish
- how is God going to be able to find decendants of these
various tribes?
- I think there's a real implication of that to you and I
today
E. Implications
- see, there are some real similarities between the
144,000 sealed believers and NT believers
- of course we too are sealed, signifying God's
ownership and protection
- but we are also intimately known by God
- the same God who is able to know the complete
family line of these 144,000 people knows us in the
same way
- Jesus said that the very hairs of our head are
numbered (Matt. 10:30)
- Paul described believers as "those whom he did
foreknow" (Rom. 8:30)
- he's saying God has entered into a loving
relationship with us way before we were even born
- Psalm 139 tells about how He intimately knew us
while we were in our mothers womb
- that means two things
1) there's always someone who cares
- even in an impersonal world where it seems
like your social security number is more
important than your name, there's a
personal God who knows you and cares about
you
Paul said later in Romans 8 - "For I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creation,
shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
2) loves us in spite of what He knows
- I think this point strengthens what we've
been studying in Sunday school about guilt
- the unbeliever would say that guilt is bad
- need to cover up those guilty feelings,
blame them on someone else, keep sinning
till you don't feel guilty anymore
- but the Bible would say - no-deal with
the fact of guilt (the state, the liability
to punishment)
- confess it to God - and after all, we're
not telling Him something that He doesn't
already know
- in fact, because He knows us perfectly, he
could describe our sinfulness more
acurately than we could
- the amazing thing is - He still loves us!
- The God who knows the exact geneaology of
these 144,000 knows us so well He could say
how many hairs we had...
- knows all our past, knows our thoughts,
our futures
- still loves us because of our
relationship with his Son
- so we've looked at what the Holy Spirit will be doing, and
what the 144,000 will be doing
- there's another group in Rev. 7, the Gentiles who are saved
- we're not going to look at them specifically, but I've
copied a transparency from one of Pastor's earlier studies
to help round out your notes on Revelation
- I would like to talk about one more group tonight;
III. What Is The Church Doing?
- obviously the church is in heaven because the rapture
has already taken place
- but what is the church doing?
Read Rev. 4:4
- the passage speaks of 24 elders (also mentioned in 5:5,
6, 8, 11, 14; 7:11, 13; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4)
- first question probably is -
A. why 24?
- in I Chron. 24, David had set up a rotation of 24
groups our courses to minister in the temple
- in fact, when John the Baptist's birth was
announced, his father Zacarias was ministering in
the temple because it was his turn
- so its not surprising that there are 24 elders
since there were 24 courses of priests
- might say, well:
B. How do we know these people represent the church?
1. their position - they are seated on thrones
- this isn't a position angels occupy
- instead, its a position specifically promised
to the church (Rev. 3:21, Matt. 19:28)
2. white raiment
- sign of the Christ's righteousness which had
been put to their account when they were saved
- Jesus had promised the church at Sardis - "He
that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment"
3. their crowns
- not ruling crowns (diadema), but victor's
crowns (stephanos)
- crowns that had been given at the Judgement
Seat of Christ (later cast them at Christ's
feet in Rev. 4:10)
- the verses that we mentioned say these elders, these
representatives of the church are doing certain things
C. What are they doing?
1. worshipping God (evident in all of these
passages)
2. intimately aware of God's program
Rev. 5:5 - "And one of the elders said unto me,
Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the root of david, hath prevailed to
open the scroll, and to loose its seven
seals"
3. ministering priests
Rev. 5:8 - having harps, golden bowls of incense
- therefore, the bottom line answer to what will the
church be doing doing the tribulation is, exactly
what Christ had prayed for before He left earth
- Remember in John 17, He prayed for you and for me,
3 - they might know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent
11 - that they might be kept through Thine own Name
13 - My joy might be fulfilled in them
17 - they might be sanctified through Thy truth
24 - that they would be with Me where I am, and
behold My glory