A Merciful Interlude

countdown's up good to see everybody let's uh if you guys don't mind let's go ahead and stand and we'll pray and we'll get started father thank you for the day lord i just thank you for who you are and how much you love us lord god and just god as time goes on we just we we look for your return lord we just wait expectantly of you lord and and patiently as best we can or we just ask that you bless this evening lord um just bless the worship and bless the word as it goes out god we love you and we praise you in jesus name amen

and beside the heroes of the faith look forward to that day lord when we can stand in your presence lord and just sing that and sing holy hope you guys go and have a seat if you like so we was all in my song my sin lost without hope with no place to begin so then mercy coming was arrested ash was redeemed only beauty remained grew quiet my feet rose to dance when death was arrested my chains i'm a prisoner my shame was arrested cancel my death this rejoice does no heaven have it's your lord god i just thank you for the new life that i have without you lord i just be lost condemned soul lord i just thank you for son jesus for what he's done for us on the cross lord that if there's anybody here lord that that doesn't

know you lord and find their new life in you lord jesus just thank you lord so much for for your son jesus thank you so much lord i just pray that as pastor ryan comes tonight lord to to give out the word i just pray that you would overflow him with your holy spirit lord with your gift of teaching give him the words to speak lord god let your word go out with power and let it not return to you void but accomplish the mighty purposes for which you sent it god we love you and we praise you in jesus name amen good evening amen remember at noon today when it was 70 degrees that was so much fun wasn't it man i loved it lasted for about 15 minutes and then went the other direction but hey kansas right what are

you gonna do if you would open up in your bibles to the book of revelation chapter 7 revelation chapter 7 the title of tonight's message is a a merciful interlude because that's exactly what takes place uh here in chapter 7 as we jumped into uh chapter 6 we started seeing the unleashing of uh of the seal judgments in chapter 5 we saw that a uh a scroll uh was handed out there in heaven and the scroll had seven seals on it and of course the strong angel went around saying who is worthy to loose the seals and no one was found worthy and so john was just weeping and and uh and of course said to him stop behold the lion of the tribe of judah he is worthy because he has been because he

was dead and now he's alive he's worthy to unloose the seals and so that's exactly what happens and in chapter 6 we saw one blow after another as each of the first six seals was open i almost kind of picture john being like a prize fighter taking one hit after the other knowing what's coming to uh what's coming to the earth with the judgment that's uh that's coming all said and done we were told that about a fourth of the earth's population would be killed because of these judgments that would be unleashed and and it was just a it was a very heavy chapter and uh and it closed with an interesting statement because the very last judgment was my bible just labels it terror i think i called it catastrophic events uh there

was a great earthquake and all kinds of natural things that took place and at the end of it he says who is able to stand that's what question is being asked by the inhabitants of the earth and to an extent that question is answered in chapter seven because there's two different groups that we're going to see in chapter seven we're first of all going to see the uh the sealed of the nation of israel but then we'll also see the great multitude of saints that are saved out of the tribulation but i was thinking about this this little interlude because really in chapter you see the mercy of god and i think one of the most difficult things to do when you're learning really about the the whole counsel of god or the the full nature of god is to is to sort of

reconcile in your mind the the attributes of god that seem to be at complete opposite ends of the spectrum right because to think about talking about god's judgment and god's mercy in the same sentence almost seem to be such polar opposites that it can be very hard in our own minds to uh to to grasp or to reconcile those things but as aw tozer in his book knowledge of the holy says if he is anything less than that then he is not god if he is not a god of judgment and a god of mercy that it makes him less than god and not really worthy of our worship and i was contemplating this actually this morning as i was doing my devotional reading i'm moving into the book of hosea in my devotional reading and hosea is just a

book anyway because he really deals with the divided heart of the nation and if you look at the first couple of about first chapter and a half of hosea it's the saddest thing you'll ever read when he tells hosea to take uh take himself a prostitute for a wife and then he begins to speak to uh not only hosea but also the nation of israel about how the nation of israel has prostituted itself out to other gods and the judgment that he's going to have to unleash upon the nation of israel because they too have prostituted themselves out to these other gods but it's fascinating because about halfway through chapter two something amazing begins to happen as a matter of fact at the midpoint of chapter two he says i will allure her i will draw

her into the wilderness and i will speak to her words of loving kindness and then as you move towards the end of of chapter two there's that famous line that's quoted uh by paul in the new testament when he says i will have mercy on those who have not known mercy and i will call her who is not my people my people it's fascinating to see that in one stroke he's he's giving out his judgment in the very next stroke he's talking about his mercy and that's kind of what we see here in chapter seven and the mercy of god is just such an awe-inspiring thing to know that even in the midst of the judgment that he will pour out on planet earth he will still temper it with his mercy and so as we

come to chapter seven we again have seen the first six seals unleashed upon the world and we're going to look at chapter seven verse one and it says this after this i saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree and i saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun having the seal of the living god and he cried out to the world and he said i will draw her into the with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea saying do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants

of our god on their foreheads so the first thing that we see is we see a a pause in judgment as he begins to deal with the sealed of israel and the first players that we see appear on the scene are four angels we're told that these four angels are specific four angels are four angels that stand at the four corners of the earth now i'm going to deal with one subject here real quick i'm not gonna deal with it very long but i'm gonna deal with it this is not biblical proof of a flat earth flat earth like like flat earthers claim that it is listen i bring this up because this is a legitimate argument there are people who use this to say this is one of the places in scripture where we're told that the earth is flat no it's an idiom to speak of every

part of the earth the north the south the east and the west i promise you if you go google something now the article that you should read if you're going to google this is on answers in genesis google is the earth flat only read the answers in genesis article okay the rest of it gets a little crazy both directions he this guy on answers in genesis i may even send this article out he deals with all of the arguments on every end of it and the scientific aspect of it and talks about the just how ridiculous it is that we would think that the earth is flat but also that we should not mock those who think that because they have genuine ideas behind what they're saying they're

just genuinely wrong behind what they're saying so anyway i i just felt like i needed to say that this is not proof of a flat earth again i bring it up because if you talk to somebody that is a flat earther they will tell you but but it says so in the bible and this is one of the verses that point to so anyway i'm done talking about that now it says the four angels were at the four corners of the earth in other words they were at the north the south the east and the west now these four angels are four specific angels i want you to look down at the bottom of verse two because these four angels have a specific job to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea these four angels that stood at the four corners of the earth had

a job the job that had been given to them was the to harm the earth and the sea so these are angels that are ready to pour out wrath upon the earth but in the middle of them about to do that i want you to notice what happens i saw the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the tree on the sea or on any tree and then another angel arises and of course we know that this angel was another angel and this another angel rises and this angel had the seal of the living god and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea do not harm anything until the bond

servants of our god have the seal on their foreheads pretty interesting scene that john is allowed to see at this point in time he sees these angels ready to pour out more wrath and they are told by another angel by the way we don't know who this angel is and if anybody tells you that they do they they don't because it's just referred to as another angel says you can't do that yet wait until we have sealed the bond servants of god the bond servants uh with a seal that is on their forehead then he begins to describe to us who these bond servants are verse four and i heard the number of those who were sealed one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of israel from the tribe of judah twelve thousand

were sealed from the tribe of reuben twelve thousand from the tribe of gad twelve thousand from the tribe of asher twelve thousand from the tribe of naphtali twelve thousand from the tribe of manasseh twelve thousand from the tribe of simeon twelve thousand from the tribe of 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000 were sealed now again judgment is paused for just a moment and it's paused for just a moment so that another angel can come out with a seal that comes directly from the father that he will put on the foreheads of the bond servants of our God and then

we learn who these bond servants are these bond servants and he heard the number I heard that the number was 144,000 want to point out to you what it says 144,000 verse 4 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel now this is another one of those controversial passages in Revelation who are the 144,000 of all of the things that could be debated on in the book of Revelation this one makes the least sense at all to me because John seems to make it very clear who the 144,000 are based on what he's heard from the angel based on what he's heard from Jesus we know who these people are these are the sons of Israel this is 144,000 Israelite men that are sealed and yet there are other philosophies that are out there if I remember

correctly is it the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons probably both at some point in time have claimed to be the 144,000 until their numbers exceeded 144,000 they're like never mind it was just the first 144,000 that got saved or maybe the special 144,000 and then some people have sought to put this as the church because the church has replaced Israel in what's known to also be called reformed theology the church has replaced Israel in God's special plan and now all of the plan all of the promises that God had made to the nation Israel he has now bestowed upon the church therefore this 144,000 is actually 144,000 Christians because the church has replaced the nation of Israel therefore the church will have to

go through the tribulation problem is the church hasn't replaced Israel as a matter of fact I can prove that to you you know how I can prove that to you because Paul who was a Jew said the exact same thing he said has God cast off his own special people the nation of Israel may it never be for I am a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin God has always reserved a remnant in the nation of Israel and has not cast them off you see there's a great deal of pride sometimes in the church for us to start to think well I bet all of God's promises are for us now don't get me wrong there's specific promises that God has reserved specific promises for the church but when it comes right down to it God made a covenant

promise to Abraham and if God breaks his covenant promise to Abraham to say that his special people that the people that will come forth from his body have now replay have now been replaced by another group known as the church well then God can break his promise to us and if there's anything that rainbows teach us which has nothing to do with homosexuality it's that God always keeps his promises and so we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has made a covenant promise to Abraham God has absolutely kept his promise to Abraham and the nation of Israel that's coming back together today which Rick has taught us so much about is absolutely a sign of the fact that

God has not given up the nation of Israel and so this 144,000 who are they well it seems pretty clear these are the from every tribe of the sons of Israel now when it comes to the naming of the tribes I know y'all paid real special attention to the naming of the tribes and I know you probably noticed this too two names were left out and one name was added did you notice that I know you did the two names that were left out were Ephraim and Dan typically in the naming of the tribes of the nation of Israel Levi is left out because Levi is God's set apart tribe to be the priestly tribe usually the tribe of Joseph is referred to as the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh but in this naming of the tribes of Israel Ephraim and Dan are left out

Joseph and Levi are included you know why me neither right now there's a couple of ideas why first of all Ephraim and Dan were two of the most known for for idolatry as a matter of fact Dan was the first tribe to lead the nation of Israel into idolatry the first tribe to be attacked and taken over by foreign entities so some think that because of that they're left out of the sealed of the nation of Israel although if you look in the book of Ezekiel when the tribes that are mentioned in the millennial kingdom are mentioned Dan is one of the tribes that's mentioned there Ephraim was usually designated the the name for the northern kingdom after the after the nation of Israel split into the south and the north the northern 10 tribes

were often referred to as the tribes of Israel and Dan was the first tribe to lead the nation of Israel as Ephraim and there was really never a good king of the northern tribes and so perhaps that idolatrous past is why they're not named but for some reason God chose not to name them in this sealing of the 144,000 12,000 from each of the tribes of the sons of Israel so what is the seal that God used right that's a really good question everybody wants to know everybody makes up an idea about what they think the seal is I loved reading J. Vernon McGee on this he goes now friends that's about the best I can do for J. Vernon McGee if you've ever heard him before it kind of sounds like that he says now friends

I wish I had all of the knowledge that some of these other guys have I get so irritated with myself that everybody else knows so much more than I do because for the life of me I can't figure out what the seal is that God puts on the forehead of these 144,000 people but it seems like everybody I read all knows exactly what the seal is now you can't get two of them to agree on what the seal is but you can't get one of them to agree on what the seal is so it's a really good question is, but they all know what the seal is that God puts on the foreheads of the tribes of the nation of Israel. What does God use to seal them? I have no idea because it just says he put a seal on

their forehead, which is interesting because when the antichrist comes along, he will make everyone take a mark. And of course, where's one of the places he's going to have him put that mark on their forehead. So another place where we see that this antichrist is involved. But the last question that I have is, so what's special about these guys? What's special about

this 144,000? I think it's four things. Number one, these are the remnant of the nation. At every point in time in the history of the nation of Israel, God has always had a faithful remnant. You remember that? Remember that scene with Elijah? We've talked about it before where Elijah said, Lord, I'm the only one left. Everybody else has bowed the knee and God says, stop whining.

I've got all kinds of people who haven't bowed the knee yet because I'll always have a faithful remnant. Even Paul in referencing that exact same story in the book of Romans said, God always has his faithful remnant. And I think these 144,000 are the faithful remnant that we see there in the tribulation. The second thing that they are, number two, is they are the beginning of a national revival within the nation of Israel. They're the beginning of what God will do in calling his people

back to himself. Number three, which I think this is one of the most important things that we see them do, these guys are witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the world that is in the midst of a tribulation. Because how are they referred to? They're referred to as the bondservants of our God. Well, what are bondservants in the New Testament always set

apart unto? Paul tells us specifically when he says, I am a bondservant set apart to the gospel. And because these guys will be sealed in some way on their forehead, they will be a part of who is going out and giving out the gospel to the world. And then number four, we're reminded that the only reason that they are going to make it through this tribulational period is because they have been sealed. And we're reminded of what we were told in the book of Matthew when he says

that there will be trouble. So great that unless the days were shortened, in other words, unless God does something to intervene, no one will survive. This is part of the intervention that God brings about so that some will survive. And so we see God's mercy with the nation of Israel and keeping this faithful remnant, these 144,000 young men that will go out and preach the gospel that will be witnesses for him as this faithful remnant within the nation of Israel.

Absolutely protected from any of not only the judgment to come, but protected from the persecution of the enemy. But the second thing that we see are what many refer to as tribulation saints. Notice what it says in verse nine. It says, after these things, I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation in all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne.

And before the lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hand. And they cry out with a loud voice saying salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and they worshiped God saying, amen, blessing and glory.

And wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. After he saw this ceiling of the 144,000, it says, after these things, I looked and behold, there was a great multitude. And he begins to describe some things about this great multitude for us. The first thing he tells us about this great multitude is he says, no one could count

this great multitude. That tells us that this is an incredible number of people. He's looking at it and going, man, I can't even begin to count this number of people. So a great multitude is the best way that you can describe that. The second thing that he tells us about this great multitude is that is a multi-ethnic group. It says there are people from every nation, from every tribe and

from every tongue that are a part of this group. This tells us that this is not a group that is specific to one particular people. This is a group that is specific to one particular people. This is a group that spans the globe because everybody is involved in this group. There is all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life that are involved in this group. The next

thing that we see about this group is that they are standing before the throne. Isn't that kind of interesting? Because who's seated upon the throne? We know that God is seated at the throne, with the lamb at his right hand. And so these, this multitude, this multitude that is from all kinds of different nations are all very close to where God is. The next thing that we see is we see that they are wearing white robes. Now, again, we've mentioned that

usually when someone is wearing a white robe, it speaks of righteousness. So that we, so we know that this multitude that comes from every nation throughout the world, and they're standing around the throne, they're all clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And they're all holding something very interesting. They're all wearing a white robe. And they're all wearing a white robe. And they're

holding something very interesting. They're all wearing a white robe. And they're all wearing a white robe. Do you take note of what they're holding in their hand? They're holding palm branches. Now, I hope you initially and immediately thought about one thing, and that is the triumphal entry, what we call Palm Sunday. Because when they laid down those palm branches, those palm branches were something that

were laid down before a victorious king who is coming back, claiming his victory. And that's exactly what they're doing, because where are they standing by? The throne, where the lamb is, the one who had been slain. And they're holding the white robe. And they're holding the white robe. And they're and is now alive forever and ever. They're holding these branches

that represent their victorious king. And what are they doing while they're around the thrones? While they're around the throne? Same thing everybody else is doing when they're around the throne. They're praising God. Take note of what it says. They all began to cry out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God. Who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Verse 10 is kind of interesting

because those two words coupled together loud voice come from a Greek word where we get our word megaphone from. In other words, they were heralding it loud. They had no problem shouting it at the very top of their lungs. And what are they shouting at the top of their lungs? I love that first word that's given there, salvation. Salvation. Salvation to our God.

They're proclaiming the salvation that they have been given by God. Salvation to our God and he who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And what happens is they're crying out this loud voice, this loud cry of praise unto God while others can't help but get involved. Notice what it says in verse 11. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures.

Man, one thing led to another and they all fell on their faces. Before the throne and they worshiped God. And what do they say? Let's take another first word that they say. What's that first word they say? Amen. You know why they said amen? Because the first word that these saints standing around the throne said was salvation. And they all responded with amen, right?

Now they'll go on to praise God more, but they are absolutely agreeing with everything that those standing around the throne said. This multitude of multitudes, multinational people clothed in the righteousness of Christ, proclaiming the victory of Christ are all shouting salvation. And all of the elders and all of the angels and the four living creatures, by the way, I want you to picture a lion yelling amen. All of them standing around and they're going amen because they all know the same thing.

The greatest victory that Christ has ever won is our salvation. I've said it before and I'll say it till the day that I die. The greatest miracle that takes place in the life of Jesus. In the life of anyone is the saving of their soul. You can see all the physical healings that you want. You can see all the phenomenal things that take place on this earth, all that you want.

You can have all of that. Let me see someone's soul get saved. And that's the most miraculous thing that you'll ever see. Because that's not just the healing of a heart. That's not just the healing of a body. That's causing someone to go from being dead to being alive. And they're crying salvation. Everybody else is crying amen and they can't help it. They just keep flowing.

They say blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. And they're doing all of this while they're falling on the floor. Now, I want to bring a quick little note by way of personal application here. Did you notice in like, kind of like many of the other scenes we've seen in the book, in the book of Revelation, praise begets more praise.

Worship begets more worship. Remember that scene that we said where it started with just a handful of them praising and then pretty soon we added the swelling voices of all of the different multitudes. Same thing here. We see the multitudes praising and the angels are like, great idea. And they join in and the elders are like, great idea. And they join in and the four living creatures are like,

great idea, right? And they all join in. I mean, the whole crew of them is just praising God. And can I say, it's no different in our own lives. A life of praise begets more praise. Just like, listen, a life of complaining begets more complaining. You tend to multiply that which you do the most. And isn't it fascinating that when you come across that person

who just has a heart to praise God, you find yourself sort of drawn to them and maybe kind of joining in with them. Listen, be that person. I see it happen in groups of people. I see it happen at church when you finally see somebody who's willing to kind of get a little rambunctious and belt it out loud enough for everybody to hear. Or you're around that person who, man,

their heart is just to praise God. And when you go talk to them, you're in a really bad mood. And they're just praising God for what God's done. And you're like, yeah, you're right. God is good. My life's a bummer right now, but God is good. And they won't quit talking about it. Pretty soon, you're not thinking about what you're bummed out about. Instead, you're thinking about how good God is

because that praise, that praise is what seems to be generated in your heart. Surround yourself with people that praise God. Be a person that praises God. And you'll be amazed at how it tends to get more praise in your life. It's no different than with the things that we listen to. What are you letting into your ear gates the most? Because what you let into your ear gates the most

is probably what's gonna come out of your mouth the most. Right? And so we see this scene of these, of these people gathered around the throne. And I bet you're asking the exact same question that John has right now. Who are all these people? Right? And I love the next scene that we see. It says in verse 13, and then one of the elders answered saying to me,

these who are clothed in white robes, who are they and where have they come from? Now, I wanna know if you have the same problem with this verse that I have. Because the elder didn't answer anything. What did he do? He asked something, didn't he? And yet it's stated as an answer. Why? Because he's asking a rhetorical question. He knows who they are. He wants John to think about who they are.

He wants John to realize he has no idea what's going on right now. He should ask for some advice. So he says, who are all of these people that are gathered here? Who are all of these people? And I was kind of like, yeah, who are they? And so it goes on from there to say, John in verse 14 says, I said to him, my Lord, you know. He said to me, these are the ones

who have come out of the great tribulation and they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them and they will hunger no longer nor starve. They will thirst anymore nor will the sun beat down on them nor any heat for the lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to the springs of the water of life and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

As John is standing there continuing to be in stunned amazement, right, John was a mouth breather through this whole thing, I think. Just as he's standing there in stunned amazement, the elder comes and says, hey, who are? Who are all these people? Do you know? Where'd they come from? And John just goes,

you know. You know who they are. I gotta tell you, for a preacher, it's a hard thing to admit. I don't know, but I bet you do. That's exactly what this vision of Jesus and everything that's taking place, that's the exact effect that it has upon John. Someone who was probably expected to have all the answers now has none of them. And he has to humbly say, you know.

And he begins to describe who these guys are. He says, these are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. And this is what I mean by this chapter is a merciful interlude because not only did John need a break from all of the judgment, but we see that mixed into the judgment is God's mercy because I believe that the church will not be there during the tribulation. As a matter of fact, we've not seen the word church mentioned once since chapter three because they're not around because they're already in heaven.

And yet now around the throne, we have this multitude of people, this multitude of people that has come out of the tribulation. So how did they come out of the tribulation? Now, this is me. I feel like they heard the witness of the 144,000. I think they heard that witness. Perhaps some of them had been told about the truth of Jesus. Perhaps some were even a part of a church

that didn't really preach the gospel, preach more of a social gospel. And they were genuine in their belief, but they were wrong in their belief. And all of a sudden they found that all of their friends who'd been talking to them about getting more serious in their walk with Jesus Christ were gone. And they knew the minute that that happened exactly what took place.

And so they made a decision. And the decision that they made was this, Lord, if you're still willing to forgive me, if you're still willing to take me, would you please save me? And it would mean persecution. It would mean running for their lives. It would mean that they would face hunger. It would mean that they would face death. But one thing marked each of them.

Their robes had been made white by the blood of the Lamb. Now, I'm a person who can stain things just about as easy as anything in the world. And I'm also a person who's really accident prone. That means I'm really good at staining shirts with one thing, blood. You know what the one thing nothing guarantees to get out? Blood and coffee, right? Those are the two things

no one will ever guarantee they'll get out of every cloth. And yet the only thing that could make their robes white was the blood of the Lamb. It's a fascinating thought, is it not? It hopefully should cause your mind to go back to the book of Isaiah because in the book of Isaiah, God has one thing to say to the nation of Israel. He says, Let us reason together,

you and I, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Why? Because they can get washed in the blood of the Lamb. And these tribulation saints know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they missed it the first time around. But God in His great mercy, saw fit to save them and saw fit to wash them with the blood of the Lamb. And so what do these

tribulation saints now do that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb? I want you to notice the things that it says that they do. I've actually written this down as their blessing. It says that they are before the throne of God. You know what that means that they are? It means that they're close to God. And you'll see God's mercy written all over this. They're before the throne of God.

And what are they doing before the throne of God? It says that they serve Him day and night in His temple. I love this because it's a reminder for us as believers in Jesus Christ that when we get to heaven, we won't just go floating on clouds. Sure, that may be a Saturday thing that we do, but we're going to have jobs to do, right? We will serve God day and night.

And these tribulation saints are no different. They will serve God day and night. In His temple. And then it goes on from there to say, and he who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. Now, I want you to think about this and I want you to hear what it says in the New King James translation. It says they will dwell in His presence. So why does the New American Standard

choose to use the phrase tabernacle? He'll spread his tabernacle over them. Well, because what was the tabernacle for the nation of Israel? It was nothing. It was nothing other than the very presence of God in the midst of them, right? And so when he says he will spread his tabernacle over them, it speaks of God dwelling right there with them. Again, it speaks of the very nearness,

the very presence of God with them. These aren't second-class citizens. These aren't second-class saints because God in His mercy has seen fit to say, I will dwell with them. Then it goes on from there to say, and they shall no longer hunger or thirst. Probably when they were living through this tribulational period that ended ultimately in their death, which landed them at the very throne

or the very foot of the throne of God. As they lived through that tribulation, hunger and thirst is probably what marked their lives. After all, during the tribulation period, we know that in order to buy and sell, you'll have to have the mark of the beast and they don't have that. And we know that famine is going to be one of the seals that's unleashed and they have no way of purchasing.

Their food, hunger and thirst is what they had known the most. And now hunger and thirst is something they will never know again. He goes on from there to say, the sun and the heat shall not strike them. It speaks of God's protection over them. And then it says for the lamb, verse 17, in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will be the one that provides

everything that they need. I love that play on words that's given to us right there because anybody with a shepherding background knows that lambs don't get to be the shepherds. It's like letting the inmates run the asylum, right? And yet the lamb of God is also the great shepherd. He'll provide everything that they need. And then this last one means so much to me personally.

It says, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. It speaks of God's comfort in their lives. Again, there's a lot of conjecture. There's no crying in heaven, kind of like baseball. So what tears is he wiping from their eyes? I don't know. It just says that he wipes the tears from their eyes. Perhaps the tears of knowing that they could have made the decision earlier in their life,

perhaps tears of regret. Although I have a hard time believing that we'll have regret in heaven. It could be that the comfort that comes from knowing that they'll never have to go through this again. Through the things that they went through again while they were on earth. I'm not real sure. We're just, we're not told why they have tears in their eyes. We're just told that he will wipe the tears from their eyes.

And by the way, in the Greek, it speaks of a personal touch. And he'll actually wipe the tears from their eyes. Isn't that great? Isn't it just like God and his mercy to take the people that we would consider second-class citizens, to take the people that we would say, well, you had your chance and you blew it. To take those people and to say, I'm going to hold you as close to me as I possibly can.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to dwell among you and I'll even wipe away all the tears from your eyes. Because that's how merciful God is. Brothers and sisters, if you take nothing else from tonight, take this. That same mercy that he shows to these tribulation saints is the same mercy that he shows to us. Every day of our lives. Because he is truly a merciful God.

Amen. Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you and Lord, I thank you for a break from the judgment, Lord. And a picture, beautiful picture of the mercy that you will show. And so Lord, help us to rest in that mercy tonight. That that very mercy would be what defines our lives. And so Lord, draw us near to you. Speak to us as only you can and bless us as we go through the rest of our week.

May our hearts be drawn to you. May our lives reflect the truth of you. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.