The World's Greatest Revival

We try to make it as easy as possible for people to come to Christ. Christ made it as hard as possible for people to come to Him. Think about it. All that to say this, listen very carefully. Do you want to know why there will never be a world revival this side of the tribulational period? It's because there's no cost. Do you want to know why that In Revelation 7, when the great multitudes from around the world are saved, do you want to know why that at that seven-year period of time? That sh period of time trans into the greatest number of converts the world has ever seen.

It's because the cost is the greatest. The greater the cost, the greater the converts. And in the tribulational period, these people got to make a choice, the mark of the beast or Christ. Be able to buy and sell food, be able to eat or follow Christ. And how many people follow Christ? Multitudes of them. That's why Jesus says.

Enter the narrow gate, for few there be that find it. In the very beginning of time, God wanted to save the world. That's always his plan. He began by using the nation of Israel. They were his chosen people. They were designed to win the world to God. Salvation just wasn't for the Jew. It was for the Jew and the Gentile. Go all the way back to Romans, or excuse me, Genesis chapter 12. In the Abrahamic covenant, when God said to Abraham, And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you.

And the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Every family in the earth will be blessed because of you, Abraham. The s part is that Israel failed miserably in her mission. The sad part is that Israel forfeited her right and her responsibility to proclaim God to the world. The good part is that through that the church was born, the church of Jesus Christ. And while Christ has set Israel aside for a while. And brought the church in and now uses the church to be his salt and his light and his mouthpiece.

As Mark 16:1 said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. One day again, God, after the rapture of the church, will graft Israel back in, and they will once again be his mouthpiece. They once again will have another opportunity to tell the world about the Messiah. And that's where the 144,000 Jews come in. And even though it's during the darkest hour of man's history, we will see the greatest conversion of people in the history of the world. Because God has a marvelous plan. God came to save man.

That's why he came. That's why he died. And during the tribulation, there will be the greatest revival the world has ever seen. Let's look at it together this evening.

Revelation chapter 7. We have four things we want to cover with you this evening: the converted, their cry, their companions. And their consolation. Revelation 7, verses 9 to 17. It says, After these things I looked. And behold, a great multitude which no one could count from every nation. And all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the thr and before the Lamb, cl in white robes and palm branches, were in their hands. We'll stop right there. The converted. I want you to notice two things.

Number one, the exclamation about their conversion. And number two, the explanation. Who are these people? But these people, with palm branches in their hand, symbolize the fact that they have been delivered, that they are the victorious ones. They are the joyous ones because they have been delivered from the Antichrist. They've been delivered from sin, rebellion, dis. And judgment on the world. Where are they? They're standing before the throne. What throne is that? That's the throne of God. Look back at Revelation chapter 4, verse number 2.

Also, in the presence of the Lamb, John saw in Revelation 5, 6 the Lamb standing near the throne in an earlier vision. So here they are, multitudes of people before the throne of God. And Jon said, Nick, can you believe this? This is just the most incredible thing. Behold, look at all these people.

He's never seen anything like it. And neither have we. And John is extremely, extremely j over what he sees. That leads us to the explanation: who are these people? Where do they come from? Go over to verse number 13. One of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are clothed in white robes, who are they and from where have they come? And I said to him, My Lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation. And they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

That's who they are. One of the 24 elders comes to John and asks him a question, not because he needed information, because he is now glorified. He is now perfect. He now knows everything he needs to know. So he doesn't come to get inform. He comes to help John understand the vision. So, John can grasp who these people are. These are the ones who came out of the tribulation. These are the saved ones. Now let me digress for a moment.

Because there are many people who asked me this question. Many of you have asked me this question already. And we have to some degree covered it. But the question is: this: if someone does not give their life to Christ before the rapture of the church, Will they give their life to Christ or will they have the opportunity to give their life to Christ in the tribulation? Now you can read a lot of different commentaries on that issue. I'm not sure I agree with all in what they say, but I think that you need to understand what the Bible says about whether or not Someone you know today doesn't know Jesus Christ, and the rapture was to happen today, the church would be translated into glory.

And the seven-year tribulation then would begin. Would that person have the opportunity to receive Christ? Well, they'll have the opportunity. Because they'll hear the gospel. Some way, somehow, someone will probably tell them. Maybe it's one of the 144,000. They'll certainly know about the two evangelists in Revelation chapter 11. So I'm sure that your loved ones or others will have the opportunity to hear the gospel. We would certainly like to think that they would give their life to Christ. After all, you have told them, haven't you?

You have warned them about the coming judgment of God. You have told them about the impending judgment that will come upon their lives. So you would think, rationally speaking, that once you're gone, they'd wake up and snub a coffee and say, aha. It must be true, I was wrong, not al. Fall on their face before God and give their life to Him, right? You'd think that would be the logical conclusion of a rational mind. Whether or not someone's mind is rational or not, I don't want to comment on that, but I think that in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, it begins to answer that question for us.

It says this in verse number 8. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. That is the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness, for those who perished because they did not receive the love of the truth. So as to be saved. And for this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe.

What is false, in order that they may all, or they all may, be judged, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. Now there are commentators who use this to support the fact that once you're gone, once the restraining influence is gone, the Holy Spirit then those who have heard the gospel in its entirety, had the opportunity to give their life to Christ before the rapture, will now be deluded by the Antich and believe that which is false, not that which is true. And they will perish in their wickedness.

There are many who believe that. I tend to lean that way based on what the text says. If you read Hebrews 2, 1 to 4, the writer of Hebrews speaks of the danger of those who drift. If you go over to Hebrews 3, 7 and 19, he talks about the dangers of those who live in disbelief. And then Hebrews chapter 5. Verse number 11 through Hebrews 6, verse number 18, he speaks about the danger of dullness. There's danger today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of provocation. Don't do that.

Why? Because the more you harden your heart, every time you hear the gospel. And you say no, a layer of hardness goes over your heart until it gets thicker and thicker. And thicker, and as you drift away from the gospel, you become in danger of disbelieving the gospel even further, and you become in danger of becoming dull to ever hearing the gospel. Because of the hardness of your heart. Whereas the writer of Hebrews would say in Hebrews 6, it is impossible. To renew them to repentance. Who's them?

Not the believer. Those who have part of the Spirit of God. Those who have had a taste of Christ. Those who, like Judas, who were all around Christ and heard him and watched him and saw him, yet he was a son of perdition. Those like Simon the magician in Acts chapter 8, who knew all about Christ but was not really a true believer in Christ. All those things play a part. The danger of the hardening of the heart would lead me to believe. That those who hear the gospel today and ref to belie are in the process of hardening their heart.

So much so that when the rapture of the church occurs, the Antichrist's influence in the world is so great, he's able to deceive the whole world. Into belie the fact that He Himself is God. Now, can I be for certain on that? No, I can't. But I wouldn't even want to begin to venture to take the chance of saying to someone, you know what? Maybe during the tribulation you will. Maybe the guy will say, you know, if you end up being raptured and That a Jewish evangelist comes at my door and tells me about Christ, I'll know for certain that it's a tribulation.

I'll give my life to Christ. I don't think so. Maybe God can save anybody He wants whenever He wants to save them. But I know that in this text there is a great multitude. Of Jew and Gentile alike, all over the world. Maybe they never heard the gospel before. We know for certain that the word of the Lord has not reached many unreached people groups around the world. There are people who say Jesus Christ won't come back till everybody hears the gospel. That's not true. That's nowhere stated in the scriptures.

But we know the fact that during the tribulation, every in the world will hear the gospel because Matthew 24 states that. They will all have the chance to give their life to Christ. These people in Revelation chapter seven are people Who have been washed in the blood Of the Lamb. It says they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. You know, as well as I do, that if you wash anything in blood, it stains. Except for the divine detergent itself, the blood of Jesus Christ.

Read the book of Hebrews. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover sin, could not remove sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ It removes all stains. And these people have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Those are the converted. Spent a lot more time there than I thought we were. I'm hoping maybe we can finish this tonight. Let's look at verse number 10, their cry.

It says, and they cry out with a what? What does it say? Not loud voice. Loud voice. There it is again, man. It's all through the book of Revelation over 80 times. Key word in the book of Revelation, loud. Loud voice. Its tone is loud. Revelation 5, 12, 6, 10, 11, 12, and 15. Revelation 12, 10, 14, 7, 16, 1, 19, Twenty-one three, the Lord desires loud praise. That's what he wants. Psalm:. Shout joyfully to God. Psalm 100, verse number 1. Shout joyfully to the Lord. These people can't help but be loud because of their triumphant experience.

And then notice the theme. What is the theme? It says this: Salvation to our God who sits on the throne into the Lamb. The them is on God and his gift. The gift of grace. The gift of salvation. These people know why they are in the presence of Almighty God. They are not there because they were killed during the tribulation. They were not there because they endured great turmoil during the tribulation. They are not there because they. Came through the tribulation, they are there because of the Lamb of God, and they know it.

They know they are there because they didn't do anything, and God did everything. And so their theme is one of praise to God and his glorious gift, and they can't contain it. Folks, that's the way we should be. You see, we come and we give praise to God, and we give a semblance of praise to God, but we kind of come and sing in a very low or dull roar. That's because we don't really comprehend the greatness of our salvation and the greatness of our God. These people do. These people do. And they can't help but do it loudly.

Their companions, that's point number three. Verses 11 and 12. And all the angels, how many is that? That's a lot of angels. Chapter five, verse number eleven: my of myriads and thousands of thousands. That's a lot of angels, folks. A lot of angels, 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 worshiped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.

Am. Notice their position, the position of the four living creatures, the position of the elders, the position of the angels.

They fall on their face. These are perfect people. Perfect people with no more sin. They fall on their face before God because the Bible says.

That at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And all of them fall prostrate. On the ground. From their position, notice their praise.

Blessing and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might. They recognize God's salvation. They recognize God's sovereignty. They've recognized God's supremacy. And they affirm it by saying, Amen. Let it be. Let it be the way it should be because of who God is. The final climactic judgment approaches, and there is praise. Before in chapter four and five, before the seals were opened, there was praise at the throne of God. And now, after. The first six seals are open.

There is praise again in heaven. And all heaven rings of praise, and this praise will be forever and never throughout eternity. Which is point leads us to point number four. Their consolation. Verse number fifteen and sixteen and seventeen. For this reason, they are before the throne of God. Notice their place before the throne of God.

These are not second-class citizens of the kingdom. They're before the throne of God. They're not behind the throne. They're not around the throne. They're in the front row. They're beholding the face of God. They got front row seats. They got the chief seats. Not the cheap seats. Not the bleacher seats. They got the chief seats Right in front of the throne of God. Beholding his face, beholding his countenance, praising his glorious name. Number two, their privilege.

It says, and they serve him day and night. Listen, not only do they have access, they have act. They serve him day and night. What a privilege. And then I want you to notice their protection.

Look what it says. They serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. Wow. That's their protection. Remember John 1, verse number 14? And the word bec flesh and tabernacled among us? It speaks of his presence, his sheltering presence, his protective presence. These believers, having witnessed the unspeakable suffering, Indescribable horror of judgment and the persecution for the Antichrist now have ultimate security and safety because The God of the universe tabernacles over them, protects them.

That's their consolation. And fourthly, their provision. What's it say? And they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be there. Shepherd. Their provision? Evidently, having gone through the tribulation. They hungered and thirst. If you don't take the mark of the beast, Revelation 13:17, you can't buy or sell, right? You can't eat, you can't drink, you can't do anything, you'll starve to death if you don't have the mark of the beast.

Their consolation is the provision of the shepherd. No longer will they go hungry. No longer will they thirst. No longer will they be hot. They'll have the perfect environment because their shepherd will protect them. And lastly, their peace. The shepherd shall guide them to springs of the water of life, and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes. The shepherd. It's the picture of peace. As God is referred to as a shepherd, as Jesus Christ Himself is referred to as a shepherd, the great shepherd will guide them to the water of life.

And the great shepherd will wipe away every tear. For in heaven there is no pain, there is no sorrow, there is No suffering. Revel 22, verse number 1. And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And then down to verse number 17, and the spirit and the bride say, come, and let the one who hears say come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost. It's the great shepherd. He says, You come, and I will give to you that which you want the most.

Because as the Creator, I know what the Creator needs. And they experience ultimate peace. I wonder: have you experienced the peace of God? Have you experienced His provision for your life? Have you experienced from God? His wonderful opportunity given to you to serve him the privilege. Hopefully. The place He has in your life is that He rules and reigns from the throne of your life, that He might give to you the consolation He gave or will give. To these people, Revelation chapter 7. Let's pray together.