We’re going to begin thinking about the cinema. What do all these movies have in common?

• Armageddon
• 2012
• 28 Days Later

They are end of the world movies… scenes of horrific disaster, destruction and death… an apocalyptic future. Revelation came long before these movies, and chapters 6-9 have no doubt been the source material for how people imagine the end of the world.

Also, Revelation works a little bit like the latest Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens”. If you’ve been to see it then throughout you may have had a feeling of de-ja-vu – because JJ Abrams deliberately made (not so subtle) references and allusions back to scenes, events, and dialogue in the original Star Wars movie. Revelation does something similar – it is full of references and allusions back to things in the earlier OT and NT. You’re meant to experience dejavu!  As we move into Revelation 6-9 there are allusions to:

• Exodus 7-12: the ten divine plagues on Egypt are echoed in the final judgements
• Zechariah 2: the four horsemen of the apocalypse first appear here
• Daniel 9:26-27: the “countdown! prophecy of the final seven years, the Tribulation, prior to the coming of God’s kingdom – 12:1 “there shall be a time of trouble such as never has been”
• Matthew 24: Jesus’ sermon on “the signs of the end of the age”. He predicts three stages “(1) a period of false Christs, wars, natural disasters, diseases and death (which parallel the Seal Judgements) … (2) the period of Great Tribulation … (3) the Second Coming” (Johnson).

The reason these references and allusions are key to the whole Message of Revelation - ALL GOD’S PLANS, PROMISES AND PROPHECIES of God are being FINALLY FULFILLED.

UNDERSTANDING REVELATION

• Diagram of OT expectation of the future: When the Messiah comes He will judge this present evil age and immediately transition into the future heavenly age.

• Diagram of NT realisation of the future: When the Messiah came the first time it was to provide rescue for sinners, and when He returns the second time it will be to judge.

• Let’s look at this more closely. In the NT: “The last days” refer to the whole period between the First and Second Comings of Jesus. So we are in the last days today… however, the Bible also speaks about a final seven year countdown to the Second Coming – which Revelation 6-19 describes.

Let me explain how this part of the book works:

• Ch.5 ended with Jesus, the king in heaven, holding in His hands the sealed scroll. It contains God’s plans for the future. When it is unsealed then its contents can be enacted – John gets to see the future when Jesus begins to open the seals, beginning the final countdown to the Second Coming of Jesus to establish His kingdom.

• Next follows two visions of the Seven Seals Judgements and Seven Trumpets Judgements - set during the final seven years Tribulation. This deals with the Question: HOW will God’s “kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? It will involve judgement on those who persist in rebellion against it. William Still explains this well: “Those who will not have Christ as Redeemer and Saviour must face Him as Judge”

• Also in each set of judgements there is a pause or interlude (in ch.7 this week and ch.10-11 next week). This deals with the Question: What will happen to God’s people on earth during this time?

(A) GOD THE JUDGE

• In 6:9-11 who are the people and what do they pray for? What response do they receive from God?
  • “It is the blood of the martyrs crying for vindication, not the martyrs themselves crying for personal vengeance” (Ladd)

• How are the prayers of God’s people answered? (8:1-7)
  • The “prayers of the saints” symbolised as bowls of incense, are cast into the earth’s atmosphere causing storms and is the occasion for the next set of more severe judgements to begin.

• Some people complain that God ignores the evil that takes place in the world. How do these chapters (Seal and Trumpet Judgements) help us answer them?
  • Justice will be done – wrongs will be righted
  • Evil will be vanquished
  • Goodness and truth will prevail
  • The reign of sin and death will end (although it will never surrender so must be defeated by judgement)
  • The righteous sufferers and victims will be vindicated

(B) GOD THE REFUGE

In ch.5 John heard Jesus described as “the lion” but saw “the slain lamb”. Now in ch.7 he hears about a crowd of “144,000” from “Israel” (v.1-8) and sees “a great multitude that no one could number from every nation” (v.9-17).

It’s worth pointing out that a big debate concerns how to interpret these crowds. Are they literal or symbolic. Are they literal 144,000 Jews (representing the promised salvation of Israel in Romans 11) which lead world evangelisation in the final days resulting in great revival? Or are they symbolic numbers representing all God’s people (Jew and Gentile) alive during those days (12 squared and 10 cubed)? I think the latter: “They represent the same people … seen in two stages of her history in the end times: first, standing on the threshold of the great tribulation, and later having passed through this time of tribulation, martyred but victorious… the number is symbolic and affirms that the full number of the people of God will be brought safely through the time of tribulation; not one of the people of God will be lost” (Ladd)

[It has always been God’s plan to redeem a people for Himself. Beginning with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), God chose one nation to represent all nations – however there were hints, especially in Psalms 97-100 and Isaiah 49:6, that God’s ultimate purpose was to redeem a people out of every nation (Revelation 7:9-10). The OT mystery of Gentile inclusion in the people of God (Ephesians 3:1-6), as the spiritual children of Abraham by faith (Galatians 4:7), became clear in the NT (Acts 10-11). Believing Gentiles have been in-grafted to the believing remnant of Israel (Romans 11:17 cf. Romans 9:6 “not all Israel are Israel”); they are fully included as God’s people - the “one new man” in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22 cf. Galatians 6:16, Revelation 21:12-14). Nevertheless, I do not believe that the continuity and fulfilment of OT prophecies spiritually in the church (e.g. Amos 9:11 in Acts 15:16, Exodus 19:6 in 1 Peter 2:9-10) necessarily exhausts or excludes a further literal fulfilment of those prophecies to national Israel in the future (Romans 11:11-12,25-26, cf. Zechariah 14, Daniel 9:24-27, Revelation 20:1-6).]

• What are the four angels about to do (7:1-2)? What does the other angel do (v.3-8)?
  • The four angels hold back judgements on the earth until God’s people on earth during the Tribulation are sealed – while the other angel is told to seal them.

• “Sealed” is repeated 5x in this passage. What does it mean to be “sealed” in the OT (Ezekiel 9:4-6) and NT (Ephesians 1:13-14)? What assurances are given for those who are sealed? (Revelation 7:10-17 cf. Romans 8:31-39)
  • “the sealed are the people of God and that their sealing must be related to their salvation as in the comparable figure used by Paul (2 Cor 1:22, Eph 1:13-14, 4:30) … while the seal may not protect the sealed against harm inflicted by human agency, they are protected from the divine plagues… Such a seal surely indicates ownership by God and the Lamb. Furthermore, a seal may offer protection or security for the bearers” (Johnson)
  • The song of redeemed in heaven echoes Israel rescued from Egypt, journeyed through desert and brought into the Promised Land to rest!

• When and how does this passage encourage or challenge you to trust God in life?
  • “Here we find that the servants of God are under His special care” (Morris)
  • “The purpose of the vision is to grant a glimpse of the eternal blessedness to those about to enter the world’s darkest hour. For a brief period John is privileged to look beyond this age to the hour of ultimate triumph” (Mounce)

CONCLUSION

We ought to marvel all the more at the Cross of Jesus when we see the terror of the partial (not yet final) judgements of God on sin. We ought to be thankful that we have been rescued from the wrath to come through Jesus – who has suffered that judgement for us

The good news for God’s people is that they are sealed and secure for eternity, because Christ is their refuge who shields them from the wrath that is to come. Whatever happens to them in this world, nothing can take them out of His hands!  If God can protect His people during the darkest days to come, He can help us on every other today before then too!

"you will be safe in his arms, because the hands that hold the world are holding your heart, this is the promise he made, he will be with you always, when everything is falling apart, you will be safe in his arms"

"no power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand, till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand"