Part 8 (1/2)
Revelation--Chapter Seven
We call attention here to the seventh chapter of Revelation. In this chapter we read of the sealing of one hundred and forty-four thousand.
How much confusion might have been avoided if expositors and Christians had not lost sight of two facts in connection with this sealed company.
First, this sealed company cannot be called now, nor are they in connection with the Church of G.o.d, because the Church according to the scope of the Book of Revelation is no longer on the earth when this takes place; and secondly, the Word states clearly that these sealed ones are ”of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” This sealed company therefore is of Israel, and will be called after the Church has been removed to her heavenly destination.
In the second half of this chapter in Revelation we read of another company. John writes, ”After this I beheld, and lo, a great mult.i.tude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.” When one of the elders had asked, ”Who are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?” He told John, ”These are they which came out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” We learn that this mult.i.tude of all nations comes out of the Great Tribulation. It is not the Church, for the Church is not in the Great Tribulation. This great mult.i.tude represents the Gentile nations who heard the final testimony and who believed, They turned in repentance to G.o.d and were then washed in the Blood of the Lamb. This great company does not stand before a heavenly throne, but it is the millennial throne which is in view here, and their blessedness throughout the millennial kingdom, after having suffered in the Great Tribulation, is described. They are the nations which the King calls blessed, and which will inherit the Kingdom. They are the fruits of the faithful witness of the elect Jewish remnant heralding the Kingdom before the Lord comes.
”These My Brethren”
When our Lord addresses from His throne these converted nations He says, ”Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Who are His brethren? He means by this term His brethren according to the flesh, from whom as concerning the flesh He came (Rom. ix:4-5). The nations who listened to their testimony when they appeared with the Gospel of the Kingdom, and who believed that message, manifested their belief by treating the messengers with kindness, giving them to eat and to drink, and clothing them. They did what the Gentile Rahab did to the Jewish spies, the advanceguard of the victorious host of Israel. And the other nations who despised the final offer of G.o.d's mercy in the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom showed no kindness to the Jewish messengers; and these nations which spurned the last offer will pa.s.s away from the earth.
What Else Converted Israel Will Do
When the Lord comes all Israel living in that day will be saved, except the apostates (Ezekiel xx:38), those who have wors.h.i.+pped the Beast and followed Anti-christ. ”They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him” (Zech. xii:10). This converted nation will be a kingdom of priests, and become the nucleus of that Kingdom into which the nations converted during the Tribulation, and all nations throughout the Millennium, will be gathered. Beautiful are the words of Isaiah, speaking of that time (Isa. lxi:6-9): Then the Gentiles shall come to the light which has risen among that nation, and kings to their brightness. Read the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah. In fact the entire prophetic Word witnesses to the fact that Israel, so long a curse among the nations, will be a blessing to all the nations.
It seems from another pa.s.sage that when the Millennium begins with the coming of the King, that certain portions of the earth must yet be reached, and that work is to be done among different nations to make known the great events which have taken place. And G.o.d will use Israel for this work. Isa. lxvi:19: ”And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tars.h.i.+sh, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” The last sentence of this prophecy, ”they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles,” tells us that they will have a work to do after His glory has been manifested.
There is another pa.s.sage in Zechariah which also speaks of how they will be used, Zech. viii:23: ”Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pa.s.s, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that G.o.d is with you.” This necessarily also comes after the Lord has come and set up His Kingdom.
Israel will therefore be definitely used in bringing the nations of the earth into the Kingdom. In that coming Kingdom, converted, Spirit-filled Israel will be the head of all nations, and be used in world-wide ministry and blessing. Then will be fulfilled what the Lord said through Isaiah: ”Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you ministers of our G.o.d; ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” What blessing is in store for the whole world, when that time comes may also be learned from Rom. xi:12-15. Let all true believers pray as never before, ”Even so, come Lord Jesus.”
[1] We give a few of the many pa.s.sages which predict these things.
Read them carefully with the contex: Psalm xxii:27-28, xlvii:7-8, lxvii:4-5, lxxii; Isa. lx:2-9; Dan. vii:13-14; Zech. ii:11.
THE FEASTS AND THE NAMES
Leviticus xxiii
The Lord commanded His people Israel to keep seven yearly feasts. We find them mentioned in their proper order in Leviticus. The feasts, or holy convocations are: The Feast of Pa.s.sover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First-fruits, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. While these feasts had a special meaning for G.o.d's people Israel and their wors.h.i.+p they are also ”the shadow of things to come;” they have a decided prophetic meaning. In a most remarkable manner they reveal the whole plan of redemption. All the dispensational dealings of G.o.d with Jews and Gentiles may be traced in these feasts.
We find also in the Old Testament Scriptures seven compound names of Jehovah. These are the following: _Jehovah-Jireh_ (Jehovah provides), Gen. xxii:14; _Jehovah-Rophekah_ (Jehovah thy Healer), Exod. xv:26; _Jehovah-Nissi_ (Jehovah my banner), Ex. xvii; _Jehovah-Shalom_ (Jehovah is Peace), Judges vi:24; _Jehovah-Roi_ (Jehovah my Shepherd), Psalm xxiii:1; _Jehovah-Tsidkenu_ (Jehovah our Righteousness), Jer.
xxiii:6; _Jehovah-Shammah_ (Jehovah is there), Exek. xlviii:35. These names are also prophetic; they tell out the story of redemption and may be linked with the Feasts of Jehovah. The interesting fact is that these names are given in the Word in such an order that they correspond with these feasts of Jehovah.
+I. The Pa.s.sover Feast+. This was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib and was kept in memory of Israel's redemption and deliverance from Egypt, the house of bondage. The Pa.s.sover-lamb was slain and its blood sprinkled on the lintel and side-posts of the door. G.o.d a.s.sured them when they were in Egypt, ”When I see the blood I will pa.s.s over you.” And so it was. The blood of the slain lamb sheltered them and secured immunity from death. The lamb, as a spotless victim, died that they might live. This feast marked the beginning of Israel's history as a redeemed people; their years were to be counted from that day (Exod. xii:1). The blessed story of this great redemption was not to be forgotten, but to be remembered from generation to generation (Exod. xii:24-27). The Pa.s.sover lamb and the sheltering blood foreshadow most blessedly the atoning work of the Cross, the sacrifice of our Lord and His precious blood. The paschal lamb is a type of Christ our Pa.s.sover. ”Christ our Pa.s.sover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. v:7). Our Lord fulfilled the type in every detail. When the time came for the Lord Jesus Christ to give His life, Satan made an effort that His death should not occur on the Pa.s.sover-feast. Satan knew that he was the true Lamb, and so he tried to prevent His death at the proper time (Matt. xxvi:5; Mark xiv:2).
But the Lamb of G.o.d died at the very time, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. Redemption by blood stands first, for it is the foundation of everything.
+Jehovah-Jireh+--”the Lord will provide”--is His name in connection with Abraham when he put his son Isaac as a sacrifice upon the altar.
When Isaac asked, ”Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” Abraham answered, ”My son, G.o.d will Himself provide the lamb for a burnt-offering” (Gen. xxii:8). The ram was provided to be put upon the altar and Abraham called the place Jehovah-Jireh. And so the Lord has provided the Lamb; He has provided a free and full salvation through His own Son. How beautifully this name of Jehovah fits the Pa.s.sover feast needs not to be demonstrated. Every one can see this.
+II. The Feast of Unleavened Bread+. This feast could not be separated from Pa.s.sover. Pa.s.sover without the feast of unleavened bread would have not only been an impossibility, but an insult to G.o.d.
And so also the feast of unleavened bread without the Pa.s.sover. Leaven is always the type of evil, corruption and sin. An unleavened condition means the opposite, it means holiness. G.o.d redeems unto holiness. What He redeems is destined to share His own holy character.
This feast of unleavened bread was to be kept for seven days. In Corinthians (1 Cor. v:7-8), where we read of Christ our Pa.s.sover, the unleavened bread is likewise mentioned. ”Christ our Pa.s.sover is sacrificed for us; wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” And before this it is written ”Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.” Redemption delivers from the power of indwelling sin.
Redeemed by blood, and saved by grace, our calling is unto holiness.
Spiritually to keep the feast of unleavened bread means to live in the energy of the new nature, walking in the Spirit. And ultimately His redeemed people will be wholly sanctified delivered from the very presence of sin. He will present the church to Himself, ”a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. v:27). That will be when we shall be with Him in glory. Then the gracious work of redemption is completed and crowned.
+Jehovah-Rophekah+, ”the Lord thy Healer,” He calls Himself in Exod.