Revelation 7:9-17 "The great multitude"

Revelation 7:9-17

Genesis 15:1-6

“A great multitude”

How often do we think about what we are actually singing?

For example, I used to sing along to the classic spice girls song, I tell you what I want, what I really really want, I really really want a zig a ziga ar……

What is a zig a zig ar?

I have no idea……. I just used to sing it.

I am sure we have all heard of the classic song:

“father Abraham had many sons….many sons had father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord, Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, turn around, nod your head……”

Why do we wave our arms and legs- I don’t know- it’s just fun…..

And who is father Abraham?

My father’s name is Philip, Philip James Smith, hence my name is Philip Paul Smith.Am I one of Abraham’s sons?

What if you are a girl, wouldn’t ‘t you have to sing father Abraham had many daughters?

Well, I just want us to think about this song for a moment, and in particular, I want us to think about this bloke Abraham.

As we know from way back in Genesis 12, God, out of all the people on the face of the earth picked out Abraham, He chose Abraham and what did God chose Abraham for, well he chose Abraham to be the man through whom God would bless the whole world. God promised Abraham that through him, God would set aside a people for Him.

Now, that promise to Abraham would seem overwhelming to anyone, but perhaps even more so to Abraham. At the time when God chose Abraham and told him that through him, all the nations, all the families on earth would be blessed, he was 75 years old, 75….His wife was also advancing in years. And yet at that old age, when you may be thinking of retirement, God told Abraham to up and move, because through Him, all the world would be blessed.

Through Abraham, God would save a people for Himself.

Now, just put yourself in Abraham’s shoes for a moment…..

If God had made that huge promise to you, and you were about to up sticks and leave for another country, you would probably want some kind of assurances, wouldn’t you…..

And that is what God gave him……..well sort of……..

Understandably, Abraham had doubts, he had no kids of his own, he and his wife were getting on in age, and yet God had made this huge promise, that through Him, the whole world would be blessed. Through Him, God would save a people for Himself.

And so what did God do?

God visited Abraham, took him outside the tent and told him to count all the stars in the sky.

God promised Abraham, that his offspring, would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. 

Now, the scriptures don’t tell us if Abraham actually started to count the stars in the sky….one, two, three, woops, already done that one, start again……

It would have been an overwhelming task to count all the stars in the sky, it would have been an impossible task….what we do know, is that at some point when Abraham was gazing at all the stars in the sky, when he was thinking upon the multitude of peoples that God was going to bless through Him, he got to a point where he just believed God.

He got to a point where he just believed that God would fulfil his promise to him.

He didn’t need to know a number- He just believed!

Even though he was childless, even though he was a stranger, even though he was old, he looked at the stars and believed God.

Abraham had no idea how many stars were in the sky, but he knew that God did.

Abraham had no idea how God was going to keep this promise to Him, but he knew he would.

Friends, as we come to look at Revelation chapter 7 today, we are presented with a similar picture that Abraham saw, as he was looking at the stars in the sky, we are presented with a picture of a great multitude of people, so many people that no-one could count them.

In this picture of all these people, too many to count, there are people from every nation, every tribe, every people and every language group. This is the most diverse group of people anyone has ever seen, and yet it is also the most unified group of people anyone has ever seen, because all these people from different tribes, they are all standing before the throne and before the lamb worshipping Jesus together.

All these people were clothed in white robes, which is a symbol of purity, these people had been set aside to be Holy, for their hearts to be wholly worshipping God, they had palm branches in their hands, which they used to wave to welcome the king, and they were all singing and praising God saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb”

Where they all singing in the same language or their own language? I don’t know, it doesn’t matter, what matters is they were all worshipping the one true and living God.

And just like when Abraham looked at the stars in the sky that night, as we look more closely at this picture, it becomes more and more overwhelming, overwhelming with Joy and praise and awe…..

This great multitude of people, so numerous that no-one could count them, where in the very presence of God, serving him day and night in his temple. These people never got hungry, they never got thirsty, they were always satisfied. This multitude of people were protected from the scorching heat, they had a constant supply of fresh living water, God himself wiped tears from their eyes.

With all that said, let us step back from being overwhelmed for a moment…….I want us to now think upon this great multitude, this vast amount of people and think for a moment on who they are.

What do we know for sure about this great multitude?

What does the text of Revelation chapter 7 tell us?

First of all, this great multitude is actually the same 144,000 that is mentioned in verse 4.

This great multitude that no-one could count, is the same 144,000 mentioned in verse 4

Just look at verse 4 with me:

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

And now look at verse 9 again with me:

After this, I looked, and behold a great multitude that no-one could number

You see, in this vision, John heard the number that was sealed was 144,000 but he didn’t see them, he didn’t count them, but then he looked and all he could see was a great multitude.

It would have been like Abraham being told by God, that he was going to have as many offspring as the stars in the sky, which God knew the number exactly, but when Abraham looked at the stars in the sky, he just saw a great multitude, too many to count.

Now, if you remember from last week, Matt explained that this 144,000 isn’t a literal number, but it is a symbolic number which represents all of God’s people from both the old and new covenant. 12 representing the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 representing the 12 apostle, and when you times 12 together, you get 144 and then times a thousand, which represents a big number, and you get 144,000.

And so this 144,000 is a symbolic number which represents all of God’s people over all of time, and hence it is a great multitude, a number that no-one can count.

However, even though we cannot count that number, God knows that number……as 2 Timothy 2:9 tells us “God knows who are his” God knows that number, he knows exactly who the multitude are, he knows the literal number for the symbolic number of 144,000,but perhaps more importantly: we don’t.

Matthews 10:30 tells us that God knows how many hairs we all have on our heads, and so God definitely knows how many belong to Him. God knows how many he has sealed with His Holy Spirit.

God knows and we don’t.

This great multitude friends, are the children of Abraham, and who are the children of Abraham?

Well, the Galatians 3:29 tells us clearly, it says:

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

When Abraham looked into the sky that night and looked at all the stars, he had no idea that it would be his one off spring: Jesus, through whom all these children of God would come.

Although, we do know from the scriptures, that  Abraham, did have some sort of inkling that it would take someone greater than himself in order for God to fulfill his promises to Him.

Just look at what Jesus said to a bunch of Jews who were trying to make their case that they were the real children of Abraham, because they trusted in their family line to their father Abraham for their salvation.

John 8:56-58: Jesus said this:

 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 

Friends, if you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then be assured, God has counted you as one of his, God has sealed you as one of His, and so no matter what trials and tribulations you face in this life, you can be assured that one day, God will wipe away every tear from your eye, you can be assured that one day, you will be serving and worshipping God in total paradise.

In fact, we can be so assured of this promise, because the scriptures tell us that God chose you IN CHRIST, even before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 tells us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be Holy- set apart from him and blameless, pure, wearing our white robes. He chose us, even before he made that promise to Abraham on that starry night.

Jesus, the I AM was God’s plan of salvation even before he chose Abraham.

Just think and chew on this: God knew that number, the symbolic 144,000, the number of the great multitude before the foundation of the world.

And so let me leave you with a couple of applications

1.        It’s an oldie, but a goodie, we must let go, and Let God.

When Abraham heard that God was going to give him lots of children, the first thing he tried to do was to bring about this promise himself. He had no children at the time, his wife was old, and so he slept with his maidservant- Hagar, and tried to bring the promise about himself.

He failed spectacularly.

We must trust that what Jesus did at the cross was enough.

This means we don’t try and earn our seal into God’s family, by our church attendance, our bible reading, our tithing, our prayers, N0, we go to church, we read, we pray, we do good works, because we know that through what Jesus did for us on the cross, he has already sealed us, he has already counted us as one of his.

We can let go of trying to control and earn things, we can trust God has got us.

2.        We must be less stats driven in our evangelism efforts and more knee bent in prayer!

I am not saying that stats are bad and strategies are bad, but we must take all our evangelistic efforts with a pinch of salt, why?

It is only God who seals people into his family, only God who knows who are his, and so our Job is just to spread the seed of the gospel far and wide, praying that it will land on fertile soil.

It is to God to whom all the Glory belongs!

God is the one who seals!

God is the one who counts!

To God be the Glory!