Revelation 7  A Peak Into Heaven

Alexander Maclaren "I have a strong conviction that the Christianity of this day suffers intellectually and practically, from its comparative neglect of the teaching of the New Testament as to the future life, we hear and think a great deal less about it than was once the case, and we are thereby deprived of a strong motive for action, and a sure comfort in sorrow. Some of us may, perhaps, be disposed to look with a little sense of lofty pity at the simple people who let the hope of heaven spur, or restrain, or console. But if there is a future life at all, and if the characteristic of it which most concerns us is that it is the reaping, in consequences, of the acts of the present, surely it cannot be such superior wisdom, as it sometimes pretends to be, to ignore it altogether; and perhaps the simplicity of the said people is more in accordance with the highest reason than is our attitude.

In a nutshell: Our hope is built on the fact that we are Citizens of heaven; Jesus is coming back for us; We will be transformed into someone who is fit for eternity; which will give us the courage to stand firm when life wants to beat us down.

Catacombs  In the catacombs that wind their way under the city of Rome, are the graves of many 1st and 2nd century Christians. As people have explored these tunnels over the years, three common symbols have been found etched on the stone and earthen walls of these cave-like tunnels: the dove, the fish, and the anchor. -The dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit. -The letters of the Greek word for "fish," ichthus, stand for the words Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. -And the anchor came from the idea that as Christians were going through difficult, harrowing, and insecure times, their hope is what anchored their souls.

Goethe List   More than two hundred years ago, the German philosopher, playwright and scientist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote out what he felt were the nine prerequisites for contented living. According to him, these are the things that really matter in life: 1. Health enough to make work a pleasure: 2. Wealth enough to support your needs: 3. Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them: 4. Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them: 5. Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished: 6. Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor: 7. Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others: 8. Faith enough to make real the things of God: 9. Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.

Hope is a very important thing for human beings to have. And where we place our hope, and the trustworthiness of what we hope in, will either lead us to be confident or to be anxious regarding our futures.

God has set Eternity in our heart, and man's infinite capacity cannot be filled or satisfied with the things of time and sense. (F. B. Meyer)

Heaven Is A Place Prepared for Prepared People

The Sealed

Revelation 7: 1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants  of our God on their foreheads." 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

God still has a plan for Israel.

God has a plan for every person and nation under heaven. Ephesians 1:11  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

But what about Israel? Has God just disposed of the Jews forever?

How odd of God to choose the Jews.

Oh no its not God knows what's what.

The Goyim annoy him.

Romans 11: 1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,  a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

Romans 11: 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved;  "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";  27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Jeremiah 31:35-37 "Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name; "If this fixed order departs from before Me," declares the Lord, "Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever." Thus says the Lord, "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done," declares the Lord."

Zechariah 12:7 And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land shall mourn, each family1  by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

13:1 "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Revelation 7

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" 11 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 worshiped God, 12 saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."  13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" 14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;  the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Heaven Is a Place of Untold Wonder

A Sure Salvation

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

A Clear Revelation

11 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 worshiped God, 12 saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."  13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" 14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

We shall see the King in His Beauty

The scars

The Strength

The Shepherd

Face to face with Christ my Saviour Face to face, what will it be?
When with rapture I behold Him Jesus Christ who died for me?

Face to face I shall behold Him Far beyond the starry sky
Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by!

Only faintly now, I see Him With the darkling veil between
But a blessed day is coming When His glory shall be seen.

Face to face! O blissful moment! Face to face, to see and know
Face to face with my Redeemer Jesus Christ who loves me so.

A Close Communion.

15 "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
" To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne."— Rev. iii, 21.

"They shall sit with Me." Ah I There you touch the centre—" To depart and to be with Christ, which is far better;" " Absent from the body ; present with the Lord."

In 1660 with the death of Cromwell, the end of the Commonwealth, and the restoration of Charles II as king, Rutherford found himself at odds with the state church. He was removed from church office, charged with treason, and summoned to appear before the British Parliament. When the summons came, however, Rutherford was on his deathbed.  He explains why he could not answer their summons—he had a more important call from his Lord! Rutherford died on March 30, 1661. It is recorded that his dying words were "Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's Land." It was this quote that stirred the heart of Anne Ross Cousin almost two hundred years later to set the words of Rutherford into a hymn. The hymn is a marvelous testimony of treasuring Christ above all else in this life and the next.

The King there in His beauty, Without a veil is seen:
It were a well-spent journey Though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb with His fair army, Doth on Mount Zion stand;
And glory—glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.

Oh! Christ He is the fountain, The deep sweet well of Love!
The streams on earth I've tasted, More deep I'll drink above:
There, to an ocean fullness, His mercy doth expand,
And glory—glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.

Soon shall the cup of glory Wash down earth's bitterest woes,
Soon shall the desert brier Break into Eden's rose:
The curse shall change to blessing– The name on earth that's bann'd,
Be graven on the white stone In Immanuel's land.

4.  A Continuing Contentment.

16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;  the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Heaven Will Be a Place of Glorious Rewards

Serve Him

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" 14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple;

Solemn reverence

Sincere humility

Profound Gratitude

Intense Affection

Satisfied in Him

16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;  the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Oh! I am my Beloved's, And my Beloved's mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner Into His "house of wine:"
I stand upon His merit, I know no other stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.

I shall sleep sound in Jesus, Fill'd with His likeness rise,
To live and to adore Him, To see Him with these eyes:
'Tween me and resurrection But Paradise doth stand;
Then—then for glory dwelling In Immanuel's land!

The bride eyes not her garment, But her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory, But on my King of Grace—
Not at the crown He giveth, But on His pierced hand:
The Lamb is all the glory Of Immanuel's land.

3.  Sing to Him.

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" 11 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 worshiped God, 12 saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."  

What rejoicing in His presence, When are banished grief and pain;
Death is swallowed up in vict'ry, And the dark things shall be plain.

Face to face I shall behold Him, Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by!

Stand For Him.

I've wrestled on towards Heaven, 'Ganst storm, and wind, and tide;—
Now, like a weary traveler, That leaneth on his guide,
Amid the shades of evening, While sinks life's ling'ring sand,
I hail the glory dawning From Immanuel's land.

Deep waters cross'd life's pathway, The hedge of thorns was sharp;
Now these lie all behind me,— Oh, for a well-tuned harp!
Oh, to join Hallelujah With yon triumphant band,
Who sing where glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land!

With mercy and with judgment My web of time He wove,
And aye the dews of sorrow Were lustered with His love!
I'll bless the hand that guided, I'll bless the heart that plann'd,
When throned where glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.

I have borne scorn and hatred, I have borne wrong and shame,
Earth's proud ones have reproach'd me, For Christ's thrice blessed name:
Where God His seal set fairest They've stamp'd their foulest brand;
But judgment shines like noonday In Immanuel's land.

They've summoned me before them, But there I may not come,—
My Lord says, "Come up hither," My Lord says, "Welcome home!
My King now at His white throne, My presence doth command,
Where glory—glory dwelleth In Immanuel's land.