The world’s greatest revival meeting
October 20, 2019
Commentary
As we consider the last half of this 7th chapter, we see how God not only seals a remnant of Israel, but he also saves a redeemed company of Gentiles during the Great Tribulation period. This group of 144,000 select men from Israel, will fulfill the word of Jesus that this “gospel of the kingdom” will be preached in the whole world as a witness to all nations, and then the final judgments of God will come. This group proclaims the gospel during that seven-year period that we call “the last days” of this age. It is a band of Spirit-filled Jews, converted after the church has been taken out of the world. Like 144,000 Apostle Paul’s, they preach the gospel throughout the earth during the judgments of the end times. The world’s greatest revival meeting will take place during this time. There is a most extraordinary passage in the 10th chapter of Matthew which confirms this concept.
The Tribulation Saints (Gentiles) (7:9-17) – This group is made up of a multitude of people from every nation, tribe, people, and language (vv. 9-12). There are various opinions as to the identity of this group, but we can be confident that it is not the same group that is mentioned in the first part of the chapter. It is clearly stated that this group is from all the nations of the earth while the 144,000 is from one nation, Israel. It is also important to note that neither of these two groups represent the Church, the body of Christ in this present Age. The end of this chapter depicts a scene in Heaven which precedes the second coming of Christ to the earth (v. 13-17).
Application
It is not my desire to live on a mountain top in my Christian experience, in such a way, that does not motive me to be a witness for Jesus Christ.
Revelation 7:9– 17 (NET)
9 After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. 10 They were shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Praise and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These dressed in long white robes—who are they and where have they come from?” 14 So I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! 15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 16 They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, 17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”