May we look to the Lord in prayer.
Our Heavenly Father, we do pray that the
vision of Christ the victor may ever be
before us.
When we are surrounded by things, by happenings,
that seem to be depressing, confusing, and oppressing,
we pray that in the very innermost of
our heart, we can see Christ the conqueror.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that
we can claim Him as our overcomer.
How we praise and thank Thee by Him,
we too shall overcome.
So we do pray that this vision may
ever be before our eyes, no matter what
happens.
We do commit this hour into Thy hand,
and we claim Thy victory over this hour.
We pray that the enemy may not in
any way interfere with Thy work.
We ask Thee that Thou will claim Thy
victory over us, over the whole gathering for
tonight.
We commit this hour into Thy hand.
Oh, how we desire to worship Thee, because
Thou art the changeless One.
We ask in the precious name of our
Lord Jesus.
During the past two evenings, we have seen
two glorious scenes.
First, we see the glory of our Redeemer,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
The Lamb slain, standing before the throne.
Christ the overcomer.
Then last night, we see the vision of
Christ as the Son of Man, walking in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
And there He is looking for Himself in
His own church.
And for this reason, the call to overcome
comes.
Now this evening, we would like to see
another wonderful scene.
And it is also in Revelation.
Will you please turn to Revelation chapter 7.
Revelation chapter 7.
We'll read from verse 9.
After these things I saw, and behold, a
great multitude, which no man could number, out
of every nation and of all tribes and
peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and
before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes and
palms in their hands.
And they cried with a great voice, saying,
Salvation unto our God, who sitteth on the
throne and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels were standing round about
the throne, and about the elders and the
four living creatures.
And they fell before the throne on their
faces and worshipped God, saying, Amen.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and
honor and power and might be unto our
God forever and ever.
Amen.
And one of the elders answered, saying unto
me, These that are arrayed in the white
robes, who are they, and whence came they?
And I said unto him, My Lord, thou
knowest.
And he said to me, These are they
that come out of the great tribulation, and
they wash their robes and make them white
in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and they serve him day and night in
his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall
spread his tabernacle over them.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more, neither shall the sun strike them, nor
any heat.
For the Lamb that is in the midst
of the throne shall be their shepherd and
shall guide them unto fountains of waters of
life.
And God shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes.
In this seventh chapter of the book of
Revelation, actually there is more than one scene.
Before that portion, which we have just read,
we find another scene.
The sealing of the 144,000 of the
tribes of Israel.
We find that in between the sixth seal,
after the Lamb has opened the sixth seal,
and before he opens the seventh seal, we
find this seventh chapter is placed between these
two seals.
Now in the sixth seal, we find in
the preceding chapter, the last verse, For the
great day of their wrath is come, and
who is able to stand?
There you'll find the great day of the
wrath of God and of the Lamb is
coming.
And who is able to stand that day?
But before the seventh seal is opened, we
find these two wonderful scenes.
On the one hand you'll find out of
the twelve tribes of Israel, there are 144
,000 being sealed with the seal of God.
I'm afraid I have to do a little
interpretation.
I hope you won't mind that.
And if you do not see eye to
eye with me, I'm quite willing to be
corrected.
And I do not intend to force you
to see my way.
Again I will say interpretation is interpretation.
Interpretation is not the Bible.
We believe the word of God, even sometimes
we interpret a little different.
But what I would like to say is
this, the interpretation is not important.
What is important is, we desire to see
something that is very significant on this matter
of overcomers.
Now, if you can get that, you can
forget all the interpretation.
But anyway, I will try to interpret a
little bit.
Before, the four angels who hold the four
wings of the earth to blow upon the
earth.
Symbolically it means that before greater tribulation, greater
destruction comes upon the earth.
Now the great day of the wrath of
God and of the Lamb is come.
There will be great destruction coming.
But before it comes, God stays the hands
of these angels and said, wait a minute,
let me do something first.
And another angel descending, ascending from the sun
rising, having the seal of the living God.
And he said, do not hurt the earth
and the sea until I have sealed the
servants of our God on their foreheads.
So here you will find this angel is
sealing the foreheads of the born servants of
our God.
And those who are sealed belong to the
twelve tribes of Israel.
I personally believe this is Israel.
Of the twelve tribes of Israel, before the
greater destruction comes upon the earth, God has
sealed 144,000 around number.
Now of course, the twelve tribes of Israel
or Israel as a nation must have much
more people than 144,000.
In other words, not every Israelite is sealed.
Only 144,000 out of the tribes of
Israel are being sealed with a seal.
We know what sealing means.
When God puts his seal, it means that
God claims that which is sealed as his
own.
God claims his ownership.
God acknowledges that this is mine.
It belongs to me.
And because it belongs to him, therefore it
is under his protection.
You remember even in the Old Testament, in
the book of Ezekiel, the ninth chapter, the
prophet Ezekiel experienced something of this.
Even at his time.
He was taken by the Spirit of God
back into the temple in Jerusalem.
And there he was shown all the abominations
and abominable things that the people of God
were doing in the temple.
And then he saw six men with destroying
weapons.
They came.
They stood by the altar.
And then another man who was clothed in
linen, in white linen, with a righteous ink
on by his side.
And this man came too.
And God said, Before the six men with
destroying weapons went forth to destroy, this man
with the ink on, righteous ink on, he
will first put a mark upon those who
are moaning and groaning for the abominations in
the city.
He will put a mark atop like a
cross upon the foreheads of those who moan,
of those who groan with a groaning.
And after the sealing was finished, the six
men followed.
Starting from the temple, judgment began at the
house of God.
And these six men were struck down, were
smite everyone who did not have the seal
upon his forehead.
And the prophet Ezekiel.
So there you'll find in the Old Testament
the same picture.
And you can take the picture now to
the book of Revelation.
Here you'll find again God is sealing his
people.
The whole tribe, all the tribes, the twelve
tribes of the nation nominally belong to God.
Every Israelite belongs to God.
Every Israelite is supposed to be God's born
servant.
What else can they be?
But in actuality, when you come down to
reality, you'll find that out of the twelve
tribes of Israel, only 144,000 are sealed.
In other words, God acknowledges them.
God acknowledges them as His.
The Lord knows those that are His.
They are sealed.
Usually we say this is a Jewish remnant.
At the end of this age.
At the end, when the end of this
age is approaching there will be a Jewish
remnant.
We call it a remnant because it is
just a very small part of the whole
nation.
And yet this remnant is faithful unto God.
And God owns them as His.
And God protects them from hurt.
Now this is the first scene that we
have seen.
And in parallel with this scene we have
what we have before us.
The Apostle John said, After these things I
saw and behold a great multitude which no
man could number out of every nation and
of all tribes and peoples and tongues.
Now whenever in the scripture you come to
such description out of every nation and tribe
and peoples and tongues immediately you know that
it refers to the church of God.
The church of God is composed of those
whom God has chosen out of every nation
and tribe and people and tongue.
And gather them unto one name the name
of our Lord Jesus.
That's the church.
If I may put it in a term
that our brother Mr. Sparks has used in
the morning this is the new Israel.
We find in the first part the old
Israel.
Israel according to the flesh.
And here you'll find in the second part
the new Israel.
That is the church.
But when you read on you will find
there are further descriptions.
And these further descriptions do not seem to
fit in with the church in general.
You'll find they are standing before the throne
and before the Lamb.
Now this is a part of interpretation.
This great crowd numberless I do thank God
for this numberless crowd.
They are standing before the throne and before
the Lamb.
And according to the order of the book
of Revelation according to the time factor of
the book of Revelation you'll find that this
happened between this scene is seen between the
sixth and the seventh seal.
This is seen before the blowing of the
seven tempests.
Not to say the blowing of the last
tempest.
We know from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 the
Lord shall descend from heaven.
And there will be the voice of the
archangel.
And the voice of the trumpet.
And the shout.
And then those who are dead in Christ
shall be raised from the dead.
And those who remain and alive they shall
be transformed.
And we shall all be taken up to
the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air.
And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 you'll
find when the last trumpet is sound the
dead shall be raised.
And those who live shall be transformed.
So you put these two places together and
you'll find the day will come when the
last trumpet shall be sounded.
And then you'll find all those who are
dead in Christ throughout the centuries shall be
raised from the dead.
And those who remain living shall be transformed.
And we shall all be caught up into
the air and meet our Lord there.
Because He has descended.
Here you'll find the seventh seal has not
been opened yet.
None of the trumpets have been sounded.
The last trumpet certainly has not been sounded.
And you'll find these men are standing not
in the cloud not in the air but
they are standing before the throne and of
the Lamb.
Where is the throne?
And where is the Lamb?
Revelation chapter 4 I see I saw the
heaven open and I was taken up in
the spirit and I saw a throne.
The throne is in heaven.
And in chapter 5 where is the Lamb?
The Lamb slain, standing before the throne.
In other words it is in heaven.
Not in the cloud not in the air
but way up in heaven.
And here you'll find these men are already
standing before the throne and even before he
descends I
feel this is almost like what we read
in Luke chapter 21 verse 36 Watch he
there praying at all seasons that he may
escape all these things and stand before the
Son or you may refer back to Revelation
chapter 12 verse 5 And the woman in
travail gives birth to a male son and
he is caught up to the throne.
So you'll find here a countless crowd is
standing before the throne as if they are
there to welcome the Lord back.
They are clothed in white robes.
Now we read in Revelation chapter 3 the
letter to the church in Sardis The Lord
says But thou hast a few names in
Sardis that did not defile their garments and
they shall walk with me in white for
they are not worthy he that overcometh shall
thus be arrayed in white garments.
This is a promise to the overcomers in
the church at Sardis.
Clothed with white garments and then as you
go on you'll find these garments are made
white because they have been washed in the
blood.
Now dear brothers and sisters as we come
to God God put a robe over us
use that parable of the prodigal son when
the son comes back he is in rags
and the father say now take away the
rags but put the best robe upon him.
In other words we are clothed with Christ
as we come to God we are clothed
with Christ Christ is our righteousness this is
the best robe but may I ask a
question does that white robe need to be
washed can that robe be defiled we are
clothed with Christ Christ our righteousness can that
righteousness be defiled does that righteousness need to
be washed certainly not Jesus Christ the same
yesterday today and forever he is righteous forever
he does not need to be washed it
never changes so you find that the robe
that we are clothed with by God Christ
our righteousness need not be washed it is
forever white pure but the Bible tells us
we believers are clothed with two garments instead
of one we are clothed with Christ but
there is another robe that we must be
clothed if you turn to Psalm 45 you
find that it is a psalm which speaks
of the King the psalm begins my heart
overflows with a goodly matter I speak the
things which I have made touching the King
when we think of the King Christ our
King it is a pen of a ready
writer oh how his heart swells as he
writes of the King how glorious how righteous
how majestic how gracious but as he is
writing concerning the King you find naturally he
turns to the King the Queen so there
you'll find in verse 13 the King's daughter
within the palace is all glorious her clothing
is in rot with gold here you'll find
the Queen is clothed with a dress in
rot gold a golden garment symbolically gold speaks
of God the nature of God it never
changes in other words you'll find this woman
is clothed with all righteousness but then in
verse 14 she shall be led unto the
King in blood upon this dress of rot
gold she is also dressed with a dress
of embroidered work that's another garment the second
garment the first garment speaks of Christ all
righteousness but this second garment being of embroidered
work the sisters know better when you're making
a dress of embroidered work oh you have
to have patience one stitch after another and
there you'll find it is done with great
patience and according to a pattern and after
it is done it is most good after
we are clothed with Christ then the Holy
Spirit will begin to use his needle he
begins to work one stitch after another he
begins to incorporate Christ into our very life
that is a very patient work the Holy
Spirit is most patient he is there working
one stitch after another according to Christ that
Christ may not only be clothed but Christ
may be incorporated into our very being it
is an embroidered and the book of Revelation
chapter 19 says this is the righteousness not
only Christ our righteousness but Christ is so
in wrought incorporated into us that it comes
out as if it is our righteousness the
righteousness and this is the second I personally
believe this is what is meant here not
the first row because it can never be
defiled but the second row so far as
our practical life is concerned so far as
our standing before God is concerned Christ is
our righteousness it never changes but when it
comes down to our daily life you find
that our daily conduct our daily conversation our
daily behavior our daily life it is the
will of God that by the patient working
of the Holy Spirit with the washing of
the blood there might come forth a beautiful
embroidered robe but we have to say very
often we defile very often we do
not listen to the voice very often we
allow our garments defiled by the world and
because of that it needs to be washed
if we walk in the light as he
is in the light we have fellowship one
with another and the blood of Jesus Christ
God's Son cleanses us from all our unrighteousness
if we walk in the light the blood
this is how we have this white garment
washed and then thirdly you find they have
palms in their hands I think we all
know that palms always dance when the Lord
Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last time
you remember the people there they took branches
of palms they went forth to meet Him
and they cried Hosanna Hosanna blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord
the King of Israel they wave the
palms in other words they are in the
victory well you know that the
house of God for Solomon built built you
find all around the walls there were carved
cherubim and palm trees and half open flowers
all around the walls the cherubim speaks of
the holiness of God the cry of the
cherubim is holy holy holy Lord God the
palm tree speaks of victory half open the
glory of life it is half open why
because it is still open so there you
find from these descriptions if you try to
see the parallel between the first part of
chapter seven and the second part of chapter
seven it is logical to conclude that as
the one I
wonder if this group represents all the overcomers
in the church from the first century down
I believe it is here you find this
great crowd of overcomers standing and you
know they lead the song they cry salvation
unto our God who sits on the throne
and unto the land they lead the singing
and their song is taken up their singing
is followed by the angels and there is
a great worship great worship it is a
beautiful thing then one of the elders asked
the apostle John do you know who they
are and where do they come from John
said you know I think John is very
wise very often we are like Peter we
do not know what to say but we
have to say something and in doing that
we always say the wrong thing I think
John is very wise because he said oh
how we like to guess but John said
you tell me where do they come from
and this is the point that we want
to found and he said to me these
are they that come out of the great
tribulation and they washed their robes and made
them white in the blood they come out
of great forgive me for
my little interpretation personally I do not think
this points to the great tribulation of three
years and a half which will come at
the end personally I believe this great tribulation
is a general term a general term where
do these overcomers come from they come out
of the dear brothers and sisters when we
think of overcomers we are always thinking in
terms of superiority
high up ascendancy the outcome is
ascendancy but do you know that to reach
this ascendancy you have to go through deep
it is easy to pray oh lord make
me an overcomer but when the lord try
to make you an overcomer you will cry
out and say stop your hand how are
these overcomers made where do they come from
they come out of great oh brothers and
sisters look at our lord jesus the overcomer
does god prepare an easy and smooth and
prosperous way for our lord while he was
on earth quite on the contrary we find
that because our lord so pleased the father
therefore he was beset with he
was oppressed afflicted a man of sorrow acquainted
he was as a lamb sheared of his
womb of all his beauty and glory he
was to be crucified cross of shame that's
where he come you read the
life of the apostles and you find the
same thing
once a dear sister in the lord i
believe if you don't know her you must
know her miss a.j. flint this dear
sister in the lord once she wrote it
says god pressing
on wrestling to the very end it is
not a picture of one who is sitting
in a sedan and carried to heaven it
is a picture of one who is fighting
his way through dropping his blood that is
an overcomer i am very
touched by what paul says in first corinthians
chapter four you know he is writing to
the saints at corinth and there he says
in verse eight already are ye filled already
ye are become rich ye have come to
reign without us yea and i would that
ye did reign that we might also reign
with you for i think god has set
forth us the apostles last of all as
men doomed to death for we are made
as spectacle unto the world both to angels
and man we are fools for christ's sake
but ye are wise in christ we are
weak but ye are strong even until this
present hour we both hunger and thirst and
are naked and are buffeted and have no
certain dwelling place and we toil working with
our own hands being reviled we bless being
persecuted we endure being defamed we entreat we
are made as the filth of the world
the offscoring of all things even you'll find
two types of christians the corinthian type and
the apostolic type you'll find these corinthian believers
they are already filled they need not be
emptied they are already filled they are already
become rich they do not need to be
poor in order to be rich like our
lord they have already come to reign they
get to the throne without the cross they
are wise very wise they are very strong
i suppose if you do not know god
if you do not know god's way you
will say this is for me certainly to
be a christian is to be strong to
be a christian is to be wise to
be a christian is to be filled to
be a christian is to become rich to
be a christian is to reign now this
is for me well if you want to
be the corinthian type of christian you may
have it but apostles say not so with
apostles they must be emptied in order to
be filled they must be poor in order
to be they must endure with christ in
order to reign they are as man does
and this is not just an exaggerated description
this is fact as man don't to death
as spectacle unto the world weak and he
said even unto the present hour the situation
does not improve even unto the present hour
now we will say it's alright to be
hungry for in the beginning but he said
even unto the present hour we are still
in hunger naked buffeted no certain dwelling place
wanderers torn reviled angry blessed persecuted we endure
defamed we entreat we are made of filth
even until dear brothers and sisters do
you want to be an overcomer it is
are you willing to be emptied are you
willing to be reduced to poverty are you
willing to be a fool are you willing
to be a weak are you willing to
be the obscuring you
remember our lord jesus when he calls for
his disciples he said unless a man denies
himself takes up his cross and follows he
cannot be you may substitute the word disciple
to another word overcomer the lord is calling
for overcomer but where does an overcomer come
out deny yourself take up your cross he
that loves his life shall lose it but
he who loses his life for my sake
shall gain it this is what is meant
by these men come out of great are
you waiting for the great tribulation to come
your tribulation is great enough and this means
not only the things around us it is
true that if we love the lord and
trust all there will be tribulation coming upon
us no doubt about that but this great
tribulation includes much there will be trial paul
says in second corinthians i have the sentence
of death i am oppressed beyond my measure
but it is out of this experience he
knows the god who delivers paul's experience is
the grace of the lord is sufficient he
said when i am weak dear brothers and
sisters who are the overcome they come out
of great oh as you follow the lord
you will find you will meet crisis there
will be tribulation on all sides and when
you enter into these things in a sense
it will reveal where you stand and what
you you know you do not we do
not know until we are put under pressure
then we know what is in us out
in the tribulation we realize how we
need the blood of the land under tribulation
sometimes we are overwhelmed we need to repent
and ask for if there is anyone who
thinks that he does not need the blood
of the land because he is so strong
he never fails beware all those who know
god all those who live very close to
god if you read their biographies you will
find invariably one thing the closer they draw
near to god in their life experience the
more they feel the need their
garments are made whole this is the
righteousness without tribulation we
will not realize the need but with tribulation
we know how much we need the blood
dear brothers and sisters as we follow the
lord you will find that his way as
our brother says is the way of the
cross not only the passions and the lust
of our flesh needs to be but you
will find our whole soul needs to be
our emotional life needs to be washed with
the blood it is only when we are
faced with crisis we realize how our emotional
life is impure that is the reason why
the lord said if anyone loves me more
loves your father and mother and so on
and so forth more than loving me cannot
be my disciple and even putting a stronger
term if anyone does not hate he cannot
be my disciple in other words our emotional
life needs to be washed in the blood
you do not realize how impure is your
love you think you love the lord like
Peter even if I go and die with
you I am quite ready all the others
may fall away but I will not and
sometimes we hope they do fall away so
that you may prove your point but you
find Peter fail oh it is only
when there is a conflict when there is
a crisis when there is a contradiction a
contrast a cross a tribulation oh as a
sword entering into your soul it divides it
and makes clear it washes it creates that
white garment made white not only our emotional
life needs to be purified you remember
that occasion when the lord Jesus began to
reveal to Peter and other disciples that he
must go to Jerusalem and there he will
be rejected and he will die but he
will be raised up on the third day
and Peter lay hold of the lord and
said not so lord be kind to yourself
and the lord turned around and said Satan
get me behind because you are not minding
the mind you are minding the flesh how
often we find our thought needs to be
to be purified and of course our volitional
life too our will but is that all
no in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1
it says even our spirit not only our
flesh needs to be purified our spirit needs
to be purified oh it needs to be
purified of that a haughty spirit before a
thought it needs to be purified from a
different spirit the lord said to John and
James you do not know what kind of
spirit you have you do not have the
spirit of the lamb because you want fire
to come down dear brothers and sisters it
is only when we enter into trial tribulation
and all these things then we begin to
realize we
need a blood that's how this embroidered work
of the Holy Spirit is made it is
through the daily patient working of the Holy
Spirit in our lives as we are facing
with things events together
with the washing of the blood that makes
up this beautiful so
dear brothers and sisters we should not expect
to be overcomers without paying the price of
following the lamb whither so ever he go
but thank God if you read on you
will find therefore are they before the throne
of God and they serve him day and
night in his temple and he that sits
on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over
them they shall hunger no more neither thirst
any more neither shall the sun strike them
nor any heat for the lamb that is
in the midst of the throne shall be
their shepherd and shall guide them unto fountains
of waters of life and God shall wipe
away every tear they shall stand before the
throne because they are clothes they are clothes
with these two garments the garment of gold
and a garment of they are worthy to
stand they shall serve him day and night
in his temple it reminds me of Ezekiel
chapter 44 you remember God spoke to the
sons of Zedek and said at the time
when the people of Israel fall away fell
away from God even the Levites fell away
from God how they kept the charge and
because of that they were able to minister
unto the Lord not minister they
serve God day and night day and night
in the temple because they have been in
the days of tribulation and he that sits
on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over
them he will shout they have been wandering
and now they shall hunger no more nor
thirst they have been hungry have suffered thirst
and God shall wipe away oh this is
the day of humiliation not the day glory
is before us but we have to follow
the Lamb inhuman and this is how overcomers
our Heavenly Father we do praise and worship
thee that it is not just a limited
number but a countless crowd that stands before
the throne oh how we praise and thank
thee that the wife of the Lamb has
made herself ready and he is given a
robe of linen white pure and shiny we
have to acknowledge that it is all of
grace if there is anything that we can
lay down it is the result Lord we
do pray that we may be those who
on earth will follow the Lamb with us
wherever he goes if it means the way
of the cross let it be so we
praise and worship thee because out of great
tribulation the rain shall be washed oh Lord
do speak to us do show us how
overcomers