More thoughts on Revelation

I have thoroughly been enjoying my studies on Revelation as I have been preparing for Bible class. Let me just share some more of the amazing things I am learning. We are in chapter 7 right now on the 144000. Vs. 3 says that it is the "servants" of God who are sealed. I had my students look up four passages that give insights into a qualification of a servant. Romans 6:22 says that a servant is "free from sin." But how are we free from sin? Romans 6:7 says that those who are dead are free from sin. So then, what needs to die? Romans 6:6 says that our old man needs to die. How does he die? Do we drown him? shoot him? strangle him? chop him? beat him? Galatians 2:20 says that we must crucify him. It is only through the power of the cross that the old man will be forever laid to rest. I then had the students string all the verses together to create one thought. Here was an example: "We must start at the foot of the cross. Seeing Christ on the cross helps us realize what our sins did to him. his love helps us crucify that old man of sin. Once the old man is crucified and is dead, then we are free from sin. When you are free from sin, we are a servant of God. When we are a servant of God, we can receive the seal of the living God. Then we will be able to stand when Jesus comes back the second time."

This thought that God will only seal his servants who are free from sin has really made me think. Right after the servants are sealed, we know probation closes. This means that Christ steps down from his meditorial work. There is no longer any forgiveness of sin because our intercessor has set aside his robes and stepped out of the sanctuary. The case of every person has been decided. God's sealed servants must go through this time of probation with no intercessor. Yesterday in class, we had an incredible discussion of what this really means. I asked the class that if Christ is no longer mediating for his people, then what does this mean about the lives of the 144000 after the close of probation? It means that their lives must be perfect before God during that time otherwise there is no forgiveness of sin after Jesus steps down. But then I asked the class if it is that they "cannot" sin or they "will not" sin. We talked about how God never takes away free choice, so it must not be that they cannot sin. But how is it then that they will not sin. One student asked how God can guarantee that after he seals them, they will not sin. It is not like God can deduct numbers from the 144000 if someone slips after they were sealed. In response, I asked how they were even sealed in the beginning. The only way they were sealed is that they had already shown in their lives prior to the sealing that they were living a life free from sin. They had already purposed in their hearts long before the sealing time that they would not sin against the God they loved. It was only because of this that God knew he could seal them and this is the guarantee he has that they will not sin after he has sealed them. (It is interesting that although God views them as sinless, they have such a distrust of themselves that they go through the time of Jacob's trouble pleading with God that their hearts are right before him.)

Then we talked about Satan's accusation that nobody can obey God's law and be sinless before God. He tried to prove his point when he tempted Adam and Eve and they fell into sin. God sought to disprove this by sending his Son with fallen nature. Satan hit hard on Christ to try to make him sin, but Jesus didn’t. So God said that it was possible for someone to obey the law even in human flesh if they trust in God.

But Satan tried to argue that this was because Jesus was God. He tried to argue that God didn’t really have a people that would stand. So God reminded him of Job, Enoch, Daniel, etc. But Satan said this was just isolated people. He tried to argue that there is not a whole group of people that can really obey God’s commandments. But God counters that by saying he will have a group of people called the 144000 that will be without fault, who will not have guile in their mouths, they will follow the Lamb wherever he goes, they are pure as virgins. But Satan says, that is not good enough. He asks God how he can be sure that these people will live as Jesus lived—without sin. He tries to argue that if they truly live like Jesus lived, then they would have to live without an intercessor pleading for them every time they sinned because, after all, Jesus never had an intercessor. He argues that the 144000 always have an intercessor so they always have a chance to come back to God if they sin.

God responds to Satan by saying, “Well, Satan, I am going to show you a time when the 144000 will live without an intercessor and you will see how they will still obey God and trust in me even though there is no intercessor. They have so determined in their minds to live just like Me in terms of character and obedience that they will not transgress My law. There is a people--a whole group of them--who will prove you wrong."

This thought has completely blown me away. It has made me do some serious soul searching as to whether God can look at me and say, "Autumn loves Me so much that she has determined that she will daily crucify the old man and will live a life free from sin. I will place my seal upon her and she will stand in that group of 144000 in the last days who will prove to the world that a soul that is washed in the blood of the Lamb is perfect before me and can keep my law." My friends, today God is looking for a group of people that can live through the time of trouble when there is no mediator and not sin. He is looking to see if in word, action, and character they are now reflecting him so that he can trust them to seal them with his seal and then step down from his meditorial work. Will he find you and me? That is a solemn thought.