Celebrating The Victory

Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to Revelation chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7, we'll be reading the whole chapter, but we will be concentrating on the last half of that chapter, verses 9 through 17. You follow along as I read. 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.

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, saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed.

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben. 12,000 from the tribe of Gad. 12,000 from the tribe of Asher. 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali. 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh. 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon.

12,000 from the tribe of Levi. 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar. 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun. 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed. 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 and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

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 worshipped God saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, And he said to me, Great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 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.

Father, open up Your Word to us now. We are hungry for it. Give us the viewpoint of heaven this day that we may have hope in our battle. Grant that for the glory of your name and for the name of our Lord Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.

Car horns blared in the streets. Church bells rang and rang and rang. people in the streets went wild. The men kissing just about every woman in sight. Spontaneous parades moved through the streets of even the smallest villages. Children sitting at their desks started hooping and hollering and running out into the schoolyards. It was August of 1945 and America erupted into an unrestrained celebration of joy.

It was VJ Day, Victory Over Japan Day, the day the Japanese announced they were through fighting. It was the end of World War II. And Americans could hardly contain themselves over the fact that the suffering and the destruction and the dying that they had experienced over the last four years had ended, and they could live in peace. now imagine for a moment how that war would have been fought if in the dark year of 1942 when everything was in the balance if someone could have fast forwarded to August 1945 and shown the Americans that national party that was going to occur three years later Well, that is exactly what God does in the last half of Revelation chapter 7.

In our text this morning, which is Revelation 7, 9 through 17, God fast forwards to the future and shows his people the victory celebration that will yet take place for those who have fought the war against the world's persecutions and seductions. You see, in order for you to fight the battle successfully, God shows you how the war ends and the victory celebration that occurs. He intends by this vision to motivate you to persevere in your war against the seductions and persecutions of this age.

Now, as we saw last week, he's already moved you to fight successfully in the preceding vision of the 144,000. You recall that the 144,000 are symbolic and they represent the completed number of the church. Not meaning that only 144,000 will be saved, but that all those who will be saved during the church age from every tribe, every language, every people are a complete people.

No one will be missing. And as we saw last week, you recall that this represents the completed people of God gather into a sealed, protected, prepared army ready to do battle in this age. that was to motivate us to persevere in the fight by telling us that we are the completed people of God, that we have been sealed, that we are protected, that we are this invincible army of God who triumphs through our suffering, through our deaths, to remain faithful, through the seductions, to remain faithful to our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been motivated to fight because we are a sealed, protected army of God, ready to do battle.

But now the picture changes as Jesus gives John another vision another vantage point And that begins in verse 9 Let look at it again 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, and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. and all the angels 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 saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, Who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come?

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 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 they shall hunger no more neither thirst anymore the sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat 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 now we have a different vision same people that we saw last week in 144,000 same group of people but rather than a precisely numbered army brace for battle we now see a countless international crowd celebrating a victory already won. We are not only the faithful church fighting on earth, but we will also be the victorious church celebrating in glory. That's what this vision is all about.

Same group of people. Different vision. An army braced for battle. The faithful church fighting on earth. but also the victorious church celebrating in glory. All of it intended to motivate you to persevere in the war against the evil forces of God. This age.

So, let's join the party. Alright? You'll persevere in the fight by seeing the victory. That's what we see in verses 9 through 12. Catch the vision of the participants in the final victory celebration. A great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.

The songs of joy, the tumult of victory overwhelms you as you look, for they come from an innumerable host, a countless host of people from all over the world. These are the ones of whom the elders and the creatures had sung earlier. Remember in chapter 5, in that great throne room vision that John had, the throne room of the Lamb? Let's turn back to chapter 5.

And notice, And they sang, okay, they, that is the elders and the four creatures, the throne attendants of God. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you, speaking to the Lamb, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God. and they shall reign on the earth. This is that group. Here are the redeemed of the Lamb, the peoples of the world bought by His blood who have emerged from the battle. They were ransomed for His Father, sealed by Him, and now they celebrate before Him. The noisy celebrants speak every language you can possibly hear on the earth today.

And they come from every race of men. In fact, they are you. They are you. All those who belong to Jesus by His death. Believe it or not, you are getting a glimpse of yourself in this passage. Do you get that?

You are getting a glimpse of yourselves as you celebrate the victory that the Lamb has won. this is the church victorious purchased from all the nations of the world ransomed by Jesus at the cross bought by him for his father now standing before the throne celebrating Look at them celebrating the victory. Do you remember the scenes that met the Allies as their armored columns made their way through the liberated villages and towns of Italy and France? You remember seeing those pictures as they make their way through the streets of those villages and the people would be out and they'd be waving these little American flags.

All right? Those newly freed people waved that symbol that recognized that they owed their freedom and their liberation to the Allies. And so they stood by the side of the road waving all these little flags. We still see that today, don't we? Waving these little American flags. Well, that's what's happening here.

Except the liberated people are not waving American flags. I hate to tell you Americans that, but they're waving palm branches instead as the symbol of their victory, as the symbol of the one to whom they owe their liberation. That's what's happening here. The liberated people of God are waving palm branches. Now, the symbol goes back to the Feast of the Tabernacles.

Let's turn that back to Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23. We'll begin reading in verse 39. On the fifteenth day, the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.

You will celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God. of this Feast of Tabernacles, where Palm Branch has held a major point in that. This festival was a Thanksgiving celebration for a good harvest, like our Thanksgiving Day. But it also commemorated Israel dwelling in tents under the divine protection of God as they came out of Egypt. On that count, it was like the 4th of July. So you got Thanksgiving and the 4th of July kind of clumped together here for them.

It was like their 4th of July because it celebrated God's redemption at the Red Sea by his victory over the Egyptians. And so when they got these boughs and branches and palm leaves to make these booze and to wave them and so forth, they were celebrating the fact that they had been liberated, they had been redeemed, they had been saved from their oppressors by the divine power of God. But here now, as we look at this passage, you see God's people rejoicing in their latter day Exodus redemption.

That is, their victory over their persecutors and God's protection of them through their pilgrimage, as we see here, through the Great Tribulation. This is them celebrating the protection of God and their liberation through the great tribulation. So as you look into the future at this great victory celebration, you see yourselves waving the symbols of your deliverance and your victory.

Alright? So it's all about this deliverance by God, this victory that He has accomplished for them. Hear them even singing the anthem of their victory. They have a song even for this day. It goes like this. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

That's the anthem of victory that they sing on that day. Now, I don't know if you know it or not, but you sing an anthem of victory a lot. whenever you go to this time of the year whenever you go to a basketball game what do you sing? you sing the Star Spangled Banner that an anthem of our victory over the British in the war of 1812 I don know if you knew that or not but that an anthem of victory of the United States over Great Britain in the War of 1812 So, on this day, we will sing this anthem of victory. We will sing of our salvation. the successful resistance against the hostile forces of evil which have attempted to thwart our faith through seduction and oppression.

That's our salvation. That's what he's talking about here. The final fruit of the salvation that Jesus won for us. Our deliverance. Our resistance. Our successful resistance to those forces that would lead us to disloyalty to our king.

We have been saved from that. We are now delivered. We will sing of the sovereignty of God for that victory belongs to his mighty providence on our behalf. But notice it says not just to God, but to whom? And to the Lamb. Our anthem will speak of the sovereign Lamb whose death, whose death on the cross powerfully secured us for the Father's possession so that nothing, nothing will ever overcome us.

Do you understand what happened at the cross? Do you understand why they sing to the Lamb? I will say it again as I have said many times before. When Jesus died, he did not make salvation possible. He secured the salvation of his people. And on that cross, he so powerfully redeemed us that those who were purchased on that day will never fail and never fall.

And that is why they sing to the Lamb. That is why they sing. you will have hope for persevering with this anthem yet to be sung ringing in your ears verse 12 11 and 12 understand who receives the worship for such a victory the angels and the elders and the living creatures fall down and worship god outing to the anthem that was just sung, saying, Amen, or, It is so. Okay?

That's what Amen means. It is so. You're right. The very throne attendance of God agree with that song. You know, I am a real nut about hymns in this way. Hymns should always be accurate.

Now, don't raise your hand, But how many believe that when we get to heaven, time will be no more? Not true. That's not true. But why do we say that? Because we sing hymn. And I'm just quibbling with this.

I'm not going to throw this whole hymn out. But this is what sticks. When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and what's the next phrase? Time shall be no more. That's where we get the theology of time shall be no more. You get to Revelation 22.

You read about a tree who produces fruit every month. But we don't see that. But you understand the point I'm making here? Hymns are really, really important. And it is so important that we are accurate in our hymns and that we speak truth in our hymns. And when we're singing on that day, that anthem, all the heavenly beings that are there are going to say, Amen, that's true.

You got it right. you got it right. And then they're going to respond, note, with their own hymn of praise. Note what they said, what they sing. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. God will be glorified for redeeming, protecting, and granting victory to all of his people, to that great and ransom multitude.

And he has been able to do this because of his wisdom, his power, and his might. Consequently, he is worthy to receive eternal blessing and glory and thanksgiving and honor. When the seductions of this age tempt you with this loyalty to your King Listen to the hymn of these heavenly beings Listen to that hymn. So what Jesus tells us in this vision, first of all, is that if you would persevere in the face of the evil in this age, get a vision of the victory celebration. get a vision of the victory celebration as I look at this congregation this morning I know that some of you are going through incredibly hard times you are facing hardship you are facing things that are breaking your heart you need to look at this victory celebration there is more to it than just what you're going through now.

Someday you will be singing this anthem and hearing that hymn. Listen to it now. Listen to it now. Well, in the midst of this tumultuous merrymaking, one of the elders turns to John and says essentially, Hey, do you know what's going on here? Do you have any idea who these people are? And John says, man, I don't have a clue.

I don't. Tell me what, you tell me what's going on. All right? What is going on here? Well, God now turns your attention away from the party, all right, and rivets your attention on the participants. Now I'm just going to tell you about the people who are at the party.

Okay? And what he's trying to say to you is simply, you will persevere in the fight by seeing the victors. Not just, hey, there's going to be a great party. That's part of the motivation. But then he's going to say, let's look at the party goers. Let's look at the participants.

Let's understand who are the victors. If you want to persevere, get a grasp, catch a glimpse of who the participants are, the victors. What does he tell us? He tells us in the first part of verse 14, or the second part of verse 14 I sorry the second part of verse 14 these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation These are those who have persevered through the Great Tribulation Now, some have posited a Great Tribulation of seven years duration yet in the future.

Some have said that that Great Tribulation has not arrived. that it is yet to come and that the church will be delivered from that seven-year great tribulation for the church will have been raptured before the tribulation comes. However, I don't believe that's what this book teaches. I do not believe that. I don't think you can find that here. Why do I say that?

Let me give you a few reasons. First of all, the text indicates that those who pass through the great tribulation are what? Who are they? Look at it. They are the entire multitude of Jesus' redeemed ones. Not a remnant.

Not a few. Who have come through the great tribulation according to this text? All of those who have been ransomed by Jesus. Who is that? All of those who have been saved during the church age. They are the ones who've come through the great tribulation.

Again, look at verse 9. This great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. Back to chapter 5, verse 9. The song of the courtiers of God's throne attendance. It's worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Clearly, he's talking about everyone who has been ransomed by the blood of Jesus. Every one of us who has been ransomed will go through this great tribulation. So that's why I don't think it's future. so I think we're in it now alright you say well we're not suffering that bad remember it's not just persecution but what seduction alright if I were to preach to our brothers in Azerbaijan I be leaning on the persecution side okay As I preach to God's people in America, I'm leaning on the seduction side.

I'm going to warn you more about the great whore, Babylon, who is enticing you with all the easy things of life. Either way, we're in the Great Tribulation. Turn back to John 1, verse 9, because there you see John has already indicated that we are experiencing that tribulation. Remember how we opened this book? Turn back to John 1, verse 9. I, John, your brother and partner, note, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, there's the definite article, So the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and testimony of Jesus.

What does John say? He is a partner with us in what? The kingdom. But no, he is a partner with us in the tribulation. Which is to say that John was experiencing the tribulation along with all of God's people of his day were experiencing the tribulation. And all those seven churches that he had written those seven messages to, he is partner with them in those tribulations, or in the tribulation.

It doesn't say plural, it's the tribulation. He's our partner in the tribulation. Notice, he is also our partner in the endurance that is in Jesus, That is, in the endurance that accompanies the people of God in that tribulation. So John is already talking about the fact that he's in the tribulation. And then lastly, John has already indicated that the churches to whom he writes, and as we noted some time ago, and the churches to whom he writes includes us, not just those seven churches, but includes us, already experiencing that tribulation.

Look at chapter 2. Look at chapter 2, verse 9. suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you'll have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. So that tribulation includes ways of tribulation that are economic, and also physical persecution leading to death.

Why then is it called the great tribulation? The Great Tribulation. I would suggest to you it's because the intensity of the seduction and oppression through which all believers pass. Consider this for a moment. God's people under the new covenant have suffered more deeply and have suffered longer than God's people in the old covenant. To be associated with Jesus is to invite, he says, great persecution and great tribulation.

And there's been more suffering by God's people who follow Christ than ever before. I also want you to think about this. There have been more Christians killed for the faith in the 20th century and the 11 years of this century than all 19 centuries combined. Did you know that? there have been more Christians killed in the 20th century and these 11 years of the 21st century, there have been more Christians dying for the faith than all 19 centuries before combined.

All right? You know, the reason why I think we tend to think there's this horrible great tribulation coming yet in the future is because we live in a country where we don't suffer. Go to Azerbaijan. Go to Vietnam. Right? Go to Saudi Arabia.

Go to Iran. And there you will see great tribulation. I wouldn't dare go to those people and say, You haven't suffered anything yet. Just wait. No. No.

And I would also say to you, The seductions are much more intense. And very, very powerful. But notice, who are the victors? They are those who have persevered through They are those who have not proved disloyal to Christ in the face of persecution and in the face of seduction Let me say this to you. I believe that there will be many people that I have known in my 25 years of ministry here and many people that I have known in my years growing up that will not be at this victory party because they have proved themselves disloyal to Christ by giving in to the easy money, easy life, and the soft, sensuous life that our culture offers in contrast to the hard road of discipleship.

Listen, there are many, many professed believers who will not be at this victory party because they have been entertained to their spiritual death. And they have not been willing to give up comfort and ease and all the things that come with this magnificently prosperous country that we live in. Tribulation is not just persecution. It is the incredible enticement of riches and prosperity and soft life, as opposed to the hard life of a disciple of Jesus.

But, see, I'm supposed to be giving you hope here. This is what this verse is all about. These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation, who have not succumbed. They have proved faithful. They have proved faithful. These are the ones, last part of verse 14, who have trusted Jesus.

Again, it says, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Again, this is not the remnant who survive a great tribulation. These are all genuine Christians who have put their confidence and put all of their hope in the Redeemer Jesus Christ. In fact in chapter 22 we read Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates All those who have washed their robes are those who belong to Christ.

All of those who belong to Christ. They have been clothed in white robes, washed by the death of their Redeemer. God's wrath has been appeased. We will be clothed with the robes of acquittal, because Jesus, by His death, bore our sins and our guilt away. Let Satan accuse us. We are innocent.

Let the world make its charges against us. They will not stand in the court of heaven, for our robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And those robes, as we saw earlier in chapter 6 and in chapter 3, denote the fact that we are acquitted in the courtroom of heaven. No charge can stick to us. We are in the white robes. And not even the trials of this great tribulation will move God's people from their confidence in the blood of the Lamb.

They are those who have never given up their confidence in the blood of the Lamb. Do you still have confidence in the blood of the Lamb? I'm not talking about way back then when you said, I believed in Jesus. I'm talking about now. Is your confidence still in his blood? Is it?

Oh. We are dressed. We will have our robes made white in the blood of the Lamb. Now because of their perseverance and purity, these are the ones who will experience the final joys of God's great salvation. Those wonderful verses that we find, verses 15 through 17. I love those verses.

I love those verses. As you read this, this is not a description of heaven today. All right? This is not a description of heaven today. This is a description of glory that's yet to come. The glory of the new heaven and the new earth.

He is speaking here of the church victorious in glory when we have the new heaven and the new earth. What do we have Here what we have Therefore because of that perseverance because of the purity of their robes washed in the blood of the Lamb they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in the temple. You know, in the Old Testament, only those ordained and anointed could ever go into the temple.

Do you realize, think about this, only the priests could go into the temple and only one the high priest could go into the holy of holies once a year do you realize that if you lived in israel you would your entire life have never seen the interior of the temple you would have never seen it get that in your mind now you would never have seen the inside of that temple you know i was saturday um we were down at lee's and lydia's and beck and i were just alone in the apartment and i said what do you want me to do help you with something because we're supposed to get lunch ready she says no just read to me just just read to me uh okay where are you in your bible reading 1 Kings and I read the chapters that describe Solomon's temple unbelievable beauty of that place cedar paneling everything covered with gold and you never would have seen it you never would have seen it because you didn't have the right to go into the temple only the priest could but here what does he say All of those ransomed by the Lord Jesus Christ will serve in the temple of the living God day and night. Now, you know what? We have been anointed by the blood of our Savior to serve as priests.

Chapter 1, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. we serve him today as priests right we've gathered today not in the temple of God we are also the temple we are also the priests and we are serving God and we have offered him the sacrifice of praises today however on that day enjoy the communion of the very presence of God that we've never experienced yet. We have the experience of the sheltering presence of Christ. This can be translated, look at verse, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

It's kind of a funny translation, because the word that's used there is, well it can be translated this way, the one sitting on the throne who tabernacles over his people. Now, that's weird. who tabernacles over his people. So ESV has translated it, shelter them with his presence as kind of a way of putting it, but the word is tabernacle there. He tabernacles.

It's like he spreads the tabernacle over his people. In fact, this is a fulfillment of what we see in Ezekiel chapter 37, if you want to turn there. Ezekiel 37. 27. Ezekiel 37, 27 My dwelling place shall be with them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever.

Well, that's fulfilled here. In glory. When He makes His sanctuary among His people, we will be sheltered by the sanctuary of God. there will be nothing that will touch us then. Even better, he goes on, because of our great shepherd Jesus, all suffering ceases. Listen to these words. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.

Alright? The hunger and thirst borne by us because of the evil intentions of our enemies will no longer plague us. Then he goes on. the sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat you ever been out in the sun it been many many years since i had to do that thankful for that but i remember those days when i was much younger of laboring in the sun just the scorching heat of the sun I'll never forget when I, this is how I discovered I was bald, by the way.

Alright? This is how I discovered I was bald. I graduated from college, gotten married, got a job on a construction crew putting up steel buildings. You know, walking girders and sitting down and cranking in the supporting beams and all that kind of stuff. And I, you know, on top of those steel roofs, and we had to do it by hand. We didn't have pneumatic drills, but just turning in the bolts that bolted down the roof to those girders.

Spending all day with the sun. And I remember getting so burned I got sick. That's when I learned you've got to wear a hat even in the summer. All right? The scorching, burning heat. You all know what that's like.

You've all been there. Right? The scorching, burning heat of oppression will be banished from our experience forever. No longer part of our life. and that's because of what? because the Lamb is in the midst of the throne and He will shepherd His people that Lamb the Lamb who becomes our shepherd will deal with our enemies and will lead us to refreshing eternal springs of water.

And friends, lest we miss this, note that this is divine comfort because this Lamb sits on the throne, is in the midst of the throne. What throne? The throne of God. He has received worship Right he has received worship from heavenly beings He is able to do this because our Lamb is our God Let no one tell you that the Lamb is not God. He sits on the very throne of God, receiving the worship of heavenly beings, and He has the ability to pull it off. and then lastly you know what it says our father will wipe away every tear from our eyes like a father comforting his child our God will take us up in his arms and say as he wipes away our tears it's alright now don't cry there's no reason for sorrow So, is this vision good enough for you?

Is this vision good enough for you? God has graciously given us a glimpse of the victory party. And he's shown us who they're celebrating. And it's you. if you belong to Christ. Tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next, you will face sorrow and hardship. Heartbreaking events are going to overwhelm you at times. you will be seduced by this evil age you are going to suffer because you want to follow Jesus and maybe some of those who are closest to you won't want anything to do with it you can handle it you can persevere in it you can fight successfully if you hear the singing and see the victors And remember the rest that almost defies description here.

As you look to the shepherd who will lead you to refreshing eternal waters. it should be enough to give you hope in this age Father thank you thank you for revealing to us the end Lord we're reminded of what the unbelievers say at the end of chapter 6 and the day of the Lamb's wrath, who will stand? Only those who've been sealed, only those who are victors. Father, you know that we live in an evil, evil age.

And we desperately need hope if we're going to persevere. Thank you for the hope that you give us. by bringing us to the end and letting us see the victory celebration. Oh God, help us to fight by helping us recall, or even Father, more accurately, by helping us look ahead so that in the dark days of sorrow and suffering, we will see victory and the marvelous celebration that comes when that victory is won thank you for the victory that the Lamb has already won help us now to do battle faithfully we pray this in the name of our conquering Redeemer Jesus Amen