 inflation remains near a record high and it shows no signs of slowing the consumer price index for September that is a 8.2% compared to what we were doing a year ago has made landfall as the category 4 wins of 155 miles per hour the heightened tensions between the west and russia russian nuclear capable warplanes with otto toward the city which are expected to seize their last gun according to the russian government saying about it if you don't have your wallet there's no problem just scan your palm to pay amazon 1 is a payment system that has been tested several times your place there in revelation chapter 7 we'll be going back to revelation chapter 7 throughout the sermon this evening so we're gonna do a clues continue the clues and milestones sermon series this evening and tonight we're gonna talk about I'm kind of building on what we talked about on Wednesday night so there was a method to the madness there we talked about the first resurrection and the mechanics of your resurrection but tonight we're gonna talk about a topic that is misunderstood and misrepresented amongst many religions especially the Jehovah's Witness cult this evening we're gonna talk about the 144,000 in revelation chapter 7 this evening so look down at revelation chapter 7 we're gonna find out what this is all about how it fits into our end times chronology that the bible is teaching us and what we've been learning about and it really builds upon this concept of the first resurrection that we talked about on Wednesday night so now that we have that basis let's go ahead and look at what the bible says in revelation chapter 7 look at verse number 1 the bible says in revelation chapter 7 verse 1 and after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree and I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living god and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea that's an important phrase right there that these angels are given this power that they're going to do hurt they're gonna do damage to the earth and the sea saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our god in their foreheads this of course I've talked to you about god is gonna seal these people in their foreheads this is why I believe that the mark of the beast what satan will use the beast the antichrist will use to seal he'll seal the mark of the beast goes in your forehead or in your right hand because satan always copies what god does he never comes up with his own ideas himself he always takes what god does and twists it slightly so he looks like he has that same authority of god and I heard the number of them which were sealed and they were sealed in 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel then we go into the list of the tribes I'm going through the 12 tribes there's one tribe missing and one tribe added I'm not gonna get into the detail on why that might be tonight but basically it goes through and it's gonna cut it lists 12 tribes of Israel and it's gonna take 12,000 people sealed from each of those tribes turn to Joshua chapter 11 turn to Joshua chapter 11 so it basically says that he's gonna take these 12 tribes that it lists in Revelation chapter 7 and 12,000 people from every one of these tribes will be sealed in their foreheads so 12 times 12 is 144,000 that's how we get to that number so basically let's talk about genealogies for a few minutes because the bible tells us that genealogies should not be important to us but genealogies have been important in the bible in the past there's two points in the bible where genealogies were really important the first point, the first place in the bible was in the book of Joshua where they actually took possession of the promised land the tribe that you came from was super important at that point in time when the children of Israel, the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan river and they conquered the Canaanites and all the lands that God told them to go and possess God divided the land according to the tribes that they came from look at Joshua chapter 11 so genealogies may not be important today the bible tells us but they were important back then look at Joshua chapter 11 in verse number 23 so Joshua took the whole land this is the promised land that they conquered according to all that the Lord said unto Moses and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, remember when we say Israel here we're talking about the entire nation of Israel, there's been no split at this point this is the Joshua generation that has just come across the Jordan river and taken possession the Lord was winning all these battles for them and conquering the Hittites and all these different people that they went to take the land from and it says that Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto all Israel how? according to their divisions by their tribes and the bible gives great detail about the tribes and what part of the land they were to have and borders of this area to this area for this tribe and it just goes into great detail on what land each tribe was to possess and then the bible says and the land rested from war so the first place in the bible that we see that the actual genealogies or what tribe that you came from according to the nation of Israel what tribe the people came from was when they took possession of the promised land that was the first time the second time is in 2 Samuel chapter 7 go ahead and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7 so look you needed to know what tribe you were from in order to find out which part of the promised land you were going to live in because that's how God defined it for dividing the promised land and the second important point in the bible where the genealogy of a tribe was super important was in the promise that God made to David look at 2 Samuel chapter 7 look at verse number 16 look at 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse number 16 so of course David wanted to build a house for the Lord he wanted to build the temple and Nathan told him no God doesn't want you to build the temple it's actually your son Solomon that's going to build the temple this is why Solomon built the temple because God told David no David still went and laid up the materials and got Solomon prepared to build the temple but look at the promise that God makes to David after telling him that he's not going to be able to build the temple look at verse number 16 2 Samuel chapter 7 the bible says this so this is the excuse me this is the messianic prophecy or the messianic promise that God gave to David he basically is telling David here that the messiah is going to come from your line and this is also why we see that when the kingdom split into the northern kingdom where the ten tribes went to the northern kingdom and then the lower kingdom of Judah which contained really three tribes I guess but it was basically Levi, Judah and then some of Benjamin went to the lower kingdom but really even in this promise though in 2 Samuel chapter 7 is necessary because that's why you see in the lower kingdom of Judah it's fulfilling this promise where every single king is a son of the previous king which wasn't the case even for a couple generations in a row with the northern kingdom of Israel the northern kingdom of Israel was just dynasty after dynasty after dynasty now turn to Titus chapter 3 so it's not that genealogies have never been important in the bible they were important for two specific reasons here one for the promised land to be divided up according to the bible right after they conquered the promised land and then two specifically for the tribe of Judah for the line of Christ and that's why we see the genealogy of Christ in the New Testament listed twice both Mary's genealogy and in Matthew and then in Joseph's genealogy also in Luke chapter 3 so we see those genealogy just showing God's promise to that he fulfilled 2 Samuel chapter 7 to David and of course how is David's throne going into eternity established forever because once we hit Jesus there's your path to eternity right there Jesus is always on the throne look at Titus chapter 3 look at verse number 9 but let's say this about genealogies even though it was important in the Old Testament in those cases that importance is specifically done away with that importance we are told that we are not to pay attention to genealogies look at Titus chapter 3 in verse number 9 the bible says but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and vain the key here tonight is that word unprofitable so what the bible here is saying is that genealogies have no profit there is no value to genealogies is what the bible is telling us here it's not that they didn't have profit back when the children of Israel crossed into the promise land God used that at that time to divide up the land but the bible is telling us in the New Testament that pay no attention to genealogies they are not they are unprofitable it doesn't matter who your parents and your grandparents were it's not profitable it means nothing so you say well in Revelation chapter 7 where we just read this it sure sounds like it means something it sure sounds like it means something but here's the thing you have to understand here's the thing you have to understand the bible really cannot be talking about someone that is alive today in Revelation chapter 7 because even if somebody could say that they were from a certain tribe the bible tells us that there's no profit to it so even if my family knows that they're of the tribe of Asher which is impossible and I'll show you that in just a few minutes as well the bible literally tells me that there's no profit to my genealogy there's no profit to it so if I could sit here and claim that I was from some tribe that my family was one of these rare families that kept track of their genealogy for thousands of years but the bible says there's no profit to it so that would be a contradiction right there and the fact is though I even went and looked up some Jewish websites on this nobody knows what tribe they're really from and Jews will tell you that today you know go ahead and watch the documentary Marching to Zion you'll find some that might say that they're from the tribe of Levi because that's the tribes of the priests but even them they can't really say that with any type of accuracy and here's the thing ten of the tribes were from the northern kingdom of Israel so how could you possibly know Kings chapter 17 the ten tribes that were in the northern kingdom of Israel were literally wiped out by the Assyrian Empire they weren't taken into captivity it was a different situation than the southern kingdom of Judah when Babylon came in and took them into captivity for what for 70 years this was not a captivity situation this was God cleaning house and how do I know that the ten tribes are not there anymore is because God literally said that he took them out he wiped them out and he did this on purpose look at verse number 17 no I'm sorry verse number 23 of 2nd Kings chapter 17 this is where the northern kingdom the Assyrian Empire is sent in to take care of the northern kingdom to pass judgment upon the northern kingdom the northern kingdom turned on God literally right away they went against God that first generation with Jeroboam but look at verse number 23 look at verse 22 for context for the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam notice how this is over 150 years later or hundreds of years later I'm sorry hundreds of years later after the northern kingdom was established after king after king turned against the Lord dynasty after dynasty turned against the Lord God brings it all the way back to Jeroboam the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel says the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did they departed not from them so even from the very start there wasn't a single king that got right that got the nation back to worshiping the Lord look at verse number 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight that's talking about the northern kingdom of Israel and you know how I know that those tribes are gone because God says he removed him he's like I removed Israel out of his sight and he had said by all the servants of the prophets as he said by all the servants of the prophets it's not like God didn't send prophets to the northern kingdom of Israel he sent prophets there too look at verse the last part of the verse so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria until this day there's no 70 year captivity here it was like they were just carried away by the Assyrian Empire and on top of that in the next verse we see why the Jews, when we say the Jews by the way in the Bible we're talking about people that came from the lower kingdom of Judah it's not referring to the northern kingdom of Israel so when we say the Jews we're talking about people that came from the southern kingdom of Judah so the Jews they had disdain for the people in Jesus' time they had disdain for the people that lived in the north in a place called Samaria they were called Samaritans you say why did they have disdain they had disdain for them because they're racist basically when it comes down to it they're racist even though that's a stupid term in itself and I've preached on that before but the reason that they had disdain for the Samaritans was verse 24 this is why so Israel was removed to Assyria but on top of that the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Kutah and from Ava and from Hamath and from Safarveim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof so he brought men to the cities and they intermarried with all the women that were there and look there's your genealogy just gone at that point I mean I don't want to have to spell it out for you but I mean basically they were bred out of existence from the Assyrian Empire they were taken away and then the Assyrians were brought in and this is why the Jews had disdain for the Samaritans because what is the Samaritan basically you take the ten tribes whatever was left of the Assyrians and you get the Samaritans that's what the Samaritans were and why they were frowned upon they were looked down on by the Jews the Jews were like you're not Jews like us they just didn't think they were God's people anymore so look here's the situation really all you need to understand about these genealogies and how foolish it is to mention to genealogies really all you really need to understand is math when it comes down to it you know if you look at everybody has two parents four grandparents and eight great grandparents if you keep going back in each generation it just keeps doubling and doubling and doubling go 16 32, 64, 128 just on and on and on if you go 800 years back in your genealogy you literally have millions of ancestors think about this for a second if you go 800 plus years back if you go 800 years back in your family tree you have billions of ancestors if you go beyond if you go beyond a thousand years like Jesus was two thousand years ago if you go beyond a thousand years you have trillions of ancestors you say what do you mean there wasn't even trillions of people in the world back then how does that even work there wasn't trillions of people in the world during Jesus' time I don't know how many people were in the world but it was millions not even billions at that point you say how could you have trillions of ancestors is because at that point when you go so far back in your family tree each person is sharing ancestors in their family tree somebody shows up in your family tree they're also in my family tree in brother Garrett's that was a bad example but the point is we share all these ancestors so if you just take if there was 20 million people in the world back then but my family tree shows a trillion that shows you that people repeat throughout everyone's family tree you know hundreds of times so the point is and look even genealogists even like DNA specialists will tell you today that when you get several generations back 10 generations back 12 generations back everybody's related to everybody I hate to break it to you if you thought you were like a pure blood of something but everybody's related to everybody every Palestinian has a Jewish ancestor in his genealogy somewhere every Muslim has a Shiite Muslim in their genealogy somewhere all these people that are so upset that they don't want to be part of whatever this is how stupid it is to be racist by the way it's just like really dumb because like everybody is everything I mean everybody everybody back in their family tree if you could trace it back far enough has ancestors of every shade and of every color that's that's how valuable genealogies are there's no profit there's no profit so look even if it was and look here's another thing even if it was God like let's say that so we're talking about these 12 thousand in each tribe where did they come from right even if it was just God that knew even if it was just God that knew like okay you have to be they have to be 11 percent or .001 percent of Asher in order to be part of this list here's the thing it makes no sense because that would mean that it is profitable for me to keep track of a genealogy or what my genealogy was even if only God needed to know but here's the thing is there saved Jews today 144 thousand saved Jews today of tribes that they don't even know where they're from it makes no sense on any level so the question becomes the question becomes if these genealogies aren't profitable if nobody really even Jews themselves today don't know what tribe they're from that they'll openly say like there's no way we can know even though we could all go take DNA tests and I guarantee you some sort of Jew will come up some sort of tribe will come up in your DNA some sort of you know ancestors of every kind will come up in your DNA so you say who are these people who are these people turn to Revelation chapter 14 turn to Revelation chapter 14 so who are they that's the question turn to Revelation chapter 14 there's two places in the Bible that talks about the 144 thousand the first one the first one is in Revelation chapter 7 and the second one is in Revelation chapter 14 let's read the first few verses of Revelation chapter 14 Revelation chapter 14 the Bible says and Loel Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with him and 144 thousand having his father's name written in their foreheads of course this matches perfectly against Revelation chapter 7 remember the book of Revelation repeats itself it tells the same story it goes from Revelation 1 all the way up to chapter number 11 and then starts over and goes from 12 to 22 so here we're seeing kind of the mirror chapter in Revelation 14 over Revelation chapter 7 look at verse number 2 and I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of great thunder and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps and they sung as if it were a new song before the throne before the four beasts and the elders and that no man could learn that song they were redeemed from the earth and these now we get some more detail here these are they which were not defiled with women for they are virgins and these which follow the Lamb these are they which follow the Lamb with or so ever he goeth these were redeemed from among them being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb and in their mouth was found no guile for they are without before the throne of God so we see in these first few verses that these 144,000 are not only from the 12 tribes of Israel listed in Revelation chapter 7 but these are males and they are virgins and they have no guile in their mouth so the only conclusion that we can come to here is that these are Old Testament saints these are people that were from the tribes of Israel when we knew who the tribes of Israel were now in my opinion turn to judges chapter 2 in my opinion the best guess and this is just an opinion the best guess that I would have is where these 12,000 from all these different tribes came from is from the Joshua generation of the children of Israel meaning the children the children the generation of Israelites that crossed over the Jordan river notice the wording that Revelation chapter 14 you're going to judges chapter 2 but the wording of Revelation chapter 14 talking about these men it says they're not defiled with women they are virgins they are they which follow the lamb with or so ever they go with but look at verse number 5 where it says in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of God so these were people that had a pure heart towards the Lord and there was only one generation that you could have said about that of the nation of Israel look at judges chapter 2 in verse number 7 judges chapter 2 in verse number 7 look what the Bible says about the nation of Israel this is after they have taken possession of the promised land look at verse 7 it says and the people this is the nation of Israel here the 12 tribes right here the people serve the Lord all the days of every generation is that what it says it says notice that the people serve the Lord all the days of what all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua who had seen the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel so here's what the Bible is saying the Bible is saying is that the nation of Israel these 12 tribes that came over and took possession of the promised land they were good they served the Lord they were without fault before God as long as Joshua was alive and look here's the real key this is what you really need to think about with your kids is kind of a side note here is the people that saw the great works that God did are the ones that stayed pure with God as soon as that next generation was born well let's just read it before I explain it it says in Joshua the son of none the servant of the Lord verse 8 died being 110 years old and they buried him in the board of his inheritance in Tamath Threnees and in the Mount Ephraim on the north side of the hill gash and also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers this is the Joshua generation they all died and there arose another generation after them which what knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel this is how important it is that you know this is why this is why a mother is the most important vocation right here because it is so important to pass on that godliness to the next generation this is the trick that no one can figure out this is you know the key no one can figure out even the nation of Israel couldn't figure it out because as soon as all the children that saw the generation that saw the battles that look it's not even it doesn't even say they fought the battles Joshua and the elders that came across fought the battles and took possession of the promised land the children that saw those battles fought that saw the Lord winning those battles they were fine it was the generation after that did not see the great works of the Lord that they knew not the Lord so is that a failure of the Lord no that was a failure of their parents to not pass that on to them this is why God is just like Deuteronomy chapter 6 he's like you must teach them all day every day when from the time they rise up to the time they lay down because God is trying to prevent this from happening look it's just the same story over and over again and it's the same with us so look don't think you have to fight every battle for your child don't think that's why your children need to be out soul winning with you they can see that battle being fought even if they're not saying a word they're going to see that spiritual battle happening before their eyes and you know what they'll know the Lord they'll know the Lord because as soon as they don't see the Lord fighting battles that's when it says that generation they knew not the Lord so some child that's being raised by a parent that isn't a soul winner they're just they're not going to see God fighting any battles in their lives some child being raised by a parent that just has no spiritual life at all they're not going to see God fighting any battles you know what they'll know not the Lord it's the same thing that happened here so I believe this is just my opinion I believe that these people that had they were just pure towards the Lord that's what those verses are explaining to us in Revelation chapter 14 they had perfect hearts toward the Lord they were pure towards the Lord I believe that most if not all probably are coming from this Joshua generation that they saw the Lord they saw the Lord fight and they had pure hearts towards the Lord so that's I mean that's who you know the 144,000 are now what's the purpose of the 144,000 what's the purpose go back to Revelation chapter 7 the Bible calls them in Revelation chapter 7 the servants of God so we see that we have Old Testament saints here that you know I think they're probably from this Joshua generation you say but what's the purpose so here we have these males that have a perfect heart towards God and you know the Bible says hey hurt not the earth before we seal the what the servants of God in their forehead look at verse number 9 after this hold you gotta ask yourself what's about to happen what's about to happen look at Revelation chapter 7 verse number 9 after this remember remember our trick to reading Bible prophecy we pay attention to these chronological statements like after this I beheld and low a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their hands now people that think that these 144,000 are going to heaven or like see there's the 144,000 they just appeared in heaven right there but wait a minute what does it say a great multitude which no man can number didn't we just number them I mean what in the world we just literally we just literally counted them let me just say the number again it's 144,000 that's a number ok that's not like some is it impossible for people to count to 144,000 I mean just look at verse number 10 so all of a sudden in heaven this multitude that no man can number just millions upon millions of people just shows up in heaven just like that what could this be what could this be look at Revelation chapter 7 verse number 10 white robes and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb and the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces worshiping God so all of this great multitude worshiping God saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever amen and one of the elders answered saying unto me what are these now we're going to get the answer to our question this is so crazy that people don't understand like who these people are like this person will literally ask what are these which are raid and white robes and whence came they you know what that means he's like who are these people and where did they come from is what he just said look at verse number 14 and you should have a little note in your Bible next to verse 14 if you write in your Bible that says Matthew 24 it says and I said unto him sir thou knowest and he said unto me these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb turned to Matthew 24 these are the people that came out of the rapture this is the rapture in Revelation chapter 7 right here look at Matthew chapter 24 verse number 21 look what he says he said these are the which came out of great tribulation look at Matthew 24 verse number 21 talking about the last moments of the antichrist persecuting the saints it's crazy that people don't understand like where it is in the Bible is you literally get a view of the rapture from heaven in Revelation chapter 7 and you get a view of the rapture from earth in the Bible you get like both perspectives in the Bible look at Matthew 24 verse 21 for then shall be what great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time where do these people come from they came out of great tribulation except those days should be shortened there should be no flesh be saved this is talking about like literally physically dying here not talking about salvation it's talking about the persecution is so bad that if the rapture didn't happen here everyone would be killed look they would still go to heaven but it's like there's so much persecution in this tribulation look that's why it says flesh should be saved okay it's saying but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened elect meaning the saved I don't have time to preach that but the elect whenever you see it throughout the Bible is talking about people that are saved then if any man shall say unto you lo here is Christ or there believe it not for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders and so much that if it were possible to deceive the very elect even to save people deceive the elect meaning the people that believe on Christ behold I've told you before wherefore if they'll say unto you behold he is here in the desert go not forth behold he is in secret chambers believe it not talking about people that are going to claim to be Jesus alright and then he says here's how you'll know it's Jesus in verse 27 how will we know that it's really Jesus because here's something that nobody else will be able to do it's going to be an entrance like no one has ever done or ever will do again for his lightning come out of the east and shineth even unto the west so shall also the coming of the son of man be there's so much for your secret rapture right there so much for all sudden pop brother George is going to be just it's just going to be his suit just like laying in his chair right it's just going to be like a tie in a shirt in his suit and his well his wife will be gone too so it doesn't make any sense but hopefully she wouldn't still be here no I'm just kidding I'm sorry anyway but you know isn't that what Hollywood did and like the Hollywood movies is like every rapture movie is just like all of a sudden just poof it's just a pile of clothes you know and everyone's gone you know it's just like what all the airplanes are like crashing and all this is this big dramatic thing but no everyone's going to see it it's going to be like the lightning from the east to the west it's going to be like lightning across the entire sky and everyone will see it and look at verse 29 it says immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken turn to Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 12 so we see another great sign that's going to happen here like the sun is going to be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven is anyone I mean we're going to miss this this is going to be like an act you know something that people don't notice look at Revelation chapter 6 verse number 12 so we see that the rapture the rapture let me turn there myself the rapture is Revelation chapter 7 Revelation chapter 7 but look at Revelation chapter 6 in verse number 12 right before this happens it says, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal great earthquake and what? the sun became black as the sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood so we see the same thing happen Revelation chapter 6 just predicting the rapture it all matches perfectly folks go back to Matthew 24 I should have told you to keep your place there but it gets even better because look at verse 31 it says, and he shall now this remember the Wednesday sermon remember your resurrection that happens here where first resurrection everyone the dead in Christ shall rise first that's those Old Testament saints that we're talking about the 144,000 are going to be part of that group but look what it says he shall send his angels and with the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other if you remember 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16 I'll just read it to you it says with the trump of God 1 Corinthians chapter 15 I'll read for you again it says in the twinkle of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed this is talking about the rapture so we're seeing the rapture here the first resurrection the ceiling of the 140 in that first resurrection and then what do we see the white robes in heaven it fits perfectly and it all matches up together and then look in Revelation chapter 8 Revelation chapter 8 remember what's the purpose of ceiling 144,000 you know right at the beginning of Revelation chapter 7 the angel says hurt not the earth until we have sealed God's servants so where are we going to see these servants where are these servants going to be they're going to be in the earth they're going to be here on earth God is sealing his servant because he's getting ready to unleash serious hurt on the earth in Revelation chapter 8 you say when is it it's right after this when I say right after like within the hour look at verse number 1 it says when he opened the 7th seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour and then we're about to start opening up the vials and the trumpets and God's going to start unleashing on the earth but his servants will not be hurt because they will be sealed in their foreheads and look look God is just simply identifying his servants so he doesn't hurt them because he's going to hurt the earth I mean you go and we'll talk about the wrath of God that three and a half year wrath of God you know in another sermon but he's going to do some serious damage he's going to kill billions of people in that wrath so there look he raptures the saints he unleashes his wrath upon the earth turn back to Revelation chapter 14 so that's who they are that's who they are and that's where they're going to be they're going to be on earth during the wrath of God you say why what's their purpose guess what the bible tells us that too look at Revelation chapter 14 look at verse number well let's recap verse number four it says these are they which are not defiled with women for they are virgins these are they which follow the lamb with or so ever he goeth that's quite a word with or so ever say that ten times fast these are redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God and to the lamb the bible doesn't tell us whether they come up in the first resurrection at the same time as us go to heaven get sealed in their forehead then come back to earth or if they stay on earth it doesn't give us that detail but it's that same time it's that same time during the rapture the saints are raptured they either stay on earth or come to the earth before that wrath starts within half an hour but look at verse number six you say why what's the purpose why have them down there why have these servants of God these Old Testament saved pure hearted people towards the Lord why have them on the earth during God's wrath look at verse number six it says I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having what? having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation kindred and tongue and people somebody's got to preach the gospel somebody's got to preach the gospel it's not interesting that God even during his wrath sends people down to preach voice fear God and give glory unto him this is what they're going to be saying for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth and sea and the fountains of waters look they stay here on earth to preach to give the gospel to people that's the purpose now we see who they are we see where they're going to be at what time they're going to be and we see the purpose that we're there now let's look at like just let me read you a couple things now that you know like that wasn't like there's some complicated Bible prophecy that was not super complicated we see that it matches up Revelation 7 Revelation 14 Matthew 24 1 Thessalonians 4 1 Corinthians 15 it all just lays together perfectly and we see that you know we'll talk about you know God's purpose for them a little bit more and a little bit but now let me just read you from the Jehovah's Witness website on the 144,000 you see how silly this really is it says here's the Bible's answer from JW.org this is this is who the 144,000 is according to them it says God selects a limited number of faithful Christians who after their death be resurrected to life in heaven once they have been chosen they must continue to maintain a Christian standard of faith and conduct in order to not be disqualified from receiving their heavenly inheritance so number one it's just straight up works based salvation and on top of that you can literally lose your opportunity to be part of this 144,000 here's a question that's answered from the same website those who go to heaven do there so it's talking about these 144,000 what will they do in heaven they even have the place that they're at wrong right so they teach literally that only 144,000 go to heaven right so much for like a great multitude that no man could number you know you're just like what what will they do in heaven they will serve alongside Jesus as kings and priests for a thousand years so apparently the millennial reign of Christ when Christ rules and reigns on earth very clearly in Revelation chapter 20 is in heaven alright how many will be resurrected to heaven the bible indicates that 144,000 people will be resurrected to heavenly life alright so like it's it's a complete misunderstanding like the battle of Gog and Magog where the bible literally says in Revelation chapter 20 that this battle's gonna happen on earth and it just keeps saying on earth on earth you know they completely misunderstand how could they possibly misunderstand this it's because the natural man receive it not the things of God that's why you know but for their foolishness unto him you know neither can he know them the bible says they're not saved they're not saved they have no idea what they're talking about and look it's just I hate to say it but here's another thing from their website it says misconception from the JW.org website all good people go to heaven fact is they're gonna correct that statement God promises everlasting life on earth for most good people you're just like you're just like first of all first of all if you're gonna join a cult because that's what this is if you're gonna join a cult what a depressing cult to be in here's my definition of a cult okay that's why I told you this morning I preached that whole sermon this morning talking about hey here's what I do I'm supposed to be an example here's what I do I'm not following you home going to do a check on your home because a cult a cult is a religion that holds your salvation or some man or some leader holds your salvation over his head you have to come here you have to come listen to my preaching to go to heaven you have to come listen to my teaching to go to heaven that's the catholic church you have to come get baptized at our organization in order to go to heaven these are cults these things where men teach it's the teachings of man because you'll find it nowhere in the bible where it's man holding your salvation over your head if you don't listen to me do what I say they use the words of the bible for people and look it's easy because nobody has any idea what the bible says that's why in this church you're supposed to read your bible you're supposed to understand the bible I've misspoken and twisted up a couple of things a couple of times and people are like hey did you really mean it that way and I'm like oh no I said that wrong you preach 150 sermons a year and you're gonna say stuff wrong every now and then but you know what that tells me people are reading their bible here and that's what we need to know that's what I want when we go to verses be reading that are these things I'm telling you true but a cult is some man's teaching where he's saying you know what your salvation is in my hands your salvation is in Jesus' hands it's in God the Father's hands it's sealed there's nothing I can do that could make you not be saved not like I would ever do that but the point is you should want to do these things in the bible yes you should that's why Romans just kept saying should you should do these things you should not grieve the Holy Spirit you should follow the law all these things it's the same thing it may not be as weird but maybe that makes it more dangerous because it's not weird it's weird stuff it's literally funny if you know even just a little bit about the bible how could they possibly misunderstand it it's because they're not saved and they're wicked false prophets that's the answer but the point is Pentecostalism, Catholicism is the same thing it's the same thing Pentecostals they may look like us they may talk like us in many ways but to follow some religion where the preacher the pastor, the leader is telling you look if you don't do these works oh you're saved you're saved by grace through faith it's even more dangerous you're saved by grace through faith but if you don't listen to me and the things that I preach that's a cult that's what a cult is it's just something where some man is telling you what it takes to be saved and that he controls that salvation so look it's a clear misunderstanding of some pretty clear scriptures here on the 144,000 so we got Old Testament saints my opinion is it's Joshua generation people just because I think that matches the description of chapter 14 but here they're just staying on earth to what to preach, to spread the gospel turn to Psalm chapter 136 we'll wrap it up here now look Psalm chapter 136 go to Psalm chapter 136 and you'll notice a pattern in Psalm chapter 136 it's the verse of the week but you should turn there in your bible so you see this pattern that I'm talking about tell me if something stands out just read a couple verses here if God pour out his wrath on the earth and send these 144,000 people to preach the gospel during his wrath, I mean look don't they deserve it don't they deserve what they're getting at that point they've rejected the Lord the rapture has happened they're still not saved but here's the thing you need to understand look at verse number 1 of Psalm chapter 136 it says mercy endureth forever it says God's mercy and God has mercy even in his wrath you're like I don't understand that, you don't have to understand it you just have to know that God's mercy endureth forever, you see a pattern oh give thanks unto the Lord our God the God of God's for his mercy endureth forever oh give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endureth forever for the great wonders for his mercy endureth forever to him that by wisdom made the heavens for his mercy endureth forever to him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercy endureth forever to him that made the great lights we're talking about the creation we're talking about he had mercy back at the beginning it's talking about in Psalm chapter 136 to the sun, to the moon and stars now look what it says to him for his mercy endureth forever when he took the children of Israel out of Pharaoh's hands his mercy endureth then too and he brought Israel from among them divided the red sea talks about Pharaoh look at verse 18 he slew famous kings talking about the amorites verse 19 he has redeemed us from our enemies verse 24 you know what when Jesus came he had mercy then too mercy endureth forever oh give thanks unto the God of heaven for his mercy endureth forever look folks from creation to the promised land to Christ to the literal wrath of God God has mercy that's what the 144,000 is about even through his wrath his mercy endureth forever and look think about this number this is just the last thought that I'll let you have today how many soul winners do you think are on the earth right now? there's probably not that many think about how many soul winners are in the how many soul winners are going to door to door in the United States right now I don't know hundreds hundreds maybe if you're super optimistic maybe brother Stuckey would say thousands he's an optimist but it's not millions you know if you maybe bunch in if you maybe bunch in people that are able to preach the gospel maybe people that don't go door knocking but people that are able to preach the gospel a saved believer that's actually able to give the gospel to someone that asks about them yeah maybe we could be talking about 100 or 200,000 in the world wasn't that interesting how 144,000 you know a God is sending them to do he's sending them because who's gone now he's sending them to replace you he's sending them to replace the soul winners he's sending them he just took all the soul winners whatever number that is he just took everybody that look most Christians those millions and millions and millions of Christians that appear in white robes in heaven most of them aren't preaching the gospel to anybody but the fraction of people of the saved believers that are on the earth at the time of the rapture that are preaching the gospel God's going to replace them with 144,000 look praise God for his mercy it makes perfect sense it's clear in the Bible it makes perfect sense but also notice that they're not coming down to the earth in Revelation chapter 14 it says the gospel there they're not coming down to the earth to hand out diapers they're not coming down to the earth to go out and give some Tylenol to people they're not going down to the earth to go build a hut for somebody or hand out hot meals they're coming to preach the gospel and that's how important the gospel being preached is and that's how we look that's us now though we're the 144,000 now we're the ones that can do it and should be doing it look there's not enough of us doing it already I mean I saw the look on some soul winners faces here when I said you think there's 144,000 people knocking doors in the world and they're kind of like ah that's a stretch unfortunately you're probably right but that's how important we are God shows his mercy now even though it's not the wrath of God but God shows his mercy to this earth now through us that's how important we are we're literally instruments of God's mercy on this earth and it will endure forever let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer