Sermon

Today's sermon was from Revelation 7:1-17 & 14:1-5. It's entitled, "The Servants of God: Sealed and Safe."

Revelation 7 is really an answer to a question posed in Revelation 6:17: "If the world is the object of God's wrath, how will Christians survive?"

The answer is found in Revelation 7:3:
We have the seal of the Holy Spirit on our foreheads, which is God's mark of possession over us, and is used to preserve Christians when the world and Satan come against us.

Throughout the book of Revelation, Satan is attempting to parody the Holy Spirit. The mark of the beast is not actually 666. It is a parody/demonic counterfeit of God's seal that is on believers.

The 144,000 that is referenced in Revelation 7:4 are the messianic (non-violent) army whom conquer the enemy. This army is a reference to the totality of churches. It includes you and me!

In Revelation 14:4, when John speaks of those who have not been defiled by women, but have kept themselves chaste, is an analogy for those who have continued in the faith and not succumbed to the world.