Volume 2003/10

Rounded Rectangle: REVELATION 5:5

Rounded Rectangle: Revelation series 
part-7
 

 

 


The Harvest Is Ripe!

 "He will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner”

                                             (Mat.3: 12)


 


 

 

 

(From radio broadcast of Bro. Julius Adewumi)

 

Revelation chapter 7

 

v.1 “And after these things I saw four angels 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, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”

 

Just like the bible said, God knows how to deliver the just out of trouble.  In the book of psalms 91 the promises of the Lord for the believer is plenty.  As written, to them that dwell in the secret place of the Most High: There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

God always look out for his own people, for those that serve him, for those that fear him.  You can also see this in the book of Isaiah, when Isaiah saw the Lord upon the throne and angels were sent to go and destroy the city, but an inkhorn writer was sent ahead of the destroying angels to set a mark upon those in the city that sighed and cried against the wickedness that is in the land.  You see, if you cry against the wickedness in the land, God marks you for protection when his judgment comes upon the land.

   It is therefore recommended for us to “preach the word, in season and out of season”.  Don’t be silent against the wickedness and iniquity that is going on in the land.  Don’t be unconcerned about the ungodliness round about you.   But reprove, and rebuke them. 

   The angel said in Daniel 12: “they that turn men to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the firmament for ever and ever.”    Therefore put it upon yourself to turn men to righteousness.  Witness for Jesus.  Tell those who practice sin that if they will accept Jesus as Lord, he will change their life.  As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (Jn.1:12).  That is the gospel:  God is giving people the power that can change us from within, so that we sin no more; but individual has to come to him, believing, to receive this power of regeneration.

Jesus Christ shed his blood to make this available to us.

    At the end of the world, God will seal those that call upon his name, to protect them from the wrath to come.  Therefore, make yourself a servant of God so that you may also be protected.

How many will be protected?  The number is given here in the book of revelation for the number of the Jews that will be sealed.  The number of the gentile believers is not given here.  Some scholars think the gentile believers may be all gone away (in the rapture) by the time this trouble begins.  However in the future chapters, you will see that they are not gone yet.  It means the gentile believers will also be sealed, though the number was not given.

 

v.4: “And I heard  the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

    John gave us the names of the tribes of Israel in the next few verses, and I am going to point your attention to an important observation here.  If you are a bible student, go read the names of the twelve tribes of Israel  in the book of Genesis and compare with the list here in Revelation chapter seven.  From the twelve sons of Jacob, which of them is missing in this list of names?

 

v.5 : Of the tribe of Judah were sealed 12000.   Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed 12000.  Of the tribe of Gad were sealed 12000.   Of the tribe of Aser were sealed 12000. 

Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed 12000. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed 12000. 

Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed 12000.      Of the tribe of Levi were sealed 12000.   Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed 12000.     Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed 12000. 

 Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed 12000.  Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed 12000. 

 

These are the names mentioned in this chapter.  Let’s go to the book of Genesis and look at the names of the sons of Jacob, which made up the twelve tribes of Israel.  If you are a bible scholar, you may know some of these already, and if you don’t know it, I am going to reveal some things to you here as the Lord has revealed them to us. 

In Gen.49 was where Jacob gave blessing to his children, prophesying to them what will happen to them in the latter days. 

Gen.49:1  And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”

You may say, why are you preaching this?   I want you to fear God.  That is why I preach this.  God is to be feared in the assembly of the saints.  Don’t take things for granted.  Take God seriously!  Take God’s word seriously!  Beware of idolatry.  What I will point out in a moment is that, from these twelve tribes of Israel, God began to remove some names and substituted other names!   Don’t accept ignorant explanation from some theologians who may think it was merely misprint or human mistakes of the biblical writers.   No sir!  The replacement of the names of some tribes with other names was God-inspired.  God substituted other names because of wholesale sin of some tribes. 

 

Jacob first gave a promise to Joseph in Genesis 48:5 to give him a double portion by substituting the two sons of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) in the place of Joseph, so that Joseph had two tribes instead of one.

That would have made them thirteen tribes.  To keep it twelve, the Lord took out Levi, and made them priests so that they have no inheritance in the tribes. 

(Gen. 48:5) “And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 

And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.”

Know that we are men of faith.  Jacob was also a man of faith. He was already dividing the land of Palestine as an inheritance to his children before he died, though they have not possessed the land, and it would take them 400 years before they returned to that land.  He believed the promise God gave to him that his seed would inherit the land of Canaan.  So he was not only passing the blessing down, but also dividing the inheritance by giving two portions to Joseph.  Jacob told Joseph that he was giving him double portion:

Gen.48:22 “Moreover I have given to thee one portion more above thy brethren, which I took  out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”  What does this mean?

This was prophecy telling that the land will have to be obtained by sword of the Israelites.  I am bringing this out so that you can see that when men of faith believe God, they can actually be thinking ahead for five hundred years; Because they believe God, who will be there in five hundred years.  They can look ahead a thousand years because they believe God.  Even though they will be gone, but God who is here now will be there in a thousand years, and he is the one to fulfill the promise, and he never breaks covenant.  

    From the twelve sons of Jacob, by taking Joseph out and substituting the two sons of Joseph, it becomes thirteen names. How come they were still twelve?  God told Moses to take the Levites out of the tribes so that they will be God’s portion, as priests and temple workers, and that they shall not have any inheritance among the tribes.

   Back to Revelation chapter seven, how come we still see the name of  “Levi” in the list of tribes, who was missing?   How come we still see the name of “Joseph” in the list of tribes, who was missing?

Look at it again.  In verse 6, he mentioned Manasses, which means Manasses is still listed.  But Ephraim was not listed anymore.  Instead of Ephraim, he substituted Joseph in verse 8:  “Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed 12000.”  You think there was a mistake?  No way!  God didn’t make any mistake.  God decided to remove the name of Ephraim because of the sins listed against the tribe of Ephraim, as you will see in the book of the prophets.  It was written that Ephraim was joined unto Idols, and the Lord said, leave him alone. (Hosea 4: 17). Any tribe that went after idols wholesale, God marked them to be removed from his book.  God marked the whole tribe for elimination!  Remember Moses asked God to remove his name out of God’s book if God would not pardon? It shows God keeps record!   (Exo. 32:32). 

I tell you right now!  If God did that to a whole tribe of Israel, he can do it to a whole nation of the gentiles, or a whole tribe.  A whole tribe shall disappear from the face of the earth!  “All nations that forget God shall be cast into hell”.  (Psa. 9:17). 

  Ephraim was taken out and whoever was to be saved among them bears the name of Joseph.  He took the name Ephraim out of his mind.  

Here is another thing.  The levites were brought back in as a tribe.  What other tribe is missing?  Check it again.  God removed the name from the list.  What tribe was it?  What about the tribe of Dan?  Dan was missing and for it God substituted the Levites.  Remember also in the world to come, the Levitical priesthood is done away with, and the Melchisedec priesthood is established through the Lord Jesus Christ:  Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec”.  (Psa.110:4, Heb.7:11-12). 

   But what did Dan do?  We compare scriptures with scriptures, and by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, these things were neither mistakes nor conflicts in the bible, but they are given by revelations, that there is a purpose of God behind it all.

In the book of Judges, the tribe of Dan made an idol and never recovered from that idol, even all through the days of the judges and after, the bible said they refused to give up their idols.  See?  You and I better beware.  If you sin against God, you may be destroying the generations of your children after you.   If you sin against God, you have yourself to blame.  God is telling every man to repent and fear God!

(Judges 18:30-31)  And the children of Dan set up the graven image: And Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.  And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.” 

Just think of that: from the time of the Judges “until the captivity of the land” long after king David, Solomon and other kings, the Danites kept their graven image.  They stuck to their graven image, and their name was struck out of the tribes of Israel. 

Revelation chapter seven shows the names of the tribes that will be remembered in the kingdom of Christ to come.

(Rev.7:9) “After this I beheld, and lo, 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 with 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 all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and 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 for ever and ever. Amen.

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, what are these, which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to 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.

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

   Let’s talk about these multitudes out of many nations.  Now these are the gentile believers.

They came out of great tribulation.  What tribulation is that?  We believe that at this end of the world, there will be great tribulation when the Antichrist, which is the world ruler at the end of the world, will persecute the true believers in Christ.  There will be a mark, called the mark of the beast in revelation chapter thirteen.  When we get there we will talk about it.  No man can buy or sell except they receive the mark, but Christians who recognize that the bible forbid the mark of the beast, which may be a new monetary system, will resist and be persecuted. They cannot buy or sell without the new monetary system. 

This is coming to happen.    We can see that the stage is set in this generation for this to be implemented.

 Believers may suffer from the world government during that time, but God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, for they have suffered enough on earth.

 

There will be a glorification of mankind whereby some shall be taken away without seeing death just like Enoch and Elijah.  God promised that. (1 Thes. 4:15-16; Rev.12:5).   Those that are left behind will suffer the great tribulation, but God said he will wipe away all tears from their eyes. 

If you want to be a partaker of this glorification, better begin to prepare, and run the race to be accepted.

 

Bro. Julius Adewumi

 

 

Excerpt From Jane Lead’s Signs of the times

(published 1699)     

 

Talking about the perfect church Christ wants to bring out in you and me --- Yea, do not hinder Christ’s work in you!

 

(Begin Quote)

This is the Kingdom, Blessing and Joy that our good God is moving in the Powers of his Spirit to bring down and open among us, and so derive it to the whole Church; yea, the whole Creation, which is groaning and travailing in pain even until now; waiting for this Manifestation of the Sons of God: which now sticks in the Birth, and calls aloud for the unanimous Consent and Concurrence in the Strength of Divine Love, to bring it forth. O who among the Sion-Waiters would not be ashamed and grieved at the thought of being any way Instrumental themselves in the unhappy Prevention or Procrastination of it? or who would not upon the nearer View and Prospect of such inestimable Blessings, immediately discard every the least Motion that shall tend to Strife, Disunity, or Alienation of Love? but rather concur with all their Might in Unity of Spirit to increase the Little strength of Philadelphia, for the bringing forth the Man-child of Power, the Son of Mirth and Joy, of Peace and Consolation to the whole Creation of God. If there were among the Apostles of Christ Contentions and Disputes, and that from the Evil Root of Self-Love, Emulation and Pride, striving who should be greatest in his Kingdom; it need less be wondered at, if among the Candidate-Disciples for the Triumphant Kingdom, there should be found the like spirit of Ambition, and Emulation, and a Jealous Eye in some upon the Gifts and Favours bestowed on others; and thence through the violent Temptation of the Enemy at this day, proceeding to Variance and Disaffection, and an untying of the Holy Band of Love. But as our Lord, by an Excellent Document, set a little Child in the midst of his Disciples to reprove and teach them: So here must principally be recommended, and by all means laboured after for attainment of it, the true Child-like Spirit; which is meek, humble, peaceable, obedient, patient, and modest, submissive and resigned to the Will of its Father in all things; we must have no Will or Desire of our own, no opinion of our own Gifts or Wisdom, no evil Eye upon, or too forward a censure of, the Gift of another; but delight to see ‘em displayed for the Honour of God, tho’ it be in others more than our selves. Here must be no Self-Appropriation; the very Root of Self must be removed: for the Blessings of the Kingdom are not to be enjoyed in Propriety, but in Community. Here instead of striving to be the greatest, those that are highest and enjoy most, must be the least, and Servants to the other: communicating freely all they have to make it theirs as well as their own. This is the true generous and Christian Spirit, which according to the Nature of Love, overlooks, forgets, and goes out of itself, into that which it Loves; and that is it’s God, and it’s Brethren. This as we shall be found in, we shall truly approve our selves in the Relation we profess to bear to that Glorious Philadelphian Church which is to arise: and not only bear the outward Name thereof, but also its inward Signature in our Hearts, and shew forth its lively Impress in our Conversation and Actions: which will prove the most Powerful and Effectual Persuasive to others; and cause our Light indeed so to shine before Men [in the Brightness of the holy Flame of Charity and Love] that they seeing our good Works, may glorify our Father which is in Heaven, and acknowledge the Handywork and Presence of his Holy Spirit in us. For this, O ye Chosen and Beloved Ones, let the Spirit of Supplication evermore ascend, and wrestle till as Princes ye prevail with God; and the Everlasting Day dawn upon you. Ye that make [such Glorious] mention of the Name [and Kingdom] of the Lord, keep not Silence, give him no Rest until he make Jerusalem a Praise upon the Earth; till the New Jerusalem descend from Heaven, and the Church Militant become one with the Church Triumphant, and both together sing the Song of Victory: Blessing, and Honour, and Glory, and Power be given unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen.

(End Quote)

 

 

Bro. Julius Adewumi

Gospel Distribution Ministry

 

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www.GOSPELDISTRIBUTION.ORG

 

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I want to thank those that have been sending offering to this ministry.  Your investment and mine send the literature to believers and send the word on radio.  That is one sure way we can send our money ahead of us to heaven.  The Lord said: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Mat. 6: 19-21).  "For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out."  (1Tim. 6: 7).