Messianic Viewpoint

Announcer: Welcome to Shalom Ariel and to our continuing study in the book of Revelation with Messianic leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon. With so many changes going on these days, especially when it comes to climate changes, which usually brings on that sense of insecurity, we might ask, what climate changes has Israel seen lately? Many nations around her have become very cold when it comes to her right to exist. But more than that, has the church over the centuries been blinded by a sandstorm when it comes to Israel's identity? Israel will be that body of praisers, a holy nation who will bring the word of God to all the other nations of the world.

That is what we are going to learn today in Revelation 7 when we meet the 144,000 witnesses. Today's Jewish population is 15 million, and Revelation 7 says that there will be a remnant of 144,000 sealed Jewish saints, which means that these Jewish believers, these witnesses, would be 0.01% of the entire Jewish population if the beginning of the tribulation were to happen very soon. But what is even more interesting is that now we have 7 billion people in the world. So let's say 1 billion get raptured, and that would be wonderful. We would be left with 6 billion. Imagine 144,000 witnesses who need to witness to 6 billion.

These witnesses would make up 0.0002% of the population, such a minuscule percentage that would need to reach the entire world. What took the church 2,000 years to achieve, these saints will do and probably outdo in less than 7 years. What power of grace will enable these witnesses to bring that message to so many? As Revelation 7:9 says, behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. Be blessed as you tune into today's program with Messianic Leader Jacques Isaac Gabizon and shalom shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Shalom shalom and welcome back to our live Shabbat service. And a special welcome to a family in the city named Sheikh Hupura in Pakistan, who are watching the service and were taken care by Pastor Guy. While there's a lockdown in many parts of the globe, it is a blessing to see the body of the Messiah gathering from different parts of the world to study his word, and so God bless you. Now it's been almost a year where we're still under this virus, and lately we're hearing some news I never thought I would hear actually in my lifetime. For instance, in California, the rate of people that are affected by COVID-19 is so high that the hospitals are so failed that ambulance workers in Los Angeles County have been told not to transport hospital patients who have extremely low chances of survival.

You know, they are asked to make that kind of a life and death decisions. Write down also, right down south of us, New York State has resurfaced in an old bill, A416, which gives power to the security forces to remove persons or groups of people who have contagious diseases, just like COVID-19, so they be detained in a medical facility or other appropriate facility or premises designed by the government. It looks like, by the way, we're living a science fiction movie, but it is real. Here in Canada, because the hospitals are filling up, we hear that doctors will soon be asked to select and treat patients who have a better chance of survival.

You know, this past week, the local news interviewed two doctors who were visibly very disturbed and saddened that medical personnel would have to make such decisions. They never thought themselves that they would come to that point. Now, is this going to stop one day? Absolutely, it will stop. The world has to rise again, and one simple reason is that prophecy needs to follow its course. We are not in the tribulation times yet. The world has not reached this time yet, and furthermore, Yeshua said that before the very end, it will be as in the days of before the flood, you know, in the days of Noah, where they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, which is a symbol for us of a type, if you want, of the rapture.

These are signs before the rapture, if you want, or the tribulation of normalcy, right? So the world will eventually rise again, and perhaps through the different vaccines, which I believe are good, and the Lord, I'm sure, inspired these things, these scientists to come up with these things. So, however, and one more time, if this virus does persist for so long, it could be interpreted as a sign of warning for the impending wars, famine, and plagues that are coming over this world, just as Yeshua prophesied on the Olivet Discourse, and as we have seen explained in the first sixth seal. All of these things beg our attention to look to God for salvation and protection.

He is the only one who can save us from these things. And while many do not see him at work, even today, he is actually very active, and these actions are part of what we will see together in our study today. While the tribulation will cover the period of seven years, God will raise 144,000 individuals whom he will seal so that no one could prevent them from speaking the word of God, and through whom he will work a work of evangelism never seen in history. While each of the seven seals and each of the seven trumpets and each of the seven bowls are terrible and very difficult to consider, yet these 144,000 will be like a sunrise in the darkness of these times, and many will come to believe.

Now, who are they? Where do they come from? And why are they numbered 144,000? Now, before we consider these things, let us first bless our children as we usually do every Shabbat, and I believe this is very important. If you have your children with you, bring them close and put your hand upon their heads, and let us pray. Heavenly Father, we are here today with open hands and an open heart, lifting up our children to you so that you guide them, strengthen them, and protect them, and give them all wisdom and intelligence in these days of lockdown. Help them to come to you for guidance and provision.

May nothing separate them from you. Teach them how to choose only your way, so each step will lead us or them closer to you. Help them, Lord, to walk by the word and not by feelings. Help them to keep their hearts pure and undivided. Blessed be your name, for we know as parents that you love our children more than we ever can, and so we take comfort of your presence in their life. Amen and amen. Now let us open our Bibles to Revelation 7. Should the events of chapter 8 and 9 came directly after chapter 6, without an intermission of sorts, the believer in times of old and up to and including us today would have been discouraged and dispirited by the prophetic story.

But chapter 7 gives hope, and it speaks about those who are able to stand by the power of God in these terrible times. Let us read Revelation chapter 1 to 4. Let us read this passage again, because this is what we have left of last week. So Revelation chapter 7, verses 1 to 4. It says, after these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or any tree. Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their forehead.

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed. There is one thing that stands out from these four verses. We clearly see that nothing will fall on this earth unless it first gets the authorization from heaven. One angel forbids other four angels to whom was granted to harm the earth and the sea and the trees. He tells them not to harm them just yet. And although permission was granted to these four angels, this authorization comes with limits. Something we noticed throughout all the judgment poured out. God is in control. This is the message here.

This piece of information will surely be one of relief to those who will be undergoing the tribulation and will open up the book of Revelation to understand these things. Now, how the Lord is called here, see how the Lord he's called here, the living God, the first and only time in Revelation. While wars, famines, pestilence, and demonic activity will be rampant during this time, the living God is also at work to impart life as he mightily will to a multitude of individuals during these coming times. In the Hebrew scriptures, the title living God often occurs in the context of military conflict.

He was named the living God with Joshua before the conquest of the land, with David before battling the Philistines. Here it appears just before the calling of the 144,000 whose formation into 12 tribes also reminds us of the formation of Israel as they marched through the wilderness in number 2, ready to take the land. Similarly, the 144,000 are sealed and ready to take on the whole world. Furthermore, the first time the title Living God is used is so encouraging. It is found in Deuteronomy 5:26, with there Moses wanting to encourage the Israelites who were about to enter the land, recalled his encounter with God in the burning bush, and he said, For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire as we have and lived?

These 144,000 will hear his voice in the midst of fire, even while they themselves will be in the midst of so much tribulation. Now, who are these 144,000 and where do they come from? Verse 4 clearly identifies them. They are of all the tribes of the children of Israel. The children of Israel are the Jewish people. Israel was Jacob's new name and through whom the 12 tribes came and in whom Israel finds its identity. This is who the Jewish people are, the children of Israel. A Jew is defined by his ancestry, and this title, children of Israel, identifies the Jews. The church or no other nation was ever called children of Israel.

Jesus himself uses this title while speaking to the seven churches and refers to the Jewish people as the children of Israel in Revelation 2:14, when he spoke of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before whom? The children of Israel. Yeshua did not say to the church of Pergamum, children of Israel, whom you are now. While children of Israel can be part of the church, the church is not and does not replace Israel. And this, I believe, is a subject that the Lord has at heart, for what is extraordinary in this text is the lengthy description of the origin of the 144,000 so that we don't confuse identities.

See how verse 4 to 8 describe their identity. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 sealed. From the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 sealed. 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, 12,000 were sealed. I find this description exceptional.

First, because the book of Revelation is such a small book and very often with scanty information, which requires us to keep searching the scriptures, history, and elsewhere in order to understand its meaning. However, here in chapter 7, it takes the time to list each of the tribes of Israel by name and then repeats 12 times over the same things. Why do you think it is so thorough and repetitive with all the names? Could it be because mainstream Christianity and many Christian cults say that they are the 144,000, or that the 144,000 are Christian martyrs, or they are the church itself? The church was never divided into 12 tribes.

These then are a Jewish remnant that the Lord will rise, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. And why 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes? It is also the first time we encounter the number 12 in the book of Revelation, one of 22 mentioned. The this number 12 in the scripture signifies perfection of government or divine government in this case. When the Lord decided to form the church through which the word was to spread all over the world, he chose 12 apostles, stamping his blessings and direction on these disciples by choosing 12 of them in the same way he chose 12 tribes of Israel and in the same way that today he has already, I believe, chosen 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to do the work of evangelism.

For it may very well be that this 144,000 may be alive on earth at this very moment. We also see the number 12 later in Revelation, in the place where the Lord dwells, in the New Jerusalem in heaven, for heaven is stamped with this number 12. It has 12 foundation on which is written the names of the 12 apostles. And around the city are 12 gates, 12 pearls with 12 angels at the gates, and which the names of the 12 tribes of Israel there. There the names will be engraved in heaven for eternity. It says the tribe of the children of Israel. And we can see this number 12 as a product of 3 times 4.

4 is the number of creation and 3 is the number of the Godhead. Here we see God involved with men to accomplish his will and to impart salvation. And the question we ask, why do the 12 tribes of Israel suddenly pop up right here at the beginning of the tribulation? I want to tell you the answer is simple. It is because the body of the Messiah, the true church of God, will be removed from the earth through the miracle of the rapture before the tribulation time, which is the next event in the prophetic calendar. Yeshua promises the believer that he will keep them from the hour of trial which shall fall upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

Revelation 3:10. And once this is done, the remnant of Israel will come. The term those who dwell on the earth is one that is repeated nine times in Revelation to identify those who will follow the Antichrist, who abide here on earth. This new remnant is the 144,000 who will take over the work of the church, of the ecclesia, and their appearance here is not sudden at all, especially when we consider Israel trajectory from Exodus to Revelation and remember the promises of God and also the words of Yeshua in the gospel concerning the 12 tribes of Israel. Let us begin with the inception of the nation of Israel when she was chosen, and the reason was given to her when she was chosen.

The reason was given for her election. Exodus 19:6, God says, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. Here we encounter again the title, the children of Israel. Here they are, the last words of this verse, as in the 144,000 and their ancestors, as their ancestors are called. Their task was clearly stated. They were to be what? A kingdom of priests, that is, priests to the nations of the world, meaning that they were called to bring the word of God to the Gentiles. As Yeshua said, salvation is of the Jews.

And while Israel never really did this work as a nation, later prophets spoke of the time when Israel as a nation would eventually be that priestly nation. To quote only one of these many prophecies, God said through Isaiah 49:6, I will also make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. This work will again begin with the 144,000 until the millennium where Israel will be the priestly nation. And we can see a similarity with the work began with the 12 disciples who formed the church and unto whom the Gentile believers were grafted in and through whom the word went to all the nations.

This began 2,000 years ago, but all the nations did not believe. In fact, no nation per se believed, right? Only individuals and groups of individuals. The next time a group of Jews will do this work brings us to the 144,000 who will keep up this work, leading to the Messianic Age where Israel will be priest to all nation and the world at all. Moreover, their appearance should not surprise us, and even less, but when we consider what Yeshua said. Yeshua did allude to the return of the 12 tribes of Israel to the land, and when we consider his words on this subject, we can better understand the presence and the necessity of the 144,000.

In fact, the return of the 12 tribes of Israel in the land was a very hot topic in the first century. First, at the time, the Messianic hope was revived. Many expected the Messiah, especially because of Daniel's prophecies, which actually gave the date of the Messiah's coming. And along with this Messianic fervor, a new idea was revived, that of the rebirth of the 12 tribes of Israel from the people, because then they were not divided into tribes. The notion of the 12 tribes was revived when they considered the many prophecies, especially that of Ezekiel in his prophecies of a new temple and an Israel divided by the tribes.

They remember these prophecies every year at Sukkot. And so in the first century, they began to speak about the return of the 12 tribes and Revelation 7, actually brings us there. We see them appearing after an absence of many centuries. In fact, the Apocrypha books, those written by Jews, speak much of the return of the 12 tribes, while the Dead Sea Scrolls as well, the Essenes divided their different groups into 12 as they saw the significance of this number based on the 12 tribes of Israel. Now, how did Yeshua revive the concept of the 12 tribes of Israel? He did it in many ways and in most powerful way.

You know, let me show you a verse we must all have read a few times, but perhaps did not realize its depth. It is found in Matthew 4:13. It says, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali. Notice the words in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, names of two tribes. But at the time, one did not speak of going to Zebulun or Naphtali. They spoke of going to Galilee or Samaria, or as the Mishna and Josephus did, they divided the north as people going to Lower Galilee, to Upper Galilee, or to Galilee itself, but not to name tribal parcels of land such as Asher or Manasseh or Ephraim or Dan.

See how Yeshua slowly brought back the notion of Israel identity through the mention of the 12 tribes of Israel. And later, he was even more forward when he told the disciples in Matthew 19:28, he says, Assuredly, I say to you that in the generation when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Here he confirms that indeed that the 12 tribes of Israel will be reestablished, and the 12 disciples will, in the Messianic age, be at their head. He confirmed that age-old promise given to Israel that as a nation, she will be revived and the Messianic hope will be established.

At another point, and this is so interesting, we see Yeshua going to the region of Tyre and Sidon in Matthew 15. And it is there that he said to a woman, if you remember, a Canaanite woman, he says, I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But why did he go to these regions beyond the Galilee, which was a Gentile territory, while stating at the same time that he only goes to the House of Israel, that is, he came to preach only to Jewish people? Why would he do that? But Yeshua, I want to tell you, never left the territory of Israel during his ministry. Both, for both Tyre and Sidon belong to the tribe of Asher.

His presence could be interpreted as a confirmation and his desire to restore the whole nation of Israel. And considering these things, already the 144,000 did not just fall from the sky. They have a history behind. There are other hints in the New Testament about the sure return of the 12 tribes. We also hear of the great woman of faith, Hannah, and the scriptures says, oh, she bet she's from the tribe of Asher. Later, James, as the head of the Jerusalem Council, addresses his letter to the Jewish believer to and says, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, James 1:1. From this statement, we can conclude that among the Jewish believers were representative from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Another confirmation that no tribe, by the way, was ever lost. Through these 144,000, we see that the Lord never forgets his people and never forgets his promises. Never he does. While so many are today trying to erase the memory of Israel from the Christian religion and others from the world, the scriptures go out of its way to list all the 12 tribes of the children of Israel right here in Revelation 7. You know, it's been said that God's promises are engraved and dated in heaven, in heaven. And since we know that only in part, as the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, we don't always know then when they will be fulfilled.

But that shouldn't matter, for we have the confidence that God will keep them. Now, suppose a father tells a son, saying, sometimes in the future, a time I've decided upon, you will receive a million dollars that I have set aside for you. Although the son might become impatient as he waits for the money, he confidently expect to get it. But if the man, the father, were to say, if everything works out, you might have a million dollar. So the son would expect the money only if the father didn't perhaps go bankrupt, change his mind, forget his promise, or die, right? Of course, the first situation carries the greatest certainty, and that's the way it is in God's economy.

He dates, as it were, many of his promises according to his sovereign will and in keeping with his perfect knowledge of what is best for us. Even waiting does not diminish the values of God's promises, for he backs them with all the infinite riches of his character. He never changes. He never changes his mind. He never forgets his word. He never dies, of course. Now we understand that the 144,000 will be of Jewish descent, but their presence will confirm God's promise for Israel. But what kind of people would the 144,000 be, and how would they come to believe? Let us start with the first question.

What kind of people would they be? Because the Bible actually tells us. If you remember, the requirement of Israel to be able to do the work was for them to be a holy nation in Exodus 19:6. And this is precisely how the 144,000 are described. And here again, we encounter a thorough description of who they are, for without holiness, one cannot really perform the works of God, any work of God, I believe.

Announcer: Shalom Ariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will he renege any of the promises he has made to her. Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel Congregation right here in Montreal. If you've been encouraged by the messages, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 1-888-685-5902, or you may write us at info@bethariel, B-E-T-H-A-R-I-E-L, all one word, dot CA. You are also welcome to join us for our Saturday morning services. We are located at 6297 Monkland Boulevard, corner of Madison in NDG.

The message is given in English, but we do offer simultaneous translation into French and Russian. Services begin at 11 a.m. We have Shabbat school for children of all ages, up to and including teens. You may also download audio messages from our website at bethariel.ca and enjoy other in-depth teaching from Jacques Isaac. If you would like to sign up for informative newsletters, log on to our website and add your name to our email list.

Guest (Female): Shalom Ariel is a listener supported program. If you have it on your heart to donate, it will be a great blessing for the continuing ministry and outreach of Beth Ariel. Thank you and shalom shalom. Halelu et Adonai kol goim, shabehuchu kol hamunim.

Ki gafar alenu hasto, ve-emet Adonai le'olam, halelu, haleluya. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelu at Adonai kol koin. Hallelu at Adonai kol koin. Shabikhuhu kolcha Omishar echoru korra. hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.