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citizens of the future

Revelation 7:1-8:5

Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four agents standing at the four corners of the land, restraining the four winds of the land so that no wind could blow on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
Revelation 7:2 Then I saw another agent rising up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four agents who were allowed to wrong the land and the sea:
Revelation 7:3 “Don’t wrong the land or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”
Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of the sealed: 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:
Revelation 7:5 12,000 sealed from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
Revelation 7:6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
Revelation 7:7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
Revelation 7:8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 sealed from the tribe of Benjamin.
Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and noticed a vast crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
Revelation 7:10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!
Revelation 7:11 All the agents stood around the throne, and along with the elders and the four animals they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God,
Revelation 7:12 saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God for ages and ages. Amen.
Revelation 7:13 Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes, and where did they come from?”
Revelation 7:14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7:15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. The one seated on the throne will shelter them:
Revelation 7:16 They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any scorching heat.
Revelation 8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in the sky for about half an hour.
Revelation 8:2 Then I saw the seven agents who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them.
Revelation 8:3 Another agent, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the devotees on the golden altar in front of the throne.
Revelation 8:4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the devotees, went up in the presence of God from the agent’s hand.
Revelation 8:5 The agent took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the land; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

citizens of the future

Revelation 7:1-8:5. The future will be populated by those redeemed “of the sons of Israel” (the 144,000 representing Jews saved during the first century) and also “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” Their eternal destiny is sure in spite of the fact that harm will come to the earth and the sea. God’s promise to them (us) is that they we will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any scorching heat.

He also promises that he will hear their prayers. The prayers go up to him like incense at the altar.

LORD, we trust you to make our dreams of the future a reality, and to shepherd us during this dark and trying age.