Christ Our Savior – Part II

Gentile multitude to come out of the Great Tribulation

After this I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, all kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothes with white robes, and palms in their hands, And cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,” And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures, 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 forever and ever, Amen.”

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, “Who are these who are arrayed in white robes? And from where did they come?” And I said unto him, “Sir, thou knowest.” And he said to me, “These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The Revelation 7: 9-14

God’s people may expect tribulation throughout the present age (John 16: 33; Acts 14: 22), but the word “tribulation” here in Revelation 7 is also used specifically of a future time (Matthew 24: 21, 29; Mark 13: 24).

 
Further study of thlipsis “tribulation” from Blue Letter Bible

Further study of Revelation chapter 7 from Blue Letter Bible

(Scripture, comment, and further resources provided by administrator of ACP)

by A.B. Simpson

From the book “The Best of A.B. Simpson”

 What salvation brings to us

1. Salvation brings the forgiveness of all our sins and entirely removes them. They are blotted out as completely as though we had paid all that was due for them, and they can never appear against us again.

2. Salvation brings us justification in the sight of God so that we stand before Him as righteous beings. We are accepted as though we had done everything He had commanded and had perfectly kept the law in every particular. With one stroke of the pen He erases the account that was against us; with another stroke He puts there all the righteousness of Christ.

We must accept both sides of this. The spotlessness of Jesus is put to our accounts as if it were our own. All His obedience to the Father is ours. All His patience and gentleness are ours. Every service that He has rendered to bless others is put to our accounts as if we had done it all. Every good thing we can discover in Him is ours, and every evil thing in us is His. That is salvation. Is it not wonderful?

3. Salvation brings us into the favor and love of God and secures for us full acceptance in the person of Jesus. He loves us as He loves His only begotten Son. The moment we are presented in the arms of christ we are accepted in Him.

Dr. Currie, a brilliant Methodist writer and editor of one of the best journals of his church, dreamed one night that he died and went up to the gate of heaven. There he met an angel and asked to be allowed to enter. The angel asked him who he was.

“I am Dr. Currie,” he answered, “editor of the Quarterly Review of the Methodist Episcopal Church.” The angel replied, “I don’t know you; I’ve never heard of you before.” Soon he met another angel and told him the same story, and received the same answer: “I don’t know you.”

At last one of the angels said, “Let us go to the Judge and see if He will know you.” He went before the throne and told the Judge about his life and the work he had done for the church, but received the answer from the Judge: “I don’t know you at all.” His heart was beginning to gather the blackness of despair, when suddenly there was One at his side with a crown of thorns upon His head.

“Father,” this One said, “I know him. I will answer for him.” And instantly all the harps of heaven began to sing; “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,” and he was ushered into all the glory of the celestial world. Not all the preaching we have done or all the service we have rendered will amount to anything there. We must be identified with the Man who wore the thorns; we must be accepted in the Beloved, and then the Father will love us even as He loves His Son. We shall stand with Him even as Christ does.

4. Salvation gives us a new heart. It brings to us regeneration of the soul. Every spark of life from the old polluted nature is worthless, and the divine nature is born in us as part of our very being.

5. Salvation gives us grace to live day by day. A man may be pardoned and released from prison, but have no money to supply his needs. He is pardoned, yet he is starving. Salvation takes us out of prison and provides for all our needs besides. It enables us to rejoice in God, who “is able to keep [us] from falling, and to present [us] faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

6. Salvation brings to us the help of the Holy Spirit, ever at our side as a gentle mother, helping our infirmities and bringing grace for every time of need.

7. Salvation brings to us care of God’s providence, causing all things to work together for our good. This is never true until we are saved; but when we are children of God, all things in earth and in heaven are on our side.

8. Salvation opens the way for all the blessings that follow it. It is the steppingstone to sanctification and healing and the peace that passes understanding. From this first gateway the prospect opens boundlessly to all the good land we may go on to possess.

9. Salvation brings to us eternal life. It is, of course, only the beginning, but the heavenly land has its portals open even here. When we at last reach the throne and look out and see all the possibilities that yet lie before us, we shall sing with the ransomed, “Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”

Next: Part III – The process of these blessings