The Revelation 7:1 | Episode # 1044

October 9, 2025

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

The Revelation 7:1

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Applying God's word to your daily life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years.

I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life.

I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day,

especially today in Jesus name.

Interesting things. A lot of things that.

Well, when people hear about the Book of the Revelation,

they know that this chapter has a. A lot of the stuff that people have questions about or ask questions about or things like that.

It's more than some of the other chapters. It's just got kind of weird, interesting stuff that people talk about.

And so for me, I think it's important that we deal with some of these things and talk through them,

even though for those who are just now getting into the Book of the Revelation,

for those who are doing that,

it is a strange chapter.

A strange chapter, but a good chapter. It says after these things, meaning after the seals that were opened were open.

So the word is always metatauta, which is the Greek phrase is metatauta, after these things. And when you're studying through the book of the Revelation and it says metatauta anywhere, or even actually in Scripture, he's trying to tell you,

in the Greek, it is trying to tell you that he is putting kind of a parentheses around something that, all right, this has happened, and now we're moving on to something new.

If you'll remember, chapter four starts out with metatauta, which means that whatever was happening in chapters two and three, which we know to be the church age,

after the church age,

then chapter four happens. Well, when we get to chapter seven, it starts over again.

It starts over with him saying meta tauta, which means after the sixth seal is opened.

Okay, and so how many seals were there?

There's seven seals.

Okay?

So the seventh seal has not been opened.

Okay.

The final seal has not been opened,

but the first six have.

And then what is about to take place after that is literally after those six seals. So there's a break between the sixth and the seventh seal being open because he says, we're gonna move on to something else now that something else is continuing to lay the framework for the end times.

It's a. Continue to lay out what's going on. Now I want you to notice, he says, after these things,

I saw four angels.

And that reminds us of the four angels that are around the throne. It doesn't say it's those four angels,

but I saw four angels standing on the four corners or ends of the earth.

All right?

Now a lot of times when people read, especially when we read,

just when we read a verse or something here or there,

we can build a whole theology around that. And I'm gonna tell you that a theology has been built around that or an understanding that some people have or believe that the earth is flat comes from their reading to this.

And I'm going to just show you in some ways how that likely is not true. But I think it's good for us to look through it.

The four corners of the earth or the four ends of the earth, or I think it is referring to the four directions of the earth. Because even if the earth was flat, who says it's square?

You know what I'm.

And that would be important.

Plus Isaiah 40:22 tells us that the earth is a circumference. It tells us that it's round.

And then Ecclesiastes, which I think is the passage that helps us with this because remember when. And I say they come up,

we can all come up with our own theology based off of a verse, okay? I want you to hear me. And that's not unusual. And it hadn't been unusual in church, church history that something like that,

an idea or an understanding from one verse has caused a group of people to have this belief about things such as us with our slightly Pentecostal flavor that we have.

One of the things that people will say is we're snake handlers, right?

And that's a joke. And anybody who asks me outside the church, I say absolutely, we have them.

We just don't get them out. We just, we just have them. Well, that, that verse, that, that, that, I mean it has a scriptural basis. The people who have the, the actual snake handling churches.

And I can tell you that I've actually been in one of those churches, okay. I preached one one Sunday in a church up in Sand Mountain near Eider, Alabama. And it was a Baptist church that I preached in.

And just down the road was this funny looking. It was a church, you could tell it was a church, but it's just kind of weird looking.

And I was standing on the front porch and they were letting out and,

and the pastor and me had he, he had invited me up there to preach. I was, I was helping start FCA huddles in north Alabama.

And I said, well, what church is that? And he said, that's the snake handling church. And I thought he thought he was just meaning Pentecostal because he's a Baptist preacher.

He. I said. He said, no, no, that really is.

They handle snakes on Sunday morning.

So obviously the next thing I did was got in my car and rode over there because I, you know, I had to see that. And it was, it was an interesting experience.

They really did. They had the snakes in a cooler, by the way, just letting you know, if you think they get the snakes out while they're warm, they don't. They keep them in a cooler.

Okay. You know, they ain't stupid. All right.

But, but the, but the, but the,

the most interesting part of it because the pastor was really a nice guy, you know, I enjoyed meeting him.

Just a good old hillbilly from north northeast Alabama. He.

When I went in, what I thought was the most interesting part of that, that,

that visit was they had pictures on the walls of people in the casket and there was like eight or nine of them.

You know, it's kind of weird in the sanctuary to have pictures of people in casket. I said, well, who are those? He said, those people didn't have any faith.

And it literally was over, you know, the last 50, 100 years.

Pictures of people who had died. Took a picture of them in their casket and hung it on the wall of the church. I guess it was a warning,

but it was really interesting and I enjoyed my visit to my real, real visit to my snake handling church up near Eider,

Alabama. By the way, do y' all know either high school? Does it. Can anybody guess the, the mascot for either?

No. The eider spiders. Come on now.

I mean, that's obvious. I mean, if you got a name not named either, you going to be the spiders, right?

Anyway,

so,

so I, I did, I did that. And I did, I did that back in the day. And you go, well, where did they get that from? Well, they get it from Mark, chapter 16.

And get it from Mark, chapter 16. Mark, chapter 16 tells. Tells them that, you know, they'll be bit by serpents and won't be hurt, and they'll drink poison and won't be killed.

And you go, well, why is that in the Bible? Well, because those were the two major ways other than just walking up and stabbing somebody to death. The two major ways of executing somebody or really assassinating someone.

Where you wouldn't be found out is to poison them or to put a dangerous snake in their bed so that when they got in the bed, they would get bit multiple times and die.

That was the methodology back in Roman times of assassination.

And so what God was saying to them was that you don't have to worry about them killing you by assassination. I'm gonna take care of you. You can get bit by a poisonous snake and not die.

And by the way, is there a story in the Bible that tells us that. Yeah,

Paul was reaching into the fire, and he. And he got bit by a snake and he shook it off into the fire. And the people around there thought he was Zeus, one of the gods.

They thought he was a God. And so we know that not only does God tell us that in Mark, but we know we have a story to tie it to.

Well, in this passage, we have a story to tie it to. We have a passage of scripture to tie this to. And it's. Ecclesiastes 1:6. Ecclesiastes 1: 6 talks about how the wind.

And this is important because this is talking about the wind.

How the wind will. It'll go in a direction. It'll go north and it'll go around. It'll go by and up again and come back from the south.

Well, you can't do that if you're not going around something.

Okay, That's. That's not possible. And so. So when. When it says. And by the way, that's the whole purpose of this. And let's talk about this, because oftentimes we get into that idea and.

And we miss out on the major idea of this passage.

And if you want to talk about the major confirmation of God's word, there's a major confirmation of God's word that they would not have known about. There's no way they would have known about it.

What is it? Well, they stand on the four ends, four corners, however you want to say it.

Of the earth holding the four winds of the earth,

that the wind should not blow on the earth,

on the sea, or on trees.

All right,

now you go. Well, why is that important?

Well, because there are four winds on the earth.

Do y' all know what they're called?

They're called the jet stream.

Each hemisphere has two. You have a northern one and a southern one.

Okay.

Each hemisphere has two jet streams. When you fly on an airplane,

if you're going with the jet stream,

you'll get there much faster than when you're flying against the jet stream. And the jet Streams go around the Earth and they're a fast, fast wind.

And we're talking hundreds and at times even as much as thousand miles an hour.

Okay, It's a jet stream. And you go, well what causes that? What causes it is the rotation of the Earth and the moon rotating around the Earth. That's what causes,

causes the jet stream. And why are they important? Well, the jet stream is. Y' all know when you watch the Weather Channel and you see,

see weather systems working their way across the United States. If you'll notice, they never walk, work their way from east to west. They always work their way from west to east.

Why?

Because the jet stream goes that way.

There's a northern one and a southern one. If the northern jet stream dips down too far, it gets real cold in the hot summer.

Now I want you to hear me.

John did not know that have weather.

And if you don't have weather, what do you not have?

Rain.

You got a major problem.

And what does God say in order to set this of the Earth and he shuts off the jet stream, he shuts off the four winds.

Now that was not known until really about 150 years ago that that even existed. In all actuality, you know how we figured out that it was a jet stream?

Well, some crazy people got in these hot air balloons, y'. All. There's been movies out lately about that. They got in these hot air balloons and went up so high and they realized the higher they got faster they, they.

And they realized there's, there's a wind up that's way more powerful than the winds we have here on the earth or on does that make.

Right. So, so I think that this is a fabulous passage. Not for, not for the reasons other people think it is. I think it's because there's no way have known that.

Okay, John, has to be from God. God's telling him that there's four winds around the earth and I'm going to shut them off.

He says that they should not blow on the earth or the sea or any tree.

All right? Now always when you're reading this and this is just something for you to write down and remember there are pictures in the scriptures, okay?

Things that whenever they're brought up,

you should always. Now I'm not saying that it's all the time this way, but there are pictures in scripture that whenever they're brought up they help you think about things.

Okay?

They identify things.

What are they?

Well, numbers have, have. Have things.

You know, especially first 10 numbers, 12 numbers in scripture, you know, one's, the single is, is the,

is a singular God, the Godhead. Two is the number of either faithful witness or it's a number of division,

always the number of the Trinity, the God, Father and Holy Spirit. Four is the number of how God created the earth. You got the four winds, the four seasons, the four directions.

Okay?

You'll see that four come up all the time. Five, number of grace. Six is the number of man. Seven is the number of completion. Eight's the number of new beginnings.

Nine can be several things.

Nine is not as for sure as other things, but oftentimes it, it also stands for some type of division.

10 is Israel. I mean, 10 is the, is the law and 12 is Israel. And we're going to get to 12 here.

All right. If you see a boat, always look for something that deals with salvation. If it's a boat, salvation is usually something. It has something to do with it. Okay,

Just saying, right?

If you see the land,

if you think scripturally, what should always in your mind go in front of the land,

Promised land,

right?

The promises of God and Israel. Who said Israel? Did you say Israel? Hiding Israel. That's right.

Israel is, is. Is the land is,

is representative of Israel. The sea is representative who?

The Gentiles.

So you always have. When you, when you read C in Scripture, not every time,

but it generally is pointing to the Gentiles. When you read land,

you should think, okay, is this got something to do with Israel?

Okay.

Interestingly,

individual people in the Bible.

Individual people in the Bible are usually individual, unknown people.

Like you don't know who they are,

are trees or fish.

Which is weird,

but it always seems to work that way.

Trees are fish. Anytime you see fish. If you think about it, what did Jesus tell Peter?

He says, I'll make you fishers of men.

In fact, we're going to get to the end of the book of the Revelation and it says,

says all the fish are going to congregate at the mouth of the river that flows from the throne of God.

Where the fresh water flows, by the way. That's another thing.

Water,

oil,

wine. All pictures of the work of the Holy Spirit. Water. The washing and cleansing the Holy Spirit.

Wine. The goodness of the Holy Spirit. Oil.

The power of the Holy Spirit.

I mean, those things are just things. You just. When you're reading scripture, and I'm not telling you that those things ought to overarch. They shouldn't be the overarching thing. But God put some road, road maps, road signs in his book.

Okay.

And by the way, wind is also. If you hear wind, what do you think?

Holy Spirit? Think of the Holy Spirit. That's right. Or.

Or a spirit.

All right,

Animals,

dogs are going to hurt your feelings real bad.

Dogs are pictures of demons, okay? They're demonic.

They have a picture.

Lines are spiritual powers.

You can be.

Jesus is the line of the tribe of Judah. Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It's spiritual power.

Okay?

And as you go through the Bible, you begin to see those things. And what are they for, Pastor? Well, they're for you to be able to tie Scripture together. To be able to.

Okay.

If it's talking about these winds, what I do, well, I go and look.

Okay.

Is there a place where the Bible's talking about the wind going over the earth? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it telling me something about this? It's trying to tie me off. Yeah.

Ecclesiastes 1:6 tells me that.

Okay?

And so as you're. As you begin trying to figure out Scripture, that's how you keep from building a singular theology around a verse of Scripture.

Okay?

All right. And what that really is doing is inverting Scripture.

Are you following me? Which means you take one verse and it informs your opinion of all of Scripture.

You with me? That's wrong.

All of Scripture should inform you about every verse that you read.

Okay?

That's the proper way to do it. All of Scripture tells me what that verse means.

Not my favorite verse informs me of all of Scripture.

One of the verses I was taught in seminary, they said it's the pinnacle verse of Scripture,

and it's the pinnacle verse in the New Testament. And it's a great verse. It's Matthew 28, 1820.

Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven, on earth, has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you, and truly I am with you to the very end of the age.

That's a great verse. It's called the what?

It's called the Great Commission. All right?

Great verse.

It should not be the lens by which you look through the New Testament to. Okay, the New Testament. I'll inform you about how to do that verse.

And that's important.

That's really important,

okay? Because what happens is the words in that verse and the verse itself become preeminent over the rest of the word.

If it. If it is the only thing, if it's the lens I'm looking through the rest of Scripture with. And by the way, the Bible didn't tell me to do that.

Bible says all scriptures. God breathed,

not some of it,

all of it. And by the way, Sunday morning, we're going to talk about the importance of the word of God because Jesus is going to give us another one of those insights that you really if.

Until you get it, I'm not sure you can get it.

Okay?

He says here, the wind should not blow. They shouldn't blow on the Jews,

nor the Gentiles, nor anybody.

That's how I read that. When I read that, he's saying that. And now I want you to hear me. Let's. Let's take it. Let's take it deep in the physical form of what's going on here,

okay? If he cuts off the wind,

that's cutting off the weather.

Are you following me? That's a problem.

But then he says the wind's not going to blow on these three things, and they're very specific about it. He could have said, it's not going to blow on the desert.

It's not going to blow on the cattle. It's not. He could have named animals. He didn't name those things, did he? He named the earth,

the land and the trees.

I mean, the sea,

the land and the trees.

Okay, all right.

Won't you hear me?

I know that those three things represent peoples,

which means the Holy Spirit, if he's the picture of the wind,

the Holy Spirit's not blowing on them.

And you go, well,

does that make sense in the rest of the passage? And the answer is,

yeah,

it does make sense. It does make sense in the rest of the passage. It gives us. It gives me some idea of what God's doing here.

Okay?

He's not going to operate the way he does in the New Testament.

Okay?

In the New Testament, who does all the work before you realize that the work's getting done?

The Holy Spirit is who has finished the work and sits at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus. He's done all the redemptive work. He sits at the right hand of the Father. He says it's necessary that the Holy Spirit come. The Holy Spirit now comes and begins to do his work.

Okay?

Now if the Holy Spirit doesn't come and do his work, we're back into what the Old Testament.

And how did. How is God's message or word received in the Old Testament?

Well, it comes from prophets or the law. And you write about the law. Moses is called what the prophet. Why? Because he gives them the law.

Okay?

So you're right.

His message either has to come from the priest or the prophets or even sometimes the king. Right. Obviously, David wrote a lot of lot of scripture, so it has to come from one of the offices, meaning it comes through some divine revelation from God through human.

Human beings.

Right.

But the truth is, is that the revelation,

some part of the message of the gospel by his word.

So in the New Testament,

okay, in the Old Testament, I got to have a prophet come and tell me what's going on.

I got to have somebody bring me what's going on.

As you go today, I pray that.

The Lord will bless you and keep you you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.