← All lessons

The Book of Revelation - Part 19

03 Aug 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

Orientation to Revelation (00:00)

Alright, so Revelation. We find ourselves in chapters six and seven today. Just to remind you of some context: it's a long book, a book of visions and symbolism. Like a lot of places in the Bible, it's very easy to jump in and get lost in the weeds real quick. You don't know where you are or what's going on. I won't ask if you've ever been tempted to skip those parts in your Bible reading plan, because you know you don't know what's going on. So what I want to do is provide some context and some helps.

The book breaks down. I'm borrowing from MacArthur's outline here. There's an introduction, and the first couple of chapters contain letters to seven churches that were real churches in that day, the ones John is writing to. Then the longest part of the book is what Jesus tells us through John are the things that take place after.

That takes us from chapter 4 all the way through the end of the book in chapter 22. We've seen the throne room, and now we're in a section that both Jesus in Revelation and Jesus in Matthew 24, the parallel passage, describe as the tribulation, the great tribulation, a season of tribulation. We're going to come back to that and talk more about what that means. You'll see some of those other events in subsequent chapters.

The Scroll and the Seals (02:01)

This visual, if I can get my clicker to work, there it is. This is hopefully pretty burned into your minds by now. Every Sunday I'm going to throw this up so you have a navigational tool. The diagram represents the chapters, the visions, and the subjects we're going to see in those different visions. If you just parachute in and start reading and you're like, what is this all about? What's the seal? What's the trumpet? What's the bowl? This gives you a bit of a flyover, and hopefully it gives you some context and orientation.

So these are chapters 1 to 22, and those chapters unfold a series of visions. We've seen the introduction, the letters to the seven churches. The next vision takes us to the throne room of heaven, where we see the king on his throne, the Lamb, and then the scroll. What we're looking at now is this scroll with seven seals. The Lamb, who is the Lord Jesus, is opening or breaking those seals in sequential fashion. With the breaking of each seal, events erupt on the earth, most of which relate to judgment.

That's what we've seen. Just reading this book and trying to make sense of it, the scroll and its seals are opening up levels of judgment on the earth. We've seen six of those so far: the four horsemen, the martyrs, and so on. What we're going to see today in chapter 7 is a kind of break, a parenthesis. Jesus wants us to know, through the vision with John, that while these judgments are unfolding on the earth, there's something else going on on the earth that we want to pay attention to.

In the following weeks, we'll see a whole section of the book dedicated to the seventh seal. That seal is broken down into seven trumpets, and then the trumpets conclude in the seven bowl judgments. So it's kind of weird and kind of fun. It's very interesting. And so far, for as intimidating as the book of Revelation is, it's surprisingly easy to understand overall.

Does that mean we know every detail? No. We have questions, absolutely. But in terms of just reading the book and going, huh, what's going on? The book interprets itself to a great degree. I hope that's been encouraging and has taken some of the intimidation out of it.

Are you doing your homework assignment? Are you reading the book of Revelation? The best way to study the Bible is to read it over and over. For a book like this, long and difficult, the best way to get better at it is to familiarize yourself with it by reading it in some consecutive way.

Andrew Helms' Award (04:05)

Speaking of which, we have an award to hand out. Is Andrew Helms here? He's at the door? Is he one of these doors? Next door? Okay. We will get the Braum's* gift card to him, because Andrew won the Four Horsemen artistic award without AI. We have some nice parting gifts for all of you who submitted with AI, but he actually did an original work, so we'll get this to him. Congrats to Andrew. I thought I had his picture up here so you could see it, but apparently I forgot to put that in.

Revelation 7:1-3: The Four Winds (05:09)

So here we go. The breaking of the seals. We're at number six, and we finished the sixth seal in chapter six, so we pick it up in chapter 7, verse 1.

Remember, if we peek back at the end of chapter six, the sixth seal is where calamity begins to envelop the earth. The rocks are falling, the mountains are quaking, and the great men, the kings, the armies, the rich, the strong, slaves and freemen, everybody is running to the caves. In verse 16, they're asking the mountains and the rocks to fall on them. They're asking for the mountains to fall on them because they recognize the judgment of the Lamb is coming, and they're trying any way they can to avoid it. And apparently it's so bad that suicide is a better option. So that's where we end.

Then chapter 7, verse 1 begins with "after this." Notice that linking phrase. The book uses connecting words like this to give us some semblance of the chronology and to show us how to interpret these things. This is a very common connecting word, which reiterates that what John is seeing is consecutive and chronological.

"After this I saw the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree."

It's a footnote here. Sometimes people get uncomfortable with biblical cosmology, meaning how the Bible talks about the world, and we wonder whether this is saying the earth is flat. Other, more modern understandings come up. But the Bible gives very accurate information about everything it talks about. It just doesn't use scientific terminology. In this case, it's doing what we do. We talk about the winds blowing out of the north or out of the south. Did you notice yesterday the wind shifted? In North Texas the winds are usually out of the south, and when cold fronts come through, they turn to the north. We talk about the wind just like John is talking about the wind here. Even though there's obviously a spherical geometry involved, the Bible is accurate as it relates to what it's describing from the perspective of one standing on the earth, which is what John is doing here.

He says he saw, continuing in his vision, four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds. This is really interesting. If you start thinking about the normal naturalistic processes, where Jesus upholds his creation, you have gravitational forces, electromagnetic fields, the systems of hydrology and barometric pressure, and all these sorts of things. As these judgments happen, God begins to alter some of those natural laws. He intervenes in ways that life doesn't typically go. Here's one of those situations: these angels, in some way, stop the wind from blowing and changing the pressure systems of the world, so that no wind blows on the earth or on the sea at this time.

Then another angel. "And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God." Remember what's happened to the sun? If we look back in the previous chapters, the luminaries have changed. The moon has turned to blood. The stars have fallen. There's a lot of astronomical* activity in this judgment. According to the previous chapter, the sun is darkened at this point.

Revelation 7:3-8: The Sealing of the 144,000 (09:23)

John sees a fifth angel coming, with the seal of the living God. This angel cried out 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 or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads."

The picture here is that as judgment unfolds, as calamity continues, and as peril escalates, this angel comes in and says, time out. Before we continue the judgments, something has to happen first. Jesus, who is giving this vision to John, wants us to understand that as judgments unfold on the earth, something else is happening at the same time. Let's look at what happens in chapter 7, verse 4.

"And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed, notice this, from every tribe of the sons of Israel."

And that's not enough. John then writes down, from the data given, the list grouping these sons of Israel, the 144,000. I know it's Sunday morning, but we're going to make you do basic math. Don't pull out your phone. Divide 144,000 by 12 and you get 12,000 each. So, from verse 5:

This is interesting because it immediately brings up all sorts of questions. I hope you've been reading this and thinking through these issues. Let's jump in and break it down.

(Pause for applause.)

Original artwork by your friend and mine, Andrew Helms, the Four Horsemen. Now we'll get back to chapter 7. Titus, my clicker isn't working very well, so I might need your help, buddy. Slide, please. Here are the four angels at the four corners, north, south, east, and west, holding back the four winds. The fifth angel comes in. He has the seal of God, and he cries out, don't harm the earth.

The Sealing and Protection from Judgment (12:32)

There's something that needs to happen before these judgments continue. This seems to indicate that the sealing is happening as the judgments are unfolding, but that more significant judgments to follow won't happen until the sealing occurs. And you say, what's the sealing? Well, the sealing, not ceiling, but sealing, has something to do with protection from the divine judgments that are coming. The indication here is that these 144,000 will be sealed and thus preserved from the judgments.

You say, how do we know that? Because we're going to see the same group a few chapters later as these judgments unfold. So whatever this sealing of the 144,000 means, it's going to protect them from the unfolding judgments. We might be asking, why do these 144,000 get to be protected from the judgments? You have to wait and see. This is good stuff. I love this.

Why the 144,000 Are Protected (13:35)

So protected from divine judgment, why? If we hold our place in Revelation 7 and flip over to Revelation 14, we get to see why. Who are these people, and what does the sealing have to do with them? We'll see this in a few weeks.

John says he looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. So what's the seal? The seal has something to do with this mark on their foreheads, identifying them as belonging to the Father in that way.

Revelation 14:2 says, "And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. And the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth."

The First Fruits (14:38)

Now look at this. Revelation 14:4: "These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb, and no lie was found in their mouth."

So there's something about this group that John identifies here. These are those who are sealed with the name of God, who survive this horrible period of judgment, and they are called the first fruits. So put your Bible thinking cap on. Where do we see the words "first fruits" show up in Scripture?

Christ is called the first fruits, especially in thinking about the resurrection. Back to Leviticus and the sacrificial system. What were the first fruits in those days? They were the sacrifice you gave to God, the first offerings of your crop to God, for example. So we see here it's the first of what will come. Apparently this group represents the first of others like them who are coming in the future. We'll have to content ourselves to be vague at this point and keep reading.

Who Are the 144,000? (15:47)

Back to Revelation 7:4, where John says he heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Now, who are these people? My hermeneutic, my way of interpreting Scripture, is to let Revelation do as much of that work as possible, with biblical background and an understanding of the rest of Scripture behind us. Looking at the text, who are they? They're Jews. They're Israelites. And not just any Israelites. In particular, they're redeemed Israelites, elect in the sense that they belong to God's chosen people. From all the tribes.

That raises a whole bunch of questions, and this is coming. I've been so eager to get here. Probably starting next week, we're going to pull the car over in Revelation and take all the data and say, okay, how do we put the Lego pieces together? What's the picture on the box of the puzzle we've been putting together? We have to start at some point putting all these things together and saying when this happens. Did it already happen? Is it happening? Is it going to happen? What are the three main views on the book of Revelation? We have to answer some hard questions.

Interpreting the Text (16:54)

One of the hard questions we have to answer is whether there is a future for Israel. I can say very humbly that there are godly men who disagree on that. There are Bible scholars who disagree on that. If John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul can't agree on something, that's a big deal, isn't it? In fact, I sat around the table this last week with dear friends, and they all have different views on this. So we're going to come to this humbly. I'll say somewhat tentatively, but we also don't want to be afraid to take a swing at it and say what the biblical data seems to support. What seems to be the most faithful understanding as we put all these pieces together? We're going to get there.

Eschatology and Practical Living (18:57)

We're going to do a deep dive into how we understand the book of Revelation and whether there is a future for Israel. Does the church replace Israel? We will talk about:

We will talk about pre-, post-, and mid- and everything in between. It's going to be awesome. My job is to keep your eyes from rolling back in your head because of all the eschatological variables here. Eschatology is the study of the end times, what's going to happen in the future.

I think a lot of Christians are kind of like, Jesus comes back, it's going to be okay. That is absolutely true, and at the end of the day that's the simplest thing to focus on. But if you're not convinced it has practical weight, ask any high school student. We just got back from camp, and we spent a week listening to sermon after sermon, text after text, that teaches the king is coming and has incredibly significant practical relevance for how you and I live every day right now. We can't push eschatology into the realm of "I don't need to worry about that because it doesn't really affect me today." The Bible's argument is that it is significant for how you live today.

So if you're the kind of person who says, oh, I don't really need to think about that, I hope you'll be willing to give this another look and spend a little time on it, because the Bible makes the argument that these passages about Jesus' return and all that goes with it are incredibly significant for how we live today.

My name is Keith, and I'll be your tour guide. Hopefully I'll keep you all awake, and we'll have a lot of fun. For now, just letting the text speak for itself: these are Jewish Christians, people who have trusted in the Messiah. There are 144,000 of them, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes.

The Twelve Tribes (21:03)

Some of you who have studied this noticed, looking at that list, "Huh, 12 tribes." What do you notice about the list? Let's see if any of you notice this. It's missing Dan. Yes, very good. Kevin* is nodding his head, saying Ruth took my answer. All right, but I saw you, brother. I know you're tracking.

This is interesting, and if you really want to get in the weeds, do a whole Bible study on every place the Bible lists the 12 tribes. There are as many as 19 lists. One author says there are over 30, so I didn't check his arithmetic on that. Suffice it to say there is no standard way the Bible presents the list of the 12 tribes.

Were there 12 tribes? Not a trick question. Who is typically not listed among the 12 tribes? Levi. Why not Levi? They didn't have land, and that became the priestly line, and so on. Then it gets a little tricky, because you have the half tribes, Joseph's children, Ephraim and Manasseh. So it's messy. The math is not as simple as "there were 12 tribes," even though we always talk about the 12 tribes.

Ruth is right: Dan is missing. Joseph is included. Ephraim is skipped. There are probably reasons for that, but suffice it to say that doesn't make this list weird, because every time the 12 tribes are listed, they're different. It depends on a number of variables in terms of why the author is including whom. You say, why would Dan and Ephraim be missing from this list? That doesn't mean there are no descendants of Dan or Ephraim who end up in this time. It just means they're not selected for this particular group.

Can we speculate on that? Dan and

Let me tease you with this now, because I want you thinking about it. Hold your place in Revelation and flip back to Romans 11. Some of you remember Pastor Terry's study through Romans several years ago. If you want a deep dive, pull up Pastor Terry's sermons on Romans 9 to 11. You can get a verse-by-verse, two-tank scuba dive into those chapters. What's interesting is what Paul indicates will happen here.

Look at Romans 9:1, as Paul concludes chapter 8. Chapter 8 ends on the high note of God's security and the love of God for the believer. Then in Romans 9:1, Paul says, "I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart." Why? Because he is grieved and distraught for the sake of his brethren, his kinsmen, "who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service." Paul is grieving for his people, that they would know their Messiah.

Skip down to Romans 10:1: "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." He says, "I testify that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge." Meaning most of the Jews of Paul's day rejected the Messiah and the gospel. Paul develops this further, and again I'll refer you to Terry's study. But in Romans 11:1 he gets back to this. This is his final question.

Israel's Future in Romans

(26:20) I say then, God has not rejected his people. Has he? May it never be. So the answer to the question, has God abandoned the Israelites? Is there no future for the Israelites? Paul's answer is no. He goes on to say, I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham of* the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people for whom he foreknew. He then makes the argument that though there is a vast rejection of the gospel by Israelites today, that will not always be the case.

If we look down to Romans 11:25 and following, just to tease you with this a little bit, Paul concludes with this: "For I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation. That a partial hardening has happened to Israel."

(27:23) Meaning there is a temporary blindness regarding their belief in the gospel. "A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Meaning Gentiles who are being saved, everybody who is not an Israelite, everybody else who is being saved, until that process has been completed. And then what happens? Verse 26: "And then all Israel will be saved just as is written. The Deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

I know there are different views on that, and we'll get into some of that. But again, a straightforward reading of those passages is that God has not abandoned the Israelites, his people. There is a partial hardening that explains why most Jews are rejecting their Messiah during this season.

(28:29) But at some point in the future that changes, and there will be a wide-ranging, high-scale conversion of Israelites who believe in the Messiah. If we couple that with what we're seeing in the book of Revelation, it's possible, and I would even say probable, that these Jews who are saved during this tribulation time are the firstfruits of that coming salvation. Again, that's not the only view, and we're going to talk about that. But it seems to be a very straightforward, very logical way to see these things fitting together.

This is your homework this afternoon. You have nothing to do this afternoon. You say, well, why would we take it like that? This is just a sampling. If you would like a complete list, I will be happy to provide you with one. Many passages in the Bible teach the future regathering of the twelve tribes of Israel in the last days. We can look all those up, and their redemption and rule by the Messiah as they are restored to their land.

Even more recently than Romans, Pastor Terry finished a study in the book of Zechariah, not too long ago. You'll remember that the last chapters of Zechariah are playing out, explaining what we're seeing unfold in the book of Revelation in terms of the Jews, their conversion, and their future.

Now, we have to ask a big question: if the church replaces Israel, that changes the whole picture, doesn't it? We need to think about topics like that. But at this point, a straightforward reading of the text is that we have a future for Israel, and what we're seeing in chapter 7 of Revelation are the firstfruits of that salvation beginning to come.

Let's go back to Revelation 7 now, if you're not there already, and let's zoom back into Revelation here.

Three Basic Conclusions (30:39)

Let's make three basic conclusions based on a straightforward reading of what we just looked at:

  1. Israelites retain their identity into the tribulation. Don't take my word for it; that's what Jesus is saying.
  2. Some Israelites will come to salvation during this time and will be protected from judgments. That's the whole point of the sealing, as we're seeing here.
  3. Hold your breath. There is a distinction being made between saved Israelites and all others who are saved.

Where do we see that? Look at the next verse, verse 9. "And after these things," remember that's John's transitional phrase. He's saying, I saw this vision, I saw the 144,000, I saw them, and then after that, he saw another vision: "And behold, a great multitude which no one could count from every tribe, and every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"

The Great Multitude (31:44)

"And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures." Notice the same crew we've seen in previous chapters: the four living creatures, the 24 elders, the one sitting on the throne, and the Lamb. They're all still there in John's vision. Nothing has changed in that regard. "And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, 'Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'"

Okay, so there's a distinction there between these 144,000, who are redeemed Jews on the earth, preserved from judgment, and this great multitude from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, who are saved and in heaven with the Lamb and with the Lord on his throne. There's a distinction being made between those two groups, and we'll talk more about that as we go.

Palm Branches (32:49)

After these things, John says he looked again, and we see that group of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, redeemed. Notice the significance here. There are a couple of images we can talk about. We've seen the white robes, and we've seen that language before describing the redeemed. Notice the reference to palm branches. Where do we see palm branches in Scripture? Palm branches are often used in the Bible to denote celebration. We see it, for example, in the Feast of Booths back in Leviticus, and in Nehemiah, and we see it in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem back in John 12. So this was one of those items people used when there was some sort of celebration, both in the formal feasts of Israel and in Jesus coming into the city on what we call Palm Sunday.

So the palm branches in the hands of these redeemed people are likely tokens of celebration. They cry out with a loud voice, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." Interestingly, that is the fulfillment of what we saw back in chapter 5. I know I'm making you run around, so hold your place. Get back to chapter 5, when John first sees the vision of the throne, the one on the throne, and the Lamb. Remember what happens in chapter 5, verse 9, as John is seeing this: the 24 elders and the living creatures sing a song about the Lamb and what his work will do. They sang a new song saying, "Worthy are You." They are extolling the Lamb and his worthiness to break the seals because of his work of redemption to save people of every nation, tribe, tongue.

Here in chapter 7 we see some of that fulfillment: people have been saved during this tribulation time from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

The Elder's Question (35:13)

Now all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces and declared again, "Glory to God, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever. Amen." Here is this resounding chorus of praise and honor given to God for his redemption.

Then one of the elders says to John. Remember, it's a picture, the revelation of Jesus coming through this vision to John, and John is there writing stuff down. This is interesting: it's not a static display, like John watching a YouTube video of all this. There's interaction between John, who is seeing this and writing it down, and the participants. What must that have been like? That's just really amazing.

So one of the elders comes to him and says, "These who are clothed in white robes, who are they? And where have they come from?" John's response would be, well, you're the elder, why are you asking me? He doesn't actually say that, but more respectfully he says, "My master, my lord." And the elder says to him, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Why is that significant? Last week we looked at how the events Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 paralleled the events we're seeing unfold in Revelation chapter 6 and following. What links those two together is not just a similarity of events. There is great congruity between what John is seeing in Revelation, these judgments unfolding, and what Jesus describes in Matthew 24 as the judgments leading up to his return.

Not just congruity of events, but remember that Jesus calls that season what? The great tribulation. Jesus names it. So when the elder identifies to John this group of redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, and says who they are, he is describing people saved during that season of history called the great tribulation. Jesus' term is linked with what this elder says, and it helps us see that these are more than likely the same events we're talking about here. These are men and women from every people group who come to salvation in this horrible time of judgment.

So while many people in humanity, as we saw, are running to the mountains and hills saying, "Fall on us, from the wrath of the Lamb," at least some people are saying, "Lord, be merciful to us. We need a Savior." People are coming to faith during this time of great tribulation.

Security and Comfort (38:29)

The elder continues: "For this reason they are before the throne of God and they will serve him day and night in his temple. And the one who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them." That is language of security. We're going to see it later in Revelation, when the new heavens and new earth and New Jerusalem come down and the Lord is with us, that tabernacling language of God with his people.

"They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore. The sun will not strike them, nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life." We're going to see that phrase in coming weeks, so hang on to that. We also see toward the end of the book that God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Why might there be tears among redeemed people in this time in history? Loved ones who rejected the gospel. Loved ones who die. Witnessing absolute, unparalleled peril upon humanity. Do you ever open your Wall Street Journal app and just grieve? Things in the future will be unspeakably difficult. Yet the promise here is that those saved ones will be rescued from that, God will provide for them and be with them, and they will no longer grieve. So this chapter is placed here.

Closing Application (40:36)

Why? Because it denotes God's salvific activity. That is the saving work that he's doing on earth during the unfolding of these seal judgments.

What do you think? Isn't this fun? We're going to get in the weeds. We're going to talk about other views and ways to put this thing together. But for now, I think there's a very clear picture emerging of what's happening here.

The takeaway, as we've seen in subsequent weeks, is just to be ready for these things. John is telling us these things. Jesus wants us to know these things because the time is near, the Bible says. So let's ready ourselves, even this week, to be about the Master's work.

Father, thank you for this time in your Word. We're excited and maybe a little bit nervous about working through the book. But we're just so thankful that you tell us these things, that we might have hope and that we might ready ourselves for the judgments.

Closing Prayer (41:43)

Father, thank you that you have given us the privilege of being gospel ambassadors. Thank you for the judgment, the peril, and the difficulty that we see here, the wrath of the Lamb upon fallen humanity. We love our neighbor, and so this just spurs us on and fuels our efforts to complete our mission and to be faithful in our duty as gospel witnesses here.

Father, make us faithful. Make us prayerful, that even this week we might have opportunities to share our faith and to warn those we love about these days. Thank you for the security of the gospel. Thank you for Jesus, who already bore our wrath on the cross, that we might rest in his provisions for us.

And we pray in his name. Amen.

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

← All lessons