Revelation

7.1-17

As the previous chapter closes with the question "Who can stand?" between the sixth and seventh seal opening, John has a separate vision revealing not who can stand but who will survive the wrath of God. As devastating as the judgments of the first six seals were, the seventh, with the trumpet and bowl judgments beginning in chapter eight, will be worse. The four angels holding back the winds (v1) will deliver an incredible display of power as this will be as though the whole earth stands still. This will be until, as the fifth angel says, "we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads." (v3). We know of the Antichrist's mark of the beast. This fifth angel ascended "having the seal of the living God" for the purpose of God's sealing of His redeemed (v2). The list of the 144,000 evangelists of tribes of Israel does not match any other from the Old or New Testaments. Interestingly, Dan and Ephraim are omitted. Dan was an idolatrous tribe (Deut 29:18-21) and replaced by Levi. Ephraim was likewise consumed by idolatry and defected from the ruling house of Judah. In the list, Ephraim is replaced by his father Joseph (vv4-8). Verses 9-17 Demonstrate that this vision was for us to understand. John was asked a rhetorical question by an attending elder, which the elder answered (vv13-17). Those who are described as appearing before the throne of God and the Lamb (v10) with the angels (v11) are the Tribulation Saints, who were not raptured with the church, but who came to repentance in Christ and have died before His triumphant Second Coming.

CHAPTER 7

The 144,000

1 After this I saw 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.
2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”
4 And I heard the number of those having been sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 having been sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 having been sealed.

A Multitude from Every Nation

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from 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;
10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying,
“Amen, the blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These, clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?”
14 And I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary; and He who sits on the throne will dwell over them.
16 “THEY WILL HUNGER NO LONGER, NOR THIRST ANYMORE; NOR WILL THE SUN BEAT DOWN ON THEM, NOR ANY HEAT;
17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will shepherd them and will guide them to springs of the water of life. And God WILL WIPE EVERY TEAR FROM THEIR EYES.”