Revelation Chapter 7

Revelation 7:1

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. (ESV)

“When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off,

a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land

and shall inherit my holy mountain.” The prophets declared that the wind will play an important role in prophecy and we know it is important because of the four angels it takes to hold back the winds. It is not time for it to serve its purpose just yet. Soon the wind will carry off the idols but since the antichrist is on the scene the idols have a purpose to play. The wind (especially the east and south winds) often in the old testament came in to scorch the land and people and to scatter them among the face of the earth. “And I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops, and I will unsheathe the sword after them. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries. But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am the Lord." Ezekiel had prophesied that there was a number of people who will escape the four horseman and will be scattered by the wind in order to spread word of the abominations among the nations. Perhaps that number that was to escape in this way was 144,000. They had not defiled themselves with idols, which is key especially among one tribe which we will discuss later.

These winds will go on to play an even more crucial role in prophecy in the near future. “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Once these winds are released they will go out to wreak havoc on the earth and scatter all those kings that Daniel had seen in the vision as if they were chaff on the threshing floor. Once this happens another scripture will come to pass, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

ref: Isaiah 57:13; Ezekiel 12:14-16; Daniel 2:35; Psalm 118:22-23

Revelation 7:2

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, (ESV)

From here on out we will see a lot of angels doing many different things preparing for the return of Jesus. This angel comes up from the east with the seal of the living God. This seal is somewhat of a mystery. The new testament talks about believers being sealed a few times and this is usually, if not always in tandem with the Holy Spirit. Many theologians say these are the same seals as the ones spoken of in Ephesians 1:13 and 2 Corinthians 1:22 but I’m not convinced of this. The reasoning behind this is that those two verses are talking about believers being sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our share in the inheritance. These Israelites being sealed, most likely already have the Holy Spirit due to them already being called servants of God; and they already have a covenant with God in relationship to their inheritance so this is a different type of seal that is very possibly only for this group of people. One final note: In the last lesson we saw the four angels holding back the four winds of the earth and probably didn’t think much about it but here it says these angels have power to harm the earth and sea with these winds. It is important to remember that the desired outcome of their actions are still to draw people to repentance. Many Christians sit and talk smugly about the events of Revelation mainly because they believe that God really isn’t the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and that He will do a new thing by snatching ALL of His servants from the earth and the unbelievers on the earth are finally getting what they deserved. God will be bringing judgement upon everything but even in these terrible events, the goal is repentance and while some will ask for it, it appears most will not. Nevertheless, while we are stuck having to go through these events we might as well continue to spread the gospel so that men have the opportunity to be saved from the winepress of the wrath of God.

Revelation 7:3

saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." (ESV)

The four angels are being sent out to harm the land and the sea, but before that happens the angel must put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of God. Now if the seals, trumpets and bowls occur one after another then that means this takes place before the beast arrives and people begin to receive the mark of the beast. If they occur in tandem then there is a good chance some people have already received the mark of the beast. This is another instance in which it seems these events are playing out together. People are already crying out that the mountains might fall on them and now there is an angel(s) about to go around Jerusalem putting a seal on 144,000 people. It is not clear whether or not they will see the angels or even know they are sealed in this way, but it will be evident to others that something terrifying is happening. In Ezekiel this scene is played out and we find out what is happening other than what we read in the pages of Revelation. “Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the Lord said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it." And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary."” I dare to say that the ones being sealed are those servants who are weeping over the atrocities that have happened, which may be after the events that take place in the temple by the antichrist; which would mean the beast has already made himself known. Another reason I say this is because in the Ezekiel vision the temple is defiled and the glory of the Lord leaves permanently it seems mainly because the new Jerusalem will no longer need a temple. More on those who are being sealed in the next lesson.

ref: Ezekiel 9:1-11

Revelation 7:4

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: (ESV)

There is a popular cult that once believed that this number of sealed was the entirety of all those that would be saved in all of time. Of course this became a theological problem once the church membership passed that number, it would be hard to maintain the lie and grow the church if you believed that only 144k were going to be saved. You would either have to concede that those that have died before really weren’t a part of the saved or else tell those new converts that they in fact wouldn’t be saved, but please continue to give into the church. Of course this is a non problem if you simply read the word of God and accept what it is saying, that these people are from Israel only. So they did a partial recanting and now conclude that these are in fact the tribes of Israel. That seems like a very silly thing to back yourself into a corner for but before we point the finger of guilt, we have to realize that over and over again, especially in the pages of Revelation, that Christians often want to claim the promises that are held by the Israelites as our own. When we do this we often have to back peddle and force scriptures into saying what they are definitely not saying. That being said, there are many scholars that still attest to the notion that these sealed are the church universal since we are the spiritual offspring of Abraham. This is simply not true. These are Israelites, just as the word has said. There are also talks about whether these numbers are symbolic and not literal. Now why I do attest that there are many symbols in Revelation, I think we do a discredit to the prophecy to assume that most of it is symbolic. This I believe is one of those times. Due to the repetitious nature of this vision, I think they are very literal numbers of an exact reporting.

Since these next few verses are repetitive, I will be taking some of that time to fill in holes and updates that we normally don’t have a lot of time to discuss when things are moving and shaking in the words of Revelation. But for now let’s talk about these for a bit. These are actual Israelites first and foremost, and according the previously mentioned Ezekiel verse it seems like they all live in or around Jerusalem, which means it seems there would have to be at some point a great pilgrimage back to Israel by the Israelites in order to get to this number. I say this because later on in chapter 14 more clarification is given for these. First, all these Israelites are all men because they have not defiled themselves with women and have remained virgins. I find this very interesting due to the fact that when it speaks of virgins in scripture, it speaks nearly always about women. But here we see that pendulum swing back the other way as all 144,000 are virgin men. We can speculate as to why women are excluded from this group but it would take more time than we can devote. I would say that it seems highly plausible that this is not the case due to the very nature that women are designed to have a male covering. I could also ruffle some feathers and say that this group is to follow the Lamb wherever He goes and very soon He will be going to war, and this may be a revelation about how He feels about women in warfare situations. Whatever the case, they are all virgin Israelite men. Secondly, it says that they also have no lie found in their mouth. Now this may seem like a given but I think this is saying something profound. It speaks to the fact that they hold no qualms about serving God without apology. When anyone of them is asked about why they are virgins they would not go to the default answer that God has not given them a bride yet but that they choose not to be defiled for the glory of God, and they are able to do so. They choose to serve God in this way and therefore are rewarded for it.

ref: Ezekiel 9:1-11

Revelation 7:5

12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, (ESV)

One thing that might help us clarify what is going on in the pages of Revelation is realizing that all the rest of God’s promises are finding fulfillment. He had placed many promises in His word and they all have to come to pass. There are many promises for Israel that they would be protected and vindicated among others. There are promises to the Christian church regarding our faith and perseverance and our coming salvation. And then there's a whole host of other promises we don’t discuss much. There are prophecies concerning Ishmael’s line that must come to pass, mainly this one; “And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" God said, "No”. There are prophecies about Esau (Edom) and the destruction the Lord must bring to them. There are promises concerning Babylon and her fall, a lot of which are in this book. Some of the things written in Revelation may very well be just for one of these many promises to come true but they will all indeed happen. It seems like in a very short amount of time that God is going to bring to pass everything that He has spoken about all the peoples and beings on earth and in Heaven. But this is a letter to the churches so He doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about what will happen specifically to those people, but mostly about what concerns us; and what ought to concern us greatly is the state of Israel. We have these 144k men being set aside for some reason. Soon we will see Israel being removed and protected from the antichrist for his 3 ½ year reign. But we should also find ourselves concerned about the fact that though 12 tribes of 12,000 each are set apart and marked, there are 2 tribes who are not mentioned, Dan and Ephraim. Why are they missing, and what should we learn from their absence? We’ll discuss this in the next lesson.

ref: Hosea 2:14-23, 1 Peter 1:3-12; Genesis 17:18; Isaiah 34:5-6;

Revelation 7:6

12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, (ESV)

The meaning of Dan is “he judged” or a derivative of “he has judged me”. That being said the omission of the tribe of Dan from this group of sealed Israelites is very interesting and there are a few reasons why this might have happened. One of the most interesting involve Micah (an Ephraimite) bringing in the grandson of Moses (a Levite but not from the line of Aaron) to be his personal priest. The Levite (Jonathan) became his priest using Micah’s ephod and household gods and the shrine that Micah had set up. The tribe of Dan were seeking a place to settle because they hadn’t received an inheritance yet. They had come across Micah and Jonathan and they eventually took the ephod, gods, idol and Jonathan along with them. They had proclaimed that it was far better to serve a whole tribe rather than just one man. The sons of Jonathan continued being priests for the tribe of Dan up until the captivity of the land. The idol that Micah had made had stayed set up the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh. So it could be said this affected both tribes (Ephraim and Dan) from being included in the 144k because this is one of the first accounts of household gods and idols that affected a great many people.

The entirety of Hosea 7 spells out the sin of Ephraim and gives a glimpse of why they might’ve been left out. The most chilling passage says, “Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense...Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them,but they speak lies against me.” Isaiah also says, “And within sixty- five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people”; so maybe they are just never restored from this until the very end. Jeremiah goes on to say, “And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.” In Hosea it also states, “Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.” We must also remember that later Revelation states that these men have not been defiled for they had remained virgins. Regarding this Hosea says again about Ephraim, “O Ephraim, you have played the whore”. In fact over and over again Hosea speaks against Ephraim in this kind of way but there is hope at the end of the book when God speaks saying He will not destroy Ephraim.

One last note. Back in the book of beginnings when Jacob was speaking the blessings/prophecies over and about his sons, this was spoken about Dan, “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way,a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation, O Lord.” It is interesting that Dan is omitted from the 144k and is seen here to be represented by a serpent on the path. In Revelation we would describe this serpent as the beast who comes from the sea, the one called Leviathan in the book of Job. Hippolytus of Rome, who was just a couple of generations removed from the apostles, put this prophecy with one spoken by Moses saying, “Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan”. He stated that since Jacob had referred to Judah as a lion’s cub (meaning Jesus would come from Judah), that one like Jesus would come from Dan and that being the antichrist. Most modern scholars would attest that the antichrist comes from the gentiles, affirming that because he comes from the sea; and that the sea is symbolic of the gentiles. But if we would connect God’s words together then it may be very possible that the reason the beast comes out of the sea is that he actually lives in the sea. How or if this would actually tie into the tribe of Dan I don’t know, but there has to be a reason Jacob referred to him as a serpent.

ref: Judges 17-18; Hosea 7; Isaiah 7:8; Jeremiah 7:15; Hosea 4:17; Hosea 5:3; Genesis 49:16-18; Deuteronomy 33:22

Revelation 7:7

12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, (ESV)

Now that we are a little ways removed from the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3 and soon we will see a great multitude in heaven, I want to revisit the promises made by Jesus to those churches. I do this because of the rapture teaching. If you are a Christian and do not believe that the church was taken away in Revelation 4 before all this began then it is likely you fall into the category of believing that they are taken in Revelation 7:9. The promise to the church of Ephesus for their endurance was the tree of life in the paradise of God. The church of Smyrna will not be hurt at all by the second death. Pergamum gets the hidden manna and a white stone. Thyatira gets to rule over the nations and are given the morning star. Sardis will be given white clothes and will not be blotted out of the book of life. Philadelphia will be spared from the hour of testing and become a pillar in the temple of God. They will have written on them the name of God, the name of the new Jerusalem and Jesus’ new name. Just reading that gets me pretty excited. And finally Laodicea gets to sit with Jesus on His throne. With the exception of Philadelphia and possibly Smyrna all of the promises are fulfilled at His coming or afterward. Can we hold on until then? One of the largest dangers with this kind of theology is that once tribulation happens and people start dying and signs and wonders begin appearing; what happens to the Christian who was told all of their life that they were going to miss this part? If Jesus Himself promised almost every church that if they endured to the end they will get their prize, and the churches say that we get the prize before the end, what happens when the trouble comes; will they believe Jesus or believe the church? Jesus asked this simple question, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" If I am always told I will recieve my best life now and will be taken away before things get really tough, and then the opposite happens it would seem that I would only have a few options. Either I would believe Jesus and continue to serve Him to receive my reward that is with Him, or I could believe what has been taught and conclude that I had believed for nothing. All this trouble is happening around me, the churches promised that if I had believed that I would be spared from this, so it must be that I actually don’t have faith in the Lord Jesus. At that point you could decide to keep your faith in Him or many might choose the easy path and decide that it was all a lie. After all the antichrist is probably on the scene by now; he is a formidable foe and if I choose to just follow Him then the rest of my life will actually go fairly easy, especially since all the plagues and pain are actually coming from heaven it would look like the antichrist is actually trying to protect us from God. Nothing could be further from the truth, but we as Christians need to make sure that our faith in Jesus is firmly secure and that we remain His until the very end. Will the son of man find faith on the earth when He returns? I don’t think this would be a question Jesus would be asking if He had whisked all those who have faith up to Heaven because then it would be a silly question. Of course you’re not going to find faith on the earth because all the faithful are in heaven remember. Thank you all for your interest in Search the Scriptures and I pray that you search out the truth of Jesus with all your being.

Revelation 7:8

12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

So as we are wrapping up the the Israelite virgins who are being sealed, I want to jump back and pick up where this had all started. We are about to see the seventh seal opened and it already seems like Jesus is about to come. That is one reason why I decided to bring up the fact that these seals may be working in tandem with the trumpets and the bowls because angels are already making themselves known and causing havoc and it looks like the day of the Lord is upon us. Another reason is that previously we saw four angels holding back the four winds of the earth and they had the power to harm the land and the sea; then they were told to hold on a little while. If you fast forward through Revelation we don’t really see these winds it was speaking of again. We do however see at the sixth trumpet four angels coming out for that very time to destroy a third of the world's people with their mounted troops. So now would be the time to say that it says nothing about wind and that is correct, but if we look at Zechariah 6, we see a vision of four chariots being carried by the four winds. It is not definitive that this verse is a prophecy of the sixth seal and trumpet but I do bring it up to say it is possible that the four angels spoken of in Revelation 9 might very well be the ones holding back the winds until the time when the mounted troops are carried by the four winds.

It could also be that the winds could very well be such as the one spoken by the prophet, “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.” The winds might be the final winds that will destroy the land and all the idols in the land. This would seem very plausible due to the same kind of wording that is used here and in the Isaiah prophecy. There is a wind about to destroy and those that are sealed along with those we will see later take refuge in the Lord and will come to possess the land. Of course, because God is who He is it may be a combination of both the angels and the winds working together to eliminate all the idols and the wicked.

ref: Isaiah 57:13

Revelation 7:9

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, (ESV)

Let’s jump in. This first part will be fairly quick because we will cover these people through the end of this chapter. We have an uncountable multitude from every type of people on the earth and they are standing before the throne and before the Lamb. That should be enough. To be able to stand before God Almighty and His Son is not something many are prepared to do. One would have to gird themselves something fierce and be found worthy to stand before the throne. No amount of pride or status that we might think we hold could enable us to do this. Like I said earlier, we would have to be prepared for this, as in being taken through the fire and made holy. This is the reason we see them standing with white robes: If you can recall back to lessons in Revelation 6:9-11, there were souls waiting under the altar after being beheaded, and were given white robes and told to wait a little longer for the full number of them to be killed. Now many theologians and Christians alike will tell you that these are all believers; most will say past and present, that have believed and are now standing in heaven. But if we take a look back at chapter 6, does it seem likely that God would speak about a full number of souls to be killed and placed under the altar, never to be brought up again? If these are truly the raptured from the earth, what about those under the altar; do they continue to wait? Nowhere else does it refer to what eventually happened to those faithful followers of Jesus. If all believers are transported alive to heaven then those souls will never be freed from the altar because there are no longer any believers on the earth to be killed just as they had been. No, this great multitude are the believers that we previously saw under the altar. They have white robes because they were given white robes. They have been put through the fire and now, the full number of those that are to be beheaded are here. Furthermore, as we spoke in a previous lesson, Jesus would have really been asking a silly question when he said, ““when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”; because all the faithful are now in heaven. But now that this has happened, and the full number are released from the altar, then it is almost time for Jesus to descend to the earth; where He may or may not find faith on the earth. There will definitely be more on this later.

These have palm branches in their hands. Big deal, right? This is one of those passages you just kind of pass over because no one really cares about why it would be mentioned that the people standing before the throne would be holding palm branches. In the old testament one of the religious feasts was the feast of booths. During that time and for seven days they were not to do any normal work and it would be a holy convocation. I like the way it stated that it would happen on the day when the harvest was gathered from land, that this would happen and they would take palm branches or leafy trees and would rejoice before the LORD seven days. After the seven days, on the eighth day, they would present a food offering to the LORD and it would be a solemn assembly. As it would turn out the word solemn is defined as: formal and dignified; not cheerful or smiling; serious; characterized by deep sincerity. Now I don’t know exactly what some of that would entail, but it reads like it would be awfully quiet and wouldn’t you know it that in just a few verses there will be silence in heaven for about half an hour. I do want to say something about the timing of this. I’m not one who wants or is even able to pinpoint the timing of all these events that we are seeing taking place but I do believe that it is extremely likely that this gathering of beheaded souls will take place on the day that God had prescribed for His people. Now their months were different from our months and I’m not about to dive into that but according to whenever it is that God would call the seventh month; on the fifteenth day of that month is when this is likely to happen. That would be beautiful that He would ordain this as a statute throughout the generations back in Moses’ time and would keep that clock going even until the present and beyond.

ref: Leviticus 23:33-44;

Revelation 7:10

and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (ESV)

The once beheaded followers of Jesus cry out with a loud voice. If you remember these are those that were purified through the fire on the altar before the throne and were given white robes, and now about to give praises to God and to the Lamb. That praise comes in the form of proclaiming who holds salvation. Salvation: deliverance, preservation, safety. This should be one of the more simple doctrines of Christianity to explain, but it turns out to be somewhat of a challenge to get correct due to our presuppositions about who God is and due to the fact that there are few aspects salvation plays out in. Simply we would say that due to His work on the cross, we have received salvation from the penalty of sin. A more correct statement and the one the bible uses is that He provided purification for sins. He became sin for us. Don’t skip past it, Jesus became sin. In doing that we are able to be clean from sin or purified from sin. So, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I don’t want to undermine this for it is a glorious thing that Jesus has done for us and it is something that we can be certain we will receive, forgiveness of sins. When we speak of salvation, mostly this is what we are referring to but it is not the only aspect.

There also seems to be this problem that we are simply not God. We are servants, slaves even of the most high God, all of us; and because of this we must also answer for our service as slaves, whether we know Him as master or not, whether we have received forgiveness of sin or not. This is a difficult thing to explain so if I have to recant for something said incorrectly, please forgive me. These souls that were once under the altar are saying salvation belongs to God and to the Lamb, not to us. Again, I will bring up the fact that these had to be purified through the fire of the altar to receive these white robes. Was the work of the Jesus not sufficient enough for this group? Why is it that they had to suffer in this way if they were indeed believers in Jesus? I thought He was punished so we wouldn’t have to be and we were happy to let Him take that punishment. I believe that it was their works that were being put through the fire in order that they might receive salvation. The word might, particularly in the new testament is a peculiar word that pops up in some very strange places. Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” It is crazy to think that Satan could demand anything of God, and though God could have very well refused his demand, He actually allowed it to see if Peter could be sifted like wheat; so much so that Jesus had to pray for him. Peter later said, “For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.” They were not guaranteed to receive the Spirit, but they might, and doing that while being dead. Again, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” This salvation is something that is yet to come, for it is with the Lord and is something that we might receive. It is salvation from the very wrath of God, not necessarily the bowls of wrath that we are to see later but from being thrown into the winepress of His wrath and then later into the lake of fire. Everything beyond that we are subject to that we might obtain this salvation. Again, we have a responsibility, it seems whether alive or dead, to serve the Lord. Paul says this, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you”. If the work of salvation was already done on the cross then what salvation is he talking about that we must work toward, and with fear and trembling? It is the salvation from the eternal wrath of God and not the salvation from slavery from sin. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Jesus said the one who does something will enter the kingdom and not those who simply believe. When Jesus separates the goats from the sheep, He does not do so as to those that believe in Him only, but also to those who worked out their salvation; and even then they were shocked that they had received it. Those that were sent to the eternal fire also were shocked. They called Him Lord, but had not done anything He had said to do, therefore they received the inheritance that was meant for the devil and his angels.

ref: Hebrews 1:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 1:9; Luke 22:31-32; 1 Peter 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Matthew 7:21; Matthew 25:31-46

Revelation 7:11

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, (ESV)

We haven’t really heard a lot about angels thus far and their presence in Revelation will become more frequent as we move on, but it is for this moment that they might have been waiting for. “It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” The prophets along with the angels have longed to look on this moment. As Peter would put it, “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This moment has been a long time coming but salvation has come to God’s elect. Many have fallen up to this point, serving God just as Paul had said, “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.” Angels have longed to look into salvation. It is a mystery to them, for they along with all of creation will be judged. It is a perplexing mystery for them because it is something they will not receive; as it is written, “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.” The spiritual offspring of Abraham are the ones receiving salvation, and if I were an angel I too would be looking into this with great interest. Do you remember all the times when you would warn people about the things they do to dishonor God? Sometimes we offer advice to friends and loved ones and most especially fellow believers and and they love to throw this in our faces, “the bible says not to judge”, or “only God can judge me”. Well now imagine you are an angel. You have known the Father and His Son and His Holy Spirit. You might have fought battles at His command or even delivered His very words to an undeserving, stiff necked, stubborn sort of people. You see God bending over backwards time and time again for these people and even took pleasure in crushing His son, His only Son, whom He loved, for them. Salvation of their souls would be so foreign to you, and then you hear these words, “Do you not know that we(they) are to judge angels?” What would your reaction be? These souls that have been beheaded may be judging these angels soon. The most guilty of all of God’s creation, having received salvation, will sit and judge the angels. I would think my first inclination would be just as these angels, to fall on my face before the throne and worship God. Now I may have taken a little liberty into what might be the mind of an angel, but a group of God’s people will also sit down to judge nations and that is a frightening thing indeed.

ref: 1 Peter 8-12; 1 Corinthians 4:9, 6:3; Hebrews 2:16

Revelation 7:12

saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." (ESV)

Now as sure as I write this, this is not all God is worthy of but most definitely defines what our limited minds are able to respect God for. He has brought salvation unto His people and the angels are worshipping Him in this way for it. So let’s examine what it is that they are claiming our Lord deserves with some definitions and commentary. Now some of these definitions tie into one another but I’ll try to be careful to keep them separate if possible.

Blessing: praise, laudation or an invocation of blessing

This is definitely due to God. The Almighty deserves our praise, and not for anything that He has done necessarily, but because He exists. Most of the rest are contingent upon our feelings or something He has done but first God deserves praise and blessing merely for His existence.

Glory: splendor, brightness, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and majesty (one definition said a thing belonging to Christ in His kingly majesty).

If we had to describe what God would look like in a word, it would almost have to be glorious. Each of those words in the definition give visions of something our eyes would be desperate to look upon. In Job 40:9-10 God speaks to Job about His Son in his way, “Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.” Because of the things He is capable of He is clothed with majesty, dignity, glory and splendor and not only that but no one is able to remove these things from Him.

Wisdom: broad and full of intelligence, used of the knowledge of very diverse matters.

Have you ever sat and thought about the things that God knows? Job and his friends give us a lesson in this. For more than 36 chapters Job and his friends talked about life and what God acts like and is capable of. There is much dialogue that is given regarding these things and yet in short chapters God reveals to Job that he has no idea what he is talking about. He mocks Job as though Job actually knew something. He made the wisdom of man into nothing and the knowledge He questioned Job about is only a sliver of the things that He knows.

Thanksgiving: thankfulness, the giving of thanks.

This differs to blessing in that, here we are giving God thanks. Granted that thanks can take on different forms such as praise and adulation but seems to refer more to what God has done or will do that we are thankful for.

Honor: a valuing by which the price is fixed, reverence, received by reason of rank and state of office which he holds.

This definition got me. Honor is something that has a fixed value to the rank of the office. Because He is God and His Son is the slain lamb, they hold an office that has a deserving value due to the position they hold and that price cannot be moved. Granted theirs is the highest price but it cannot be diminished. When people throw questions at us such as, “how can a loving God allow such and such, etc”; whatever it is they think of God and what He does does not and can not diminish the amount of honor that is due Him.

Power: strength, ability, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, power for performing miracles, moral power and excellence of soul.

Might: ability, force, strength.

I want to be careful in how I want to display these last two definitions as to not discredit God. The single word difference of “force” may hold a key to the difference of power and might. Power is clearly by definition something that He holds by His very nature. God holds power in His very nature. Might seems to the action that He exerts stemming from the power. The very movement of God and His ability to do what He says, most notably His might to withhold His power in destroying evil. Can we even fathom the might He has to exert in order not to destroy evil at the very moment it rises up? We think of power and might as something that will be exerted in the end toward the devil and those that will be thrown into the lake of fire but His full might is on display most prominently when He instead chooses to show mercy to the likes of you and I.

Revelation 7:13

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" (ESV)

While John was given several commands and tasks in this vision, he was only asked two direct questions, one here and the other we will cover when we arrive at it. At first glance you wouldn’t think nothing of it, but I think the purpose of these two questions are meant to give us pause, just as they gave John pause. Many things are happening and God slows the story down with some questions in order that we gain a better understanding of what is happening. If you have ever looked closely at Revelation or attended/studied a prophecy seminar/course, then one question will inevitably pop into your head; where am I in all these things? This is similar to the question John is asked or at least God wants us to think about who these people in white robes are and by process of elimination, who they aren’t. If you are a Christian or even an agnostic, it is almost instinctual to want to belong to this group. I mean, they get to stand before the throne wearing white, holding some palm branches and praising God in the safety of heaven and right about now that seems like a pretty sweet place to find yourself...but who are they and where have they come? Perhaps this group includes the saints of old, those that saw God’s kingdom coming from afar such as the patriarchs, or the judges or some of the kings of Israel. Who are they and where have they come? We have seen several times in the Bible where there were those that feared God and yet were not Israelites. Surely being servants of God they would make it into this group. But the elder asks who are these, and from where have they come? Could it be that it may also include those in prison that Jesus preached to before His resurrection? These were those that have died before, that had not heard the good news; but now that they have surely they can now have white robes as well. And yet still, who are they and from where have they come? This question here, while seemingly simple and fairly straightforward, when answered will largely mold your outlook on the events that are happening in this vision. Who are these in white robes and from where have they come? In the next couple of lessons we will explore who these are, where they came from, and who is not in this group.

Revelation 7:14

I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (ESV)

John’s response to who these who have received salvation is priceless. Sir , you know; in others words, I don’t know. I respectfully decline an opportunity to answer this question wrong. With that being said, it seems that the answer to who these are is not as simple as “every believer who ever lived, especially those who were just living”, so let's shorten this list of people up. These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. So right off we have to disqualify those that have come before the great tribulation. This great tribulation is typically referred to as that time at the end of the tribulation, what most refer to as the last 3 ½ years before Jesus returns. So everyone who didn’t live up to that point in time are not a part of this group, in other words people in the bible are not included in this multitude.

So a good question would be what does it mean to come out of the tribulation? Was it a process of coming out, meaning did they come one at a time; or was it more like everyone was zapped away at once in what we would call the rapture? We will leave that question for later. A better and more pertinent question would be, did these people have to die to get here? Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely instances in the bible where people were transitioned from this earth without having to see death, but these were very specific instances with very specific people. There is not one biblical precedent where a group, much less a large group that no one could count were taken to heaven in one instance; so why would we think that this would happen? Would it not be wise and more believable to think that these people had to have died to make it to this point? Now it is absolutely within the power of God to accomplish this feat but I’m speaking more on what He has shown us more than what we would like to happen, so let’s for a little bit assume that all of these people had died in order to be made white to stand before the throne and see if we can make sense of this.

In Daniel it was prophesied, “Those who are wise among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will DIE by sword and flame, and be captured and plundered for a time. When DEFEATED, they will be helped by some, but many others will join them insincerely. Some of the wise will FALL so that they may be refined, purified, and cleansed until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.” In this passage the capitalized words are the same words in the original text. Die, defeated, fall are all definitions of the same word, kashal; but it seems like we want them to say something different. So it would seem like some of the wise will die by the sword in order to be refined, purified, and cleansed. When this happens some will join to the rest insincerely. That insincerity looks to be wolf in sheep's clothing. All this sounds shockingly similar to what Jesus had prophesied saying, “Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name. Then many will take offense, betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered. This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come...For at that time there will be great tribulation, the kind that hasn't taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again! Unless those days were limited, no one would survive. But those days will be limited because of the elect.” So Daniel and Jesus both proclaimed that many believers will be killed with Jesus going further saying that if this continued, every believer would die. Again He said, “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of My name. It will lead to an opportunity for you to witness...They will kill some of you. You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. By your endurance gain your lives.” So if you remember the lessons when we discussed those under the altar, they represented some of the believers and were told to wait a little longer for the full number to be killed just like they had and were given white robes to wear. We learned that these were under the altar in order to be refined, purified, and cleansed (as Daniel would say). So all of these with palm branches and the ones under the throne are the same group, who have died and received white robes. And speaking of white robes, so you don’t think this is a coincidence; that word Daniel had used for cleansed, laban; is literally “to be made white”.

ref: Daniel 11:33-35; Matthew 24:9-22; Luke 21:12-19

Revelation 7:15

"Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. (ESV)

Because they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, they are able to be before the throne; and not only that but are able to serve Him day and night. We often think of God as being accepting of anything we are able to give but in actuality He is a Holy God who requires holiness from His people. Jesus had spoken about what it takes to be one of His disciples. He says things like, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”, and “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” This word “after” is interesting in that it always means behind, or after as in following after. So the message of Jesus is to follow Him. We must be willing to follow Him or else we end up like the devil, thinking of ourselves as higher than the Son. Jesus had even told Satan/Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." This word behind is the same one as used before and this rebuke is in reference to them saying Jesus should/will not die. So when we take the same stance, that surely God has better things in store for us than He had for His Son, of whom He was pleased to crush, then in that our words become as foolish as those of Satan and we are not His disciples. Now it MAY not come to that degree, but we are certainly in need of purification such as these souls who were once under the altar have gone through, and as His disciples we must prepare ourselves in accepting that this is expected of us. For in that same Luke passage He says, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” Have we actually counted the cost of becoming His disciple and what it will take to stand before the throne or have we just gone as far as laying the foundation and really have no interest in building upon it? If we do this we do not carry the name of Jesus well, for we will be mocked by all who look upon our folly. But this is not so with those who have found themselves before the throne, they are faithful servants of God, serving Him day and night. Therefore they will be sheltered by the very God they have served unto death.

ref: Luke 14:25-33; Matthew 16:23

Revelation 7:16

They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any heat.

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard...And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first. ' And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. ' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? ' So the last will be first, and the first last."

Do you ever get the feeling you have not had the entire truth spoken to you about God and His kingdom? Here we see Jesus Himself speaking about what the kingdom of Heaven will be like. We have already seen these souls under the altar begging for God to do something almost in a grumbling sense if you will, about when they will be avenged. Now we have this same group, clothed in white, no longer hungry or thirsty, being covered by God from the scorching heat. But in this example God is speaking of His followers that will be rewarded after this group, over 1000 years afterward; and though they are receiving a great reward, Jesus says they too will grumble after they receive what was promised. Think about that, no matter how great we think that day will be when we are finally resurrected into eternal life; we have made it through the sorting of the goats and the sheep and have escaped the eternal torture of the lake of fire; we who are not in this group of beheaded followers will grumble against the Lord because He is generous. Now sitting here we might think to ourselves, not me, I’ll be grateful for everything the Lord gives me, but for this not to come to pass would make Jesus a false prophet. Those who come after will begrudge this group of believers who only had to work for one hour while everyone else had borne the work for the rest of the day; intensive work in the scorching heat of the day. The last will be sheltered, fed, and given drink first; and not because they were beheaded and not because they had received an extra dose of cleansing through the fire on the altar, but because the God we serve is a generous God. Salvation belongs to Him and He can give it to whomever He wishes in whatever order He wishes and we as selfish sinners find ourselves complaining about the fact that we are receiving the same salvation that they receive. We do this partially because deep down we believe that God actually owes us something for our piety and partly because we never fulfilled yesterday’s lesson. We never took the time to sit down and to count the cost of being His disciple. We say that He is good and generous but we think that we deserve His generosity more than others. Thank God He is actually more generous and merciful than we give Him credit for and yet still retains His righteousness and holiness. The last will be first and the first will be last. And if the last of us (those in the tribulation) are the first to receive salvation, what of the rapture?

ref: Matthew 20:1-16

Revelation 7:17

For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; He will guide them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (ESV)

The Lamb who is the shepherd. In John, Jesus speaks about Him being the shepherd and the slain lamb as well as saying, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” He will show us the springs of living water and through Him we are able to go in and out. By Him we are saved, led to living water, and given access to the Father. While the John passage is beautiful and one of my favorites due to the fact that our Shepherd says He will make us one flock along with Israel; there is another more popular passage regarding the Shepherd that I want to spend a little time on. This should be interesting because we don’t often associate this passage with the end times events.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

I reference this because this much quoted passage turns out to be more prophetic than anything. This is the first instance in Revelation that Jesus is referred to as a shepherd, and is perfect in timing due to the fact these here are found not wanting. They will no longer hunger or thirst or won’t have to worry about the scorching heat. He restores my soul. If this group doesn’t know what a restored soul is no one does. There souls were below the altar and now find themselves before the throne. They begged for the Lord to avenge them and have now been found restored with palm branches in hand. Though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We will definitely talk about the last few of these lines more in depth when we get to them in the Revelation timeline but will leave you with this last little bit. When the Lord returns, He will arrive on the Mount of Olives, the mount will split into three places, with Jerusalem on one place and the mountain splitting with a north and south side creating a brand new valley in between, the valley of Jehoshaphat; that I argue is in a real way the valley of the shadow of death. These souls stand before the Lord following Him wherever He goes. This valley is not one that will bring comfort to people, not even these that have received salvation, but the Shepherd will use His rod and staff to rebuke and guide these souls so that they may move through the valley as they are supposed to in order to comfort them. One might say that these that have received salvation would be exempt from having to walk through this valley but this is not the case and they only find comfort through their shepherd which would prove that this valley is not somewhere that people want to walk through, yet soon we will see all the nations come into it.

ref: John 10:1-21; Psalm 23:1-6