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God's Sealing Protection and 144,000 - Revelation 7:1 - 17

Tuesday, December 8 –

We continue to read our last book in the New Testament, the book of Revelation.  Our reading today is from Revelation 7:1 – 17.  Please read the passage first, and then come back to look at it again.


As we closed out the last chapter (and remind ourselves that chapter divisions were not original to the text) we heard John ask – “who can stand?”.  Six seals had been opened and each one had significant aspects of judgment.  The judgment that is from God is the wrath of God poured out upon the earth and people on it.  In 6:12 – 17, there were seven created things, and seven persons, which represents the totality of everything universally being affected as “the great day of their wrath has come”.  Now, the seventh seal is ready, but there is an interlude that takes place to answer the question – “who can stand?” 

“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.  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, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”  And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel” (7:1-4).

I would hesitate to be absolute about anything in this section (and in other passages also).  John is aware of four angels standing at the four corners of the earth.  The four angels are holding back winds.  As in the four creatures in heaven, and the four horsemen unleashed with judgments in the first four seals, the four angels represent the creation in its wholeness, and they come from heaven – as the other four had (note Ezekiel 1:10).  Jesus is holding back the seventh seal and an angel orders a temporary stop to the judgments because there are some who “can stand”.  What follows is a list of twelve thousand preserved from the twelve tribes of Israel (7:4-8).  There is much speculation on the number 144,000.   The list is interesting and compared with other lists of the twelve tribes it has some anomalies.  The list includes the tribe of Levi which is left off most lists because the Levites were not to be counted because they were the Priestly tribe.  The list also leaves out the tribe of Dan and replaces the tribe of Ephraim with Joseph.  Commentators have run circles around all of this speculating what and why?  Joseph had two sons that were originally listed – Ephraim and Manasseh.  Manasseh is included, but Joseph replaces Ephraim.  Two significant historical records must be factored in.  The first tribe to embrace idolatry in Israel was Dan, and in the separation after King Solomon, the two nations of Judah and Ephraim were formed.  It was Ephraim that created a false god to worship and they were the first to go into captivity to Assyria.

While that gives two reasons, the most important focus here is on God’s protection and preserving Israel through the times of tribulation.  It was Isaiah (43:1-12) who had spoken of God’s preserving the nation even though idolatry was occurring.  Paul writing to the Romans said similarly that God would preserve a remnant of believing Jews until the end comes (Romans 11:25-26).  This 144,000 represents an innumerable number of believers who can stand through the judgments.  Don’t get lost in the speculation, the fact is that these are “sealed”.  The parallel to this sealing is Paul’s writing in Ephesians 1:13, that believers in Jesus Christ are “sealed with the Holy Spirit” until the day of redemption.  As the scroll is sealed and only the owner can open it, so also believers are sealed and we are sealed for Christ Jesus.  I believe the 144,000 is symbolic, and the context seems to imply the same –

“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, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (7:9-10).

The great multitude is impossible to number and come from every nation, not just Israel.  Who are they?  They are those who can stand because they have been redeemed by the lamb of God.  Now once more the scene shifts back to the original scene –

“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, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (7:11-12).

Whatever else we see, let’s note that Heaven is a safe place, and while “all Hell breaks loose on earth”, the saints who know God through Jesus Christ as Savior will always be secure – no matter what happens on earth.  We see that worship is the natural outcome of our security in Christ.  We are sealed in Christ, and he has made His claim on us, and His seal on us gives us our claim of Him –  “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,  and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). 

As John sees this multitude sealed, he is asked by one of the elders the identity of this innumerable company of saints –

“Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”  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.  “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.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (7:13-17).

While the calamities of judgment are not yet over on the earth, God always has made provision for those who come out of the “great tribulation”.  What is this great tribulation?  And, as many have sought to explain, when is this great tribulation?  John had begun his letter by identifying himself as a fellow partner in the “tribulation” (1:9).  Jesus had spoken to the church about the tribulation to come (2:22).  Peter wrote of tribulation to come (cf. 1 Peter 4).  Finally, Paul had written in various letters warning of the suffering that was to come in the great tribulation (e.g., 2 Thessalonians 1:4-10). Tribulation had broken out when Domitian launched an Empire-wide edict of persecution upon Christians.  It did not stop with Domitian.  Every century of church history has recorded attacks upon the church.  In many ways, the story of the true church is a story of tribulation. 

Yet, what John sees is tribulation of an unprecedented nature.  John sees souls coming out of tribulation who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb”.  This is a reminder that the end of life on earth is never the final end for the believer.  In the midst of wrath, God remembers his grace and mercy, and the redeemed of the Lord – “stand”.  The empires on the earth will not stand in God’s final judgment, but the saints above will.  In this life, and in the future, there will be times of unbelievable pain and suffering, but this pilgrimage is not the end, only the beginning.  Our dwelling is not here, but with the lamb…where “the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (7:17).

“The Christian has an inner security which is not affected by external trials. ‘It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord,’ wrote Spurgeon. ‘Ill to him is no ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honor, death is his gain.’ Rupert Brooke, a poet, echoed his meaning perfectly:

‘Safe shall be my going,
Secretly armed against all death’s endeavour;
Safe where all safety’s lost; safe where men fall;
And if these poor limbs die, safest of all.’”[1]

Peace

 



[1] Michael Wilcock, “The Message of Revelation”, The Bible Speaks Today Series, IVP, page 83 

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