Remember,
John is still seeing scenes from the sixth seal.
1 ¶
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of
the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow
on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the
east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the
four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which
were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of
all the tribes of the children of Israel. 5
Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8
Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve
thousand. 9 After this I beheld, and,
lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds,
and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10
And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11
And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders
and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped
God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto
our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 ¶ And one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and
whence came they? 14 And I said unto
him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he
that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
This seal
opens in chapter 6, verse 12, with a great earthquake and the sun turning black
with the moon turning red.
Joel 2:31
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before
the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
There is an
astronomic disturbance and a tremendous meteor shower, perhaps, although there
are possible spiritual meanings of this passage about the stars of heaven. This is a world shaking event that takes place, an
earthquake that is devastating and things falling from space. It is so bad that
the great men and the lowly men of the earth hide in places that would not be
where you would go in a regular earthquake, hoping to be hidden from Christ’s wrath.
Perhaps, in their hatred of God they view this kind of death as an escape from
the physical destruction. They admit that no one can stand against Christ in
this absolute disaster.
Do the stars of heaven signify spiritual beings
from what we call outer space but what God calls the firmament of the heaven coming to earth?
Genesis 1:15
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth: and it was so.
Psalm 115:16
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he
given to the children of men.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Notice the
day of Christ’s wrath is come. There are multitudes in heaven who have come out of great tribulation. Christ is said
to have spared the church from the wrath
to come.
1Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
7:1 opens
with four angels standing on the four corners of the earth preventing any wind
from blowing. What is the significance of that? It is important to understand that
great disaster and tragedy in the world as we know it is a direct function of
God holding back judgment and when a great calamity happens He has unleashed
something waiting to happen. Great evil comes through people who choose to be
conduits for it, not having any control over how bad it will get.
Matthew 18:7
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that
offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Are the four corners of the earth a reference
to literal places or is that just a phrase referring to every direction as in
the four winds in Matthew 24 or
Jeremiah 49?
Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Jeremiah 49:36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds
from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds;
and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
I suggest
that four corners of the earth represent every possible direction and every
possible location. We know it is a
figurative statement because the Bible says the earth is a circle and doesn’t
have four physical corners just like it says that there is a huge empty space
in outer space and that the earth hangs in space and is not resting on a
giant’s shoulders or the back of a turtle as in some mythologies.
Isaiah 40:22
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Job 26:7
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth
upon nothing.
It is then
that another angel tells them to wait until God has sealed Jewish servants He
has chosen for His purpose. There are 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes but a tribe of Joseph is mentioned in place of
Ephraim.
Joshua 14:4
For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim:
therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell
in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.
Joshua 16:4
So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
Ephraim was
a troublesome tribe, which you can see by a search of the Old Testament but
still, while not mentioned by name in Revelation, his brother’s tribe is, and
there is a tribe of Joseph mentioned
here along with Manasseh’s tribe. Once before, the phrase, tribe of Joseph, referred to Manasseh, and Ephraim was named;
Numbers 13:8
Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun...11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe
of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
So, I would
not make too much of the substitution other than, perhaps, God’s
dissatisfaction with Ephraim as tribe of
Joseph may be a reference to it.
However, the
tribe of Dan is not mentioned, which is why Irenaeus, referred to earlier,
believed that the Beast would arise from the descendants of that tribe. The absence
of Dan must be significant but we don’t have enough information to go on to
make a certain determination.
These
servants number 144,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. This has nothing
to do with how many people wind up in heaven. I believe these are whom Satan
makes war on when he cannot destroy the Jews who have fled to the wilderness.
Revelation 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water
as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the
flood. 16 And the earth helped the
woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the
dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments
of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
There is a
great multitude before the throne that have come out of great tribulation. They are all arrayed in white robes, which we
know symbolizes righteousness. It’s a lot of people who, along with the four
beasts and the elders, praise and worship Christ with seven more exaltations with
thanksgiving being added.
An elder
asks John a rhetorical question and John throws it back to him. These are all
people who it is said came out of great
tribulation. Here is the translated church in Heaven. They will serve God
who will live among them. They will never hunger or thirst or suffer the heat
of the sun. Christ, the Lamb of God, will lead them and all their tears will be
wiped away.
The angels,
the ten thousand times ten thousand and
thousands of thousands, in Revelation 5, signify the presence in heaven,
even now, of all saints throughout history from the time of Christ’s
resurrection. After the translation which includes the resurrection of the
saved dead physically and bodily they are the great multitude of verse 9.
Remember
what an angel is.
Isaiah 63:9
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and
carried them all the days of old.
Psalm 104:4
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Hebrews 1:7
And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his
ministers a flame of fire.
Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these
little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect,
While a
believer is here on earth he or she also has a presence in heaven, an angel…
Ephesians 2:4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together [past tense], and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus.
… with which
they will be united in the first resurrection which consists of the church,
living and dead, being translated to heaven, receiving a new body, as Paul
stated in 1Corinthians 15…
1Corinthians 15:51 ¶ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. 53 For this corruptible must
put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
…and in
1Thessalonians.
1Thessalonians 4:13 ¶ But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others
which have no hope. 14 For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. 15 For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord.
When will
this literally happen? Certain things will happen first. Notice in the
following verses from 2Thessalonians by parallel phrasing we see the definition
of the day of Christ as the same
event as our gathering together unto him.
2Thessalonians 2:1 ¶ Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
by our gathering together unto him, 2
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit,
nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3
¶ Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that
man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with
you, I told you these things?
Now, let’s move on to the seventh
seal, remembering that this is how they are shown to John but that these events
are happening together. I have an enormous book on military history that, for
instance, for World War II outlines every campaign in Europe, has a break in
the action, and then starts over again outlining every campaign in the Pacific
over the same time frame. The events are related in the order they are being
shown to John. This is not a movie or a TV show.
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