7:1 ¶
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.
7:13
¶ 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.
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? 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 space which we now have seen 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 servants He has
chosen. This angel ascends from the east and proceeding from the east seems to have
special significance throughout the Bible but a study of that here would divert
the narrative. Perhaps, this sealing means to alert them to their calling.
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.
But, the
tribe of Dan is not mentioned and Irenaeus, writing around 180AD, said that was
because the Beast would come from the tribe of Dan and we have this prophecy.
Genesis 49:17 Dan
shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse
heels, so that his rider shall
fall backward.
Dan was remarkable as it was wholly given to idolatry early
on. Judges 18 is an interesting study of their character as a tribe.
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. What these servants do is unclear
although many preachers believe they are evangelists who go out and witness
during the Tribulation. Look at these verses from the gospels when disciples
were commanded to preach only to the Jews and imagine, that this is how the
Jews of the Tribulation era will be evangelized for Christ;
Matthew 10:5 ¶ These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the
dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass
in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your
journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is
worthy of his meat.
The passage
in Matthew 10 goes on;
Matthew 10:11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall
enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
13 And if the house be worthy, let your
peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14 And whosoever shall not receive you,
nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the
dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto
you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day
of judgment, than for that city.
There is a
great multitude before the throne that have come out of great tribulation. In
reference to what the Jews will experience during this time see;
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever
shall be.
Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is
like it: it is even the time of
Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
These people
are from every ethnic group and every language. 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. I believe this means they were raptured or translated, which
is the Bible term. Here is the probable
definition of the ten thousand times ten
thousand in Chapter 5, simply a lot of people, which a man is unable to
number. It does not say they were killed and those martyrs back in 6:9 are
under the altar although these are still said to have come out of great tribulation. To come out of something is to depart
from it.
Genesis 47:1 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said,
My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they
have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
Numbers 9:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the
wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of
Egypt, saying,
Whatever the
case, 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, presumably there is much to grieve
because of their suffering.
I am linking
the angels, the ten thousand times ten
thousand and thousands of thousands, with this multitude in the sixth seal
as those translated before the Great
Tribulation mentioned as angels as also connected here in verse 11 .
My
contention is that the angels in 5:11 and the multitude/angels in 7:9, 11 are
the raptured and resurrected saints. Some people make a point about them
washing their robes and making them white as being works however that is really
nit-picking and again applying modernism to the Bible. You make your robes
white representing righteousness by trusting in Christ.
Now, let’s move on to the seventh
seal and then follow the trumpets and vials as consecutive events, studying
them more completely, as I believe they are not happening at the same time as
the first six seals;
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