Interlude: Sealed to Worship
Revelation 7:1-17
December 17, 2006

Chronic misinterpretation may be the disease that most accompanies study of Revelation. I admit it is not hard to catch! The tendency to conform the images and symbols of the book to popular concepts plagues much of the church’s understanding of one of Scripture’s most encouraging messages. This happens when we treat the symbolism of the book erratically, viewing things literal that should be figurative, forgetting about the historical context with John’s first audience, and failing to keep in mind the aim to promote endurance among believers.

We’ve seen a great earthquake and the sun becoming black as goat’s hair sackcloth (6:12); now we must contend with the earth’s four corners and its four winds and that mysterious group known simply as “the 144,000.” Skeptics love to jump on the four corners and four winds as evidence that the Bible is inaccurate; but the skeptics don’t understand anything about apocalyptic language or context! They argue from the point of their ignorance regarding rules of interpretation and their own antipathy toward the truth of God’s Word. Cults, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, flaunt the 144,000 as the total number of the elite body of Christ; everyone else is second-class by their interpretation, though they circle the wagons when pinned down on this. However, if any thinking person embraced such teaching he would realize that his own religion had relegated him to an inferior status, not really worthy of all the effort he has made to promote this teaching.

We’re not skeptics or Jehovah’s Witnesses. So just what do the 144,000 and all the accompanying imagery mean? How did these things help out the struggling church that received John’s message toward the end of the first century? The message is actually quite simple. God preserves His people in every situation so that they might enjoy His presence forever. But how is this worked out in the text?

The last study (6:9-17) was built on two questions. (1) “How long, O Lord?” showed the certainty of divine judgment to rightly avenge those martyred for the sake of the gospel. (2) “Who is able to stand?” showed that none of the unbelieving world can bear-up under God’s final judgment; rather they will try to escape, though finding no respite.

Chapter 7 continues to answer the second question, “Who is able to stand?” The world rejecting Christ and the good news of the gospel cannot stand under God’s judgment. That is made picturesquely clear in 6:12-17. Yet the universality and power of judgment that shakes everything in the universe appears to threaten even the redeemed. So, how do God’s people stand in the face of the certain universal judgment foretold?

Some get around this quite easily by claiming that the church has been “raptured” out of the world at the beginning of chapter 4; so this really doesn’t apply to the church as we know it. There are three major problems with this view. First, there’s nothing about a secret or public rapture of the church in Revelation 4. Instead, it is John’s vision of heaven and the One sitting on the throne. Nothing is even hinted at the church vacating earth for the safe, carefree isolation of heaven. Second, this view misses the point of John’s answer to the question, “Who is able to stand?” He intends to show the church that stood on the edge of intense persecution that, in spite of the difficulties, the church is secure in Christ, and can therefore continue pressing on until called out of this world. John does not have an escapism mentality; he does not imply that the church will not suffer but rather will know God’s security in the midst of suffering. Third, in this view the 144,000 are Jewish Christians saved during a seven-year period of tribulation that serve as witnesses of Christ to their fellow Jews while the Gentile Christians are already in heaven. However, the New Testament goes to great lengths to show us that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. We are one in Christ without the racial, political, ethnic, and social barriers that the world maintains. So it contradicts the whole spirit of what the gospel accomplishes through the Great Commission being carried out (Gal. 3:28-29; Eph. 2:11-22; Rom. 5:1-25).

Instead of that view, we find John answering the question concerning the believers’ position, raised in Revelation 6:17, from two perspectives: the first, on earth showing the church militant as though troops numbered to carry out the gospel; the second, in heaven showing the church triumphant having overcome. Or, as Simon Kistemaker put it: “The first scene depicts idealism and the second realism” [NTC: Revelation, 245]. Richard Bauckham adds, “The 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel (7:4-8) contrast with the innumerable multitude from all nations (7:9), but the two images depict the same reality” [The Theology of the Book of Revelation, 76]. The purpose of both perspectives is to help the church in the throes of adversity, trials, and tribulation to not buckle under or lose heart. They are given a glimpse of how the church survives in the world and how it ultimately enjoys the victory of Christ in heaven.

Chapter 7 pauses to expand what is shown in the opening of the 6th seal. John’s extended sermon would have been read straight through to the anxious congregations. They would likely have been aghast at the opening of the 6th seal with all of its earth and heaven shaking horror. So, he must help those listening to not give up, but rather to see the power of Christ in the gospel to sustain them so that they might press on as Christians and finally, be gathered triumphantly into His eternal presence and care. He will have more to say about judgment and the end but he does not want to his hearers to lose heart before he finishes. So he backs up and fills in the gaps from time to time throughout the unfolding of the book. We profit by John’s expansion on the view of the opening of the sixth seal.

I. Passing through tribulation
To recap the context, as the seals are broken and the scenes begin to clip through our imaginations, we find that concurrent with the conquering work of the gospel are wars, famines, pestilences, and Christian martyrdom (6:1-11). So, as the gospel makes progress through the ages it will not always be in times of peace and tranquility. Much of its advance will be through tribulation that John shows will ultimately culminate in God judging the unbelieving world for their rebellion against Him (6:12-17). So how can Christians bear up in those difficult days that have come, that are presently operating in much of the world, and that shall come throughout the world? That’s what he answers in chapter 7 by looking at God’s people from two angles.

1. Four angels, four corners, and four winds vv. 1-3
The use of the number four expresses “cosmic completeness” [Beale, NIGTC: Revelation, 60, quoting Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 29-37]. So the point is to show that God is in control of the events affecting the entire cosmos; what is happening takes place only by divine ordering. The “four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four corners of the winds of the earth,” demonstrate that the angels follow the bidding of the Sovereign Lord. They can only discharge what He has commanded or permitted by His authority. As the church listens to this prophecy, they can find encouragement that the destruction, wars, pestilence, famine that takes place come by the wise ordering of the Sovereign Lord to whom they belong.

The angels are poised to unleash the shocking contents of the sixth seal. We don’t see “four corners…four winds” used again in Revelation. It’s simply a metaphorical device to show the totality of judgment that God will send on a rebellious world. The angels are sovereignly restrained, we see in verses 2-3, by the single angel “ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God.” The sun rises in the east. The opening of the tabernacle faced the east. This is symbolic of authority coming from the presence of the Lord. The angel has a two-fold responsibility: to restrain the four angels from unleashing their harm on the earth, sea, and trees (again, showing totality of judgment); and to announce that God will protect His “bond-servants” by placing His seal on their foreheads.

2. Sealed by God vv. 3-8
“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” What is meant by this sealing of God’s bond-servants? The language comes out of both Ezekiel 9 and Exodus 11-13. In the first, Ezekiel has a vision of executioners approaching Jerusalem for a slaughter. But “a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins” stood among them. He was told by the Lord to through the city “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” In other words, they are grieved at the idolatry in Jerusalem because they belong to the Lord as His remnant. The mark on the foreheads indicates this by setting them apart from the rest who will be slaughtered. The more familiar Exodus passage shows that the Lord distinguished the people of Israel from the Egyptians by the mark of blood upon their doorposts. The death angel passed over those marked by the blood of the Passover Lamb.

The seal is not meant to be taken literally. “The invisible mark on their foreheads becomes visible in the words and deeds of these devoted followers of Jesus, as they walk in his footsteps” [Kistemaker, 248]. The seal implies protection or preservation. Here is the certainty that all the Father has elected, the Son has redeemed through His bloody death at the cross, and the Spirit has regenerated and born witness to that they are children of God, will be preserved through the trials and tribulations and persecutions that befall God’s people. Indeed, nothing can separate us from the love of God!

With something of a similar twist of irony noted in 5:5-6, John first “heard” the number of those sealed (7:4); then he “looked” and saw “a great multitude which no one could count” (7:9) [see Bauckham, Theology, 76-77]. The first involves his first impression through hearing; the second shows the ultimate reality through seeing. Just as he heard the elder speak of “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah,” and upon turning, he “saw between the throne…a Lamb standing, as if slain,” so he first hears and then sees concerning the redeemed. The parallelism points to the same object.
“And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.” Then he names twelve tribes, showing that 12,000 from each were sealed. The use of the number 12 “represents completeness as well as the accompanying idea of unity in diversity, as in the one nation Israel composed of twelve tribes” [G. K. Beale, 59]. The fact that the 12,000 are multiplied by 12 to reach 144,000 shows that none is left out; the total number is a complete accounting of God’s people. So, the numbers are not to be taken literally, nor the use of the tribes to be construed as applying only to converted Jews, but rather they imply, as he shows later in 7:9, that all of those redeemed by Jesus Christ are sealed or protected by God. None will be missing before the throne of God in heaven even though they pass through times of intense persecution and tribulation.

The identifying of the twelve tribes offers an additional picture. The order of this listing differs from all of those found in the Old Testament. Judah, the fourth born, is placed in preeminence due to Christ the King descending through Judah, David’s tribe (5:5). After Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, John inserts the sons of Leah’s and Rachael’s handmaids: Gad Asher, and Naphtali. This shows, as Dennis Johnson explains, “the elevation of the descendants of women who were outsiders to the covenant family [and] signifies the inclusion of the Gentiles among “the bond-servants of our God” [Triumph of the Lamb, 132, following Christopher Smith, “The Portrayal of the Church as the New Israel in the Names and Order of the Tribes in Revelation 7.5-8,” JSNT 39 (1990): 111-18]. Dan is left out, presumably due to that tribe’s defective leadership leading to idolatry and apostasy (Judges 18; 1 Kings 12:39-30), and Manasseh, one of Joseph’s sons, is substituted. Johnson concludes, “Thus the order of the tribes in Revelation 7 symbolizes the reign of Jesus, from the tribe of Judah; the incorporation of outcasts; and the exclusion of idolaters from the covenant community that God shields from his terrible wrath” [132].

John uses the twelve tribes to show completeness of all of the redeemed, not just Jews. He uses the same promise of being sealed by God’s name that Christ gave to the church at Philadelphia (cf. 3:12; 14:1). His insistence is that the complete number of those redeemed by Jesus Christ, evidenced by their devotion to Christ as His followers will be protected through the tribulations and trials of life. So, as God’s people enduring suffering, we find encouragement that nothing can sever the bonds of His redemptive love shown to us through Christ.

II. Beyond this world’s tribulation
But such a picture might be difficult to grasp if one is in the midst of tribulation! When the bullets are flying past one’s head, it’s somewhat difficult to believe that the war is won and safety is assured! So, in spite of the apocalyptic usage of “12” and its multiples implying completeness, John’s audience needed to see things from another angle.

1. A great multitude v. 9
“After these things” is not offering chronology but shifting scenes to yet another look at God’s protection of His people for eternity. “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.” The “great multitude” parallels the 144,000. John’s use of the former picture to show completeness is now given a more universal picture by the four-fold identity: “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” Though the order is changed the contents are the same depicted in the new song expressing the worthiness of the Lamb, who through His death, “purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (5:9). This vast throng is now “standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” showing that they have complete access to the living God. Dwelling in His presence, they are now freed from the adversities that dogged them as Christians during their sojourn on the earth.

We understand that he speaks of the redeemed since they are “clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.” The “white robes,” just like those given to the martyrs under the heavenly altar (6:11), represent the purity and righteous standing of believers through the work of Christ. Justified fully and freely through Christ’s obedience and death, they now enjoy the fruition of that sufficient work of Christ in His presence. The “palm branches…in their hands” symbolize triumph, just as they did with the people lining the streets at the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem (John 12:12ff.). They are overcomers through Christ; and it’s not just a few that overcome but “a great multitude which no one could count.” They overcame because God had sealed them. Some were weak, other fragile but the preserving power of our God brought them through. In those days that we think that we’re alone, that we just don’t have the strength to press on and wonder if anyone does, think of this great multitude which no one can count gathered before the throne, clothed in white robes with the symbols of victory—palm branches—in their hands. Then be encouraged to press on as part of that number that will one day join forever in songs of praise to the Lamb!

2. A song of certainty vv. 10-12
The cry lifted up by this great multitude is not that of sorrow but of great joy. It is a triumphant song of the certainty that salvation belongs to the Lord. The ESV translates this, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Though “belongs” is not in the Greek it is clearly implied since there’s no verb with the subject. The Greek has “the salvation,” to declare emphatically that there is no salvation apart from that given by the grace of God through the faithful work of Christ the Lamb. Here the multitude of believers over many generations, in unison, affirms that salvation is all of God. There’s no self-praise or patting one another on the back for sticking it out or boasting in personal merit. Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb! It’s not us—it’s not about us. It’s the Lord that receives all praise and glory.

Here is the song of the redeemed in heaven. Is this your song on earth? Some might try to sing, “Salvation belongs mostly to our God,” as though God has taken care of 90 percent or even 99 percent but we’ve contributed our little part to salvation. If we listen to some supposed gospel presentations this very idea is conveyed. “If you want to be saved, then just walk down this aisle”; so one may be led to think that he has contributed a little part by walking down an aisle. “If you want to be saved, just pray this prayer”; so one may think that by his strong effort to pray a particular prayer that he has aided God in his salvation. There will be no such thinking or boasting in heaven! All boasting will focus on “our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

The same angels around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures, John tells us, “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.” The first “Amen” shows the agreement of the heavenly beings with that of the multitude of the redeemed, that salvation belongs to our God. The sevenfold doxology, almost mirroring that of 5:12 (with the exchange of “thanksgiving” for “riches”) shows the perfections of God in every facet of His person and character. The final “Amen” affirms “the reliability of it all” [Leon Morris, TNTC: Revelation, 117].

3. The blood that makes white vv. 13-15a
Again, John is asked a question that he defers answering back to the questioner. “These who are clothed in white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” John responded, “My lord, you know.” And indeed he did! “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God.” What is this great tribulation? John seems to have in mind what Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21 foretold. Both those passages warn of the danger of apostasy through the intense opposition to God. The same warning has already been passed along to several of the seven churches. Ephesus had left their first love. Smyrna was warned it would have tribulation. Pergamum stumbled over false teaching. Thyatira was marred by immorality. Both internally and externally, opposition threatened the churches then, just as it does now. The tribulation is “great” because of “the intensity of the seduction and oppression through which believers pass” [Beale, 434]. It “includes all Christians who have experienced oppression and persecution everywhere throughout history” [Kistemaker, 257].

The irony must not be lost: red blood turning robes white! It is “the blood of the Lamb,” that is, the sin-atoning, God-satisfying, wrath-propitiating, and justifying death of Christ that makes the robes white. The use of “blood” is not the chemical properties of Christ’s blood that cleanses from sin but His standing in our place to bear the judgment of God through death at the cross. This great multitude stood before the throne because of “the blood of the Lamb.” That’s the only way that any of us can stand blameless before God—because Christ bore our sin and reproach away through His death.

4. Before the throne vv. 15-17
What do believers do before the throne? “They serve Him day and night in His temple.” The word “serve” is the same word used of priests serving God; it’s the service of worship. That’s the heavenly occupation of the redeemed. Note the emphasis, that, “they serve Him.” Worship is not about me or my tastes or my preferences. It is about Him! Whether in heaven or on earth, it is about Him. We would do well in our day to learn this truth or else heaven will be a very uncomfortable place for us!

But the worshipers find great consolation as they worship. “And He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat.” For those in past eras and the present that have endured much for the sake of Christ, their suffering will be brief compared to the eternal consolation before the throne. John doesn’t worry about mixing metaphors: the redeemed worship in His temple, though there’s no need for a temple in heaven since God and the Lamb is the temple (21:22); as they worship the Lord God, He spreads His presence over them. “Tabernacle” conveys something of the Shekinah glory of God that is pictured in the Old Testament [Morris 118]. He envelops the redeemed in His presence. All of the suffering and need and deprivation felt through oppression will be swept away by the glory of His presence forever.

How will this happen? Again, with a twist of irony, the Lamb shepherds the redeemed. “For the Lamb in the center of the throne [that is, with all of the authority of the Godhead] will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” John follows the language of Isaiah 49:10. “They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; for He who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to springs of water.” And then in Isaiah 25: 8, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces.”

I read this week about a young man in Nigeria brought up as Muslim that came to faith in Christ. He read the Gospel of Luke, and even though considered the leading student in Islamic studies in his town, he was convicted by the death and resurrection of Christ to follow Jesus Christ. His family rejected him and threw him out of his home. He fled from his own home and village, moving from one place to another, in order to seek shelter with Christians in another region. He faced great trial and deprivation as he fled. The hunger, thirst, scorching heat brought about by persecution will one day give way to the Lamb removing all threats, all needs, providing abundance, and wiping every tear from his eyes [“The Life of a Convert in Nigeria: Fleeing Murder Threats,” Obed Minchakpu, Compass Direct, 12/12/06].

Conclusion
That’s the promise of the gospel for all that believe. God will preserve His people, even through the most intense tribulations, to enjoy His presence forever. So be encouraged to keep pressing on with the Lamb of God as your Shepherd.

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