seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
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 to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’[a]
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’[b]
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’[c]”
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’[a]
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’[b]
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’[c]”
The easy English site has a lot to offer about this chapter.
Now there is an interval between the sixth (6th) and the seventh (7th) seals.
John saw these four (4) angels. They stopped the winds so that the winds could not blow on the earth. No wind could stir up the sea. No wind caused the trees to move. The whole world was still. The angels controlled the winds until the servants of God had his mark on their heads.
These angels stood at the four corners of the earth. John did not think that the earth was a square. He meant that the angels stood over the whole earth. They had control of all wind.
The four angels had power to damage the earth and sea. God had given them this power. But another angel came from the east. He shouted to the four. He told them to do no damage until God’s servants received the mark of God.
This mark of God was the name of God and of the Lamb. God’s servants must have this mark on the front of their heads. The mark was there to give protection to these people. The awful events that were coming would not hurt them.
John heard that 144 000 had this mark of God. This is not an actual number. There were 12 tribes of the Jews. There are 12 times 1000 from each tribe. These numbers show that all in the groups were marked.
John records the 12 tribes by name. This means that all these 144 000 were Jews. They all believed in Jesus their Messiah. They were from all the tribes of the Jews.
The 144 000 had received the mark of God. Then John looked and saw a vast crowd. This crowd stood in front of the throne. The crowd was as far as the eye could see. There were so many people that nobody could count them.
These people were from all over the world. They came from every nation. They were God’s people. At that time, they were in heaven.
By faith in Jesus Christ, these people had received new life. The Lord had made them perfect with his own goodness. He gave them white clothes to wear. These white clothes meant that they were holy. And they were free from sin.
They had palm branches in their hands. The people used to wave palm branches at their parties. They did this when they were happy. Here, they waved the palms in order to praise the Lamb.
The whole crowd cried out together to praise God and the Lamb. They had all received salvation from God. God had saved them. This salvation was because of Jesus Christ. Salvation belonged to God and to the Lamb. So, the crowd shouted their praise to God and to the Lamb.
An elder spoke to John. He asked John two questions. ‘Who are these people in white clothes? Where did they come from?’ It seems that John did not know the answers. So John asked the elder to explain.
These people have come out of the great trouble. The great trouble will be the period immediately before Jesus comes back to the earth. It will be an awful time. It will include the events of the seven seals. During this time, God will take these people from the earth.
Jesus will take his church from the world (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). But God has not told us when this will be. Some teachers say that it will happen after the events in chapter 3. John does not talk about the church on earth from that time. This event must be after chapter 3. But this vast crowd is not the whole church. The people in this crowd were alive at the time of the great trouble.
There will be no more hunger. Neither will they need drink. Jesus promised this to those who came to him (John 6:35). He was not talking about what the body needs. But in heaven, God’s people will have all that they require.
The sun and the heat can be a problem on earth. There is nothing like that in heaven. God’s people will be at home there. They will live in total comfort. There, nothing will disturb them.
God’s people will not still cry. God will remove all that would cause them to be sad. They will be very happy.
This interesting tidbit came from enduringword.com.
Of the tribe of: In this listing of the tribes, the tribe of Dan is left out. Some think this is because Dan is the tribe of the Antichrist, based on Daniel 11:37 and Jeremiah 8:16. This may or may not be the case, but without doubt, Dan was the tribe that introduced idolatry into the nation of Israel (Genesis 49:17; Judges 18:30).
There is a wonderful redemption for the tribe of Dan. Dan is the first tribe listed in Ezekiel’s millennial role call of the tribes (Ezekiel 48).
These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation: This vast multitude, from every tribe and tongue and nation, are those rescued for God’s kingdom in the period of the great tribulation.
They had trouble on the earth during the great tribulation. In the ancient Greek grammar of this passage, “the” is emphatic. This was a time of great tribulation for this multitude. This leads many to believe that most, if not all, of these are martyrs from the great tribulation.
The presence of so many tribulation saints is a powerful statement of God’s grace and mercy. Even in this time of judgment and wrath on the earth, many are saved.
Because the great multitude are mentioned right after the 144,000, many think they are – at least in part – due to the work of those 144,000 servants of God. Perhaps the 144,000 are evangelists who help reap this huge harvest for the kingdom during the great tribulation.
This is from the studylight.org site.
This is the great gathering of the Gentile multitude redeemed by blood, numbered by God, never to be numbered by men, being like the sand on the seashore, innumerable. Of all colors they shall be, and they will look to us on earth if we could see them, to be a motley group, and if we heard them speak it would seem a strange jargon. Many are the languages of earth, but one is the speech of heaven. All hearts are alike in the kingdom of the Most High, whatever the color of the flesh. Do you know, that entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem seems to me to be the pattern we have here before us, only this is the fulfillment of it. Here are the crowds that gathered about him, the twelve disciples lead the way, and here are the multitudes with the palms in their hands scattering them in the pathway of their king.
This is from Bibleref.com.
John's next vision is of a staggering number of people, from every race, ethnicity and language, dressed in white and shouting out praise to God. This is a poignant reminder of God's love for all people, and the essential unity of mankind. Despite efforts to divide humanity based on appearance or heritage, Scripture is clear that all people, of all tribes and languages, will be represented in God's eternal plan of salvation. An unnamed elder defines these white-robed saints as those who have come out of the great tribulation—the second half of the seven-year period which closes out history prior to the millennial kingdom (Revelation 7:9–17).
Let me set the scene..... put things in perspective. John, the best human friend of Jesus the Messiah, is living on a deserted rocky island. John is having a vision.... first he saw Jesus who was glowing just as John saw Him glow on the Mount of Transfiguration. An angel has been assigned to interpret any signs that have to be used. A lot of what goes on in Heaven, apparently, cannot be described in human language so the Angel will interpret. John saw a door open in Heaven and he went up to take a peek. A strong Angel [I think it's Gabriel] was angry. He wanted to open the instructions for the final battle. He was trying to pop the seals on the scroll.... but they wouldn't budge for him. At that point Jesus said "hand it to me" [paraphrased], "I was human... I understand human... I'm the one they beat and tried to murder on a Roman Cross. I'm the one who left that tomb." And Jesus started popping the seals.
Six seals have been opened..... the people were conquered, someone stole their peace, people couldn't earn enough to feed their families, there was famine, plague and even hungry animals were attacking humans, those slain in the name of Jesus were crying out for revenge..... and then there was an earthquake that moved mountains and islands. Then before the seventh seal is broken.......
Everything got quiet.... not a breeze one was heard or felt anywhere. I've heard of the calm before the storm.... but I've experienced the calm after the storm as well. After the earthquake..... everything will go silent. I guess any human that survived the earthquake.... well they were just quiet in shock.
Then.... it says God gathered up a the Messianic Jews.... 144,000 were selected. That's 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes. There's some doubt if all the Messianic Jews are listed in this 144,000. Sure God might have limited the number of Jews He let in to Heaven... after all they were the ones who made that golden calf jump out of a smelting pot so they could worship idols while God was giving Moses the 10 Commandments. I can see that.... but I'm wondering if these were chosen to be evangelical Messianic Jews who are given the task of gathering the masses.... during the period before the sixth seal was resolved and the dust of the earthquake and meteor showers settled.
John also saw a multitude of regular humans.... not of specific tribe, nation, language, or heritage.... I'm pretty sure there were Messianic Jews in this number too. I'm pretty sure there are also people of color and sexual preference as well. I'm sure there are murderers, rapists, drunks and prostitutes in that number as well. I bet there will be a fair number of politicians too. The elder told John that these people are Believers who have been taken up. They aren't the same people whose souls are trapped under the altar crying for revenge.... this is the mass of earthly refugees..... they are the people who Believed that Jesus was the Messiah... the Bible was true.... and Jesus was coming back to get them. These are the humans who have been invited to join God and Jesus in Heaven.
John saw the Adopted Children of God.... who's Big Brother is Jesus the Messiah.... each will have a home in Heaven..... they have just been taken up. They have been rescued from the horribly dangerous events that are occurring on earth. They are safe in Heaven.... they will only shed tears of joy.
So... as I read this.... today's chapter is about getting the Believers in a safe place before the real ugly stuff starts. It's about to get quiet.... and that's when all Hell is going to break loose.
These humans are safe.
