Introductory Remarks:
Chapter seven is an interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seal in chapter eight.
"John is now going to put down another principle which he will follow because he knows that you and I are going to have trouble with the Revelation. Therefore he has made it very simple for us. He introduces series of sevens, but the way that he deals with them is the important thing for us to see. A format is followed from the breaking of the seals to the bowls of wrath. Between the sixth and seventh of each, there is an interlude of seemingly extraneous [unrelated] matter, but it is explanatory matter - it explains the action and answers certain questions. This is what chapter 7 will do for us. This principle of an explanatory interval will be true of the seven trumpets, of the seven performers and of the seven bowls of wrath. You will find John following this principle all the way through this particular section of Revelation, so that we do not lose our way" (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
The 144,000 of Israel Sealed
Verse 1, "After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."
LGT "After this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth in order that the wind might not blow upon the earth nor upon the sea nor upon any tree."
"After these things"
Literally, after this, that is, the opening of the sixth seal, two things happen before the opening of the seventh seal (Chapter 8:1). "After this refers to the tremendous judgment of the previous chapter, the riding of the four horsemen. In the riding of the four horsemen I believe we have been given a bird's-eye view of the Great tribulation Period, and overall picture, and now the details are going to be given to us" (McGee).
"Instead of the seventh seal (8:1) being opened, two other episodes or preliminary visions occupy chapter 7 (the sealing of the servants of God 7:1-8 and the vision of the redeemed before the throne 7:9-17)" (Robertson).
"I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,"
The four corners of the earth are the East, West, North, and South. Thieme says, "These angels are pursuant messenger angels standing ready, on red alert to deliver Divine judgment."
"A smart-alecky young fellow got up at a meeting years ago where Dr. Ironside was speaking and said: 'I told you the Bible was unscientific! The Bible teaches that the earth is flat because it says the four corners of the earth.' Dr Ironside replied, 'Young man, I am amazed that you didn't know that the earth has four corners. They are North, East, South, and West.' Those are the four corners, and that is the direction of the four angels. There is one in the North, the East, the South, and the West" (McGee).
"Holding the four winds of the earth,"
Literally, holding fast or firm. Winds are a symbol of Divine judgment. The four angels are holding back God's judgment until He is ready.
"That the wind should not blow on the earth, nor the sea, nor on any tree."
At the present time we do not know when God will turn loose His judgment, but as we go on in our studies, it might become clearer.
"We cannot explain every little detail here in this chapter - at least I cannot. I get a little irritated and provoked that I do not know as much as some of these so-called prophetic teachers claim today. They seem to have a private line to the Lord. They now know the date when the Lord is coming again, and not only that, they can actually interpret some of these passages in the most amazing fashion. Where the Scriptures say that the blood during the war of Armageddon will be up to the bridle bits, some of these fellows can tell you the type of blood it is! They irritate me because I don't seem to be able to get that kind of information - and then I wonder what the value of it is when you get it. To begin with, the church ought to understand clearly that we have been delivered from going through this period. The Great Tribulation is a judgment, and the church is not coming into it. He made it clear to the church of Philadelphia that He was going to deliver them from that hour. What hour? The hour that John is talking about right now. We need to let Scripture speak for itself" (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 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,"
LGT "And I saw another angel ascending from the sun rising [the East] having [the] seal [signet ring] of the living God, and He cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to them to hurt the earth and the sea,"
"And I saw another angel ascending from the east,"
This angel is the commander of the other angels of verse one. "Another angel means this is a fifth angel. He is apparently of a higher rank than the other four because he gives them orders. As we see in the Book of Daniel and also in the Epistle to the Ephesians, there are gradations of orders of angels, both good and bad. Satan has the demon world well organized; he probably has generals, lieutenant colonels, majors, lieutenants, sergeants, and then a great many privates. On the other side, God also has His angels arranged. This angel gives orders to the other four" (McGee).
"Having the seal of the living God:"
"Here the signet ring, like that used by an Oriental monarch, to give validity to the official documents. The use of zontos [living] with Theou [God] accents the eternal life of God (1:18; 10:6; 15:7) as opposed to the ephemeral [short lived] pagan gods" (Robertson).
"And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels,"
Literally, he cried with a great voice, In NT Greek this is phone megale. McGee notes that if you turn this Greek phrase around, you will get our English word megaphone. "This is an indication that frightful and fearful judgment is getting ready to break upon the earth."
"To whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea."
The hurt that is coming to the earth is the letting go of the four winds, and not holding them back.
Verse 3, "Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."
LGT "Saying, Do not begin to hurt the earth neither the sea nor the trees, until We have sealed the bondslaves of our God upon their foreheads."
"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,"
Literally, do not begin to hurt, in other words, hold back the winds of judgment from the earth.
"Till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."
God will set His mark on His chosen ones so that they will be immune from the winds of judgment that will be released on the wicked. Some men try to identify the mark, however, if the Scriptures are silent regarding the mark, so should we. One thing I am sure, God will be able to read the mark, and on those who bear the mark, protection will be theirs.
Verse 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."
LGT "And I heard the number of the ones who were sealed, one hundred forty four thousand, sealed out from every tribe of [the] sons of Israel."
"And I heard the number of them which were sealed:"
John did not see them counted he only heard the number. There is much speculation as to whether this is literal or symbolic. By what follows, we can only conclude it is literal, for I am sure God can count.
"And there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel."
If this were symbolic I do not believe John would be this specific. The ones who hold that this is only a symbolic number seem to be weak on dispensations.
"There is no use speculating here or trying to draw on symbols. Some even say that the number - 144,000 - is a symbol of another number. Cannot God say what He wants to say? Cannot He count? Certainly He can. If He says 144,000, I do not think He means 145,000. I think He means exactly 144,000.
Out of every tribe of the children of Israel. From the day God called Abraham, there has always been a remnant that is true to God. There is a remnant today. I know many wonderful Christian Jews. I don't know why I say Christian Jews since I don't say Christian Americans or Christian Germans. But we do say this of Israel because of the fact there is the remnant that trusts Christ in our day. It is not a large remnant, but there is not a very large remnant of Gentiles either. I suppose that the great minority group is that of real believers in Christ" (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
Another problem of those who seek to make the number 144,000 symbolic is that they do not realize that this is the number of Jews who will evangelize the nations during the Great Tribulation, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. We read in Matthew 24:14: And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." I see the difference in the Gospel of Grace and the Gospel of the Kingdom is (1) the Gospel of Grace says: Look up, for your redemption is coming, and (2) the Gospel of the Kingdom says: Be ready, for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming. The fact of accepting Christ as personal Savior is common to both Gospels; the difference being each is preached in a different dispensation.
The 144, 00 sealed will be the ones who will evangelize the nations during the Great tribulation.
Verses 5 - 8, "Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
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.
Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issacher were sealed twelve thousand.
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."
LGT "Of [the] tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed, of [the] tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Gad twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Aser twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Nepthalim twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Manasses twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Zabulon twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, of [the] tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed."
"The sealed 144,000 from Israel. As long as the Church is on earth there are none saved to a special Jewish relationship. All who are saved are saved to a position in the body of Christ as indicated in Colossians 1:26-29; 3:11; Ephesians 2:14-22; 3:1-7. During the seventieth week the Church must be absent, for out of the saved remnant in Israel God seals 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, according to Revelation 7:14. The fact that God is again dealing with Israel on this national relationship, setting them apart to national identities, and sending them as special representatives to the nations in place of the witness of the Church, indicates that the Church must no longer be on earth" (Things to Come J. Dwight Pentecost).
Remember, when Jesus came unto His own, His own received Him not. Israel was chosen by God to be His chosen people, to be a beacon to the other nations to show them the way to God. They failed miserably, and they rejected the Messiah when He came to them; because of the unconditional covenants God made with Israel, He promised never to leave them, and that He would once again bring them to the Land and rule over them forever; in the meantime, after the Jews rejected Christ, he put them on the shelf, as it were, and gave the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles, beginning with the Apostle Paul, and He will bring the Jews back to their privileged position until the sealing of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and Israel is converted. When God puts His seal [divine mark] on a person, no one is able to break that seal.
"Israel means Israel. If God had wanted to call Israel the church, I think He would have just said church because He was able to say church when the time came. But now the church is not mentioned anymore, and He is talking about Israel and the 144,000 who are sealed to witness for Him. The 144,000 are sealed, especially because they are going to witness during this period, and it is going to cost them a great deal. If they were not sealed, they sure wouldn't be able to make it through. God never leaves Himself without a witness upon this earth" (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 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;"
LGT "After these things I saw, and behold a great crowd, which to number it no one was able, out of every nation and tribes and people and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed with white robes and palms in their hands."
"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,"
After these things, is after the sealing of the 144,000. "This vision belongs in heaven while the sealing is on earth" (Vincent).
"Of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,"
The number of Gentiles saved during the Great Tribulation by the witness of these 144,000 Jewish evangelists no man can number, that is, beyond our human comprehension. "A polyglot cosmopolitan crowd" (Swete).
"These are Gentiles, people from every tribe and nation under the sun. This means that in the Great Tribulation the gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world. I want to repeat this: the 144,000 witnesses in the Great Tribulation Period are going to do in seven years what the church up to the present has not done in over nineteen hundred years. Do not boast about your missionary program. None of us are reaching very many. But, during the Great Tribulation, there will be a great company of people who will be saved" (McGee).
"Stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,"
All the saved, some martyred, during the Great Tribulation Period will be standing before the throne praising God, and the Lamb.
"Clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;"
These white robes are robes of justification, that is, robes of righteousness. These robes represent the fact that they have been saved by the Blood of the Lamb, and that His righteousness has been imputed on them.
"Palms in their hands - antitype [fulfillment] to Christ's entry into Jerusalem amidst the palm-bearing multitude. This shall be just when He is about to come visibly and take possession of His kingdom. The palm branch is the symbol of joy and triumph: used at the feast of tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when they kept feast to God in thanksgiving for the ingathered fruits. The antitype shall be the completed harvest of the elect here described. Cf. Zech. 14:16; the earthly feast of tabernacles will be renewed, in commemoration of Israel's preservation in her long wilderness-like sojourn among the nations from which she shall have been delivered, just as the original feast commemorated her dwelling forty years in tabernacles in the wilderness" (A. R. Fausset).
Verse 10, "And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
LGT "And they cry with a great voice saying, The Salvation [is to be ascribed] to our God the One sitting upon the throne, and to the Lamb."
"And cried with a loud voice,"
Literally, and they cry with a great voice. "The polyglot multitude shouts its praises as with one voice" (Swete).
"Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
The redeemed praise God and the Son for their eternal salvation, and this will be their eternal activity. God the Father planned their salvation and the Son executed the plan.
Verse 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,"
LGT "And all the angels were standing around the throne and [around] the elders and [around] the four living creatures and they fell before the throne upon their faces and worshipped the God,"
The angelic hosts circle around the throne and praise God for the Salvation of the saints; of course they are praising God and the Lamb for their Divine attributes and forgiveness. McGee rightly says: "The angels do not sing, but they are praising God for the salvation of sinners, not for their own salvation, because they are sinless." The angels fall upon their faces in reverential worship in awe.
Verse 12, "Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever."
LGT "Saying, Amen, the blessing [praise] and the glory and the wisdom and the gratitude and the honor and the power and the strength to our God unto the ages of the ages; amen."
Note in the LGT there is an article before each of the Divine attributes. Remember that any time the article is used it particularizes what ever it precedes. If the article is absent it speaks of character or essence. Of course all the Divine attributes are God's Divine essence, but what John is writing is that these are praise to God and God alone, for He is the only One worthy of these praises. In the original it reads: "The Blessing and the Glory and the Wisdom and the Gratitude and the Honor and the Power and the Strength to our God unto the ages of the ages; amen."
"The angels standing around once again adore God, catching up the previous praise with Amen and uttering a sevenfold ascription [acknowledgment] of praise upon their own behalf, closed with another Amen. The article is repeated before each" (The Expositor's Greek Testament). "This sevenfold Doxology speaks of its completeness" (A.R. Fausset).
Verse 13, "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?"
LGT "And one of the elders answered saying to me [John], These who are clothed with the white robes, Who are they and from where did they come?"
"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,"
"One of the elders intervenes even though no question has been asked to interpret the vision" (Swete). The elder must have seen the desire to know, written on John's face.
"What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?"
Literally, These who are clothed with the white robes, who are they and from where did they come? The question is not for his [the elder] information, but for John.
Verse 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."
LGT "And I have said to him, My lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the tribulation the great, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
"And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest."
"The perfect tense is used, eireka, 'have said,' meaning that to John's mind the whole scene was still fresh and vivid" (Robertson). The word 'sir' is literally, 'my Lord' (Kurie mou), "An address of reverence as to a heavenly being" (Vincent).
"This is a very enlightening passage of Scripture. One of the elders went over to John and said, John, who are these believers here arrayed in the white robes? And John said, My Lord, thou knowest. This is an idiomatic [natural] expression, and I think we have one like it in our day. When someone asks us a question and we don't know the answer, we just sort of lift up our hands and say, Search me! Which means, I don't know! This is exactly what John is saying here: You know that I don't know. You tell me because I don't know" (McGee).
"Thou knowest (su oidas), at once a confession of ignorance, and an appeal for information" (Swete).
"And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation,"
Literally, They, which come out of the tribulation, the great. "A present middle participle (hoi erchomenoi) with the ides of continued repletion. The martyrs are still arriving from the scene of the great tribulation (Charles). Apparently some great crisis is contemplated (Matt. 13:19ff. 24:21; Mark 13:10), though the whole series may be in mind and so may anticipate final judgment" (Robertson).
The tribulation, the great, is the literal translation; "the article gives the force of the statement, the great" (Vincent).
"If these people gathered here were the church, John would have known it. John wrote to the believers in his day. He knew about the church, he knew about the body of believers, and he wrote to them about love, that great unifying cement that holds them together. But John doesn't know who this company is. The elder, who is a representative of the church now in heaven, knows that this company is not the church. It is an altogether different company. It is those who came out of the Great Tribulation. Doesn't that tell you that the church is not going through the Great Tribulation? This is a special company, out of all tribes and tongues and nations, who have come out of the Great Tribulation" (McGee).
"And have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
This entire phrase of course is stating the fact that everyone who gets saved only gets saved by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. "The name Lamb is an eternal name given to Christ in view of His completed sacrifice and eternal redemption and cannot be confined to one age or people. The name Almighty is used more than thirty times in the pre-patriarchal book of Job and thus can not be confined to one people or age. This name will take on new significance in that it has been demonstrated through the destruction of the last enemy that God is Almighty" (Pentecost).
"The language here comes partly from Gen. 49:11 and partly from Ex. 19:10, 14. For the cleansing power of Christ's blood see also Rom. 3:25; 5:9; Col. 1:20; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:12; Heb. 9:14 and 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 22:14. The aorist look back to the life on earth when the cleansing was effected (Swete). See Phil. 2:12ff. For both divine and human aspects of Salvation. There is power alone in the blood of Christ to cleanse from sin (1 John 1:7), not on the blood of the martyrs themselves. The result is white, not red, as one might imagine" (Robertson).
"Those who come out of the great distress [tribulation] are further described as having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; which portrays their character and conduct and at the same time explains the secret of their triumphant endurance. The great thing is not to emerge from trial, but to emerge from it with unstained faith and conscience. And this is possible, not to man's unaided efforts, but to sacrificial power of Christ, the experience of which forms the last line of defense in the struggle. The confessors and martyrs owed their moral purity to what they obtained through the sacrifice of Jesus. But moral purity became in this case something more intense (as the context and the emphatic language of this verse imply) than the normal Christian experience of forgiveness and holiness. By a turn of thought which is developed later by Ignatius and Tertullian, it is suggested that in their martyrdom (cf. Dan. 12:10) these saints were able to make the redeeming power of Jesus peculiarly their own; the nature of their cruel sufferings identified them especially with their Lord. It is noticeable that the mystic union of the individual Christian with Christ mainly comes forward in the Apocalypse (14:13) when the martyrs and confessors are mentioned, as if the writer held that such an experience alone could yield the deepest consciousness of communion with One who was conceived essentially as a Lamb who had been slain, a faithful witness, etc. At the same time it is to the blood of the Lamb, not their own blood, that they owe their bliss and triumph; redemption, not martyrdom, is the essential basis of their deliverance. People might be redeemed without becoming martyrs, as, for example, either recreant [cowardly] Christians or those who happened to die a natural death. But no one could be a martyr without having the strength of redemption behind him" (The Expositor's Greek Testament).
Verse 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."
LGT "And because of this are they before the throne of God and they serve Him by day and by night in His temple, and the One who is sitting upon the throne will tabernacle over them."
"Therefore are they before the throne of God,"
Literally, because of this, that is, because of, or on account of the washing in verse 14. Without being washed, they could never have entered God's Heaven, and stand before His throne.
"And serve Him day and night in His temple:"
Literally, and they serve Him by day and by night.
"And He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them."
Literally, God will tabernacle over them. "In 2:12 and 13:6 of those who dwell in tents, here of God spreading His tent over (ep' autous) the redeemed in heaven, in 21:3 of God tabernacling with (met' auton) the redeemed, in both instances a picture of sacred fellowship, and the further idea of God's Presence as a protection from all fear of evil (Swete) like the overshadowing of Israel by the Shekinah and a possible allusion also to the tents (skenai) of the feast of tabernacles and to the tent of meeting where God met Moses (Ex. 33:7-11)" (Robertson).
"We know for sure that this is not the church, for the church is never identified with the temple. At the end of this Book, when the church is in the New Jerusalem. There is no temple there. The church will never have a temple. There is going to be one here on the earth, but there is not one in heaven where the church is. Therefore, this could not be the church" (McGee).
Verse 16, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat."
LGT "They will not hunger any more neither will they thirst any more, nor at all will the sun fall on them nor the heat."
During the Great Tribulation those who would refuse to bear the mark of the Beast, as we will learn later on in the book, will starve to death; they will be unable to buy food or drink, and some will be tortured with horrible methods. We saw how that beast Saddam Hussein tortured his own people; Saddam Hussein will look like a Sunday school teacher compared to the Great Tribulation Beast.
Verse 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."
LGT "Because the Lamb Who is in the middle of the throne will shepherd them, and will guide them unto living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear out of their eyes."
"This company has had it; they have been through the Great Tribulation. Most of them, I believe, were martyrs and laid down their lives for Christ. Although we are not specifically told that, they are presented to us as being before the throne of God in heaven. The things that are mentioned now are things they have endured. They are not going to hunger or thirst - they apparently did. They have been out in the burning heat of the sun. They have also been thirsty for spiritual things, which they did not have. And they wept, but now God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. They made it through the Great Tribulation because of the blood of the Lamb. This is a wonderful company of folk that is presented to us here" (T. T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
This chapter ends the interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals; chapter eight opens with the opening of the seventh seal.
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