Bible Commentaries
Revelation 7

Verses 1-17

PREPARING THE CHURCH FOR TROUBLE

Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God… Revelation 7:2

We believers must be sealed for what is about to happen. We must understand how urgent and important this is. Here we see the vision of a great multitude in white robes. Now that we have had our preview of the coming day, we learn that something must happen before it befalls us. There must be preparation – intense preparation. The saints must be sealed (cf. Ezekiel 9:4-6). Through the power of the risen Christ and through his Holy Spirit, they alone will stand in this awful day.

We see that four mighty angels are actually holding back the evil winds of tribulation until the servants of God can be sealed in their foreheads (7:1-3). This seal is a pledge of safety. ^(F1) It is obviously a seal in the minds of God's people that they may know how to conduct themselves in the terrible trials ahead.^(F2) This sealing appears to be closely connected with the work of the Holy Spirit as we see in Ephesians 4:30, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

This sealing or protection of the righteous was prefigured in the account of Noah and in the experience of the Hebrew children in Goshen. Noah's ark was sealed both without and within (Genesis 6:14). He was so protected that God destroyed the world with Noah and his family still in it. They were kept safe because of the seal. We read in Matthew 24:37, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Regarding the Hebrew children, we see in Exodus 9:4 and 11:7, that they and their livestock were protected during the great plagues that fell upon the land of Egypt. God made a difference between his people and the people of Egypt (Exodus 8:23). They were also later kept safe from the death angel. They were sealed by the lamb's blood.

The Bible talks about this subject on many occasions. The sealing and preparation are clearly matters of the heart and mind. In Jeremiah 10:2, the righteous are instructed, "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them." Proverbs 3:25-26 states, "Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared."

In Proverbs 2:7-8 we read, "He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones."

In Psalm 46:2 the Psalmist advises, "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." There are many other wonderful Psalms of protection such as Psalm 27:1-3, 5 and 91:1-8. Indeed, the Book of Psalms may become the hymnal for last-day saints.

God says to his faithful and beloved, "Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me" (Psalm 50:14-15).

In many other scriptures God vows to protect his own. Psalm 33:18-19 states, "But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine." We remember how the prophet Elijah was miraculously delivered from famine for three-and-one-half-years, a period of time very similar to that of the Great Tribulation (1 Kings 17:1-16).

Indeed, we see that "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them" (Psalm 34:7). The sun will not harm them by day or the moon by night (Psalm 121:6). Joel the prophet in speaking about the day of the Lord says, "…But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel" (Joel 3:16b).

In 2 Peter 2:9, the apostle assures us that, "…the Lord knows how to rescue godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment."

This seal of God obviously does not keep God's saints from martyrdom, should God choose this course. It is rather designed to keep them from giving up or denying their Lord under the awful pressures of the end-times. It is a form of spiritual protection. In Romans 8:35 Paul asks, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…"

We will note later in Revelation 13:16 that the followers of the Beast or Antichrist will also receive a mark or seal in their foreheads. It is clear throughout the book that what God does the devil tries his best to emulate.

The number of saints sealed is said to be 144,000 (7:4). This is obviously a symbolic reckoning, meant to represent completeness. The scripture states that these are from the twelve tribes of Israel, and that twelve thousand come from each tribe. However, it becomes apparent that all twelve natural tribes are not all represented here.

Yet, the great multitude that we see after this includes people from "every nation, tribe, people and language" (7:9). John is then told who these people are. The heavenly messenger says, "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" (7:14).

Some have maintained that the first group (7:4-8) is made up of Jews and the second group (7:9-17) is made up of Gentiles. This identification does not seem to be workable on several counts. ^(F3) Such a proposed dividing of Israel and the church would obviously do great violence to their end-time unity spoken of in Ephesians 2:11-21. Beale, sees this group as "the totality of God's people throughout the ages who are viewed as true Israelites." ^(F4)

The Greek language of 7:14 conveys the idea of continuous action: that they are still arriving out of the tribulation rather than merely escaping from it. ^(F5) What we likely have here is a picture of "all Israel," prepared for one final and awful act of suffering and even martyrdom on behalf of the Lamb and his kingdom.

This figure includes the believing remnant of Israel and the believing remnant of the Gentiles who have been grafted into the olive tree of Israel, as we see in Romans 11:17-18. We must remember that God promised to make Abraham a father of many nations (Genesis 17:4). What we almost certainly have here is the emergence of the "new man" that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 2:12-20 and 3:6.

As we said, whatever God does, Satan tries his best to emulate. It is certainly interesting today that there is a great and sudden aspiration in the Moslem world for martyrdom." While real martyrdom is laying down one's life for God and for the sake of others, this false martyrdom seeks to destroy as many others as possible. All this might indicate that a true and worldwide Christian martyrdom is not far away.

In the remainder of this chapter, these faithful co-sufferers with Christ spend their time rejoicing before his throne. They have finished their course and kept the faith. God will wipe away all tears from their eyes (7:17). They will now enjoy the blessing of God's presence forever.