Image: "All Different Colors", 2021, Canyon Walls, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (image intentionally tilted for full effect)
Revelation 7:2–3 Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Revelation 7:9–10 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:14–17 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and 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 dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
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The poetic impact of Revelation 7 should evoke gasps of wonder from us.
In chapter 6 we saw that God's guidance of history, centered on and around His Son, was to bring about His glorious ultimate purpose in and through temporal judgments in time and space. There was a mounting crescendo in their effect culminating in the "sixth seal" when the "great Day of His wrath has come." We saw that, though God in heaven sits serenely on His throne, yet on earth there are wars and famines and persecutions and difficulties that often seem too great to bear. In its total effect and, especially, in the dark terrors of its concluding phase, fallen, sinful, man cries out "who is able to stand?"
Chapter 7 answers that question.
In verse 7:1 we see the "four angels" that are holding the powerful winds of God and they are told to pause and not harm the earth for a moment. We should understand these verses as a "stop-action" scene in a movie. You know the effect. Actors are running around, perhaps jumping over a car, bullets are flying - and suddenly everyone and everything freezes in place on the screen. The action stops because the movie director or playwright wants to add some explanatory commentary to the projection.
In these verses, God "freezes" the ongoing judgments in space and time to reveal to His hard-pressed and beloved people exactly who is able to stand and why.
We must understand that God's covenant people, living through these same periods of judgment, are not exempt from pain and suffering. Just as God spoke to the people of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9 and told a man in "white linen" (Ezek. 9:4) to "put a mark on the foreheads of the men" whose hearts were broken over that judgment falling on the city, so here, God is telling us that He has sent His angel to mark us out for ultimate blessing... even in the midst of the judgments falling all around us.
The people of Jerusalem, elect and reprobate alike, suffered in Ezekiel's day. The same is true for us today. But this firm foundation remains: "The Lord knows those who are His!" (2 Tim. 2:19) We are told, immediately, that in the progress of history God has set aside the fullness of people elect from every one of the 12 tribes of Israel. (Rev. 7: 4-8) Note the symbolism of the numbers: twelve tribes with twelve thousand from each, making up the perfect completion (144,000) of God's harvest from the Jews. Note that in actual history the different tribes varied widely in their numbers. Yet here the larger and smaller tribes all are said to produce the same 12,000. There are two ways to think of this: (1) each tribe was designed from the beginning to only produce 12,000 total members who were elect of God. This is overly simplistic. Rather, it makes more sense, to reason (2) that 12,000 is not an actual number but represents the fullness of elect believers that was each tribe's contribution to the ultimate number.
Then we see a different group of people (vs. 9ff), a "great multitude" beyond numbering and they come from all "nations, tribes, people and tongues" to join with the 144,000 elected from Israel. Here we have the far greater number of those chosen for salvation from across the whole earth. They are not entirely comprised of New Testament era believers because we know that God saved some non-Jewish people in the OT, but, by far and away, the greatest portion of them are those whom God brings to Himself through the Church of Jesus Christ.
Together, these two groups, constitute the "Israel of God", the covenant people that He has set aside for Himself, signed them as His own, sealed them with the mark of authenticity, and then, ultimately in time but immediately in Spirit, has delivered them into His Presence for eternal blessing.
Note the great blessing to which we are signed, sealed, and delivered. We are to rejoice before the throne of God and have the astonishing privilege of having God Himself, in the Person of His Son, dwelling among us. (vs. 15) We will no longer be wounded by pain and suffering nor will starvation rack our bodies because our personal God will feed us, shepherd us, and wipe away every tear from our eyes.
In the midst of raging judgment, showing itself all about us, which all too often brings suffering to us and our loved ones, the action is frozen and God whispers into our ears, "don't fear... I have sealed you to Myself and your salvation is on its way."
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