7
Parenthesis
The sealed of Israel
1 And after this* I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,† holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow upon the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the sun's rising, having the seal of the Living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it had been granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying: “Do not harm the earth, nor the sea nor the trees, until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph‡ twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.§
A multitude from the Great Tribulation
9 After these things I looked, and wow, a great multitude that no one could number, from all ethnic nations and tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and having palm branches in their hands. 10 And they shouted with a loud voice saying, “Saved by our God who sits on the throne, and by the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood around the Throne, and the elders and the four living beings, and they fell down before the Throne, on their faces, and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
The blessing and the glory
and the wisdom and the thanksgiving
and the honor and the power
and the strength to our God
for ever and ever!
Amen.”
13 And one of the elders reacted, saying to me, “Who are these that are clothed in the white robes,* and where did they come from?” 14 So I said to him, “My lord, you know.”† So he said to me: “These are those who come out of the Great Tribulation—they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.‡ 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary.§ And He who sits on the throne will shelter them. 16 They shall not hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore; the sun will absolutely not strike them, nor any heat; 17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of waters* of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”†
* 7:1 He saw the content of chapter seven after he saw the content of chapter six, but the events described are not necessarily in chronological order. It should not be assumed that nothing else happened between the seals, or even at the same time. However, the seals are broken in sequence. † 7:1 The Text says “the four corners” and “the four winds”. Presumably from John's perspective the earth would look like a sphere (or a circle)—so perhaps the angels were strategically placed so as to control the whole planet. There are four basic wind patterns that influence most of the world—the north and south ‘trade winds’ and the north and south ‘prevailing westerlies’. ‡ 7:8 “Joseph” stands for Ephraim. Since Levi is counted here (usually he isn't) and Joseph has two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, someone has to be dropped—Dan. From both Jacob (Genesis 49:16-17) and Moses (Deuteronomy 33:22) he got the least impressive ‘blessing’. § 7:8 Linguistically speaking, in terms of the norms of language, a phrase like “the tribe of Asher” can only have one meaning, precisely the meaning that it has everywhere else in the Bible. Ezekiel chapter 37 makes very clear that ‘the ten lost tribes’ are not lost at all—God knows exactly who and where they are, and at the right moment they will be restored. * 7:13 I take it that we should refer back to the fifth seal, 6:11 above—in that event those martyrs were also killed during the Great Tribulation, just earlier on. Perhaps at this point (7:13) the predetermined number of martyrs is now complete (in 6:11 it was not). † 7:14 John understands that the elder is offering information and tells him to go ahead. ‡ 7:14 Assuming a pre-Abomination-of-Desolation rapture of the Church (because of the surprise factor, but see the note at 2 Thessalonians 2:2), I take it that multiplied millions of church members will be left behind—they knew the Gospel but were never really regenerated. When they see that they have been left behind they will fall on their faces before God saying: “Oh Lord, have mercy; if I never believed before I do now!” There will be many millions of conversions in the first hours after the Rapture. People were saved in the OT without the indwelling Holy Spirit, and they will be too. But they will have to face the Beast and most of them will be martyred. Notice that they say, “Saved by our God… and by the Lamb.” Apparently there is a sovereign act of God (the Father) involved here, with the blood of the Lamb as the basis. § 7:15 How does one “serve” in this sanctuary? I suppose by worship and praise. * 7:17 That is what the Text says, “waters”, plural. Might there be different kinds of water, or just different sources? † 7:17 To do this, will He also remove the memories that bring the tears?