Revelation 7: Chosen People

 Revelation 7: Chosen People

v1-8: Sealing of the 144,000 Israelites

After the 6th seal was open in last chapter, John saw four angels standing at the corners of the earth and they were holding back the four winds. Another angel rose from "the rising of the sun", i.e. from the East, and he has the seal of God. He called out to the 4 angels not to harm the earth and the sea, until the servants of God are sealed on their foreheads. (v1-3)

The four angels had the power to harm the earth and the sea (v2), but they were instructed to hold back the winds first until the servants of God are sealed. The word "wind" had been used to represents the destruction force of God's judgement. (See Hosea 13:15). 

David Guzik proposed that the 4 winds are the 4 horsemen in Rev 6. An example is in Zechariah 6:1-8, who was describing four chariots with the same colors, and he called them the four spirit of heaven. Guzik said: "Spirits in that passage translates the Hebrew word ruach, which can also be translated winds."

The angel with God's seal will mark the foreheads of the servants, 144,000 of them. There were 12,000 of them from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. (See Q&A on the list of tribes.) These Israelite were chosen to preach the gospel, then the sealing would have been done in the early tribulation years, so that they have more time to convert people to Jesus. 

However, what is amazing is that 10 of the tribes have been lost, since they were exiled by the Assyrians that ruled before the Babylonians. That's why the remaining people were called Jews, ie. the people from Judah's tribe. Jews also include the Benjamin tribe, which is a small tribe, hence their name is not reflected. The miracle is that only God knows how to identify the 10 tribes, and will bring all 12 tribes together again.

This sealing of the Israelites remind us that we, the believers, are also sealed by the holy spirit. "God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

v9-17: Multitude from Every Nation

John then saw a great multitude from every nation standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothes in white robe and palm branches in their hand. They cried out “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Then the angels and the elders fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (9-12)

One of the elders told John that the multitude are those “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation", and they have been made righteous ("washed their robes and made them white") in the blood of the Lamb. (13-14) These are people that became Christians during the tribulation from the preaching of the 144,000 Israelites. 

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In Rev 6:10, there was another multitude. The difference between that multitude is that they were all "slain" in the tribulation, while this multitude just "came out" from the tribulation. It appears they did not die before showing up in heaven. Many people believe that this is the rapture and occurs at the end of tribulation. (post-tribulation view)

Some say there are two raptures. The first one is for those who were saved before the tribulation, and was raptured before tribulation started. Others think that those people were raptured during mid-tribulation. 

The fact that John can tell that the people are from every nation and tongues means that we will retain our own races and languages. We will still be unique individuals in heaven. 

The palms branches were used to celebrated victory, and remind us of the Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. (John 12:12-16). 

They will serve God day and night in His temple, and God will "shelter" them with His presence. They will never hunger or thirst or discomfort from the sun. (v15-16)

In NKJ,  the word "shelter" is translated to "dwell". i.e "And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them." In NASB, it was translated to ".. will spread His tabernacle over them."  The differences in translation are due to the nuances of the original Greek text and the interpretative choices made by the translators. However, the central idea remains the same across all versions: God’s protective presence will be with the believers. 

His desire to dwell with us was since the days of Adam but was broken through sin. He tried again during Moses days by giving His Leviticus laws to the Israelites and He dwelled in the Tabernacles and subsequently the temples. However, He left them after they failed to obey the laws. Today, He (the Holy Spirit) dwells with us in our hearts, through Grace after His Son became the sacrifice for our sins. 

The Lamb will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of living water, and "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (v17)

I used to believe that we will have tears when we arrive in heaven, regretting our sins and forgetting to serve God on earth. While that may be true for some of us, but these "eyes" belong to those who "came out from the Great Tribulation." It is amazing that God's love still reach beyond the tribulation to save people, even though they had never believed before in their life. That's why the angels praised God when they saw them, for " ... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:10 (KJV)

 

Q&A

1. The tribes of Israel

Jacob (renamed by God to Israel) had 12 sons. Each son's descendants are the tribes of Israel. However, Joseph has 2 tribes named after his two sons, i.e Ephraim and Manasseh. These two are called the "half-tribes".  So there are actually 13 tribes, but we still refer to Israel having 12 tribes. 

In verse 5-8, they name the tribes as: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin. 

Since Manasseh was mentioned, then the tribe of "Joseph" actually represents Ephraim. However the tribe of Dan was left out. We don't know why, but we know that Dan was the tribe that introduced idolatry into the nation of Israel (Judges 18:30). Guzik said this "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)."