Revelation 7:9 Devotion

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9)

"After these things", means that this is the next vision John saw, not that the events depicted therein will necessarily occur immediately after those of the previous vision. In fact, the vision records events following the depiction of the final judgment in (Rev. 6:12-17). The group here pictured is the same as in (Rev. 5:9), the end-time people of God from every tongue and nation prophesied in (Dan. 7:14, 22, and 27). These saints are those of God's people already glorified, for this scene takes place in heaven, "before the throne" of God. Having earned their reward through faithful perseverance in tribulation, they are now enjoying the presence of the Lord in eternity. The "great multitude, which no one could count" is the promise seed of Abraham, the "multitude of nations" (Gen. 17:5), which were "too many to count" (Gen. 32:12 and 16:10). The descendants or the "seed" who would become so numerous according to these Abrahamic promises refer not to the nations in general but specifically to the future multiplication of Israel in Egypt, and thereafter in the Promised Land. The "great multitude" in v. 9 is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise and thus yet another way in which Revelation refers to Christians throughout the world as the true Israel. The palm branches allude to the Feast of Tabernacles, in which palm branches were used to build the booths in which the Jews live during the feast (Lev. 23:40-43). The Feast celebrates God's protection of the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert, and in the same way God seals His faithful ones during the present age. The imagery originally applied to Israel is now applied by John to people from all nations, who rejoice in their latter-day exodus redemption, in their victory over their persecutors and in the fact that God has protected them subsequently during their wilderness pilgrimage (Rev. 12:6,14) through the "great tribulation" (Rev. 7:13-14). 

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation 7:4 144,000?

"And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel"

(Revelation 7:4)

Who are the 144,000? They are unlikely to be literal Israelites living at the very end of history during a severe tribulation, nor are they literal Israelites living during the desecration of Israel's second temple in the first century, for in either case God's protection would apply only to ethnic Jews-and a limited number of them-rather than to His people redeemed from every nation, including Jewish believers in Jesus. Such a suggestion would be alien to the teaching of the New Testament, read Galatians, four instance.

A better understanding comes from the context. In (Rev. 5:9), the Lamb is said to have purchased with His blood "men from every tribe and tongue and people and  nation." In (Rev.14:3-4), the 144,000 are said to have been purchased "from the earth" and purchased "from among men." The almost identical language suggests that the two are the same group-the church of all ages. This would explain why, immediately after the vision of the sealing, John sees a great multitude of people from every nation and tribe and people and tongue (Rev. 7:9). 

All Satan's followers bear his mark or name, and all of the Lamb's followers must bear the Lamb's mark or name-hence, all believers in Christ throughout the ages are sealed and must be included in the 144,000.

But why speak of a specific number? In (Rev. 21:13-14), the 12 tribes and 12 apostles together form the foundational structure of the new Jerusalem. Multiplying 12 x 12 equals 144, representing the entire people of God through the ages. Multiplying that figure by 1000 reinforces the notion of completeness.

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation 7:2-3 Devotion

"Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." (Revelation 7:2-3)

The picture of the seal here is the same as what we seen by Ezekiel  when the Lord commands the angel to put a mark on the foreheads of those who hate sin before He strikes the city in judgment (Ezek. 9:4-6). This mark protects them spiritually and likely also physically from the coming judgment. This is comparable to the mark of blood on the doors of the Israelites so that they would be protected from God's judgment on Egypt (Exod. 12:7,13,22-28). This becomes significant when we note that this mark protects believers during the period of the trumpet and bowl plagues, which, as we shall see, are closely modeled on the plagues of Egypt.

The demonic powers are forbidden to harm those with the seal of God on their forehead. Uppermost in John's mind is not physical security, but protection of the believers' faith and salvation from the various sufferings and persecutions that are inflicted upon them, whether by Satan or his demonic and earthly agents. The sealing  enables God's people to respond in faith to the trials through which they pass so that these trials become the very instruments by which they are strengthened in their faith. But the trials that purify God's servants result in hardening the ungodly in their response to God. 

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation (7:1)

"After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree."

(Revelation 7:1)

Chapter 7, is retelling the story of chapter 6, things to come, the same story, but uses a different image -- winds instead of horsemen. In this way, the imagery is a repetition of the vision of Zechariah 6 where four chariots are horsemen are said to represent the four "winds" (NIV has "spirits", Zech. 6:5). The angels of chapter 7 are given power to restrain the "winds" of destruction. No wind is to blow "on the land or on the sea or on any tree" (7:1). What was attributed to instruments of evil in chapter 6 is now attributed to angels in chapter 7. God is the ultimate sovereign over all events. Even Satan does His bidding in the end.

The question remains: who can stand? It is a question which this seventh chapter seeks to answer in a way that elicits the greatest relief to the people of God. First, the repetition of the verb "to stand" at the end of chapter and the beginning of chapter 7 (6:17; 7:1) tells us immediately that the angels of heaven are unaffected by the turmoil described. They are safe and secure. They are standing firm (7:1,11). Evil, in all its machinations, does not unsettle them of their God-given positions. Throughout the turmoil, they continue to serve and worship (7:11). Heaven is a safe place, and worship continues unhindered even when hell itself breaks lose to destroy the world below.

(Derek Thomas)

Revelation (6:15-17) Devotional

"Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

(Revelation 6:15-17)

Now, what is he doing by giving that whole seven-step, strata of humanity? He’s showing completeness, because that’s what the word seven implies in Revelation. It is a totality. It is completeness. It is all of humanity apart from the redeemed. And what does he say happens? They cry out to the rocks and to the trees to hide them. They hide themselves in caves. Can you imagine these great kings trying to hide in a cave, these wealthy men who own land and people, and they’re hiding themselves in caves? You see the picture that John’s giving us? When the Day of Judgment comes, all the things you have, all that you have acquired, all the status that you have in life means absolutely nothing, nothing! All those things that you’ve given yourself to, all of those things that you thought were so important, so that you had no need for God becomes totally unimportant on that great day.

When that day comes, there is the cry, “‘Fall on us, hide us from the presence of God and the Lamb, for the great day of the wrath has come!’” Then they ask this question, “Who is able to stand?” You know the answer. No one. No one; except for those upon whom the wrath of God was spent on Jesus Christ. 

(Dr. Phil A. Newton)

Revelation 6:13 Devotional

"And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale."

(Revelation 6:13)

What we have here is a symbolic picture of the terror of the judgment day. The symbol, taken as a whole, teaches us just one lesson, namely, that the final and complete effusion of God's wrath upon a world that has persecuted the Church will be terrible indeed.

In the stars of the heaven falling to the earth, as a figtree casts her winter figs when shaken by a violent wind. No doubt John had often seen those winter figs hidden under the leaves until they dry up and come down in showers when a violent wind shakes the trees. In similar showers the stars are seen falling out of their orbits. They fall to the earth. Not comets, or meteors, but stars. You say: how is this possible? The earth is altogether too small for even a single star to fall upon it. Again, we reminded you that this is a picture. In pictures things are possible which are not possible in reality. When we say this, we do not deny, of course, that there will be a most thorough-going dislocation of the heavenly bodies and a rejuvenation of the universe, in connection with the end of this present age. But the main point of our passage is this: it stresses the terror of the day of rest for the wicked. The dissolving elements, earthquake, falling stars, etc., ad terror to the picture.

(William Hendriksen)

Revelation 6:12 Devotion

"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,"

(Revelation 6:12)

The scene jumps to the Day of Judgment. I’ve mentioned this before and I will reiterate this from time to time: Revelation is not chronologically precise. If you’ve got your chart out, and you’re going through the chapters of Revelation, and you’re charting everything, and you’re trying to put a date on it, then you are going to be squeezing some square pegs in round holes. John doesn’t operate like that. What he’s doing is helping us to look, to think about the context. He’s helping these struggling Christians. They’re struggling over persevering, over endurance, over pressing on, over being faithful, over living to the glory of Christ, instead of living for themselves and falling back into idolatry. And so he helps them by giving them occasional views of The End. John keeps The End in view without losing sight of the present, and he shows that present endurance will be vindicated in the end. So there’s this overlapping that takes place in Revelation. And so, here we get to the sixth seal, and John shows us The End. Now, he’s not going to stay there, but he wants us to see what happens in The End.

The first thing we notice is that the Day of Judgment is cataclysmic. The language that is used here is borrowed from the Old Testament, as well as the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. 

John said, “I looked, when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake.” Now these people understood about earthquakes. The folks that lived in Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea had already seen their cities totally destroyed by earthquakes. They had heard of what had happened just a decade or so before in the area known as Pompey, when Mount Vesuvius blew its top, and that whole area was shaken by a gigantic volcano and earthquake. They knew about these things. He said, “There was a great earthquake.

He’s using pictures in order to give them some ideas about physical and natural occurrences of tragedy; but he’s showing them something of much greater proportion. John is not trying to give them literal descriptions of what’s taking place. Instead, he is stretching their imaginations and our imaginations. For instance, the stars falling to the earth: now, how big are stars? The sun is a star that’s a whole vastly larger than the earth. Now, we understand that, we know those kinds of things; so he’s not trying to be literal. He’s trying to help us understand that everything is being shaken, that the Day of Judgment is an unrepeatable event, and it is an incomparable event, and when it happens it’s going to affect everything.

(Dr. Phil A. Newton)