This episode examines Revelation 7:1-8, where the scene shifts from the opening of the seven seals that release judgment to a different kind of seal that signifies protection and promise. J. Mark explores the actions of the angelic messengers as they hold back the winds, withhold judgment, and seal the servants of God from among the tribes of Israel. He unpacks the significance of these actions and what they reveal about the nature of God.
Transcript
In our previous two episodes, we examined the opening of the first six seals of the seven-sealed scroll. In ancient times, seals were used in a variety of ways. They sealed storage jars, boxes, and doors. They were also used to protect documents from tampering and to prove their trustworthiness. They indicated authority and ownership. Remember, when Jesus was buried, Pilate affixed a Roman seal to the stone, so that any tampering or movement would be immediately noticeable. The consequences for breaking an official seal were severe.
As we move into chapter seven of the book of Revelation, seals continue to play an important role in the unveiling of prophecy, but the application is different. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession…”
This sealing is a mark of ownership; you and I belong to Christ, and it is the kind of seal we will encounter in our study of Revelation 7:1-8. I’ve titled our study, “The Sealed Servants.” Now, here is the Word of God.
7 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.
2 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.”
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:
5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
Before we begin our study of chapter seven, I remind you that the Tribulation period of chapters 6-18 includes three series of great judgments. They are the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. Chapter six details the opening of the first six seals and brings us to the very threshold of the day of wrath.
The previous chapter, chapter six, ends with a question from those experiencing God’s justice. “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who can stand?” The answer to that question is – only those who have or will receive the mark of their identity with the Lamb.
One would naturally expect the immediate mention and opening of the 7th seal. However, instead of the seventh seal being opened, the scene shifts to a divine interlude. The words “after these things” signal a new vision for the apostle John. “After these things” doesn’t necessarily mean sequence in time; that is difficult to determine. It may be merely a sequence in the order of the vision.
Chapter 7 identifies two distinct groups of people and records the activities around them. They are the sealing of the Jews and the vision of the redeemed before God’s throne. We will concentrate on the former.
This text highlights several ACTIONS taken by angelic messengers that interrupted the opening of the seven-sealed scroll.
The First ACTION is,
Holding the Winds
After viewing the tremendous devastation wrought by the opening of the six seals, John sees four angels standing at the four points of the compass and firmly holding back the four winds of the earth so they could not blow on the earth, on the sea, or against any tree (like a tornado). The description implies that they are about to unleash the destructive forces of the winds on the earth. Further events will confirm this implication.
This is an interesting picture. Here, we have angels designated as keepers of the wind. In Revelation 14:18, we have an angel controlling fire, and in 16:5, an angel controlling the waters. God, the Creator, uses the forces of nature to accomplish His purposes. The Greek word krateo indicates the winds are struggling to break free from their restraint. It is only the mercy of God, exercised through these heavenly beings, that temporarily forestalls further wrath.
Some people look at the book of Revelation as a book of doom and judgment, and there is plenty of that in it. But it is also a book of mercy. The judgments being poured out are meant to motivate the wicked to repent (see Revelation 16, especially). The prophet, Habakkuk, at an extremely dark time for God’s people, just before the Babylonian captivity of Judah, cried out to God, “O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years, make it known; in wrath, remember mercy. ”That is the picture we’re seeing in our text.
We have seen that the day of God’s wrath is about to come (Rev. 6:15-17); so God brings a lull in the storm and extends His mercy to Jew and Gentile alike.
The Next ACTION is,
Withholding Judgment
As John observes, these four angels and their actions, he sees another angel ascending from the east. To John, exiled on Patmos, Jerusalem lay to the east, toward the sunrise. The angel bears the seal or signet of the living, eternal God. This angel from the east has a message for the 4 angels who have the power to hurt the earth. The possibility of injury comes from letting the winds loose, not from withholding them. These winds will be released in Revelation 9:13-15.
This angel bears the seal or signet of the living, eternal God. His seal authenticates and affirms the message’s authority. It will also be used for a special purpose. Accordingly, the single angel commands the four with a loud voice, “Do not hurt the earth, the sea, nor the trees until we seal the servants of our God in/on their foreheads.”
Sometimes, when we read Scripture, it’s easy to miss details that may seem minor to us, yet they carry significance. Did you notice what this lone angel from the east said? His message was, “Do not bring destruction until ‘we’ seal the servants of God.” In other words, he was asking the four who held back the winds to join him in this official mission of marking God’s chosen ones. Once their mission is completed, the destructive forces will be released.
Regarding the significance of a seal for persons, 2 Timothy 2:19 tells us, “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those being His,’ and, ‘Let everyone naming the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” And Paul writing to the Ephesians, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The use of a seal or mark as an identifier appears in our text and in Revelation 9 and 14. The prophet, Ezekiel, records, “Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side. The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it,” Ezekiel 9:3-6.
To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.”
One purpose for this sealing may be that these servants of God will be exempt from the torments that will be unleashed upon all who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads (Revelation 9:4)
The Final ACTION is,
Selecting the Jews
In verse 1, John saw the four angels holding back the four winds. Likewise, in verse 2, he saw the angel from the east, bearing the seal of God and bringing a specific message. But in verse 4, he says, “I heard the number of those who were sealed.” We can only assume that an angel or some other heavenly voice makes these pronouncements. This number is most likely representative of perfection – 12 x 12 x 1,000 = 144,000.
“After the tribal numbers are called, John will ‘look’ to see a multitude of people from all nations that no one can count (Revelation 7:9). This description of John’s auditory and visual experiences is crucial for understanding the relationship between the 144,000 of Israel and the great crowd of multination worshippers of Israel’s God. John hears the first group, but sees the second.”[1] We encountered this same dynamic when John was told about the victorious Lion, only to turn and see a Lamb (Revelation 5:5-6).
Since we are focused on the first half of the chapter, we will confine our discussion to the first group. Who are they and whom do they represent? Taking the text literally, we read, “One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.” The authors of Hebrew Visions of Revelation, Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg and Pinchas Shir (whom I quoted earlier), have differing views on the identity of this group.
Eli sees the audible description of the 144,000 and the vision of the multinational crowd as the same. Pinchas, on the other hand, sees the 144,000 as representing only the tribes of Israel. In addressing this difference, they write, “Perhaps the basis behind this question of identification or at least connection is the place or standing of God-fearing nations in the Jewish Christ. This is a critically important relationship to keep in mind as you read Revelation. The nations intersect with the redemptive figure that comes from the domain of Israel. And their encounter is grace, an unmerited favor.”[2]
My personal belief is that what unfolds in verses 9-17 indicates that this first group is specifically representative of the Jewish people. That is the most literal reading of the text. God’s promise of a new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-33 is clearly made with Israel and Judah, not with the nations of the world. However, Isaiah tells us of a future in which the nations of the world will come and worship Israel’s God alongside the people of Israel. Further, salvation history clearly teaches that Israel is the nation through which God chose to bring the Messiah. In Acts 15, the apostles decided the church does not need to become Jewish, but it also does not replace Israel.
There has been a lot of ink spilled over the listing of the tribes in this text. Before we read too much into it, we must realize that there are 24 listings of the 12 tribes in the Hebrew Scriptures. Some are brief lists, while others are spread across several chapters discussing the division of the land and related topics. The order of the names also varies from place to place. It seems the writers shuffled the tribes to suit what they were trying to communicate.
While the tribal records were lost when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in A.D. 70, God knows who belongs to each tribe. This passage also teaches us that the so-called “ten lost tribes” were, in fact, never lost. Instead, representatives from the ten northern tribes filtered south, intermingled with the two southern tribes (see 2 Chronicles), and thus were preserved.
We may wonder why maintaining Jewish tribal identities in the future is necessary. However, God consistently frames His relationship with humanity in the context of families. In our text and in Revelation 21, we encounter the tribes, which are families. Even with the inauguration of the New Covenant, these tribes’ existence is upheld rather than eliminated.
One particular item in this listing is noteworthy: Judah’s place at the head of the tribal list. Even though Judah was not the firstborn, he is most likely given prominence here because the Messiah came through his family. Reuben forfeited his birthright as punishment for his sexual misconduct with his father’s concubine (1 Chronicles 5:1). Finally, Judah and Joseph received the most important blessings from Jacob in Genesis chapter 49. This strengthens the rationale for the list we’re considering.
These Jewish believers and evangelists are the first fruits of Israel, which as a nation will be redeemed during the Tribulation before Christ’s Second Coming. Zechariah prophesied, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. On that day, there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself,” (Zechariah 12:10-12).
The 144,000 are not the total sum of Jewish believers at that time, but a unique group selected to proclaim the gospel in that day (Revelation 14:1–5). “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang, as it were, a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.”
“This critical passage (our text) reinforces the biblical truth that God is not through with the nation of Israel (cf. Rom. 9–11). Though Israel failed in its mission to be a witness nation in the Old Testament, that will not be the case in the future. From the Jewish people will come the greatest missionary force the world has ever known. The result of their effort will be a redeemed Israel, as promised by God, and innumerable redeemed Gentiles.”[3]
They will most likely be the means of fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction in Matthew 24:14. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
The time spoken of in our text hasn’t yet arrived, but rest assured, it is coming! God has never made a promise He does not intend to keep. I leave you with the words of the writer of Hebrews, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” Amen.
[1] Lizorkin-Eyzenberg, Eli, and Shir, Pinchas, Hebrew Visions from Revelation, p. 32
[2] Lizorkin-Eyzenberg, Eli, and Shir, Pinchas, Hebrew Visions from Revelation, p. 33
[3] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 312
