Revelation Chapter 7

Rev 7:1-8.

1 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.

One thing that happens during this interlude is the sealing of the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe. What are these 144,000 being sealed for? The angels that carry out the wrath of God are told not to hurt anything until the servants of God are sealed, so it is obvious that they are sealed for protection during the wrath of God. This sealing also shows ownership to God.

From the only other passage that refers explicitly to the 144,000, we learn that "these are the ones who have not been defiled with women [i.e., have not committed spiritual adultery], for they have kept themselves [spiritually] chaste. These are the ones that follow the Lamb where ever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and the Lamb" (Rev. 14:4).

When the church is raptured, the 144,000 will not be taken with the saints because they will not as yet have been brought into a saving relationship with their Messiah. Just as God prophesied through Ezekiel: "I shall bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I shall enter into judgment with you face to face...And I shall make you pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the bond of covenant" (Ezekiel 20:35,37).

The 144,000 are also said to be the "firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb" (Rev. 14:4). They are the forerunners of a host of Jewish people who will survive the day of the Lord and come to the Savior at the end of the seventieth week. What is abundantly clear and was obviously important to the angel is the fact that the 144,000 Jews must be sealed before the wrath of God begins.

Therefore, when the sign of the end of the age extinguishes the heavenly lights, and the sign of Christ's return fills the darkened universe with the glory of Christ, the angels of God will gather His elect from the four corners of the earth to meet the Lord in the air. Then and only then, will the 144,000 preserving Jews (those who have kept themselves spiritually chaste up to this point during the seventieth week) be brought "into the bond of covenant" described by Ezekiel. It is at this point, then, that the "woman" (God-fearing Jews who flee into the wilderness and who have been made to "pass under the rod") will receive the seal of God in their foreheads (Rev. 9:4) and become the firstfruit (Rev. 14:4) unto Christ of unbelieving Israel, brought into "the bond of covenant." However, those of the nation of Israel, in general (those who initially support the covenant but nevertheless refuse to give their allegiance to Antichrist and who refuse to flee into the wilderness when given the chance, yet somehow survived the great tribulation by Antichrist) will be saved only after the day of the Lord's refinement of them, after "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in" (Rom. 11:25) --that is, after the seventieth week is complete and God brings in "everlasting righteousness" (Dan. 9:24), "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." At the end of the seventieth week Israel's estrangement from God will come to an end--when God shall bring in "everlasting righteousness" when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:25,26).

Rev. 7:9-17.

9 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!"

11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

12 saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."

13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?"

14 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."

Another great event that takes place during this break between the sixth and seventh seal is the appearance of a Great multitude in heaven. The big question is, who is this great multitude that no man can number, from every nation, kindred, tribe and tongues that suddenly appears before the throne? Notice that this multitude appears just before the wrath of God is out poured.

Despite the remarkable parallel of Revelation to the Olivet Discourse and to the teaching of Paul, some interpreters take this multitude to be martyred Gentile believers. According to this view, these Gentile believers are converted in a worldwide revival that occurs during the great tribulation and are subsequently martyred after the rapture, sometime during the seventieth week--which contradicts their position that the seventieth week is totally Jewish in emphasis and in character. Because the pretribulational school of thought maintains that the church cannot be on earth during the seventieth week, the most incredible Gentile turning to God for salvation, of all time, would have to occur during a time when their belief demands that God has returned His emphasis back solely to Israel! Yet to the contrary, Paul teaches that when the Antichrist "takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God...God will send upon them [the Gentile world) a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who had not believed the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (2 Thess. 2:4,11,12). After the Antichrist proclaims himself to be God, and demands the world's worship, during the great tribulation, the unbelieving and unrepentant world will become more and more spiritually deluded--by Antichrist, by his false prophets, by false teachers and even by God Himself. That is certainly not the description of the moving of God's Spirit, conducive to the conversion of a Gentile multitude too great to count.

If that great multitude were composed of converts after the rapture, where are the resurrected and raptured saints in that magnificent heavenly scene? If the church were in heaven, it is strange that they will not be present to greet the great multitude which comes "out from within" the great tribulation. If this were the case, the multitude would include many of their loved ones, left behind at the rapture. If anybody should be in heaven greeting this multitude it should be the church, but scripture portrays this mystical church nowhere in sight when this great multitude arrives.

This text tells us that there are already three groups of beings present in heaven, gathered around the heavenly throne, and already present when the great multitude arrives on the scene. As seen in verse 11, those who are already present include "all the angels [who] were standing around the throne...and the elders and the four living creatures." The arrival of this new group is apparently sudden and unexpected, as seen by the question asked by one of the elders in verse 13.

Let's look at the sequence of events that lead up to the arrival of this multitude in heaven. The first three seals correspond to what will happen during the first half of the seventieth week--that is during the "birth pangs" of the Olivet Discourse. The fourth and fifth seals occur during the second half of the seventieth week--that is during the great tribulation. The sixth seal corresponds to the sign of the day of the Lord--that is the sign that will cut short the great tribulation, immediately preceding the rapture of the church and the beginning of God's wrath on the ungodly. And then we see the arrival of the great multitude. Can there be any doubt in anyone's mind as to who this group of people are, especially in the light of the clear teaching of Christ and Paul.

Who are they? Based on the sequence just outlined above, there is only one possible conclusion. As stated succinctly in verse 14, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation". Verse 9, tells us that these are the ones "from every nation, tribe, peoples and tongues, a direct reference to Rev. 5:9, where this same multitude is described as those for whom Christ "was slain, and did purchase for God with Your [Christ's] blood from every tribe, tongue, people and nation--the elect of God from all ages. Therefore, "these ones," this great multitude, can only be the elect of God for whom Christ died who have just been raptured out of the great tribulation, after the sign of the end of the age is given at the sixth seal.

The saints depicted in Rev. 7:9, are standing before the throne, clothed in white robes, holding palm branches in their hands-- indicating conclusively that they already possess resurrected bodies. This multitude can only be the resurrected saints who have been raptured out of the great tribulation--and it must be exactly the same heavenly group (who also have bodies) referred to in Rev. 15:2 as "those who have come off victorious from the beast...standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God".

This conclusion becomes certain when we consider what scripture teaches about the spiritual bodies of resurrected believers. The bible teaches that no believer in heaven will have a resurrected body until the first resurrection of believers, see (Luke 14:14; John 5:28,29; 1 Thess. 4:16;). Therefore since this group of people standing before the throne clothed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands obviously have resurrected bodies, this multitude can only be the raptured church.

These are the people who come through great tribulation. Tribulation is translated from the Greek word THLIPSIS meaning pressure, difficulty, and problems. Now what did the Lord say, "in the world you will have thilpsis." Is not everybody here going through difficulties right now? Of course you are. If you were to tell us of your struggles back home, in the church, in the world, there is not one here that has not got problems or pressures bearing down upon them. You have thilpsis. But in Matt. 24 in describing the events that we are talking about that there is going to come great thilpsis, great pressure of such intensity that the world has never experienced before. This great pressure is coming on who? Those who will not submit to the mark of the beast. Except those days be shortened no "believing" flesh will survive, the ones who take the mark will survive, they will be loyal to the Antichrist in trying to destroy the people of God. Where does this great multitude come from? From out of the great thilpsis.

This great multitude represents the church that goes into the seventieth week of Daniel. They are raptured when the great tribulation is cut short just before the Day of the Lord begins. They are raptured before the wrath of God is poured out but are not exempt from the ultimate rebellion of unregenerate men. Turn to 1 Peter 1:7, it says this, "that the proof of your faith be more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire," Rev. 3:10, talks about the great hour of testing that is going to come upon the whole world, "may be found to result in praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. See, that is the issue, the faithful will stand firm and be loyal to Christ. This is not a time for saints to tremble in fear at what is going to take place, it is the time for them to cry, "even so come Lord Jesus."

Before the day of the Lord begins who does the bible say will come? Turn to Malachi 4:5, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." I suggest to you, that when we get to chapter 11, he is one of the two witnesses, who minister during the last three and one half years of the seventieth week. So at the midpoint the two witnesses begin their ministry which is as the prophet said, "before the day of the Lord begins." Now if you are with me at all, you know two things that must happen before the day of the Lord begins. (1). Cosmic disturbances in the heavens and (2) the coming of Elijah must happen before the day of the Lord. These things have to happen before the day of the Lord begins, if you started the day of the Lord at the beginning of the seventieth week and if these things have to happen before the day of the Lord starts can the day of the Lord be imminent? Impossible. I am saying that because the pretribulationist, since their beginning say the day of the Lord starts at the beginning of the seventieth week, which is the wrath of God, which is the tribulation period, therefore we must be raptured before the tribulation. But the fact of the matter is that Elijah must come before the day of the Lord, so you cannot say that the day of the Lord is imminent, signless, cosmic disturbances must happen first, so the day of the Lord cannot be imminent until the midpoint of the seventieth week after the two witnesses are on the scene.