Two Special Groups

After Revelation 6 there's a break. Revelation 7 is a parenthetical chapter. We stop the chronological progression while John introduces some other events before the scroll's seventh seal is opened. We're introduced first to a group of people whose number is 144,000.

REVELATION 7:1-3

After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree (Rev. 7:1).

It is interesting that these angels are holding back the winds from blowing. How long could you survive in the Los Angeles basin if we didn't have the winds carrying the smog elsewhere? Just a few still days with slight winds and we practically asphyxiate. Here the angels are holding the winds and halting the wind movement upon the earth for a period of time.

And 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 given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads (Rev. 7:2-3).

In Revelation 8 there are the seven trumpet judgments. John sees seven angels; each has a trumpet. As they sound their trumpets, judgments take place upon the earth. The four angels John sees standing in the four corners of the earth are possibly the first four of the seven angels that bring the seven trumpet judgments.

There are some people who try to "put down" the Bible because of this particular verse: "standing at the four corners of the earth." They say, "The Bible can't be inspired by God because these writers are reflecting the scientific mind of their age, thinking that the world was flat. John could not be writing by inspiration of God, for he never would have said 'the four corners of the earth. 'We know that the earth is round." However, in Isaiah 40:22, the Bible refers to the earth as being a "circle," not as being flat (Isaiah 40:22).

A few years ago the United States Marines Corps was bragging that our Marines are "in the four corners of the world." Does that mean the United States government believes the flat earth theory? Don't they know that the earth is round? John wasn't talking about a flat earth. We have the north, east, south, and west. "Four corners of the earth" is a figure of speech which is still used today.

These four angels are ready to bring forth their judgments upon the earth, but a fifth angel comes on the scene to halt the action and seal the servants of God in their foreheads. This seal is actually God writing His name in their foreheads.

REVELATION 7:4-8

"I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev. 7:4). It is sad that so many groups are trying to identify themselves as the 144,000.

Let me first say that I don't want to be one of them, even if I were a Jew of Israel. I wouldn't want to be around during the Tribulation period. Thus, I have no desire to identify with the 144,000. But groups come along all the time trying to make themselves this exclusive group.

The Jehovah's Witnesses identify themselves as the 144,000. They claimed they were the only ones who would get into heaven. Then in the 1930s they reached their 144,000 faithful witnesses. They had to do something else because the Lord didn't come when they thought He would. Thus, they've made a new multitude which will dwell upon the earth. These won't make the heavenly scene but will live in peace upon the earth and bear children in the kingdom age. That's the chief goal of the Jehovah's Witnesses today, because they say that heaven is full.

Herbert W. Armstrong of the World Tomorrow Program declared that his organization is the 144,000. Once they get their hooks into you and you faithfully start to support their program, they'll send you a telegram when the time is come to flee to the wilderness. They have prepared a place where you might survive the last part of the Great Tribulation.

But let's look at these things without twisting the Scriptures by trying to spiritualize them.

Some say that "Israel" in Revelation 7:4 is spiritual Israel. If Israel is spiritual, why isn't the number "144,000" also spiritual? Maybe that's a spiritual number. Maybe that's symbolic of 144 million. Maybe the Jehovah's Witnesses can take a few more into heaven. They say that one part of Revelation 7:4 is spiritual and the other part is literal. Why would God mix the literal with the spiritual? So that you couldn't really understand?

I believe in reading the Bible as it is. I was talking with a Jehovah's Witness one day regarding the 144,000. "Now, just a minute," I said. "The only way you could have gotten that weird idea is to listen to some false teacher. You never could have gotten it by just reading the Bible!"

He answered, "But it really doesn't mean that. You see, that means this." In other words, God didn't mean what He said.

But read what it says: "There were sealed 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel." That doesn't sound very confusing. It sounds very plain to me. The 144,000 are of all the tribes of the children of Israel. I find no difficulty in understanding that at all. Any other interpretation would have to twist the meaning. You'd have to read something into it.

A lot of unnecessary confusion has been created by attempting to spiritualize the text. Those who seek to identify themselves as the 144,000 refuse to see that God will still deal with the nation Israel. They refuse to see the seventieth "seven" of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27). They refuse to see the place of Israel in prophecy. This so totally messes up the whole concept of prophecy that nothing makes sense.

This is what the Word says: God is dealing with the nation Israel during this last seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation. It is the seventieth "seven" prophesied by Daniel. It is also known as "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7).

God has in times past sealed the nation Israel against plagues. In Exodus God said,

This night I will pass through the land and I will slay the firstborn in every house. In order that your firstborn might be spared, take a lamb and slay it and put its blood on the lintel and the doorposts of your houses. When I pass through the land and I see the blood on the door, I will pass over the house, and the firstborn will not be slain within that house (Exodus 22:3-14).

God had the children of Israel put a special seal upon their houses which actually separated them from the Egyptians. When the Lord passed through the land that night, all the firstborn of all the families were slain except those in the houses protected by the blood on the doorpost.

Ezekiel 9 speaks of the judgment that was to come upon the people. Again, there was a halt in the action, for, before judgment came, an angel with an inkhorn was told to mark those who were crying out because of the abominations taking place in the land. When the judgment came, those marked by the angel would be spared.

This is probably the same situation that we find in Revelation 7:4 - a special group is marked.

There is confusion only because some people say, "God didn't say what He meant. Let me tell you what God meant to say." Herbert Armstrong will tell you what God meant to say, the Jehovah's Witnesses will tell you what God meant to say, the Children of God will tell you what God meant to say, the Manifested Sons of God will tell you what God meant to say. "They all say different things, so who am I to believe?" God's Word is not confusing, just man's attempt to interpret it.

It was almost as though God anticipated this kind of jugglery with His Word and so He became very specific. God didn't just say "Israel" when introducing the 144,000, He went further and listed the twelve tribes.

Paul said we are the children of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3:7). Abraham was the father of those who believed. Yet, the Scripture never tries to make spiritual tribes. There is a spiritual Israel, the church, but they seem to be divided into denominations, not tribes. When you start getting back to tribes then you're back to the physical descendants of Abraham. The tribes of the children of Israel are from the physical seed of Abraham, not the spiritual seed.

So, just in case people would try to spiritualize this group and confuse the prophetic understanding, the Lord named the twelve tribes from which each twelve thousand would come to be sealed.

"Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand." And twelve thousand were also sealed from each of the following tribes: Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin (Rev. 7:58).

It is interesting that twelve tribes are always listed in the Bible (twelve is the number of government). In reality, we find some tribes listed here that are not mentioned in other listings. As a general rule, Levi is never listed as one of the twelve tribes.

Actually, two tribes were added to the children of Israel. There were twelve sons of Jacob, but then Jacob adopted the two sons of Joseph, Jacob's grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh. These also became tribes of Israel. In the Old Testament most of the listings omit Levi and Joseph and, instead, have Ephraim and Manasseh added to these lists. But here in Revelation 7, Dan and Ephraim are omitted and Levi and Joseph are inserted.

Why is it that Dan and Ephraim are not sealed and the tribe of Levi and Joseph are listed instead? In Deuteronomy God said that if any person, kindred, family, or tribe shall lead the children of Israel into idolatry, then they shall be cut off from among the nations (Deuteronomy 29:18-21). Dan and Ephraim were the two tribes in which the two golden calves were built as idols in the northern kingdom by Jeroboam. These tribes were cut off according to God's Word. Thus, they are not sealed and protected.

This means that Dan and Ephraim will have to go through and suffer the full ravages of the Great Tribulation. The others are sealed so that the winds do not hurt them. In Revelation 9 the demons that come out of the abyss are told not to hurt those who have the seal of God in their foreheads, referring to the 144,000. Twelve thousand from each tribe are spared much of the judgment of God.

Though Dan and Ephraim are not listed in Revelation (see 1 Kings 12:28-31), when the Lord comes and establishes His kingdom and again reapportions the land according to Ezekiel, the very first portion goes to the tribe of Dan (Ezekiel 48:1). Even though Dan was led into idolatry and was not sealed, Dan is the first one to get his portion. So many times we have failed in God's purposes, yet God in His loving grace restores and gives again. Blessed be the name of the LORD!

REVELATION 7:9-17

After this I beheld, and, lo, there was a great multitude, which no man could number, of all of the nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, and they stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands (Rev. 7:9).

This is a great multitude of people - a numberless multitude. These, I believe, are the same that we saw "under the altar" in the fifth seal in Revelation 6, clothed with white robes, crying, "O Lord, how long until You avenge our blood?" They were told to wait. But now the total number that were to be slain as those in Revelation 6 were slain has been fulfilled. They now take their place in the heavenly scene. Out of all the nations, people, and tongues, they stand clothed with white robes and palms in their hands before the throne and before the Lamb.

I do not believe that this "great multitude" is the church. First of all, the elder said unto John, "Who are these, and where did they come from?" (Rev. 7:13). The very nature of the question implies that they were a group of people in heaven whom John didn't recognize.

John answered, "Thou knowest." If they were the Old Testament saints, John would have known them, even as Peter, James, and John knew Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. If this group were the church, John would have certainly recognized them because he had no difficulty recognizing the church in heaven. John knew the mystery of the church by this time - that God was going to gather out of the Gentile nations the body of Christ. This had been revealed to the apostle Paul and through him to the church. John was on Patmos at the time of the revelation, but he had been ministering in one of the Gentile churches in Ephesus. He knew all about the church.

But John doesn't know this great multitude out of all the nations which no man can number. And so the elder answers him and tells him who they are. "These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:14).

They are those who have been martyred during the Tribulation period - those who have refused to take the mark of the beast and refused to bow to the Antichrist or to his image, and who kept their testimony and the faith of Jesus Christ.

Notice that, though this "great multitude" is brought into the heavenly scene, they aren't brought into the same position as the church. "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them" (Rev. 7:15). They're before the throne of God serving Him day and night.

The church, on the other hand, is not in heaven as a servant. The church is there as the Bride of Christ, married to Him. We shall live and reign with Jesus Christ.

This great multitude is crying with a loud voice saying,

Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God (Rev. 7:1-11).

This worship took place previously in Revelation 4 - the first of the heavenly scenes that John saw. When the cherubim worshipped God, the twenty-four elders fell on their faces and cast their crowns before the throne of God.

As this great multitude is declaring glory unto God and worshipping and praising God and Jesus Christ for the salvation they have received, the living creatures (the cherubim) and the twenty-four elders fall on their faces before the throne and worship God. "Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 7:12).

Notice that their worship of God ascribes to Him blessings, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might.

Having gone through a great portion of the Tribulation - through the time of famine and polluted waters - they have experienced tremendous hunger and thirst. But "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat" (Rev. 7:16). (In Revelation 16, God gives the sun power to scorch men who dwell upon the earth.)

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev. 7:17).