Behind the Scenes

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

A Cycle One, The Sovereign, Scroll, and Seven Seals

4 The Saints

Text: 7:1-17

Introduction

We are in the midst of the opening of the sixth seal and before the seventh seal is opened there is a pause, an intermission, an interlude, a parenthesis. We have seen what is going on in the visible material world as the seals were progressively opened, and now we look behind the scenes at what is going on in the invisible spiritual world. There are two well defined scenes here in our text. The first consists of events that are occurring behind the scenes on earth. The second is also hidden on earth because it is occurring in heaven and is an account of those who have already passed into glory. These are the same people mentioned in the fifth seal in 6:9 and 10, When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed because of the word of God and of the testimony which they had given. And now in loud voices they cried out, saying, “How long, O Sovereign Lord, the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay judgment and the taking of vengeance upon the inhabitants of the earth for our blood?” These are the people who are described in our text as Those who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. I know these are the same people because we read later in verse 15 that He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. The tent is the tabernacle wherein we find the holy of holies and the ark with the throne of God, so they are under the altar. In Ezekiel 37:27, in the valley of dry bones, God says, And my tent will be upon them. In scene number one what happens on earth is invisible and is presented to us by a safeguard over the storm, and a seal over the saints. What happens in heaven is presented to us by an exaltation of the Savior and an explanation of the scenario.

I Scene 1

A A Safeguard over the Storm

Verses 1-3 describe God’s care over His own while terrible things are happening in the world, After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” The terror of wind lives on in movies like Twister and documentaries about storm chasers, and in poems like e.e. cummings’ cryptic “what if a much of a which of a wind,” where wind serves as a metaphor for catastrophic change in lines like, “what if a much of a which of a wind gives the truth to summer’s lie; bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun and yanks immortal stars awry?” The wind is the breath of God which can either bring life or destruction. In Ezekiel’s valley of the dry bones it brings life, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. In Zechariah 6:2-5 the wind is associated with destruction accompanying the horse drawn chariots, In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grizzled strong horses. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The point is, of course, that the breath of God is like the Word of God, and it accomplishes whatever His purpose is. God’s purpose here is protection of His own. We supported missionaries in East Africa in the 1950’s. Missionary children attended the Rift Valley Academy. It was the time of the Mau Mau uprisings in East Africa. A band of roving Mau Maus came to the village of Lauri, surrounded it, and killed 300 inhabitants, including women and children. They then proceeded three miles to the Rift Valley Academy, bent on destruction. There was no place to flee. The only resource was prayer. Soon there was a complete ring of terrorists with torches around the school, cutting off all avenues of escape. The shouting Mau Maus began to advance on the school, tightening the circle. Suddenly, when they were close enough to throw a spear, they stopped. They began to retreat, and ran into the jungle. By the time the army arrived,they spread out and captured the entire band of raiding Mau Maus. Later, at their trial, the Mau Mau leader was called to the witness stand. The judge asked him, “On this night did you kill the inhabitants of Lauri and was it your intent to do the same at the Rift Valley Academy?” He said, “Yes.” “Then, why didn’t you attack the school?” The leader replied, “As we came closer, all of a sudden between us and the school there were many huge men, dressed in white with flaming swords. We became afraid and we ran to hide!”

B A Seal over the Saints

Now this story reported by missionaries doesn’t happen too often although it may be more often than we think. However, the point of the passage is to remind us that God puts His seal upon His children . They are not always kept from danger and death but they are always preserved in life or in death. For all of them it is as Paul says in Philippians 1:21, For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. What precisely is a seal? William Hendriksen reminds us that it provides three functions. For one, it prevents tampering; next, it ensures ownership; and last, on a document it certifies genuineness. In this case the seal is the invisible mark of the Father and the Lamb signifying that the saints are members of God’s family, purchased by the Son, and filled with the Spirit. It means that they are genuine children of God, His property, and nothing may touch them without His permission. This idea of marking true believers is used in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel’s time Israelites were worshiping nature. In a vision, the prophet Ezekiel saw a man dressed in linen with pen and inkwell in his hand, who was told to go through Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all those who were grieving because of the idolatry in the land. All the people were slaughtered except those who had the mark on their foreheads. Even in the Exodus from Egypt you recall the households of believers were marked by the blood of the lamb and when the angel of death came he passed over their homes. Paul uses this same concept in Ephesians 4:30, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Thus we too are sealed for God.In Revelation 20:4 we are told about the same people, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. You either have the seal of God and the Lamb, or you have the mark of the beast. Lastly, with regard to the sealing, who are the 144,000 mentioned in verses 4-8? Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000. All attempts to interpret this literally are doomed to failure. The names of the tribes of Israel listed here differs considerably from those recorded elsewhere in the Old Testament. There are probably several factors at work here.The tribe of Dan is missing, but that is true on other lists. It was excluded because of its idolatry. This is probably a modified list featuring the sons in relation to their mothers, and Judah the tribe of Jesus and the royal tribe is thereby mentioned first. We do not know why Joseph is substituted for his son Ephraim. The list is obviously contrived and the whole reason for the 12 tribes is that 12 tribes times 12 apostles comes to 144 and then it is multiplied by ten cubed to 1000 and that is a number of ultimate perfection. It is virtually impossible to account for the unusual order and composition of the list of tribes by interpreting it as descriptive of ethnic Israel. But seeing in this list a portrayal of the church as the New Israel resolves the difficulties quite simply Therefore what we have here is simply a way to picture the complete number of God’s elect which in the Old Testament was Israel and in the New Testament is the church. It is the ideal people of God and in the next section of our text the same group is expanded from one nation Israel to all nations in a multitude which no man can number. In Christ we, the Church, are the children of Abraham and also part of the innumerable multitude and we are sealed. But, remember, This sealing does not mean we are always kept from danger and death but we are always preserved in life or in death.

II Scene 2

A An Exaltation of the Savior

As we look at the next part of our text we see a multitude that cannot be counted. As Abraham was bid to look at the grains of sand or the stars in the sky to number his descendants so the Apostle now sees them in his vision. Verses 9-12 record what he saw, After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” There is a very similar song in chapter 5 when the Lamb takes the scroll to open it. The difference is that in chapter 5 the song begins with the living creatures and elders, spreads out to an innumerable company of angels and then finally to all creation. Here the song begins with the great multitude of saints which no one could count and spreads in to the four living creatures and the elders. Here and now when we think somebody has a great voice we say they sing like an angel, not that we have ever heard an angel sing, we just imagine it. But notice the saints here lead the music. The reason for that is that the whole point of the plan of salvation is to bring a man back to rule over creation under God. Man is brought closest to God and the throne. The cherubim and the other angels are expressly identified as follows in the book of Hebrews 1:14, Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? The other thing we should observe is that these saints are from “every nation, tribe, people and language.” Still they are singing together. Did you have difficulty learning Latin, or Spanish, or French or German in school? Many did. But the language of heaven is universal. Remember the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:4-11? All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Babel is reversed and grace has triumphed.

B An Explanation of the Scenario

In the last part of this glorious scene of victory we have the explanation in verses 13-17, Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 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 spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” This passage begins with a question and it is a rhetorical question designed by the teacher to get the student to ponder the obvious answer, but ultimately the teacher answers the question because the point from the beginning is to teach. This method is used frequently in Scripture. The Prophets of the Old Testament used it. Jesus used it on occasion as for example in Matthew 12:47-50, Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Paul used this method often as for example in Romans 6:1 and 2, What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? In Revelation 5:4 John’s fear is that the redemption of God’s people would not be fulfilled, I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Now by questioning John, the elder points to the countless multitude dressed in white robes. He wants John to acknowledge that the Lion of Judah has indeed fulfilled the Old Testament promises of salvation. This is written so that we too will acknowledge along with the first century Christians that the Lamb alone is victorious over sin and death. They have also come out of the great tribulation. This is not any specific historical tribulation either past or future. It is “a great multitude that no one could count” meaning that it is the entirety of the people of God past present and future. It includes all Christians who have experienced oppression and persecution everywhere throughout history. It is a universal and collective expression that encompasses all the saints throughout the ages. Notice also that in chapter 6:11 the saints under the altar are given white robes, but here there is an emphasis on personal responsibility which goes hand in hand with grace. So we read in 7:14 and 15, They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. This whole description of victory in glory is described in similar terms to Revelation 21 and 22 which speak of our eternal home and it is in John’s vision so that he and his contemporaries as well as we who hear it now will fervently desire to be part of the great choir through repentance and faith.