The Apocalypse

The Visions of John in Patmos:

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 7

REVELATION 7.

THAT the great day of the Lord's wrath, though anticipated in Rev. 6, had not yet come is plainly seen in this chapter. Before that could arrive, God's elect of Israel had to be marked out for preservation, and an innumerable multitude of Gentiles exhibited as about to be brought through the great tribulation. This chapter therefore constitutes a kind of parenthesis between the sixth and seventh seals. The first six seals were opened in immediate succession; but now there is a pause, and our attention is directed to an action from heaven in relation to Israel, and to those about to be redeemed from among the nations, before the last seal is broken. We read, "And 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. 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 seated the servants of our God in their foreheads." (vv. 1-3.)

Angels, as ever, are the ministers of God's providential government. Here they are seen in the character of the executors, of His judgments. (Compare Matt. 13:41-42, 49, 50; Isaiah 37:36, etc.) They are presented here indeed as the restrainers of the powers of evil, as well as the executors through these, in God's own time, of His vengeance. They stand upon the four corners of the earth, the whole earth (the number four being the symbol of earthly completeness) being under their delegated control. Remark also that they hold ("hold fast") the four winds of the earth, etc. The four winds are symbols, as one has written, "of those disturbing elements, existing in all quarters, which God can at His will let loose in judgment." Daniel thus said, "I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." (Rev. 7:2.) The sea in this scripture, as in our chapter, represents the nations in a state of tumult or commotion (compare Rev. 13:1), while the earth sets forth rather the nations in the enjoyment of ordered government. Trees are often used in Scripture as figures of the great ones of the earth. (See Daniel 4:19-22; Ezekiel 17, 31, etc.)

We learn then that no judicial scourge or chastisement can fall upon the nations in the enjoyment of ordered government, upon the seething mass of the peoples when characterized by insurrection or revolutionary violence, or upon the kings or princes of the earth, until permitted of God; nay, until He sends it, even as He formerly sent the surrounding nations to punish His people Israel for their sins and transgressions.

We learn, secondly, that God's government of the world is in view of His people. The command given to the four angels by the angel ascending from. the east was, that they were not to hurt the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, "till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." In like manner, when judgment was about to fall upon Jerusalem, the Lord caused a mark to be set upon the foreheads of the men that sighed, and that cried for all the abominations that were done in the midst thereof (Ezek. 9.), and this faithful remnant was preserved in the midst of the overflowing scourge.

The angel that ascended from the east had the seal of the living God.¹ The difference between this sealing and that of believers now with the Holy Ghost will be at once perceived by the instructed reader. Believers of this dispensation are sealed immediately on the forgiveness of sins, and they are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Eph. 4:30.) The 144,000 of this chapter are sealed with the seal of the living God for preservation through the judgments that will fall upon the world, and which will constitute for Israel the day of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:4-9; see also Matt. 24:21-22); and they are sealed for blessing on the earth in the kingdom of their glorious Messiah.

This 144,000 are composed of 12,000 from each tribe.² The number is symbolical. Twelve is the number of administrative perfection of government in man; and it thus appears in the foundations, gates, and dimensions of the new Jerusalem. (Rev. 21.) It will mean, therefore, a perfect number reserved for the kingdom, and through whom Messiah will govern the nations upon the earth. They will not all be gathered in, though all are foreknown, at the same time; for only two tribes will be in the land when Messiah appears in His glory; and it will not be until after He has established His throne, that He will fetch the ten tribes out of their hiding-places, and, after He has purged out the rebels in the wilderness, bring them back to the land. (Ezekiel 20:33-44; Jer. 30.) But every one who has the seal of the living God on his forehead will be preserved, and will, at the appointed time, be restored to blessing in Immanuel's land.

Following upon this, we are introduced to another class who will be brought in safety through the unparalleled troubles which are yet to occur. "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." (vv. 9, 10.) It should be remembered that this vast multitude is seen in vision, and that, therefore, at the time of the vision they were not yet existent, much less delivered; but before the great tribulation (v. 14), God permits His servant to see the issue of His ways of grace in the midst of His governmental judgments. This innumerable throng of Gentiles (for they are composed of "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues") are the elect of God's purpose for earthly blessing outside of the elect of Israel, those, therefore, who will be preserved through the hour of temptation (not kept out of it, as the church will he (chapter 3:10), but saved through it) which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. It may be added that they are nowhere else spoken of in Scripture; it is, in fact, a new revelation, and one that shows the victorious energy of God's grace in the face of the most complete display of Satan's power that the world will have ever witnessed.

Their position is before the throne, and before the Lamb. The heavenly saints, as typified by the four and twenty elders, are seated on thrones round about the throne; these stand before the throne, and before the Lamb. The difference, with its import, will at once be perceived; and, in fact, as will be afterwards seen, this multitude, while occupying a very special place of blessing, are still on earth. They are clothed with white robes, fruit of the efficacy of the blood of the Lamb³ (v. 14); and they have palms in their hands — the emblem of their victorious deliverance. But if victors, they have overcome, as another class in Rev. 12, "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." The ascription of praise which they render is also very different from that of the heavenly saints in Rev. 5. These cry (they do not sing), "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Redemption is not the ground of their praise; it is rather their deliverance (salvation — salvation through their unequalled sorrows) which they celebrate, although they ascribe all to God, God in His government, and to the Lamb "as having the title to the government and deliverance of the earth as a present thing."

The angels⁴ enter now upon the scene, and worship God prostrate on their faces before the throne, "Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen." (v. 12.) They are interested spectators of the homage which the white-robed multitude render to God and the Lamb, but, "naturally, salvation to the Lamb was not their own part of the song," for they had ever stood in their own creature-perfection; and hence they, having added their "Amen" to the praise of the multitude, worship their God, ascribing to Him their sevenfold theme of praise (cp. Rev. 5:12), and sealing it with another "Amen."

Having been permitted to see, through John, the victorious and worshipping Gentile throng, their character and blessing are now unfolded. "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of [the] great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (vv. 13, 14.) Remark, first, how every family in heaven is interested in the activities of God and the Lamb both in grace and government, and also how closely the glorified in heaven is bound up with the redeemed on earth. It is only in our minds that heaven and earth are so widely sundered. The angels, as we have seen, delight in beholding this Gentile throng; and now one of the elders steps forth (otherwise we would not have known that they were in the scene), and, as commissioned, explains to John who this multitude are. First, then, they have come out of the great tribulation. It is not only, as in our translation, great, but emphatically the great tribulation, the time referred to, as already indicated, in Rev. 3:10. It is not the same thing as "Jacob's trouble," though undoubtedly connected with, if not springing out of it; and it will occur during the three years and a half of antichrist's fearful sway, sustained as he will be by the head of the western empire, the first beast of Revelation 13. It is to this same period our blessed Lord refers when He says, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matt. 24:21.) He speaks of the' Jewish trouble, while "the great tribulation" has reference to the oppression and persecution through which the Gentiles will have to pass. In the contemplation of this fearful event, it is no small consolation to find that God will use the unexampled sorrows of that day, if on the one hand for the chastisement of the haughty peoples of the earth, on the other hand for the blessing of this vast throng of souls. They will come out of this terrible tribulation, and, moreover, they will have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is most interesting to note that in all dispensations every family of the saved will alike have to trace all their blessing back to the efficacy of the blood of the Lamb.⁵

The character of their blessing is next given: "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." (v. 15.) We have before given the explanation of their position "before the throne of God," and the very next sentence confirms the interpretation that they occupy this blessed position on earth; for we are expressly told that there is no temple in heaven. (Rev. 21:22.) "They are not only as Israel in the courts, or the nations in the world; they have a priest's place in the world's temple. The millennial multitudes are worshippers — these priests. As Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, ever in the temple itself (where they, like her, serve day and night) they have always access to the throne." Besides this, God will, as with Israel of old in the wilderness, spread His tabernacle over them, the source of all their blessing.

His presence thus enjoyed, as well as His guardian care, "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (vv. 16, 17.) Now, under the shepherd⁶ care of the Lamb, and enjoying His immediate protection, guidance, and ministry, they are blessed for ever; for they should never more know hunger or thirst, but should be abundantly satisfied; nor should persecution or sorrow ever more reach them; for the Lamb Himself shall lead them to "fountains of waters of life" and God shall wipe away "every tear" from their eyes. There will surely be not one of all this multitude who will not, with overflowing heart, confess that their past sorrows are not worthy to be compared with the ineffable blessings on which they have now entered. For though they are on earth, the reader will not fail to remark that their blessings are described, at least in their highest character, in the same way as those enjoyed in the eternal state. Of this multitude, equally with those of the new earth, it is said that God wipes away their tears.⁷

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1) It has been thought by many that this angel is no less a personage than our blessed Lord. It is undoubted that He does appear in this book (as we may be permitted to see) under the guise of an angel; but here we prefer leaving the question undecided.

2) It will be noticed that Dan is omitted, whereas in Deut. 33 Simeon is omitted. The reasons for these omissions are not known, but many conjectures are offered.

3) It may be rather that, while the blood of the Lamb is the fundamental and efficacious cause of all their blessing, the white robes may indicate moral suitability to their position. They had maintained practical holiness.

4) "The four living creatures and the elders do not worship here, because their own relationships were different, and these are not what are spoken of here."

5) It may again be remarked that in Scripture we are never said to wash our own robes in the blood of Christ; but garments were always washed, as in the case of the leper, in water. The meaning may therefore be, that being under the virtue of the blood of the Lamb, this multitude had preserved themselves from the contaminations around through the word of God.

6) The word "feed" is better rendered "shepherd."

7) The question of the bodily condition of this multitude, whether in a changed state or not, is left unrevealed. Certainly their blessings are of a very high order and permanent.