Deeper Commentary

CHAPTER 7

Revelation 7: The 144,000
The seals speak of the latter day outpouring of judgment and trouble upon the land and people of Israel, perhaps throughout the entire territory of the land promised to Abraham. God’s judgments on His people are never simply the wrath of a powerful Deity; they are intended to elicit repentance. They are His appeal to men. After the seals, we read of the sealing of 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel. This could be all purely symbolic- 12 tribes multiplied by the 12 disciples, making 144, and thousands of them, speaking therefore of Jews who had come to Christ. But the laboured repetition of the “12,000” and the names of each tribe is striking. It may simply be that the Lord wishes to stress how every single one of those latter day believers is known to Him. Or it could be a literal number, and the ethnicity / tribal origins of the Jews is known to the Lord. But I somewhat doubt that kind of literalism is to found in Revelation or the entire apocalyptic genre. Perhaps there is a geographical reference- Jews from the entire extent of the land and tribal allotments of Israel.

The Seals and Islam
Reading through the seals is like reading parts of the Koran and Hadith which speak of the judgments which Islam wishes upon the Jews. This is not simply because the Koran is full of garbled allusions to the Old and New Testaments [e.g. Sura 2.249 confuses several Bible stories: “And when Saul set out with the army, he said: Lo! Allah will try you by [the ordeal of] a river. Whosoever therefore drinketh thereof he is not of me, and whosoever tasteth it not he is of me, save him who taketh [thereof] in the hollow of his hand. But they drank thereof, all save a few of them. And after he had crossed [the river], he and those who believed with him, they said: We have no power this day against Goliath and his hosts. But those who knew that they would meet Allah exclaimed: How many a little company hath overcome a mighty host by Allah's leave! Allah is with the steadfast”]. The reality is that radical Islamists, in strict obedience to the Koran, will seek to bring these judgments upon the people and land of Israel because they think this is what the Koran tells them to do; and in so doing they will fulfil Revelation. For the kind of brutality they practice is only possible for a person who has been brainwashed with religious or political philosophy. That’s why jihadist volunteers are firstly sent for weeks of ‘teaching’ before being sent to fight. The kind of extreme, severe abuse of Israel which is required by the language of Revelation and Daniel 7 is such that it would require people fuelled by deep religious programing to execute it. The Quran often speaks of God’s severity against the Jews because of their supposed sins against Mohammad and refusal to accept Islam, e.g. Sura 2.211: “Ask of the Children of Israel how many a clear revelation we gave them! He who altereth the grace of Allah after it hath come unto him [for him], lo! Allah is severe in punishment”. This is the reasoning which will inspire the Moslems to abuse the Jews so intensely. “Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews… we have prepared for those of them who disbelieve a painful doom” (Sura 4.160,161). Unashamed aggression is taught by the Koran multiple times, e.g. Sura 9.123 "O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you". “Then seized I those who disbelieved, and how intense was my abhorrence!” (Sura 35.26). And so we could continue:

"Fight (slay and kill) those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the last day (judgement day), nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor they follow the religion of truth (the religion of Islam) out of those who have been given the Book (Jews and Christians), until they pay the tax, in acknowledgment of superiority and (recognition that) they are in a state of subjection (to Islam)" (Sura 9:29).
"Worst among men in enmity to the believers (Muslims) wilt thou find the Jews and pagans" (Sura 5:82).
"O ye who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other, and he amongst you that turns to them for friendship is one of them Verily, Allah guideth not a people unjust (Jews and Christians)" (Sura 5:51).
"Those who reject Islam among the people of the book (Jews and Christians) and among the polytheists (all other religions) will be in hell fire to dwell in there for ever and they are the worst of creatures" (Sura 98:6).

Not only Revelation, but many other latter day prophecies are full of language strikingly similar to that found in the Koran. The jihadist Moslems seek to obey the Koran, and by doing so, they will be fulfilling Bible prophecy about the last days. For example, Joel 2:6 LXX speaks of how in the final day of the Lord, Israel will be invaded by a latter day Assyrian, "a numerous and strong people" (:2), and "Before them shall the people [of Israel] be crushed: every face shall be as the blackness of a caldron (AV "gather blackness")". The Koran in Sura 7.106 speaks of this happening at the last day, when Moslems will blacken the faces of those who refuse to convert to their religion: "On the Day when [some] faces will be whitened and [some] faces will be blackened; and as for those whose faces have been blackened, it will be said unto them: Disbelieved ye after your [profession of] belief? Then taste the punishment for that ye disbelieved".

The punishments of the seals are the very punishments which the Koran says must be brought upon the Jews in order to make them repent and accept Islam and that Mohammed was a messenger to them: "We shall test you with fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits [so that] when afflicted with calamity [they will] say, Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return" (Surah 2.155,156). These calamities will indeed cause a remnant to repent- but return to the God of Israel, rather than convert to Islam. Surah 4.160,161 and the Hadith [expansions] upon it speak of starving the Jews and torturing them, which is how I interpreted Rev. 6:5-8: “Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews we forbade them good things which were [before] made lawful unto them, and because of their much hindering from Allah's way, and of their taking usury when they were forbidden it, and of their devouring people's wealth by false pretences, We have prepared for those of them who disbelieve a painful doom”.

Sura 17, Al-Isra, is about future Moslem judgments upon "The children of Israel". Sura 17.7,8 speaks of how latter day Moslems will repeat the historical judgments of the Jews upon them. This explains why some Jihadist groups see themselves as the revival of Babylon and Assyria: "So, when the time for the second [of the judgments] came [we roused against you others of our slaves] to ravage you, and to enter the Temple even as they entered it the first time, and to lay waste all that they conquered with an utter wasting. It may be that your Lord will have mercy on you, but if ye repeat [the crime] we shall repeat [the punishment], and we have appointed hell a dungeon for the disbelievers". The language of utter wasting and taking the temple mount is exactly that of latter day Bible prophecies about what is to happen to Israel in the last days. The Hadith and some Suras of the Koran are full of such language of what shall be done to the Jews and Israel: "we annihilate it with complete annihilation... or punish it with dire punishment... There is not a township but we shall destroy it ere the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with dire punishment" (Sura 17.16,58). And radical Islam is all set up to fulfil it. The same Sura continues to liken that final destruction of the Jews to a book of judgment being opened: "We shall bring forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will find wide open. [And it will be said unto him]: Read thy Book" (Sura 17.13,14). Likewise Sura 17.58: "There is not a township but we shall destroy it ere the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with dire punishment. That is set forth in the Book [of our decrees]”. This is the significance of the judgments upon Israel in the last days being likened to a scroll / book being opened.

7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or on the sea, or upon any tree- When we come to Revelation, especially bearing in mind its’ constant allusions to the Old Testament, the ‘earth’ can generally be understood as the land of Israel. All the weight of Biblical evidence is in this direction. There are undeniable similarities between the events of the seals and vials, and what happened in the land in AD66-70. The whole idea of pouring out judgment upon the ‘earth’ refers to the OT images of such judgments being poured out upon the land. Consider too how Rev. 7:1: “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…”. If the earth has corners, it can’t really be the globe, rather, an area such as the land.

There seems to be an association between the "four winds”, the four "living creatures" and the four "beasts" mentioned at various points in Scripture. It is suggested that these all refer, even if indirectly, to a literal four cherubic Angels. Rev. 7:1 is the clearest evidence: "I saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth". The stress is on "the four winds". Dan. 7:2,3 connects the winds and the beasts: "Behold, the four winds of Heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea". The "four winds" may refer to Angels- God makes His Angels spirits or winds.

"The four corners of the earth" is proof enough that the earth / land doesn’t refer to the whole planet but to a specific territory on the planet- the land, promised to Abraham, with defined borders. The Hebrew word translated ‘borders’ in the context of the borders of the land is also translated “corners”. We think of Ez. 7:2: “You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, An end: the end has come on the four corners of the land”.  The four Angels on the borders of the land connect with the four Angels on the Euphrates, the northern / eastern border of the land, who shall release the hordes they are holding back to surge towards Israel. That process may already be in operation. We are here introduced to the idea that there are Angels holding back the winds of destruction on the borders of God’s land and people. This explains the miraculous survival of the state of Israel since 1948. The hordes of neighbouring enemies have been restrained- by the Angels on the borders of the land. But they will remove that restraint, and we can see that already happening. It’s worth noting that the key enemies of Israel in the Old Testament are described as dwelling in the corners of the earth / land (Jer. 9:26; 25:23; 49:32); and Israel are described as going into captivity in the corners of the earth / land promised to Abraham (Dt. 32:26; Is. 11:12). So it’s appropriate that the winds of destruction come from these same corners of the land. Rev. 20:8 defines “the nations which are in the four quarters of the land” as being “Gog and Magog”; clearly the Ezekiel 38 Gog is being defined as the epitome of the nations along the borders of Israel, who both historically and currently are Israel’s main enemies.

The four winds of the earth / land create a picture reminiscent of Dan. 7:2; the four beasts which dominate the earth / land of Israel in the last days all arise as the result of the four winds / spirits / Angels operating over the sea of nations. Now, the four winds / spirits / Angels are told not to blow upon the land and sea until the faithful have been sealed. The connection would teach that the final domination of the land by the beast systems occurs after the events of the seals; or perhaps, the seals are part of that domination period, but there is a break, the winds of destruction are held back, so that those Jews who have responded in repentance can be sealed. In Ez. 37:9, the wind from the four winds comes to spiritually revive the spiritually dead Israel who have returned to their land from dispersion. But here in Rev. 7, these four winds are the winds of destruction. It is from them and the desolation associated with them- that spiritual life is breathed into Israel. The winds are controlled by the four Angels who ‘stand’ or ‘are appointed’ at the four corners of the land- it may be that they were appointed from Old Testament times, not least in Daniel 7.

Significantly, the Koran likens the judgment of Jews and apostates to the coming of winds. The whole of Sura 77 is entitled Al-Mursalat (The Emissaries, Winds Sent Forth). These winds of judgment come "when the stars are put out, and when the sky is riven asunder, and when the mountains are blown away" (Sura 77:8-11). This is all very much the language of the seals, trumpets and vials. The judgments upon Israel are brought by the Moslems in terms of their own understanding of condemnation. And they too will be judged in the same way- the thing they greatly fear comes upon them, the cup they give Israel to drink, they must drink.

We noted at the beginning of the seals in Revelation 6 that the first four seals, the four horsemen, are based upon the horsemen of Zechariah 1 who desolate the land of Israel and scatter her people. Here in Revelation, the thought then moves on to the four winds- and the same is to be found in Zechariah, where Zech. 2:6 associates them with the scattering into the provinces of Babylon and Persia: “flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I will gather you from the four winds of heaven” (LXX). The land of the north (Babylon, where Judah were in captivity in Zechariah’s time) is “the four winds” because its territory covered much of the land promised to Abraham. The same Hebrew words are found in Zech. 6:5, where the four horses responsible for desolating Israel are “the four winds [AV “spirits”] of the heaven”. Judah were also gathered from the four winds in the sense that the Angels were with them, as demonstrated by Ezekiel’s vision of the four beast cherubim. This is surely the idea of Mark 13:27: “Then shall He send His Angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth [land] to the uttermost part of Heaven”. The earth / land in view is that promised to Abraham, and the heartland of Israel’s enemies is [and always has been] at the uttermost part of it, at the Euphrates border. The parallel between Heaven and earth here in the Lord’s teaching is in line with what we find so often in Revelation- the situation on earth is reflected by the Angels in Heaven who stand in the Heavenly throne room.

The four winds / four Heavenly cherubim beasts are the Heavenly antithesis of the four winds and four beasts of Daniel 7 on earth who desolate the land. The four horns which arose from the third empire were “towards” the four Angelic winds of Heaven; there was a connection between them (Dan. 8:8; 11:4). There is no such thing as radical evil- even the worst desolators of God’s people are under direct Angelic control. We note too the prophecy of the four winds in Jer. 49:36 against Elam, modern day Iran: “I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds”. The “quarters” of Heaven suggest that Heaven, like the earth / land with its corners, is a territory. I suggest that ‘Heaven’ here is a reflection of the earth / land promised to Abraham. Elam / Iran will likewise be judged by the Arab nations living in the corners of the land promised to Abraham, and will be scattered into those areas.

The four winds [plural] are spoken of as one wind (7:1). This is rather like how the four beasts are effectively one beast. Scattering to the four winds was scattering to “the land of the north” (Zech. 2:6). The four cherubim beasts of Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10 are effectively one system, moving the same way. We shouldn’t therefore be necessarily looking for four distinct entities to dominate the land in the last days. The ‘four’ refers to Heaven’s organization, and how it is reflected on earth.

"Holding the four winds" is better 'restraining'. This sounds similar to the idea of the Angels restraining the hordes which then burst over the Euphrates to desolate the land; and to the restraining influence which stops the antichrist being revealed in 2 Thess. 2:5-7. This period of restraint is maybe seen by John in order to serve as a dividing point between the suffering of the six seals, and the fact that some in the land repent as a result of this. These are sealed, and then the trumpet judgments are poured out, and then the desolating powers are destroyed, as outlined in the seven vials. But there may not be an actual period of time required to ‘seal’ the 144,000. The language of winds blowing is that of the final judgment in Mt. 7:25,27.

7:2 And I saw another angel ascend from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a great voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea- The East is ‘the sunrising’. The idea of the sun rising connects with the language of the Lord Jesus returning as the sunrise (Mal. 4:2). Again the time is located around the second coming of the Lord. The allusion may be to the Lord’s description of His coming as a bright shining arising from the East (Mt. 24:27).

Other references to sealing refer to a mark being placed on a person by God which He recognizes, although the world doesn’t see it. Thus Paul’s converts were a seal of His apostleship (1 Cor. 9:2)- to God, but not to men. The seal of God is simply that “The Lord knows them that are His” (2 Tim. 2:19). We are sealed by being given the Spirit in our hearts, very privately and intimately (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30). But that knowledge is to Him, and is not publicly displayed. For people to be sealed, they are as it were known by God, stamped with His mark. It might even be that there is a mass baptism into Christ of Jewish people in the land- that would certainly be a point at which believers are sealed. This would admirably fulfil the otherwise strange prophecy of Zech. 13:1, that a fountain will be opened in Jerusalem in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem can be washed from their sin.

The outline idea is of an Angel putting a mark on God’s people so that other Angels don’t harm them with the judgments they are pouring out. And this of course recalls the Passover Angel hovering over the homes of the Israelites who had placed the mark of the Lamb on their doorposts, so that “the Destroyer” Angel would not destroy them. Ez. 9:4 is similar- a mark is placed upon the forehead of those in Jerusalem who are repentant, so that they are not hurt by the judgments of the Babylonian invasion and destruction of the temple. These allusions further encourage us to understand the 144,000 as Jewish Christians within the land / earth.

"The four Angels" connect with how in Daniel 7 it is the four beasts who do the hurting of the land. But these are but the earthly counterparts of the Heavenly cherubim, which are portrayed also as four beasts. And here the point is made explicit- there are four Angels coordinating the desolation of the land in the last days.

"To whom it was given to hurt" again reminds us of the constant comfort that it is God who allows the desolation and even ultimately empowers it.

7:3 Saying: Do not hurt the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees- Significantly, the Koran stipulated that trees are not to be damaged during campaigns against infidels. The same word for "hurt" was used in 6:6, where the oliveyards and vineyards were not to be then hurt. This may mean that now the judgments upon the land are poured out upon it.

Until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads- This sealing of the 144,000 is presented at the beginning of Revelation 14 as the counterpart to the sealing of the other inhabitants of the land with the mark of the beast in their foreheads which we find at the end of Revelation 13. The faithful who come through the traumas of the six seal judgments of chapter 6, refusing to take the easy way out by receiving the mark of the beast in their forehead, are sealed with the Father’s Name in their foreheads. They are known by Him, and they know Him. The presence or absence of ‘marks in the forehead’ decides whether the beast system will persecute people or not; and in response to this, the Divine judgments will likewise be upon those who lack the Father’s Name but instead have the beast’s name (Rev. 9:4; 13:16; 14:1,9; 20:4). And it is those who have the Father’s Name in their foreheads who will again be given it yet more permanently at the day of judgment (Rev. 22:4). This means that their response to the beast’s persecution is in effect their day of judgment ahead of time; because they refuse to accept his mark in their foreheads, therefore the Father will give them His mark in their foreheads- which is the reward of the faithful at the last day. This is a feature I commented upon extensively in The Last Days- that our response to the tribulation is effectively our judgment day. And this has an appropriacy to it- for if the generation alive at the Lord’s coming will be the only one to never die, they need to be prepared in a unique way for the passage into eternity which they will experience. And this will be achieved through their experience of the tribulation.

The mark of the beast in the forehead is clearly intended to be understood as the inverse of the “seal of God” which is in the forehead of the believers (Rev. 9:4). The word sphragis used there definitely means a seal, and it is matched by the “mark” of the beast. That mark can be understood, therefore, also as a seal- and what more likely than the seal of Mohammed? It may be that signet rings are used to stamp documents, or it forms part of an insignia without which no business can be done in the land. The Koran itself speaks of how true Moslems will have the mark of Mohammad on their foreheads as a sign that they worship: “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou [O Muhammad] seest them bowing and falling prostrate [in worship], seeking bounty from Allah and [His] acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration” (Surah 48.29). In Revelation 14:9,11, having the mark of the beast is connected with worshipping him. The Islamic jihadist movement set to take over Israel is a highly religious movement, seeking to strictly obey the Koran. They are highly conscious of these verses. They perceive those who don’t have their mark in the forehead as having the mark in the forehead of condemnation (Surah 9.35); the idea of a seal being placed upon non-Moslems who refuse to convert to Islam is found also in Sura 7.101: "Thus doth Allah print upon the hearts [minds / foreheads] of disbelievers". All this is in fact the picture presented in Revelation of sealing with forehead marks. We have either the mark of the beast [Islam], or of the Father. And so the Koran also says in This is exactly the idea of Sura 7.46,48: "And on the Heights are men who know them all by their marks... the dwellers on the Heights call unto men whom they know by their marks". Islam believes that the unbelievers are sealed by God in their unbelief- whilst the Moslems are sealed as believers. "Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be a great torment" (Sura 2:7). Note too that the Koran and Hadith repeatedly speak of faithful Moslems as the servants of Allah, with Mohammad as the supreme servant. The description of the 144,000 as “servants of our God” is purposeful in this context; in the time of Moslem domination of the land, they will be the true servants of God, in opposition to the Moslems who falsely claim to be His servants. In this context it’s worth noting the claim that “The value of the word "Muhammad" equals the value of the word "Jesus." (Jesus = 444, Muhammad = 444). Therefore, "Muhammad seal" and "Jesus seal" both equal 666”.

The seal is the Name of the Father, Yahweh (14:1). The only personage in the Old Testament who had the Yahweh Name in their forehead was the High Priest, who on his mitre had written ‘Holiness / Dedicated to Yahweh’.  The idea was that all of the 144,000 are as the High Priest- in that they are “in Christ” and all that is true of Him is true of them.

7:4 And I heard the number- This is added to highlight the contrast with the “great multitude which no man could number” (7:9). This ‘hearing’ contrasts with how John "saw" the great multitude. I suggest that the same group are in view, just seen from different perspectives. He heard something happening in Heaven- there, the 144,000 are marked off or sealed. There is not necessarily any physical mark upon the faithful, repentant Jewish remnant, apart from that they refuse to wear the mark or seal of the beast, which I have suggested is the seal of Mohammed. There will therefore be a tension between the seals- the seal of Mohammed, the mark of the beast, which is visible; and the invisible seal of God which is seen only in Heaven.

Of those that were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand- The 12 x 12 is obviously intentional, as if to say that this group is the true Israel. The thousands would refer to their being ‘many’. The sealing of a group of faithful within Israel parallels the 7000 “reserved” by God out of Israel for Himself at the time of Elijah’s ministry. The three and a half year ministry of the historical Elijah looks forward to the latter day Elijah ministry during the tribulation for the same period. As 7000 faithful were ‘reserved’ by God for Himself at that time, so the 144,000 are in the last days. The 7000 remnant in Elijah's time were "left" or 'remained' to God (1 Kings 19:18). The same word is used of the latter day remnant within Israel: "He that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem" (Is. 4:3). This is the same idea in essence as in Rev. 7- the 144,000 are numbered and written, carefully noted by God. The same word is used of the latter day Jewish remnant in Is. 11:11,16; 17:6; 24:6 (the few men that will remain when the earth / land is made desolate); 37:31 (the faithful remnant in Jerusalem at the time of the Assyrian invasion which typifies that of the last days); 49:21; Jer. 21:7 (the remnant who remain after the plague, sword and famine of the Babylonian invasion have devoured them, all of which are the source material for the events of the six seals which the 144,000 have come through); 50:20 ("I will pardon them whom I reserve", speaking of the forgiveness of the latter day repentant remnant); Amos 5:3 (the ten percent of Israel who 'remain'); Zeph. 3:12 (the 'remnant' of the "afflicted and poor people" who "shall trust in the name of the Lord"); Zech. 9:7 (the remnant who will "be for our God" after the destruction of the majority of Israel); 12:14 (the 'remaining ones' who weep in repentance for crucifying Jesus).

The 144,000 are the antithesis of the followers of the beast- these follow the Lamb wherever He goes. It's highly significant that Muhammad is supposed to have had 144,000 followers or Sahaba [Thomas Patrick Hughes, A Dictionary of Islam, "Ashab"]. This is supposed to connect with the claim that there are 144,000 prophets in Islam [Elwood Morris Wherry & George Sale, A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran]. The 144,000 who follow the Lamb are thus in purposeful contrast with the 144,000 who are supposed to have followed Mohammad wherever he went. This confirms the entire thrust of our exposition- that whatever previous historical fulfilments there have been, the latter day application of Revelation is to events in the land promised to Abraham in the last days whilst it is under Moslem domination.

Revelation is full of language which is also found in the Koran- because Islam, like Babylon, Assyria and Rome before them, are offering God’s people a fake replica of real spirituality and the true Hope of Israel. They are an anti-Christ, an imitation Jesus, a false 12 tribes of Israel rather than the true. This explains why the promises of the Kingdom of God in Revelation are full of language which is also used in the Koran for the reward of faithful Moslems. Revelation will have intense relevance to the persecuted under Moslem domination- the rewards offered by Islam will be seen to be a fake Kingdom of God. Thus in Sura 2:25,266: "Give glad tidings [cp. 'the Gospel'] to those who believe [Moslems]... for them will be gardens under which the rivers of Paradise flow... they will be provided with a fruit therefrom...  trees with all kinds of fruit… they will abide therein for ever". The final visions of Revelation offer eternal residence in a restored Paradise and eating the fruit of the tree- to those who refuse to accept the religion of the beast, Islam.

Sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel- This makes more poignant the omission of Dan and Ephraim from the list. Due to their apostasy, they are no longer numbered amongst the children of Israel. The order of the tribes is also not according to their age, but it may be according to their faithfulness to God. This is therefore the picture at the time of final judgment, when the true Israel have finally been made up and numbered.

The very laboured mentioning of 12,000 faithful within each tribe may be because they are the antithesis to some yet unseen aspect of the beast. In the ISIS magazine Dabiq No. 4 (October 2014) the Islamic State on the back page (p. 56) quote a hadith which states: “They will then gather for the Malmanah (the grand battle before the Hour) [the equivalent of Biblical Armageddon], they will come under eighty banners, with each banner there will be twelve thousand people”. The IS wish to consciously fulfil such Islamic prophecies in order to hasten the coming of the antiChrist and then the Mahdi. Perhaps in an attempt to fulfil these predictions, there will be groups of 12,000 Moslems who play some role in the earth / land promised to Abraham. Their antithesis- the Jews who refuse to convert to Islam- are therefore here presented as twelve tribes of twelve thousand.

The Koran claims that the twelve sons of Jacob were in fact 'Moslems', and that current Jewish claims to being descended from Jacob's twelve sons are false (Surah 2.140 "Or say you that Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael), Ishaque (Isaac), Ya'qub (Jacob) and Al-Asbat [the twelve sons of Ya'qub (Jacob)] were Jews or Christians? Say, "Do you know better or does Allah (knows better; that they all were Muslims)? And who is more unjust than he who conceals the testimony)". Again we see the relevance of the sealing of people from the 12 tribes of natural Israel- if at the very time this happens, they are being accused of not being from those 12 tribes, and that in fact it is Arab Moslems who are the true 12 tribes. This situation is reflected by the way in which the descriptions of the 144,000 are in terms elsewhere used by the beast system. Thus they are sealed, just as the beast seals his followers; the great multitude who proclaim “Victory!” before the throne (7:10) are parodied by the beast’s followers doing the same in 13:4.

It is worth noting that two thirds of the Jews within the land are to be “cut off" in the holocaust, meaning that a third survive it (Zech. 13:8,9).   Having spoken of this period in Rev. 6, Rev. 7:4 speaks of 144,000 Jews as surviving it.   A third of the Jews in Israel is about 1.4 million people; it may be that only a tenth of those will ultimately be found worthy. The 144,000 are sealed so that they avoid God's judgments, which would fit the idea of the righteous remnant miraculously surviving in an Arab occupied Jerusalem.

7:5 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand- See on :4 and :8.

7:6 Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand- See on :4 and :8.

7:7 Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand- See on :4 and :8.

7:8 Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand-  See on :4. It’s been observed that the tribe of Dan is excluded from the list of the redeemed tribes in Rev. 7. Dan didn’t take possession of their inheritance; they despised it. And so they excluded themselves, rather than being excluded for e.g. bad behaviour. The other tribes all had their moments of terrible failures; but these didn’t exclude them. The only one excluded was the one who didn’t want to be there.

7:9 After these things I saw and beheld a great crowd, which no one could number- An allusion to how the seed of Abraham would be innumerable (Gen. 13:16; 16:10; 32:12; Hos. 1:10). The great multitude are the true Israel, and are thus parallel with the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel.

Out of every nation, comprised of all tribes, peoples and tongues- The reference is limited by the context to the tribes of the earth / land promised to Abraham; see on "All nations" later in this verse. This is the same term used about the nations, tribes, peoples under the domination of the beast (17:15), and seems almost a title of the beast system in 11:9. The great multitude are therefore being parodied by the followers of the beast, who also claim [as the Jihadists do] to be universal in their support base. This is just as the 144,000 followers of the lamb are parodied by the supposed 144,000 followers of Mohammad. The events of the last days will bring about the final and ultimate clash of God’s Kingdom and the kingdoms of men.

Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes and with palms in their hands- They "stood before the throne", as men will "stand before" God at the day of judgment (Rev. 20:12 s.w.). They had white robes, a term used about those slain at the start of the tribulation (6:11).  In this we see the connection between the seals and the sealing of the 144,000 / great multitude. A specific group is in view- those who were slain in the tribulation.

Of all nations- The multitude came 'out of' [ek] "great tribulation" (:14); yet they also come ek, out of, the nations, peoples, languages of :9. The suggestion would be that this group of various peoples are those where the tribulation has occurred. The very same Greek phrase "nations, tribes, peoples and languages" is used later in Revelation for the peoples within the land promised to Abraham who support the beast system (11:9; 17:15).  The beast / whore rides upon them- and her dominion is over the earth / land, which is therefore where these tribes and peoples are located. This also solves the logistical problem of imagining that literally every tribe and language group of the Amazon or central Africa or Pacific islands must come under the direct control of any one world system. We can legitimately translate ek as 'out of'; the same word is found in Rev. 18:4 where "My people" are asked to come "out of" Babylon and the beast system- the mass of peoples and tribes within the land promised to Abraham from Euphrates to Egypt, which is under the control and religion of the beast. It's a typical Western stereotype to assume that all the people living in that area are simply 'Arabs'. That's as facile as saying that Europe is inhabited by 'Europeans'. The area is full of various tribes and ethnicities, as the conflicts in Iraq and Syria have demonstrated. So the statement that the great multitude had come ek out of the various nations and tribes is not merely a statement of fact, it is a commendation of the fact that they had spiritually 'come out of' those peoples. Rev. 15:2 repeatedly uses the word ek to speak of how the faithful had come out of the beast system: "Them that had gotten the victory over [ek, out of- "over" is not the correct translation] the beast, and over [ek, out of] his image, and over [ek, out of] his mark, and over [ek, out of] the number of his name". Rev. 7:9 says that the faithful come ek out of the phule, the tribes [AV "kindreds"]. But we have just read with painstaking repetition of how the 144,000 have come ek out of the phule, the tribes, of Israel! We must not fail to give this due weight in interpretation. The 144,000 come out of the tribes of Israel, and the great multitude come out of the tribes who are willingly dominated by the beast. The picture is that the tribes of Israel submit to the beast, but the faithful refuse to do so. Such a covenant is suggested by Dan. 9, and I have commented upon this elsewhere in writing about the Antichrist. This coming 'out of' the beast system may be in view in Mt. 24:31, where we learn that the Lord will gather His elect ek, out of, "the four winds". And Rev. 7:1 in this very context speaks of the four winds of desolation to come upon Israel, from which the 144,000 are preserved.

Think of the misunderstood Jesus, welcomed by the crowds with palm fronds in hope of an immediate Messianic Kingdom. Surely John intends us to think back to that when we read in Rev. 7:9 that the Lord will be welcomed by another large crowd, from every nation, carrying palm fronds and calling out praise to Him for dying on the cross and redeeming them. Here are those who truly understand Him. The Lord had in mind this contrast between the crowd and those who would truly understand Him when He said that “Now is the son of man glorified” in the things of the cross (Jn. 12:23) in contrast to the crowds who were shouting “Glory in the highest!” at the prospect of Him there and then inaugurating the Messianic Kingdom (Lk. 19:38). See on Jn. 5:23.

7:10 Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne- See on Jn. 20:28. Revelation is full of allusion to Roman imperial court scenes and rituals. In its first century application, it was an appeal for Christians to not convert to the imperial cult, even at the risk of persecution and death. In its latter day reference, Revelation may well be found to be full of reference to and parody of the culture and structure of the entity which dominates the land in the last days. In the first century, the Caesar declared himself as the ‘saviour’. The Roman emperors often gathered people from all nations and languages within the empire, who stood before his throne and cried ‘Victory!’ or ‘Salvation!’ to the Caesar. This was seen as legitimizing the Caesar as chosen and approved by the entire empire. Radical Islam loves to use the cry of ‘Victory!’ and to talk of how each town they overrun has been liberated or saved. They also like to claim that they have support from worldwide and not simply from Arab Muslims. The crowd of believers here parodies their claims by giving the true international worship to the true God rather than the false one. 

7:11 And all the angels were standing round about the throne and about the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God- The implication is that the Angels are deeply impressed when they see these things working out. They are struck by the wisdom and power revealed in the whole Divine design (:12). This gives a window into what immortality will be all about. We will still be impressionable; able to observe new things with wonder and a sense of praise; and not necessarily able to precisely imagine how plans shall work out.

7:12 Saying: Amen. Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honour, power and might to our God for ever and ever. Amen- As noted on :11, this gives some insight into what it will be like to have the kind of immortal nature which the Angels now have. They are presented as observing how things work out in God’s plan, and then being deeply impressed with the whole wisdom and wonder of it all. In seeing God’s power and might manifest in such a way, they wish that this shall for ever be the case. And so it shall be. “Amen”.

7:13- see on Rev. 6:9.

And one of the elders asked me: These that are dressed in white robes, who are they and from where did they come?- This is the clothing of Angels; they are presented as at one with their Angelic representatives in the court of Heaven. The Lord Jesus is likewise presented as clothed both in white and in a red “garment dipped in blood” (Rev. 19:13). The whore who leads the beast is also described as clothed in white linen (Rev. 18:16) and also in porphura (Rev. 17:4), a word which can mean ‘dyed red’. The external clothing of the real Christ and the antiChrist is similar; because the antiChrist is indeed a fake Christ. Moslems also believe in dressing in white robes; it’s as if this group who come out of the Moslem dominated land of Israel are the antithesis of their persecutors.

"From where did they come?" carries the idea that they had come out of something, namely, the beast system (:14). See on :9 Of all nations.

7:14 And I replied: My lord, do you know? And he explained to me: These are they that came out of the great tribulation- The great tribulation in latter day Israel of Mt. 24:9,21,29. ‘Coming out’ can be a Hebraism for coming forth successfully from a trial- e.g. “When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). These are the group who respond to the traumas of the six seals and repent. Their white robes connect with those given to those who die during the tribulation under the fifth seal (“And each one was given a white robe”, Rev. 6:11).

And they washed their robes- Perhaps a reference to mass baptisms into Christ in the beast dominated Israel of the last days?

And made them white in the blood of the Lamb- It is the function of the three and a half year Elijah ministry [which will occur at the same time as the tribulation] to be “like fullers’ soap” so that Israel may “abide the day of [Messiah’s] coming” (Mal. 3:2). Fullers’ soap is what makes white. The reference is to those in Israel who respond to the Elijah ministry and make their clothes white. These are the 144,000 or great multitude.

The 144,000 are redeemed from all the tribes of Jewry in the last days, and they wash their robes [through baptism] in the blood of Jesus as a result of “the great tribulation” (Rev. 7:14 RV) which they pass through. This great multitude are Jews yet out of every nation and language (Rev. 7:9)- for as Ron Abel shows in Wrested Scriptures, the great multitude and the 144,000 are to be read as identical. The witness to them will thus be world-wide. This “great tribulation” is one of many links discernible between Revelation and the Olivet prophecy. The Lord had prophesied that the “great tribulation” such as never was for Israel will occur in the very last days before the return (Mt. 24:21). It is only for the sake of “the elect” that the days of the great tribulation are shortened. This elect are surely the 144,000 of Rev. 7- Jewish brethren in Christ, converted during the very last days. It is this “elect” which is to be gathered from “the four winds” (Mt. 24:31) by the Angels. This suggests that they are not just Jews in the land who are converted, but those throughout the world-wide Diaspora. For the time of Jacob’s trouble, worse than anything they have ever experienced (including the holocaust) must affect all Jewry world-wide. And this includes the USA and other apparently pro-Jewish or tolerant nations.

We must face the questions: Are the 144,000 the same as the great multitude? And are these 144,000 the same as the 144,000 in Revelation 14? I believe they all refer to the same group of faithful believers, perhaps literal Jews, who repent during the early part of the tribulation which is described in the six seals. But each passage gives different aspects of the same picture. The seven trumpets are the tribulations brought about by the four winds of 7:1. These can still be responded to by those within the land. The 144,000 group are preserved from them, just as Israel experienced the first plagues to come upon Egypt but were preserved from the later ones (cp. Is. 26:20). The seven vials are clearly based upon the plagues upon Egypt, and they are part of the extensive description of the beast’s judgment which [interspersed with visions of the faithful] dominate the rest of the book of Revelation.

But are these 144,000 the same as the 144,000 in Revelation 14? The differences don’t necessarily have to make them different; John hears the 144,000 and then sees the great multitude, just as earlier John hears about the Lion but turns to see a Lamb (Rev. 5:5,6); and so it could be that he is told about the 144,000 and turns to see a great multitude. It would be facile to suggest that the Lion and Lamb are two different beings. They are simply different aspects of the same personage- the Lord Jesus. And this is common in Revelation and Jewish apocalyptic generally. So the differences are not fundamental, but rather presenting to us different aspects of the same group. In one sense they are the innumerable seed of Abraham, in another sense they are the 12 tribes, the true Israel. The great multitude are dressed in “white robes”- and this has just been used about those slain at the start of the tribulation (6:11). A specific group is in view- Jewish believers who suffered in the land at the hands of the beast during the time of the seals.

There are similarities between the 144,000 and the “great multitude”. The 144,000 of Rev. 14:3 are “before the throne” just as the “great multitude” of Rev. 7:15,17 are. If the 144,000 represent the church generally, it’s hard to understand why there should be such a laboured enumeration of them as coming from the various listed tribes of Israel. The idea surely is that they are Jewish Christians from within the land- perhaps the mention of the 12 tribes is to show that they will come from the entire geographical inheritance of Israel.

The great multitude have palms in their hands (:9) as if they are lining the streets of Jerusalem to welcome Jesus as King (Mt. 21:8). The term “great multitude” is repeatedly used in the Gospels for the crowds who followed Jesus. So although they do refer to the group of Jewish Christians of the last days, they are clearly to be understood as looking forward to the entire community of Jesus-followers. Rev. 7:14 says of the great multitude: “These are they which came out of great tribulation”. The many connections with the Olivet Prophecy would surely mean that the tribulation in view is partly that of the last days (Mt. 24:21,29). 

7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them- There is maybe the suggestion here that after the judgment process, the Lord will come down off His throne and mix with us, after the pattern of Joseph reassuring his brethren.

7:16 They shall hunger no more nor thirst any more- Quoting from Is. 49:10 about the repentant Jewish remnant of the last days. Hunger, thirst, no more burning [AV “heat”] and the sun no longer falling upon them [Gk.] all has reference to the experiences in the land during the six seal judgments. The comfort for that group is that these things will be no more.

Neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat- The sun is symbolic of the Lord Jesus, but those who have passed through the tribulation will have been under the heat of the anti-Christ, the fake "sun" (cp. Mt. 13:6). The "heat" could refer to the heat of torture or to nuclear warfare. The word literally means a glow or burn. There seems no doubt that the Islamist elements within the earth / land promised to Abraham would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons in their assault upon Israel. However the Hebrew used in Is. 49:10, which is being quoted, refers to the sirocco or scorching desert storm wind, an idea used earlier for the Islamist invasion of Israel in the last days.

7:17– see on Lk. 13:15.

For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of living water- Again we have a kaleidoscope of images. The Lamb is both in the midst of the throne and leading them as a shepherd. he Lamb, once a sheep, is the appropriate shepherd; His shepherding is on the basis of His own human experience, as a sheep.

 The "springs of living water" to which they are led could refer to us; for repentant Israel will be given teachers to teach them (Jer. 3:15). In John's languages, the spring of living water is the gift of the Spirit given in the Lord Jesus. It is ultimately the spring which gives the water of life eternal (22:1). This last generation of repentant Jews will indeed be given the life eternal.

And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes- Quoting from Is. 25:8 about the resurrection and immortality of the last day (thus it is quoted in 1 Cor. 15), again about the repentant Jewish remnant of the last days. In the context, this happens on Mount Zion, which is where the 144,000 are found in Rev. 14, at a time when “Moab” and Israel’s neighbour enemies have been destroyed. Those who enter the Kingdom will genuinely, from the very depth of their being, feel that they shouldn't be there. When we read that the Lord will “wipe away” tears from their eyes, this is the same word used in Acts 3:19 to describe how the sins of repentant Israel will be “blotted out” when the Lord returns. The conclusion seems to be, therefore, that the Lord Himself will comfort them with the reality that their sins and being unworthy of the Kingdom is all truly forgiven. The judgment will have achieved its end for them- a true realization of sinfulness.