BOOK OF REVELATION
Lesson 17 - Chapter 7 Continued
We addressed the first 8 verses of Revelation chapter 7 last time and we'll not quite conclude
the chapter today after reviewing. At the same time I'm going to add some more information
about last week's topic before moving forward with Revelation 7 verse 9.
If we assume that the chapter order of Revelation as we find it in our Bibles is correct, then
what we read in chapter 7 happens either coincidentally with, or just after, the 6th seal of
chapter 6 being opened. However if we agree with the Pre-Tribulation Dispensationalist
viewpoint (the one championed by most Evangelical churches), then we have to conclude that
chapters 6 and 7 are out of order; reversed, actually. That is, chapter 7 should come before
chapter 6. No ancient Greek manuscript of the New Testament has it that way, which is why it
is not that way in the Bibles you all hold in your hands. There is also no scriptural proof for this
supposition; rather it is that in order for the Pre-Tribulation Dispensationalist doctrine to work
chapters 6 and 7 MUST be reversed.
There was no notion of this particular theological theory until early in the 19th century when
Darby invented the Pre-Tribulation Dispensationalist doctrine that is widely accepted today.
The gist of the doctrine is that prior to an event called The Tribulation, the Rapture occurs that
supernaturally whisks Christ Believers away and into Heaven before they can die as martyrs or
suffer painful persecution. This doctrine was popularized in the Left Behind series by Tim
LaHaye. One of the main problems with this doctrine is that there is no such named event in
the Book of Revelation or anywhere else in the New Testament called The Tribulation. It was a
term first coined by Darby. The other main problem is the one we just discussed; this doctrine
only works if we reverse the chapter order of Revelation 6 and 7, which (to me) attacks the
credibility of the book as it has been transmitted to us. So I would like to offer a different
reason that I see as not only plausible, but actually conforming to an established God-pattern,
for why there is an interlude in the biblical text between the happenings of Revelation chapters
6 and 8. That is, that there is a pause between the opening of the 6th seal that ends chapter 6
and the opening of the 7th seal that begins chapter 8. And that pause or interlude is what we
read in chapter 7.
Prior to God's wrath in Revelation beginning to be poured out on the entire planet that ends
with global catastrophe, there was one other time that Yehoveh determined to inflict His wrath
on a destructive, world-wide basis: the Great Flood. And if we go back to Genesis chapters 6
and 7 (which you can do on your own) we find that there was an interlude, a pause, in the
biblical account after God announced His determination to destroy the world. During that
interlude we read about Noah's history and of his family. We read about how God gave Noah
instructions to build an Ark to survive the flood waters, and that Noah was also to rescue
hundreds of species of animals from extinction. It is interesting that we find that later authors of
Jewish religious literature saw this same pattern and used it in the construction of the book of 1
Enoch chapter 66 (which is also about the Flood) and in II Baruch 6 regarding the destruction
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of the Temple, for example.
The purpose of the interlude that we find in Genesis is to secure God's people (Noah and his
righteous family) before the catastrophe begins in earnest. And in the same pattern we see in
Revelation an interlude for the purpose of God securing His people (especially the 144,000
who are said to be "sealed", but also the countless millions of Believers of all peoples and
languages) before the God-ordained catastrophes begin in earnest.
We also discussed the identity of the 144,000 Believers who would be sealed for God, and
thus protected in some way. Being sealed means to receive a mark of ownership. So these
144.000 are being protected either from physical harm or from spiritual harm (or perhaps both);
at this point that is not clear.
While what I'm about to tell you is new information, and not part of the review, it is meant to
point out something important. Although nearly the entire Book of Revelation is about the End
Times and God's wrath as part of His plan of redemption, the issue of personal salvation is not
to be found except in chapter 7 where we read about the saved martyrs under the Heavenly
alter, the 144.000 sealed Believers, and then the countless millions who have been saved; and
then also in chapters 12, 14, 19 and 21. Thus the theme of a remnant that is delivered from
God's wrath (saved people) that we find in the story of Noah is depicted similarly in Revelation.
Only a remnant is saved through trust in Christ, and we find that remnant identified in chapter
7.
Interestingly neither is repentance nor turning from sin a significant topic outside of the 7 letters
to the Churches of Asia. Once we enter the final phase of the End Times (starting with the Seal
judgments of chapter 6), repentance for the purpose of salvation is dealt with only by
implication. No mention of repentance is found in the opening of the first 6 seals. Even as the
global destruction increases and gets more horrific in chapter 9 (where the Trumpet judgments
are announced, and then God's wrath is further heightened in chapter 16 with the Bowl
judgments) there is only a stupefied wonder by John about why the people of the earth can't
see (or admit) that they are suffering God's judgment. And also why since this is self evident
they won't turn from their sins as a logical response; instead they only blaspheme God all the
more and increase their levels of sin and evil.
CJB
Revelation 9:20-21
20
The rest of mankind, those who were not killed by these
plagues, even then did not turn from what they had made with their own hands- they did
not stop worshipping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood,
which cannot see or hear or walk.
21
Nor did they turn from their murdering, their
involvement with the occult and with drugs, their sexual immorality or their stealing.
CJB
Revelation 16:9-11
9
People were burned by the intense heat; yet they cursed the
name of God, who had the authority over these plagues, instead of turning from their
sins to give him glory.
10
The fifth one poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom grew
dark. People gnawed on their tongues from the pain,
11
yet they cursed the God of
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heaven because of their pains and sores, and did not turn from their sinful deeds.
What does this mean for us? I've often been asked what happens to Believers who come to
salvation only after the Rapture; those who resisted the Gospel until those biblical prophecies
that explained what was going to happen, happened. And what we will find is that the Book of
Revelation is not terribly concerned about them. No doubt a significant number of people will
see what occurs and change their minds; but for them it will be too late to avoid the wrath of
God that will now be poured out indiscriminately upon all humans.....including those who come
to faith after the Rapture.
Picture it this way: it could not have been otherwise that upon the deluge beginning and those
on Noah's Ark beginning to bob around on the ever rising waters that thousands of people
suddenly realized what evil they had done and pled with God to have mercy upon them. But it
was too late; their drowning was now certain regardless of their newfound enlightenment. So it
may be for those who repent and come to Christ AFTER the Rapture. While they will receive
the mercy of eternal life, they will not receive the mercy of deliverance from the earthly
torments that are being thrown down from Heaven. Christian bible scholars are nearly
unanimous in believing that the New Testament implies that even the eternal status of
Raptured Believers, and those who died before them, will be different and higher and more
privileged than those who come to believe after the Rapture. So the conclusion is that while
there is hope for those who remain pagan up and through the Rapture, and only
believe afterward, their hope is not the same as for those who believed beforehand. While I
cannot say that is the case for certain, it is indeed how I see it as well.
The identity of these 144,000 in chapter 7 is controversial mainly because various Bible
commentators cannot decide if, as specifically written down, these are indeed 144,000 saved
Israelites from the 12 tribes of Israel, or whether their tribal identification is merely symbolic
and instead means to indicate the entire gentile Church. As with Pre-Tribulation
Dispensationalism the only rationale for assuming the 144,000 to represent the gentile Church
is in order to uphold that rather new manmade Church doctrine. Pre-Tribulation
Dispensationalism inherently embraces the Replacement Theology doctrine that says that God
has replaced Israel with the gentile Church such that all the blessings promised to Israel now
goes to the Church; however all the curses threatened against Israel remain with Israel.
The scriptural evidence is overwhelming that the 144,000 who are sealed by a mark on their
foreheads are Israelites. First is that those are the undisputed words of the passage; and
second is because even the individual Israelite tribes from which the 144,000 come are
identified tribe by tribe, name by name. This is not how biblical symbolism works; so there is
no evidence for symbolism. Very likely the basis for the sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation is
taken from the Ezekiel prophecy of Ezekiel 9.
CJB
Ezekiel 9:4-6
4
ADONAI said to him, "Go throughout the city, through all
Yerushalayim, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and crying
over all the disgusting practices that are being committed in it."
5
To the others I heard him say, "Go through the city after him and strike! Don't let your
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eye spare; have no pity!
6
Kill old men, young men, girls, little children, women-
slaughter them all! But don't go near anyone with the mark. Begin at my sanctuary."
That said, the listing of the particular Israelite tribes is problematic to a degree. The tribes of
Dan and Ephraim are left out of the list while the tribes of Joseph and Levi are added back in.
Why this is we are not informed. What we do know, however, is that the composition of the list
of tribes of Israel has changed a few times over history. Originally there were 12; then down in
Egypt that number increased to 14; then just before Jacob's death that number decreased to
13; then out in the wilderness the number returned to 12 but it was a slightly different 12 than
the original 12. Now in Revelation it is still 12, but the list of which tribes are included in the 12
has changed once again. Some biblical scholars and teachers try to imagine a reason why
Ephraim and Dan were removed (even though Holy Scripture gives us no reason) while others
owe this to an error by John or to a later scribal error. However the earliest Greek New
Testament manuscripts that we have uphold this particular list. So it is my conclusion that the
list is correct, but the reason for the change is a mystery. So it is best for us to simply accept it
as we find it and in time the unfolding of redemption history will make the reason for the list, as
it stands, clear.
Let's continue with Revelation 7 by re-reading the remainder of the chapter.
RE-READ REVELATION CHAPTER 7:9 - end
Verse 9 begins with "after this". "After this" either means that verse 9 begins another and
separate vision or that it begins a different theme within the same vision than what was written
in verses 1 - 8. However Pre-Tribulation Dispensationalists generally say that what begins in
verse 9 is but a continuation of verses 1-8 with the purpose of further identifying the 144,000.
This verse explains that the crowd that John sees is too enormous to be counted, but that they
consist of people from every nation, tribe, and language. I will again quote extensively from
Beale who makes the case for the Pre-Tribulation Dispensationalist doctrinal viewpoint.
"Whereas verses 1 - 8 have portrayed the church in its symbolic significance as the true
Israel, in verses 9 - 17 John receives a glimpse into its actual dimensions........They are
said to be a certain number of people because God has determined exactly who will
receive His redemptive seal, and only He knows the precise number of His true
servants.......This second picture in verses 9 - 17 understands the same host now from
the viewpoint of their actual vast number. Although they are a saved remnant, they are
also those who have been gathered from all over the face of the earth and have lived
throughout the era of the church age. Therefore they are a multitudinous throng."
In my opinion Beale's interpretation is straightforward allegory. That is, for him all in this
passage is symbolic and therefore should not be taken in its plain meaning. And, by the way, I
doubt Beale would argue with my labeling his interpretation as allegory because that has
become a generally acceptable method of Bible interpretation in the academic world, and
especially for the New Testament, and that is at least partly because allegory is the method
required in order to uphold the Pre-Tribulation doctrine or some other rival doctrines. However
if we take the words of verse 4 - 8 as literal, then clearly the precisely numbered group of
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144.000 that is said to be Israelites from 12 named Israelite tribes must be a different and
separate group from the generic vast horde of people from every nation, tribe, and language
spoken of in verse 9. Taken literally the first group is speaking of Hebrews; the second group
is speaking of gentiles. In both cases these are saved Believers.
These saved people (speaking of their souls or spirits, of course) were in Heaven, standing
before the throne of God, and in front of the Lamb. I'll add a brief parenthesis that we need to
constantly keep in mind; John describes two distinct divine individuals in his vision: the One
sitting on the throne, and the Lamb. God sits on the throne; the Lamb stands before Him. This
is consistent throughout John's visions and continues to place the One on the throne (God the
Father) as preeminent to the Lamb. The consistency of the vision matches the consistency of
the Holy Scriptures in this same regard. But what it doesn't match are manmade Church
doctrines such as the co-equal Trinity Doctrine.
The countless Believers from every people group on earth are dressed in white robes and
holding palm branches in their hands. The white robes mean absolute ritual purity. The palm
branches relate most likely to Psalm 118, which itself relates to Sukkot.....the Feast of
Tabernacles. The pertinent verses from Psalm 118 are:
CJB
Psalm 118:24-29
24
This is the day ADONAI has made, a day for us to rejoice and be
glad.
25
Please, ADONAI! Save us! Please, ADONAI! Rescue us!
26
Blessed is he who
comes in the name of ADONAI. We bless you from the house of ADONAI.
27
ADONAI is God, and he gives us light. Join in the pilgrim festival with branches all the
way to the horns of the altar.
28
You are my God, and I thank you. You are my God; I
exalt you.
29
Give thanks to ADONAI; for he is good, for his grace continues forever.
It is my opinion that the Messianic prophetic nature of the Feast of Sukkot is what is being
played out here in John's vision as palm branches are placed at the altar in the Temple and
they are central to Sukkot ritual. That is, the 7 named Biblical Feasts in the Torah are, without
doubt, prophetic of the redemptive works of Messiah. The first 4 of these prophetic biblical
feasts have already been fulfilled. Pesach, Passover, was the day when Yeshua paid the price
for our sins through His blood spilled upon the cross. Matza, Unleavened Bread, was the day
when Yeshua's sinless body was placed into the rocky tomb. Bikkurim, First Fruits, was the
day when Yeshua arose from the dead. And Shavuot, Pentecost, was the day when the Holy
Spirit came to indwell men.
Three of the feasts remain to be fulfilled: Yom Teruah, The Feast of Trumpets; Yom Kippur,
the Day of Atonement; and the final one, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. So unless other
evidence is made available to me, I can find no other explanation for the scene that we find
with the palm branches in Revelation 7:9 than it is the moment of the prophesied fulfillment of
The Feast of Tabernacles.
In verse 10 the millions of Believers in Heaven shout "Victory to our God, who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!" God the Father and God the Son are praised separately. But what
"victory" is being praised? It is the victory of the Lamb being able to open the seals and
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therefore to begin the process of judgment that brings to fruition God's will to redeem the earth
from Satan. But it is also crediting God and the Lamb with the victory of Believers over sin and
evil in our lives. The overcomers' victory is really God's victory, and here that reality is being
acknowledged by praising God for it. So the victory is twofold: first it is the victory of Believers
to persevere in our faith so that we may have eternal life; and second it is the victory of God to
restore a fallen world such that our eternal life will be in a place in which sin and evil are
eradicated once and for all.
And just as the souls of the human Believers worship God, so now starting in verse 11 do the
millions of angels surrounding the inner circle of the throne fall down in worship first by saying
"Amen" to what the Believers have shouted. And then add their own praise that acknowledges
God's unapproachable glory, wisdom and power that is from everlasting to everlasting.
Verse 13 then goes into further depth about who the millions of Believers dressed in white are
(from verse 9). One of the 24 Elders asks John if he understands who they are and John
replies that he doesn't. The Elder tells him that these are the people who have come out of the
great tribulation. I have mentioned on a few occasions that neither Revelation nor any New
Testament book ever speaks of the named events of The Tribulation or of The Great
Tribulation. Yet the Pre-Tribulation timeline relies on the existence of these two named events,
and their argument seems to gain some credibility with the words "the great tribulation" that we
find in this verse. Indeed, the Greek word ton (the) is there. However, by no means does this
make "the great tribulation" a particular named event. If I said to you that these Saints came
out of the great chaos that currently haunts American politics and society would you think that
a particular event was being spoken of? Or would you think of a general time when the chaos
was greater than other chaotic times?
When something is a proper name, in English we capitalize those words. The KJV and most of
the major, reliable Bible translations do NOT capitalize the term great tribulation because they
acknowledge that this is pointing to an unspecified time and not to a specified event. The CJB
is in error to capitalize it. So all we are to take from this is that these Believers in white robes
came to Heaven, taken out of a period of great tribulation. John's vision in this regard is a
direct allusion to Daniel 12.
CJB
Daniel 12:1 "When that time comes, Mikha'el, the great prince who champions your
people, will stand up; and there will be a time of distress unparalleled between the time
they became a nation and that moment. At that time, your people will be delivered,
everyone whose name is found written in the book.
The only other place outside of Revelation that a similar term as "great tribulation" is found is in
Matthew 24. The CJB translates it this way:
CJB
Matthew 24:21 For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the
beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again!
However almost all other Bible versions translate it this way:
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KJV
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
So while despite Darby's insistence of a specified event called The Great Tribulation, what we
have in all 3 of these passages is the mention of a global social condition of upheaval
continuing for an unspecified time that involves open persecution of Believers, and of nearly
unrestrained human evil perpetrated upon other humans, which is beyond any that has ever
happened in human history.
Verse 14 concludes by saying that these folks have washed their robes and made them white
with the blood of the Lamb. Clearly this a metaphoric saying that involves an irony. The irony is
that these Believers are wearing robes of brilliant white, but they accomplished this by washing
their robes in blood. Obviously blood stains and would have turned their robes red. White
robes means absolute purity. In both testaments of the Bible to wash garments means to purify
and it is often associated with immersion (that Christians call baptism). However the term "the
blood of the Lamb" refers to the atoning effect that Christ's death on the cross causes on the
one who believes in Him. So the term "the blood of the Lamb" is an expression that means the
atonement that Yeshua provides. Thus by washing our robes in the atonement that Christ
provides, the total and absolute purity that He possesses is also invested in us.
So the question then is, does this verse refer to people who died during that great persecution
and then their souls went to Heaven? Or does this refer to people who were taken
alive....delivered from being killed......from the time of great persecution? So called Mid-
Tribulation Believers think this is referring to a Rapture of Believers that occurs at the mid-point
of a 7 year period of tribulation. The first 3 1/2 years are named The Tribulation, and the
second 3 1/2 years are named The Great Tribulation. So the doctrinal theory is that while all
Believers will suffer some persecution (tribulation) for a 3 1/2 year period, they will not suffer
GREAT persecution for the following 3 1/2 year period because just before the time period of
the greatly increased persecution begins Believers will be whisked away to Heaven. So the Pre-
Tribulation doctrine folks see it that before ANY tribulation starts, Believers are raptured away.
And Mid-Tribulation doctrine folks see it that before the worst tribulation starts Believers will be
raptured away.
In my opinion it is always of value to see what the Early Church Fathers have to say about
such matters since they are so many centuries closer to when these words were written than
are we. Primasius of Hadrumentum (which is in Northern Africa) had some very interesting
comments on this passage of Revelation because he leans heavily on the Revelation
commentary of Ticonius (which, sadly, has been lost to history and so all we have are snippets
of it provided by later Church Fathers). While Primasius lived during the mid-500s A.D.,
Ticonius lived almost 2 centuries earlier. I'm going to quote extensively from Primasius's
Commentary on the Apocalypse regarding Revelation 7:13-14 because the question of the
circumstances that he thought brought these Believers out of the great tribulation matter; those
Believers just might be us who are living today. I also happen to think that Primasius, a highly
regarded Bishop in his day, nailed it. So listen carefully to what he has to say, please.
When it says that a number of faithful had come out of the great tribulation, what else is
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indicated except what we read elsewhere, "Through many tribulations we must enter the
Kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Therefore, the apostle (Paul) also said, "Brothers, let us
not grow weary, for in due time we shall reap" (Gal. 6:9). It is through the endurance of
struggles that the number of faithful are sifted out, just as by the weight of the press oil
is prepared with diligent care, and grain that is to be stored in a barn is collected
through the threshing machine.
That they wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb reveals their reward, so that the
labor of the aforementioned struggle might be endured with equanimity. And he rightly
adds that they made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. It is as though he said
that the robes that some had befouled after the grace of baptism through neglect,
ignorance or contempt, these had made white in the blood of the Lamb, this is, in the
grace of Christ, or even in undergoing martyrdom.
This reward is to be assigned especially to those in the church who have spilled their
blood for Christ and have returned the robe of baptism with a greater brilliance by a
better service of blood. But if this grace is to refer to all the faithful generally, we must
finally conclude that if anyone is cleansed by the fount of the Lord, is fed by his flesh
and is enflamed by the call of the Spirit, he is in this manner made white as snow. For
there are those who are proven to be martyrs before God by their inner character, even
though they are not martyrs by way of public act.
So Primasius is saying that there is no need for debate, or to have strong rigid views one way
or the other. When Revelation 7:13 speaks about those who have come out of the great
tribulation it is a generality that means all those who have died and gone to Heaven for
whatever reason. They could be martyrs, killed for their faith. They could be folks who held
some small amount of faith, and had fallen so far away from God and yet because of tribulation
had returned to Him. They could be those who merely lived very Godly lives and served God in
any number of ways during this time of great tribulation and then died of disease or old age.
But while some of these Believers might receive greater rewards in Heaven than others
because of the level of faith they displayed, the meaning of this passage is not to identify some
specific circumstance (such as being martyred) that defines this group.
I also want to add the issue of Rapture. Primasius doesn't even consider the Rapture as a
possibility so there is nothing here that speaks of the Rapture in any definitive way. Rather the
event of the Rapture has to be superimposed into the Scriptures by the modern Theologian
rather intrusively in order to say that those being spoken of arrived in Heaven and received
their white robes by means of Rapture. I'll say it in a little different way: Rapture as the
mechanism for getting these Saints into Heaven out of this great tribulation only works if there
is already a predetermined doctrine for when the Rapture must occur.
We'll finish up chapter 7 and get well into chapter 8 next time.
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