Revelation 7 Study Notes

7:1-17 Two visions make up this interlude between the opening of the sixth (6:12) and seventh (8:1) seals—(1) the sealing of the 144,000 servants of God on earth (7:1-8), and (2) the innumerable multitude arriving in heaven (7:9-17). The answer to the question “And who is able to stand?” (6:17) is that the 144,000 servants are able to stand on earth, protected by God’s seal (7:2-4), while the vast multitude stands triumphantly before the throne in heaven (7:9-10). The calming of winds on the earth (7:1-3) and the half hour of silence in heaven (8:1) form an eye-of-the-hurricane “bookends” effect around chap. 7.

7:1-3 While there is no mention of damaging wind in relation to the removal of the sixth seal (6:12-17), the great earthquake (6:12), with mountains and islands moving (6:14), certainly reflects extensive harm to the earth and the sea and the trees, which resumes again as soon as the trumpet judgments start (e.g., 8:7-8). The “calm in the midst of the storm” calls attention to the seal of the living God being applied to the foreheads of the servants of our God. In the ancient world, seals were signs of ownership (5:1) or authority (Mt 27:66). These servants of the Lord are sealed just before the scroll is completely unsealed (Rv 8:1). A truth intended for the reader’s reflection is that “the mark” of the beast is placed on the right hand or forehead of all who follow the beast (13:16-17).

7:4-8 The identity of the 144,000 has been variously interpreted. (1) Jehovah’s Witnesses falsely maintain this is the total number of the anointed who will dwell in heaven with the Lord and rule over the inhabitants of a purified earth. (2) Since all Christians are sealed by the Holy Spirit (2Co 1:22; Eph 4:30), and the 144,000 are called “the servants of . . . God” in Rv 7:3, the seal of vv. 2-4 may be placed on all Christians, and this host is generically representative of them. (3) The most literal interpretation is highly plausible. The 144,000 represent Israel following a future conversion of the nation. The Spirit indwelled Israel in the vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezk 37:14), in which Israel was viewed as “a vast army” (Ezk 37:10), and the 144,000 from every tribe of the Israelites appear to be arranged in military formation, as was Israel in the wilderness (Nm 2:2-34). Revelation 7:4-8 could reflect the point at which the “firstfruits” of Jews (14:4) come under the new covenant (Ezk 36:24-28; cp. Jr 31:31-34) during the Apocalypse.

7:5-8 The tribe of Judah is mentioned first because it was the royal tribe of Israel (Gn 49:9-10) into which Jesus was born (Rv 5:5). Reuben is next because he was Jacob’s firstborn (Gn 49:3). The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are omitted from the listing, perhaps because of their instances of gross idolatry (Jdg 17-18). They are replaced by Joseph and Levi, neither of which was included in the military encampment of tribes in Nm 2.

7:9-12 In 5:9, the Lamb’s worthiness to open the scroll is based on the shedding of his redemptive blood for “every tribe and language and people and nation.” In 7:9, this group arrives in heaven. Since every nation is listed first, this scene is at least a partial fulfillment of the Great Commission—where Christ’s disciples are commanded to reach “all nations” with the gospel by “the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20). The vast multitude wearing white robes links them to the martyrs (6:11) and, in the only other context in Revelation where the phrase “vast multitude” is found (19:1,6), to the bride and the armies of the Lamb (19:8,14). Some interpreters understand the “vast multitude” to be all martyrs, who arrive in heaven over a period of time. Others see this as the time when the church is raptured, with some who are dead and some who are still alive all arriving at the same time (1Th 4:14-17).

7:13-14 The robes of the vast multitude (v. 9) being made white in the blood of the Lamb likely refers to the redemptive work of Christ (1:5; 5:9). If so, the multitude coming out of the great tribulation (Dn 12:1; Mt 24:21; and “the hour of testing” in Rv 3:10) may refer to the rapture of the church before the great tribulation, if that period does not begin until the events in the scroll are released by the lifting of the seventh seal (8:1). However 3:10 is understood, 7:14 should be taken the same way since both have the Gk preposition ek (“from, out from”) and a time period (i.e., “the hour of testing” in 3:10 and “the great tribulation” in 7:14).

7:15-17 The vast multitude’s priestly service in heaven is a partial fulfillment of the promises in 1:6 and 5:10. The mention of the sanctuary looks ahead to the equating of the vast multitude with the “heaven dwellers” in 12:12 and 13:6.