Revelation 7 (144,000 & Great Multitude)

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Introduction

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

5  12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

6  12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

7  12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

8  12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

A Great Multitude from Every Nation

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15  “Therefore they are before the throne of God,

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

17  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In chapter 6 we witnessed the opening of 6 seals which bound the scroll of judgment in Jesus’ hand. The first four seals represented the infamous four horses or four horsemen, a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. All of which were given authority over the earth to kill with the sword, with famine, with pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth, meant to represent the four OT categories of judgment that would befall Jerusalem and the covenant breakers.
When the fifth seal was opened John saw under the alter in heaven souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne, crying out, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” We’re told that these martyrs were to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers was complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
And finally, as the sixth seal was opened we were told that there was a great earthquake, that the sun became black as sackcloth, the moon like blood, and that the stars fell to the earth, that the sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up, and that every mountain and island was removed from it’s place. The sixth seal was meant to portray in apocalyptic terms the unraveling of governments and authorities, the judgment looming over Jerusalem. Apocalyptic imagery that had been previously utilized to describe the judgments against pagan nations like Egypt and Babylon was now being directed at Israel.
Therefore, at the end of chapter 6 we’re told that the kings of the earth, the great ones, the generals, the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free hid themselves in the caves of the mountains, saying to the mountains, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
It’s at this point we’re reminded again of Revelation 1:7, the theme of the entire Apocalypse,

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

The wrath of the Lamb has come against Jerusalem, those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the Land will mourn on account of him. At the end of chapter 6 we’re left with fearful expectation of God’s judgment against Israel. The seals are meant to depict those judgments, and so chapter 6 ends with the refrain, “who can stand?”

Who can stand?

On one hand, the answer to that question is simple, no one can. Psalm 130, verse 3, famously says, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” The question is rhetorical, it’s asked to make a point, the answer is obvious. If the LORD were to mark iniquities no one could stand. On the the merits of our own righteousness God would be just to snuff us all out.
However, we also know that God has always kept for himself a remnant, a remnant chosen by grace. Therefore, I think we’re also meant to ask at this point in the Apocalypse, “What about God’s remnant chosen by grace (Romans 11)? What will become of God’s people?” Like Abraham in Genesis 18, when God intended to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and knowing that his nephew Lot lived there, Abraham asked,

“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Judgments restrained

This is what chapter 7 of John’s Apocalypse is meant to describe and answer.

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

The judgments described in chapter 6 are restrained in chapter 7, that God might first seal his servants. We’re told that John saw four angels standing at the four corners of the land, holding back the four winds. The number four is typically a reference to the earth, it’s four corners like the four directions on a compass. There are four horses, meant to bring four types of judgment upon the land, which are described here as four winds. Psalm 104:4 says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.”

Servants Sealed

And here in chapter 7 we’re told that another angel, ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, called with a loud voice to those four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Again, the judgments of chapter 6 are restrained, that God might first seal his servants. Don’t forget, the judgments coming upon Jerusalem are not only intended to punish the covenant breakers, but are meant to vindicate and preserve the saints. God will not sweep away the righteous with the wicked, therefore he holds back the four winds of the earth until he has sealed his servants on their foreheads.

Holy to the Lord

This seal is a mark of ownership. At that time it was even common in the ancient world to mark slaves or servants on the forehead. You might also recall in Exodus 28 that Aaron was instructed to wear a gold plate on his forehead that read ‘Holy to the LORD.’ We read in Exodus 28:36-38,

36 “You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the LORD.’ 37 And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. 38 It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

Babylon the Great

Whereas, Jerusalem, who’s about to suffer judgment, is described later in Revelation 17 as a great prostitute, wearing on her forehead a name, “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” We read in Revelation 17:4-6,

4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

While Jerusalem is described as a great prostitute, bearing on her forehead the name, ‘Babylon the Great’, the saints of the most high are sealed on the forehead like Aaron, as ‘Holy unto the LORD.’

Mark of the Beast

We’ll also see later in Revelation 13 the mark of the beast, which signified allegiance to Caesar and the Roman Empire, a mark on the forehead and on the hand, signifying ownership of the whole person, both the person’s mind and actions. We read in Revelation 13:16-17,

16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Bind the law on your foreheads and hands

Again, this has a direct parallel in the OT, in Deuteronomy 6, the Jews were instructed to bind the law of God on their hand and forehead. We read in Deuteronomy 6:4-9,

4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Ownership & Allegiance

Again, when the Bible speaks of seals on the forehead, or marks on the forehead and hands it’s describing the ownership of a person, or the authority over a person. And we all bear a seal of ownership and allegiance to someone, and our allegiance to Jesus should be as obvious as our foreheads, with the law of God influencing our hearts and minds, and our actions. The law of God ought to govern the whole person. This is what it means to love the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might.
Therefore, we must always ask ourselves whether God’s word governs the entirety of our lives. Does it govern your thoughts? Does it govern your speech? Does it govern your actions? Does it govern the things you meditate upon? Does it govern your spending? Does it govern your time? Does it govern what you watch online? Does it govern what you read? Does it govern how you treat your spouse? Does it govern how you treat your children? Does it govern how you raise your children? Does it govern what jobs you take? Does it govern what church you attend? Does it govern every idle word that comes out of your mouth? Or does something else govern your heart and mind, and your actions? Who owns you? Who dictates your life? Whom do you serve?

Sealed by the Holy Spirit

This language of sealing is also found all throughout the NT letters. The Apostle Paul uses this language in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22,
2 Corinthians 1:21–22 ESV
And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
then in Ephesians 1:13-14,
Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
and again later in Ephesians 4:29-30,
Ephesians 4:29–30 ESV
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Like Egypt

Therefore, it’s not strange, or unique to the Book of Revelation, for God to mark out or to seal his servants, especially in the face of imminent judgment. In fact, this is what happened during Israel’s exodus from Egypt when the Lord instructed them to put blood on the door frames of their houses to mark them. We read in Exodus 12:12-13,
Exodus 12:12–13 ESV
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
And something similar is happening here in the Revelation 7, as judgment is about to befall Jerusalem, God first marks his own. However, this time, the irony is that Jerusalem has become like Egypt. In fact, later in Revelation 11:8, during the trumpet judgments, we’ll see that Jerusalem is symbolically referred to as Sodom and Egypt. Listen to Revelation 11:8,
Revelation 11:8 ESV
and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
What’s the great city that’s symbolically called Sodom and Egypt? It’s where the Lord was crucified, Jerusalem.

Ezekiel

And more than that, turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 9. I want you to see how the prophet Ezekiel, who had been carried away into exile in Babylon, described the events leading up to destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in his own day. God used the Babylonian Empire to bring judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah for their harlotry with the surrounding nations, trusting in chariots and the pagan nations around them instead of God for their military protection. Therefore, God ultimately used the Babylonian Empire to judge Judah by destroying Jerusalem and her Temple, just like the Roman Empire would do again more than 600 years later in AD 70, which John is describing here in his Apocalypse.
Now, read with me in Ezekiel 9:4-6 and notice how God marks out his people before Jerusalem’s destruction in 586 BC.
Ezekiel 9:4–6 ESV
And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.
This is precisely what we’re intended to see here in Revelation chapter 7, that God is holding back the four horsemen until the angels have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.

144,000

Then we pick back up in Revelation 7:4-8,
Revelation 7:4–8 ESV
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
There are a handful of symbols and characters within the Book of Revelation that are almost universally known, even among our increasingly pagan culture, and the 144,000 who are sealed here is one of them.
As we’ve seen already, John’s Apocalypse if filled with symbology, including numbers. Which to our modern ears makes the book particularly difficult. As I’ve pointed out before, repeatedly, the Book of Revelation is far and away the most Hebrew book of the New Testament, and it’s rife with OT prophetic symbolism. Therefore, we naturally struggle to interpret or appreciate the symbolism of the Apocalypse, instead we stumble over it. However, if we’re careful, and let the rest of the Scriptures guide our interpretation of the symbolism, interpreting Scripture with Scripture, I think we can find clarity here.

Elect Jews

First, we need to understand that to first century Jewish ears numbers had symbolic meaning, much of which can be seen throughout the OT, but is otherwise lost on us in our modern context. For instance, as we’ve seen already, the number 12 is descriptive of God’s people. It’s no accident that Jacob had 12 sons, that there are 12 tribes of Israel, and that Jesus chose for himself 12 disciples. The disciples even felt that it was necessary to replace Judas after his death.
The number 1,000 is also used repeatedly to describe an innumerable or large quantity. Psalm 105:8 says that God “remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations.” Psalm 50:10 says, “for every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” A thousand was also a basic military division within the camp of Israel while in the wilderness. The number portrays both perfect symmetry and a large quantity.
Therefore, 12,000 from each tribe of Isreal is likely meant to describe a large but complete quantity of elect Jews from each tribe, amounting to 144,000. These represent the holy seed that remained despite Israel’s rejection of Christ. You may recall, at first, the church was almost exclusively Jewish. All of the believers baptized at Pentecost after Peter’s sermon were Jewish. After Paul was converted he didn’t go to the Gentiles at first, but to the Jewish Synagogues. It isn’t until Acts chapter 10, after Peter’s vision, that the Gospel is taken to the Gentiles.

Escape the destruction of Jerusalem

Moreover, the immediate context here is judgment against Jerusalem, therefore those who are sealed are those Jewish Christians who would have been immediately affected by the coming destruction. In fact, in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, listen to the warning that Jesus gave his disciples in Luke 21:20-24,31-32,
Luke 21:20–24 ESV
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.

So, what Jesus had taught his disciples was that in their generation they would see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, and that those who were in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must depart. Jesus had given the church signs of the city’s destruction that they might escape, and these are the same events described here in Revelation 7 as God, for a time, restrained his judgment in order to seal his servants.
Shortly after the Roman General, Vespasian, had started his war against the Jews and his siege against Jerusalem in 66 AD, the Emperor Nero commited suicide, throwing the whole empire into chaos. Therefore, Vespasian left Jerusalem to travel to Rome, putting the siege against Jerusalem on hold for a short time, until his son Titus could continue the siege. During that window of time the Greek Christian historian Eusebius recorded that the Jewish Christians were able to escape. Listen to what he wrote in 313 AD,
“The people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come … from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.” (Ecclesiastical History 3:5:3; cp. Matt 24:16; Epiphanius, Of Weights and Measures, 15)
The 144,000 are likely descriptive of the elect Jewish Christians who escaped the seige against Jerusalem. While the unbelieving Jews thought that Vespasian’s departure was a sign that God had defeated the Roman army, the church in Jerusalem remembered Jesus’ warning that when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies that it’s desolation was near. In remarkable fashion God preserved the early church in Jerusalem.

Great multitude

However, Revelation 7 doesn’t end there. We pickup again in verse 9,

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Back in verse 4 we were told that John heard the number of the sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel, but this time we’re told that John looked, and beheld a great multitude that no one could number from every tribe and people and language. As though he heard the group described as 144,000, but then saw a great multitude.

Abraham’s offspring

While these two descriptions are obviously distinct, and are contrasted with one another, they also appear to be connected. At first, John hears 144,000, but then he sees a great multitude emerging from the great tribulation. As if these different descriptions are two sides of the same coin, distinct yet parts of the same whole, the universal church. As though the great multitude is ultimately the result of the 144,000, the redeemed Jewish remnant, from which Jesus chose his 12 disciples, and commanded them to make disciples of all nations. Going first to the lost sheep of Israel, but ultimately to all the nations. A fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:17-18,
Genesis 22:17–18 ESV
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
And who are the offspring of Abraham? The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:7-9,
Galatians 3:7–9 ESV
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Just as verse 14 says there in Revelation 7, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” While the great tribulation was centered upon Jerusalem and her apostasy, the entire Roman Empire was affected. The Neronic persecution against the Christians was more severe and widespread than at any other time in Roman history.
This great multitude are the fellow servants of the martyrs under the alter in heaven back in chapter 6, who would be killed as they themselves had been. This great multitude, including these redeemed Jewish Christians, are later represented as the heavenly Jerusalem coming down out of heaven in chapter 21. Whose gates have inscribed on them the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles written on its foundations. This great multitude is a fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham.

Not the end, but the beginning

And it was essential for the early church to understand that the great tribulation was not the end but the beginning, that while the great tribulation would result in the destruction of Jerusalem and persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire, that the great tribulation, these birth pains, would not destroy the church, but instead result in her birth. The great tribulation would not be the end of the church but her beginning. This is why Jesus described this tribulation in Matthew 24:8, as birth pains.
Therefore the coming of Christ marked the inauguration of what the prophet Isaiah had foretold,

16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

17  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The Book of Revelation is a book of triumph and hope, especially at a time when the early church needed it the most. We learn that God will protect and preserve his people. Not that we will always escape tribulation, but that God will preserve and build his church despite tribulation.

Conclusion

And as we close I want to end with what one commentator wrote at this point,
“The churches of the first century were on the brink of the greatest Tribulation of all time. Many would lose their lives, their families, their possessions. But St. John writes to tell the churches that the Tribulation is not a death, but a Birth (cf. Matt. 24:8), the prelude to the establishment of the worldwide Kingdom of Christ. He shows them the scene on the other side: the inevitable victory celebration.
In Nero's Circus Maximus, the scene of his bloody and revolting slaughters of Christians - by wild beasts, by crucifixion, by fire and sword - there stood a great stone obelisk, [a] silent witness to the valiant conduct of those brave saints who endured tribulation and counted all things as loss for the sake of Christ. The bestial Nero and his henchmen have long since passed from the scene to their eternal reward, but the Obelisk still stands, now in the center of the great square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. Chiseled on its base are these words, taken from the overcoming martyrs' hymn of triumph:
​
CHRISTUS VINCIT
CHRISTUS REONAT
CHRISTUS IMPERAT
which [means]... Christ is conquering; Christ is reigning; Christ rules over all.”
David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance (Dominion Press, 1987).

Prayer

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