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In Books 1-3 (chapters 8-16) we saw the rise of the Antichrist and his initiation of the Great Tribulation. In conjunction with that event, we saw the beginning of The Wrath of God. The events in those chapters occur in the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.
In Book 4, chapters 5, 6, and 7 we are at the beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, the last week (i.e. period of seven years) of the 70 times 7 (490 years) fulfillment of God’s prophesy on the nation/people of Israel. To date 483 of those years have passed. The last seven years are still to come. While like the other 483 years, the final seven have primarily to do with the people of Israel, but this time Christians will also be in the mix as well, they will participate in the harshness of the Antichrist and his dominions. Concurrently, the world will also begin to face God’s wrath for what they have done to His servants.
In Chapter 5 we are in heaven where we see a scroll with seven seals. The desire of those in Heaven is to have it opened. However, no one is found that is worthy to break the seals except the Lamb of God.
Chapter 6 has a heavenly perspective with direct earthly results. As each seal is broken, a corresponding action occurs on earth. None of those events on earth explicitly point to the beginning of the seven-year period. During this time the world’s conflicts are increasing, setting the stage for someone to bring peace, but we will not know we are in the Seventieth Week until the Antichrist is revealed at the middle of the period.
Chapter 7 presents the heavenly perspective on what has occurred on earth over the seven years, particularly after the midpoint. This chapter is linked to chapter 14 since it is also mostly told from a heavenly perspective, though it addresses what has happened and will happen on earth, particularly concerning the sealing of 144,000 Jews and their death at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. It also shows the beginning of the Wrath of God.
In Book 4, chapters 5, 6, and 7 we are at the beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, the last week (i.e. period of seven years) of the 70 times 7 (490 years) fulfillment of God’s prophesy on the nation/people of Israel. To date 483 of those years have passed. The last seven years are still to come. While like the other 483 years, the final seven have primarily to do with the people of Israel, but this time Christians will also be in the mix as well, they will participate in the harshness of the Antichrist and his dominions. Concurrently, the world will also begin to face God’s wrath for what they have done to His servants.
In Chapter 5 we are in heaven where we see a scroll with seven seals. The desire of those in Heaven is to have it opened. However, no one is found that is worthy to break the seals except the Lamb of God.
Chapter 6 has a heavenly perspective with direct earthly results. As each seal is broken, a corresponding action occurs on earth. None of those events on earth explicitly point to the beginning of the seven-year period. During this time the world’s conflicts are increasing, setting the stage for someone to bring peace, but we will not know we are in the Seventieth Week until the Antichrist is revealed at the middle of the period.
Chapter 7 presents the heavenly perspective on what has occurred on earth over the seven years, particularly after the midpoint. This chapter is linked to chapter 14 since it is also mostly told from a heavenly perspective, though it addresses what has happened and will happen on earth, particularly concerning the sealing of 144,000 Jews and their death at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. It also shows the beginning of the Wrath of God.
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Chapter 5Except for John’s entry into heaven (and he is just an observer), the scene in Chapter 4 is timeless. The worship around the throne is perpetual and repeated. Change begins with the introduction of the Lamb at the beginning of Chapter 5: God, in the person of Jesus Christ, is about to reclaim the earth.[1] Heaven’s invasion of earth is appropriately introduced by the One who in His person mixes the eternal and the temporal.
Ascribing a hand to the one on the throne is as far as John will go in describing the occupant in human terms. The metaphor of God’s hand for his power and strength and for his ability to convey prophetic gifts is used throughout the Bible[2], but portrayals of the hand of God as a literal appendage are much less common. The ten commandments were inscribed by the finger of God,[3] and in a vision Ezekiel saw both God’s hand and a scroll[4]. Later, Ezekiel was carried by a spirit (or the Holy Spirit) who “stretched what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem”[5]. Amos saw the hand of God holding a plumb line[6], and Daniel, in the famous vision of the handwriting on the wall[7], saw a supernatural human hand. This latter may have been an angel,[8] however. Note that except for the writing of the ten commandments, all of these are in visions of judgment. Apparently, though God’s hand is spoken of in many contexts, it is seen mostly in judgment.
In this passage, God’s hand holds the seven-sealed scroll, the opening of which will occupy much of the remainder of Revelation. The Greek word used for scroll is “biblion”, which can also mean book. There were books at the end of the first century when Revelation was written, but they were still rare, not coming into general use until the following century. This has been used to argue that Revelation was written in the second century and could not be the work of John the Apostle, but the argument is specious. Revelation 6:14, which uses “biblion”, states “The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up”. You can’t roll up a book. But what is this scroll? It is curious that Revelation never says directly. One possibility is that it is a contract of some kind. Both marriage contracts and property contracts were written on scrolls and sealed.[9] The scroll may be the marriage contract between Christ and his Church. The timing of events in the last chapters of Revelation gives support to this interpretation. The last event associated with the opening of the seventh seal is the destruction of the whore of Babylon, and the next event mentioned after it is the marriage supper of the Lamb.[10] One problem, though, is that in verse 2 it declaims, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” Were it a marriage contract, the most likely question would have been “Whose is it to open?” Also, a marriage contract is from the groom to the bride, so presumably she, not he, would open it. Another possibility is that the scroll is the deed to the earth. This is a better fit for several reasons. First, the events that unfold as the scroll is unsealed are more appropriate to the cleansing of the earth before it is taken by its true owner than for a marriage contract. Second, the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll because he was slain and is the redeemer of mankind. As the events of the seven seals unfold, Christ is reclaiming his creation. Third, when the seventh trumpet sounds, loud voices in heaven proclaim, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ”.[11] Since the seven plagues are contained within the seventh trumpet and the seven trumpets are within the seventh seal, when the seventh seal is fully opened, Christ takes possession of the earth. Interpreting the scroll as the deed to the earth probably captures an important piece of the scroll’s meaning, but a more complete explanation requires looking at scriptural parallels. Several similar scrolls are mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. The first is from Isaiah. He is given a prophecy against Jerusalem which had a near fulfillment[12] when Nebuchadnezzar captured the city in 586 or 587 BC and will have a far fulfillment in the time of the Antichrist. God speaks first to Jerusalem.
He then speaks to the nations that have attacked Jerusalem.
Here, as in Revelation, is a sealed scroll which, is reasonable to assume it, contains a prophecy of a period of chastisement for the people of God followed by doom for his enemies. Daniel reports a similar scroll.
Both these scrolls contain messages of distress and deliverance for the righteous and doom for the wicked. Since these messages are remarkably similar to what unfolds as the scroll in Revelation is unsealed, it is likely the latter is in some way God’s answer to the former two Old Testament books. Neither Jerusalem’s enemies in Isaiah nor Daniel himself would understand the events prophesied in these two sealed scrolls, since the time of the end was not yet come. In Revelation, the time has come, and the scroll is unsealed. In a juxtaposition to Daniel’s sealing up the words of his scroll, John is told not to seal up the words of his prophecy, because the time is near[13].
Once the seven seals are opened, we hear no more of the scroll. Its contents are never read, and after Chapter 5 it is never again mentioned. This seems odd, given its obvious importance. What can this mean? The answer was hinted at above. At the time of John’s writing, documents were sealed to keep them from being opened and read. They were sealed by placing a soft substance like clay across the opening and imprinting it with a symbol that signified the owner. The seals were not part of the content. It seems likely, therefore, that the content of this scroll is the events which happen after it is unsealed, where events are shown, not read. The scroll is more like a movie than a book. The movie is about Christ retaking the earth and the final victory of Him and his people over evil. This is consistent with the very first verse of Revelation where the book is called “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.”[14]
The mighty angel is unnamed, and it is probably futile to speculate which one it is, particularly since all angels are called “mighty ones."[15] He (or others like him) appear twice more in Revelation. The next appearance is in Chapter 10 where a mighty angel brings John a little scroll to eat, and the final example in Chapter 18:21 where a mighty angel hurls a boulder into the sea, acting out the judgment against Babylon. Each case has to do with the judgment of the earth.
The mighty angel calls out for one who can open the seals, but no one is worthy to do so, and so John weeps until he is told to stop by one of the elders. Christ has triumphed and is able to open the scroll. Christ’s triumph is over death and sin, as the songs which follow attest. Because he is worthy to open the seals, he is therefore able to open them. The Lion of Judah originates in Jacob’s last words to his sons.
The last sentence was taken by the Jews as being Messianic, and Christians believe it will be fulfilled by Christ at his return.
Christ is the Root of David, since he is both a descendent of David[16] and his ultimate successor as king. Christ calls himself “the Root and the Offspring of David”.[17] The image of the Messiah as the Root of David comes from Isaiah 11 where the prophet, speaking of the Millennium, says “in that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious”.[18] Jesse, David’s father, stands for David himself.
In the center of the throne, in the very place of God[i], stands the one who is worthy and able to break the seals and open the scroll. Christ is the Lamb of God[19], and his worthiness stems from his triumph in rising from the dead and thereby redeeming those who trust in Him. That triumph in turn stems from his sinlessness. Even standing by the throne of his father, Christ’s death wounds are apparent to all who see him. Since John is the only gospel writer to mention the wounds in Christ’s resurrection body[20], it is perhaps no surprise he alludes to them here. Remember that Jesus and John were particularly close, and his friend’s death wounds would have made a particularly strong impression on John.
Three times in Revelation John refers to Christ as a lamb having been slain.[21] Christ is the Passover Lamb, sacrificed to remove sin.[22] Redemption by a lamb goes back to Abraham and Isaac.[23] Lambs as sin offerings are mentioned repeatedly in the Old Testament,[24] though other animals are also used. The Messiah is first described as a sacrificial lamb by Isaiah in the famous fifty-third chapter of his book. Speaking of the coming Messiah, the prophet wrote:
Christ is twice called the Lamb of God by John the Baptist[25], and Peter, in a strongly parallel scripture to this current one, says:
This is, however, a most unusual lamb. Besides looking as if it had been slain, it has seven horns and seven eyes.[ii] Creation was complete on the seventh day, and anything that numbers seven usually signifies completion or being filled up. The seven eyes almost certainly signify the same thing as the seven lamps blazing before the throne of God[26] since both are called “the seven spirits of God”.[iii]
The seven spirits are discussed in detail elsewhere, as they most likely refer at least in part to the Holy Spirit. The Lamb has seven eyes, which probably means Christ manifests the Spirit fully. The seven eyes of God are tied with the Messiah in a prophecy of Zechariah. God is speaking:
The Branch is another title of Christ,[27] and Christ is also the stone that the builders rejected[28] and the one who removes the world’s sin.[29]
The Lamb’s seven horns probably mean the same thing as Christ’s later title “king of kings and lord of lords”[30]: Christ is the supreme ruler. Horns are used many times in Scripture as symbols of kingship. Samuel equates them[31], as do David[32] and Daniel[33]. The seven horns would therefore signify completeness of royal power. Christ therefore fully possesses both royal and spiritual power. This is just what Zechariah said about the Messiah. The Branch, “will ... rule on this throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.”[34]
Christ is worthy to take the scroll. It is not given to Him, but it is His by right to take. Similarly, when he returns to earth[35], he will take back the world which was made through him.
In verse 8 both the living creatures and the elders fall down before the Lamb. This act of worship, the same act they perform periodically before God[36], shows once again that Christ is himself God and worthy of worship. The elders are holding harps. Though the text is not completely clear, it seems best to ascribe the harps to the elders alone, rather than to both the elders and the four living creatures. Harps appear three times in Revelation, and except for a passing mention in 1 Corinthians 14:7, nowhere else in the New Testament. The elders have them, the 144,000 sing a song with the sound “like that of harpists playing their harps”[37], and the tribulation martyrs[38] are given harps. Those who say the twenty-four elders are humans see a particular symmetry here. In their view, the twenty-four elders represent both the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, Israel and the Church. So, too, do the two groups who are given harps: the 144,000 are from Israel while the martyrs of Chapter 15 are Gentile. These three scenes are the origin of the popular idea that people in heaven play harps for all eternity. Besides their harps, the elders hold bowls of incense which are equated with the prayers of the saints. The original equation of incense and prayers in Scripture is in Psalm 141.[39] Another linkage occurs in Luke 1:10. There is a nice set of overlapping images presented around the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven plague judgments. Incense and prayers are mentioned together here, just before the first seal is opened and in 8:3-4 just before the first trumpet sounds. In the corresponding place before the seven plagues, there are no prayers or incense mentioned, but bowls are. These bowls hold the last seven judgments[40] which is the vengeance the martyrs prayed for,[41] so in this fashion they still hold the prayers of the saints. The martyrs themselves also appear in one way or another before each of the three series of judgments. They are not directly seen in heaven before the first seal, but they are certainly included in those mentioned in verses 9 and 10, particularly since verse 10 states they will reign on earth and Chapter 20 tells of the reign of the martyrs. They are mentioned expressly at the end of Chapter 7, just before the first trumpet sounds, and again in 15:2, just before the seven last plagues. This fugue of incense, prayers, bowls, and martyrs is one of the many reasons Revelation is a joy from a literary as well as from a religious perspective. The song in verses 9 and 10 tells why Christ is worthy to open the seals. His death redeemed people from all the earth. The earth is Christ’s because He made it,[42] because he bought it with his blood, and because he will wrest it back from Satan when he returns to earth. The song the elders sing is “a new song”, as is the one sung by the 144,000 in Chapter 14. Several of the psalms prefigure this song of the elders, especially Psalm 98:1. “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” The Messiah is several times called God’s arm, the most famous in Isaiah 53, so it is likely that Psalm 98 is messianic. God told Moses at Sinai that the Israelites would be for Him “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”[43]. In Revelation, this verse is three times applied to Christians. In 1:6, John used it in giving thanks to Christ, the One from whom came the prophecies of the book. It is used here in the song of the elders, and again in 20:6. Like Christ himself, believers will be both kings and priests. It is clear from Revelation 5:10 that all Christians are to be a kingdom and priests “and they will reign on the earth”.[44]
The song spreads from the throne and takes in more and more of creation until every living thing is included. At the center is God who sits upon the throne, and with him the Lamb. Their actions and their persons are the object of the song. Close around the throne, leading the singing, are the four living creatures and then the twenty-four elders whose worship is directed by them. In the next circle are more than a hundred million angels. This number is second in the Bible only to the two hundred million mounted troops of Chapter 9. This number may be meant literally, but unlike in the latter case John does not say he was told the number. Daniel, in similar circumstance saw the same number of angels, expressed the same, around the throne of God.[45]
From the angels the song expands farther, and John hears the voices of all the inhabitants of heaven and earth singing the praises of God and the Lamb, and finally coalesces back to the center. Verse 13 presents a problem when it says every creature on earth sang the praises of God and the Lamb. There are several ways to interpret this. The first possibility is that it is just Christ’s followers who are singing, since the unsaved would be unlikely to join in. The use of “every” precludes this interpretation. A second possibility is that John is speaking figuratively. He can only trust his own ears and therefore could not possibly have known that every earthly creature was singing. John therefore spoke with purposeful exaggeration to make the point that everything on earth belongs to God. As he says a hundred million angels two verses earlier, so he says every creature here. The quantities are not meant to be exact. The difficulty with this is that while “ten thousand” is often used in Scripture as a figurative term[46], “every” is much more definite. To ignore its literal meaning without substantial evidence violates the principle of interpretation we have been following: The Bible is to be taken literally except where the metaphor is obvious.[47] A third possibility is that John is teaching a form of universal salvation here, and what we are seeing is the eventual future state of all then living on the earth. The timing of these events makes this view impossible. The Lamb is about to open the first seal. This is taken by premillennialists of every stripe to be at the beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. Since this is significantly less than seven years from the issuance of the mark of the Beast[48], and since John says all who take the mark will spend eternity in torment[49], he is not teaching universal salvation. The most likely interpretation is that here, at the beginning of Christ’s reclamation of the earth, we are seeing the universal harmony which will prevail when the process is complete. In Ephesians 1:10 we learn of a time when God will “bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. It is possible that verses 11-13 look forward to that time. In any event, at this point in John’s vision it is still a long time until all creation will be brought under Christ, but the process is about to begin.[50] |
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Chapter 6Chapter 6 begins what might be called the history of the end of the world. In a series of visions in this and the following fifteen chapters, John is shown the events leading up to God’s purging the world of the evil done by humanity. Following this is establishment of Christ’s everlasting kingdom. As mentioned before, the authors believe these visions are to be taken literally and not spiritualized away.
The first six seals are opened in straight sequence with only a small amount of commentary added to the third, fifth, and sixth seals. Within this rapid-fire presentation of the first six seals, the first four seals form a group of their own, the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. The first four seals are the only ones announced by the four living creatures, one being announced by each creature. John had mentioned the creatures in the order lion-ox-man-eagle, but it is unclear whether he means that order when he speaks of “one of the four”, “the second”, “the third”, and “the fourth”. In any event, attempts to draw significance from which creature is associated with which horseman appears to be futile.
Since the four horsemen appear to be called up by the four creatures around the throne of God, and since they are clearly malevolent, it is therefore possible that the havoc they bring about is part of the Wrath of God. This interpretation is taken, for example, by some supporters of a pre-Tribulation rapture, arguing from it that since this is at the beginning of the Seventieth Week, and since Christians are not appointed to wrath,[1] Christians must be removed from the earth prior to this period. This argument is specious, for several reasons. First, just because we are not appointed to Wrath doesn’t mean we aren’t around when it happens. God exercises his wrath in the presence of his people many times in scripture, the most obvious being on the Egyptians as the Hebrews are being rescued from them. Further, it is uncertain whether the four horsemen are called forth to bring destruction on the earth or just to show John in the vision. The command to “come” is used several times in Revelation, sometimes to call John to show him something and sometimes within his visions. John is called to heaven (4:1), called to see the punishment of the Whore of Babylon (17:1), and called to see the Bride of Christ (21:9). On the other hand, the two witnesses are called to heaven (11:12), the faithful are called from Babylon (18:4), and the birds are called to eat the slain of Armageddon (19:17). In addition, the Spirit and the bride of Christ invite everyone to come to him, (22:17) and John calls on Christ to come back to earth (22:20). Therefore, to use the word “come” as a mechanism to determine that the four horsemen are directly part of God’s wrath is inconclusive. Two of these calls are unrelated to the wrath of God: John’s initial call to heaven (4:1) and his call to see the Bride (21:9). In addition, there are several things related to God’s wrath that are not called forth in any way by someone in heaven. When the sixth seal is opened, we are told that it is the start of the Wrath of God,[2] which means it cannot be starting at this point. Further, the sixth seal is not announced by anyone. It is true Christ opens the seals, and in that sense causes or allows to happen all the events of Revelation. But surely, he cannot be said to will the martyrdom of the saints which is mentioned in connection with the fifth seal. That slaughter seems more appropriately a cause of God’s wrath than its result. Supporting the claim that the role of the four living creatures is causative is an interesting parallel in Zechariah 6. The prophet sees four sets of horses, each pulling a chariot. Three of the four sets match the color of a horse here, and the remaining horses, dappled and ashen, are rather close to “pale”. The horses and chariots in Zechariah are called “the four spirits of heaven”. The four cherubim around God’s throne are commonly known as God’s chariot although not explicitly called that.[3] Therefore, the four spirits in Zechariah may be the four living creatures in a different (but related) guise. Since the living creatures each call forth a horseman, there is the intriguing possibility that the horses which carry the four horsemen are representative of the four living creatures. In any event, the four creatures call forth the four horsemen, but whether for display or to command their work cannot be said. The second, third, and forth horsemen do not appear to be actual men, instead being war, scarcity of resources, pestilence, and death (with hell) personified. A problem with this solution, however, is that Chapter 20 relates the time when Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire.[4] Also thrown into the lake at various times are the Antichrist and the False Prophet,[5] Satan,[6] and all whose names are not written in the book of life.[7] Since these others are all real individuals, it seems a peculiar mix to have Death and Hades be just symbols. In some apocryphal books of the New Testament period, Death and Hades are personified. In the “Gospel of Nicodemus”,[8] Christ has been crucified and is not yet risen. Death and Hades hear him breaking down the doors of the realm of the dead, and Hades asks Death, “Is this Enoch, is it Elijah”, and Death replies, “No. Not yet are the six thousand years accomplished.” Enoch and Elijah, neither having died, are possibly meant here as the two prophets at the end of the age.[9] Nonetheless, it is most likely Death and Hades are not actual persons and are thrown into the fire to convey the message that after the Judgment, there will be no further use for death (there are no more mortals) or for Hades (where the evil dead are kept until Judgment Day[10]). It is therefore best to take them and the second and third horsemen as personifications rather than actual persons. The nature of the first horseman is more problematic. If the last three horsemen are not actual people, it is strongly tempting to take the man on the white horse as a symbol as well. Against this, many have noted the parallels between him and the rider in Chapter 19. Both horses are white, both men are conquerors, and both men are crowned. It is almost universally agreed that the latter rider is Christ, and, at first reading, the parallels are strong. In the end, however, the differences are stronger. First, the horseman is “a conqueror bent on conquest” and the natural results of such conquest follow in the next three seals. Second, though he indeed is crowned, he is given his crown, something that would be difficult to say of Christ. Christ’s crown is the royal diadem, while the horseman’s crown is a victory wreath. Third, in Chapter 19 Christ has many crowns, demonstrating his role as king of kings and lord of lords, and he wages war justly, which is not stated of the rider here. Christ’s weapon is the sword of his mouth, far more powerful than the bow of the rider. It would be reasonable to see the rider here as an imitation of the true king of kings, and the most powerful such imitator is the Antichrist. This is not yet, however, the beast who rises from the sea in Chapter 13 and is completely the creature of Satan. This man wears a victor’s crown; the beast wears many royal diadems. This man is the Antichrist early in his career, on the rise but yet to win his empire. He is a mighty warrior, but only a man. Given the horsemen with him, he is bad enough here; he will become much worse. Even if the rider is symbolic, he probably stands for the troubles which precede and accompany the rise of the beast. It is perhaps significant that he is not said to engage in conquest during the period of the first seal, but only to be “bent on conquest”. Many have pointed out the strong similarity both in order and in content between the four horsemen and the time Christ calls “the beginning of birth pains”[11]. All the seals have strong parallels within the Olivet discourse. These parallels are not surprising since Christ’s statements to his disciples on the Mount of Olives and Revelation are the two most complete accounts of end time events.[12] In Matthew 24, Christ is asked, “when will this (the destruction of the temple) happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”[13] He answers with a series of signs which will mark the time before his return.
If the first horseman is the Antichrist, his arrival parallels Matthew 24:5. Verses 6 and 7a clearly parallel the second horseman, War, and 7b the third, famine. No earthquake is mentioned in connection with the four horsemen, but earthquakes happen several times in Revelation, the first as part of the sixth seal. The next thing Christ mentions[14] is the persecution and martyrdom of many of his followers, which fits well with the fifth seal. It therefore seems best to take Revelation 6:1-8 and Matthew 24:4-8 to be parallel and equate the period of the four horsemen to “the beginning of birth pains”.[iv]
The first horseman probably also marks the beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.[15] Revelation never speaks of a seven year “Tribulation” period, but only of three periods of three and one-half years which are likely concurrent. Nonetheless, since Daniel speaks of a period of trouble for the Jews in the latter half of his Seventieth Week, it seems natural to equate that distress with the equal-length periods in Revelation. If this is correct, the first horseman may be called forth at the time the prince in Daniel signs the covenant with many of the Jews at the start of the Seventieth Week.[16] Martyrdom is a major theme of Revelation, and comfort and encouragement for martyrs a major purpose for its being written. Christ, of course, is the primary martyr, and it is his martyrdom that allows him now to open the scroll and later to retake the earth.[17] Wherever Christ appears in the book, his death is prominently mentioned. When John first[18] speaks of Christ, his shedding of blood is mentioned. Christ appears in three guises in Revelation: 1) as the risen savior,[19] 2) as the Lamb who was slain,[20] and 3) as the reconqueror of the earth.[21] In the first, Christ himself proclaims his death and resurrection.[22] In the second, he is the Lamb looking as if it had been slain[23] whose shedding of blood for his people show his worthiness to open the scroll.[24] In the third, the King’s robe is dipped in blood.[25] Besides being redeemer of those who follow him, he is also the example of those martyred for him.
Like their master before them, a vast number of Christians, and many faithful Jews, will be killed during the Seventieth Week in the worst persecution the world has ever seen.[26] This persecution will be worse for Christians than what the Church underwent in the first three centuries of her existence, and probably worse for Jews than Hitler’s holocaust.[v] With the opening of the fifth seal, John is shown the souls of those who, throughout the ages, have been killed because they professed Christ. Those beneath the altar are not the martyrs of the Great Tribulation, for that is yet future.[27] John was no stranger to persecution. His brother James was stabbed to death by Herod,[28] and John himself was imprisoned and exiled for proclaiming the word of God.[29] The altar in heaven is mentioned eight times in Revelation, at the fifth[30] and seventh[31] seals (three times), the sixth[32] (twice) and seventh[33] trumpets, and the third bowl[34] judgment. Though John does not say here what the altar is made of, in 9:13 we learn it is gold. This is important because in Solomon’s temple, as in Moses’ tabernacle before it, there were two altars. The altar of burnt offering was overlaid with bronze and located in the Holy Place[35]. On it the slain animals were offered up to God. The second altar, smaller and of gold, was the altar of incense within the Holy of Holies,[36] immediately before the ark.[37] No offerings other than incense were to be offered on the golden altar.[38] The Holy of Holies is a shadow of God’s throne room, and it is appropriate that the altar John is shown is the golden altar. There is no need for the bronze altar of sacrifice in heaven, because Christ’s sacrifice has atoned for our sins for all time. The golden altar, however, holds incense bowls filled with the prayers of the saints. This is the sacrifice God now requires.[39] John sees the souls[vi] of the martyrs, rather than their bodies. They will not receive their bodies until the first resurrection.[40] Since these are people martyred from the beginning of the church, and John specifically says he saw their souls, we may be sure they have not been resurrected yet. Since the dead in Christ are to be resurrected before the Rapture,[41] the presence of their souls here indicates the Rapture has not yet taken place. Since we are told they must wait until their full number is filled up, the Rapture likewise cannot take place at least until the Great Tribulation is over. There are two camps concerning those who have died. The first is either that they are unconscious until Christ’s return and are then resurrected; or, if they are not in Christ, they are resurrected at the final Judgment. The second is either that they are conscious and in Heaven with Christ waiting to reclaim the Earth; or, they are conscious in Hades separated from Christ waiting for the final Judgment. Those who believe that the dead are unconscious until the resurrection mainly use the scripture they have “fallen asleep”[42] to support this. There are Old Testament references that also support this view, such as “the dead know nothing”[43]. The other view takes the phrase “fallen asleep” as a euphemism as a corporeal death in this world. It is not meant to reflect the condition of the soul’s consciousness. There are important scriptures that support this view. The Lord himself taught the parable of Lazarus and the rich man[44] which teaches the consciousness of the dead, both righteous and unrighteous. He also told the thief on the cross that they would be together in Paradise that day.[45] This presumably took place when Christ descended into Hades and led out the believers of all ages. Paul, likewise, taught that Christians who have died were with the Lord[46] without bodies.[47] Lastly, the souls under the alter are conscious and expressing their frustration.[48] The righteous dead will receive their resurrection bodies when Christ returns,[49] and then they will “come to life” in a physical form,[50] but they are already in heaven and conscious. It is such that John sees here and in Chapter 20.[vii] Verse 10 teaches that one of the major reasons God will judge the inhabitants of the earth is to avenge the deaths of martyrs. The judgment of the persecutors must wait until the full number of the blessed martyrs is complete. When does that take place? It clearly cannot take place until very near the end of the Great Tribulation, since those martyrdoms are what the Great Tribulation is about. Therefore, since God’s judgment on the world does not take place until after the Great Tribulation, the Great Tribulation cannot be a part of that judgement. The Day of the Lord[51] is the judgment of God upon the world, so therefore the Great Tribulation is not a part of the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord comes later, after the completion of the Great Tribulation. This is consistent with the Trumpets and Plagues (but not the first six seals) being God’s judgment on the world. Since, according to Joel,[52] the darkening of sun and moon comes before the Day of the Lord, and according to Jesus[53] it comes after the Great Tribulation, the order is consistent: First the Great Tribulation, then the darkening of sun and moon, and then God’s judgment in the form of the Day of the Lord.
One question that needs to be addressed about this passage is the use of the Greek word “pas” and translated as “every” in connection with slaves and free men. It is dangerous to establish doctrine on the meaning of a single word, but nonetheless the picture here is of everyone on earth trying to hide from God.
If “pas” here literally means “every”, then one of two things must be true. Either there are no believers on the earth at this time or else they are also hiding in the hills, terrified along with the rest of Mankind. Granted, what is apparently a world-wide vision of an angry God and Christ would be the most terrifying thing imaginable, that wrath would not be aimed at Christians. Nevertheless, it is possible that they also are hiding in terror. If there are no Christians on the earth at this time, the time is either immediately after the Rapture, or else the martyrdoms mentioned under the fifth seal[54] were so widespread as to encompass all Christians on the earth. This last is possible but seems inconsistent with the presence of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:13) which takes place at about this time. The former would support a pre-Wrath Rapture in which all the Christians missed by the Antichrist and False Prophet are removed from the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation but before the beginning of the Wrath of God. It is probably not necessary, however, to make a single word carry such a burden. “Pas” does generally means “all” or “every”, but it can also mean “all sorts of”.[55] Even when it means “all”, it can be used in hyperbole, as in Matthew 2:3 where “all Jerusalem” is in uproar along with Herod, and Matthew 3:5 where “all” Judea went out to John the Baptist. It can even refer to something where parts are known to be missing - as in the 14 generations from Abraham to David are referred to as “all” the generations.[56] Likewise “all sin” which shall be forgiven to man[57] specifically does not include blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It is important to look at the point of the scripture to see if it is consistent with its target and the rest of scripture. This verse is about God’s Wrath, which is directed at everyone who rejects Christ, from slave to nobility, but not at God’s people. The terror that comes over those who hide does so because of the crimes they committed against the people of God. Isaiah has another passage with relevance here:
In this passage, which almost certainly applies to the same period of time, God’s anger is aimed at the proud and lofty. Earlier in the same chapter[58] Isaiah makes it clear he is speaking about Judah and Jerusalem, and particularly those within them who are disloyal to God.[59]
Here, at the announcement of God’s Wrath,[60] it is the proud and the mighty who flee to the mountains seeking protection from God. Christ, in the Olivet Discourse,[61] tells those who are in Jerusalem, when they see the armies coming, to flee to the mountains. This is fleeing from the Antichrist which will take place just before the beginning of the martyrdoms referred to in the fifth seal. It is important to note that there are two groups of people in view: Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. For the Jewish Christians (and possibly faithful Jews) they flee the Antichrist to the mountains and God will provide succor and protection. The Jewish Christians who did not flee and the Gentile Christians will be persecuted.[62] God declares His Wrath on the earth and after 42 months, the shoe is on the other foot. It is the time for those who persecuted and martyred the saints to flee. Jewish Christians flee to the mountains for protection when the Antichrist is revealed. Their persecutors flee to the mountains when God and Christ are made known from heaven and their wrath, vengeance for the persecutions, begins. For them, the mountains offer no protection. Is the sixth seal part of the Wrath of God? No. It announces the wrath and gives the reason for it (the martyrdom of the saints), but it is not part of it. This is straightforward to establish: since the darkening of the sun and moon occur before the Day of the Lord,[63] since that darkening is part of the sixth seal, and[64] the Day of the Lord and the Wrath of God are the same, the sixth seal cannot be part of the Wrath. Evidence that “their wrath has come” is announcing the Wrath which is yet future comes from a parallel passage from Isaiah. He prophesies against an apostate Israel:
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Chapter 7At the end of Chapter 6 the Wrath of God is announced as the people of earth flee to the mountains in terror. It is announced there but it had not yet begun. While the sixth seal announces God’s Wrath, it is the opening of the seventh seal (at the beginning of Chapter 8) that initiates it. In the meantime, John is shown the events of Chapter 7.
This chapter follows two groups of God’s people, a group who are alive on earth and receive God’s seal on their forehead and another, much larger group who have been killed before we meet them. The first group are Jews, the second group are the Gentiles, but they are both the people of God.
The four corners of the earth, though a common metaphor today, is uncommon in Scripture. The term “four corners of the earth” occurs twice, both times in Revelation,[1] “four corners of the land” occurs once.[2] and “four quarters” of the earth or sky occurs twice more.[3] More common is the term “four winds”. Both terms are almost always used metaphorically to mean in or from all directions. The current verse seems to be an exception, since the number of corners and winds is equaled by the number of angels.
It should first be mentioned that though here scripture refers to the four winds of the earth, in most places where the four winds are used to mean every direction, they are the four winds of the heavens.[4] That they are the same thing can be seen in Mark 13:27 where Christ sends his angels to gather his elect from “the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens”. It is possible that the four winds of the earth and the four living creatures are tied together here in the same way they are in Zechariah 6:1-5.[5] In Zechariah the horses of the chariots he saw match the four horses of the four horsemen in Revelation. Zechariah is told that the four chariots are the four spirits of heaven.[6] The term translated “spirits” in “four spirits of heaven” in Zechariah is identical to that used for winds in the “four winds of heaven” in the Old Testament. It is therefore possible that the four creatures are in view here, but going against that interpretation is that though “ruach”, the Hebrew word for wind in Zechariah can also mean spirit, “anemos” the Greek word used here just means wind. The four angels are restraining the winds, but more important, they are restraining God’s Wrath. The wind as an agent of God’s justice is not mentioned again in Revelation, but destruction falls on the land and the trees with the first trumpet judgment[7] and on the sea with the second.[8] Since there are no judgments associated with the seventh seal itself, these are the next judgments to be unleashed. It should be noted, however, that the restraining of the winds is not a judgment. The judgment in view here is what will happen when the winds are no longer restrained.
The judgments of God against land and sea and trees will be deferred until God’s servants can be sealed. The Wrath of God, due upon an unrepentant earth, will be delayed until His people on earth who confess Him can be claimed by putting His mark upon them. The people of God have His mark, and later[9] Satan’s followers will implement a parody of that mark on those who worship the beast.
Note that the seal (mark) is put on the people of God and then His Wrath starts. The mark of God[10] will protect his people from his Wrath, just as the blood on the doorposts on the first Passover[11] protected the Israelites. They are not removed from the period of Wrath - the Israelites did not leave until just before Pharoah’s destruction was complete – but they are protected from the plagues, albeit not necessarily from all the consequences of them. This passage in context tells us where we are in time. The Wrath of God has been announced, but it has not yet begun. The restraining of the four angels is a restraint of that Wrath. We are therefore just before it commences, just prior the mid-point of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, and just preceding the revealing of the Antichrist. Verse 3 is the second “wait a minute” in Revelation; the first is the fifth seal.[12] In short, both the martyrs and the angels are told to wait a brief while before the wrath of God is unleashed. In the former case, they are told to wait until the full number of martyrs is complete. In this case, it is until the seal of God is placed on all his servants. Chapter 7 shows the reasons for those two “waits”: the 144,000 are sealed and the innumerable multitude is martyred.
Some have maintained that these 144,000 are Jews who will evangelize the world for Christ in the End Times. There are two problems with this hypothesis. First, though they are undoubtedly Jews, there is no indication either here or in their other two mentions[13] that they are evangelists. The second is that they are killed by the Antichrist shortly after they are sealed and hence will have little time to evangelize.
Lists of the tribes of Israel are a chronic problem. They are listed several times in scripture, often with different tribes included or removed. This is not the place to investigate this fully, but some observations can be made. We present the three most prominent listings of the tribes:
In all three lists, Levi is included on the same level as the other tribes but is excluded when the division of the land of Israel is given,[14] since Levi was not allocated land as a territory of their own, being responsible for temple service.
Dan is excluded here. Several reasons have been given, the two most common being that Jacob himself[15] calls Dan a serpent by the roadside and the supposition that the Antichrist is from the tribe of Dan. The first is unlikely, since the very scripture where Dan is called a serpent, Jacob says, “Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.”[16] The second is impossible, since the Antichrist, like all the other Beasts in history, is a Gentile.[17]
These are Gentiles, as is clear from them being from every nation, tribe, people, and language. John tells us later that white robes stand for righteous acts. The previous martyrs under the altar were given white robes to wear and told to wait until the number of their brethren to be killed was completed. Here it has been. It is possible, of course, that this multitude is the Church of all ages, but that is unlikely. First, those under the altar are those who are the martyrs of all ages. Since they were given white robes and told to wait till the full number of martyrs is complete, it is far more likely we are here seeing the fulfillment of that prophecy. Second, and decisive, is that they are said to have “come out of the Great Tribulation”.[18] Since they are martyrs, this would mean they are those killed in the persecutions of the Great Tribulation.
How much time elapses between verses 8 and 9? The indication of time passing is given in the use of “meta tauta”, “after this things” both in 7:1 and in 7:9. “Meta tauta” is used many times in the New Testament and has about the same sense of a gap in time as “afterwards” does in English. It may mean a simple progression: this happened and then this other thing happened, or it may represent a considerable passage of time. The general sense, however, is of a significant amount of time. When simple progression is meant with no gap of time, “kai” (and) is usually used.[19] All this fits together well: first, in the 5th seal, the souls under the altar are told to wait. The 144,000 are sealed with the Mark of God and then forty-two months of the Great Tribulation occurs during which multitudes are martyred. They then appear here in white robes just like their brothers under the altar. There is a definite, if short, gap between the promise to those under the altar to the sealing of the 144,000 and another, longer one, between that and the appearance of those martyred during the Great Tribulation. There is no such gap between the appearance of the multitude and the sounding of the seventh trumpet (which marks the end of the Great Tribulation), just as there is no gap between the resurrection of the two witnesses and the appearance of the 144,000, now presumably dead, with Christ.[20] The presumption, therefore, should be that the “waiting time” of the fifth seal is for the 144,000 to be sealed and they, the innumerable multitude, and the two witnesses to be martyred. There are essentially two parts to the Wrath of God: the partial judgments of the trumpets and the complete ones of the plagues. They are all part of the payback for the martyrdoms of all ages, but during the first part more martyrs (the innumerable multitude) are being killed. Once the plague judgments start after the resurrection of the two witnesses, the Antichrist has lost power and the martyrdoms have ceased. As we shall see, the period of the Fury of the Wrath of God, the period of the plagues, isn’t an improvement in conditions on earth. The great multitude is nowhere spoken of as sealed, but only those who have been sealed are resurrected to life. When were they sealed? If they are Christians, they were sealed when they accepted Christ. This process is mentioned several times in scripture:
While the number of the Jews is given (144,000), these martyrs are beyond counting. This indicates that their number is greater than any other number in Revelation. The two largest numbers given in Revelation are the more than one hundred million angels around the throne[21] and the 200 million demon soldiers[22] released at the sixth trumpet. If the multitude is numberless, it seems reasonable to believe there were substantially more than 200 million of them, which was about the world population in 100 AD. If only 50 percent of the professing Christians were killed today that would be in excess of 500 million.
This would have been impossible in John’s day – that would essentially be all the people on the earth, not just Christians. If the Rapture takes place at the end of the Seventieth Week (so Christians are not removed from the earth but instead suffer the Great Tribulation), and if most Christians who are alive at the start of the Great Tribulation are martyred, their number could easily number in the many hundreds of millions. It is no surprise the Bible puts such emphasis on the end times and prophesies of Christ’s Return. It is likely that a majority of all the Christians who ever lived will go through them. It is important to remember that the seal does not protect believers from bodily harm, but spiritually supports Christians through Satan’s tribulation. The second function of the seal is to protect us from God’s Wrath, similar to how the blood on the doorposts in Egypt protected the Israelites. The martyrs are carrying palm fronds. In Leviticus 23:40 palm fronds were used to celebrate the first fruits festival. It is interesting to note that the martyrs are not themselves first fruits, nor are they called that. Their carrying palm branches indicates that they are celebrating the festival of first fruits. The 144,000 are later[23] called first fruits, presumably the first fruits of a redeemed Israel.
In this case, the Great Multitude, standing before the throne of God, starts the praise, followed by the angels that surround the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures.
It is nearly universally agreed these people are martyrs, killed during the Great Tribulation, which will last for 3 and ½ years, rather than saints raptured before the Great Tribulation. Otherwise, it would not be a tribulation. Their robes are white because Christ’s blood is the purifier that removes our sin.
We will see both groups again, the 144,000 in Chapter 14 and the multitude in Chapter 15. In both cases, they are dead and with God.
Several additional things concerning these two groups can be said. Both groups are mentioned twice: just before the seven trumpets and just before the seven bowls. This parallels the prayers of the saints before the seven seals and before the seven trumpets. The 144,000 are sealed in preparation for the Wrath of God and the Great Tribulation. They are therefore protected from the Wrath of God, but not from Satan’s wrath. Most of those Jews who are sealed, like most of those Gentiles who were sealed by the Holy Spirit, will nevertheless be killed by Satan and his minions. This sealing seems to be parallel to a similar one in Ezekiel 9:
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