Year 0, Day 18, Revelation 7

God

Let’s spend a little time today focusing on God before we get to the number sealed and the great multitude.  Notice that God is described as a living God.  This description is primarily designed to give hope.  After all, what hope can come from a dead god? 

In addition to giving hope, a living God is both a promise and a threat for the hopeful.  A living God is a promise to those who follow him and acknowledge their sin while repenting. A living God is a threat to those who ignore their sinfulness; yet this gives more hope to those who are oppressed for their faith in God.  This thought would bring comfort to the people in John’s day who are being persecuted by the Romans.

In keeping with this last comment, notice that God is portrayed as both a God of terror and reward.  The passage gives us no indication whatsoever that those who are sealed are to be spared from the wrath coming upon the world.  They are to be sealed with a mark from the living God for sure, but there is no indication that after being sealed they are not to endure the coming wrath.

The Seal

Speaking of the seal, let’s talk a little bit about this sealing process.  Notice that the angel who comes is from the East, where the sun rises.  We can see in this passage another indication that not only is the book of Revelation a book intended for John’s contemporaries as well as a description of the future judgment of the earth, but it is also a retelling of the past.  In the Gospels, the Magi come from the East as a proclamation of the coming of Jesus.  This story could well be a reminder of the birth of Christ.  After all, is it not Christ who seals us with the Holy Spirit? 

I think there is something to this point, given that the passage to come – Revelation 7:10-17 – is all about Christ’s glory.  In any case, I think that this story of being sealed should evoke a memory of our own baptism of the Holy Spirit and our being sealed by Christ into the Father’s kingdom.

As far as the actual seal goes, this passage largely has its roots in Ezekiel 9:1-11.  Seals show possession.  We brand cattle with the seal of the rancher.  We use our own seal – our signature – every time we write a check or sign up for something. 

Further, remember that this passage is in the greater scope of Christ undoing the seals over the scroll discovered in the last chapter.  As the seals of history are being opened and the evils of sin and humanity are taking over the world, God is also busy sealing His own people.  That’s a really cool point to read into this passage, and it is a point that would bring great comfort to John’s contemporaries.  It should also bring great comfort to us now and in the time to come.

The 144,000

As far as the multitude sealed goes, the number 144,000 is significant: 12,000 from 12 tribes.  In ancient times, square numbers (a number times itself, in this case 12x12) were always a sign of something divine occurring.  But what is of a far greater significance is that the sealed are to be merged with a greater multitude that cannot be counted.  In this light, the 144,000 are often interpreted as those faithful Christians alive in John’s time that are merged into the faithful people from all time. 

However, this number need not be taken literally.  In ancient times, when people wanted to express a large number they would use the word for a thousand.  In some cases the word could literally mean a thousand, but in other cases it simply meant something beyond a realistic ability to count. 

We can add to it that in ancient times multiplication was seen as the means of expressing a concept beyond the ability to count it.  For example, see where Jesus telling Peter to forgive 70 times 7 in Matthew 18:21-35 as a way of saying to Peter that he should forgive so many times that he would not be able to keep track of the number.  Thus, John could simply be referring to this crowd as a large gathering to be merged with an even larger gathering.  In this case the two “12s” could be an implication of the truly faithful Jews and the truly faithful Christians – whatever their literal number to be.

The Tribes

Having dealt with the number, let’s now take a look at the list.  Fell free to compare this list to Exodus 1.  Notice that Judah is moved from the fourth position to the first position.  This is likely because Christ came from the tribe of Judah, as was expected of the Messiah.  Also note that Dan is omitted, and Joseph’s son Manasseh is used to make up the difference.  Normally, if anyone is omitted it is Levi and Joseph becomes split into Manasseh and Ephraim.  Dan is likely omitted largely because when the kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms the tribe of Dan was influential in creating new places to worship instead of Jerusalem.  From that point on in history, Dan was often considered to be the tribe that led people away from the true worship of God.

Okay, back to scripture.  We now turn to this motley multitude.  They are from every race, creed, tribe, tongue.  Today we would say that they are from every socio-economic level, with all colors of skin, eye shapes, and even bone formations. 

They wear white robes, signifying purity and conquest, and wave palms, signifying praise and tribute for kingship.  This reminds us of the triumphal entry, another retelling of the Gospel story.  Furthermore, the robes have been made clean by God – a reminder of the crucifixion.  Here we can see this passage not only as something to come but also as a retelling of the past.

While the focus of the gathering is that they have been saved through the lamb, the people are said to have washed their own robes in the blood of the lamb.  This is likely an analogy to our own repentance.  God has given us salvation; God has provided us with the means.  But if we choose to ignore it, that is our choice.  It is a gift for us to receive and use – or reject.  We must obey God and repent or the gift of salvation is not truly ours.

Praise and Worship

Okay, let’s finish this blog post with a return to the praise and worship of God and Christ.  God and the lamb are served day and night by those gathered.  This is clearly a reference to the Levites found in 1 Chronicles 9:33.  There we discover that the Levites were charged with serving the temple day and night.  Clearly John is reinforcing the belief that all who follow Christ are made priests in Christ. 

Additionally, if all who are present are priests, then it implies that God’s barriers are down.  In the Old Testament there were barriers as to who could approach certain areas of the temple based on societal role such as Gentile, Jew, man, woman, priest, etc.  If all serve God, then there no longer are barriers between us and God regardless of whether we are Gentile, Jew, man, woman, priest, laity, etc.

We shall conclude with some Old Testament reflection.  In v. 16 we find a reference back to Isaiah 49:10.  In God’s presence, the pain of this present world goes away.  There is no hunger, thirst, fainting, or even weakness in God.  In fact, Christ the shepherd will lead us to living water.  That is certainly a reference to eternal life, but also a reference to eternal refreshment in our relationship with God.  Christ – through God – leads us to receive things without which we cannot survive.  If that doesn’t take us back to John 4 where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman – and another retelling of the Gospel story – I don’t know what will! 

The last verse ends with a reminder of Isaiah 25:8.  If all of our needs are met in God, then when we completely dwell in God’s presence we will have no need for tears.  Tears of sadness in this world are evidence of the destructiveness of sin.  Remove sin’s influence and life will revert back to the perfection that God has intended for us.  That, in a nutshell, is what we can look forward to in God.