The Great Multitude
For Meditation
One of the great themes of the book of Revelation is “the tribulation.” Since the dawn of premillennial dispensationalism in the mid 19th Century, many Western interpreters of the book of Revelation have interpreted the tribulation as a future event after some kind of rapture. However, for the majority of history, the church has understood the tribulation to be the common ordeal that all believers must go through living on this side of the new creation. Indeed, Jesus said himself, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33- the same word used in Revelation). In the book of Revelation, the tribulation is the outworking of sin and evil on the earth as followers of Jesus struggle to endure the trials of daily life on their way to the Kingdom. The tribulation is life in a cursed world.
(My own theory is that part of the reason this new interpretation of the tribulation has arisen in the last 150 years in the West is because post-Industrial life in the Western hemisphere has been relatively easy compared to the everyday hardships that most Christians have endured throughout most of history and even in most parts of the world today).
So the question that we face in chapter 7 is, How can the people of God make it through the great tribulation? Who can stand? (6:17) And the answer comes in this chapter that the people of God can stand because we are “sealed.” There is a play on the word “seal” in this chapter. The 7 seals are being opened, and yet at the same time John hears that the people of God are “sealed” (7:3). To be sealed in the ancient world meant to be claimed by a King or a master, sometimes marked with a literal seal from a signet ring. So we discover that the people of God, who are drawn from every nation, tribe and people, are sealed by God in Christ and held secure in the hands of God. This does not mean that the people of God are safe- remember we heard that many saints are martyred and persecuted (6:9-11). We are not safe, but we are secure. Secure in the hands of God, who promises that he will bring us to the new creation, where every tear will be wiped away.
In preparation for worship, read and meditate on Ephesians 1:13, and contemplate what it means to be sealed by God in Christ and through the Spirit.
Revelation 7
1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come 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 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Note: We will not be going through the Revelation series at our outdoor services. Instead, we’ll be looking at short stories about Jesus from the Gospel accounts. Keep up with this Revelation sermon series by listening here.