1 AND after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

1And after these things, I saw foure Angels standing on the foure corners of the Earth, holding the foure windes of the earth, that the winde should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

2And I saw another Angel ascending from the East, hauing the seale of the liuing God: and he cried with a loud voice to the foure Angels to whom it was giuen to hurt the earth and the Sea,

3Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till wee haue sealed the seruants of our God in their foreheads.

4And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

5Of the tribe of Iuda were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Ruben were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelue thousand.

6Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthali were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelue thousand.

7Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Leui were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Isachar were sealed twelue thousand.

8Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Ioseph were sealed twelue thousand. Of the tribe of Beniamin were sealed twelue thousand.

9After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could nūber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, & tongues, stood before the throne, & before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palmes in their hands:

10And cryed with a loude voice, saying, Saluation to our God, which sitteth vpon the Throne, and vnto the Lambe.

11And all the Angels stood round about the Throne, and about the Elders, and the foure beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

12Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glorie, and wisedome, and thankesgiuing, and honour, & power, and might be vnto our God for euer & euer, Amen.

13And one of the Elders answered, saying vnto mee, What are these which are arayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14And I said vnto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and haue washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lambe.

15Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serue him day and night in his Temple: and hee that sitteth on the Throne shal dwell among them.

16They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the Sunne light on them, nor any heate.

17For the Lambe, which is in the middest of the throne, shall feede them, and shall leade them vnto liuing fountaines of waters: and God shal wipe away all teares from their eyes.

 

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, 3 "Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." 4 I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the Israelites: 5 twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad, 6 twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh, 7 twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar, 8 twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, and twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Benjamin. 9 After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb." 11 All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, 12 and exclaimed: "Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen." 13 Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" 14 I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 "For this reason they stand before God's throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. 16 They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. 17 For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

v1. Chapter 7 occurs after the earthquakes and is an interlude in the midst of the chronological order after the sixth seal and before the seventh seal is opened. It looks back to the beginning of the seven years and forward to the eternal state. Four corners does not conflict with science, but the four quadrants, or fourths of the circle. Mariners would call them the four quarters of the compass. The four winds the four directions. The angels are not omnipotent but have great strength and possibly had done this before John noticed. This would account for no weather fronts, no wind, rain, jet stream or ocean waves for the three and one half years. Waters evaporating from the oceans would simply rise higher into the atmosphere. The four angels holding the world in a period of absolute calm are ready to bring judgment upon it. \

v 2,3. A fifth and even more powerful angel called loudly and stopped the other four angels from doing any more damage until he had sealed in their foreheads, those who had turned to the Lord in distress. This group is in the next verse. This sealing may have involved special ability in their minds to learn and understand God’s purposes. It may also have implied an actual physical mark on their foreheads, which would identify them to all as being under God’s protection. We will see later how this is blasphemously imitated by the beast, causing people to take a mark on their forehead or arm. In Rev. 22:3,4 Christ’s name will be in forehead of saints. 

v 4. Though many Jews and Gentiles were being saved, God sealed only 144,000 Jews. The new temple was under construction, Rev. 11:1, and these were needed to minister the things of the Lord in fulfillment of Isa. 29:20 Study this some more. God did not give a reason why he chose the 144,000, other than 12,000 from each of 12 tribes of Israel. These were not saved before the Church was caught up prior to the Tribulation, or they would have been caught up then. They may have been saved by the testimony of the two witnesses. Though others were saved, these are sealed as first fruits.

v 5. The order is no doubt important to God, but irrelevant to us. (See the comments through verse 8.) Judah, the fourth son of Jacob was given the scepter, Gen. 49:10, and he is listed first. Most of the Apostles were probably also from that tribe. Reuben was firstborn and listed next, even though he had committed incest. No reason is given for Gad’s position, but Jacob prophesied, Gen. 49:19, “he shall overcome at the last.”

v 6-8. The positions of several is not clear. Dan is the only tribe not listed.  The tribes of Dan and Ephraim were the first to go into idolatry, and perhaps  Dan suffered some of the warning of Deut. 29:18-21. Their names are replaced by Joseph and Levi, and  here, Ephraim is called Joseph. However, all 12 tribes are mentioned in the Kingdom age, Rev. 21:12. Sometimes Ephraim and Manasseh are listed as sons of Joseph and Levi is not listed, but all thirteen, including Levi, are in the Millennial Kingdom. At the last, the twelve gates of Jerusalem will be the names of the twelve actual original sons of Jacob.
For 144,000 see also Rev. 14:1-5.

v 9. Besides the Jews, an innumerable number of Gentiles from every nation and language have been reached by the Gospel and are saved in the last half of the Tribulation. That they are mostly Gentiles is shown when the question is asked, v13, and answered,14. Believers of the Church Age were raptured from the Tribulation while these come out of it. The three groups described in chapters 6 and 7 would be those saved and martyred in the first half, the 144,000 Jews sealed in the first half, and those martyred in the last half. Not mentioned here are those Tribulation saints who live on into the millennium. Kings and conquerors of the mid east were welcomed with palm branches and shouts of joy.  At the triumphal entry, Jesus offered himself as king and was welcomed with palm branches. but then rejected. Here he is truly welcomed as King. These have white robes in addition to the earlier martyrs in white robes. That they are standing before the throne indicates John’s vision was of a future time when they wave palm branches.

v10. They are rejoicing because, v14, they have been delivered and their robes have been washed white in the blood of the Lamb, saved by the blood. A similar cry to Hosanna at triumphal entry, Lk. 19:40.

v 11,12. The group in the anthem of Rev. 5:9-14 are joined by this great multitude in this seven fold praise. worshiping God and honoring those martyred saints. A difference, in 5:12 the Lamb is worthy to receive riches. In 7:12 God receives thanksgiving.

v 13. The elder asks a rhetorical question to inform John.

v 14. John answered respectfully he didn’t know who the white robed multitude was. The answer was that these had come out of great tribulation and had washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. They were unsaved at the time of Rapture. They will be people who had never heard the Gospel enough to accept or reject it. They are all martyred, and those believers not martyred, will live on into the millennial kingdom. Notice we were told in Rev. 3:10 thata the Church was kept out of the hour of  temptation, but these came out of great tribulation.

v 15. These martyrs will receive the crown of life, James 1:12; Rev. 2:10. They will also have the special privilege of serving Him day and night in the temple in the Millennium. There is no temple after that.

v 16.. This is quite the opposite of the starvation and persecution they had been experiencing in their martyrdom.

v 17 Christ will personally provide sustenance and comfort to them. This is physical water as will issue from the temple, Ezek 47:1-5, but also spiritual water, as promised the woman at the well, Jn. 4:10-14. Christ is the water of life for the thirsty soul, and provider of water for the body. These were comforting words to those starving in the tribulation, knowing there will be no cause for tears in the future life. These apply to all believers.
As we prepare for the following chapters we need to realize what God is doing with  judgments to this point and the severe ones yet to come:
He is dealing with the apostate church for rejecting Him in our day.
He is dealing with Israel for rejecting their Messiah.
He is dealing with Gentiles for their corrupting and persecuting Israel.
He will deal with Satan for being the motivating force of all evil.