Revelation 7

Re 7:1-17.

SEALING OF THE

ELECT OF

ISRAEL.

THE

COUNTLESS

MULTITUDE OF THE

GENTILE

ELECT.

1. And--so B and Syriac. But A, C, Vulgate, and

Coptic omit "and."

after these things--A, B, C, and Coptic read, "after

this." The two visions in this chapter come in as an episode

after the sixth seal, and before the seventh seal. It is clear

that, though "Israel" may elsewhere designate the spiritual Israel,

"the elect (Church) on earth" [ALFORD], here,

where the names of the tribes one by one are specified, these names

cannot have any but the literal meaning. The second advent will be the

time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, when the

times of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, and the Jews shall

at last say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." The

period of the Lord's absence has been a blank in the history of the

Jews as a nation. As then Revelation is the Book of the Second Advent

[DE BURGH], naturally mention

of God's restored favor to Israel occurs among the events that usher in

Christ's advent.

earth . . . sea . . . tree--The judgments to

descend on these are in answer to the martyrs' prayer under the

fifth seal. Compare the same judgments under the fifth

trumpet, the sealed being exempt

(Re 9:4).

on any tree--Greek, "against any tree"

(Greek, "epi ti dendron": but "on the earth,"

Greek, "epi tees gees").

2. from the east--Greek, "the rising of the sun." The

quarter from which God's glory oftenest manifests itself.

3. Hurt not--by letting loose the destructive winds.

till we have sealed the servants of our God--parallel to

Mt 24:31,

"His angels . . . shall gather together His elect from the

four winds." God's love is such, that He cannot do anything in

the way of judgment, till His people are secured from hurt

(Ge 19:22).

Israel, at the eve of the Lord's coming, shall be found re-embodied as

a nation; for its tribes are distinctly specified (Joseph, however,

being substituted for Dan; whether because Antichrist is to come from

Dan, or because Dan is to be Antichrist's especial tool [ARETAS, tenth century], compare

Ge 49:17;

Jer 8:16;

Am 8:14;

just as there was a Judas among the Twelve). Out of these tribes a

believing remnant will be preserved from the judgments which shall

destroy all the Antichristian confederacy

(Re 6:12-17),

and shall be transfigured with the elect Church of all nations,

namely, 144,000 (or whatever number is meant by this symbolical

number), who shall faithfully resist the seductions of Antichrist,

while the rest of the nation, restored to Palestine in unbelief, are

his dupes, and at last his victims. Previously to the Lord's judgments

on Antichrist and his hosts, these latter shall destroy

two-thirds of the nation, one-third escaping, and, by the

Spirit's operation through affliction, turning to the Lord, which

remnant shall form the nucleus on earth of the Israelite nation that is

from this time to stand at the head of the millennial nations of the

world. Israel's spiritual resurrection shall be "as life from the dead"

to all the nations. As now a regeneration goes on here and there of

individuals, so there shall then be a regeneration of nations

universally, and this in connection with Christ's coming.

Mt 24:34;

"this generation (the Jewish nation) shall not pass till all these

things be fulfilled," which implies that Israel can no more pass

away before Christ's advent, than Christ's own words can

pass away (the same Greek),

Mt 24:35.

So exactly

Zec 13:8, 9; 14:2-4, 9-21;

compare

Zec 12:2-14; 13:1, 2.

So also

Eze 8:17, 18; 9:1-7,

especially

Eze 9:4.

Compare also

Eze 10:2

with Re 8:5,

where the final judgments actually fall on the earth, with the same

accompaniment, the fire of the altar cast into the earth,

including the fire scattered over the city. So again,

Re 14:1,

the same 144,000 appear on Zion with the Father's name in their

forehead, at the close of the section, the twelfth through fourteenth

chapters, concerning the Church and her foes. Not that the saints are

exempt from trial:

Re 7:14

proves the contrary; but their trials are distinct from the

destroying judgments that fall on the world; from these they are

exempted, as Israel was from the plagues of Egypt, especially from the

last, the Israelite doors having the protecting seal of the blood-mark.

foreheads--the most conspicuous and noblest part of man's body;

on which the helmet, "the hope of salvation," is worn.

4. Twelve is the number of the tribes, and appropriate to

the Church: three by four: three, the divine number,

multiplied by four, the number for world-wide extension. Twelve

thousandfold in 144,000. A thousand implies the world

perfectly pervaded by the divine; for it is ten, the world

number, raised to the power of three, the number of God.

of all the tribes--literally, "out of every tribe"; not 144,000

of each tribe, but the aggregate of the twelve thousand from every

tribe.

children--Greek, "sons of Israel."

Re 3:12; 21:12,

are no objection, as ALFORD thinks, to the literal

Israel being meant; for, in consummated glory, still the Church will be

that "built on the foundation of the (Twelve) apostles

(Israelites), Jesus Christ (an Israelite) being the chief

corner-stone." Gentile believers shall have the name of Jerusalem

written on them, in that they shall share the citizenship

antitypical to that of the literal Jerusalem.

5-8. Judah (meaning praise) stands first, as Jesus'

tribe. Benjamin, the youngest, is last; and with him is associated

second last, Joseph. Reuben, as originally first-born, comes next after

Judah, to whom it gave place, having by sin lost its primogeniture

right. Besides the reason given above (see on

Re 7:2),

another akin for the omission of Dan, is, its having been the first to

lapse into idolatry

(Jud 18:1-31);

for which same reason the name Ephraim, also (compare

Jud 17:1-3;

Ho 4:17),

is omitted, and Joseph substituted. Also, it had been now for long

almost extinct. Long before, the Hebrews say [GROTIUS], it was reduced to the one family of Hussim,

which perished subsequently in the wars before Ezra's time. Hence it is

omitted in the fourth through eighth chapters of First Chronicles.

Dan's small numbers are joined here to Naphtali's, whose brother he was

twelve thousand sealed ones of Israel are the nucleus of transfigured

humanity [AUBERLEN], to which the elect Gentiles

are joined, "a multitude which no man could number,"

Re 7:9

(that is, the Church of Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately, in which

the Gentiles are the predominant element,

Lu 21:24.

The word "tribes," Greek, implies that believing

Israelites are in this countless multitude). Both are in

heaven, yet ruling over the earth, as ministers of blessing to its

inhabitants: while upon earth the world of nations is added to the

kingdom of Israel. The twelve apostles stand at the head of the whole.

The upper and the lower congregation, though distinct, are intimately

associated.

9. no man--Greek, "no one."

of all nations--Greek, "OUT OF

every nation." The human race is "one nation" by origin,

but afterwards separated itself into tribes, peoples, and

tongues; hence, the one singular stands first, followed by the

three plurals.

kindreds--Greek, "tribes."

people--Greek, "peoples." The "first-fruits unto the

Lamb," the 144,000

(Re 14:1-4)

of Israel, are followed by a copious harvest of all nations, an

election out of the Gentiles, as the 144,000 are an election out

of Israel (see on

Re 7:3).

white robes--(See on

Re 6:11;

also

Re 3:5, 18; 4:4).

palms in . . . hands--the antitype to Christ's entry

into Jerusalem amidst the palm-bearing multitude. This shall be just

when He is about to come visibly and take possession of His kingdom.

The palm branch is the symbol of joy and triumph. It was used at

the feast of tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,

when they kept feast to God in thanksgiving for the ingathered fruits.

The antitype shall be the completed gathering in of the harvest of the

elect redeemed here described. Compare

Zec 14:16,

whence it appears that the earthly feast of tabernacles will be

renewed, in commemoration of Israel's preservation in her long

wilderness-like sojourn among the nations from which she shall now be

delivered, just as the original typical feast was to commemorate her

dwelling for forty years in booths or tabernacles in the literal

wilderness.

10. cried--Greek, "cry," in the three oldest manuscripts,

A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. It is their

continuing, ceaseless employment.

Salvation--literally, "THE salvation"; all

the praise of our salvation be ascribed to our God. At the Lord's entry

into Jerusalem, the type, similarly "salvation" is the cry of the

palm-bearing multitudes. Hosanna means "save us now"; taken from

Ps 118:25,

in which Psalm

(Ps 118:14, 15, 21, 26)

the same connection occurs between salvation, the

tabernacles of the righteous, and the Jews' cry to be repeated

the name of the Lord."

11. The angels, as in

Re 5:11,

in their turn take up the anthem of praise. There it was "many

angels," here it is "all the angels."

stood--"were standing" [ALFORD].

12. Greek, "The blessing, the glory,

the wisdom, the thanksgiving, the honor,

the power, the might [the doxology is sevenfold,

implying its totality and completeness], unto the ages of the

ages."

13. answered--namely, to my thoughts; spoke, asking the question

which might have been expected to arise in John's mind from what has

gone before. One of the twenty-four elders, representing the Old and

New Testament ministry, appropriately acts as interpreter of this

vision of the glorified Church.

What, &c.--Greek order, "These which are arrayed in white

robes, WHO are they?"

14. Sir--Greek, "Lord." B, C, Vulgate, Syriac,

Coptic versions, and CYPRIAN read, "My Lord."

A omits "My," as English Version.

thou knowest--taken from

Eze 37:3.

Comparatively ignorant ourselves of divine things, it is well for us to

look upward for divinely communicated knowledge.

came--rather as Greek, "come"; implying that they are

just come.

great tribulation--Greek, "THE great

tribulation"; "the tribulation, the great one," namely, the

tribulation to which the martyrs were exposed under the fifth seal, the

same which Christ foretells as about to precede His coming

(Mt 24:21,

great tribulation), and followed by the same signs as the sixth

seal

(Mt 24:29, 30),

compare

Da 12:1;

including also retrospectively all the tribulation which the

saints of all ages have had to pass through. Thus this seventh chapter

is a recapitulation of the vision of the six seals,

Re 6:1-17,

to fill up the outline there given in that part of it which affects the

faithful of that day. There, however, their number was waiting to be

completed, but here it is completed, and they are seen taken out of the

earth before the judgments on the Antichristian apostasy; with their

Lord, they, and all His faithful witnesses and disciples of past ages,

wait for His coming and their coming to be glorified and reign together

with Him. Meanwhile, in contrast with their previous sufferings, they

are exempt from the hunger, thirst, and scorching heats of their life

on earth

(Re 7:16),

and are fed and refreshed by the Lamb of God Himself

(Re 7:17; 14:1-4, 13);

an earnest of their future perfect blessedness in both body and soul

united

(Re 21:4-6; 22:1-5).

washed . . . robes . . . white in the blood of

. . . Lamb--

(Re 1:5;

Isa 1:18;

Heb 9:14;

1Jo 1:7;

compare

Isa 61:10;

Zec 3:3-5).

Faith applies to the heart the purifying blood; once for all for

justification, continually throughout the life for sanctification.

15. Therefore--because they are so washed white; for without it

they could never have entered God's holy heaven;

Re 22:14,

"Blessed are those who wash their robes (the oldest manuscripts

reading), that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter

in through the gates into the city";

Re 21:27;

Eph 5:26, 27.

before--Greek, "in the presence of."

Mt 5:8;

1Co 13:12,

"face to face."

throne . . . temple--These are connected because we

can approach the heavenly King only through priestly mediation;

therefore, Christ is at once King and Priest on His throne.

day and night--that is, perpetually; as those approved of as

priests by the Sanhedrim were clothed in white, and kept by turns a

perpetual watch in the temple at Jerusalem; compare as to the singers,

1Ch 9:33,

"day and night";

Ps 134:1.

Strictly "there is no night" in the heavenly sanctuary

(Re 22:5).

in his temple--in what is the heavenly analogue to His temple on

earth, for strictly there is "no temple therein"

(Re 21:22),

"God and the Lamb are the temple" filling the whole, so that there is

no distinction of sacred and secular places; the city is the temple,

and the temple the city. Compare

Re 4:8,

"the four living creatures rest not day and night, saying,

Holy," &c.

shall dwell among them--rather (Greek, "scenosei ep'

autous"), "shall be the tabernacle over them" (compare

Re 21:3;

Le 26:11,

especially

Isa 4:5, 6; 8:14; 25:4;

Eze 37:27).

His dwelling among them is to be understood as a secondary

truth, besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert. When

once He tabernacled among us as the Word made flesh, He was in

great lowliness; then He shall be in great glory.

16.

(Isa 49:10).

hunger no more--as they did here.

thirst any more--

(Joh 4:13).

the sun--literally, scorching in the East. Also, symbolically,

the sun of persecution.

neither . . . light--Greek, "by no means at all

. . . light" (fall).

heat--as the sirocco.

17. in the midst of the throne--that is, in the middle point in

front of the throne

(Re 5:6).

feed--Greek, "tend as a shepherd."

living fountains of water--A, B, Vulgate, and

CYPRIAN read, (eternal) "life's fountains

of waters." "Living" is not supported by the old authorities.