Chapter Seven

Preparation of the Seven Trumpets

In the sixth chapter we saw the opening of six of the seven seals. As we move into chapter seven we might expect to see the opening of the seventh seal, but our story will now pause momentarily before moving on to the last seal, which we will find in chapter eight. The first six have brought us to the end of paganism in Rome, but the seventh will not be connected with these, and thus it is logical that it would be somewhat separated from them in Revelation.

7:1 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.

“After these things,” means after the first six seals had been opened, and the events which they symbolized had been completed. Now John sees four angels of God standing on the “four corners of the earth.” Up until a few centuries ago, this verse was the source of much controversy. There where many who believed that this verse proved the earth was flat. They said it had to be flat in order to have four corners. Others said that physical evidence proved the earth to be round, and thus a sharp controversy developed. We now know, of course, that the earth is round. Does this fact contradict the Bible? Again we must stop and realize that all of these things we are seeing in Revelation are symbols. They are not to be taken literally, but are meant to convey ideas to us which will allow us to understand what they actually represent.

Revelation is not the first place the phrase, “four corners of the earth,” has been used. “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12). Israel and Judah were taken captive by Assyria and Babylon respectively. We know that these captives of Israel and Judah were never taken out of the area known today as the Middle East. Yet, here it is said that they were scattered to the four corners of the earth. Even if the earth were flat with four corners this verse still could not be interpreted literally, since the people were not scattered that far. All this phrase really means is that they had been widely scattered in all directions. So this term has nothing to do with literal corners of the earth, but rather represents the four cardinal directions. The angels that John saw were distributed around the earth, which shows their effect was not localized but widespread.

The winds spoken of here represent armies which are to act as agents of destruction. This is shown in other passages in the Bible; “The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts; ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them’” (Jeremiah 49:34-37). Here God clearly intends to destroy Elam with foreign armies. In verse thirty-seven He says He will “send the sword after them.” But at first He refers to these armies as “the four winds.” As was often the case, God had decided to use one nation to bring about the desired punishment against another. This time the nation was Assyria, and history tells of this event.

“Elam was a region beyond the Tigris, east of Babylonia. It was bounded on the north by Assyria and Media, on the south by the Persian Gulf, on the east and southeast by Persia. In the time of Abraham, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, was recognized as sovereign by the Babylonian states, and laid even the country on the Jordan under tribute (Genesis 14:1-11). In the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., when Assyria was the dominant power in western Asia, Elam was its doughty opponent; but was subjugated after repeated campaigns of the Assyrians under Sargon, Sennacherib, and Ashurbanipal. Shushan (the capital of Elam) was at length taken about 645 B.C.”[1]

So what John sees here in Revelation, is the same type of thing spoken of in Jeremiah. The four winds are four armies that are eventually going to come, from different directions, and fight against Rome.

“That the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree,” simply means that for the present time these armies will not be allowed to do any damage, but must wait until the time appointed of God. Soon we will discover why they must wait.

7:2 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,

The east has been used previously in the Bible to denote the direction of God’s presence. “Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east” (Ezekiel 43:1-4). God’s representatives, Moses and Aaron, also camped on the east side of the tabernacle. “But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death” (Numbers 3:38). So we can see the significance of the east in the Bible, it is used as the direction of God. As the sun rises in the east to shed its light on the earth, so also God symbolically sheds His spiritual light on the earth from the east. So when this angel comes from the east it means he is coming from God. Thus we know he is on a mission from God, and his purposes are righteous.

Seals have been discussed previously where they were found to be symbols used to represent ownership and power over what is sealed. Kings would often affix their seals to documents to prove their authenticity. The angel carrying God’s seal can use it to affix the seal of God to something, and thereby show God’s ownership of that object. Now the angel speaks with a loud voice to the four angels who are holding back the four winds. The next verse will tell us what his message was.

7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The angel of God, who is carrying God’s seal with him, speaks to the four angels who are holding back the four winds. He tells them not to hurt the earth, sea, or trees, which means they are to continue to hold back the destructive power of the winds. This is to be done until “we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”

In the discussion on seals in chapter five it was mentioned that the emblem would be pressed into soft clay or wax. The material would be allowed to harden, and then could not be altered without breaking it. What this means here is that God had put his seal upon the earth, in the form of the Church. The wax needed a little more time to dry before it could be handled. In other words, the Church needed a little more time to grow and mature, before the winds of destruction could be loosed. God had brought an end to paganism in Rome, and now He had set His sights on Imperial Rome itself. But before He destroyed them, He had to be sure the Church could withstand the turmoil about to come. God had built His Church during the height of the greatest Empire the world has ever known. It was a period of great peace and stability. This was in order to provide a good stable environment in which it could grow and flourish. But once it became strong enough, He was going to bring an end to the Roman Empire, which had been to the Church both persecutor and protector.

The fact that the seal was in the forehead also has significance. The forehead represents the seat of understanding and thinking, or in other words, the mind. A person could only be “sealed” by God if he chose to accept this sealing. God was not going to conscript anyone. A person makes a voluntary decision in their mind to follow God. Thus the seal of God, the designation that they are His, is in their forehead. The fact that the seal had to dry, means that the Christians needed time to grow stronger, so that they would not be dissuaded from following God, when the upset and turmoil came upon the land. It is a situation very much analogous to part of the parable of the sower told by Christ. “Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended” (Matthew 13:21). The Church was still a bit immature and needed to grow stronger and deeper roots in order to withstand the coming storm.

7:4 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.

In the previous verse we found that there was to be a pause in the turmoil affecting the Roman Empire until such time that the servants of God are “sealed.” The present verse now tells us about some of those who were sealed. John says he “heard the number of them which were sealed.” Someone, likely an angel, told John that 144,000 of the Children of Israel were converted to Christianity. In chapter fourteen we will find that this 144,000 represents those who were converted before the gospel was given to the Gentiles. But the question is, why is this information important to us here? What we are interested in here is the condition and strength of the Church as it is about to enter this time of turmoil. But instead it seems we have been taken back to the beginning of the Church.

It began with the Jews, and as we can see here, a very large number of Jews. They were most certainly the backbone of the Church for many years. The Jewish converts were then scattered among the Gentiles after the destruction of Jerusalem, which aided the swift inclusion of many Gentiles into the Church. The number of 144,000 which is given here should not be taken literally but is merely given to tell us that a very “large” number of Jews were converted. This will be borne out further in the next four verses.

7:5 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

7:6 Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand.

7:7 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.

7:8 Of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

John now tells us that twelve-thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel became Christians. These numbers, as well as the total of 144,000, are not exact, but serve to denote the magnitude of converts, and to tell us that there were many from each tribe in the early Church. The real concern here is not tribal identity, in many cases that had already been lost anyway, but national identity. God is showing us that despite the continued stubbornness and rebellion, there were still many Jews who were willing to accept the Messiah when He came. And He tells us further, by listing the individual tribes, that the converts did not just come from one tribe or one region of the country. Rather, there were those scattered throughout the land, and of various tribal origins, who were sincere and willing to follow God.

There are also some interesting observations to be made concerning the twelve tribes as they are listed here. Jacob, or Israel, had twelve sons, but when the land of the inheritance was divided up it was given to ten of Israel’s sons and two of his grandsons. One of his sons, Levi, was separated from the rest to serve as priests. They received no land of their own, but were dispersed among the other eleven tribes. To bring the number of tribes back to twelve, Joseph was allotted a double portion and it was given to his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. But the list we have here in Revelation does not match either the list of twelve sons or the list of the twelve who inherited the land. Table IV should serve to illustrate the differences.

Listings of the twelve tribes of Israel
Sons of Israel	Received inheritance	Listed in Revelation
Asher	Asher	Asher
Benjamin	Benjamin	Benjamin
Dan	Dan
	Ephraim
Gad	Gad	Gad
Issachar	Issachar	Issachar
Joseph		Joseph
Judah	Judah	Judah
Levi		Levi
	Manasseh	Manasseh
Naphtali	Naphtali	Naphtali
Reuben	Reuben	Reuben
Simeon	Simeon	Simeon
Zebulun	Zebulun	Zebulun

Table IV

Ephraim and Manasseh are missing from the first list because they are grandsons rather than sons of Israel. In the second list Levi is removed and Joseph is divided into Manasseh and Ephraim to fill the empty slot. But the third list does not even come close to matching either of the first two. Levi is placed back in the list, but instead of Manasseh and Ephraim being reformed into Joseph, Manasseh and Joseph are both listed and Ephraim and Dan are missing.

The entire nation of the Israelites was disobedient to God and He had to continually punish them for their rebellious behavior. But the tribe of Dan apparently exceeded all of their brethren in wickedness, and for this cause God destroyed them. In the time of the Judges the Danites ordained as priests men who were not of the sons of Levi, and therefore not qualified for that position. These men were chosen because Dan desired to worship a graven image and not God. The Levites would not go along with this false worship so the Danites found someone who would. They were, to use the words of the Apostle Paul, “after their own lusts heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (II Timothy 4:3). “And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan” (Judges 18:30).

In the very extensive genealogies of I Chronicles 2-12 the tribe of Dan is conspicuously absent. Dan is mentioned as a son of Israel in I Chronicles 2:2, but in subsequent chapters where the descendants of his brethren are listed, his are missing. This shows that they had fallen into severe disfavor with God, and had already been destroyed by this time. This does not mean that every single descendant of Dan had been killed, although most of them might well have been, but it does mean that God had disowned them and no longer considered any who remained to be His people.

Ephraim likewise was destroyed for their great multitude of sins. Isaiah spoke of their coming doom, and then Jeremiah confirmed that their destruction had occurred. “Within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people” (Isaiah 7:8). “And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” (Jeremiah 7:15).

We also find a very interesting connection between Dan and Ephraim. When the kingdom of Israel was divided in the days of Rehoboam, the new king of Israel, Jereboam, set up two idolatrous altars. These altars were located interestingly enough in Dan and Ephraim! “Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’ And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi” (I Kings 12:28-31).

Bethel was a city on the border between Benjamin and Ephraim, but it belonged to Ephraim. “And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the Lord was with them” (Judges 1:22). The house of Joseph could mean either Ephraim or Manasseh, but half of the tribe of Manasseh had received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River, and the other half received theirs to the north of Ephraim. Clearly then we must be talking about Ephraim here taking Bethel. In describing the possessions of the children of Ephraim the Bible says, “And their possessions and habitations were, Bethel and the towns thereof, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns thereof; Shechem also and the towns thereof, unto Gaza and the towns thereof” (I Chronicles 7:28).

Why would Jereboam choose these two locations for his idols? First of all, it was desirable to make them readily accessible to the people, but I think we must also consider the character of these two places. They were already thriving hotbeds of idolatry and no doubt welcomed these new idols with open arms. It is no accident that these two very idolatrous tribes were omitted here in Revelation. Spiritual idolatry is a recurrent theme in this book and people (Rome in particular) are continually condemned for it. The omission of Dan and Ephraim points once again to God’s abhorrence of idolatry. Although every tribe was guilty of great sin and they all rejected God, the sins of Dan and Ephraim were so vile that God cut them off from among His people. One thing we learn from all of this is that God’s longsuffering does have a limit. While God did preserve the nation despite their sins, He disowned and destroyed two entire tribes because their sins were too great for Him to tolerate.

An interesting question now arises, who were the twelve-thousand sealed from the tribe of Joseph? Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh is included in this list so his descendants cannot be included in the tribe of Joseph or they would be counted twice. And as we have just seen Ephraim was destroyed, so there was seemingly no one left for Joseph. I believe that this serves well to illustrate the point for us that we are not really concerned with tribal identity here. God is showing us here that there are no ‘lost tribes’ or other such groups of the Children of Israel who missed out on the opportunity to accept Christ. The listing of each tribe allows us to see that all Israel was given access to God through Christ, and many of them, from various backgrounds, accepted God’s invitation.

7:9 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;

After showing us the roots of the Church, the scene now shifts back to the fourth century. This time frame will be established in subsequent verses. Here we are shown the diversity and the strength of the Lord’s Church. By diversity I refer to the various peoples involved, and not to doctrines. By the fourth century the Church was well established in most of Europe and large areas of Asia and Africa. It included people of many nationalities, colors, cultures, and religious backgrounds. But all of these had been brought together as one people in Christ.

John says this multitude was so large that it was innumerable. This does not mean that it would have been impossible to count them, but it would have certainly been unreasonable. Note that John did not count the 144,000, but rather he “heard the number of them which were sealed.” All this really tells us is that in the three and one-half centuries that had passed since its establishment, the Church had passed from being a relatively small and primarily Jewish dominated sect, to being a very large and influential force comprised of peoples of very different backgrounds. The effect of the Church was now felt in all corners of the known world.

All of these redeemed ones stood before the throne of God, and before the Lamb, which is Christ. This of course would not actually be possible until after the end of the world. But what is shown here is their ultimate victory and reward for their faithful service to God. The saints had on white robes which we have seen before. The white refers to the purity and innocence of those who have been washed in, and redeemed by, the precious blood of the Lamb.

The redeemed also had palm leaves in their hands. “Its great leaves were used as tokens of victory and peace.”[2] This certainly fits the scene in Heaven. The saints have been victorious over Satan and all of his evil devices. They are now being rewarded with an everlasting peace in the presence of God.

7:10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Now all of the saints begin to praise God, and to thank Him for the salvation which He brought to the world in the form of the Lamb, Jesus, whom they are also praising. They had lived lives marked by oppression and persecution, yet they remained faithful. Now they are receiving their just reward, and are thanking God for their deliverance.

7:11 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,

Now others join the saints in the worship and praise of God. The twenty-four elders, which represent the Old and New Covenants, the four creatures, and the heavenly host of angels, all join in. We saw all of these worshipping God previously in chapter five. While the angels and the four creatures were not directly affected by the salvation of man, certainly they rejoiced to see it and are seen here praising God for what He has done. Christ said “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). Can you imagine the joy in Heaven when all of the redeemed are welcomed home?

7:12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

The praises of the great multitude in Heaven continues. One definition of “amen” is “fixing, as it were, the stamp of truth upon the assertion which it accompanied, and making it binding as an oath.”[3] So the items mentioned here are meant to describe God without there being any doubt that He is worthy of these words of praise. Certainly no one is more worthy of blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might than God the Creator of all that is seen and unseen.

7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?

Now one of the twenty-four elders, who had been worshipping God, asked John a question. John had seen the innumerable multitude before the throne, and had described their appearance, but he had made no attempt to identify them. Now he is asked by the elder who these people are, and where they all came from. Certainly the elder knew who these people were, but he wanted to draw John’s attention to them and get him to thinking about them.

7:14 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.

John’s reply to the elders question was basically, “Sir, you know the answer, but I do not?” Then the elder tells John that these have all come “out of great tribulation.” In our sequence of time we are now near the end of the fourth century. Thus far the Church has come through many periods of sporadic, but often intense, persecution. It would be very accurate to say that the first four centuries were a period of great tribulation for the Lord’s Church. But throughout all of this the Church grew and flourished. The washing of their robes denotes the fact that they have been cleansed from sin in the blood of Christ, making them white which denotes their purity and innocence.

7:15 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.

The elder continues to explain to John the life of the redeemed in Heaven. The main occupation will be the worship of God. Night and day, does not mean that there will be actual periods of light and darkness in Heaven. The sun and stars will be destroyed with the earth at the end of time. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Peter 3:10). The “heavens” refers to the atmosphere, and the place of the heavenly bodies. So if the sun is destroyed the normal occurrence of days will not continue.

We will find later on in Revelation that God is described as the source of light in Heaven. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 21:23; 22:5). So the meaning of day and night in this passage, is that the service of Christians to God will be “around the clock.” They will not just serve God once in a while, but all the time. “In His temple,” just refers to Heaven. “He that sitteth on the throne” is God, and He shall dwell among the saints in Heaven.

7:16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

Now the elder speaks of some of the wonderful benefits of life in Heaven. First of all, there will be no more hunger or thirst. Man spends most of his time and effort in this life in the pursuit of food and water. Even today we must work to at least have enough money to purchase these necessities of life. We can trace our struggle all the way back to the Garden of Eden. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:17-19). The paradise men had been given by God was gone. Life would no longer be easy, but rather fraught with trial and tribulations. Far too often, people are unable to acquire the necessities of life and perish. Droughts and famine have been regular occurrences around the world throughout history, and have often had a devastating impact on many people’s lives. We will regain that lost paradise in Heaven. “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse” (Revelation 22:2-3a). In Heaven this great burden will be lifted from man. Having a spiritual body, there will be no need for man to eat or drink physical food and water any longer. So no one will ever be hungry or thirsty again, God will supply all that is needed..

The sun is also quite often a burden to man. Although it brings warmth to man, and nourishes plants and does so many other beneficial things, its heat can also be very oppressive. Extended exposure to it can even result in premature aging of the skin, freckles and even skin cancer. But in Heaven the sun will no longer exist, so these things will be but past memories. Again God will provide whatever is needed, and unlike the sun, there will be no harmful side-effects.

7:17 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.

“The Lamb...shall feed them, and lead them unto...waters,” is all figurative. Man will no longer have a need to eat or drink physically, so this is all meant in a spiritual sense. While speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well Christ spoke of the water that he had to offer, which, if a person drank of it, they would never thirst again (John 4:14). Earlier in Revelation, He spake of giving the redeemed to eat of the tree of life (Revelation 2:7), and the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17). These items are all symbolic. The presence of God and Christ will be more than enough to satisfy all spiritual appetites. There will also be no tears in Heaven. This indicates that all reasons for crying will be done away with. There will be no reasons to be sad or depressed.

The preceding verses serve to show the value of serving God. The Church is about to enter rough times as God pours out His great wrath upon Imperial Rome. It might be very troubling to know that you are about to enter such a time, so here words of encouragement are offered to those who are sealed. They are allowed to see a glimpse of the rewards to be enjoyed by their predecessors, and which can someday be theirs if they remain obedient to God. There is also something else which we have not been told yet. The Church will soon enter a period of 1,260 years during which it will be forced to go into hiding because of persecution and oppression. This passage would also be a comfort to those who will live during that time. Here God has shown us the reward of those who have already passed through very troublous times. This should serve to comfort those who will be forced to endure the trials of a Christian life which still lie ahead. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12).