WHO WILL BE SAVED IN THE TRIBULATION

Revelation Chapter 7


Chapter seven, though a continuation of the description of the tribulation, is actually a parenthesis. In chapter six we saw the opening of the first six seals and the judgments which are to follow. The Lamb does not open the seventh seal until chapter eight. The parenthesis is here, and it was put here by our Lord for a reason. What was the reason? *Chapter six concluded with the statement, “For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” The answer is: “No One” So dreadful will His wrath be that all men are seen trying to flee from it, calling on the rocks and the mountains to protect them from it.* God pauses to answer the prayer of His prophet Habakkuk, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember thy mercy “[Hab. 3:2]. In the midst of wrath, God remembers mercy and suspends judgment. We will also see that God pauses also between the sixth and seventh trumpets, and between the sixth and seventh vials. Chapter seven is the mercy chapter of Revelation:

The Suspension of Judgment:

Rev. 7:1-3 - The instruments God uses in suspending judgment are His servants, the angels. Angels are God’s ministers [Ref. Heb. 1:7, 14].

Here we are introduced to four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth. They are commanded to hold back the four winds of the earth, which halts the process of judgment until God has accomplished His definite purpose. The phrase, “the four corners of the earth,” The wind as an instrument of judgment in the temporal affairs of man; so we see here that the four angels are holding back this wind of judgment upon the earth to allow God’s purpose to unfold. We see a fifth angel, ascending from the east (from the rising sun), he (the fifth angel) restrains the four preceding angels from proceeding, and judgment is suspended.

The judgments which issue forth from the first six seals are only “the beginning of sorrows” [Ref. Mt. 24:8; Mk 13:8]. The “Great Tribulation” referred to by the Lord Jesus [Ref. Mt. 24:21], and by Daniel the prophet [Ref. Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11], begins the sounding of the trumpets, which sounding issues forth from the seventh seal.

The angels are told to “hurt not the earth, nor the sea, the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” [Ref. Rev. 7:3], *(God’s purpose for the pause).

The fifth angel the sealing angel from the sun rising preserves certain ones from the “hurt” during the tribulation. God acts in sovereign grace in a special way for Israel before the Great Tribulation begins (last 3 and one half years of Daniels seventieth week). In her dispersion Israel has gone to the four corners of the earth, a despised and persecuted people, but the Father will restrain all opposition against her for a season.

The Sealing of the Jews:

Rev. 7:4-8 – Judgment is suspended till 144,000 Jews (God’s Old Testament People) are sealed. In this sealed company, Israel, is plainly and literally before us, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes. This sealed remnant of Jews, not having had the gospel explained to them before will turn to Christ after the rapture of the Church.
They will inherit the kingdom under the rule of the Son of Man shortly after they have been sealed. The beast and the Antichrist will not be able to destroy them.

The tribe of Dan is not mentioned here in chapter seven. He is omitted because he was guilty of idolatry. God warned His people that idolatry would cause separation from the rest of the tribes. [Ref. Deut. 29:21). In the place of Dan, Manasseh, Joseph’s son, is given standing along with the other tribes. It is possible that the tribe of Dan will be associated with Satan’s work carried out by the Antichrist during the tribulation [Ref. Gen. 49:17]. In Rabbinic symbolism Dan stands for idolatry and that the Antichrist is to spring from Dan, this is based upon Jeremiah 8:16.

The following is a note about the word seal in scripture. We should notice that, the seal belongs to “the living God.” Only in the living God will His followers find strength in their conflicts with their enemies [Ref. Jos. 3:10]. The 144,000 are sealed with “the seal of the living God.” The seal is the mark of divine possession, protection, and preservation. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as the seal in the believer priest, marking us out as God’s property [Ref. Eph. 1:13], and assuring us of God’s protection and preservation until the redemption of the whole of man [Ref. Eph. 4:30; Rom. 8:23]. We believers in the Church Age are sealed immediately upon being born again and we are sealed until the day of our resurrection and or translation to Heaven, where we shall evermore be with the Lord.

The 144,000 of this chapter are sealed with the seal of the living God for protection and preservation through the Great Tribulation that is to come upon the entire world, and which will constitute for Israel the time of Jacobs trouble.

The Salvation of Gentiles:

Rev. 7:9-17 we learned from the first eight verses that there will be souls saved during the tribulation, and that the first ones will be Jews. Here we meet another great multitude, but they are Gentiles, “of all nations, and kindred’s, and peoples, and tongues.” This order follows God’s plan, namely, “to the Jew first” [Ref. Rom. 1:16], and then to the Gentile. The number of this multitude is beyond counting, as far as man is concerned. The exact number is known only to God [Ref. 2Tim. 2:19]. They are the Gentile converts won to the Messiah as to the result of Israel’s restoration, and of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote [Ref. Isa. 49:10-12; 60:1-30). This multitude hears the gospel of good news of the kingdom for the first time through the 144,000 redeemed children of Israel [Ref. Mt. 24:14]. This “great multitude” is the “sheep nations” of whom Christ spoke in Matthew 25:31-40. The 144,000 witnessing Israelites will be persecuted for their testimony. They will be hungry, thirsty, lonely, in need of clothing, and cast into prison. The Gentiles that believe their message will stand with them and minister to them, so that it is to them Jesus will say, “In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto me” [Ref. Mt. 25:40]. This multitude will be preserved through the tribulation, not kept out of it as the Church will be [Ref. Rev. 3:10].

Their position, they “stood before the throne, and before the Lamb.” Their purity, they are clothed in “white robes,” made white in the blood of the Lamb” divinely approved. Their protection “palms in their hands” express the complete joy of deliverance. Their Praise, in their praise they attribute to god and the Lamb “salvation.” The praise of the redeemed ones causes the angelic hosts of Heaven to fall on their faces and worship God. Their privilege, they engage in one glorious, unbroken ministry, it is a glad, spontaneous, unceasing survive to God and the Lamb. Their provision, the Lamb continues to feed and lead them for they are His own. The Lamb is the Shepherd graciously providing for every need. The springs of life with their fountains of living water shall not cease to flow. A final word concerning the Gentiles living in the tribulation period upon this earth. Life had been filled with tears as they took their place in that hour of judgment. Loved ones were killed before their very eyes. But now they are comforted as God wipes the tears from every eye. Sorrow shall not always have the upper hand. The day is coming on earth when God will have removed every semblance of the cause of tears.