THE FOUR WINDS (Rev 7:1-3)

In Rev 7:1 we see four winds being held back by four angels. In Zech chapter 6 that the four horse drawn chariots there are said to be four spirits or four winds. In Dan 7:1-3 we see that four winds were churning up the sea. The sea represented the peoples of the earth. This churning up of the people resulted in the emergence of the four beasts or four great future empires on earth, all according to God’s proper time for them. We see in Rev 13:1-2 that the coming world empire shares the characteristics of the four world empires described in Dan chapter 7. Thus, it seems that the four restraining angels in Rev 7:1 are not allowing the four winds (four angels or four forces) to agitate the coming world empire to action until the proper time as set by God. The antichrist emerges from this empire. The four winds may be the four horsemen of the first four seal judgments. They are assigned the job of administering God’s wrath in these four judgments. The four horse drawn chariots in Zech 6:1-8 are called four spirits (winds or angels) who had just come back from the presence of God. In Rev 7:2 we also see another angel shouting out instructions to the four angels to restrain the tribulation judgments until the proper time.

These four restraining angels of Rev 7:1 are keeping the impending tribulation period destruction of the earth from beginning until “the 144,000 servants of God on earth” have been sealed,” or marked as belonging to Jesus. This all gets a little complicated, to say the least. Thus we see that all of those who will be administering judgments in the tribulation, the four angels of God and the coming world empire represented by the antichrist, and thus Satan, are temporarily being held back from beginning their work.

2 Thess 2:5-8 tells us that the identity of the antichrist will not be revealed until his restrainer is removed. That is something that is much discussed in prophecy circles and the most common answers as to the identity of the restrainer are the Holy Spirit and the church. However, we saw above that one restrainer is revealed in Rev 7:1-3 to be four angels who are being directed by a fifth angel. They are holding back the beginning of the judgments until the proper time as set by God. This may or may not be the restrainer of 2 Thess 2:5-8.

We have just finished going through the first six seal judgments in Chapter 6, which describe the means for the coming judgments. We are ready for the administration of the judgments to begin and chapter 7 begins by saying that things have to happen in the proper order. Two of those things are described in chapter 7, (1) the sealing of the 144,000 and (2) the rapture of the great multitude.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SEALED? (Rev 7:2-4)

The 144,000 were apparently sealed during the first half of the tribulation period. This seal is said to be on the foreheads of God’s servants in Rev 7:3, 14:1 and 22:4. This provided supernatural protection for them from the wrath. Sealing also refers to being given the Holy Spirit to indwell the believer, as a guarantee of an inheritance of eternal life, Eph 1:13, 4:30. When we are sealed we receive an inscription marking us as belonging to Jesus. This inscription is described in Isa 62:12, “The redeemed of the Lord, the holy people, the city no longer deserted.” The city is the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:9-10, Heb 12:22-24, Rev 3:12. Ezek 9:3-5 describes a seal being placed on the forehead of those doing God’s will, to protect them from wrath. We see in Rev 14:1 that the 144,000 had the names of Jesus and the Father written on their foreheads. Our great hope is that we as believers will be protected “from” the wrath by being raptured to heaven before it begins.

There appears to be something unusual about the sealing of the 144,000. Rom 10:12 says “There is no difference between Jew and gentile; the same Lord is Lord of all.” The rapture before the tribulation period started included both believing Jews and gentiles. Since the 144,000 are not raptured with them, then that means that they must not be believers at the time of the rapture. It seems that they suddenly become believers when they see that all of the believers in Jesus have just been raptured. We believe that the Bible tells us that we are sealed at the instant that we become believers. It is also possible that God may be choosing a group of the Jews remaining on earth that he knows through foreknowledge will become believers to provide supernatural protection for them. He has a plan for them. It seems more likely to me that they suddenly become believers shortly after the rapture and are thus left behind. They are part of the two witnesses that we will read about in chapter 11. We might ask ourselves what caused the 144,000 to suddenly become believers in Jesus. I can think of two possible scenarios as follows, (1) the rapture of believers to heaven just as the tribulation starts precipitates their conversion because it was very clear to them that all believers in Jesus had suddenly disappeared or (2) the nuclear war described in Ezek 38-39 may be in the first judgment and it includes a supernatural destruction of the invading army and/or incoming missiles which may lead to their conversion.

THE 144,000 FROM THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL (Rev 7:4-8)

Chapter 6 describes the agents for accomplishing the first 6 judgments. Before John describes the actual judgments which are about to take place, he notes two large special groups in chapter 7. The two groups are divided into 144,000 Jews who are called servants of God and a great multitude of believers from all of the nations who suddenly show up in heaven. The number of Jewish servants is a countable number, with a countable number from each of the twelve tribes. The number in the great multitude is too large to be viewed as countable. The number twelve in the Bible stands for Governmental Perfection. Since there are said to be 12.000 from each of the twelve tribes that seems to indicate to me that the Jewish servants will all be involved in God’s heavenly government is some perfect way. The number 144 in the Bible seems to stand for a spirit guided life. Thus the Jews who are living a spirit guided life on earth are the remnant of the Jews who will be taken to heaven. The great multitude is said to be too large to count and to come from every nation, people and language. They are said in Rev 7:14 to have come out of the great tribulation, which could mean that they were raptured at any time during the tribulation period. I suspect that both of these groups will be part of the firstfruits rapture, part of the two witnesses who are raptured in the fifth judgment.

I doubt that the numbers 12,000 and 144,000 are to be taken literally. I suspect that they are symbolic. However, if they are literal they would likely not include the counting of women and children as was the custom in the first century.

 In 1 Cor 15:20 we see Jesus called the “firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep.” This referred to the fact that he had been the first to die, be resurrected and go to heaven with a glorified body. Verses 22-23 say that believers have the same hope; they too will be resurrected and taken to heaven when Christ returns. We see in Rev 14:4 that the 144,000 are called firstfruits, meaning that they also had died, been resurrected and taken to heaven by Christ.

Many prophecy experts believe that the 144,000 will be great evangelists on earth during the first half of the tribulation period and that the great multitude will be the result of their work. That is one possibility. It does not seem that there is a great revival on earth during the second half of the tribulation period since it is indicated in the 4th and 5th bowl and 6th trumpet judgments that the people on earth failed to repent of their sins. Thus, if the 144,000 are great evangelists as it is commonly claimed by prophecy experts, it has to be in the first half of the tribulation. It is not specifically mentioned whether or not they have success as evangelists if that is part of what they are doing. The reason many come to the conclusion that they are great evangelists is probably the fact that the great multitude is seen in heaven in chapter 7 right after the 144,000 are discussed. There is no clear tie presented between them, other than what we see in Rev 14.

It does seem that the 144,000 believing Jews are raptured to heaven at some point during the tribulation period. The next time we see them is in Chapter 14 where they are shown standing on Mount Zion, apparently in heaven, with Jesus just before his Second Coming. They are said to have been redeemed from the earth and part of the firstfruits rapture. The open question is “When were the 144,000 raptured?” I clearly see two rapture events described as being a part of the tribulation period. The first is the general rapture which took place just as the tribulation period begins and the second is the rapture of a group of “servants and brothers” who had been killed in the first half of the tribulation period. This second rapture seems to take place at the end of the fifth judgment as described in Rev 6:9-11. This rapture includes the two witnesses, who were killed, resurrected and raptured to heaven, apparently also at the end of the fifth judgment, five months after the midpoint of the tribulation as described in Rev 11:7-12.

Again, it is my suspicion that the two witnesses included the 144,000. Those who had been raptured in the fifth judgment are referred to as servants and brothers. The 144,000 are also referred to as servants and we could also infer that they are brothers. We know that the term brothers often refers to the Jewish people and the 144,000 are clearly Jewish since they are from the twelve tribes of Israel. The evidence that those raptured to heaven in the fifth judgment are the two witnesses, including the 144,000 is very compelling. See the “two witnesses” in the symbology dictionary and the commentaries on chapters 9, 11 and 12 for more detail.

THE GREAT MULTITUDE IN HEAVEN (Rev 7:9-17)

Verse 9 describes a great multitude that has just shown up in heaven. The great multitude is described as being so large it could not be counted and from every nation, tribe, people and language. They are seen in heaven standing before the throne and the Lamb wearing white robes and carrying palm branches. The twenty four elders are surprised at their sudden appearance and ask who they are. Notice that the twenty four elders are already in heaven when the great multitude suddenly appears. They had obviously been suddenly raptured to heaven from earth; they had obviously not appeared one by one.

We will consider four possibilities as to the identity of the great multitude and to the time when they were raptured. (1) The church and the saints. If that is the case they would have been raptured near the beginning of the tribulation period. That is not possible since Rev 7:14 says that that had just come out of the great tribulation. They were apparently raptured at the end of the fifth trumpet judgment, five months past the midpoint of the tribulation. (2) Those saved as a result of the work of the two witnesses and the 144,000 in the first half of the tribulation. In that case they may have been part of the mid-tribulation rapture in judgment 5. This rapture includes the two witnesses and the 144,000. (3) Those saved as a result of the proclamation of the angel described in Rev 14:6-7. It does not seem that there is a great revival on earth during the second half of the tribulation since it is indicated in the 4th and 5th bowl and 6th trumpet judgments that the people on earth failed to repent of their sins. The only chance for revival in the second half of the tribulation is when an angel proclaims the eternal gospel to the entire world just before the Second Coming. This is a last chance for those living on the earth. The angel exhorts the world to “Fear God and give him glory because the hour of judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water,” Rev 14:6-7. We do not know what the effectiveness of this was in getting people to accept Jesus. We are told that many Muslims will eventually turn to Jesus as their Savior and defender and swear allegiance to him. This happens because of the fear that springs from the wrath they are undergoing. They cry out to Jesus as the Jews do and he comes to rescue them, Isa 19:16-22. Egypt and Assyria in particular are mentioned. It is possible that these may make up the great multitude we see in Revelation chapters 7 and 19. If that is the case then this group would have been raptured just after the presentation by the angel and just before the Second Coming. That is highly unlikely because in that case there would not be any people left on earth after the sheep-goat judgment to begin the millennium. It also conflicts with the timeframe of the fifth judgment. (4) Those in both (1) and (2) above. It seems clear to me from Rev 19:6-9 that the great multitude shown there is the bride of Christ. That would have included all of those in (1) and (2) above, who would likely have been taken to heaven in two rapture events. I believe that there would be separate rapture events since the fifth judgment rapture seemed to include only those who had been killed in the service of Christ in the first five judgments of the tribulation. In that case the great multitude seen in Rev 7:9-17 would have been only those in (2) above since they had just shown up in heaven. Additional evidence comes from the fact that we are told in Rev 7:9 that those who had just shown up in heaven were wearing “white robes.” We also know from the description of the fifth judgment rapture in Rev 6:11 that those raptured to heaven were given “white robes.”

Let’s take a quick look at the significance of palm branches. We know that when Jesus approached Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion the large crowd which greeted him as king held palm branches and shouted “O Lord save us,” (hosanna) Matt 21:9. We also know from Ps 118:25-26 and Matt 23:39 that the Jewish people will also shout this in desperation just before the Second Coming. This is part of the Feast of Tabernacles celebration and there seem to be several hints that that is when Jesus will return. We know from Rev 7:14 that those of the great multitude had come out of the “great tribulation.” This could mean at the beginning, end or anywhere in between. The palm branches in Rev 7:9 may indicate that these are those who had been pleading with Jesus to save them from the great tribulation. We know from Hosea 5:14-6:3 that after the Jewish nation pleads for Jesus to come and save them that he revives them after two days and restores them on the third day.

When the great multitude arrives in heaven the angels around the throne all fall down in thanks and praise to God. One of the elders asks who they are and John answers him, “You know sir, these are those who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” John goes on to say that they will never again have to go through the great pain and suffering that they endured on earth, that God will wipe away all of their tears and that they will now worship God day and night.