WEB

Revelation 7

Between the sixth and seventh seals the action pauses. Four angels hold back the winds while another seals God's servants on their foreheads before any harm comes. John hears a precise count: 144,000, twelve thousand from each of twelve tribes of Israel, listed name by name. Then the camera widens. What John hears (a fixed Israelite number) and what he sees next (an uncountable crowd from every nation) are set side by side, and the gap between them is the point.

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Revelation 7 (WEB)
  1. 1

    After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.

  2. 2

    I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea,

  3. 3

    saying, “Don’t harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!”

  4. 4

    I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:

  5. 5

    of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

  6. 6

    of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

  7. 7

    of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

  8. 8

    of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, and of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

  9. 9

    After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

  10. 10

    They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

  11. 11

    All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God,

  12. 12

    saying, “Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

  13. 13

    One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?”

  14. 14

    I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.

  15. 15

    Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.

  16. 16

    They will never be hungry or thirsty any more. The sun won’t beat on them, nor any heat;

  17. 17

    for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Heard versus seen

The sealed are numbered and tribal; the multitude is innumerable and from every nation, tribe, people, and language, waving palm branches before the throne. An elder asks John who they are, then answers his own question: these came out of the great suffering and washed their robes white in the Lamb's blood.

The closing promises reverse chapter 6's terrors point for point: no more hunger or thirst, the sun no longer beating down, and the Lamb himself shepherding them to springs of living water while God wipes away every tear.

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