17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?” Revelation 6:17
1Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree. 2And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 3“Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.” 4And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel: 5from Judah, 12,000; from Reuben, 12,000; from Gad, 12,000; 6from Asher, 12,000; from Naphtali, 12,000; from Manasseh, 12,000; 7from Simeon, 12,000; from Levi, 12,000; from Issachar, 12,000; 8from Zebulun, 12,000; from Joseph, 12,000; from Benjamin, 12,000.
9After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. 12They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” 14And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.15“That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. 16They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. 17For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 6:17-8:1
Before we begin to unpack this amazing portion of the Letter to the Seven Churches, Revelation, take a bird’s eye look at the layout I gave you in Gem 2248. I am mystified as to why there is so much confusion in the commentaries about Chapter 7 of Revelation. Why is it placed where it is? Why the insertion of it before the Opening of the Seventh Seal? What is the connection between the content of Chapter 7 and what goes before and after it? Many commentators suggest this is a very complex chapter. There are two short visions and it is hard to see a connection between them. Furthermore, the connection of Chapter Seven to the events described in the context before and after it are hard to find. The link to the whole discourse is hard to fathom and therefore any connectedness seems to be lost. Clearly John has opened Chapter 7 in his usual way with the hint that we are moving on to the next vision. What is the relationship between what went before this chapter and how does it follow on? Would it not have been better to move from the opening of the First Seal and continue all the way through to the Seventh Seal?
To me it is very plain and obvious; I don’t see what the issue is. John has been given a majestic panorama of the events in heaven, connected to the outcome on earth. All of which makes perfect sense to me. Do you see how it all goes together? Take your time to sort it out in your own mind before we proceed. I deliberately called Revelation 7 “An Interlude” in Gem 2248, because that is how it appears. We have this moment in heaven where things are paused. Notice how Chapter 8 begins. . . . with a pause.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.
Revelation 8:1
Before Robert Estienne came along in 1550 and divided the text into Chapter and Verse, all of this was a part of one letter held together in unity. It was not divided into chapter and verse. The early church, including the seven churches in focus, had the continuous text of the letter before them. I am sure it made perfect sense to them and came to be of great encouragement. It is a pity it doesn’t have the same effect on us. It is time for you to pause and reflect on the way the Letter to the Seven Churches has been structured and laid out. It is quite brilliant in my opinion. I don’t think for a moment that Chapter 7 is an interlude. Chapter 7 ought to be where it is and it ought to be seen as a highlight in this unfolding series of visions. It is a high point in the unfolding events, one which answers the question posed at the end of Chapter 6. It also ought to be of huge comfort for Christians in all periods of history and under the threat of future events. It ought to be a portion of Scripture you cherish and remember. If not for all of the details, at least for the overall theme and its relevance to you personally.
Doesn’t it strike you as interesting that this question is asked in the closing verse of Chapter 6, “Who is able to survive the wrath of God and the Lamb?” Following which we have two very interesting short “visions”. We have two blocks of text marked by John’s classic introductory marker “After this I saw. . .” “Then I saw. . .”. At the outset, John was given a series of visions, he heard a voice giving him explanation or instruction and then was told what to write down. It’s really very simple and straight forward. However, you know by now that is not the case. The tenses in this letter, Revelation, are mixed up together. Past, present and future tenses keep switching back and forth. So we have to keep our wits about us. Quite simply put, the opening of the fifth and sixth seals come with two questions which I have told you before.
- Oh Sovereign LORD, how long before you judge the world and avenge our blood?
- For the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to survive?
After the opening of the fifth seal, those who had been martyred cried out for justice and asked that those who killed them be punished. Already a quarter of the world’s population had been killed before the martyrs were seen. The martyrs evoke a demand for justice, not only for themselves, but on behalf of the onlookers as well. It’s like seeing the martyrs across time elicits a cry for justice from us all. The sixth seal is opened and creation begins to come apart at the seams. The magnitude of the signs draw forth the question, “Who can survive the wrath of God and the Lamb?” At that point in the Revelation it is time for the next two short visions.
An unasked question, which was likely in your mind, was in fact asked by several Gem readers after that last Gem. I am intrigued by how readers contribute their questions or comments. Some put them directly on the Comments section at the foot of each Gem. Others choose to send them by email and even request me not to name them in connection with their question. It is like ‘we’ have a question, but don’t know if ‘we’ are missing the point. “I hope someone else asks my question. But I have missed the opportunity at other times and no one else asks what I want to ask. So I will ask it this time.” Did more questions come to mind related to the martyrs? A couple of people wrote and asked, “Where are those who have not been martyred? Are they safe in heaven too?” John Mason’s tongue-in-cheek question “Ian, does this qualify for the first group? Even scars from speaking truth and being physically ejected for correcting error is costly.” John’s comment made me “roll on the floor laughing”. Well, not quite rolling on the floor, but close. Isn’t that what we all want to know? Do I qualify? You have not been martyred if you are reading this Gem. I have had a few people comment on their doubts as to whether they would have the courage to stand firm in faith in the face of martyrdom. Like John Mason, “is my willingness to be martyred sufficient?” “Or are the scars on my body because of my testimony and what the people who belong to this world have done to me enough?”
Do you now see the strategic position of the question at the end of Chapter 6? If you do, it may well spark the answer to your unasked question.
“Who is able to survive the wrath of the One sitting on the throne and the Lamb?”
I believe you are about to get the answer to your pondering in the next Gem. Simply put, Chapter Seven is our answer! The two short visions give us two short answers. But behind the short answers there are long answers as well. I will give you both the long and the short answers, starting with the next Gem. I encouraged those of you who receive the Gem by MailChimp to send your questions if you still had some at the end of the last Gem. Some did. Feel free to do that after the next Gems to come. I will begin working through the detail of Chapter Seven in the next Gem.
I will close with this anecdotaI account. I will remove all details which enable you to pin point the location.
I heard of a situation some years ago, where a group of people were praying in a church at night, where martyrdom and persecution were occurring in a particular local area. Suddenly a band of four carrying machetes and guns burst into the church and threatened those in the room with death. They said anyone who wanted to leave could leave then they would kill the ones who remained. A few left, they repeated the threat again and couple more decided to leave. Finally they closed the door and said, “Let’s pray together, now that the ‘card carrying Christians’1 have left.”
Allow me to ask you a personal question: Would you have left the prayer meeting, or forsaken Christ under such a threat?
Ian
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
1 John 5:12-13
Do you know whether you have Jesus in your life or not? Do you have the assurance of your own Salvation?
Ian
Do you know you don’t belong to this world? Rather you are a child of God making your way toward the Life of the Age to Come?
Ian
If you can’t answer yes to the last question, talk to me about it so you are clear on what the above quote means.
Ian
- card carrying christians – in the sense that their national identity cards labelled them as Christian, but was it really true when it might cost their lives? ↩︎
Yes! (You’re on fire here – don’t go up like incense till it’s finished 🙂
and a side question – where is Ephraim, and why?
With Gem 2259 you now have the answer to your question Des. There will be another take on it in Gem 2260 which I will delay a few days to fit in with where we are up to with Deeper Bible at the moment.