After John received the vision of the seven seals, he was given another vision, the one depicted in chapter seven.  It is for this reason that he says, “after these things I saw.”  It does not mean that the events depicted occur in the order given, rather only that John saw the visions in the order given.  The book of Revelation continually reviews the final events, and each time gives us some more detail as if the power of a spiritual microscope is being turned up to the next power!

1.  What did John see the “four angels” doing?  See verse 1.

Answer: They were back the of the , that the should not on the earth.

Winds often represent strife or warfare.  See Daniel 7:2.   God’s angels keep a check on the winds of strife and war until God’s work and His everlasting gospel goes to all the world!  When these angels finally let go the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose!

2.  What did the angel mentioned in verse 2 have in his hand?

Answer: The of the .

In ancient times a "seal" was used as a signature is used today. Isaiah 8:16 says, “Bind up the testimony, SEAL the LAW among My disciples.”  In Ezekiel 20, verse 12 it is written: “Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a SIGN between Me and them, that they may know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.”

Any official seal must have the name and title of the person the seal belongs to.  For example, the presidential seal has the name and title of the president of the United States.  The fourth commandment -- the one regarding the Seventh-day Sabbath -- is the only one of all the ten in which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver.  It is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given.  Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law as evidence of its authenticity and binding force.  Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it distinguishes the true God from all false gods.  The seal of God also represents the character of God.  The seal will only be placed upon those who bear a likeness to Christ in character!

3.  Where are the servants of God “sealed”?  See Revelation 7, verse 3.

Answer: In their .

The forehead represents the mind!  The ones who are sealed are those who have settled in their mind that they will obey God rather than man!  It is in the mind that the great battle for man’s soul takes place!  Those who receive the “mark of the beast” also receive it in their foreheads!  See Revelation 13:16.   We will learn in a future lesson that the mark of the beast involves disobedience to one of God’s commandments!

4.  How many were sealed with the seal of God?  See verse 4.

Answer: A and and .

This number can be taken as a literal number or a symbolic number.  Some numbers in Revelation are symbolic ones, others are literal ones.  For example, the number seven is used as a symbol for perfection as when Jesus is described as having “seven horns and seven eyes” in Revelation 5:6.  Eyes are a symbol of knowledge.  Seven eyes would mean that Jesus has perfect knowledge or is omniscient!  Horns are a symbol for power.  Seven horns would mean mean that Jesus has perfect power or is omnipotent!

Likewise, the number 144,000 is 12,000 times 12.  There are 12 tribes of Israel.  There are 12 gates in the New Jerusalem.  12 thousand from each tribe are sealed.  12 angels guard the gates of the New Jerusalem.  (Revelation 21:12). The New Jerusalem has 12 foundations.  (Rev. 21:14) etc.

Critics of the number being literal say that if we take that position, we must also take literally everything it says about the 144,000.  But this may not be the case.  Critics of there being literally only 144,000 say that taking the number literally causes some problems.  For example, the tribes mentioned in Revelation 7 differ from the 12 tribes mentioned in the Old Testament. Secondly, all from these tribes were Jewish!  That would mean that only Jews would be included in this group!  Thirdly, if the number is literal, then we must take literally the fact that the 144,000 are also literally “virgins” as it says in Revelation 14, verse 4!  That would eliminate any married person!  Fourthly, if the number was to be exactly 12,000 from each tribe, than that would mean predestination is a correct doctrine and that the Lord predestines only a certain number, and once that number is reached, that is it!  But the Lord says “whosoever will let Him come!”  See Revelation 22:17.

If we did take the number literally, it would not mean that the 144,000 are the only ones who will go to heaven, for verse 9 also mentions a “great multitude” who also are saved and stand before the throne of God!  Those who take the number to be literal say that the 144,000 are leaders and evangelists who will finish the work of the true gospel in the world.

Rather than worry about the number, we need to have the character of the 144,000! They “follow the Lamb whither soever He goeth.”  See Revelation 14:4.   The 144,000 are special because they can “sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”  See Revelation 15:3.   They have an experience that no other group has ever had because they will be translated from the earth, from among the living when Jesus returns!  They will go through the scenes of the last days and have "gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name."  See Revelation 15:2.   By God’s grace, let us pray to be among the 144,000!

5.  After seeing the 144,000, what else did John describe seeing? Revelation 7:9.

Answer: A great , which man could .

This group represents the resurrected saints from all time who fell asleep in faith!  They have victory over death and the grave! They will be those resurrected when Jesus returns!  They have in their hands palms which are a symbol of victory!

6.  What are those in the great multitude dressed in?  See verse 9.

Answer: .

These robes are indicative of their character that they have washed pure in the blood of the Lamb, and by His power!  See verse 14.   It also says that they "came out of great tribulation." This great multitude includes many that have gone through the tribulation of the dark ages, that great period when the people of God were persecuted and killed by the devil and his agents.  It also can include all those who went through the last great tribulation time before Jesus’ return!  See Revelation 6:9-11.

7.  What do those in the great multitude do?  See verses 10 through 12.

Answer: They the Lord!

It will be the joy of all the host of the redeemed to praise the Lord and to sing anthems of glory to His name!

8.  What is promised to the redeemed?  See verses 16 and 17.

Fill In: "They shall no , neither any more, neither shall the light on them, nor any . For the which is in the of the shall them, and shall them unto of waters; and God shall away all from their ."

We shall not have any more struggles then!  The redeemed will be led by the Good Shepherd to still waters of peace, tranquility, and joy forever more!  The ‘heat’ of life’s trials and struggles will no more burn the people of God!  We shall be forevermore fed by the Lamb -- Jesus Christ!  All tears will be wiped away!  O friend, be faithful to Jesus!  Serve Him!  Live for Him!  Victory belongs to those who love and serve the Lord!

Bonus Study on The Seventh-day Sabbath

1.  The seventh day Sabbath was made holy at the end of creation week, eighteen hundred years before there were any Jews -- descendants of Abraham on the earth.  The seventh-day Sabbath is not the ‘Jewish Sabbath,’ but rather the ‘Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’  See Genesis 2:2-3 and Exodus 20:8-11.

2.  The Sabbath was ‘made’ for all mankind.  Everything that was made was made by Jesus, therefore, He made the Sabbath day! He called Himself the ‘Lord of the Sabbath day.’  See John 1:1-3 and Mark 2:27-28.

3.  The reason the Lord is worthy to be worshipped is because He made all things.  He is our Creator.  The seventh-day Sabbath is the sign He gave us to remind us each week that He is the One who made the ‘heavens and the earth!’  To honor the Creator, we must keep His seventh-day Sabbath day holy!  Revelation 4:11 and Exodus 20:8-11.

4.  Even in the ‘new earth,’ which the Lord will create in the future, after sin and sinners have been destroyed, ‘all flesh,’ (not just Jews) will observe the Sabbath as a special day of worship! Isaiah 66:22-23.

5.  In the last days, God’s true people will remind the world that they must worship ‘Him who made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water.’  Thus, there will be a last day message to all people to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, for it is the sign that Yahweh is the true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth!  Revelation 14:7.

6.  Jesus went to worship services on the seventh-day Sabbath. The Jewish calendar records every Sabbath from before the time of Christ.  If the Sabbath was being kept on the wrong day, Jesus would have told us.  But He went to worship services on the same Sabbath as the Jews.  It hasn’t been lost!  See Luke 4:16.

7.  After the Jews left the synagogue in Paul’s day, the ‘Gentiles’ wanted to hear Paul preach again.  He told them to come back ‘the next Sabbath day.’  He didn’t tell them to come back the next day for Sunday service!  Paul and the New Testament believers kept the seventh-day Sabbath.  They did not keep Sunday, and there is not an iota of Scripture that tells us to keep Sunday holy.  Sunday sacredness comes by tradition, and is the product of the Roman Catholic Church.  Acts 16:13 and Acts 13:42-45.

8.  The women who followed Jesus’ ministry observed the Sabbath day even after Jesus’ death.  Luke 23:50-56.

9.  The seventh-day Sabbath is God’s ‘sign’ or ‘mark’ that He is the One who sanctities us.  Ezekiel 20:12.

10.  The seventh-day Sabbath is the fourth of the Ten Commandments.  If we work on the Sabbath day, and fail to keep it holy, we transgress God’s law, and if we break one commandment, we are guilty of breaking them all!  James 2:10-12.

11.  There were ceremonial sabbaths that involved sacrifices. These ceremonial sabbaths were ended at the cross.  But the seventh-day Sabbath was made before sin entered the world, and was a sign of God’s Creatorship.  The seventh-day Sabbath will never be done away with.  See Leviticus 23:24-32 and 37-38 to see the difference between the ceremonial sabbaths, and the ‘Sabbaths of the Lord.’

12.  Daniel the prophet predicted that the ‘little horn’ power (the fallen church) would think to ‘change times, and laws.’  This is how God’s seventh-day Sabbath time was changed to Sunday without any Biblical authority!  Daniel 7:25.

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