At this point in the Revelation, a break is taken from detailing the judgment of God being poured out, and a very significant and comforting insertion is made. I recommend reading Rev chapter 7 now. The righteous would be sealed with God's protection and would not take part in His wrath, but rather would be gathered together into Him and receive their ultimate consolation. At least 2 passages, one from the OT book of Ezekiel, and one from the words of Jesus, are plainly alluded to in this sealing of the righteous.Sealing: In the visions of Ezekiel, which also deal heavily with God's judgment upon the disobedient tribes of Israel, an angel is sent out to set a mark on the foreheads of all those who "Sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the midst of her (Israel)" (chap 9). The angel is told to "Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man on whom is the mark".
So a similar sealing of the righteous on their foreheads in the spiritual realm is pictured in Revelation 7. This is telling, for if the mark (or seal) placed upon the foreheads of the faithful in Rev. 7 is a spiritual one, representing Gods seal of approval on the just (rather than a visible, physical mark) protecting them from God's wrath, then the mark "Of the beast" on the foreheads of the wicked singling them out for His wrath (In Rev chapters 13-20) is no doubt a spiritual one as well. We will examine those passages later in Revelation when we reach them, but suffice it to say at this point that the mark of the beast is not a microchip or a barcode (not that these myths fit into the strict first century time-limit given to us by the Revelator anyway), but rather a literary symbol used before in apocalyptic literature to illustrate spiritual realities. Those who belong to him bear his righteous mark, and those who have rejected him bear the mark of the wicked, and both marks are visible in the spiritual realm. This apocalyptic language would have been well-known and quite plain to John's first century Jewish audience.
Just as in the days of Noah and Lot, the righteous would be taken out of the way before the judgment was poured out, as God never judges the righteous with the wicked. This was historically fulfilled in various ways (as recorded by Josephus and Eusebius and others) as God indeed kept the remnant of the infant Christian church in Judea safe when He finally poured out his wrath upon Jerusalem and the unbelieving Jews in the late 60's AD.
Gathering from four winds: Jesus was the first to describe this gathering of the faithful at the end of the age "from the four winds" - and this mention of the four winds in Rev 7 is no doubt a direct allusion to the words of Christ: "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Mat 24:31 & in Luke 21 & Mark 13) Let it first and most importantly be noted that this promised gathering of the elect from the "four winds" was clearly promised by Christ to take place before his disciple's generation had passed from the scene (Mat 24:34). As we detailed in an earlier installment, John reiterates this first-century time constraint in the opening and closing chapters of Revelation quite clearly as well.
It was highly anticipated by the first century churches as evidenced in their writings during the period between Christ's earthly ministry and the final destruction of the holy city and temple in 70AD:
2 Thes 2:1 - "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him..." They clearly believed they would be gathered unto him at his coming.
1 Cor 15:52-53 - "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." They believed they would witness his coming (they would not all die, which means some of them would live to see it also), and would be changed forever at the sound of that last trumpet.
1 Jo 3:2 - "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." They believed that when He appeared, they would see Him, and be like Him!
***See also 1 Thes 4:13-17 & 1 Pet. 1:1-4
As is apparent, this promised gathering became the focus of the ultimate hope of the first century persecuted Christian church - an event that they fully expected to experience within their lifetime, just as Christ promised. Rev. 7's picture of the sealing of the righteous and their gathering together unto Christ is a beautiful picture of the fulfillment of the common hope of the first century church body. Maranatha! The Lord comes!
Next installment - The significance of those who were gathered: the 144,000 Jews and the gentiles without number, and their eternal inheritance.
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