Revelation 7:1-8

Revelation 7 is an interlude before the seventh seal — and ultimately the whole scroll — is opened. Six of the seven seals have been opened, and just before the seventh, God shows John two things he fulfills before his wrath is poured out on the earth.¶

The four winds held back¶

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth... "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."

Revelation 7:1-3 (ESV)¶

Four angels hold back the four winds. These may even be the four horsemen, since verse 2 speaks of those "given power to harm earth and sea" — but it doesn't really matter. The four winds seem to represent the whole earth, every direction. God is making a specific point: to fulfill his promise to his chosen people, the Jews — bringing them back, protecting them, bringing them to life (Jeremiah 31; Jeremiah 32:36-41). He is showing John his plan for restoring and redeeming Israel — not another plan of salvation, but God's way of leading them to Jesus, the true Messiah.¶

The angel calls out not to harm the earth until God's elect are sealed and protected, just as God promised (Micah 2:12; Isaiah 10:22-23). These are Jews who do not yet believe in Jesus as Lord but have been faithful servants to God — partially hardened, as Romans 11 says, but who will soon believe as they see God unveil his wrath and judgment on the earth around them. Part of this promise: "I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me." They are about to see God do to the world what the Hebrews in Egypt watched happen to the Egyptians (Jeremiah 16:21). The reason I believe these Jews are not yet believers is that all believers are already sealed with the guarantee of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:20-22).¶

Not replaced¶

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

Revelation 7:4 (ESV)¶

I brought up at the beginning of Revelation that God has not replaced his chosen people, forgotten them, or abandoned his everlasting covenant. Some in the church hold to "replacement theology" — that the church replaces Israel and the promises made to Israel are fulfilled in the church, spiritualized away. The problem is you have to overlook everything God says directly to the Jews in the Old and New Testaments — and the fact that the Jews are still a people after 2,000 years of attempts to destroy them, and were miraculously restored to a nation after nearly 1,900 years. The New Testament gives no room for replacement theology; Paul speaks directly of God's heart and plan for the Jews in Romans 9-11.¶

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham... God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew... So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

Romans 11:1-5 (ESV)¶

And Jesus speaks of gathering them when he comes again:¶

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened... Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man... And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:29-31 (ESV)¶

Immediately after the tribulation, a trumpet announces the gathering of the elect — those sealed by God's seal. (A small note: this word "elect" is consistently a reference to Jewish believers — those who by faith believe in God; recognizing this makes the end-times passages make much more sense.) The first time Jesus came, his brothers the Jews rejected him; the second time, they will receive him. God is faithful to fulfill every promise. And let us not forget that it is because of the Jews that we Gentiles can know God and his Son — it is from them that our Savior came, and through their stumbling that salvation came to us, which will in turn drive them to jealousy and eventually to Jesus. I pray all their eyes would be opened to who Jesus is, and that they will be saved.¶