Between the 6th and 7th seals there’s a pause where two important events take place, one on Earth and the other in Heaven. Both involve the disposition of a group of God’s people, but neither one is the Church. It won’t be mentioned again until the end of chapter 17.

144,000 Sealed
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000. (Rev. 7:1-8)

The multiple use of the number four here emphasizes that the Creation is in focus, because by the end of the Fourth Day of Creation light had been distinguished from darkness, the atmosphere had been formed, the land had been separated from the water, vegetation had begun to grow and with the addition of the sun, moon, and stars, day had been divided from night.  By the end of Day Four the Creation was complete and ready to support life, and so the number four is thought of as the number of Creation.

But the next cycle of judgments will be delayed until one other event takes place. This is the commissioning of the 144,000 Jewish believers who many believe will be the Lord’s primary evangelists during the remainder of Daniel’s 70th week. They carry the seal of God on their foreheads which makes them the only ones on Earth to be protected from the coming judgments.  In Ezekiel 9:4we read of a similar case where before the City of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, angels went through out, searching out and sealing the faithful to protect them from the destruction. Here the Lord again delays the coming judgments until His faithful can be sealed, but this time it’s just a select few that He’s chosen for His specific purpose.  Everyone else on Earth will be at risk, whether believers or not.

After Jacob adopted Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:5), there were fourteen names to choose from in naming the tribes of Israel. But the Bible never lists more than 12 at a time, so sometimes the mix is different. The Levites received no land and never went to war, so they’re often omitted. Joseph was also left out when Ephraim and Manasseh were included, since each of them received half of his tribal allotment as an inheritance. But the listing in Rev. 7 is unique in that Levi and Joseph are included while Dan and Ephraim are not.

Most scholars believe that Dan was omitted because it was through the tribe of Dan that idolatry was introduced into the land after Solomon died (1 Kings 12:28-30).  Jacob had prophesied in Genesis 49:17 that Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward hinting that Dan would be responsible for Israel’s fall back into idolatry. There’s a tradition that Dan was a ringleader in the kidnapping and sale of Joseph into slavery, and another one that the anti-Christ will come from the tribe of Dan, but neither one of these can be confirmed Biblically. For these or other reasons, no one from the tribe of Dan will receive God’s protective seal. But God is merciful, and the faithful from the tribe of Dan will survive.  We know this because at the beginning of the Kingdom Age when the land is redistributed, Dan’s descendants will receive the first share. (Ezekiel 48:1)

Although Ephraim is not mentioned by name, his people are included since they make up the group called Joseph here. Remember, the tribe of Joseph was divided between Ephraim and Manasseh. Including Joseph and Manasseh in the list means the people from both halves of Joseph’s tribe are sealed without mentioning Ephraim’s name. 1 Kings 12:28-30 also tells us that a golden calf was set up in Bethel, in the land of Ephraim, in addition to the one in Dan. The Lord hates idolatry.

Efforts to spiritualize this passage into a group symbolic of all believers are a woefully inadequate attempt by replacement theology advocates to deprive Israel of its End Times role in God’s redemptive plan. The passage is simply too clear to justify any interpretation other than a literal one.

And those who say the list can’t be accurate because 10 tribes disappeared in 721 BC when the Northern Kingdom was scattered would do well to read 2 Chronicles 11:16. Those from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their fathers.  Josephus reported that this migration caused a substantial increase in Jerusalem’s population. God has always maintained a faithful remnant of His people.

Now we’ll identify the other group, the one in Heaven.

The Great Multitude in White Robes
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:9-17)

There are differing opinions as to who this multitude is. By their white robes and their declaration as to the Author of their salvation, everyone agrees that they’re believers from Earth.

But the facts that 1) John, the disciple most closely associated with the Church, didn’t recognize them, 2) their arrival in Heaven follows the Rapture by three chapters, and 3) their destiny is that of servants in the Temple and not co-regents of the Universe, mean they are post rapture believers and not part of the Church. They’ve been victims of the destruction on Earth during the Seal judgments and have paid the ultimate price for their new-found faith.

They’re called Tribulation martyrs or Tribulation saints, but technically that’s not accurate either, because the Great Tribulation hasn’t begun yet. We’re still in the first half of the 70th week.

How do we know that? The Greek word translated “out of” in the phrase “these are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation” is the same word that’s translated “from” in Rev 3:10 where the Lord promised the Church deliverance from the end times judgments. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.  According to The Strong’s Concordance it’s a primary preposition denoting origin. It means “from, or out of, the place, time, or cause” of a specified event.

So, like the Church, these saints have been removed from the place, the time, and the cause of the Great Tribulation. They didn’t come to faith in time for the Rapture so they won’t share in the Church’s unique destiny and blessing. But most likely they’ll finally be persuaded to believe by the Church’s disappearance.  They will be martyred early in the 70th week, and so will escape the worst of the end times judgments.  Later on the living will envy the dead so much that they’ll long for death, but death will elude them. (Rev. 9:6)

These saints will live a privileged existence in eternity, always in the presence of the Lord. They’ll serve Him day and night in His Temple and will never want for anything. The Lord will spread His tent over them, meaning that He’ll be personally responsible for their welfare. They’ll neither hunger nor thirst, and the Lord will remove every regret from their minds, wiping every tear from their eyes.

But although they serve the Lord in His temple, they’re never called priests, as the Church is.  Neither will they ever sit on a throne at the side of their Beloved as examples of the incomparable riches of God’s grace, expressed in His kindness to the Church, His work of art (Ephes. 2:6-10). They’ll never share in His inheritance or be counted among the most favored group in all of Creation. When push came to shove they needed one final unmistakable sign that it was right to believe. Lacking the faith to accept what they could not see, they required evidence. That evidence came to them in the form of the Rapture of the Church, when those who believed by faith alone disappeared before their very eyes. Too late to be included in that incredible event, they will finally believe because of it.

As the Lord said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

With the coming seventh seal, the Trumpet judgments are introduced. This second cycle of judgments will complete the first half of Daniel’s 70th week and set the stage for the introduction of the anti-Christ and the Great Tribulation.

Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” and I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. (Rev 6:1-2)

The first of the seven seals will be broken early in the 70th week of Daniel, soon after the church has disappeared. Liberal scholars often identify the rider of the white horse as the Lord Jesus, pointing to his crown and the fact that he’s a conqueror. I think some part of their conclusion comes from watching all those TV westerns as kids, where the good guys always rode white horses.  I say that because this rider is most definitely not Jesus. He’s the anti-Christ.

What Makes You Think So?
In the first place he carries a bow. The Lord’s weapon of choice is a sword. The reason he has no arrows is that he won’t use force to make his initial impact on Earth. He comes as a peacemaker (Daniel 8:25). Since the Book of Revelation is filled with symbolism explained elsewhere in the Bible, I looked for a reference to a man with a bow, hoping to get an additional clue to this rider’s identity. I found it in Genesis 21:20, referring to Ishmael as an archer.  It’s the Bible’s first mention of a man with a bow. Earlier God said Ishmael would be a wild donkey of a man with his hand against everyone (Genesis 16:12).

As details of Islamic eschatology become more widely known, prophecy students are discovering a striking similarity between descriptions of al Mahdi, a Messianic figure from the Shiite tradition, and a figure Christians call the anti-Christ. (Please note that I’m not saying al Mahdi is the Moslem anti-Christ, called the Dajjal, but that he resembles the Christian anti-Christ.) Both come on the scene during a time of great turmoil on Earth, both come claiming a desire to restore peace, both have a seven year reign, both head a one world religion and one world government, both claim supernatural origins, and both reigns end in a battle between good and evil that brings about Earth’s final judgment.

The number of similarities between the two defies coincidence and continues to grow as knowledge of al Mahdi increases. Now with the connection between the Bible’s first archer and the man with a bow in Rev. 6, another piece of the puzzle may have fallen into place. Mohammed was descended from Kedar, second son of Ishmael, and Al Mahdi is the 12th Iman, descended from Mohammed. So he’s another son of Ishmael.

After the true Church is gone, those who also call themselves the church, but have been left behind, won’t have much trouble at all accepting Islam. They are already convinced that Islam is a religion of peace, and that Allah is another name for the God of the Bible.  And like Paul said, the anti-Christ’s display of “miraculous power” will be all it takes to deceive the whole world. Having refused to believe the truth they’ll be fair game for the lie (2 Thes.2:9-10).

Got Anything Else?
In the second place this guy’s wearing the wrong kind of crown. The Greek word for a king’s crown is diadem. But the rider on the white horse wears a stephanos, or victor’s crown. It was the award given to winners in the ancient Olympics and other public games. It was typically an ivy wreath, and in fact the word stephanos comes from a root meaning wreath. It identifies the wearer as a conqueror, but not as royalty. And in Revelation 13 where the Great Tribulation begins, we’re told that He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.

And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. (Rev. 13:7)

Why would Jesus make war with the tribulation saints to conquer them? Like I said, while he fools people into thinking he’s the Christ, he’s really the anti-Christ.

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. (Rev. 6:3-4)

This is the point at which the anti-Christ turns to war to establish his authority over human governments and move the world toward his religion. The Moslem prophecies say this will be Islam, of course, and the Koran teaches conversion or death as the only alternatives available to “non-believers”.  Current studies speculate that Europe, far into its post Christian era, may already be on the verge of yielding to the growing Moslem influence, but other parts of the world will resist, causing much bloodshed.

If You Think This Is Bad …
Historically, the great sword held by the rider on the red horse was a long two-handed weapon wielded by mighty warriors who received double the average soldier’s wage. With overwhelming strength they hacked their way through enemy lines, leaving a gaping hole for the regular troops who followed. In just this way the anti-Christ will use supernatural power to tighten his grip on the world, enforcing his will upon the people of Earth. And remember, the Seal judgments are just the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week. The last half, called the Great Tribulation, is still to come and will be significantly more deadly.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” (Rev 6:5-6)

Two things result when the world is plunged into uncertainty and wars erupt. First comes inflation, causing the prices of everything to skyrocket. When John wrote this, a denarius was the average pay for a day’s work, and that’s what it will cost to buy enough food for one day. Think of it. For many, a whole days wages will barely buy their food for that day. The next day it starts all over again. No money left for anything else.

Of course, the wealthy always benefit from inflation. When they see it coming, they’re able to convert their wealth into things that are either inflation proof, or actually increase in value during periods of inflation. The earliest example of this is comes from the Book of Genesis, when Joseph, who gained control of the world’s wheat supply on Pharaoh’s behalf, eventually acquired the entire wealth of Egypt in exchange for it. That’s what John meant by not harming the oil and wine, commodities that in his day were symbols of wealth. The vision he saw was famine amidst plenty. Both the Book of Daniel and the Moslem prophecies speak of the anti-Christ/al Mahdi showering lavish gifts on his followers while forcing his enemies into submission. (Daniel 11:39)

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Rev. 6:7-8)

The second result of war is famine and pestilence. Crops and food processing facilities are destroyed. Transportation networks are disrupted. Dead bodies are left where they fall and public health systems break down. Mass starvation and rampant disease often claim more victims than the battles that caused them. Animals become desperate for food and attack humans.

Some think the phrase “a fourth of the Earth” relates to geography and some think it describes the number of people involved. Either way, many will suffer and die during this time, while those not in the direct path of war will enjoy a false sense of peace and prosperity.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Rev. 6:9-11)

Just as the church has a fixed number to achieve before its time on Earth is fulfilled (Romans 11:25) so it is for believers who’re martyred for their faith following the Church’s disappearance. I believe these are the first post-rapture believers, martyred for their faith in the anti-Christ’s quest for world dominance.  Another large group will arrive in heaven soon after (Rev. 7:9) and through out the coming Great Tribulation untold numbers will be executed for the crime of believing in Jesus.  They’ll all receive resurrection bodies at the time of the Second Coming (Rev. 20:4).

An Eye For An Eye
In Hebrew the word translated “kinsman redeemer” also means “avenger of blood.” The same next of kin who was responsible for buying a relative out of debt related servitude or redeeming his lost property, was also responsible for avenging physical attacks against a relative that resulted in death (Numbers 35:18-19). The tribulation martyrs are calling for enforcement of this law.

Our Lord Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer, come to pay our debts and buy back that which our father Adam lost. But He’s also our Avenger of Blood, responsible for bringing to justice the one who maliciously murdered our first parents and therefore all of us. Everyone who sides with Satan, called those who dwell on the Earth in Revelation, will share his punishment, just as we who side with the Lord, called those who dwell in heaven, will share His inheritance.

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (Rev. 6:12-14)

Some say this verse points to Matt. 24:29 and say it proves the seal judgments are an overview of the entire 70th Week.  But that can’t be true.  Although there are similarities between the two verses, they can’t be the same.  In Rev. 6:17  below the Kings of the Earth say the time of wrath has begun, but Matt. 24:29-31 describes the time just after the Great Tribulation ends.  Also Rev. 6:12-14says the sun turns black and the moon blood red whereas in Matt. 24:29 the Sun and Moon both go dark, meaning they give no light.

A careful reading of this verse shows that the darkening of the Sun and the Moon turning to blood can’t be caused by an eclipse either.  A Solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth.  This causes the Sun’s light to go dim since a portion of it is blocked by the Moon.  But the moon, being much smaller cannot make the entire Sun turn black as this verse requires.

A Lunar eclipse happens when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon.  Here the intensity of the Sun’s light is not altered, but being in the shadow of Earth the Moon can turn a dark red, depending on the density of particulates in the Earth’s atmosphere.   As you can see, either one of these conditions can be caused by an eclipse of some sort, but no eclipse can cause both the Sun and Moon to be affected because it would require the Moon to be on both sides of the Earth at once.

A more likely cause would be a vast amount of particulates thrown into the atmosphere be the eruption of volcanoes or by massive fires on Earth caused by warfare.

Recently the magnetic North pole has begun drifting across Canada and is headed for Siberia. Also, the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field has weakened noticeably, being about 10% weaker now than when scientists began measuring it in 1845. Based on these findings, some scientists are now convinced that a reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles is underway. They’re predicting that in 2012-2013 this reversal will be completed with the North pole having the polarity of the South pole and vice versa.

The Sun will also experience a polar reversal. The Sun’s magnetic poles reverse every eleven years, but in the memory of man, the Earth has never experienced a magnetic polar reversal. This double shift could produce even greater occurrences of massive quakes and volcanic eruptions of an unknown magnitude.

The Earth’s magnetic field helps protect us against harmful rays from the sun, and a polar reversal could cause this field to temporarily collapse just like the water vapor canopy around the earth collapsed at the time of the Great Flood. That event brought violent weather and drastically shortened life spans.

The effects of a magnetic field collapse would be even more severe. According to some projections, the electromagnetic energy released from the sun during a polar reversal could cause Earth’s upper atmosphere to “erupt in flames” if our magnetic field isn’t there to deflect it. Was John referring to this in saying the sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up? No one knows. We can only imagine what a sudden reversal of magnetic poles would do to life on Earth. Predictions range all the way from a temporary increase in the frequency and severity of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes to a worldwide disaster of “Biblical proportions.”  The convergence of other prophetic timelines leads me to believe that the 6th Seal Judgment might very well be John’s description of this coming dual Magnetic Polar Reversal.

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:15-17)

It’s no surprise that verse 15 is reminiscent of Joshua 10:16. Of the 404 verses in Revelation, 280 are taken from the Old Testament. As they hide, the kings of the Earth unknowingly utter a prophecy we should all read carefully. “The great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” This passage has always been associated with the beginning of God’s wrath. The view that His wrath begins with the bowl judgments of Revelation 16 is a newcomer to studies of prophecy, and is incorrect.

Next time we’ll see the first group of 144,000 (there are two and they’re not the same) the arrival of an enormous group of Tribulation martyrs in Heaven, the completion of the Seal Judgments, and the beginning of round two, the Trumpet Judgments.