Today’s passage: Revelation 7
Helpful thoughts:
- The question at the end of chapter 6 is answered in chapter 7. Who can stand against the wrath of God? Those whom He has redeemed, washed, and sealed (“marked” as belonging to the Lord).
- The Holy Spirit serves as our seal! (Ephesians 1:13-14)
- It is debated exactly how symbolic the listing of the tribes of Israel in verses 4-8 is. The numbering of 12,000 per tribe could be symbolic of a massive number or a number of completion. The number of people could literally be an ingathering of ethnic Jews, or it could be symbolic of the ingathering of the Gentiles into the people of God. Here are some observations we can make:
- The tribes are listed in a unique fashion!
- Judah (The tribe of Christ) is listed first, Reuben (the firstborn) is second.
- The tribes of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali (all sons of Jacob’s concubines) are elevated above other sons of Leah and Rachel.
- Levi had not been given an inheritance of land, but he is included in the list.
- Dan had been given an inheritance of land, but his tribe is not listed (Judges 18).
- Manasseh is listed, Ephraim is not (but Joseph is, perhaps in the place of Ephraim).
- The tribes are listed in a unique fashion!
- Regardless of how symbolic verses 4-8 are, there will be a gathering of people from every tribe, tongue and nation (including ethnic Israel) who call on the name of the Lord and are saved!
- Eternity for all those who are in Christ is depicted in verses 15-18.
Questions to consider:
- If the “four winds of the earth” are depicting the devastation of God’s wrath against the earth, what can we learn from the fact that those four winds were to be stopped when it came to those who would be redeemed? What are God’s people saved from, both now and forever?
- In what way would it make sense to believe this listing of the tribes of Israel refers to ethnic Israel? In what way could it make sense to believe this listing refers to all the people of God? How might passages like Romans 11:11-27 and Galatians 6:11-16 help us to think through these possibilities?
- In the end, is this debate worth breaking fellowship over? How could either interpretation yield the same results through the redemptive plan of God (especially since those in verses 9-17 are from every people group)?