God Speaks
Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds from blowing so that not a leaf rustled in the trees, and the ocean became as smooth as glass. 2 And I saw another angel coming from the east, carrying the Great Seal of the Living God. And he shouted out to those four angels who had been given power to injure earth and sea, 3 “Wait! Don’t do anything yet—hurt neither earth nor sea nor trees—until we have placed the Seal of God upon the foreheads of his servants.”
4-8 How many were given this mark? I heard the number—it was 144,000; out of all twelve tribes of Israel, as listed here:
| Judah | 12,000 |
| Reuben | 12,000 |
| Gad | 12,000 |
| Asher | 12,000 |
| Naphtali | 12,000 |
| Manasseh | 12,000 |
| Simeon | 12,000 |
| Levi | 12,000 |
| Issachar | 12,000 |
| Zebulun | 12,000 |
| Joseph | 12,000 |
| Benjamin | 12,000 |
9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from all nations and provinces and languages, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God upon the throne, and from the Lamb.”
11 And now all the angels were crowding around the throne and around the Elders and the four Living Beings, and falling face down before the throne and worshiping God. 12 “Amen!” they said. “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be to our God forever and forever. Amen!”
13 Then one of the twenty-four Elders asked me, “Do you know who these are, who are clothed in white, and where they come from?”
14 “No, sir,” I replied. “Please tell me.”
“These are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation,” he said; “they washed their robes and whitened them by the blood of the Lamb. 15 That is why they are here before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his temple. The one sitting on the throne will shelter them; 16 they will never be hungry again, nor thirsty, and they will be fully protected from the scorching noontime heat. 17 For the Lamb standing in front of the throne will feed them and be their Shepherd and lead them to the springs of the Water of Life. And God will wipe their tears away.”
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: There are two groups of people addressed in this chapter: the 144,000 Jews and the multitude of Gentiles who came to faith in Jesus during the Tribulation. The latter group, as the scriptures say, was so vast they could not be counted. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language group. The Jews were still on the earth which was about to be devastated by God’s judgment. They would be spared (at least to an extent) by receiving God’s special mark, so that they could point people to God during that time of judgment. The vast multitude wearing white robes and waving palm branches were in Heaven standing before the throne of God. There they joined the angels, the four living creators, the martyrs, and the twenty-four elders in ascribing to God and to the Lamb, “Salvation, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, forever and ever. Amen!” They were especially grateful that their clothing had been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, that their extreme hunger had been satisfied by the Bread of Life, that their thirst had been quenched by the Living Water, and that they had protected from the scorching heat of judgment by their Good Shepherd. Their tears had been wiped away, and they were filled with joy.
Prayer: Dear all-surpassingly glorious Father, Son, and Spirit, thank You for these two groups of people. Please protect, provide for, and guide current day missionaries and persecuted believers, the Tribulation saints, and the 144,000. Strengthen their hands to do the work You have called them to do. Regarding the vast multitude before Heaven’s Throne, I can only join the scene of this wondrous Hallelujah chorus. To God and to the Lamb belong all, “Salvation, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, forever and ever. Amen!” I am especially grateful that my clothing has been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, that my hunger has been satisfied by the Bread of Life, that my thirst has been quenched by the Living Water, and that I have been protected from the scorching heat of judgment by my Good Shepherd. When I am in the permanent Heaven with You, my tears will have been wiped away, and I will be filled with limitless joy. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will make arrangements to meet with a Messianic Jewish person to discuss how I could help them take the Gospel to other Jewish people.
- I will discuss this chapter with the person mentioned above to understand what their viewpoint is on the 144,000.
- I will plan to meet with a person from another country, language, or people group to discuss how I could help them take the Gospel to their country, language, or people group.
- I will join in a multiethnic, multicultural, and/or multi-lingual time of worship to praise God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus our Savior and King.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.