Revelation 7:1-8 – Becoming a Marked Man

First, we need to remember where this passage is in the broader scheme of Revelation. Back in Chapter 5, Christ (the Lamb) received the scroll of God’s will, or plan for history. Only he was able to open it and enact it. The scroll had seven seals: each seal had to be broken before the scroll could be opened. The first four seals revealed the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who make us aware of the suffering and evil of the world: how it affects us, and how we may participate in it. The fifth seal revealed the desire for retribution by the people who had suffered so much for the faith, and God gave them the assurance that he would vindicate their faith in him to settle matters. The sixth seal is a sort of down-payment of how God will do that, as creation convulsed before the Lord and the inhabitants of the earth cringed in terror. So now we’re all set: the seventh seal is ready to be broken, and God’s will is going to be revealed.

But before the last seal is opened, there’s an interlude. By the way, there are three sets of “seven” in Revelation like this: the seals, the trumpets of Chapters 8-11, and the bowls of Chapter 16. There’s a similar interlude before the seventh trumpet is blown. Both of these interludes are a pause to reveal how God is caring for his people in the midst of the unfolding of his plan.

Because of his love for us, God brings everything to a halt to ensure that his people are cared for. Think of how a department store will shut down if there’s a lost child: everything stops so that they can make sure that that the child is OK. Bargain-hunting and commission-earning doesn’t matter as much as that child. In the same way, God shows that care for his people is what matters most. He even assigns angels to stop the wind from blowing (Four winds = the four corners of the earth. This is something that affects the entire world.)

Apparently there are four other angels at work as well: God’s agents to bring punishment and destruction upon an evil and rebellious world. But before they can start their work, yet another angel appears. This final angel commands the angels of destruction to stand down until he has seal the people of God. Later, in Chapter 9:4, we’ll see that this mark or seal is a sign of protection, so that God’s people don’t have to endure the terrors that will come.

Something rather odd has happened when it comes to the popular understanding of Revelation. Even non-Christians have heard of the “mark of the Beast,” which we’ll come to in Chapter 13. A Satanic or demonic being will force people to receive his mark upon their hand or forehead. Those who refuse to receive the mark will be excluded from the economic life of society. This “mark of the Beast” has led to all sorts of speculation and concern about everything from ID badges to UPC codes. Anything that is a “mark” is suspect, because it may be the mark of the Beast. Never mind if the moral or ethical aspects of the “mark” are positive or neutral. Any “marking” is bad.

What’s really crazy is that the “mark of the Beast” is a sad imitation and perversion of the seal that God places upon his people. God’s “mark” is what saves people from destruction and opens the glories of his grace for them. That’s powerful and significant. The best that the Beast/Satan can do is keep you from going shopping.

Revelation frequently uses images and descriptions of things that are more fully explained elsewhere in Scripture. The seal of God is one of those things. There’s lots of powerful examples of God’s mark or seal which provides protection and blessing for the people who belong to God. Some of them are a bit obscure, such as Ezekiel 9 (which is actually a pretty close parallel to this passage), when God is preparing to bring destruction upon Jerusalem for all of the “detestable” things going on in the city. But before he sent in the men with deadly weapons to make the blood flow, he sent a clerk ahead of them to put a mark on the forehead of everyone who “grieves and laments” over the injustice and unfaithfulness around them. Others are a bit better known. In Deuteronomy 6, God commands the Israelites to remember who he is, and what his commands are. He told them to put them as symbols on their foreheads and hands, and on the doorposts of their houses. Did he mean this literally, or was this hyperbole to express that God and his commands should be prominent in our lives? Some Jews have taken it seriously; they wear little boxes called phylacteries on their foreheads and hands, and they put other little boxes called mezuzahs in their doorways. God’s word, and God’s identity, is our mark or seal.

There are at least two other much better known examples of God’s seal upon his people. The first comes from the Passover, the defining historical event for the Jewish faith. In order to convince the Egyptians finally to free the Israelites from their slavery, God sent an angel of death over the land to kill the firstborn child of every family. But to make sure that the Israelites were spared from this calamity, he instructed them to kill a lamb and paint their doorways with its blood. Then, as the angel of death went about his terrible destruction, he would see these marks and “pass over” the houses that had them. Once again, God’s mark protects his people from destruction and opens a wonderful future for them (escape from slavery and a journey to the Promised Land). The similarities between the Passover event and our understanding of Christ’s atoning death are powerful. Christ, our sacrificial lamb, has marked us with the blood that he shed on the cross, so that we may be spared from God’s wrath against a sinful world and so that we may escape from our slavery to sin and begin our journey to the Promised Land of the kingdom of God.

The second example of receiving God’s seal is an important aspect of our Christian faith which is expressing the sacrament of baptism. While there are variations in how it is administered and who is eligible to receive it, baptism is a universal ceremony among all Christians to mark an individual’s entrance into the church and into the life of faith. Baptism means a number of things. When I counsel an individual (or parents, if it’s a baby that’s being baptized), I point out four meanings of baptism. The central meaning is that our sins are washed away. Following closely with that is our acceptance into God’s family, and our receiving the new life of Christ. The fourth meaning that I point out is that when we are baptized, we receive the Holy Spirit. Receiving the Spirit means a number of things: an intimate and constant connection with God, power to do what we could never do on our own strength, comfort in troubled times, and guidance for our life. But the reception of the Holy Spirit also means that we have been marked as belonging to Christ. It’s like the name tags you put on your luggage when you travel, or on your valuables to make sure they’re not stolen. It’s like writing your name inside the front cover of a book you own, or putting your name on your underwear before you go to camp. In all these situations, the mark means “Property of Peter de Vries” (or whoever). In baptism, we receive the Spirit, the seal of God that marks us as being the property of Jesus Christ. We belong to him.

Here’s another example: I have a student ID card for Pitt. I am “marked” as a Pitt student. Having this “mark” provides me with all sorts of opportunities. I can check out books from the library, get free or reduced-price software, use the gym, and even ride a city bus for free. In the case of my student ID, my tuition and student fees pay for all these benefits. In the case of baptism, it’s been paid for by Jesus Christ. And one more example: when I travel internationally, I have a US passport. It is a “mark” that says I am a citizen of the US. With that passport, I receive the protections and privileges that my citizenship provides.

So, who gets this mark or seal of God? John heard that 144,000 people get the seal. That’s not very many. There are probably that many Christians in Butler County alone. The Jehovah’s Witnesses take this number literally and call these 144,000 the “little flock” of ultra-special people of God. The bad news is that all 144,000 spots have already been taken. So the best that all the other Jehovah Witnesses can hope for is to be part of the “big flock” that is still pretty good, but not as great. Not only is this the wrong way to understand the number, but it turns its real meaning upside down. In Revelation, numbers are usually symbolic: 4 = all of creation, 7 = divinity, and so on. Twelve is the number of God’s people: the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles. And 1,000 is, well, a really big number. So 144,000 = 12 X 12 X 1,000. The total people of God, squared to emphasize that it includes all of them. Then multiplied by 1,000 to show that it’s really big number. If you feel that being a Christian means that you’re an obscure minority in a chaotic and troubled world, 144,000 tells us that there’s lots of us out there. Think of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, thinking he was the only one still faithful to the Lord. God told him that there were still thousands of other believers out there.

John reports a tally of the people of God who are sealed: 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. At first glance, this seems like a bit of symbolic overkill. OK, 12 = the people of God, because of the 12 tribes of Israel. We get it, John. You don’t have to spell it out for us. But there’s actually more than that going on here. The twelve tribes that John lists includes what are known as the “ten lost tribes of Israel.” To understand this, we need to review some Old Testament history. After the days of David and Solomon, the nation of Israel split in two: the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south, which came to be called Judah, and the other ten tribes in the north, continued to be called Israel. The northern kingdom fell into idolatry, injustice, and immorality. Because of their disobedience, God sicked the Assyrian Empire on them. The ten tribes of Israel were dispersed and forgotten or “lost” because of their faithlessness. And yet, in God’s grace and mercy, even the faithless who had been forgotten and lost are brought back into his kingdom. So, if you’re ever wondering about whether or not you’re marked with God’s seal, hold onto that promise. It comes to us through the saving work of Christ, not our own efforts or goodness. And it’s something that is always available to you, even if you’ve abandoned God and feel as though he’s rejected you.