Bible Study Resources: Rev. 7-9

Selected commentary on Revelation 7, 8 and 9 adapted from David Guzik at Blue Letter Bible.

Rev. 7

Who are the 144,000? 

Characteristics:  The “children of Israel” (7:4), protected and triumphant through the period of God’s wrath, meeting with Jesus at Mount Zion at His return (14:1), celibate and “the beginning of a greater harvest” (14:4), marked by integrity and faithfulness (14:5).  It is best to see the 144,000 as specifically chosen Jewish believers in Jesus, protectively sealed throughout the tribulation as the beginning of the harvest of the salvation of Israel (Ro. 11:26, Mt. 23:37-39). 

v. 9 – salvation is God’s to give, not ours to earn.  

v. 13 - The presence of so many tribulation saints is a powerful statement of God’s grace and mercy. Even in this time of judgment and wrath on the earth, many are saved.  They are possible martyrs, dressed like the “souls under the altar”, whose number is now complete (6:11)

v. 14 – only the blood of the Lamb could clean their robes - Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

Rev. 8

v. 1 - this silence in heaven demonstrates a sober, awestruck silence at the judgments to come, now that the seals are off and the scroll can be opened.

v. 2 - seven trumpets will sound as God’s battle-alarm during the great tribulation (OT ref.)

v. 3-4 - Prayer and incense are often associated in the Bible. The idea is that just as incense is precious, pleasant, and drifts to heaven, so do our prayers. So here, before anything happens at the opening of the seventh seal, the prayers of God’s people come before the Lord God.

The first 4 trumpets reveal the severity of God’s judgment.  He attacks all the ordinary means of subsistence, such as food and water; and He attacks all the ordinary means of comfort, and knowledge, such as light and the regular rhythm of days.  We know the great humility that comes upon men in the midst of something like an earthquake, because they know that “nature” is not as reliable as they had thought.  The first four trumpets also reveal the mercy of God’s judgment; these are partial judgments striking only one-third, and are meant to warn and lead a rebellious world to repentance before the final curtain. For now, God spares more than He smites.

v. 7 - God may use whatever method He desires to bring judgment, but people on earth know these events are from God, and do not think them to be merely natural disasters (Revelation 16:9; 16:11; 19:19).

v. 8-9 - some literal mass of land, probably a meteor or asteroid, falling into the sea and bringing ecological disaster.

v. 10-11 – possibly a comet or meteor crashing into the earth and bring ecological disaster; Wormwood is a very bitter substance, and proverbial for bitterness and sadness.

v. 12 - This does not describe a one-third lessening of light, but one-third of the day and night are plunged into absolute darkness. As Jesus said: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light (Matthew 24:29).

Rev. 9

v. 1 – the “star” is a person (“he” in v. 2), best seen as an angel; whether he is a good or bad angel depends on his relation to the angel of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9:11. If the angel of Revelation 9:1 one is the same as the angel of Revelation 9:11, it is an evil angel - perhaps Satan himself. If it is a different angel, it may be a good angel sent by God to open up this bottomless pit for the purposes of judgment.

v. 2 – “the Abyss” = bottomless pit = considered the realm of the dead, the same as Hades, a prison for certain demons (Luke 8:31; 2 Peter 2:4, and Jude 1:6).

v. 3 - as part of the judgment of the great tribulation, God will allow demonic hordes, previously imprisoned, to descend upon the earth like a swarm of destructive locusts.  Locusts are agents of God’s judgment in the OT.

v. 4 - Those who have the seal of God on their foreheads (the 144,000 and perhaps more) are protected, but none other are. This is an inescapable judgment of God

v. 5 - Their purpose and period is expressly governed by God, and the purpose of all this to bring repentance

v. 6-10 - All we can know for sure is that in the period immediately before the end the wicked will be subjected to a time of unprecedented demonic torment

v. 11 - Abaddon and Apollyon both have the same thought of destruction or torment; Satan himself or another high-ranking leader of demons.

v. 13 - In the tabernacle and temple of Israel, the golden altar was the altar of incense, which was a representation of the prayers of God’s people.  Atoning blood was applied to the horns. From these horns, John hears a voice. In this, John recalls a persistent theme: the prayers of God’s people play a large role in the end-times drama.  

v. 14 - The Euphrates was a landmark of ancient Babylon. It was the frontier of the Israel’s land as fully promised by God (Genesis 15:17-21). It was also the boundary of the old Roman Empire, which will be revived under the Antichrist.  It was also associated with the first sin (Genesis 2:10-14), the first murder (Genesis 4:16), the first organized revolt against God (Genesis 11:1-9), the first war confederation (Genesis 14:1), and the first dictatorship (Genesis 10:8-10).

v. 16 – the army – possibly human soldiers, but more likely demonic troops, flooding the Earth.  

v. 20 - 21 - we are so quick to forget God’s lessons, even the lessons that come in judgment.

The Book of Life

I am teaching a Bible study on the Book of Revelation right now.  Luckily, I have a little help from Beth Moore.  (Ok, a lot of help.)  Yesterday in our small group we studied the letters to the 7 churches in Rev. 2 and 3.  There was one idea, the Book of Life, that we were unable to get to because of time.  Truth be told, I am glad we didn't get to it; I didn't have any helpful knowledge about it.  But some had questions about it afterward, and it is such an important concept, I went home and researched it.  After looking at some commentaries and bouncing ideas off my go-to Bible scholar, here are my conclusions.

Ch. 3, vs. 5, says "He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.  I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels."

What is the book of life?
It is a real book that will be opened and read on the Day of Judgment (that is, the day God decides who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell).  Rev. 20:12 says, "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books."  Verse 15 says, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."  Having our names in the book of life is our ticket to Heaven.

How do we get our names in the book of life?
Some believe the book of life is a record of all who are born.  Upon death, those who are righteous retain their names in the book of life, but those who are unrighteous are blotted out of the book of life (Ps. 69:28).  Others believe that only believers' names ever get written in the book of life, and God wrote those names there before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:18, 17:8).  Either way, the fact remains that the only way sinful people like us can be declared righteous is through faith in Jesus (Ro. 3:22).  All who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior are deemed righteous in God's eyes and keep/have their names written in the book of life.

Can our names ever be removed from the book of life?
In the ancient world, the concept of "blotting out" someone's name meant to remove a dead or imprisoned person's name from the city's book of the living (think census).  Those who believe the book of life is a record of all who are born think that, just as it was possible to have one's name removed from the city's book of life, an unbeliever's name is removed from Christ's book of life upon death.   Meanwhile, those who believe God wrote only believers' names in the book of life before the foundation of the world necessarily say that no one's name is ever removed from the book of life. 

It is important to note that Rev. 3:5 is NOT necessarily implying that he who does NOT overcome WILL have his name blotted out from the book of life.  We can imply that if we choose, but it is not necessary to assume from this one verse that we can lose our salvation.  In fact, reading such an implication into the text would be irresponsible Bible interpretation.  What the verse is DEFINITELY saying is that those who overcome are GUARANTEED their spot in Heaven.  This verse is meant to provide assurance.  The names of those who overcome will be forever written in Christ's book of life. 

Can we ever lose our salvation?
Because Rev. 3:5 brings this question to mind, let's talk about it.  This article does a fabulous job of presenting clearly many scriptures that support the idea of "once saved, always saved".  There is no point in me reinventing the wheel, so have a look at it :)

What's the bottom line?
 A lot of smart people have differing opinions on how to interpret this verse.  We are wise to consider them all for ourselves.  Whatever conclusion we come to, we are also wise to discuss our opinions humbly and with an open mind, allowing the Lord to change our opinions whenever He wants to.  Also, if you focus your energy on pursuing the Lord and His Word, you won't have to ever worry about losing your salvation :) 

On Love and Fulfillment

I heard something interesting from the honorable Beth Moore today.  She said, "If we don't love God, we'll love anything."

It's probably no surprise to you that I think she's right.  All people are created with a God-shaped hole in their emotional hearts.  God did this on purpose because He desires a relationship with us (and, by the way, a relationship with Him is in our best interest).  He gave us the internal drive to seek Him out by making it painful and unbeneficial for us to do life without Him. 

We may not recognize them as such, but all the pangs of dissatisfaction, loneliness and despair that we experience on a daily basis are symptoms of a God-void.  And because these emotions are painful, we'll do anything to try to eliminate them.  We try to find something to cram into our hearts so we'll feel whole.  Lots of us use food.  I hear some people use exercise.  Others go to extremes with drugs and alcohol.  Whatever can dull the pain, we use it.  Most of us, however, use people.  We demand that our spouses, friends and family fulfill our emotional needs. 

The problem with all of these things, though, is that none of them are God.  Therefore, they aren't able to permanently satisfy; they aren't able to completely satisfy; they aren't able to purely satisfy. 

Only a perfect God can satisfy the longing of a human heart in a broken world for a sustained amount of time.  Cookies get eaten, miles are run, beers are drunk, and people disappoint us.  But an unchanging God can permanently satisfy us if we let Him. 

Those other avenues of fulfillment often have undesirable side effects as well.  When someone looks to food for emotional fulfillment, they often throw nutrition out the window, risking their health in a myriad of ways.  And, if The Biggest Loser has taught me anything, an unhealthy dependency on food also hurts your relationships with other people who love you and have to watch you kill yourself with sugar and fat.  But that's another post.  I've heard about people who become so addicted to working out, trying to find fulfillment in physical achievements and their appearance, that it literally takes over their lives.  Alcohol and drugs, even in moderate amounts, can have both side effects - they ruin your body and your relationships.  When we look to people, many friendships and relationships break under the strain of being expected to do the impossible - completely fulfill. 

God is the only one who is capable of permanently and completely satisfying us.  He is also the only pure way to fill the God-shaped holes in our souls.  If we selfishly try to force anything else in God's spot, not only will we fail, but we will commit idolatry.  Simply put, idolatry is loving anything or anyone more or in the place of God.  When we try to medicate our negative emotions with food, hobbies, or people, we are making them our gods. 

When you find yourself looking for love in all the wrong places, focus on loving the Lord and letting Him love you.  Because "if we don't love God, we'll love anything."