1Potom jsem viděl čtyři anděly1, jak stojí na čtyřech rozích země a drží pevně čtyři zemské větry2, aby nevál žádný vítr na zem ani na moře ani na žádný strom3. (1Mt 25:31 2Jr 25:32 3Ž 37:35) 2A viděl jsem jiného anděla, jak vystupuje od východu slunce1 a má pečeť živého Boha;2 a volal silným hlasem na ty čtyři anděly, jimž bylo dáno, aby škodili zemi a moři, (1Zj 16:12 2J 6:27) 3a říkal: Neškoďte zemi ani moři ani stromům, dokud nezapečetíme1 otroky našeho Boha na jejich čelech.2 (12K 1:22 Ef 1:13 Ef 4:30 2Mt 24:31 Zj 9:4) 4A slyšel jsem počet těch, kteří byli zapečetěni, sto čtyřicet čtyři tisíce1 zapečetěných z každého kmene2 izraelských synů3: (1Zj 14:1 Zj 14:3 2Jk 1:1 Zj 21:12 3Ř 2:29 Ř 9:6 Ga 6:16) 5Z kmene Judy1 dvanáct tisíc zapečetěných; z kmene Rubena2 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Gada3 dvanáct tisíc; (1Gn 49:10 1Pa 5:2 2Gn 49:3 3Gn 49:19) 6z kmene Ašera1 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Naftaliho2 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Manaseho3 dvanáct tisíc; (1Gn 49:20 2Gn 49:21 3Gn 41:51 Ez 48:4) 7z kmene Simeona1 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Leviho2 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Isachara3 dvanáct tisíc; (1Gn 49:5 2Nu 3:6 3Gn 49:14) 8z kmene Zebulona1 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Josefa2 dvanáct tisíc; z kmene Benjamina3 dvanáct tisíc zapečetěných.4 (1Gn 49:13 21Pa 5:2 3Gn 49:27 4Zj 7:3) 9Potom jsem viděl, a pohleďme, velký zástup1, který žádný člověk nemohl sečíst, ze všech národů2 a kmenů a lidí3 a jazyků4, jak stojí před trůnem5 a před Beránkem, oblečený v bílá roucha;6 a v jejich rukou byly palmové ratolesti7. (1Mt 25:34 J 10:16 Zj 22:17 2Gn 22:18 Iz 2:2 Iz 60:3 Zj 15:4 3Ž 117:1 4Iz 66:18 5Ž 11:4 6Zj 7:14 7Lv 23:40 J 12:13) 10A neustále volají silným hlasem a říkají: Za záchranu vděčíme svému Bohu,1 který sedí na trůnu,2 a Beránkovi.3 (1Ž 3:8 L 1:69 Tit 2:10 Ju 1:25 2Zj 4:2 3Sk 4:12 Zj 5:6) 11A všichni andělé1 stáli kolem trůnu a starších2 a čtyř živých tvorů3 a padli na tvář před trůnem a uctívali Boha4 (1Mt 25:31 Žd 12:22 2Zj 11:16 3Zj 14:3 4Ž 95:6) 12a řekli: Amen! Požehnání a sláva a moudrost a díkůvzdání a čest a moc1 a síla buď našemu Bohu po celou věčnost. Amen.2 (1Zj 4:11 2Žd 13:21 1P 4:11 1P 5:11) 13A jeden ze starších1 mi odpověděl a řekl: Kdo jsou ti, kteří jsou oblečeni v bílá roucha,2 a odkud přišli? (1Zj 4:4 2Zj 7:9) 14Ihned jsem mu tedy řekl: Můj pane, ty to víš. A řekl mi: To jsou ti, kteří vycházejí z velkého soužení1 a vyprali svá roucha a vybílili je v Beránkově krvi2.3 (1Mt 24:21 Mk 13:19 2Žd 9:14 Žd 9:22 1J 1:7 Zj 1:5 3Iz 1:18 J 1:29) 15Proto jsou před1 Božím trůnem; a prokazují mu dnem i nocí posvátnou službu v jeho chrámu;2 a Ten, který sedí na trůnu,3 rozprostře nad nimi svůj stan4. (1Ž 11:4 2Mt 4:10 L 2:37 3Zj 4:2 4Ž 15:1 Zj 21:3) 16Nebudou již hladovět ani žíznit a nebude na ně bít slunce ani žádný sežehující žár,1 (1Ž 121:6 Iz 49:10) 17protože Beránek1, který je uprostřed trůnu, je bude pást2 a povede je k pramenům vod3 života. A Bůh setře každou slzu z jejich očí.4 (1Zj 5:6 2Mt 25:32 J 10:11 3Zj 22:1 4Iz 25:8 Zj 21:4)
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 SEALING OF THE ELECT OF ISRAEL. THE COUNTLESS MULTITUDE OF THE GENTILE ELECT. (Rev. 7:1-17)
And--so B and Syriac. But A, C, Vulgate, and Coptic omit "and."
after these things--A, B, C, and Coptic read, "after this." The two visions in this chapter come in as an episode after the sixth seal, and before the seventh seal. It is clear that, though "Israel" may elsewhere designate the spiritual Israel, "the elect (Church) on earth" [ALFORD], here, where the names of the tribes one by one are specified, these names cannot have any but the literal meaning. The second advent will be the time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, when the times of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, and the Jews shall at last say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." The period of the Lord's absence has been a blank in the history of the Jews as a nation. As then Revelation is the Book of the Second Advent [DE BURGH], naturally mention of God's restored favor to Israel occurs among the events that usher in Christ's advent.
earth . . . sea . . . tree--The judgments to descend on these are in answer to the martyrs' prayer under the fifth seal. Compare the same judgments under the fifth trumpet, the sealed being exempt (
Rev 9:4).
on any tree--Greek, "against any tree" (Greek, "epi ti dendron": but "on the earth," Greek, "epi tees gees").
2 from the east--Greek, "the rising of the sun." The quarter from which God's glory oftenest manifests itself.
3 Hurt not--by letting loose the destructive winds.
till we have sealed the servants of our God--parallel to
Matt 24:31, "His angels . . . shall gather together His elect from the four winds." God's love is such, that He cannot do anything in the way of judgment, till His people are secured from hurt (
Gen 19:22). Israel, at the eve of the Lord's coming, shall be found re-embodied as a nation; for its tribes are distinctly specified (Joseph, however, being substituted for Dan; whether because Antichrist is to come from Dan, or because Dan is to be Antichrist's especial tool [ARETAS, tenth century], compare
Gen 49:17;
Jer 8:16;
Amos 8:14; just as there was a Judas among the Twelve). Out of these tribes a believing remnant will be preserved from the judgments which shall destroy all the Antichristian confederacy (
Rev 6:12-
Rev 6:17), and shall be transfigured with the elect Church of all nations, namely, 144,000 (or whatever number is meant by this symbolical number), who shall faithfully resist the seductions of Antichrist, while the rest of the nation, restored to Palestine in unbelief, are his dupes, and at last his victims. Previously to the Lord's judgments on Antichrist and his hosts, these latter shall destroy two-thirds of the nation, one-third escaping, and, by the Spirit's operation through affliction, turning to the Lord, which remnant shall form the nucleus on earth of the Israelite nation that is from this time to stand at the head of the millennial nations of the world. Israel's spiritual resurrection shall be "as life from the dead" to all the nations. As now a regeneration goes on here and there of individuals, so there shall then be a regeneration of nations universally, and this in connection with Christ's coming.
Matt 24:34; "this generation (the Jewish nation) shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled," which implies that Israel can no more pass away before Christ's advent, than Christ's own words can pass away (the same Greek),
Matt 24:35. So exactly
Zech 13:8-
Zech 13:9;
Zech 14:2-
Zech 14:4,
Zech 14:9-
Zech 14:21; compare
Zech 12:2-
Zech 12:14;
Zech 13:1-
Zech 13:2. So also
Ezek 8:17-
Ezek 8:18;
Ezek 9:1-
Ezek 9:7, especially
Ezek 9:4. Compare also
Ezek 10:2 with
Rev 8:5, where the final judgments actually fall on the earth, with the same accompaniment, the fire of the altar cast into the earth, including the fire scattered over the city. So again,
Rev 14:1, the same 144,000 appear on Zion with the Father's name in their forehead, at the close of the section, the twelfth through fourteenth chapters, concerning the Church and her foes. Not that the saints are exempt from trial:
Rev 7:14 proves the contrary; but their trials are distinct from the destroying judgments that fall on the world; from these they are exempted, as Israel was from the plagues of Egypt, especially from the last, the Israelite doors having the protecting seal of the blood-mark.
foreheads--the most conspicuous and noblest part of man's body; on which the helmet, "the hope of salvation," is worn.
4 Twelve is the number of the tribes, and appropriate to the Church: three by four: three, the divine number, multiplied by four, the number for world-wide extension. Twelve by twelve implies fixity and completeness, which is taken a thousandfold in 144,000. A thousand implies the world perfectly pervaded by the divine; for it is ten, the world number, raised to the power of three, the number of God.
of all the tribes--literally, "out of every tribe"; not 144,000 of each tribe, but the aggregate of the twelve thousand from every tribe.
children--Greek, "sons of Israel."
Rev 3:12;
Rev 21:12, are no objection, as ALFORD thinks, to the literal Israel being meant; for, in consummated glory, still the Church will be that "built on the foundation of the (Twelve) apostles (Israelites), Jesus Christ (an Israelite) being the chief corner-stone." Gentile believers shall have the name of Jerusalem written on them, in that they shall share the citizenship antitypical to that of the literal Jerusalem.
5 Judah (meaning praise) stands first, as Jesus' tribe. Benjamin, the youngest, is last; and with him is associated second last, Joseph. Reuben, as originally first-born, comes next after Judah, to whom it gave place, having by sin lost its primogeniture right. Besides the reason given above (see on
Rev 7:2), another akin for the omission of Dan, is, its having been the first to lapse into idolatry (Jdg. 18:1-31); for which same reason the name Ephraim, also (compare
Judg 17:1-
Judg 17:3;
Hos 4:17), is omitted, and Joseph substituted. Also, it had been now for long almost extinct. Long before, the Hebrews say [GROTIUS], it was reduced to the one family of Hussim, which perished subsequently in the wars before Ezra's time. Hence it is omitted in the fourth through eighth chapters of First Chronicles. Dan's small numbers are joined here to Naphtali's, whose brother he was by the same mother [BENGEL]. The twelve times twelve thousand sealed ones of Israel are the nucleus of transfigured humanity [AUBERLEN], to which the elect Gentiles are joined, "a multitude which no man could number,"
Rev 7:9 (that is, the Church of Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately, in which the Gentiles are the predominant element,
Luke 21:24. The word "tribes," Greek, implies that believing Israelites are in this countless multitude). Both are in heaven, yet ruling over the earth, as ministers of blessing to its inhabitants: while upon earth the world of nations is added to the kingdom of Israel. The twelve apostles stand at the head of the whole. The upper and the lower congregation, though distinct, are intimately associated.
9 no man--Greek, "no one."
of all nations--Greek, "OUT OF every nation." The human race is "one nation" by origin, but afterwards separated itself into tribes, peoples, and tongues; hence, the one singular stands first, followed by the three plurals.
kindreds--Greek, "tribes."
people--Greek, "peoples." The "first-fruits unto the Lamb," the 144,000 (
Rev 14:1-
Rev 14:4) of Israel, are followed by a copious harvest of all nations, an election out of the Gentiles, as the 144,000 are an election out of Israel (see on
Rev 7:3).
white robes--(See on
Rev 6:11; also
Rev 3:5,
Rev 3:18;
Rev 4:4).
palms in . . . hands--the antitype to Christ's entry into Jerusalem amidst the palm-bearing multitude. This shall be just when He is about to come visibly and take possession of His kingdom. The palm branch is the symbol of joy and triumph. It was used at the feast of tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when they kept feast to God in thanksgiving for the ingathered fruits. The antitype shall be the completed gathering in of the harvest of the elect redeemed here described. Compare
Zech 14:16, whence it appears that the earthly feast of tabernacles will be renewed, in commemoration of Israel's preservation in her long wilderness-like sojourn among the nations from which she shall now be delivered, just as the original typical feast was to commemorate her dwelling for forty years in booths or tabernacles in the literal wilderness.
10 cried--Greek, "cry," in the three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. It is their continuing, ceaseless employment.
Salvation--literally, "THE salvation"; all the praise of our salvation be ascribed to our God. At the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, the type, similarly "salvation" is the cry of the palm-bearing multitudes. Hosanna means "save us now"; taken from
Ps 118:25, in which Psalm (
Ps 118:14-
Ps 118:15,
Ps 118:21,
Ps 118:26) the same connection occurs between salvation, the tabernacles of the righteous, and the Jews' cry to be repeated by the whole nation at Christ's coming, "Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord."
11 The angels, as in
Rev 5:11, in their turn take up the anthem of praise. There it was "many angels," here it is "all the angels."
stood--"were standing" [ALFORD].
12 Greek, "The blessing, the glory, the wisdom, the thanksgiving, the honor, the power, the might [the doxology is sevenfold, implying its totality and completeness], unto the ages of the ages."
13 answered--namely, to my thoughts; spoke, asking the question which might have been expected to arise in John's mind from what has gone before. One of the twenty-four elders, representing the Old and New Testament ministry, appropriately acts as interpreter of this vision of the glorified Church.
What, &c.--Greek order, "These which are arrayed in white robes, WHO are they?"
14 Sir--Greek, "Lord." B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic versions, and CYPRIAN read, "My Lord." A omits "My," as English Version.
thou knowest--taken from
Ezek 37:3. Comparatively ignorant ourselves of divine things, it is well for us to look upward for divinely communicated knowledge.
came--rather as Greek, "come"; implying that they are just come.
great tribulation--Greek, "THE great tribulation"; "the tribulation, the great one," namely, the tribulation to which the martyrs were exposed under the fifth seal, the same which Christ foretells as about to precede His coming (
Matt 24:21, great tribulation), and followed by the same signs as the sixth seal (
Matt 24:29-
Matt 24:30), compare
Dan 12:1; including also retrospectively all the tribulation which the saints of all ages have had to pass through. Thus this seventh chapter is a recapitulation of the vision of the six seals, Rev. 6:1-17, to fill up the outline there given in that part of it which affects the faithful of that day. There, however, their number was waiting to be completed, but here it is completed, and they are seen taken out of the earth before the judgments on the Antichristian apostasy; with their Lord, they, and all His faithful witnesses and disciples of past ages, wait for His coming and their coming to be glorified and reign together with Him. Meanwhile, in contrast with their previous sufferings, they are exempt from the hunger, thirst, and scorching heats of their life on earth (
Rev 7:16), and are fed and refreshed by the Lamb of God Himself (
Rev 7:17;
Rev 14:1-
Rev 14:4,
Rev 14:13); an earnest of their future perfect blessedness in both body and soul united (
Rev 21:4-
Rev 21:6;
Rev 22:1-
Rev 22:5).
washed . . . robes . . . white in the blood of . . . Lamb-- (
Rev 1:5;
Isa 1:18;
Heb 9:14;
1John 1:7; compare
Isa 61:10;
Zech 3:3-
Zech 3:5). Faith applies to the heart the purifying blood; once for all for justification, continually throughout the life for sanctification.
15 Therefore--because they are so washed white; for without it they could never have entered God's holy heaven;
Rev 22:14, "Blessed are those who wash their robes (the oldest manuscripts reading), that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city";
Rev 21:27;
Eph 5:26-
Eph 5:27.
before--Greek, "in the presence of."
Matt 5:8;
1Cor 13:12, "face to face."
throne . . . temple--These are connected because we can approach the heavenly King only through priestly mediation; therefore, Christ is at once King and Priest on His throne.
day and night--that is, perpetually; as those approved of as priests by the Sanhedrim were clothed in white, and kept by turns a perpetual watch in the temple at Jerusalem; compare as to the singers,
1Chr 9:33, "day and night";
Ps 134:1. Strictly "there is no night" in the heavenly sanctuary (
Rev 22:5).
in his temple--in what is the heavenly analogue to His temple on earth, for strictly there is "no temple therein" (
Rev 21:22), "God and the Lamb are the temple" filling the whole, so that there is no distinction of sacred and secular places; the city is the temple, and the temple the city. Compare
Rev 4:8, "the four living creatures rest not day and night, saying, Holy," &c.
shall dwell among them--rather (Greek, "scenosei ep' autous"), "shall be the tabernacle over them" (compare
Rev 21:3;
Lev 26:11, especially
Isa 4:5-
Isa 4:6;
Isa 8:14;
Isa 25:4;
Ezek 37:27). His dwelling among them is to be understood as a secondary truth, besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert. When once He tabernacled among us as the Word made flesh, He was in great lowliness; then He shall be in great glory.
16 (
Isa 49:10).
hunger no more--as they did here.
thirst any more-- (
John 4:13).
the sun--literally, scorching in the East. Also, symbolically, the sun of persecution.
neither . . . light--Greek, "by no means at all . . . light" (fall).
heat--as the sirocco.
17 in the midst of the throne--that is, in the middle point in front of the throne (
Rev 5:6).
feed--Greek, "tend as a shepherd."
living fountains of water--A, B, Vulgate, and CYPRIAN read, (eternal) "life's fountains of waters." "Living" is not supported by the old authorities.