1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 19:12
Trivia: When did John say the events in the Book of Revelation would happen?
7:1-8
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
After all this, I saw four angels standing on
the four corners of the earth. [1]
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
I saw another angel with God's seal, who said the to four angels
who had been sent to hurt the earth and the sea,
Don't hurt the earth, sea, or trees
until we have marked God's servants
on their foreheads. [2]
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
7:9-17
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
After this, I saw a great multitude,
which no one could count, [5]
standing in front of the throne and the lamb,
dressed in white, with palms in their hands,
crying out with a loud voice, saying,
Salvation to God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
And all the angels fell on their faces
before the throne, elders, and four beasts,
and worshiped God, saying,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Amen. Blessing, glory, wisdom,
thanksgiving, honor, power, and might
be to God forever.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
One of the angels came to me and said,
Who are these in white robes,
and where'd they come from?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
I said, "You know who they are."
The angel said,
These are the ones who made their robes white
by washing them in the lamb's blood.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
They won't be hungry or thirsty anymore,
and the sun won't shine on or heat them.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Because the lamb will feed them,
and lead them to living fountains of water.
And God will wipe away their tears.
John thought the earth was flat with four corners.
God's angel tells God's murderous angels to "hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of your God on their foreheads."
Christians like to use the first part of verse 7:3 to show God's loving concern for the environment.
But the last part makes it clear that it was the angel's God-given job to "hurt the earth and the sea" just as soon as they finished their forehead-marking job
144,000 Jews will be going to heaven; everyone else is going to hell.
Few Christians take the 144,000 number seriously, of course. But the Jehovah's Witnesses do. Boy do they ever! They believe that there are two distinct classes of believers: the 144,000 "Anointed" that are going to heaven and the "Great Crowd" that will remain here on earth. The WatchTower teaches that heaven closed in 1935, and that everyone else will either be killed at Armageddon (if they are not JWs) or live forever on earth.
Of the tribe of Manasses (v.6)
Jehovah's Witnesses: The "great multitude" is the WatchTower's "great crowd" that it claims will remain on earth rather than going to heaven. Yet in this verse the "great crowd" stands "before the throne" and "before the lamb". Where else would the throne and lamb be besides heaven?
A friend of the family gave us a coffee cup
that features this
verse and the cute illustration shown below.
"Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees."
The complete verse reads: "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,
till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."
