Apocalipsis 7

VBL · Chapter 7/22

¹Entonces vi cuatro ángeles que estaban en pie en las cuatro esquinas de la tierra sosteniendo los cuatro vientos, para evitar que alguno de ellos golpeara la tierra, el mar, o algún árbol.

²Y miré a otro ángel levantarse desde el Este, sosteniendo el sello del Dios vivo. Y gritó a gran voz a los cuatro ángeles a quienes se les había dado el poder de destruir la tierra y el mar:

³“¡No le hagan daño a la tierra, ni al mar, ni a los árboles, hasta que hayamos puesto un sello en las frentes de los verdaderos seguidores de Dios!”

⁴Y se me dijo el número de los que fueron sellados: ciento cuarenta y cuatro mil. Los que fueron sellados provenían de cada una de las tribus de los hijos de Israel:

⁵doce mil de la tribu de Judá, doce mil de la tribu de Rubén, doce mil de la tribu de Gad,

⁶doce mil de la tribu de Aser, doce mil de la tribu de Neftalí, doce mil de la tribu de Manasés,

⁷doce mil de la tribu de Simeón, doce mil de la tribu de Leví, doce mil de la tribu de Isacar,

⁸doce mil de la tribu de Zabulón, doce mil de la tribu de José, doce mil de la tribu de Benjamín.

⁹Después de esto mire y vi una gran multitud que nadie podía contar, compuesta de toda nación, tribu, pueblo y lengua. Estaban en pie frente al trono y el Cordero, vestidos con túnicas blancas, con ramas de palmeras en sus manos.

¹⁰Y gritaron fuertemente: “La Salvación viene de nuestro Dios que está sentado en el trono, y del Cordero”.

¹¹Y todos los ángeles que rodeaban el trono, y los ancianos, así como las cuatro criaturas vivientes, cayeron postrados con sus rostros a tierra ante el trono, adorando a Dios.

¹²“¡Amén!” decían. “La bendición, la gloria, la sabiduría, la gratitud, la honra, el poder y la fuerza sean para Dios por siempre y para siempre. Amén”.

¹³Entonces uno de los ancianos me habló, preguntándome: “¿Quiénes son los que están vestidos con túnicas blancas, y de dónde han venido?”

¹⁴Y yo respondí: “Mi Señor, tú sabes la respuesta”. Entonces me dijo: “Estos son los que han pasado por gran persecución. Y han lavado sus túnicas, blanqueándolas por medio de la sangre del Cordero.

¹⁵Por eso ellos pueden estar en pie frente al trono de Dios, y le sirven día y noche en su Templo. Aquél que está sentado en el trono los protegerá con su presencia.

¹⁶Y nunca más volverán a tener hambre o sed; el sol no los quemará ni sufrirán de calor abrasador,

¹⁷porque el Cordero que está en medio del trono será su pastor, y los guiará a fuentes de agua viva, y Dios enjugará toda lágrima de sus ojos”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Before the judgment continues, an interlude shows 144,000 people from all the tribes of Israel being sealed with God's protection, followed by a vision of an uncountable multitude from every nation, dressed in white, who have come through the great tribulation and now worship before the throne.

Explanation

This chapter functions as a pause of hope amid the judgment, answering the question at the end of chapter 6 about who can stand before God's wrath: those sealed and protected by him. The list of the twelve tribes of Israel here follows a different order than the traditional Old Testament list (Dan is absent, for example), which has sparked debate among scholars about its symbolic meaning. The second vision, of an innumerable multitude 'from every nation, tribe, people, and language' wearing white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, extends the promise of salvation far beyond Israel to include people from all humanity who remained faithful through suffering. Today's practical application is the assurance that God neither forgets nor abandons those who persevere in faith, even during the hardest seasons.

Fun facts

The list of the twelve tribes in Revelation 7:5-8 is one of several listings of Israel's tribes in the Bible that do not match exactly; here, the tribe of Dan is absent and replaced by Manasseh, a variation that continues to intrigue scholars today.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Apocalipsis 7:1This expression was the standard way at the time to describe the whole world in every direction, not a claim that the earth is shaped like a square.
Apocalipsis 7:2A new angel appears coming from “the east,” a direction associated with hope and new beginnings, carrying a seal meant to protect, not to punish.
Apocalipsis 7:3The order to wait before causing harm until the servants of God are marked echoes the scene in Ezekiel 9, in which an angel marks the foreheads of the faithful before a judgment, sparing whoever carries that sign.
Apocalipsis 7:4The number comes from multiplying twelve by twelve and then by a thousand, doubling the symbol of the twelve tribes of Israel and multiplying it by the totality of a thousand - a way of expressing ‘complete’ taken to the extreme. It is a symbolic total, and Christian traditions read this group in quite different ways, without the text settling the question here.
Apocalipsis 7:5This begins the list of the twelve tribes of Israel with twelve thousand sealed from each one; compared to the traditional Old Testament lists, this version has small differences (such as the absence of the tribe of Dan), suggesting a number more symbolic of totality than a literal census.
Apocalipsis 7:6This continues the list of the twelve tribes, keeping the same pattern of twelve thousand per tribe.
Apocalipsis 7:7The list continues, including the tribe of Levi, which normally did not receive territory like the other tribes because of its priestly service, but here appears counted like the rest.
Apocalipsis 7:8This closes the list of the twelve tribes by naming Zabulon, Joseph, and Benjamin, completing the symbolic sum of a hundred and forty-four thousand mentioned in verse 4.
Apocalipsis 7:9Palm branches were used in Jewish festivals, such as the Feast of Tabernacles, as a symbol of celebration and victory. This countless multitude appears alongside the hundred and forty-four thousand counted at the beginning of the chapter - two pictures of the same scene: one numbered, the other impossible to count.
Apocalipsis 7:10The countless multitude, introduced in the previous verse alongside the numbered group of the twelve tribes, cries out, attributing salvation both to God and to the Lamb.
Apocalipsis 7:11The angels, who had already appeared around the throne since chapter 5, join the scene by falling down and worshiping, joining in the multitude's praise.
Apocalipsis 7:12The angels' praise is summed up in a list of seven elements (blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might), the same pattern of seven qualities already seen in the acclamation of the Lamb in chapter 5.
Apocalipsis 7:13One of the elders asks the question that opens the explanation of the scene: who is this multitude dressed in white, and where did it come from - a literary device common in prophetic visions, also used in the book of Zechariah, where a figure explains the symbol to the seer.
Apocalipsis 7:14This is a deliberately contradictory image: blood normally stains, but here it is what makes the robes white. The idea echoes the blood of the Passover lamb in Exodus, which protected the families of Israel.
Apocalipsis 7:15The reward of this multitude is to serve God continually in His temple, with the promise of protection described as a sheltering presence over them.
Apocalipsis 7:16Hunger, thirst, and scorching heat will cease to exist for this group, an image that echoes the promise of Isaiah 49 about the people's return from exile.
Apocalipsis 7:17This closes the chapter with a reversal of the image of the slain Lamb: now He guides like a shepherd, leading to fountains of living water, and God wipes away every tear, echoing the same promise of comfort from Isaiah 25.

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