Chapter 6 closes with the sixth seal and the seventh is
not opened until chapter 8. Therefore chapter 7 is a
parenthesis, but it is one that answers some very important
questions. From the very nature of the judgments of the six
seals it would appear no one could possibly be delivered
physically, much less saved spiritually. In fact these
judgments give rise to the desperate question at the end of
chapter 6, “for the great day of their wrath has come, who
is able to stand?” Chapter 7 answers this question, and
demonstrates that even in the midst of this awesome display
of God’s wrath, the mercy of God is still providing an
opportunity for men to be saved.
The fifth seal was a revelation concerning the martyrs who
had been killed for their faith in Christ. Since the church
has been raptured and the Tribulation begins with only
unbelievers, how do people come to faith in Christ? We find
the answer to this in the sealing of the 144,000 who are
sealed at the beginning of the Tribulation.
