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Rev. 7:1-3: After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads."
         When God wants to punish those who persecute His servants (or when He wishes to work His Life into those who are entirely devoted to Him), He stops all the sweet and comforting influences...whether they come from within or without. Every refreshing is removed. Before God pours His wrath on persecutors-- and so that the saints may not be involved in that punishment-- the Lord prevents the devil from having any power over these believers; therefore God marks them with His seal. God takes these souls under His protection and an the plagues of the devil and sin do not come near any longer. These will not be hurt in the general punishment which God will send on earth, nor will they be hurt in the final judgment. (Editor's note: All is out of God, even the vessels of His expression, "one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonour?" His judgement--  His fire is for purification, cleansing, not damnation. References  A.P. Adams - "All Things Are Of God." ;  "Judgment." ;  "The Purpose of Evil" ;  Web page "All Things Are of God?";  Ray and Doris Prinzing "To The Uttermost";  "Redemption --All in All" ;   "The Mystery of Iniquity"    and  "The Mystery of His Will").

Rev. 7:4: And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:...
         The mark of this seal (the sign for all the inner souls) is for those marked with the characteristics of the Spirit of God. See how the number of these saints grow, and how they come from all lands, as the end approaches.
         Oh, our Lord, only in eternity will we know the number of the inner souls You have stamped with Your seal.
         These are the true children of Israel who will not be overwhelmed in the total ruin of Egypt.

Rev. 7:9,10: After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice saying, "Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
         Besides the saints marked with the particular characteristics of the inner life, there are countless more saints. Oh God, there is no place, land or nation where You do not show Your mercy. Only in eternity will we see the greatness and extent of Your mercies.
         All these saints are standing, which shows their steadfastness, their confidence. They are dressed in white dresses because they have been renewed with the robe of innocence. Seals that have been opened until now are the truth that has been manifested. What is this truth which was so sealed, so unknown? That full salvation of our whole being belongs to God alone. He alone must work that completed salvation in each soul. We do not see in us any merit for such a great blessing. It is His doing. The Saints in heaven will never be able to see salvation in themselves or anything that made their salvation sure. They will endlessly sing that salvation belongs to God. This will be our joy.

Rev. 7:11,12: And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
         Men have an advantage over angels; they can suffer for God. But elect angels have an advantage over men: They do not sin. This advantage comes from their constant nothingness, and the fact that they come not out from this nothingness. If man reaches this state of being in a continuous nothingness, he shares the happiness of the angel. When John said, "they fell on their faces," he meant they remain in a continuous nothingness, "before the throne" of God. Few men, and that by grace, share the angels' happiness. Such ones are on their faces because they are nothing.
         Some angels once stepped out of their state of nothingness, rising against God; this made them sin and brought them in hell. The angel Lucifer came out of his nothingness without any means of entering again. Man, on the contrary, may re-enter this state, by the grace of God's salvation. Saul is like Lucifer. He sinned and remained in his rebellion. David sinned, but humbled himself and entered again into his relationship with God. (Editor's note: God uses evil for the completion of His purpose: i.e. Job 1:6-12; Judges 9:23; 1 King 22:23; Amos 3:6; "I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil; I the Lord, do all these things." Isaiah 45:7.  Reference  A.P. Adams "The Purpose of Evil).
         "Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity" (Ps. 39:5). Nothingness is all that is left for us, therefore. A man in nothingness does not oppose God's will. If there is opposition in you to God's will you are not dead and you come out of nothingness.
         Jesus Christ Who is the model for all prayers fell on His face to worship, not so much to teach us an outward posture as to show us the attitude in which our soul must be as we pray and worship. In this inward state of nothingness the soul gives God all the glory that can be given to the Creator by one of His creatures.
         Therefore, the angels say that blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and might belong to our God here! Their state of nothingness accomplishes all these acts of gratefulness and homage to the sovereignty of God; only this state can do this with absolute purity. He who is nothing, before Him, acknowledges Him as the only Sovereign Being. The believer ceases to be all that he is so that God alone will be. With all the words of honor and gratefulness we use to God, we honor Him as a creature and not as God, since we do towards Him what we do in behalf of our sovereigns and benefactors; therefore honoring Him through nothingness, we honor Him as God.
         How did Jesus Christ teach us to honor God as God? He became nothing, taking the form of a servant. In this way, He gave God such a high honor, though being God Himself, that a greater honor cannot be found. In this nothingness of His, He accomplishes His wonderful works! So, too, we do His will as it is done in heaven, for that is what nothingness always does.
         Remember, God created all things with nothing. By using nothingness He does His greatest things. Till man has reached this state of nothingness, God may hardly have a way to use him because the man is always stealing His glory.

Rev. 7:13,14: And one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have they come?" And I said to him, "My lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
       The soul is no sooner brought to nought than he is clothed with the robe of innocence. When God sends His Spirit, bringing this soul to nought, he is created anew. A new creature in Jesus Christ! He clothes him with Jesus Christ. These men, then, dressed in white, are lowly, unassuming, and emptied souls.
         But where did they come from? From out of themselves! They have passed through total destruction! Their robes were stained by sin, covered by the dust...but through the loss of themselves, "their robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb."
         Oh, blood of the divine, spotless Lamb, You are a purifier bringing the soul into an admirable purity. Those who find no strength, purity, holiness in themselves are obliged to come out from themselves and plunge into the blood of the Lamb, whence they come out in an unheard of purity through a complete abandonment.
         Oh men who believe you can by your cares whiten your robes, you are mistaken; you will become more dirty! You only soil what you hold. But, if you want to whiten them, throw them into purity itself! There they lose their stain and are given a divine purity.

Rev. 7:15,16: "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; ..."
       The Christian, now totally emptied, is in an intimate and permanent union. His internal spirit is always "before the throne of God," constantly before Him and with Him, and one with His throne. God wants no creature to be perfectly independent. He wants that one pliable and doing His every will. This is the state of a believer in nothingness, no longer with a will of his own; he (always doing the will of God) thus serves Him night and day, inwardly, being the temple of God. The work of this one is the continual union of Will to will. That is the greatest service that men can render Him. This is the very service Jesus Christ rendered on earth to His Father.
       See now the reward of their work! What happens to them? He Who sits on His throne makes their heart His throne. He dwells there, abiding permanently in them as He had promised in His Gospel.
       "If anyone does the will of My Father, We will come to him, We will take our abode with him." Christ comes again; however this time in the Spirit.
         "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more." Why? They are fully satisfied. (They have no will of their own, they have no desire, no inclination. They are not molested by the heat of sin; they are refreshed and joyful. No one can understand this state except the one who experiences it.). The believing one who has come thus far is free, because truth and nothingness are the same thing. Truth is the expression, while nothingness is the operation.

Rev. 7:17: "...for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes."
         This divine Shepherd does not wish any other staff to lead them than that of the cross. Then, after leading them with this cross in the frightful and terrible places of the desert where they see only dark places, where there is no water to quench their thirst, He leads them into the bosom of God, and God is their fountain of living water. There they are refreshed by Himself.
         If the Father is the spring, Jesus is the river of delight running from that Spring. They are refreshed forever, and they thirst no more. God wipes away their tears.
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^{(1) Guyon, Mme. Jeanne, CHRIST OUR REVELATION, Gardiner, Main, Reprinted 1987 Christian Books Publishing House ( Book in now out of print)}

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