Revelation 7, Pt 2

As we entered into Revelation 7 during our last Wednesday Night study, we saw angels and winds and 144,000 servants of God who were sealed.

We first asked, WHEN did this sealing take place?

We answered that question by showing that Rev 7 does NOT happen chronologically AFTER Rev 6, because in Rev 6, the sixth seal pictures the final judgment of the earth and the wicked. But in Rev 7, the four winds are held back from harming the earth and sea until the servants are sealed. 

Obviously, if the final judgement has come, then there would be no more earth or wicked to harm. So chapter 7 is a different view of the same thing that is happening in Rev 6. And the sealing of Rev 7 takes place BEFORE the final judgment...at least.

We then asked during our last study of Rev 7, WHAT IS the Sealing of the servants, the 144,000 in Rev 7? Our answer was...

There is a sealing of God’s servants that takes place in Ezekiel 9:1-5 that is the OT picture of the sealing in Rev 7. But the clear explanation of what this sealing is is found in the NT. We looked at this sealing, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, especially in Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:13

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 4:30

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

This sealing is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God in the believer’s life. This is God’s mark of ownership of him/her and also the security that the believer will be kept safe from salvation on earth to final salvation in Heaven.

The sealing means, therefore, that God puts His Holy Spirit in those who trust Christ to protect them and keep them safe through whatever they will face as they live for Christ in this world...

Now, let’s read the chapter again and then answer THIS question:

WHO are the 144,000 that are sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel?

Revelation 7

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

A Great Multitude from Every Nation

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 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, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Ok...WHO ARE THE 144,000 of Rev 7?

To answer this, we must ask, WHO are the 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel of v4 and then WHO are the great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages?

What is the relationship between these two groups that are pictured?

FIRST, in v3 we are told that those who are sealed are “the servants of our God.” 

Is this only the 144,000 as a separate or special group of God’s servants, or is it ALL of God’s servants that are sealed? That is, are the servants who are sealed all God’s servants, OT & NT?

If this sealing is indeed the sealing which the NT teaches, the sealing with the Holy Spirit, then it MUST include NT believers, which includes US as well.

SECOND, why were the sealed described in v4 as “144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel?”

If it is God’s servants who have been sealed, and we are told there are 144,000 of them, and we know that there are actually millions of them, then we assume that the number 144,000 is a SYMBOLIC number. 

And if the sealed servants are numbered 144,000 ISRAELITES, when most are Gentiles, then we would understand Israel here to be the usual NT title for the church.

eg: Church or Christians in the NT referred to as:

-the 12 tribes: James 1:1; Matt 19:28; Luke 22:30

-the true Jew: Romans 2:28,29

-the Israel of God: Gal 6:16

-descriptions of OT Israel are many times applied to the church: 1 Peter 2:9ff; Ephesians 1:11,14

-Christ’s people are Abraham’s seed: Gal 3:29

Etc.

WHAT about the “great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages...”? V9

What is the relation between this group and the 144,000?

THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME.

It is obvious they are SERVANTS OF GOD. 

Revelation 7:9-10

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

And if they are servants of God, they are SEALED. And if they are sealed, they are also the 144,000.

But how can a limited number of Israelites be a numberless multitude from all nations?

Consider: John HEARD the number of 144,000 and SAW the numberless multitude.

The 144,000 was from God’s standpoint. From His standpoint, they are all Israel, the children of Abraham.

The numberless multitude was from a man’s standpoint. And from man’s standpoint, they are from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

NOTE this also, the 144,000 as a symbolic number is:

-the number of the tribes of OT Israel = 12

-the number of the apostles of the NT Church = 12

=12 x 12 = 144

1000 = a complete number or a great, unlimited number.

Therefore: 144 (all the people of God represented by the tribes and apostles) X 1000 (a complete, unlimited number, eg “cattle on a thousand hills” or see Exodus 34:7) = 144,000, symbolically all the people of God, OT & NT.

And so this 144,000, is seen by John as an unlimited number of all peoples (NOTE, that includes people from Israel...”every nation”) in v9.

And one reason for presenting all God’s sealed people in this way, is to show that EVERY OT & NT believer has been sealed and is safe and has conquered and endured all persecution he/she has faced or will face throughout the ages...to the end.