These are NOT Jehovah Witnesses
Continuing on with the Apocalypse we come to Chapter 7 and will read verses 1-8. We read this:
1After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:
5of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
Ok, we are coming on the heels of 6:17 which asked who would be able to stand during these most frightening times? We need to remember that we, in modern times, put the chapter and verses in. We need to keep v17 in mind as we read this. Who will be able to stand?
The answer to that question are these that are mentioned here. They will stand. We see this group of what appears to be Jewish Evangelists will be sealed and protected by God himself. Without the Lord, no one would be able to stand. Only those protected and sealed will stand and be unaffected by the upcoming happenings on earth.
In the OT we have the example in Noah. Only he and his family were able to stand safely in the ark while complete chaos literally submerged the earth. He may have fallen down a few times, but he always got up. He was safe and secure protected by God..
We see here in v1 that Angels are very active in God's work. These "wind" angels are holding onto the four courners of the earth. What? What happened to the round earth? Perhaps this is where the thought of a flat earth first came to be known. Scientifically the earth does in fact have four distinct corners. Our compass points to this fact.
So here we have these angels holding back winds from the entire earth. Winds stand for the judgment of God. We read in Jeremiah 49:36:
Against Elam I will bring the four winds From the four quarters of heaven, And scatter them toward all those winds; There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go
So here we read of the Angels in charge of the winds. We also read of Angels in charge of waters in Rev 16:5:
And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things.
of fire in 14:18a:
And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire,
So the Lord uses Angels to execute his work. How long must they hold back here? This is the calm before the big storm. When the 7th seal is broken it will ultimately open the door to the wrath of God that will overtake the whole earth.
We see another Angel here with God's seal (sphragis); a signet stamp impressed on a seal and is a mark of ownership. It's a mark of privacy / genuiness. Later in 14:1 we will come to this:
Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads
It's like it's being said, "Don't touch. I own this person. They have been sealed." God has told the forces of evil, "They are mine. Don't touch them."
Just like the 144,000 seen here we are owned by God. We have his protection not only from the evil forces but also from the divine wrath and judgments of God. John may be thinking of the OT scripture in Ezek 9:3-6.
3Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; 4and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” 5To the others He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6“Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.”
We see it's God who gives the insructions here. He said to put a mark on those who grieve over sin. The rest do not pity. These words here in Ezekiel have a prophetic ring to them as we look forward to Revelation 7.
So the instruction is not to touch the earth, sea and trees until these 144,000 are sealed. This kind of gives us an impression of the storm to come. It's going to be all inclusive. We had a storm rip thru here the other night and the trees were bent over with the tops of many of them almost bent to the ground. So I can only imagine the intensity of this coming storm about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting earth. When they least expect it. Like Chist said, "when they are eating and drinking and marrying. " In other words, when life seems normal he will come.
So who are these 144,000 sealed ones?
1. Saved believers who are called redeemed.
2. They are protected servants
3. They are Jewish evangelists
They are witnesses on earth doing the work of God. Now contrast this mark to the mark of the beast which we see in 13:16-17:
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
There are a number of ways Satan wants to imitate God. Here is yet another example. We are either serving God almighty or Satan himself. There is no middle road. Sorry to burst any independent bubbles out there. But it has to be said.
Satan wants his own churches like God's so he just infiltrates them. Basically he's just taking them over. This is no diff than what he did in the Garden. He went after who God loved. He does the same with the churches. Christ died for the church after he established it. Satan has the same ol' bag of tricks. They work. No need to change his MO. It's his goal to be as God. His desire is to be worshipped. His desire is for us to transfer our love for God over to him. Who are we working for?
Some say the 144,000 are just symbolic for all mankind. Well, why not look at it literally first before we jump onto the symbolic ship? Could it be just as it says, 144,000 people? Yes it could. So that's where we'll stay.
I think taking this symbolically is to cut the Jewish people out of the picture. This is doing a disservice to the Jews by taking this passage figuratively. I say, God chose 144,000 Jews here, period.
The records were burned, and there's no real conclusive way to know which tribes are which from a human standpoint, but God knows. He does his own record keeping. His computer never crashes because "he always saves."
The term "Children of Israel" is a term not used for the church. It's a term always applied to the nation Israel. These are actual Jews selected for His purposes. The Apostles would not have even thought otherwise. Acts 9:15 says:
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
This passage refers to Paul. Notice the people groups are separated. So the 12 tribes mentioned are never used to describe the church. Therefore, there is no point to say otherwise. Isaiah says in 11:10-12:
And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”11It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.12He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.
Just to quickly peruse the list we see Judah is #1. Why? He wasn't the firstborn son. He was named because the root of Jesse would come out of it. Christ would come from this line.
Reuben, first born to Jacob, is named in second place. He forfeited his place because of sexual immorality.
We see Dan is missing (Judges 18). The tribe of Dan was into idol worship so they were taken off the list. It's actually Jewish tradition that says the Anti-Christ will come out of the tribe of Dan.
Manasseh mentioned here in v6 was a replacement and is the son of Joseph. Usually when you see Manasseh you see Ephraim, his brother, named as well. Ephraim was also guilty of idol worship.
“Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone. Hosea 4:17
I know Ephraim, And Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry; 5:3
An idol is anything that takes our attention off from the one true God.
I believe he's warning us here. He's serious about this idol worship thing. Remember his very first command is
"Have no other gods before me."
What idols do you have in your life that you need to get rid of? We all can and should do a little closet cleaning daily. For some of us only a shovel will do. Let's get rid of the idols, clean up our act and get to work for God as these 144,000 are about to do.