Revelation 7:1-8 – The sealing of the Servants of God or 144,000
I will in the next subheading show that the number 144,000 is only a symbolic number denoting all the saints and remnants of the chosen of God that will be saved from the great day of the Lord already introduced in the 6th seal. But before then, we will notice that while the judgement of the 6th seal indeed shook the earth and heavens, it appears to concentrate on only overhauling the World order or those in political authority. The judgements and wrath of God in the 7 Trumpets of the 7th seal will now actually harm or hurt (7:3), that is destroy peoples and authorities that hurt the saints and destroy the world. This is summarised in Revelation 11:18:
“18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
So, while the saints remained on earth in their mortal bodies and witnessed the initial shakings of the political heavens and the earth, it is now time for the Lord to seal them off to safety before He begins to actually pour out His destructive Trumpet judgements of the 7th seal. To the world, the events of the 6th seal will be very terrifying but to the saints, God will use the same horrendous event to let them know that this time, would truly realise that they had been saved from God’s wrath, as we have shown from the scriptures. This coming judgement of God on the nations will result in the deliverance of Israel from the great tribulation (Revelation 7:14) as we shall see.
144,000 People Sealed (Revelation 7:1-8)
Who are these 144,000 people? We have some clear answers from the chapter.
- They are “Servants of our God” Revelation 7:3.
These servants of God are supposed to be the same primary recipients of this book of Revelation. “And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show His servants what must soon take place.”” Revelation 22:6. John who received this book from the Lord is also a representative of these God’s servants. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to His servant John” Revelation 1:1.
I am convinced that these servants of God, whose number is symbolically given to us 144,000 are the saints, the true Christians and members of the body of Christ. But why were they referred to as Israelites? - They are “of all tribes of the Children of Israel” Revelation 7:4.
One can almost immediately conclude from this passage that the 144,000 will be drawn only from the 12 tribes of Israel as stated. But if they are the Christians, then we cannot limit them only to the tribes of Israel. I think ‘Israel’ is rightly used here to describe these people in order to remind whoever that seeks to be of the ‘true Christian’ class that they are joined to the people of Israel and not the other way round. Over the centuries, several creeds of the Catholic church were designed to remove the Jewish arm of the Church or the Messianic from the so-called Universal Church, without knowing that they ended up cutting off themselves from the true Church of Yeshua whom we know as Jesus! As for Christians attitude towards Israel in general, Paul warned: “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” Romans 11:17,18.
Paul also reminded Christians that the gentile Christians actually joined the Jewish believers to become part of them and not the other way round, just as a foreigner denounces his country’s citizenship in order to become that of another country. “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:11,12.
It is also worthy of note that James, writing to the Christians wrote: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.” James 1:1. Both the phrase ‘servant of God’ and ‘twelve tribes (of Israel)’ feature in this prologue. This is a tribute to the fact that Christianity originated in the land of Israel before the dispersed Jews spread it to the whole world, with the gentile believers joining them as members of the new House of Israel and partakers of the commonwealth of Israel.
When we get to commenting on Revelation 7:9-17, we will show that this Revelation chapter 7 has Zechariah in mind. This vision is introduced right after the great day of the Lord fell on the earth. Zechariah 14:1-3 speaks of this great day of the LORD and the destruction that will come on Jerusalem in that day, however the rest of the chapter tells us of the great deliverance that will come from God to Israel in that day through Jesus Christ. These 144,000 is a symbolic number of the Jewish believers and the gentile saints joined to them that will be saved on that day. It strongly appears that many more Jews will believe in Jesus before this great day for the prophet Joel explicitly tells us of a great revival and outpouring of God’s spirit on Israel before the great day of the Lord as outlined in the 6th seal. What happened on the day of Pentecost which saw to the conversion of at least 3,000 Jews was only a partial fulfilment of this prophecy. Joel the prophet is very clear that many more Jews would miraculously accept Jesus just before or during the events of the 6th seal and the great day of the Lord. These are the remnants that will be sealed off from that great tribulation to come on earth.
“28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.” Joel 2.
Having said this, just to show that the 144,000 incorporates every true Christian and not literally only Israel, Revelation 7:4 says they were drawn out from “all tribes of the children of Israel” but on a closer look, we notice that the tribe of Dan is not listed among the tribes. The tribe of Manasseh, a son of Joseph was listed in verse 6, but the tribe of Ephraim, another son of Joseph was not listed. In verse 8, the tribe of Joseph which is unheard of, was listed. Is this Joseph supposed to represent Ephraim his son? Instead of taking this literally, the reader may want to search out the spiritual significance and the message the listed tribes reveal to us.
- Revelation 14 further confirms that these 144,000 are the saints from all around the world. 14:3 says they were redeemed from the earth (or land). 14:4 says they were redeemed from among men. They are also described as the “Followers of the Lamb” making them Christians and also described as the first fruits of God just like James 1:18 described the true Christians. We will look at Revelation 14 properly when we get there.
Sealing of the 144,000
“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. 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, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”” Revelation 7:1-3.
The idea of sealing these 144,000 servants of God from the impending doom form the Lord is got from Ezekiel 9:1-4. The language is very similar, and we can learn by comparing them:
| Revelation 7 | Ezekiel 9 |
| Rev 7:1 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. Rev 7:2 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, Rev 7:3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: | Eze 9:1 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” Eze 9:2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. Eze 9:3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. Eze 9:4 And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” |
The message revealed in the book of Revelation is too deep and tightly compressed for all its messages to be covered in anyone book. Throughout our study, I call on the reader to search deeper to bring out other vital messages that I failed to point out.
From the comparison above, we can see that like the counterparts in Ezekiel’s prophecy, the 144,000 can also be said to be the class of people who constantly sighed and groaned over all the abominations committed in the city. ‘The city’ here is Jerusalem but in the book of Revelation referred to the Church. This shows that the whole of Christendom will not be saved on the last day, but only the group of Christians who constantly opposed and separated themselves from all the corruptions of Christendom over the centuries until today. This is what the book of Revelation is all about: The true Christ versus the False Christ, the True Christians versus the false Christian system. In 18:4, everyone who wishes to be part of those 144,000 saints are warned: “Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues”
What is your attitude towards the gross corruption of doctrine and morality in the church? Over the centuries, those of the 144,000 class who spoke out against the system, copied out the Bible for many to possess and liberate themselves, fiercely debated and cried out against these corruptions were branded as Arians, Protestants, etc. and many of them were persecuted and killed by the same false Christian system. What is your attitude today when you see these abominations in Christendom? You must come out from the entire system and remain separate with the few remnants of like faith. “I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 7.
Why 144,000?
Does it mean only a hundred and forty-four thousand people will be redeemed and saved by Christ? No. I have already shown from Revelation 1:1 that this book is a book of symbols, and it is wrong to interpret it with a literal mindset. Why 144,000 then? The short answer is because 12,000 people were redeemed from the listed 12 tribes. Therefore 12,000 x 12 = 144,000.
12 in scripture many times depicts a complete or perfect unit of organization. We have for example the 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles of Jesus among other examples. So, in every tribe according to Revelation 7, twelve thousand is sealed out. This appears to be a way of saying that many people will be redeemed from every tribe without losing the number ‘12’ which is a symbol of the perfect structure. So, 12,000 from every tribe, will in turn give us 144,000. ‘144’ is a perfect square of 12. 12 x 12 = 144. This is also interpreted by many to mean that this square of 12 (12 x 12) depicts the growth of the Jewish believers (12) and Gentile believers (12) as they grow or multiply across the globe.
Also in Revelation 21, the true Church or the Lamb’s wife (21:9) is described as the New Jerusalem from heaven. We also see the numbers 12,000 and 144 associated with the cubic city as described here:
“The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.” Revelation 21:16,17.
In conclusion, 144,000 can be a way of God reminding us that He knows the exact number of people that will be saved, Romans 11:25. ‘144,000’ is itself not the exact number of all the saints that will be redeemed from Adam to the second coming, but this 12 x 12,000 is a symbol of the complete number of people that God in His wisdom will save from among men.
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