02.23. LECTURE No. 23 -- Rev_7:1-8
LECTURE No. 23 -- Revelation 7:1-8 A Parenthetical Passage - The Sealing of the One Hundred and Forty-four Thousand - Who Are They? - False Claims - The Message of the One Hundred and Forty-four Thousand - A World-wide Proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom Announcing the Return of the King
TRULY, we are finding this book to be what Revelation 1:1 says it is, namely, “THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST.”
It has now been nearly two thousand years since Jesus was crucified upon the cross, and was buried, resurrected and ascended into heaven, and ever since then He has been veiled from human sight. He is the one, whom having not seen we love! We all know that Jesus is the Saviour of the world, the head of the Church, and the Messiah of Israel. Nevertheless during two thousand years He has been absent from the world and present in heaven. This is confirmed in Acts 3:20-21, where the Apostle Peter preaching, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, said to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost,
“And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before has preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”
But in spite of the fact that Jesus has been absent for so long a time, and even though He still tarries within the veil of the heavenly sanctuary, in the Book of Revelation which we are now studying, by the wonderful facts concerning Christ revealed in God’s Word, and by the eye of faith through the help and illumination of God’s Holy Spirit, we are able to see Christ as He now is, and as He will be when He appears at the rapture and later at the revelation!
Slowly but surely we are advancing in our study of this last Book of the Bible; and as we advance, new light is bursting in upon our hearts and is shining upon our pathway to show us the way.
The truth which we have already learned in this Book concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and future events, only prepares us all the better to understand the other truths written in this same book, which we are yet to study.
We have progressed in our present study to Revelation 7:1-17, where our lesson will begin for today.
Review In our last lesson, based upon Revelation 6:12-17; we studied concerning those things which will come to pass under the opening of the Sixth Seal, of the Seven Sealed Book, which John saw in the right hand of Him who sat upon the Throne.
Under the opening of the Sixth Seal we discovered that there is to be a great shaking of the earth and the heavens.
Nature itself will go into convulsions, and as a result, the heart of all men upon the earth will be stricken with fear, and the Kings of the earth and the great men, and the rich men and the chief captains, and the mighty men and every bond man, and every free man will hide themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains, and will pray for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them, and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. The 144,000 Sealed Israelites Now let us advance in our study by reading what is written in Revelation 7:1-8, where it says,
“And after these things I saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
“And 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 given to hurt the earth and the sea.
“Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
“And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
“Of the Tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
“Of the Tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
“Of the Tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
“Of the Tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.” A Parenthetical Passage
First of all, let us remind you that what we have here is a parenthetical passage which describes the continuation of events signified by the breaking of the Sixth Seal.
From what is stated here we must recognize that in spite of the shaking of the heavens and the earth, which will occur under the opening of the Sixth Seal, as we studied in our last lesson, the earth will continue, and there will be a lull in the storm, as it were, which will continue until certain things have been accomplished.
And then the storm will break forth again with added fury! Even though the judgments of God will already have begun to fall upon the wicked of the whole earth, a restraining hand will be placed upon them, as indicated in our lesson text for today. The reason for this delay in the ongoing of God’s judgments will be in order that the one hundred and forty four thousand, described in our lesson text, may be sealed.
Before we take up our study of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, however, let us consider briefly what s stated in the first three verses of our lesson text. A Divine Command In Revelation 7:1, the Apostle John said, “And after these things I saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the winds should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”
Now this comment may be unnecessary and unwarranted, but let us not think for one moment that because it speaks here of the four corners of the earth, that it means to infer that the earth is flat; for such is not the case. The use of such language here merely refers to the four points of the compass, namely, north, east, south and west, which terms apply to the earth, which we know is round. The Four Restraining Angels The important thing for us to notice in this verse is, the four restraining Angels. Apparently at that time, these four Angels will have power over the forces governing the earth! According to our lesson text they will stand in readiness to hurt the earth at the command of the other Angel, which is also described in this passage. In Daniel 7:2, the prophet said,
“I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.” The Great Sea
We are told that the sea in scripture symbolism stands for the populace, or the mere unorganized mass of mankind.
Whether we interpret the four winds suggested here as literal or symbolical, they possess destructive power, which will be released upon the earth at the command of the Angel described in the second verse of our lesson text. The word “winds” could well symbolize certain movements which will exist at that time. The Sealing Angel
It seems that there is no way of telling who the Angel is, referred to as the one ascending from the East, having the seal of the Living God, and who gives command to the other four Angels not to hurt the earth, or the sea, nor the trees, until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads!
Many assume that this Mighty Angel is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We know that in the Old Testament Christ is often spoken of as the “Angel of the Lord.” When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, you will remember that His Star appeared in the East. We know also that Jesus is called the “Bright and Morning Star.”
Also in Malachi 4:2 it says, “The Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.”
Nevertheless, since the scriptures seem to give us no absolute clue as to who the Angel may be, we shall make no effort to give a definite decision in the matter.
If the Angel referred to here is not the Lord Jesus Christ, He is, nevertheless, an Angel of great power, to whom the other four Angels will give obedience, and it is to be by reason of His command that the other Angels, who control the four winds of the earth, will restrain from hurting the earth until the servants of God have been sealed in their foreheads. Our Next Task
Our next task will be to consider those who are to be sealed.
In other words, who are these one hundred and forty four thousand sealed ones? This is a very important question, but it should not be difficult to answer, providing we are willing to take the Word for what it says. In Revelation 7:4 of our lesson text the Apostle John plainly says,
“And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty four thousand of all the Tribes of the Children of Israel.”
Israel Means Israel Is there any use, therefore, to search elsewhere for an answer to our question? And the answer is, NO! The word “Israel” as it is used here means exactly what it says: i.e., the Tribes of Israel, and does not in any sense refer to the Church, which is an entirely distinct and separate body of believers.
It is estimated that there are between sixteen to eighteen million Jews in the world today, and even though they are dispersed among the Gentiles, there is no question but what every tribe is represented. I know they speak of the ten lost Tribes, and from a historical point of view, they may be lost, but there is no question but what God knows exactly where they are.
That God knows exactly where the Tribes of Israel are today, and that He will bring them back and join them together in the Holy Land, is confirmed in Ezekiel 37:15-28. Time will not allow a reading of this passage, but we invite you to look it up.
It is not unreasonable, therefore, to believe that the one hundred and forty four thousand will be sealed from among the twelve tribes of Israel.
What People Think: What God Says
I know that there are a lot of people that are adverse to the idea that God will ever bless the Jews again with spiritual blessings. They seem to think that God has cast away His people forever; but if this be the case, then why has God miraculously preserved the Jews throughout more than two thousand years of dispersion among the Gentiles?
With the Apostle Paul, we say, “Hath God cast away His people?” and we also answer with the Apostle Paul, saying, “God forbid - God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.”
Let us not forget that all of the Prophets were Jews, and that Jesus Himself was a Jew, and that the writer of the Book of Revelation, which we are now studying, was a Jew!
Also let us not forget that God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham, and confirmed it to Isaac and Jacob, and in this covenant, recorded in Genesis 12:2-3, God said to Abraham:
“I will make of thee a great nation, and will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families [or nations] of the earth be blessed.”
Since God is not a man that He should lie, we have every reason to believe that the race of Israel will be preserved until every condition, and every promise has been fulfilled!
Because of Unbelief
Because of their unbelief and disobedience, however, the race of Israel has not yet become a universal blessing.
During all their long and eventful history, in spite of the fact that many of the Jews have walked in unbelief, nevertheless there has always been a faithful believing remnant among them.
Dr. C. I. Scofield gives us a very interesting comment concerning the believing remnant in Israel, in his footnotes on Romans 11:1-36, saying:
“In Elijah’s time seven thousand had not bowed the knee to Baal. In Isaiah’s time it was the ‘very small remnant’ for whose sake God still forbore to destroy the nation. During the captivities the remnant appears in Jews like Ezekiel, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Esther and Mordecai. At the end of the seventy years of Babylonian captivity it was the remnant which returned under Ezra and Nehemiah. At the advent of our Lord, John the Baptist, Simeon, Anna and ‘them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem’ were the remnant. During the Church Age the remnant is composed of believing Jews. But the chief interest in the remnant is prophetic. During the great tribulation a remnant out of all Israel will turn to Jesus as Messiah, and will become His witnesses after the removal of the Church. Some of these will undergo martyrdom; some will be spared to enter the millennial Kingdom. Many of the Psalms express, prophetically, the joys and sorrows of the tribulation remnant.”
Therefore we have every reason to believe that the one hundred and forty four thousand spoken of in our lesson text, who are to be sealed, after the opening of the Sixth Seal, of the Seven Sealed Book, will be none other than a believing remnant in Israel, who will still be looking for the coming of their Messiah.
False Claims
We know that quite a number of religious cults and sects today claim to be the one hundred and forty four thousand of Revelation the 7th chapter, but we know their claims are false, because John plainly said that they were to be of the Tribes of Israel. And we know that they will constitute a believing remnant during the tribulation period. They will not be called out, therefore and sealed, until after the rapture of the church.
We know that blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so after the Church has been completed and raptured away to be with Christ, no doubt many in Israel will believe, and their blindness will be taken away, and then when the sealing Angel comes, they will be sealed in their foreheads, as well as in their hearts, as our lesson text today teaches us. The Tribes of Dan and Ephraim
It is very interesting and important for us to note that in enumerating the Tribes of Israel in this chapter, the names of Dan and Ephraim were omitted, and the names of Levi and Joseph were substituted in their place. There was a reason for this!
In Deuteronomy 29:18-21, the Lord had warned that any man, woman, family or tribe who introduced idolatry into Israel would have their name blotted out from under heaven, and that they would be separated out of the tribes of Israel. And we all know that the tribes of Dan and Ephraim were guilty of this very thing, when they permitted Jeroboam to set up the golden calves to be worshipped, which fact is confirmed in 1 Kings 12:25-30.
Understanding these things we are not surprised to find the names of these two tribes missing in this list of the tribes given in Revelation the 7th chapter. The Twelve Tribes In his book on the Apocalypse Seiss gives us a very interesting comment concerning the Twelve Tribes, saying,
“JUDA means Confession, or Praise of God: REUBEN, Viewing the Son: GAD, A Company: ASER, Blessed: NEPTHALIM, A Wrestler, or Striving with;-MANASSES, Forgetfulness; SIMEON, Hearing and Obeying; LEVI, Joining or Cleaving to; ISSACHAR, Reward, or what is given by way of reward; ZABULON, A Home or dwelling place; JOSEPH, Added, or an addition; BENJAMIN, A Son of the Right Hand, A Son of Old Age.”
Now, put these several things together in their order, and we have described to us: Confessors or praisers of God, Looking upon the Son, A band of blessed ones, Wrestling with forgetful Hearing and obeying the Word, Cleaving unto the reward of a shelter and home. An addition, Sons of the day of God’s right hand, Begotten in the extremity of the age.
This certainly is very remarkable, and cannot be taken as a mere accident particularly as the order of the names, and some of the names themselves, are changed from the numerations of Twelve Tribes found in other places.
Thus, my friends, we have a wonderful picture of those attributes which will belong to the believing remnant in Israel in the days when this sealing is to be accomplished. The Nature of the Seal
Now, having discovered who these one hundred and forty four thousand are, let us now turn our attention to the nature of the seal which they are to receive. This should not be difficult because our lesson text plainly says that they are to be sealed in their foreheads.
There is little question but what this will be a visible mark which can be seen every one, which will serve as a mark of identification. It will be different then than it is now. Today the Tares and the Wheat dwell together, and no visible mark is placed upon either one because they are both to grow together until the harvest.
But before the opening of the Sixth Seal we expect that the Church will have been raptured away to be with Christ and then a mark of identification will become necessary.
From what is stated in Revelation 13:16, know that Antichrist will mark followers with a visible mark. Speaking of the False Prophet it says,
“He causeth all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
And so, my friends, we see that during this period of time both the righteous and the unrighteous are to be marked, some by the sealing angel, as indicated in our lesson text, and some by the False Prophet, as the representative of the Antichrist! A Moral Aspect Also
There is no question but that there is a moral aspect to this sealing also. We all know that the seal of God is the Spirit of God Himself. This is confirmed in Ephesians 1:13-14, where it says,
“After that ye believed, ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”
Also in Ephesians 4:30 it says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
Therefore, understanding these things, we have every reason to believe that the sealing of the one hundred and forty four thousand out of the Twelve Tribes of Israel will include also the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit upon them, so that their spiritual eyes will be opened, and the veil that is now upon their hearts, will be taken away.
Outwardly and Inwardly
We may expect, therefore, that after the Church has been completed and raptured away, and these one hundred and forty four thousand are called out from among the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and sealed outwardly with a mark upon their forehead, and inwardly with the seal of God’s Holy Spirit, they will become the flaming Evangelists of the Tribulation Period, who will witness for God against all the opposition of the Antichrist, and those who follow him. The Message of the 144,000
Now, since this is true, many will ask, What sort of a message will these one hundred and forty four thousand converted Jews have to preach during the Tribulation Period. Surely it would not be the same as the Gospel of Grace, which we are now receiving.
The purpose of the Gospel of Grace, which is now being preached, is to call out from among both Jews and Gentiles the Church, which is the Body of Christ, as a people for His name. The calling out of the Church, therefore, is the great task and purpose of this age, and when this is accomplished, the Church will be caught up to be with Christ, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
But God has never left Himself without a witness in the world. Therefore, He will call out and seal the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who will go forth into all the world preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom! The Message of John the Baptist
You will remember that when John the Baptist came preaching he said to the people, “Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
By the Kingdom of Heaven he meant that the rule or authority of heaven was soon to be administered upon the earth. Notice he did not say that the Kingdom of Heaven had come, but that it was at hand, and that it would come on condition of their repentance.
The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand at that time, in the person of the King from Heaven, namely in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had come from Heaven, and who was declared by the wise men to be King of the Jews from the very moment of His birth. But we know full well that the Jews did not receive John’s preaching.
They did not believe His witness and testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ! They refused to believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world! They refused to believe that he was the Saviour of the world and the Messiah of Israel. In consequence they rejected Him and caused Him to be crucified. After Jesus was buried, on the third day He arose again, and ascended into heaven, and today He is, as a Nobleman, who has gone into a far country to receive for Himself a Kingdom and to return. And while He is absent, the Church, which is His Body, is being called out. And when the Church has been completed and called away, it will then soon be time for the King to return with authority to establish His Kingdom and to fulfill the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant by making the seed of Abraham a blessing to all the nations of the earth. A World-Wide Proclamation
All this will necessitate a proclamation to all the world that the absent King is coming back again to the earth, and that the long promised Kingdom of righteousness will soon be established over all the nations.
Therefore, in Matthew 24:14, in answer to the disciples question, i. e., “Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the world (or age)”-Jesus said, “The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
Watchman: What of the Night When we understand these things we can see why under the opening of the Sixth Seal there will be a calm in the storm by reason of a restraining influence, which will then be placed upon the forces at work in the world while the one hundred and forty four thousand out of Israel are chosen and sealed for the great work of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom during the coming tribulation period.
We know that the gifts and calling God are without repentance, and that what God has promised, both to Israel and to the Church, He will ultimately fulfill. Therefore, in conclusion we say, “Watchman, what of the night? The Watchman saith, the morning cometh and also the night.”
Indeed, my friends, here is the promise of the morning, but we also know that the morning will be preceded by earth’s darkest night! Therefore, in view of these things let us gird up our loins and be ready for impending events by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ our own personal Saviour.
~ end of lecture 23 ~