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REVELATION - Behold, I am Coming Soon
Studies in the Book of Revelation
BOOK 3 - THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AND THE TRUMPET JUDGMENTS (REVELATION 7:1 – 9:21)
PART 3.1 - THE CHURCH OF GOD AND HIS LAMB FROM THE SONS OF JACOB AND THE NATIONS (REVELATION 7:1-17)

2. The 144,000 Sealed From the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:4-8)


The Equality of the Tribes in the New Testament: In the revelation that John saw and heard, there were no more differences between the various tribes of Israel. The important tribes of Israel's heartlands (Judah, as well as the children of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin, including Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh) have no more rights than the tribes descending from the slaves, Bilhah and Zilpah (Gad, Asher and Naphtali, with Dan excluded). Reuben, too, who degraded himself, and Simeon and Levi, the destroyers, receive the same number of sealed. Even Zebulon and Issachar, who had been influenced by the idolatry of the Phoenicians, receive the same share as the highly respected tribes of Israel. Only Dan, the official worshiper of idols, is missing. He had given himself over to a non-god.

In the grace of Jesus Christ there are no differences! All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all, without merit, will be justified through their faith in the Lamb of God (Romans 3:23-24). No Jew either, without faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, will be justified. Not the quality of the genealogy, honor, riches, personal piety, tribe or anything else determine a person's stand regarding eternal life, but alone the never ending grace of the Triune God, showing mercy upon all mankind.

Who are the 144,000 Sealed? The angel of salvation, over whom the book of Revelation writes, could not seal the entirety of the descendants of Israel, but only 12,000 from each tribe. It is stated twelve times in Chapter 7:4-8 that a selection “from” each tribe was sealed, and not the entire tribe. Does this statement stand in contradiction to the prophecy of Paul, where at the return of Christ “all” Israel will be saved? (Romans 11:25-32).

Here arises the difficult question: Who is “all” Israel?

Is it all of the citizens of the modern state of Israel? In this case, Druze, Christians, Muslims and atheists would belong to the saved.

Or does it mean all of the circumcised in Israel? Abraham circumcised his son, Ishmael, when he was 13 years old (Genesis 17:25-26). In that case, all Muslims would also belong to the chosen to be saved at the return of Jesus, for they call Ishmael their tribal father.

Or is it just the orthodox Jews and Fundamentalists who belong to the saved, who fight for every handbreadth of the Promised Land? That would, however, be far less than half the population.

Or does “all Israel” mean all Jews on all continents? Two thirds of them live outside of Israel, and they are often alienated from law of Moses.

Or is it the 5,000 Jewish Christians living in Israel, together with the 50,000 Messianic Christians in the U.S.A. and other lands, whose body and soul have been circumcised?

Who is “all Israel”? We need to carefully answer this question.

Paul clearly wrote that not all Israelis are Israelites, but only those who have been circumcised in heart (Romans 2:25-29; 4:11-12; 10:6-13; 1 Corinthians 7:18-19; Galatians 5:2-6; 6:13-16; Ephesians 2:11-18; Colossians 2:11). In addition, the resurrected Christ announced twice to the prophet John in his Revelation that not all who say they are Jews really are! (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).

For Paul and John true Jews were only those who had recognized and accepted Jesus as their Messiah and who had confessed to Him their sin. In the context of Isaiah 53 they had believed on forgiveness through His death on the cross, and by the power of the Holy Spirit had been awakened from their spiritual death and been given eternal life. Thus, “from” (each of the twelve tribes in the end time), corresponds to “only”, reflecting 12,000 believers in Christ from each tribe who will be sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Completely false is the interpretation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who claim that the sum of 144,000 only reflects the number of some of their best members.

What is the Significance of the Numbers 12,000 and 144,000? Some Jewish and Arabic commentators suspect that there is a hidden meaning to be found in numbers:

Twelve is the product of three and four. Seven is the sum of the same numbers. If “three” stands for the Holy Trinity, and “four” for the four directions on earth, then in the sense of adding or putting together, “seven” could reflect the descending of the Spirit of God upon the creation. As product of three and four, the number “twelve” could stand for a mixture of the divine with the earthly, just as flour, water and yeast are kneaded together to form a dough.

Thousand is the embodiment of a great number, similar to a regiment. So put, 12,000, being one thousand times twelve, could signify the mixing of divine intentions with earthly powers, which is realized in a great number of Spirit renewed people in each of the twelve tribes.

The mysterious number 144,000 may be the product of twelve times twelve times one thousand. But this number can also be understood differently, that is, as nine (three squared) times sixteen (four squared) times one thousand. In the numerical language of the Middle East this calculation can stand for the attributes of the Holy Trinity, raised to their power (nine), indwelling the total number of chosen from among the tribes of Israel, working to overcome the multiplied weaknesses and intensified evil and depravity residing in them. Jesus is the proof of this complete healing from hereditary factors in the sons of Jacob, who said: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

In any case, the number 144,000 in Revelations can only mean the complete number of sealed from the tribes of Israel, and not the state of Israel in entirety. Other groups, as well, can offer no possibility for the explanation of this number. It refers only to the entire number of redeemed from Israel.

The Total Number of Messianic Jews: Many commentators see in the number 144,000 the complete number of Messianic Jews, who desire to be true Jews and true Christians at the same time. In case this number has been increasing since the time of the vision of John, then the apostles, the early church, Silas, Barnabas, Stephan, Paul, James and Timothy would also belong to the sealed, over whom the evil enemy has no power.

On the contrary, in case the full number of Jewish Christians only involves the end time, then the small Christian fellowships in Israel must be born in mind. They meet together in some locations in spite of increasing pressure and persecution. They could, in accord with a draft bill that was passed on Christmas day of 1989, have their Israeli citizenship withdrawn at any time, simply because they love Jesus, their Messiah. An Arabic Christian, who was formerly a Muslim, testified of them: These Messianic Jews have more fire, love and zeal in them than all the rest of us put together! Perhaps an increasing end time persecution must drive Christians still remaining under cover to a decision for or against the crucified and risen Son of God.

The increasing number of believers in the “Jews For Jesus” movement in the U.S.A. will also add many to the complete number of those sealed, as well as the return to Israel of Jews from Yemen, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Russia and the seven new Islamic states of Central Asia. In search of the lost tribes of Israel, Israeli specialists, with the help of gene technology, are locating descendants of tribes removed by the Assyrians to India, Laos, the Himalayas and Japan. These lost tribes are sometimes barely maintaining their existence in the dispersion. The angel of salvation and his assistants, however, are sealing all those who have a contrite spirit (Psalm 51:3-19; Ezekiel 36:26-32; John 1:47).

Amos had prophesied in the apostasized Northern Kingdom, that in the end time a renewal would come to Israel, in which unclean nations would also play a part (Amos 9:9-12). James, among the apostles of the early church the most keen for the law, explicitly confirmed this promise at the council of apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13-18). Spiritual renewal in Israel is inevitable, like already reported by Ezekiel in his vision of dry bones. There he received the command from God to prophesy to the dead bones that they might come together and receive the breath of life. And so it happened! Following the command of the prophet the Spirit of God breathed into the dead bones, representing the entire house of Israel, and they came to life (Ezekiel 37:9-14). The love of God has no end. It reaches and enlivens even the spiritually dead, scattered among all nations.

The prophet, Zechariah, recognized that in the last days, shortly before the return of Jesus, a special outpouring of the Spirit over the house of David and over the residents of Jerusalem would take place. As a result they would spiritually be made “to see”. With tears and lamentations they would come to look upon and believe in the coming One, who had been crucified and pierced through by their fathers (Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:7).

In Israel there will be a far-reaching conflict between those spiritually dead in sin and who are under the law, and the “living”, who by the Holy Spirit live in the foundation of the gospel. The pivotal issue will be faith in the mercy of the Messiah and the atoning death of the Son of God, and not the faultless holding of the law. Many will with stammering lips confess: “Jesus, the crucified One, now risen; He is Yahweh, the Lord, the Creator, our Savior and our Judge!

In writing down the vision of the sealing of the 144,000 John wanted to encourage the Jewish Christian members of his churches in Asia Minor to believe in their being chosen. He wanted to see them established in Jesus, their Savior. He wanted to lead every visitor to the assemblies, made up of Jewish believers who had fled persecution, to new birth, and the sealing with the Holy Spirit. He knew that without this Holy Spirit there could be no eternal life, no understanding, no power, and no love. Jesus strengthened the exiled prophet by assuring him of the reality that, apart from the idolatrous members of Dan's tribe, a complete number would be saved from all the tribes of Israel (Isaiah 6:13).

PRAYER: We magnify You O Lord because of Your long patience with Your stubborn people. You remained faithful to them in spite of the severe judgments upon them that they might repent. But none of them repented except a few choice of each tribe (12000) who had opened themselves to the Holy Spirit of Your Lamb. Help us not to judge this rebellious people, but first judge ourselves and our own peoples that we may not suffer the same judgments that fell on them.

QUESTION:

  1. What is the significance of number 144000 in this chapter?

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