Sidebar: Sealing of the 144,000 (Verses 1 – 17)
Revelation Chapter 6 ended with the question, “Who is able to stand?” Chapter 7 provides the answer. It shows us the 144,000, the living saints who will stand when Jesus appears. This group is referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 as “we who are alive and remain,” those who will be translated at the Second Coming of Jesus.
Verse 1
The four angels holding the four winds (Jeremiah 49:36,37) represent God’s angel hosts that hold back the winds of strife and human passion. (SOP 1,2) These angels are preventing the destruction of the earth (nature), the sea (peoples and nations of the world, Rev. 17:15), and the trees (God’s people, Psalm 1:3,92:12-14, Isaiah 61:3).
Verses 2,3
The sealing angel ascends from the east, the direction from which Jesus comes at the Second Coming.
The seal in the forehead is an indication that God has fulfilled His New Covenant promise, and written His law in the minds and hearts of His people (Hebrews 8:10).
What is this seal? The dictionary definition of a seal is “an outward mark affixed to a legal document to prove that the document is genuine.”
At the time the Mark of the Beast is enforced, obedience to the Sabbath commandment will be the outward mark or sign (Exodus 31:13,17, Ezekiel 20:12,20) that the entire law has been written in the minds and hearts of God’s people. (SOP 3,4) This seal will preserve them from destruction when probation closes and the winds of strife are released (Ezekiel 9:4-6). (SOP 5)
Verses 4-8
The number, 144,000, is a title or name for those who will be preserved alive when the four winds are released. This title is sign language, and it tells us something about this very special group of people. Notice the following:
This group is from all the tribes of Israel, indicating that they are a part of spiritual Israel (Romans 2:28,29, Galatians 3:26-29).
What is the significance of the number, 144,000? Notice that it is made up of 12,000 from each tribe. God began the nation of Israel with 12 patriarchs, one man for each tribe. (God also began the New Testament church with 12 apostles.) Here the original number of each tribe has been multiplied by 12, and again multiplied by 1000. This symbolic number is a sign that the 144,000 represent all of God’s people (Rev. 14:4). With the sealing of the 144,000, the number of God’s people is now made up and is complete (Rev. 6:11, Hebrews 11:39,40).
Verses 9-12
In these verses we get a look ahead, to the time when the 144,000 are before God’s throne in heaven.
Notice that in Verse 4 John heard the number 144,000. Now in Verse 9 he sees a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. In the sign language of Revelation, these two groups appear to be the same (compare with Rev. 5:5,6).
According to Revelation 14:4, the 144,000 are firstfruits, representatives all the redeemed who will be before God’s throne.
There is great significance in the fact that this great multitude is without number. When God called Abram, He covenanted to make of him a great nation, as the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16), as the stars of heaven and as the sand by the seashore (Hebrews 11:12). Here we see God’s promises fulfilled in the multitude without number. This is spiritual Israel, the redeemed of all the ages, standing before God’s throne.
This numberless group joins all the angels, the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures in praising God and the Lamb for their salvation. This scene marks the fulfillment of the promise made by Jesus in John 14:3. (Note: This same scene is also depicted in Revelation 5:13,14 and Revelation 19:1-10.)
Verses 13,14
One of the elders identifies the great multitude as the group that went through the great tribulation, the final time of trouble described in Daniel 12:1. Their white robes symbolize a Christ-like character, washed in the blood of the Lamb. This character is what qualified them to receive God’s seal (Rev. 7:3,4) and survive the great tribulation.
Verse 15
The redeemed will have the privilege of dwelling with God forever, members of His royal family (1 John 3:1-3).
Verse 16
This verse describes their experience during the great tribulation, the time of the seven last plagues. The sun striking with heat is a reference to the fourth plague (Rev. 16:8,9).
Verse 17
The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them – This group followed Jesus’ voice on the earth, and they will continue to do so in heaven (Rev. 14:1,4).
Lead them to living fountains of waters – This is a promise of eternal life (Rev. 21:6, 22:17).
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes – This is another indication of the difficulty of their experience on earth. This promise is repeated in Revelation 21:4.
(SOP 6)
Spirit of Prophecy Quotations
1 “Winds are a symbol of strife. The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, represent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which kingdoms have attained to power.” – The Great Controversy, page 440.
2 “Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth, and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.” – Education, pages 179, 180.
3 “The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. It points to God as the Creator, and is the sign of His rightful authority over the beings He has made. Those who obey this law will bear the seal of God, for He has set apart this day as a sign of loyalty between Himself and His people.” – Signs of the Times, March 22, 1910.
4 “The sign of obedience is the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. If men keep the fourth commandment, they will keep all the rest.” – Testimonies to Ministers, page 134.
5 “The mark of deliverance will be set upon the men who keep God’s commandments, who serve His law, and who refuse the mark of the beast and of his image.” – Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 452.
6 “Upon the crystal sea before the throne, that sea of glass as it were mingled with fire, -- so resplendent is it with the glory of God, -- are gathered the company that have “gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.” With the Lamb upon Mount Zion, “having the harps of God,” they stand, the hundred and forty and four thousand that were redeemed from among men; and there is heard, as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of a great thunder, “the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” And they sing “a new song” before the throne, a song which no man can learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb – a song of deliverance. None but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn that song; for it is the song of their experience – an experience such as no other company have ever had. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” These, having been translated from the earth, from among the living, are counted as “the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.” Revelation 15:2, 3; 14:1-5. “These are they which came out of great tribulation;” they have passed through the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation; they have endured the anguish of the time of Jacob’s trouble; they have stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring of God’s judgments. But they have been delivered, for they have “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” “In their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault” before God. “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” They have seen the earth wasted with famine and pestilence, the sun having power to scorch men with great heat, and they themselves have endured suffering, hunger, and thirst. But “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Revelation 7:14-17. – The Great Controversy, page 648.
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