The 144,000 sealed (Revelation 7:1)
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- 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
- Rev 7:5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,
- from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,
- from the tribe of Gad 12,000,
- 6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,
- from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,
- from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,
- 7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,
- from the tribe of Levi 12,000,
- from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,
- 8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,
- from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,
- from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.
Who are the 144,000?
Introduction
There are a couple of basic questions that need to be addressed.
- Is this number to be taken literally?
- Is this a select group of people?
The approach taken in this commentary is that Revelation is symbolic unless it is clearly literal. The fact that each of the twelve tribes consists of exactly 12,000 suggests a symbolic interpretation. Rather than being a select group of believers I will argue that the 144,000 represents the whole church of God on the earth, and the "great multitude" of Rev 7:9 represents the whole church of God in heaven. Brighton sums up chapter 7 of Revelation perfectly by calling the two groups "the church militant on earth and the church triumphant in heaven" (Revelation (Concordia Commentary) by Louis A. Brighton).
The 144,000 are the church on the earth
This vision of the 144,000 and the vision of the great multitude (7:9 ff.) form an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals. Just as in the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets we see a description of the witnessing church so here we get a description of the church. There is no such interlude between the sixth and seventh bowl. Before the seven trumpets are to be sounded which serve as warnings to mankind, the church is first sealed to protect them from these disasters that come upon mankind. The number 144,000 is a symbolic number (cf. 21:12 ff.) and the description of the 144,000 sealed, symbolically describes the NT + OT church not just the OT tribes of Israel. Neither are they a select group of Jewish missionaries who arise in the last days. It should be noted that the list of the twelve tribes is not just a list it is a census. The reasons why the 144,000 represent the church are summarised below:
i. They are described as the servants of our God in verse 3, a term that refers to the church, and is used more than 11 times in Revelation, see 1:1, 1:6, 5:10, 6:11, 7:15, 19:2, 19:5, 19:10, 22:3, 22:6, 22:9. The book of Revelation was written to God's servants (1:1, 22:6).
ii. The NT Church is called the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Both Jews and Gentiles are members of Christ's body and share the same promises, the church is Abraham's offspring (Eph 3:6, Gal 3:6-9, 28-29). See also James 1:1.
iii. Judah is the firstborn instead of Reuben. Jesus is the firstborn of the dead (Col 1:15 ) and he is descended from Judah (Heb 7:14). Note while Jesus was on earth he went through the initiation rights of both Jews (circumcision) and Christians (baptism). Judah offered himself as a substitute for his brother Benjamin (Gen 44:33) and is therefore a type of Christ.
iv. Levi the tribe of priests is included in the census, they are normally excluded from a census (Num 1:47), the saints are described as priests in 1:6, 5:10 and 20:6.
v. Joseph, who is a type of Christ is included (instead of Ephraim), there is nothing wrong spoken about him, see verse eight for more detail.
vi. Dan and Ephraim who went off into idolatry are excluded, they are replaced by Levi and Joseph, there are no idolaters in the church, 21:8, 22:15. Irenaeus thinks that the antichrist will come from Dan and quotes, Jer 8:16.
vii. Those in an OT census are ransomed people (cf. Exo 30:12).
viii. The number 144 (12*12 i.e. OT * NT) and 12,000 occur again in the description of the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:12-17, which is clearly both OT (twelve tribes and 12 gates) and NT church (twelve apostles and 12 foundations). This could also be a description of the Jewish and Gentile church, but the emphasis is that it is the complete church.
ix. The 144,000 are found again in 14:1 where they have the name of the Lamb and the Father written on their foreheads. They are standing before the throne and are in heaven (14:3). In the description of the new Jerusalem, 22:3-4, we also find God's servants with his name on their foreheads. The 144,000 in 14:1-5 are described as followers of the Lamb, they sing a new song, they are pure and blameless, they are redeemed from the earth.
x. Milligan points out that if the seal is the antithesis of the mark of the beast which is on all his followers then the seal of God will be on all His followers and not just a part.
xi. God is sealing all of his people against the coming trumpets not just a part just as all God's people escaped the plagues on the Egyptians. All those who put the blood of the lamb on the door posts and lintels escaped from the destroying angel.
John's theology clearly sees the church as being composed of OT and NT saints, the OT continues into the NT, both Jews and Gentiles are saved on the same basis of faith (Gal 3:6-14). This is made amply clear in his description of the New Jerusalem whose gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on them and whose foundations have the names of the twelve apostles on them. Even where he does describe the OT church as 'the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head', Rev 12:1, after she gives birth to the Christ she becomes the NT church, 12:13. It should be clear from NT scripture that as far as the church is concerned there is neither Jew nor Gentile we are all one body (Eph 3:6), the Gentile believers by following the faith of Abraham are spiritually children of Abraham and inheritors of the same promises (Gal 3:6-9, 28-29). The church is a continuum from OT to NT but as they are here sealed prior to the trumpets being sounded this would reduce this group to the NT church rather than both OT and NT. Our Lord only has one body on the earth, John no doubt has our Lords words in mind "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:20-21 see also John 17:11).
There is a modification to this view in which rather than considering the 144,000 to be OT and NT saints they could be the Jewish and Gentile church. The Jewish line extends into the NT period in so far as the Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah, fortunately many are doing so. Just as in the OT period there were Gentile converts, e.g. Ruth, so in the NT period there will be Jewish converts. Either way the 144,000 should be considered to be the complete church and not just a portion of it. There are a number of commentators that consider the 144,000 to be Jewish converts to Christianity in which case most of the analysis aforementioned would also fit these Jewish Christians since by definition they would be part of the church and would therefore share its characteristics. However the use of the term 144 would seem to link this group with the new Jerusalem (21:17) which clearly depicts the whole church of all saints either OT or NT, Jew or Gentile and therefore it is more likely that this is referring to the complete church.
Verse by verse commentary
v1 - After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree - This section is the answer to - 'who can stand?' - coming from Rev 6:17 and it now shows us those who will be able to stand on the day of God's great visitation. Only those sealed will be able to stand on the day of his wrath, 1 Thess 1:10. 'After this I saw' refers to John's chronology and refers to a new vision that he saw and not that the events now depicted follow on from those in the previous section. This verse refers to the angels with the first four trumpets which affect the whole earth (the four winds of the earth, the four directions of the compass i.e. they affect the whole earth geographically showing the universality of the judgement), in particular the first two trumpets (Rev 8:7-8) which affect the earth, trees, grass and sea.
First trumpet:
Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
Second trumpet:
Rev 8:8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,
v2 - Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: - The angel comes from the east (sun rising) God's deliverance was expected from that direction, Ezek 43:1. The angels had been given power to harm the land and the sea indicating the sovereignty of God. The seal (Gr. sphragis (n)) of the living God, the verb form of seal is the Greek sphragizo. The same word is used of Jesus on whom the Father has placed his seal of approval (John 6:27), of Abraham who received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised (Rom 4:11), the seal of ownership (2 Cor 1:22), marked in Jesus with the seal of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13, 4:30), the seal of ownership (2 Tim 2:19). The same word is also used of the seven seals, the sealing up of the bottomless pit (20:3), sealing up the seven thunders (10:4) and not sealing up the words of Revelation (22:10). Vine defines sphragis as 'a seal' or 'signet', Rev 7:2, 'the seal of the living God', an emblem of ownership and security, here combined with that of destination (as in Ezek 9:4), the persons to be 'sealed' being secured from destruction and marked for reward.
v3 - "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." - The seven trumpets which are sounded later (Rev 8:70) are warnings to the unsaved of mankind, not to the saints who must therefore first be sealed to mark them as being distinct from the rest of mankind. It is God's servants who must be sealed, the book of Revelation is written to God's servants (1:1, 22:6), Christians are referred to as servants 10 times in the book and as saints 12 times. Notice that all the plagues of Egypt which resemble the trumpets did not hurt the people of God, they were protected (Exo 9:4, 9:26, 10:23, 11:7, 12:23), the Lord made a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel, Exo 11:7. God's deliverance of his people is also shown by the experience of Noah, Lot and Esther. Before he died Jesus prayed that the disciples would be protected by the power of the Father's name (John 17:11 cf. Rev 14:1 where they are sealed in the Father's name and of the Lamb), in John 17:15 he prays that they are not taken out of the world but protected from the power of the evil one. The image of the seal comes from Ezek 9:4 in which a mark is put on the foreheads of those who grieved and lamented over all the detestable thing done in Jerusalem, they were then protected from the ensuing slaughter. The seal is of ownership because they are God's servants, but it is also the seal of protection, in the fifth trumpet the locusts were told to only harm those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev 9:4). The seal marks those who belong to God, 2 Tim 2:19, 'the Lord knows who are his'. In v2 it is called 'the seal of the living God', the seal is also the seal of the Holy Spirit, Eph 1:13, it is the seal of ownership. It was put on their foreheads i.e. their mind, it reminds us of the gold plate that was engraved as a seal with the words 'HOLY TO THE LORD' which the high priest wore on his forehead (Exo 28:36-38), this marks him out as consecrated to the Lord. Contrast this to the title written on the forehead of the harlot, 'MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH' (Rev 17:5). In Rev 14:1 the 144,000 are described as having the name of the Lamb and his Father on their foreheads, i.e. thrice sealed by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At baptism we are baptised into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mat 28:19). This seal is in contrast to the mark of the beast, on the right hand or forehead, which marks those who are the beast's (13:16) and who are subject to the wrath of God (14:9-11, 16:2).
v4 - Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel - He heard their number, 144,000 which is clearly a symbolic number, later he sees them as a great multitude which no one could count. In the NT the church is described as the Israel of God, Gal 6:16, and as Abraham's seed in Gal 3:29, in Rom 4:16 Abraham is the father of those who believe. The number 144 also appears in Rev 21:17 which is the thickness of the walls of the New Jerusalem, which is a clear reference to the complete OT and NT church. 12,000 is found in Rev 21:16 as the length of the New Jerusalem, again this is a vision of the new Jerusalem whose gates had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on them and whose twelve foundations had the names of the twelve apostles on them because the city is composed of both old and new testament saints. A number of dispensationalist commentators particularly from America hold that there is a separate place for Israel and the church in their theology, but this does not accord with NT theology about the church, the 144,000 are not Jewish converts in the last days but are the church. The church is the true Israel of God, God works in the world through his church, in the OT it was through the twelve tribes and in the NT through the twelve apostles. The place for Israel or rather the Jewish people in the last days is as part of the church. The number thousand means complete so the 144,000 represent all God's people from the old and new testament. The 144,000 is not a literal number, it is the complete church not part of it. 144=12 * 12, i.e. OT * NT church, 1000=10*10*10 which means completeness. The symbolism ought to be evident from the breakdown of the number 144,000 into twelve tribes of exactly 12,000 for each tribe. Israel was the name given to Jacob after he struggled with God and with men and overcame (Gen 32:28), once again a reference to God's people as overcomers.
v4 - 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel - What follows is clearly a census of all the tribes of Israel, however when we examine the census it has some significant differences from actual censuses taken in the OT. Each tribe has exactly 12,000 counted so the census should be regarded as symbolic. When the first census was taken of the tribes they had to pay a ransom, Exo 30:12, so those in the census were ransomed people. The 144,000 are found again in 14:1 where they have the name of the Lamb and the Father written on their foreheads. In the description of the new Jerusalem, 22:3-4, we also find God's servants with his name on their foreheads.
v5 - From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, - The 144,000 sealed, the first born of the twelve tribes of OT Israel is Reuben who is normally mentioned first, he is listed second to Judah, but here the first tribe in the list and therefore the first born is from the tribe of Judah, Jesus is the first born of the dead (Rev 1:5, Col 1:15) and is from the tribe of Judah (Heb 7:14, Rev 5:5). He is the firstborn of many brothers, Rom 8:29. The number of people in each tribe is 12,000 which is symbolic, this number also occurs when the New Jerusalem is measured, its length, width and height is 12,000 stadia. It had twelve gates and on each gate was written the name of one of the tribes of Israel, the city had twelve foundations on which were written the names of the twelve apostles.
v7 - from the tribe of Levi 12,000, - Levi is the tribe of priests, it is now include in the census, whereas they are not normally counted (Num 1:4749) 'You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites'. The NT saints are a royal priesthood, 1 Pet 2:9, there is no need now for a separate tribe of priests.
v8 - from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, - Joseph is not normally mentioned as a tribe, his sons Manasseh and Ephraim are normally mentioned as two tribes (Gen 48:5), however Ephraim went into idolatry and is not mentioned here as did Dan who is not mentioned, idolaters are excluded from the New Jerusalem (Rev 22:15). Joseph is a type of Christ, there is nothing bad mentioned about him in scripture. Both Joseph and Christ were unjustly tried, Joseph was unjustly charged with trying to rape Potiphar's wife (Gen 39:1-20). Both suffered, Joseph in prison and Jesus on the cross. Both were later crowned with glory and honour (Gen 41:39-45, Heb 2:9).
The census thus reveals Christ as the firstborn, it includes the priests together with Joseph as a type of Christ, all have been ransomed, but there are no idolaters in it; it is the church of the redeemed.
For the great multitude see Rev 7:9