Revelation 7:1-8 _ the sealing of the redeemed

At this juncture as we think that we have arrived for the climax, the breaking of the seventh seal so that God’s purpose could be read. Instead John pulls the brake and keeps us in suspense. This, we will see, is not the only time. The seven seals were like using wax made with a flame and affixed with an official stamp or mark. This is to keep prying eyes from looking at the content written inside a document. One can tell immediately when a seal like this had been broken. The seal we read in verse 2 is different from the six seals that had been broken, and it is not the 7^th seal. This seal is talking about people with an identification mark put over them to signify ownership. The purpose here is to rescue these specially marked out ones. Just like the blood of the Passover lamb that was applied on the door posts and lintel of the children of Israel so that the angel of death could not reach them.

The whole created order has to be purified. Here we see an impending judgement symbolically described as a violent wind that will devastate the earth and uproot trees. This is a divine judgement that will soon blitz the whole order of human affairs. While all these will take place, the people of God need to be assured that they will be kept and brought safely through. They will bear the special seal on their foreheads that will mark them out as God’s people and not to be harmed.

Here John hears the number that were being sealed as 144,000, broken down into 12 tribes of the children of Israel. These 144,000 redeemed and sealed people actually refer to the same group of people described in Revelation 7:9-17. John first heard the number, than as he looked, he beholds a large countless crowd. This group represents the whole of the redeemed people on earth. They did not escape the suffering but they came through much like Christ came through the resurrection.

Are these 144,000 ethnic Jews? No. John was merely using the rich symbolism of Israel to mark out God’s people. They were the ones, whether ethnic Jews or Gentiles, who through their relationship with the Messiah, have become members of God’s rescued and redeemed family, regardless of descent. The list of the twelve tribes seems to have some differences when compared with the list in Genesis 49. The tribe of Judah starts first instead of Reuben. Perhaps because of the Lion of Judah. And the tribe of Dan is excluded. And Manasseh, one of the sons of Joseph, mentioned as a tribe probably to make up to a total of 12, since the tribe of Dan has been omitted. The point this passage conveys is that while evil will reach its height because it must be totally dealt with; in the meanwhile, the redeemed, those belonging to the Lion of Judah, will be taken care of. Thankfully, we can confidently trust the Lord that He knows those who are His!