Revelation 7:1-8

144,000 Sealed

1After 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. 2Then 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."

4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,

from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,

from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

6from the tribe of Asher 12,000,

from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,

from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,

from the tribe of Levi 12,000,

from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,

from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,

from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.



Dig Deeper

When our youngest son was three years old, a rather amusing scene played out between the two of us. He asked me if I could play dodge ball with him, a game he very much likes. I was finishing up some work on the computer and said, "yes, in just a minute." Without me necessarily noticing what he was doing, he walked over to the digital clock and began to stare at it. As soon as the time clicked from one minute over to the next, he got very excited and ran back to me shouting, "daddy are you ready, are you ready? It’s time to play." I looked up at him and told him that I was almost finished and we would play as soon as I was done. He quickly began to whine that I had said we would play in one minute and now it was a minute and so we should play. I could have tried in vain to explain to him that I was speaking metaphorically but I wouldn’t have gotten very far, so I saved my work and went and had a great game of dodge ball with my boy.


This is just an amusing little example, but there can be some great misunderstandings, especially when it comes to numbers, if one person understands that they are metaphors or symbols, while another thinks that they are literal. Of course, I didn’t actually intend to convey that I would be ready in sixty literal seconds, but rather I meant something more like "very soon." There are many such passages, including the present one, where we can really get off on the wrong foot if we forget that John is working primarily in symbols in this book. The book of Revelation is an apocalyptic piece of literature, and numbers in apocalyptic literature were always symbolic and quite meaningful rather than literal. It is important to keep this in mind in order to properly understanding what John is saying.


7:1-3 - John sees another grouping of fours, indicating the entire earth. He sees the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing. In the original Greek, trees is in a different case (accusative) from the land and sea, indicating that John wished to emphasize it. Trees are often used in the Bible as images of men (Jud. 9:8-15), and in particular, symbols of righteous men (Ex. 15:17; Ps. 1:3; 92:12-14; Isa. 61:3; Jer. 17:5-8). The wind is a common symbol for the coming of God and the action of His agents in bringing either blessings or curses (Gen. 8:1; 41:27; Ex. 10:13, 19; 14:21; 15:10; Num. 11:31; Ps. 18:10; 104:3-4; 107:25; 135:7; 147:18; 148:8; John 3:8; Acts 2:2). This passage seems to draw specifically from the winds of the curses from Hos. 13:15-16. In short, then, these four angels are restraining the judgment that is to come for the time being.


Another angel, we learn in verse 2, has given the order to hold off on the action of judgment, even though they have been given power to harm the land. This angel is acting as the direct representative of Christ, which is symbolized by his rising from the East. The East was the place from where the son rose and was often used symbolically for the presence of God. Before the judgment can be unleashed, they must put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God. The seal of the spirit (Eph. 1:13; 4:30) is applied to the righteous before the seals of wrath are applied to the wicked. The seal in the biblical world was a sign and symbol of authority and power, a guarantee of protection, and a mark of ownership (2 Cor. 1:21-22; 2 Tim. 2:19).


The primary background verses for this imagery of John’s vision is Ezekiel 9:1-7 in which God commissions executioners to destroy everyone in the city of Jerusalem. The godly are marked for protection, so that they can be distinguished from the apostates who are about to be destroyed. The one marked on the forehead by God is one who is restored to fellowship with God. For example the high priest was marked with gold letters that said that he was holy to the Lord (Ex. 28:36). In a similar way, God’s people were to be sealed in the forehead and hand with the law of God. The protective mark in Ezekiel 9 was the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, tav. The ancient form of that letter was a cross, a fact that the early church recognized immediately. Tertullian (the early church father) believed that God had given Ezekiel "the very form of the cross, which He predicted would be the sign on our foreheads in the true . . . Jerusalem." As the apostates were to be destroyed, the righteous were to be preserved. They were not to be evacuated from tribulation but would be preserved through it. Though the old Israel would be cast off, a new and holy Israel, the Church, would be chosen, sealed with the Spirit, and preserved through the tribulation to come.


7:4-8 - The number 144,000 is so obviously symbolic that it is almost laughable when groups claim that it is literal in some way. It is the number of Israel (12) squared, then multiplied by 1,000 (ten and its multiples symbolized many: Deut. 1:11; 7:9; Ps. 50:10; 68:17; 84:10; 90:4). Each "tribe" is the complete Israel within itself. In other words, John is picturing the the ideal Israel, Israel as it was meant to be, in all its perfection, symmetry, and completeness. The thousand was also the basic military division in the camp of Israel. Each of the twelve tribes could muster twelve full divisions, a numerically perfect army of 144,000. It is a picture of the "holy seed," the remnant of Israel which would remain after the oak had fallen. God would not destroy Jerusalem and cut off the once holy place until he first chooses and seals a new Israel who had its beginnings in the old. Thus, the Christian Church was formed out of the chosen servants of God from the "twelve tribes scattered among the nations" (James 1:1). John is again comforting the Church, that apostate Israel will indeed be judged, but not before a new, holy people will become the holy Israel. They are the true covenant people.



Devotional Thought

John shows us that those who are sealed in Christ, will be kept from ultimate judgment whether in this age or the age to come (this does not mean we will be protected from every possible bad thing in life). Are you sealed with Christ? Do you know anyone who is not? How does that motivate you?