Lesson One

The 1440,000 Sealed

Revelation 7:1-8

a) The 144,000:

- This chapter answers the question that Revelation 6 ends off with, "Who Can Stand?" It was a question in response to what happened when the sixth seal was opened: the "Day of the Lord" begins. This is God's final judgement against evil and sin. When it comes, there is nowhere for anyone to hide.

- Chapter 7 shows how angels are holding back the winds of destruction in this sixth seal from the four corners of the world. The angels are told to do so until all 144,000 people are sealed by the Lord's signet ring. These people where broken down into a military consensus of the 12 tribes of Israel, with 12,000 being in each tribe. A similar military consensus was done in the Old Testament with the children of Israel in the book of Numbers.

b) The number 12:

- The number 12 (12x12 = 144) is a special number not to communicate the total amount of people sealed, but to speak more about these people being all of God's people (believers of Jesus Christ).

- The number 12 is symbolic in Scripture to mean completeness (12 tribes, apostles). The Holy Spirit did not release the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for Pentecost until they had replaced the 12th position of defective apostle Judas with Matthias (Acts 1:12-26). The first words Jesus spoke in public was at age 12 (Luke 2:42). There were 12 loaves on the golden table in the holy place of the Tabernacle (Lev 24:4). Moses sent out 12 men to spy out the land of Canaan (Deut. 1:23).

c) Differences between Numbers 1 and Revelation 7:

- In Numbers, the count was based of a certain criteria: only males over 20 years old. It did not include women and children as Revelation 7 includes "all people" (7:9).

- In Numbers, each tribe had different numbers of men, where Judah had the largest and Manasseh had the least amount. This showed the value and strength of each tribe based on their numbers. But in Revelation, all tribes have equal amount of numbers, showing that no tribe is greater in significance than the other. All are equal to each other in the eyes of God. All can be equal because they are not doing the fighting against sinners as Israel did in the Old Testament.

- In Numbers, the consensus doesn't include the tribe of Levi in the military count. They were not to go to war, but committed themselves solely to Tabernacle duties.

d) The Significance of the Seal

- Unlike Numbers 1, Revelation 7 shows us a war that we don't have to fight. God is the only one who is fighting this war. The day of the Lord is a showdown between the sinners who rebel against God and God himself. Sinners will find out who is all powerful, as they run to the caves for shelter.

- The people of God are the ones who will stand when this day of judgment comes about. We don't have to fight against people who persecute us for righteousness sake, because God will vindicate us in his fight against sinners in the final war.

- This speaks of the Wrath of God. When it comes up the earth, those who are sealed will escape (will stand) it. This wrath of God comes in contrast to the wrath of the beast (Rev 13).

- The seal for the believer is the Holy Spirit as Paul speaks about his in Ephesians 1:13b-14: "When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory."

- This mark is different from the mark of the beast (Rev 13). We will talk about this difference some more as we go further into the study.

Next we will continue the discussion, as we answer the question:

In Revelation 6 and 7, why is this important for John's readers to notice the difference between the wrath of God and the wrath of the beast?