THE TWO GROUPS IN REVELATION CHAPTER 7

I have on many previous occasions explained that the 144,000 in Revelation 7 are all the people who will make up the first resurrection, which occurs at Jesus Christ’s second coming. That includes people from very many racial and all ethnic backgrounds. This number of 144,000 is assuredly not restricted to people who are physical descendants of the tribes of Israel.

But since Revelation 7 specifically mentions the names of all the tribes of Israel (except for Dan), many people in the various Church of God organizations have some difficulty understanding this. Why does it mention the tribes of Israel when those numbers will include people from many other racial backgrounds as well?

Most people in the various Church of God organizations don’t understand this chapter correctly. Their flawed ideas regarding the 144,000 in this chapter fall mostly into two groups:

1) There are many people in the churches of God who believe that there will be 12,000 physical Israelites from each of the 12 tribes in the first resurrection (except for the tribe of Dan).

In this regard we need to consider the following:

There is nobody who disputes that the first resurrection will also include many non-Israelites. So how many non-Israelites will there be in the first resurrection? And what will be the total number of people in the first resurrection? If there are going to be 144,000 physical Israelites in the first resurrection, then the total number of people in the first resurrection will be far greater than just 144,000 people, right?

So does God know in advance how many people will be in the first resurrection? Or does God just know how many physical Israelites there will be? Is God not concerned about the number of non-Israelites in the first resurrection? Are they so insignificant that their total number is not really important to God? And if the non-Israelite people in the first resurrection are so insignificant, why does God have any of them in the first resurrection at all? Why not just limit the first resurrection to physical Israelites?

Will God make a distinction between people in the first resurrection who happen to have at least a 51% ethnic Israelite background (since nobody on earth today has a 100% Israelite DNA profile; every Caucasian on earth has a DNA profile that includes multiple nationalities), and all other people in the first resurrection who do not have such an Israelite DNA profile? Is God really focused on the DNA profiles of the people God is inviting to be in the first resurrection?

Does it really make sense to claim that there will be 144,000 physical Israelites in the first resurrection? Why?

2) Secondly, I have also occasionally, including quite recently, heard from a few people in the churches of God who believe that the 12,000 from each tribe of Israel in Revelation 7 represent 12,000 physical Israelites from each tribe, who will be physically protected by God to survive as physical mortal human beings into the millennium. This belief does not have any effect on how many people will be in the first resurrection.

These people believe that the 144,000 in Revelation 7 are physical Israelites who live physically over into the millennium. And they believe that the 144,000 in Revelation 14 are spiritual Israelites, who will comprise all the people in the first resurrection.

So these people see the two groups of 144,000 in Revelation 7 and in Revelation 14 as two completely different groups. They acknowledge that the 144,000 in Revelation 14 represent everyone in the first resurrection, including those people who were physical non-Israelites. They believe that there is no connection between these two groups of 144,000 each.

These are the two most common views amongst people in the Churches of God.

However, the point we should note is that both of the above views believe that Revelation 7 is talking about 12 groups of 12,000 physical Israelites each.

And both of these views are false! Revelation 7 is not talking about physical Israelites at all. Let’s consider the facts.

Before we get into the details, here are some points that we need to understand about the mind of God.

12 groups of exactly 12,000 each, for a total of 144,000, represent a perfect number! I don’t necessarily mean from a mathematical point of view. I mean from a godly logic point of view. I say this based on how God has used numbers like 12 and 10 and 7 throughout the Bible, from Old Testament times all the way to the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21.

Perfection is a destination, a target, a goal to work towards. But perfection is not a starting point. God does not start out with a perfect number, which perfection would be immediately destroyed as children are born (for those who believe that 12,000 from each tribe will live physically into the millennium), or as soon as additional non-Israelite people are added to the first resurrection (for those who believe that 12,000 from each tribe will be in the first resurrection).

Perfection is the end-result of what God works for and achieves. Perfection is what God aims for, and what God assuredly will achieve! But it is not a starting point in any project.

Why on earth would God possibly want to start the millennium with a perfect number of physical Israelites? Originally God started with 2 people, and after the flood God started with 8 people.

What would be the point of starting the millennium with exactly 144,000 physical Israelites, in addition to an undefined number of non-Israelite physical people? That perfect number wouldn’t even hold good for the first year of the millennium. It would be a very fleeting number! And it would have no meaning beyond the start of the millennium.

Another major difficulty with this idea is that if there are only 144,000 Israelites at the start of the millennium, then the total worldwide population at the start of the millennium would have to be very tiny indeed. If approximately 5% of the world’s population consists of Israelites, then the worldwide population at the start of the millennium would only be around 3,000,000. That is a very tiny population indeed, considering today’s almost 8 billion people. That would mean that over 99.9% of all people alive today would have to die before the start of the millennium.

Yes, a lot of people will die before Jesus Christ begins His millennial rule, But 99.9%? That’s far more than the Bible seems to imply in various places. Look, even if 99% of all people were to die (and I believe the real percentage of those who will die will be smaller than that), that would still leave around 80 million people on earth.

That is still a very drastic picture. But even with a theoretical worldwide population of around 80 million, it makes no sense at all to say that the 12 tribes of Israel would only amount to 144,000 people. It would mean that only 1 out of every 500 people on earth at the start of the millennium (in approximate numbers) would be an Israelite. It would mean that God had protected more than 144,000 from most of the other nations to survive physically into the millennium. And that doesn’t make sense either.

While I have no specific information regarding how many people will survive the terrifying times that lie ahead, I am expecting far more than 144,000 Israelites to live over into the millennium. And God somehow protecting only 12,000 people from each of the tribes of Israel (and none from the tribe of Dan?) to live over into the millennium seems very unrealistic.

Okay, now let’s consider the other idea.

As far as the belief that there will be 12,000 physical Israelites from each tribe in the first resurrection is concerned:

How is that supposed to work?

If God does know the exact number of non-Israelites in the first resurrection, why did God not reveal that number? Why (supposedly) only reveal the number for the physical Israelites in the first resurrection?

What is more important to God:

1) The total number for all those who will be in the first resurrection?

2) Or the partial number of those in the first resurrection, those who will have come from the racial stock of Israel?

In other words, does God divide the whole group of people in the first resurrection into two distinct groups ... physical Israelites and physical non-Israelites?

Will the first resurrection distinguish between people who had been physical Israelites and those people who had been non-Israelites? Is that what’s going to happen ... because that is precisely what this particular idea implies.

Why would God in the first resurrection distinguish between people based on their ethnic origin, as opposed to judging them on their character-development? Are people who have an Israelite racial background in line for a greater reward in the first resurrection than people who do not have an Israelite racial background? To say that God will group people in the first resurrection based on their physical ethnic background would clearly make God "a respecter of persons".

It took a vision from God for the Apostle Peter to understand that God is not a respecter of persons. Peter did not understand this basic concept even after he had received God’s spirit in Acts 2. Peter finally came to this correct understanding after he had been given a special vision, and after he had met Cornelius.

Peter is here saying something that he himself had not understood until that very moment in time. And Peter had spent more than three years in daily contact with Jesus Christ.

This was a difficult thing for Peter to learn! Without the vision he had seen, the Apostle Peter would not have grasped this straight-forward truth. So when Peter said that "God is no respecter of persons", Peter had finally come to understand that the racial background of the people who come into God’s Church is totally immaterial!

It doesn’t matter one way or the other whether a repentant person has an Israelite background, or whether that repentant person has a non-Israelite background. The only thing that matters is that the person is truly repentant. That’s what Peter had finally come to understand.

Now this Scripture, all by itself, means that it is not possible for God to divide the people in the first resurrection into physical Israelites and physical non-Israelites, without God being a respecter of persons. And it is simply not possible for God to guarantee 12,000 converted people from every tribe of Israel. Such a thing would totally destroy any claim to free will for all human beings.

Have you ever known of an heir who was disinherited and removed from all positions of power by his own father, before the father died? That has happened occasionally throughout history. And I do not have any one such situation in mind. I am speaking in general terms. But how does such a disinherited heir usually respond?

Typically a person in that situation feels that they have been cheated out of something that should really be theirs. They believe that they are entitled to what has been taken from them, or else not given to them. The one thing they usually don’t do is: they don’t blame themselves for the inheritance being taken from them. They still see themselves as the legitimate heirs, and they feel sorry for themselves.

It is extremely unusual indeed for a disinherited heir to have the attitude of the prodigal son, who said: "... Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son" (see Luke 15:21). This is a totally repentant attitude. And this type of attitude is extremely rare.

One example of this extremely rare attitude that comes to mind is Jonathan, the son of King Saul. Jonathan was in line to become king after his father. But Jonathan also understood that God had selected David to be king after his own father Saul. And Jonathan fully accepted that situation. As Jonathan said to David: "the Eternal be with you, as He has been with my father" (1 Samuel 20:13), and Jonathan repeatedly protected David, knowing and fully accepting that he himself would never become king. And Jonathan himself had in fact done nothing wrong, nothing at all.

That was an exemplary attitude.

Now what does this attitude of the prodigal son have to do with how we understand the 144,000 in Revelation 7? Here is the point:

Those who claim that God is supposedly very concerned about having 144,000 physical Israelites in the first resurrection don’t understand that the physical nations of Israel have sinned against heaven, and are "no more worthy to be called the Bride of Jesus Christ"! And unlike the prodigal son, the nations of Israel are not repentant at all, not even remotely.

1) Jesus Christ had "married" Israel. See Jeremiah 3:14. That goes back to the old covenant made in the days of Moses.

2) The explicit purpose for that "marriage" between Jesus Christ and Israel was for Israel to produce all the "children" that would be needed for the first resurrection. Yes, God’s original intention was for all those in the first resurrection to be from Israelite stock. In God’s original intention there was no room in the first resurrection for any non-Israelite people.

3) And so already at the making of the old covenant God established the names He would give to those 144,000 individuals in the first resurrection, divided into 12 equal groups of 12,000 each.

Each group would be referred to as a nation. God selected the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, dropping the name of the tribe of Dan, and replacing it with the name of the half-tribe of Manasseh. Those names for the nations into which all the people in the first resurrection will be grouped are fixed, and they will not be changed. They were fixed in the days of Moses, when Jesus Christ "married" Israel.

4) But Israel kept on sinning and sinning and "backsliding". It became clear to God that there was no way that Israel would be able to produce the 144,000 (less a small handful) needed for the first resurrection.

5) So eventually Jesus Christ "divorced" Israel. See Isaiah 50:1. This divorce happened in stages. First Christ divorced the northern House of Israel. That divorce was finalized when those tribes went into Assyrian captivity.

6) In time the southern House of Judah turned out to be worse than the House of Israel. That is recorded in Ezekiel 23, in the story of Aholah and Aholibah. Verse 12 tells us that "Aholibah ... was more corrupt in her inordinate love than Aholah".

Judah was worse than the northern kingdom had been. So Jesus Christ then also divorced the southern House of Judah, and sent them into captivity to Babylon. Both nations had then been kicked out of the land God had given them ... like a man sending his divorced wife out of his house (see Deuteronomy 24:1).

7) But there was a temporary reprieve for the House of Judah, in that Jesus Christ allowed them to return to Palestine after the Babylonian captivity. We should understand, however, that the majority of the Jewish people did not return to Palestine. From the Babylonian captivity onwards, the majority of the Jewish people have always lived outside of Palestine.

8) Now the purpose of that reprieve was to prepare for the first coming of Jesus Christ. Judah, the tribe into which Jesus Christ was born, had to be in the area of Jerusalem when the Messiah would come to pay for our human sins. And thus God had arranged for a small minority of the people of Judah to return to Palestine after a period of captivity in Babylon. It was this temporary reprieve that also ensured that all 12 of the original apostles were from the tribe of Judah.

Without this temporary reprieve there would not have been any guarantee that all of the original apostles were going to be physical Israelites ... because all of the tribe of Judah would have been living in foreign lands, away from Jerusalem, just like the people from the other ten tribes have since the Assyrian captivity always lived in other lands. None of them went back to Palestine.

9) Throughout His ministry Jesus Christ focused on "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (see Matthew 15:24). As the Apostle John said: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11).

10) But once His ministry had been completed, then Jesus Christ changed the focus from "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" to a focus on "teach all nations" (see Matthew 28:19). To quote the words of Mark 16:15, Jesus Christ said: "go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature". That was a major change in focus!

11) That was the end of the temporary reprieve for the House of Judah! That change represented a change in God’s focus for how to find people for the first resurrection!

12) From Matthew 28:19 onwards Jesus Christ’s divorce from both groups of Israelite nations was complete and final!

13) Jews as well as all the other tribes of Israel were no longer invited as tribes to the first resurrection, to the marriage supper. From then onwards invitations to the marriage supper became an individual thing, rather than a national or racial thing.

14) Invitations to the first resurrection became independent of an individual’s racial profile.

Jesus Christ clearly said the following:

That is a pretty blunt and direct statement! The tribes of Israel who had been invited to be in the first resurrection had proved themselves to be "not worthy"!

The next verse says:

To be invited to the marriage means to be invited to have a part in the first resurrection. Does this verse sound like: make sure you find 12,000 people in every tribe of Israel (except Dan) to come to the marriage?

No, of course it doesn’t sound like that at all. Rather, it sounds like: you go and find as many people, Israelites and non-Israelites alike, as you can find for the first resurrection.

15) Oh, did I mention that Jesus Christ was extremely angry when the tribes of Israel rejected their invitations to the first resurrection? Well, let’s look at verse 7.

With this statement Jesus Christ was expressing His own personal feelings towards Israel and towards Judah. These were His feelings in His capacity as the God of the Old Testament. When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, that was an expression of Jesus Christ’s anger with the House of Judah!

Yes, Jesus Christ was angry that the rebellious Israelites had forced Him to make another adjustment to His plan. The rebellious Israelites had forced Jesus Christ to drop His intention of limiting the first resurrection to physical Israelites.

They had forced Jesus Christ to look outside of Israel for people to fill up the number of 144,000. As Christ said: the King was wroth! Let’s understand that Jesus Christ had this great anger in His capacity as God, and not in His capacity as a mortal man. It was God who was angry with Israel!

16) Paul understood this situation very well. And so Paul explained:

Here Paul used the olive tree analogy. When Paul says that "some of the branches were broken off", Paul is saying "the tribes of Israel were broken off the natural olive tree". And once they had been "broken off" it became impossible for them to produce 12,000 people from each tribe for the first resurrection.

The principle that Jesus Christ explained about the vine in John 15 applies equally to the olive tree analogy in Romans 11. And that principle is:

All the tribes of Israel were "broken off". Broken off branches cannot possibly "bear fruit". So none of the 12 tribes can possibly bear "12,000 fruits".

17) In their places non-Israelite branches were "grafted in". For what purpose were they "grafted in"? They were grafted in for the purpose of producing fruit.

18) Now while the tribes of Israel were broken off as national entities, the branches that remained were on a personal and individual level, rather than on a national level. So on the individual level there are now both Israelite branches and non-Israelite branches.

So here is the correct picture regarding Israel, which the Bible presents to us:

1) God divorced Israel (Isaiah 50:1).

2) Those who had been in line for the first resurrection were broken off (Romans 11:17).

3) Those who were invited to the first resurrection were rejected (i.e. not worthy) (Matthew 22:8).

So as far as the first resurrection is concerned, Israel was ... divorced ... broken off ... and rejected by God. This is the correct picture that the Bible presents to us. And that is the exact opposite of ensuring "12,000 converted individuals" for the first resurrection from every one of the 12 tribes.

And it is no surprise that those people who think of themselves as physical Israelites don’t want to accept that status! They still think that somehow they are entitled to be given special treatment and special consideration. To all such people God says through John the Baptist: "And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father ..." (Matthew 3:9).

But that is precisely what the people who expect 12,000 from each tribe in the first resurrection are thinking ... they are relying on the racial background for having people in the first resurrection.

The divorce severed that relationship between God and Israel. The breaking off reinforced that severance. And the rejection means that this special relationship, on the national level, can never be reestablished. Never again can the physical nations of Israel have the privilege of being the exclusive providers for people in the first resurrection. That privilege was permanently taken away from them by Jesus Christ.

That is the correct picture that is presented in the Bible. But "the heirs who have been rejected" are unwilling to accept this reality. They still believe that they are somehow in a privileged position before God. And so they cannot understand the correct picture.

The names of the 12 tribes in Revelation 7 do not indicate where these people have come from! These 12 names indicate where these people are going! The 12 names in Revelation 7 do not indicate origin; they indicate 12 destinations! The focus in Revelation 7 is not on the past (i.e. on origin) but on the future (i.e. on destinations).

So now let’s consider those 12 names.

In Ezekiel chapters 40-48 we have a description of the religious system that will exist during the millennium, when Jesus Christ will rule over the whole earth. Right at the end of chapter 48 we are told that during the millennium Jerusalem will have 12 gates, and that each gate will be named after one of the tribes of Israel. Let’s look at those names.

Now why are those gates during the millennium named after all 12 of the tribes of Israel? I suspect that the people from each of the tribes of Israel will enter Jerusalem through the gate that is named for them. The naming of these gates certainly means that all 12 tribes will be nations in the millennium. Specifically, the tribe of Dan is firmly entrenched right in the middle of this list. So during the millennium the tribe of Dan must be just as significant as every other tribe of Israel.

The naming of these 12 gates means that Dan will be a prominent nation during the millennium. Having the whole world know that one of the gates into Jerusalem is named after them is an enormous honor. During the millennium Dan will be just as much in the picture as all of the other 11 tribes of Israel.

Now let’s look at the list of the 144,000 in Revelation 7. Here it is.

This list has a completely different sequence for the tribes of Israel, when compared to the sequence in Ezekiel 48. And both these sequences are different from the birth order for Jacob’s 12 sons, which birth order is recorded in Genesis. So three different lists of these names present three different sequences. The point is that we should not attach any specific significance to the order in which the names of the tribes are presented to us.

Next, 11 of the 12 names are identical in the lists presented in Ezekiel 48 and in Revelation 7. Where Ezekiel 48 then lists Dan as one of the tribes, Revelation 7 omits Dan and instead lists Manasseh as one of the tribes. So in Revelation 7 Manasseh has taken the place of Dan.

The reason for replacing Dan with Manasseh in Revelation 7 is not revealed. We can speculate, but we don’t really know God’s reason. We have sometimes tried to justify Dan’s exclusion in Revelation 7 by saying that the people of the tribe of Dan were the first ones and the worst ones in going into paganism. But that line of reasoning is only a speculation.

And in fairness, when Aholibah was even more corrupt and more perverse than Aholah (of which the tribe of Dan was a part), it could be argued that the tribe of Judah was even worse than the tribe of Dan. And let’s not forget that all of the tribes of Israel were bad before God sent them into national captivities. So trying to pin some reason for exclusion on the tribe of Dan is a foolish exercise. Dan’s inclusion in Ezekiel 48 surely means that Dan is definitely a prominent nation during the millennium.

Notice also that although Dan is excluded from the list in Revelation 7, Verse 4 clearly calls that list "of all the tribes of the children of Israel". So let’s just accept that thus far God has not chosen to reveal to us why Dan is excluded in Revelation 7, but included in Ezekiel 48.

Okay, now that we have seen the list of tribes in Revelation 7, we should also take a close look at the first part of that chapter.

We should all be familiar with the general sequence of events that unfold in the Book of Revelation. There are 7 seals which are opened sequentially. When the 7th seal is opened, then there are 7 trumpets that will be blown. And when the 7th trumpet is blown, then Jesus Christ returns, the first resurrection takes place, and then the 7 last plagues are poured out on this earth in the presence of Jesus Christ, and in the presence of all those in the first resurrection.

In Revelation 6:12 the 6th seal is opened, and verses 13-17 then discuss that 6th seal. In Revelation 8:1 the 7th seal is opened, and then we have a discussion of the first 6 trumpets in chapters 8 and 9. The 7th trumpet itself is then only sounded in Revelation 11:15.

So the account in Revelation 7 is placed after the first 6 seals have been opened, and before the 7th seal is opened. Here is verse 1.

What are these four angels doing? They are controlling the weather, the atmospheric conditions. These angels have been given great powers over what we like to call "the forces of nature". But at that point they are not yet instructed to unleash those phenomenal powers. They are to hold back those powers until something else has taken place.

The four winds are a reference to the first 4 trumpets, which are only blown after the 7th seal has been opened. The 7 trumpets consist of two groups: the first 4 trumpets unleash "the forces of nature", causing mind-boggling damage to this earth. They are referred to as "winds". After that the last 3 trumpets all involve extreme warfare with monumental destruction of life. Those last 3 trumpets are also called "woes", because of the staggering number of people who will die during those 3 trumpets.

The four angels holding back the four winds are a reference to the first 4 trumpets of Revelation 8:7-12.

Let’s continue with chapter 7.

This angel has "the seal of the Living God". This means that this angel is bringing an instruction from God the Father to these four angels who have power over "the forces of nature". So let’s look at the instruction.

Again it shows that "the earth ... the sea ... and the trees" are going to be exposed to phenomenal destruction. That destruction will be so severe and so terrifying, that many people at that time will die from heart attacks. Luke records Jesus Christ saying concerning that time: "men’s hearts failing them for fear" (see Luke 21:26), which is a reference to people having fatal heart attacks.

Those terrifying events will be held back until "the servants of our God are sealed in their foreheads".

What does this mean?

First of all, it does not mean protection from the great tribulation. That is because at this point it is too late to offer protection from the great tribulation. The great tribulation will have started at least two full years before this sealing takes place. This sealing has nothing at all to do with physical protection. This group is pictured just before the 7th seal is opened, well after the 5th seal was opened.

Next, those 144,000 individuals are already "servants of God" before their "sealing" takes place. These 144,000 individuals already have God’s holy spirit dwelling within them before this sealing occurs. The Apostle Paul explained that if any man does not have "the spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (see Romans 8:9), i.e. he is certainly not "a servant of God". So servants of God are individual adults who have God’s spirit dwelling in their minds.

Let’s ask a question: what happens to something that is sealed? Something that is "sealed" cannot be changed without breaking the seal. So the "sealing" does something for that group of people that will be permanent.

Sealing makes something permanent and unchangeable. But sealing is not a form of protection, and sealing also is not the same as giving something. Sealing establishes a state or a status that cannot be changed. Sealing represents a commitment that something is to be seen as permanent.

Here is a point we need to keep in mind:

When Jesus Christ returns at the 7th trumpet, then the first resurrection takes place, and we meet the returning Jesus Christ "in the air" (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Exactly 144,000 individuals will meet Jesus Christ in the air. But the return of Jesus Christ will be about 12 months after the 1st trumpet is blown.

Consider that each of the first 4 trumpets may take a week or two or three. And trumpets 5 and 6 involve major worldwide warfare, where each of these two trumpets may take from 3-6 months. It seems very likely that God has allotted one full year for all 7 trumpets to be blown.

That one year will be "the day of the Lord". And that will be the most terrible year that human beings have ever experienced, or ever will experience. Never before have human beings been forced to live through such horrendous times for one whole year.

So the "sealing" in Revelation 7:3 will take place one year before Jesus Christ returns. And all the people who are "sealed" are (or have been, if they are still dead at that point!) in possession of God’s holy spirit for many years in most cases, though there are likely to be some few who have only had God’s spirit for a couple of years before being sealed.

So here is the point I am trying to make. Are you ready?

[Comment: It is the events with Seal #6 that will re-establish the perfect 360-day yearly cycle.]

Those individuals (and that includes the dead in Christ!) are then officially "sealed in their foreheads", meaning that their fate cannot be changed. It is not talking about protection of any kind. It also makes no difference whether those specific individuals are alive or already dead at that point in time, because this sealing has no effect on physical life one way or the other.

The sealing is not in their bodies. It is "in their foreheads", meaning it is their spirit in man that is sealed. After this sealing their spirit in man can no longer change to a different way of thinking.

They also cannot be "unselected" from the group of 144,000. No, they are "sealed". It also means that they can no longer sin ... that is something the "sealing" will do to them. God will have His 144,000 for the first resurrection, and nobody can be added to that number, and neither can anyone be removed from that number.

That is what this "sealing" is all about.

And that is established one year before Jesus Christ returns. So during the last one year before Jesus Christ’s return nobody else can be added to the 144,000 for the first resurrection. If anyone during that period repents, or approaches closely towards being repentant, then those individuals will live over into the millennium as physical human beings. They "missed the bus" for being in the first resurrection. And they will have phenomenally exciting and stimulating physical lives during the millennium. But they can’t be in the first resurrection.

So the sealing of the 144,000 one year before Jesus Christ’s return will be the cut-off date for anyone becoming a part of the people in the first resurrection. At that point all the names of the 144,000 individuals who will be in the first resurrection will be fixed. So when the 7th seal is opened and the 7 trumpets are then blown, God is no longer looking for anyone to be in the first resurrection.

Jesus Christ is the One who opens all the seals. And Jesus Christ will not open the 7th seal until He has got exactly 144,000 people for the first resurrection. That must be absolutely and irrevocably certain. That’s when Jesus Christ will have His hand-picked team for the millennium. Only then can the plan of God proceed to the next phase, with the opening of the 7th seal.

All those of the 144,000 who are alive before the 7th seal is opened will still be physical human beings; and they will only experience those terrible times "as observers" in circumstances, where they are protected from the actual physical forces that will be unleashed by those 7 trumpets. They will be at the place of safety (except for the two witnesses).

Let’s keep in mind that this is the only information we are given about these 144,000 individuals. The only information verses 4-8 add to this account ascribes exactly 12,000 individuals to each of the 12 tribes listed here. But apart from that we are told nothing else about these 144,000 individuals. We are only told that they are "the servants of God", and implied is that there are no other "servants of God" anywhere, as far as human beings are concerned. Consider that if there were any other "servants of God" anywhere on earth at that time, or anywhere in the past history of mankind, then it would simply not be fair to exclude them from also being "sealed in their spirit" before they are resurrected.

This group of 144,000 servants of God consists of all human beings since the creation of Adam who at the end of their lives are or were "servants of God".

We see in Revelation 12:14 that true Christians (i.e. "the woman") are protected for 3.5 years in the wilderness "from the face of the serpent" (i.e. from all of Satan’s vicious attacks). So physical protection at the end time is for 3.5 years. But the sealing of the 144,000 will only be one year before Jesus Christ’s coming.

Here is how I understand these things.

1) The wrath of Satan begins about 3.5 years before Jesus Christ’s return. It begins with the start of the great tribulation. That wrath of Satan will continue for about 2.5 years. Hosea 6:2 ties in here.

After two years the tribulation will start to wind down for Israel. And in the third year it will be replaced by the wrath of God, as expressed by the 7 trumpets and then the 7 plagues. The wrath of God is poured out on all of sinful mankind.

2) So for the last one year before Christ’s return the wrath of God takes over. And that wrath will end with the pouring out of the 7 last plagues in the presence of Jesus Christ.

3) Revelation 12:14 shows that God’s people are offered protection from the wrath of Satan, which lasts about two-and-a-half years. That protection will then continue through the one year for the wrath of God, which follows right on the heels of Satan’s wrath. So the total period of physical protection will be 3.5 years.

4) No specific number is indicated for exactly how many people will be physically protected in this way. But in addition to baptized adults, this group of physically protected people will also include unbaptized young children. This protection will be provided at what we generally call "the place of safety". There is no "sealing" of any kind mentioned in connection with this period of physical protection. Going to the place of safety does not involve being sealed. Keep this in mind.

5) In Revelation 7:3-8 a special kind of "sealing in their foreheads" then takes place one year before Christ’s return, just before the 1st of the 7 trumpets is blown. This "sealing" is limited to exactly 144,000 individuals. At that precise point in time those 144,000 individuals are assigned into 12 different groups of 12,000 each. That whole group consists of people who are alive at the place of safety, and also all of "the dead in Christ". These 12 groups are identified by the names of the tribes of Israel. They will form 12 nations within the Family of God.

[Comment: This sealing and how and why it includes dead people is thoroughly discussed in the companion article titled "THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT IN MAN". You need to read that article to fully understand this subject. Here in this present article I am only briefly describing this sealing.]

6) The sealing locks the minds (i.e. the human spirit) in these 144,000 people into God’s way of thinking. They are all set in the right way of thinking. And for the remaining one year of their physical lives (i.e. until they are changed at the 7th trumpet) it will be impossible for them to sin. That is what the sealing does to their minds. In that way it is assured that one year later Jesus Christ will still have exactly 144,000 for the first resurrection.

7) With this sealing Jesus Christ will have identified all those of the 144,000 who are alive at that point in time. The "dead in Christ" will still be dead, but they will at this time also each be assigned into one of the 12 tribes.

8) If you are one of those who is "sealed" at that time, and you are assigned to the tribe of Manasseh, I suspect that you will also learn who else will be in the tribe of Manasseh with you. And if you at that time find out that you have been assigned to the tribe of Asher, then you’ll also find out who else around you has been assigned to the tribe of Asher.

9) I suspect that when that sealing takes place, all those who are alive at that time will understand which tribe they have been assigned to, and which tribe every other person in the first resurrection will be a part of. The people in the group of 144,000 will have a year more to live as mortal human beings, before Jesus Christ will return, at which time they will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:52).

10) That, knowledge about who has been assigned to which tribe of Israel for the first resurrection, also includes knowledge about those who are still "dead in Christ" at that time. With that "sealing" we will find out to which of the 12 tribes Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Job will be assigned. They must all fit into one of the 12 tribes!

For example:

The 12 apostles will all be key leaders under Jesus Christ during the millennium. Racially they were all from the tribe of Judah. But I personally doubt that all 12 of them will be a part of the tribe of Judah in the millennium. Rather, I believe that they (excluding Judas Iscariot of course, and including Judas’s replacement) will be assigned to one tribe each. As Jesus Christ said to them:

If each apostle judges a different tribe, it means that each apostle is assigned to a different spiritual tribe in the 12 spiritual tribes of Israel; and they will rule with Jesus Christ during the millennium. So all 12 apostles were racially of the tribe of Judah. But one of them will rule over the tribe of Reuben, while another apostle will rule over the tribe of Simeon, and another apostle will rule over the tribe of Benjamin, and another apostle will rule over the tribe of Asher, etc.

What this indicates, I believe, is that when God divides the 144,000 of the first resurrection into 12 "nations" of 12,000 each, all of whom will eventually have a permanent residence within the New Jerusalem, then the 12 apostles will be assigned to those tribes over which they ruled as kings during the millennium.

So apostles who were racially from the tribe of Judah will in the eternal Family of God be a part of nations other than Judah (i.e. 11 of them). They ruled over the physical nations of Israel during the millennium, and they will for all future eternity be in key leadership positions in spiritual nations with the same identity as the physical nations they had ruled over during the millennium.

While we are at it, I personally believe that in this context of the millennium and future eternity beyond that, it will be the Apostle Paul who will take the place of Judas amongst the 12 apostles. I cannot prove this. This is only my own personal opinion.

Anyway, there must be exactly 12,000 assigned to each tribe. And there will be exactly 144,000 in the first resurrection, not one person more. Jesus Christ is one individual. And His "wife" will consist of exactly 144,000 individuals. We need to understand that everybody in the first resurrection must belong to one of those 12 groups of exactly 12,000 each.

ALL IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION ARE ISRAELITES

In Genesis 32:28 Jesus Christ changed Jacob’s name to Israel. And right there Jesus Christ defined what this name "Israel" means. It means: to as a prince (ruler) have power with God and with men.

What Jesus Christ was saying here is: I have selected you and your descendants to rule with Me during the millennium. Your descendants are to provide all the remaining people that are needed to fill up the number of 144,000.

Many people do not understand that the name "Israel" describes all those who will rule with Jesus Christ as kings and as priests during the millennium! That is the primary meaning of the name "Israel". It is only those who rule with Jesus Christ during the millennium that will actually "have power with God".

Anyone who does not actually rule with Jesus Christ may be a physical Israelite, he may be able to trace his genealogy back to one of the tribes of Israel. But such a person is not a real "Israelite", not if he doesn’t also "have power with Jesus Christ". By saying that such a person is not "a real Israelite" I mean that such a person is not a part of "the Israel of God"! Only a very small number of physical Israelites will ever become a part of "the Israel of God", because the Israel of God will be limited to exactly 144,000.

And the only real Israelites are those who are a part of the Israel of God! The only real Israelites are those who will have power with Jesus Christ. The only real Israelites are those who will be a part of the first resurrection.

As far as physical Israelites are concerned, John the Baptist said that "... God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (Matthew 3:9). In other words, John the Baptist was saying that the physical line of descent is not really all that important. John was saying that if stones can become children of Abraham, then anyone can become a part of God’s Israel.

[Comment: How is that for upsetting people who believe that they are physical Israelites? Well, that’s tough! Anyone who gets a chip on his shoulder about being told that physical Israelites are not "real Israelites", and certainly not for all eternity, needs to read Paul’s comments in Philippians 3.

After presenting his credentials as "a Hebrew of the Hebrews" and being of the stock of Israel, Paul then said that he viewed all these things as "dung" ... and in Greek Paul actually used a crasser word than "dung". See Philippians 3:4-8. So much for having the perfect Israelite pedigree. Paul was saying: my perfect pedigree actually means nothing at all. And don’t forget about Israel being divorced, broken off and rejected.]

The meaning of the name Israel is one more indication that God originally intended all those in the first resurrection to be of Israelite stock. God gave Jacob this name in anticipation that the descendants of Jacob’s sons would provide all 144,000 people (less a handful) to then rule with Jesus Christ during the millennium. That number for "the wife" was fixed! It was physical Israelites, changed into sons of God, who were supposed to sit at the tables at the wedding supper. They are the only ones who were originally invited.