Someone asked, “please do a blog on the seal of the 144,000 in Revelation.” I said, “sure, I’d be happy to!” But, boy… did I stick my foot in my mouth.
I didn’t realize how out of sorts I would be trying to put pen to paper. I didn’t know it would take a month of Sundays to approach a plausible understanding of those 144,000 people. One can’t just look at the Seal of the 144,000 without falling down a giant rabbit hole.
My Disclaimer
I do not assert that I have approached a final say on this subject: I continue to have questions.
What’s a Seal?
There are two seals, or two marks, in John’s Revelation.
Seal of the Beast
There is too much to unpack regarding the Seal of the Beast – better known as the “Mark of the Beast” – but let’s set some ground rules.
The Beast isn’t just a person; it’s also a kingdom and governance.
After this, I looked in the night visions; and there before me was a fourth animal, dreadful, horrible, extremely strong, and with great iron teeth. It devoured, crushed and stamped its feet on what was left. It was different from all the animals that had gone before it, and it had ten horns. “While I was considering the horns, another horn sprang up among them, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. In this horn were eyes like human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly.
Daniel 7:7-8
The Seal or mark is not limited to some printable or injectable device used to enable approvals of commerce. Should that be the only thing we’re expecting to observe, then we will have missed the presence of the Beast when it and he arrives.
The Mark of the Beast reflects a generally accepted paradigm, a way of thinking and behaving: just like the compliance with vaccine mandates and control of commerce during the government-enforced lockdowns. Those who were on board with those actions reflect the attitudes of those who will take the Mark of the Beast.
The Seal of God
This other Seal seems a bit more mysterious: we’re usually not familiar with it elsewhere in scripture, and it seems to be applied to a mysterious group of 144,000 people.
This is a Seal of God, and it has this effect upon its recipients: it protects them from the judgments of God –
And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Revelation 7:1-2
The Purpose of Gods’ Seal
In other words, it is a seal of protection, just like the Ark sealed Noah and his family inside – protecting them from the judgment they were living through. It’s just like the lamb’s blood placed on the door posts, protecting those inside living through the night of death. So then, the Seal of God covers the 144,000 from the judgments described throughout the book of Revelation.
Who are the 144,000
So then, when reading about the 144,000 that are sealed, most people believe them to be a group of people being supernaturally selected (e.g., think along the lines of Calvinism) from the tribes of Israel for some purpose during the tribulation. This purpose is usually described as evangelism.
That was my assumption too. But then I discovered a problem: what followed after that.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” … Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Revelation 14
Actually, I had at least four issues.
Problem #1
First, 144,000 is not such a large assembly of people that we can’t fathom trying to count them. Nowadays, it’s a number far less than a couple of the largest college football stadiums. So they can’t be a group of people “that no one could number.“
Problem #2
The ones coming out of the great tribulation are from “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” Yet the 144,000 are specifically from the tribes of the sons of Israel.
Problem #3
In many traditions, the 144,000 are assumed to be Evangelists. But they must do so without the assistance of the Holy Spirit since He has presumably been taken out of the way – at least according to most popular doctrines (2 Thes. 2:7).
Since the people “coming out of the great tribulation” are at the throne of God, they must be those who are saved due to the evangelism of the 144,000 – right?
Problem #4
Nobody repents during the tribulation.
I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.
Revelation 6:8
The star is named Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.
Revelation 8:11
A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths
Revelation 9:18
So then, what is the result of the judgments? Do the people repent?
Revelation 9:20-21
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 16:9
They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
Revelation 16:10-11
{the} People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
Therefore, the job of the 144,000 cannot be evangelism because if it were, then we would see repentance and salvation during the tribulation. If we called them evangelists, then we might even suggest that the word of God comes back void during this period:
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11
But even if we assume that the Gospel is used for judgment …
The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already …”
… a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
John 3:18-21; 5:22-25
… we still cannot excuse nor ignore that those people under the judgments described in Revelations “do not repent.” Therefore, the Gospel’s preaching is not required to enact God’s judgment during the tribulation.
Furthermore, the people who are sealed are protected against the judgment of God BEFORE those judgments are poured out – that much is clear. Therefore, those exposed to the judgments are not sealed; hence, they do not believe, seeing that they are “judged already.“
This is another way of saying we can’t have our cake and eat it too. We can’t have those being judged also finding repentance since scripture says, “they did not repent and give him glory,” and yet have them sealed later on so that they don’t suffer under other judgments of God. So the 144,000 are sealed before the judgments are released: “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Next things …
We need to continue an investigation into the Seal. Specifically, is it spoken of elsewhere? And if so, to whom is it applied?
Looking at those things will indicate who the 144,000 represent, that perhaps they’re not a literal Ekklesia or Congregation of people but a representation of something else.
A Recovering Legalist 