7:1-8 Who are the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews here and why are they sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads?
7:1-8 Who are the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews here and why are they sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads?
These hundred and forty-four thousand Jews are not symbolic, as many believe. They do not represent the church or any professing Christian organization.
They are true Jews - twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, named in V5-8 - who will be sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads to ensure their safety during the trumpet judgments of God on the earth during the first three and a half years of the tribulation (cp Re 8:1-2, 6, 9:1,13 with Re 9:4).
The hundred and forty-four thousand are raptured to heaven between the seventh trumpet and the first vial, or plague judgments, are poured out upon the earth. This is in the middle of the tribulation (cp Re 14:1-5 with Re 15:1, 6-8).
We know the hundred and forty-four thousand are in heaven at this time, because Re 14:3-4 teaches that they were redeemed from the earth, and from among men. Mount Zion in Rev 14:1 is the heavenly Mt Zion (cp He 12:18-23).
Some in the church believe that the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews were instrumental in the salvation of countless numbers of both Jews and Gentiles during the first three and a half years of the tribulation, and they use Rev 7:9-17 to support this teaching (cp Re 7:9-17).
These saints were all saved out of the tribulation, but there is nothing in this passage of scripture to indicate that the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews were instrumental in their salvation. The significance of the hundred and forty-four thousand is that they will be the firstfruits out of the tribulation of a new redeemed Israel as Rev 14:4 clearly teaches (cp Ro 9:27; 11:1-5).
The statement in Rev 14:4 that "these are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins", can be taken literally to mean that they were celibate, which enabled them to care more for the things of God (cp 1Cor 7:32-33). Or, it can be taken figuratively to mean that they were spiritually pure, not having defiled themselves with the uncleanliness and whoredom attendant on idolatry (cp 2Cor 11:2).
Both interpretations can be applied to the hundred and forty-four thousand. (For a further study on the hundred and forty-four thousand see comments on Rev 12:1-5).
7:9-17 See comments on
Rev 6:9-11