The Preachers of the Gospel
Sealed During the Tribulation (7:2-8)

Thus, the sealing of God’s servants begins as an angel ascends from the rising of the sun and begins to seal. Some people misinterpret this scene and cause confusion. In Korea, for example, some think it means God will start His sealing with the Korean people, since Korea is located in the East, or toward the rising of the sun. But I do not want to be sealed at that time. Because before that happens the Christians will already be in heaven watching events in the earth! The sun symbolises Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the verse says the angel comes from the thorn of Jesus in obedience to His order.

1. Those Who Are Sealed Are All Jews

Those sealed are the preachers of the gospel who will deliver the remnants of God during the first half of the tribulation. Furthermore, verses 4-8 tell us they’re all Jews-144, 000 out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.
Why was the tribe of Dan omitted and the tribe of Manasseh included instead? There’s a definite reason for that.
First Kings 12:25-30 describes how idolatry was committed in the Northern Kingdom of kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam, its first king, made two golden calves and set one in Dan and the other in Bethel, the hill country of Ephraim. Both the tribes if Dan and Ephraim worshipped the calves. God had said earlier that He would blot out the names of those who serve other gods from under heaven (see Deut. 29:18-20). Therefore the name of Dan was omitted from the list of the twelve tribes of Israel and replaced by the tribe of Manasseh, who was the firstborn of Joseph.

2. The Wrong Interpretation About the Number 144,000

Today there are many heretics who deceive people using the number 144,000. Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain that only 144,000 people will go to heaven. If that were true, however, that number would already be there, leaving the rest of us without hope. Park Tae-sun, founder of a Korean cult, also asserts that when the number of the saved reaches 144,000, the end of the world will come. That also is a misinterpretation.
3.144,000: The Servants Who Will Glean the Remaining Souls
The 144,000 are the Jewish servants of God who will glean the remaining souls in the first half of the tribulation. Why does God choose them for that purpose?
Those who preached the gospel first were Jews. Those who recorded the Bible were also Jews. And it’s only right that our Lord would again use His chosen people as those who would complete His Kingdom.
These 144,000 Jews are like the seven thousand people God preserved during the time of Elijah; they did not bow their knees to Baal but kept their faith in God to the very end. The end-time Jews will have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and entered into salvation. God will seal them for His use as preachers of the gospel, and they will preach it everywhere during the first half of the tribulation.