The 144,000 Sealed (verses 4-8)

Thinking about the sealing of the 144,000 [verses 4 through 8], it might be worth making a brief detour here for a moment to contrast the seal of God upon these ones, and the mark of the beast—those who we’ll see later in Revelation, who take on themselves the mark of the beast, Revelation 13, 14, 16 and 19. For the sake of this brief illustration and contrast, those who take upon themselves the mark of the beast are those who have allowed themselves to be deceived, those who are in error, those who are away from God. In short, they are those who belong to Satan.

Well, there we have two differing marks, or seals, if you will. What is it that we are talking about? We are NOT (as many want to believe and have suggested over the generations)—we are NOT talking about a literal mark that is placed on an individual. Those who served Satan in the latter part of the 1^st Century and in OUR day in 2003 do not have some literal mark on them that we can look at and say, “That person belongs to Satan, because they have the mark of Satan on them.” Likewise, those of us who are faithful, who have “the seal of God” (and we’re going to explore this further)—but we do not have on us some kind of a brand. God does not brand His people as a rancher brands his livestock. In both cases, we are talking about spiritual markings.

There are a couple of examples in the Old Testament that are not precisely the same as what we’re talking about here, but I think they serve the purpose, perhaps, in helping us to open our eyes to understand what we are talking about here. The first is found in Exodus, chapter 12, verses 12 and 13 [“For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign (seal)for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood(seal), I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”]. You’ll recognize that section of Scripture having to do with the Passover. And the instruction that God gave to the children of Israel (we’re all very familiar with this) was to place the blood of that lamb that had been sacrificed, that had been slain, on the door post. God said that, that night He would pass through the land of Egypt and He would be executing judgment. But He would “pass over” the houses with the sign (which some translations have it), which could be understood as being a “seal.” In effect, those houses had an identifying mark that was visible to God. Yes, it was visible to everyone who looked on it. I certainly can’t deny that, but moreover, it was identifiable to God. Those who had the “seal,” those who had the “sign,” were those who had been obedient, who had been faithful, who had executed, who had done what needed to be done in order to be “sealed away” from the judgment of God.

There is a more vivid illustration in Ezekiel 9, verses 3 through 8 [“Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn at his side; 4 and the LORD said to him, ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.’ 5 To the others He said in my hearing, ‘Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. 6 Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.’ So they began with the elders who were before the temple. 7 Then He said to them, ‘Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!’ And they went out and killed in the city. 8 So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?’”]. Because of a lack of faith on the part of Jerusalem, there was a man dressed in linen going about with a writing kit, and he writes on the foreheads of those who are faithful to God.

Here in Revelation 7, in a time of distress, in a time of peril, in a time of persecution for the people of God— when they were very much in the minority, when their ranks were being very much decimated by persecution, by those who were being forced to leave the faith because they were, well, unfaithful, or because they were “giving in” to the pressure, to the persecution—those who remained faithful are given hope, they’re given assurance that they are “sealed of God.” They will “stand up and be counted.”

Briefly, some New Testament passages that deal with this matter of a “seal”:

In 2 Corinthians 1, verse 22, Paul speaks there of a “seal” being a “sign of ownership” [“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom….”].

In John 6:27, Jesus describe a “seal” as “a mark of authentication” [“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”].

And from Paul, Ephesians 1:13-14 [“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”] and Ephesians 4:30 [“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”], the “seal” there is linked to “protection.”

There are other concepts involved when it comes to this idea, this practice of “sealing,” but these certainly are certainly sufficient to see the point of a seal. We will understand more fully when we see that God is going to “seal”—put His seal upon—those who He owns, those who are authenticated as being His—and He will provide protection for them. Those in John’s view here, those in this image that John has, have stood up to be counted, to be reckoned with the faithful of God, and God has said, “These are Mine.” They belong to HIM. He will have ownership of them. There will be no counterfeits in those ranks. They will all be authenticated, and they will be under His Divine protection.