THE                   

REVELATION TO ST. JOHN 

CHAPTER 7 ANALYSIS

Part 1

 (From The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures)

 

"After this I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth, so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2  And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrise,having a seal of the living God; and he called with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3  saying: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until after we have sealed the slaves of our God in their foreheads."

Number 4 shows universality or squareness (four "guardian" angels, four corners of the earth, four winds of wrath).The he angels  hold God's wrath until His servants are "sealed". The teaching that God sends sufferings and calamities to humanity is not right, since these four spirits are told not to let Jehovah's anger to harm "the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees" until the final sealing of the anointed remnant of Christ's brothers who would be still on earth.

The "earth" is a symbol of the human society,organized with human goverments. The "trees" are the prominent men who hold high positions in these goverments ,whetherpolitic or religious. The "sea" is the vast mass of people who are away from God and are stubbornly resist His authority (See "Light" volume 1, page 95 and Revelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand, page 113  published by Watchtower Society) The "Day of the Lord" will have a gradual and  increasing intensity and thus a certain duration, since anarchy is prophesied before Jesus' Coming(2 Peter 3:8-12) .It is not the period since 1914 and afterward but the time when  Christ will start His judgement (2 Thess. 1:6-10, 2:8-12)

  As for the "sealing", this  we may call it as the final sealing for salvation, that is the confirmation of the hope of their heavenly calling of the anointed .In other words the "guests" receive the assurance that they are now seen by Jehovah as "elect" (Matthew 22:14).As seen in the vision,this takes place BEFORE the start of the great Tribulation. This does not, however, imply the rapture of the Church which will take place  just before the battle of Armageddon. In Matthew 24:31 Jesus is clearly speaking of His elect, so they must have already received their final sealing as a reward for their faithfulness. 

  So, it would be highly inappropriate to say that someone belongs in the number of the elect 144,000 before the final sealing takes place. It would be better to say that someone "is running" for the prize of High Calling and tries to be faithful to God (Phlip. 3:12-16, 1 Cor. 9:26-27, 1 Peter 1:10).

"4. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000,c sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 Out of the tribe of Judah 12,000 sealed;out of the tribe of Reuʹben 12,000; out of the tribe of Gad 12,000; 6 out of the tribe of Ashʹer 12,000; out of the tribe of Naphʹta·li 12,000; out of the tribe of Ma·nasʹsehe 12,000; 7 out of the tribe of Simʹe·on 12,000; out of the tribe of Leʹvi 12,000; out of the tribe of Isʹsa·char 12,000; 8 out of the tribe of Zebʹu·lun 12,000; out of the tribe of Joseph 12,000; out of the tribe of Benjamin 12,000 sealed"

  John begins to see believers  being sealed with that final sealing for heavenly salvation! Does he really see "every" tribe of Israel? No- because natural srael had been rejected as Jehovah's chosen nation since Pentecost 33CE when his place was taken by the Christian Church (Acts 2:1-4). Does John see only the Jewish Christians? No - because both Jews and Gentile believers now constitute him "Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16), i.e. they are partakers of Jehovah's promises that were previously applied to natural Israel. 

 It is absolutely certain that natural Israel has nothing to do with the 144,000 elect, who represent the victorious church of anointed Christians regardless of race,nationality or tribe (Revelation 5:9,10) In support of this position, we see  that the vision does not contain  all the tribes of natural Israel.This is because the vision clearly applies to  Christians who are partakers of the heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1, 2 Peter 1:3,4 and compare Romans 9:25,26).

 Let us consider the subject of election, which all the "from" words in the above scriptures point that  there is no election of a whole group but rather that it is a body of people elected from a larger group.That means that some are selected and some are not ( Matthew 20:16 ,1Cor. 9:24) So,the number of the elected saints is not the same with the number of all those who are called from God to run for the heavenly prize. Otherwise John wouldn't say that the 144,000 would be selected FROM the spiritual Israel but rather that ALL spiritual Israel is contained in that number. But we clearly see that the 144,000 are the overcomers, those who are worthy of the final sealing among others who are not selected either because of infidelity, or laziness, or even because they thought wrong they were called! Truly, only the Lord knows His own (2 Timothy 2:19). 

Now, what about the number 144,000? Is it literal or symbolical? Let's see how that number comes out 

(a) 12 symbolical tribes of spiritual Israel (Israel is symbolic too!)

(b) 12,000 persons selected (symbolic persons who represent the Christian overcomers)

12 (symbolical) X 12,000 (symbolical) = 144,000 (SYMBOLICAL!)

   It is clear that the number 144,000 symbolizes the victorious saints, those receiving the seal of the true God "on their foreheads". Most numbers in Revelation are symbolic rather than literal.When the disciples asked Jesus if there would be few who were saved, He did not reveal a literal number but  instead, He said unto them“..Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." (Luke 13:23,24). These "many" would try to "enter" heaven but only a "few" would eventually achieve it (Matthew 24:13)! 

Bible Student Ronald Day writes: 

"All the heirs (not just the joint-heirs) then make up the "Israel of God." (Galatians 6:16) These then are the spiritual "sons of Israel". (Revelation 7:4) ...It is only after they "attain" the resurrection, that is, when they become worthy of the honor of the high call, that they could be received as one of the "joint heirs" with Messiah. (Philippians 3:10-14; Romans 8:17) Selected out of spiritual Israel, these "joint-heirs" with Christ are numbered as 144,000 in Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5 (See Note #13). Notice that these are sealed out of spiritual Israel, 12,000 from each tribe; the 144,000 do not make up the total of spiritual Israel. Throughout the Gospel Age, millions have presented themselves to Christ in discipleship. But of these millions, only a few are selected to be joint-heirs"

(https://ransomforall.blogspot.com/2022/12/kind-body.html)

Although Ronald Day as a Bible Student (or a "russellite") believes in the literal number 144,000 he really gives us a nice presentation as to how this number does correspond only to the elected saints. 

As for the fate of those believers from spiritual Israel who failed to receive the prize,and thus weren't selected before the Great Tribulation, we will  have to leave it to the Lord to show it  in the future in His own time. Maybe some honest people among them will be included in earthly privileges  in the earthly paradise - others, who were  proven  wicked, deceitful workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:21-23) will have the fortune of the hypocrites of the rest of Christendom (Matthew 25:11,12, 29-30,43-46).

END OF PART 1

GO TO PART 2 (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)