Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #7 of Revelation, chapter 7, and we are going to begin by reading Revelation 7:3-8:

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

I will stop reading there.  As we have been discussing in our previous studies of chapter 7, the angel that ascends from the east gives the command to the four angels (or messengers) to “hurt not” the earth, sea or trees until “we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”  We saw how to be “sealed” in the foreheads is language indicating salvation – to be “sealed” by the Spirit of God is to become saved and to receive the “earnest” of God’s salvation program.

So, now, the sealing is taking place, as the Lord Jesus Christ (the one who is in complete control of His Gospel program) sends forth His Word into all the world through the churches and congregations, commanding them to teach all nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” that is, bring the Gospel to the people of the world and He will save those among them that are His elect.

This language in verses 4 through 8 describes 12,000 sealed from 12 tribes of Israel and notice how God says in Revelation 7:4:

And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Let us ask the question: Did God, here, name all the tribes of the physical nation of Israel, the tribes that we read about in the Old Testament?  The answer is: no, He did not.  He names 12 tribes and one of the tribes that He names is “Joseph,” and Joseph is actually not the name of a tribe, but we can understand that God is referring to the tribe of “Ephraim” as “Joseph.”  He does make mention of “Manasses,” which is another one of the sons of Joseph, as Joseph was given two tribes, but He does not mention Ephraim by name; so we will grant that God is referring to “Ephraim” by the reference to “Joseph,” but that still leaves another tribe that is not named and that is the tribe of “Dan.”  

God often does this when giving a list of the tribes; He will leave one tribe out, and He did that here, so it is actually not a list of all the tribes of physical, literal Israel, but “spiritual Israel.”  The “Israel of God,” as Galatians 6:16 refers to her, is the people of God that become saved from all the nations of the world.  They could be Jews, but the vast majority of them are not – they are from China and India and Africa and the Americas and all over the world.   God can refer to these people as “Jews” or “tribes of Israel” because, as He explains to us, in the Book of Romans 2:28:

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither *is that* circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

Now that may come as quite a surprise to many Jews today and to Jews all throughout history that are physical, blood descendents of Abraham, but it is a fact because God is saying it.  He is saying to them, “Look, you are not a Jew just because you are a descendent of Abraham or just because you are circumcised.”  I am sure they would shake their heads in complete disbelief: “Of course, I am a Jew!”  Yes, you are a “Jew” in the sense that you are of that people or nation, but you are not a “Jew” in the sense that God is referring to in Romans 2:29:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

This defines the spiritual meaning of a Jew in God’s sight, as He looks upon His people that He has saved.  He looks on those He saved within Israel and He looks on those He saved from the rest of the world (the Gentiles) and God likens them all to “Jews,” if they are one “inwardly” and they have that “circumcision of the heart.”

Now, of course, circumcision is the “cutting off” of the foreskin of the reproductive organ and it is a literal, physical circumcision, but “circumcision of the heart” is the “cutting off” or the removal of the “heart of stone” and the giving of the “heart of flesh,” as it says: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”  If God has done that (and that can only be done by Him through salvation, as He grants grace and mercy to a sinner), then that individual becomes a Jew “inwardly” and becomes a part of the “Israel of God.”  So God can say, as he does in James 1:1:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Now James was writing this some time after the church age was established and after Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2.  He is writing to the “twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.”  Yes, it can have application to Jews that are true believers of the tribe of Israel, but it also has application to spiritual Jews that are amongst the nations of the world – God’s elect people – and that is what God is describing in Revelation, chapter 7.  Of course, this would totally ruin all of those theories held by individuals who think this is referring to literal Israel or literal Jews and that God has a plan to save a literal 144,000 Jews.  No – they are wrong on every count.  He is not referring to literal Israel; He is not referring to literal Jews and 144,000 is not a literal number.  We have to look for spiritual meaning and this is the only way we can understand these verses (or understand the Bible). 

So 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel refer to God’s elect, but now the question is: Is it referring to all of God’s elect (all that He has ever saved)?  Let us put it this way: Are all those whose names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life in view?  Is every single one of them in view, typified by the 144,000?  You will hear some people make that claim.  You will hear some that will say, “Yes, this is pointing to all of the elect.”  And they point to the number and they say, “It is 12,000 out of 12 tribes.”  Obviously, the number “12” points to “fullness” and the number “10” points to “completeness,” and it does point to the “complete fullness” of those that are in view, but their mistake is that they have not taken else that the Bible has to say into consideration before coming to that conclusion.  For instance, we read in Revelation 14:1:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

So, here, we definitely have the same group in view: 144,000 (12,000 from 12 tribes of Israel) and they also have their “Father’s name written in their foreheads.”  So this means they are sealed with the Spirit of God.  Then it says in Revelation 14:2-3:

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

Well, we have to take this into consideration and it seems to support the claim that 144,000 is referring to all those that were to be saved.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 14:4-5:

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, *being* the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Now we have more information.  God has helped us a little bit more by telling us that the 144,000 which were redeemed from among men are the “firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”  That is a very important statement which will help us to understand who the 144,000 represent and it will also help us to pinpoint the particular period of time where they fit into God’s timetable of “times and seasons.”

So let us follow that word “firstfruits,” and it leads us to the Book of Exodus.  We want to learn of the “firstfruits” because the 144,000 are the “firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”  It says in Exodus 23:16:

And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours…

God is talking about the harvest and the “firstfruits,” so this involves the 144,000.  We can see why the Lord would refers to these souls that He has saved (the 144,000) as “firstfruits,” because He likens Himself to a “husbandman” and He sends rain to produce fruit and when He saves people, He considers them “fruit.”  And, here, the “feast of harvest” is mentioned, and it says:

And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, *which is* in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

This verse makes it clear that “harvest” is a two-part process: the “feast of firstfruits” or the “first fruits of thy labours” and there is also the “feast of ingathering in the end of the year.”  And it makes sense that “firstfruits” would not come in at the end of the year, but at an earlier period.  So God is revealing that there are two stages to His spiritual harvest, as these feasts certainly involve God’s salvation plan. We know the third feast (where all the Israelites were to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem) was the Feast of Passover, or unleavened bread, and at that time the Lord Jesus fulfilled that feast by going to the cross, and so we know that the other aspects of these important feast days would also involve spiritual fulfillment.   So there are “firstfruits” that come at an earlier period, followed by a second part of the harvest.  Both “firstfruits” and “ingathering” are parts of the feasts and harvest; it is all one harvest, but it is gathered in two different stages: “firstfruits” and then the ingathering at the end of the year.

Also, we have another reference to this in Exodus 34:22:

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

So we have a similar statement, likewise showing that the gathering of fruit is not done one time, but it is done two times in the year.  The year would also spiritually point to salvation, as God speaks of a “day” or a “year” as the “the acceptable year,” as far as a time in which He saves.  Exodus 34 supports what we learned in Exodus 23:16: that there is a two-part harvest.  Also, here, we find out that “firstfruits” is known as the “feast of weeks.”  It says: “And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest.”  So that is some additional information, as the “firstfruits” referred to the 144,000 and are the “firstfruits unto God,” and they now are, in turn, identified with the “feast of weeks.” 

So let us take a look at that term, “feast of weeks” and see where that leads us.  We read in Deuteronomy 16:9-10:

Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto JEHOVAH thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto JEHOVAH thy God, according as JEHOVAH thy God hath blessed thee:

God is speaking of “seven weeks” as part of the “feast of weeks,” which identifies with “firstfruits.”  Now let us also to Leviticus 23:15-16:

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto JEHOVAH.

Now the “feast of weeks,” which is “firstfruits” (they go together), involves the fifty-day period; fifty days encompasses the “feast of weeks.”  The number “fifty” is why we find in the New Testament the word “Pentecost,” which is taken from the Greek word for “fifty,” so it is really referring to the “feast of weeks.”  We read in Acts 2:1:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come…

Pentecost would be when the fifty weeks had fully come, or the time of “firstfruits” was fully come.  What would God mean by that?  Spiritually, He has in view the fulfillment of the “feast of weeks” or “firstfruits,” that feast He instituted to be held every year (and it was, as far as we know, by the Jews) would be fulfilled spiritually in 33 A.D. after the Lord Jesus Christ had gone to the cross; then there was that period of “weeks” and, finally, the Day of Pentecost was “fully come” and on that day God poured out His Holy Spirit and saved 3,000 souls that heard the preaching of Peter and the other disciples.  (And while Jesus Christ preached for 3 ½ years and there were only a relative handful believers.)  Satan was bound and it was God’s intention to evangelize the world by sending forth the Gospel through the churches and congregations He would establish, and it all began on the Day of Pentecost (the outpouring of the Holy Spirit) with the firstfruits unto God.  So that means that the firstfruits of those that would become saved throughout the New Testament church age were identified with that feast. 

So when we read of 144,000 in Revelation 7 and as we have this statement in Revelation 14 (that the 144,000 are the firstfruits unto God), this means that these souls that are represented by the 144,000…we do not know the actual number; maybe it was two million or five million people that God saved from 33 A.D. to 1988, the 1,955 years of the church age.  Whatever the number, they are typified by the 144,000 and they represent the “fullness” of all those redeemed from amongst men during the church age – during that particular period of time.  

Then God ended the church age and ended that evangelization of the world, as we read in Revelation 11, when the “two witnesses had finished their testimony.”  That signified the end of the sending forth of the Gospel via the churches and congregations and, yet, God’s salvation program was not finished because there was another part of the “harvest” that the Bible speaks of, as we read in Exodus 23:16 or in Exodus 34:22.  The harvest is two parts and that would mean that God had another plan to evangelize the world a second time and He did do that, as we have learned.  He did that after 2,300 evening mornings that began the Great Tribulation period and those 2,300 evening mornings came to a close on September 7, 1994 and that began a “second stage” to gather the precious fruit of the earth, a final gathering of God’s elect during the time of the Great Tribulation. 

That is why we read in Revelation 7:6-8:

Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

Then, after it tells of those that were sealed, it says in Revelation 7:9-10:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

And when they were seen, the Lord was asked the questioned (which many have wondered), in Revelation 7:13:

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

Whence came they?  They are not of the twelve tribes of Israel!  They are not part of those sealed out of each of the twelve tribes.  They are not part of the 144,000.  They are not part of the “firstfruits unto God;” they have nothing to do with the church age.  Who are they?  Where did they come from?

It is a wonderful answer that the Bible gives us and, Lord willing, we will look at this “good news” when we enter into our next Bible study.