Pastor David begins a three part series entitled “The Sealing”. In this first installment Pastor David shares a study on the identity of the 144,000. 

<p>Pastor David begins a three part series entitled “The Sealing”. In this first installment Pastor David shares a study on the identity of the 144,000. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

The Sealing

David Shin

The Sealing: Who Are the 144,000

The Sealing: The Signature of God

The Sealing: Probation Closed

Today we begin a three-part series of messages we've entitled The Sealing, and I invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Revelation, Revelation 6 and verse 14.

As we back up a few verses before the Scripture reading, today's is going to be a study of the notion of who is going to be sealed before Jesus comes.

Revelation 6, verse 14, this is after the sixth seal Or during the sixth seal I should say then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" The scene is that Jesus is coming, the earth is shaking, The sky is rent open like a scroll.

And there is a group of people that are wanting not to see the face of Jesus.

They are calling for the mountains and rocks to fall on them.

They want to hide from the face of Jesus.

And in verse 17, the sixth seal ends with this question, you see it there in your Bible, who is able to stand?

Now when you read the book of Revelation, there are 7 seals.

You have the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth.

And between the sixth and the seventh seal, there is what theologians and Bible scholars call an interlude.

There's a pause before the seventh seal comes.

And the pause is really answering the question in verse 14, who shall be able to stand, in other words, who is going to be able to stand before God.

Chapter 7, verse 1, After these things I saw 4 angels standing at the 4 corners of the earth, holding the 4 winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the 4 angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their forehead.

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144, 000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.

This is the response to the question in verse 14 of chapter 6.

Chapter 7 begins with the scene of 4 angels.

A fifth angel comes and says, hold them Until we have sealed the servants of our God on their forehead now there seems to be in Our community of faith some anxiety about this notion of the hundred 44000 isn't there?

And there's several underlying trigger points of anxiety.

We'll get to a few of those in a moment, But the first 1 is, are the 144, 000 literal Israelites?

Now, if you keep reading in your Bible, you'll see how these 144, 000 are divided up.

Verse 5, of the tribe of Judah, 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Reuben, 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Gad, 12, 000 were sealed, of the tribe of Asher, 12, 000.

And it goes on through the 12 tribes, 12, 000 from each tribe.

Now, Mervyn Maxwell, the Adventist scholar, notes that ever since the Jews returned from Babylon in the sixth century BC, some 2, 500 years ago, no serious attempt, often not attempt at all, has been made to prevent intermarriage among the tribes.

It is extremely difficult to conceive that there exist today 12, 000 pure-blooded representatives of each of the tribes listed in Revelation chapter 7.

You remember in the book of Kings, there was a division in Israel.

Solomon's son, Rehoboam, caused an uproar, and 10 of the tribes to the north seceded from the kingdom.

It became the country of Israel with Samaria as his capital, and then 2 tribes stayed with Judah, or it became the kingdom of Judah, Judah and Benjamin.

And the 10 northern tribes were taken away into captivity by the Assyrians and lost their national identity.

The 2 kingdoms to the south continued on to the time of Christ.

So this is a misunderstanding when it comes to the 144, 000, because the Bible tells us that the New Testament Jew, according to Romans 2, verse 28 and 29, for he is not a Jew who is 1 outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is 1 what?

Inwardly, and Circumcision is that which is of the heart by the spirit not by the letter and his praise is not from men But from God did you know that you're a spiritual Jew?

That's what it's saying Galatians chapter 3 verse 29 if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

So New Testament Israel Consists of anyone that has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

That's what the Bible is telling us the promises of Abraham apply to us as God's Church and God's people Now the point of anxiety for many Seventh-day Adventists is this notion right here, 1 of them anyway.

The Lord comes to Dave and says, oh, I'm sorry, I've got to get my perfect round number here.

That's kind of a difficult thing to swallow, isn't it?

And what if he has 12, 000 from the tribe of Reuben, whatever that means, and you're the extra portion there and you don't get in.

And this causes a lot of anxiety among God's people.

Now, The significance of the 144, 000 as a number is when you look at the breakdown, it is from how many tribes?

It's from 12 tribes, 12, 000 from each tribe.

It's a square root of 12 when you look at it.

And the number 12 has special significance in Scripture.

You have the Old Testament church, God's people, consisted of what?

The New Testament disciples were 12 as well.

DuConn, who's professor of Old Testament at Andrews Theological Seminary, he says that the number 12 has significance in that it means the totality of God's people.

Let's not get caught up in this anxiety here.

This represents God's people who are alive just before he comes.

And here is another point of anxiety that people have.

Are the 144, 000 saved by a different means than everyone else.

Some people say, oh, you know what, the 144, 000, there's this assumption they're gonna get to heaven with a little bit of their merit.

These are a special group, the elite that are going to get to heaven with something a little more than we have.

When you read the Bible, and I wish that we would just have this practice more and more often, just read the chapter.

It says they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

When you have to wash something that implies that it was dirty before.

So they are saved by grace just like everyone else.

So here's the question, who are the 144, 000?

Simply put, the 144, 000 represent God's people that are alive when he comes.

That is the group that are described here.

Now, when you look at this list that is described in Revelation chapter 7, this particular list of the 12 tribes exists nowhere else in Scripture.

When Jacob goes through his sons on his deathbed, he begins with Reuben, the oldest, and then goes down through the different sons.

Another interesting thing is that there is no tribe of Joseph found in the Bible.

Reuben forfeited the birthright because of an egregious act.

He was supposed to receive a double portion.

That double portion went to Joseph through his sons.

So this is fascinating because Ephraim is missing from this list.

Another individual that is missing from this list is the tribe of Dan.

And Bible scholars have conjectured as to why this is missing from the list of the 144, 000.

Here's a text that seems to indicate Ephraim's tendencies.

Hosea 4, verse 17, Ephraim is joined to idols, leave him alone.

The other tribe that is missing is the tribe of Dan.

And here is Jacob on his deathbed, going through his sons, and he mentions a characteristic that became true for the tribe of Dan in general, Genesis chapter 49, 17 through 18, Dan shall judge his people as 1 of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path that bites the horse's heel so that the rider falls backward.

1 of the characteristics of Dan is that Dan was a backbiter.

The individual that would smile to your face and when you're turned away, they would, you know, talk about you behind your back.

That was 1 of the characteristics of Dan.

By the way, If you have someone that's always talking about someone else behind their back, be wary.

It's just a matter of time before you become the subject of their conversation when you're not around.

As a Matter of fact, 1 author said, 1 of the ways to build integrity is to defend those who are absent.

You build integrity with those who are present.

Series

The Sealing

The Sealing: Who Are the 144,000

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

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Breakouts

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A Slave's Redemption

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Out of the Dark Ages: Escaping Righteousness by Works

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3rd Quarter Sabbath School 2023: Ephesians

12 “The Call to Stand”

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Why Sexual Discipline Builds the Life You Actually Want

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Sound Doctrine