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Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

The Sealing

David Shin

The Sealing: Who Are the 144,000

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.

The Sealing: The Signature of God

On the screen I have a photograph of the most famous painting in all the world, the Mona Lisa.

It resides at the Louvre in Paris, France.

And the former director of the Louvre said that in 2014, there were 9 million visitors that year to the Louvre.

And he estimated that 80% of them came to just get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa.

This photograph of the painting has filled people with just wonder at the question of whether she's actually smiling or not, because it's a mysterious slight smile.

This painting was created by the quintessential Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci.

And for a number of years, it was thought that this painting was never signed.

Until in 2011, Silvano Venato, President of Italy's National Committee for Cultural Heritage, examined the Mona Lisa more carefully under a magnifying glass.

And as he took his magnifying glass and examined the right eye and more specifically the pupil of the Mona Lisa there were in black paint the letters LV which many assumed to be the initials of Leonardo da Vinci.

He had, according to many specialists, they believe that he did sign his masterpiece of a painting called the Mona Lisa.

Did you know that all of us will bear God's signature?

And I want to invite you to open your Bibles to the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 22 and verse 4.

This is after we are restored to Eden, We are standing before God glorified.

After all of the things have come to pass and all things are made new, in Revelation chapter 22 It describes the tree of life flowing through, from the throne of God through the city.

And in 22 verse 4, the Bible makes this declaration about God's people.

The Bible tells us that God's name will be written on our forehead, God's signature at the prefrontal cortex, the place where our conscience, our character, resides.

And you'll notice that there is a relationship between seeing God and having His Father's name written on our forehead.

Remember in Eden, Adam and Eve were able to have open communion with God.

But after sin, This was no longer possible.

And in Exodus chapter 33, you remember Moses was there on Mount Sinai, and you remember he made the request of God, can I see your face?

And so he hid Moses in the cleft of the rock, that's where we get that song, and as he was passing by he put his hand there and let his hand reveal his back.

He was only allowed to see the back of God.

But here we see, when Eden is restored, we are able to see the face of God because the Father's name is written on our foreheads.

Very quickly, on the screen, I have a picture of a bird's eye view of the sanctuary and this really shows the plan of salvation in kindergarten elementary illustrative form.

This is where Adam and Eve were in Edenic perfection.

Open communion with God, a conversation with God, face to face, eyeball to eyeball.

The entire human race was placed outside and we can spend an entire presentation on this, but the plan of salvation and the story of redemption and the story of the Bible, I would add, is showing us the path back to the throne of God.

So he brings us into the courtyard, into the holy place, into the most holy place.

In Revelation chapter 22, you see that God has completed his work, the Father's name is written on our foreheads.

A beautiful summary of this is found in the book Education, page 125.

The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters is the redemption plan.

They shall see his face and his name shall be in their forehead.

The burden of every book and the passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme.

It's not only to restore Eden, the place, but it's also to restore the people, to bring us back, to restore in man the image of God.

This is God's signature, and this is not a literal stamping of God's name on our forehead.

This is not saying that when we get to heaven, God is going to come down and stamp his signature on our forehead.

The name of God is referring to the character of God, and the reason why it's on our forehead is this is where the character resides.

The prefrontal cortex, reason, conscience, personality, this is where it's at.

And so, the Bible is telling us that when Eden is restored, the people that inhabit Eden will also be restored as well.

His Father's name, our Father's name, will be written on our forehead.

Now last week we talked about the 144, 000 and there's another characteristic of the 144, 000 and it's found in Revelation chapter 14 verse 1, then I looked and there before me was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion and with Him the hundred and forty-four thousand who had His name and His Father's name written on their forehead.

The Bible tells us that this group called the 144, 000, which is a symbolic number, and if you missed last week's presentation, I wanna encourage you to get it.

It's a symbolic number talking about God's people who are alive when he comes.

And the Bible tells us that they will have the Father's name written on their forehead.

Now open your Bibles to last week's study, Revelation chapter 7, verse 3 and 4, and you'll see that the 144, 000 are described as having something else on their forehead that is related to the name of God.

Revelation chapter 7, and let's pick up in verses 1 to 4.

Revelation chapter 7, verses 1 through 4, 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 not 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 where?

Now this is the picture that the Bible is painting, and this is the picture that is emerging out of this verse, there are 4 angels.

By the way, God is not waiting for world events, according to this verse.

So these angels are holding the winds, and a fifth angel comes, and he says, "'Keep holding them until we have sealed "'the servants of our God on their forehead.

You'll notice that in Revelation chapter 14, the 144, 000 have the Father's name on their forehead.

Here the Bible tells us that they have the seal of God on their forehead.

They're really referring to the same thing.

In ancient times, there was a way that you authenticated a document.

This is an archeological discovery of a seal from the first century.

When these officials would write a document, the way that they would authenticate it, the way that they would sign it, would they would take this seal, dip it into wax, and then impress the seal upon the scroll, indicating that the creator of the document had signed it.

This was the way that they signed documents.

So the New Testament individual that would read the words of Revelation and see the notion of a seal knew that it was synonymous with a signature.

When you compose a document, when you create a document, At what point do you sign it?

Do you sign the document before you've ever created it?

No, I would argue that the last thing that you do After you have composed a document, after you have edited the document, after you have drafted the document, after it's finalized, the last thing that you do to authenticate it is to sign it.

When an artist paints a painting, the last thing that he or she does is sign it.

It is the signature indicating who the Creator was.

Now in the Bible, God creates the earth in 6 days, day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6, and the Bible tells us that on day 7, He stamped it with his signature.

I should say, he did not stamp it in a place.

I'm so glad that he didn't make it a place.

That every 7 days we have to make a pilgrimage to somewhere in the Middle East?

That would be just logistically difficult.

But he put his signature of creation in time so that no matter where you are in the world that sacred signature in time comes over us like a holy wave beautiful every 7 days that sacred signature comes over us and we are now worshipping in this time.

The Sealing: Probation Closed

If you have not already, I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to Revelation chapter 22, verse 11.

As we reflect on this scripture, which has some challenging overtones for us.

He who is unjust, let him be unjust still.

He who is filthy, let him be filthy still.

He who is righteous, let him be righteous still.

Bible scholars have reflected on this text and come to the conclusion that this refers to a final probationary closing right before Jesus comes the second time.

And I want to add that there are 2 types of a close of probation.

You have an individual close of probation, that is a probation that closes for us individually when we die.

Our eternal destiny is sealed and Every single day there are people dying.

It's a startling thing to ponder when we recognize that every single day people's eternal destinies are essentially sealed.

Now probation is typically thought of in a negative sense.

When you are told you're on probation, you don't think, oh wonderful.

But, biblical probation is actually a good thing.

We would not have probation at all if it wasn't for Jesus.

So it's actually grace that gives us time to decide our eternal destiny.

Our hearts are beating, our lungs are still taking in air, and we are given a finite period in which to choose our eternal status.

Now, there is something called a corporate close of probation, and that is when Jesus, before he comes, says, you know what?

And he stands up, Daniel chapter 12, and he comes in the clouds of glory.

And this statement found in Revelation chapter 22 comes from a perspective of right before he comes a second time.

My brother up there, could you turn on the screen for me so I can see the slides from the back?

And I want us to read this here, Revelation 22, verse 12, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

Now the repetition in this verse, this pronouncement from heaven declaring not just an individual close of probation but a corporate close of probation not for the dead but for the living, indicating that there is going to be a group of people that are walking around not knowing that essentially time is up, the books have been closed.

And the ominous part of this statement is the repetition of the word still.

In other words, if you are righteous, you will continue in that pattern of righteousness.

If you are unrighteous, you will continue in that pattern of unrighteousness now if you're like me and You read a statement like this It fills me with a little bit of anxiety doesn't it?

Because I am the type of person that typically likes to procrastinate.

But what if probation closes and God says, the books are closed, I'm coming, and if he would have just extended probation 5 more minutes, I would have changed my mind.

I mean, this is the dilemma I have when I read statements like this.

Does God arbitrarily close probation and say, time is up, ready or not, here I come, and I'm down here saying, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, 5 more minutes, if I would have had 5 more minutes, I would have made the right decision.

And so this paints a dilemma in each 1 of us when we look at statements like this from scripture indicating that probation has closed, Jesus is getting ready to come, and we are all stuck in the moral status that we were in before.

Now, as I reflected on this a couple years ago in 2015, they had the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, 1975, April.

This is a picture of the embassy there in Saigon, the American embassy.

But this is that haunting picture of that helicopter on top of the US Embassy and Saigon was about to fall.

The North Vietnamese had crossed over into South Vietnam and they were right outside of Saigon.

A couple years before, 1973, Henry Kissinger had signed the Paris Peace Accord and everyone knew it was just a matter of time before South Vietnam fell.

And they put into operation, Operation Frequent Wind.

Marines on that helicopter bravely went into that city, back and forth, back and forth, 7, 000 people were evacuated, many of them Vietnamese, that had helped the US forces there in South Vietnam.

And I read a fascinating account of individuals that were there.

And they said that around the US Embassy compound, there were literally thousands of Vietnamese that were putting their children over the top of the wall, trying to climb up into the compound saying, please, Save me.

Because they knew there was a death list for anyone that helped the Americans.

And once Saigon fell, everyone was afraid.

Blood would flow like water through the streets of Saigon.

Thousands around the US consulate hoping to get on the last helicopter outside of South Vietnam.

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Series

The Sealing

The Sealing: Probation Closed

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Parent Series

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