144,000 Israelites Sealed

(and the resurrection of the tribulation martyrs)

 

Introduction

The seventh chapter covers the events between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals. with the opening of the seventh seal, the second part of the tribulation starts, Before the opening of the seventh seal, two things must take place.

1.The 144,00 Israelites must be sealed(vs4-8)

2.The tribulation martyrs must be resurrected (vs9-10)

'And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 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 four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel'(Rev7:2-4)

Sealing of the 144,000 Israelites (Rev7:3-8)

The 144,000 Israelites who are sealed on their foreheads will not die but will be preserved from death and come into the millennial kingdom on this earth as its human population (Zech13:8-9).Therefore there will be no martyrs among the sealed Israelites during the second part of the tribulation.

There will be no saints or martyrs among those who are killed at that time either, for all will be reckoned as sinners. as it is written,' All sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us(Amos9:10).Behold,The day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy sinners out of it' 

(Is 13:9)

'After this i beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred's, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;.....These are they which came out of great tribulation,..'(Rev7:9,14)

These are the tribulation martyrs and they will be innumerable. They will die as martyrs during the first part of the tribulation, refusing to take the mark of the beast(Rev13:15-17). It is about them that our Lord also spoke in Matt24:29-31. 'Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun be darkened,..then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:... And he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other'. This is not the secret rapture of the Church because this takes place 'immediately after the tribulation'. These martyrs do not belong to the overcoming Church because the overcoming Church will be caught up before the tribulation begins.