“Israelites R Us” (Revelation 7:1-8)

The Eagle Story

A story is told of a man who found an eagle’s egg. He put it with his chickens and the mother hens. Soon the egg hatched. The young eagle grew up with all the other chickens. Whatever the chickens did, the eagle also did. He thought he was a chicken, just like them. Since the chickens could only fly for a short distance, the eagle also learnt to fly a short distance. He thought that was what he was supposed to do. So that was all that he thought he could do. And that was all he was able to do. One day the eagle saw a bird flying high above him. He was very impressed. “Who is that?” he asked the hens around him. “That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” the hens told him. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth – we are chickens.” So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.

I shared this story because the main point of Revelation is about who we are meant to be in Christ and how we are supposed to live as God’s people. So my prayer is that as we study the Book of Revelation, God may open the eyes of our hearts, so that we may see things from heavenly perspective and begin to live eternal, abundant life as God’s people now!

Who Are the 144,000?

Today’s passage, Revelation 7, is an interlude between the 6^th and 7^th seals. And it’s also an answer to the question, “Who is able to stand God’s wrath?” at the end of chapter 6. So the answer is the 144,000 who are sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel. Then, who are the 144,000? Here the numbers are symbolic, rather than literal. As we continue to read the second half of the chapter 7 (vv. 9-17) and also chapter 14, we find that the 144,000 represent the entire people of God through the ages. Multiplying the 12 tribes in the OT by the 12 apostles in the NT equals 144. Then, multiplying that figure by 1,000 reinforces the notion of completeness.[1] The 144,000 are the church of all ages, including our church. In chapter 7 John sees two visions – the vision of the 144,000 of Israel sealed (1-8), and the vision of the great multitude from every nation (9-17). At first sight they seem to be two distinct groups, but in fact, both are the same community of God. In other words, Israel is the church from every nation in every age. Israel is us. The implication is this: the story of Israel is not just the history of Israel, but it’s our story. Today’s passage, the vision of the 144,000 of Israel, is all relevant to us, to our life today. But how is it relevant?

The Sealed People of God

The first implication is that we – Christians, the true Israel, the church – have spiritual protection from all kinds of sufferings and persecutions. In verse 3 an angel says, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.” God doesn’t promise physical security for His people, but He does promise their spiritual protection. God sustains, upholds, protects the believers’ faith and salvation. God has protected the 144,000 from the previous six disasters, and he will protect them from the seventh seal and its coming judgment. Psalm 91 says to the 144,000, God’s people, “You who live in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty… A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (1, 7) Psalm 37:24 also says, “Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand!” (24) This is who we are, and who we are meant to be in Christ!

Regarding the seal of God, one of the best images I’ve found in the Bible is the image of the Passover. In Exodus 12 God commanded the Israelites to take the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorposts, and said, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (13). Just as God protected the Israelites from the 10 plagues because of the blood of the lamb, God will protect the church from all evil, all harm, all danger, because of the blood of Jesus both now and forever. In verse 13 the Bible tells us who the 144,000 are from a different perspective: “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

O the blood of the Passover Lamb
Is applied to the door of my life
No power of darkness could ever withstand
The force of the blood sacrifice
Though Satan will bring accusations
I let him know right where I stand
For now there is no condemnation
I’m under the blood of the Lamb

I’m under the blood of the Lamb
That covers the guilt of my past
By the mercy of God,
holy and righteous I stand
I’m under the blood of the Lamb
I’m safe and secure from the enemy’s plan
No weapon formed against me will stand
I’m under the blood of the Lamb!

Remember you are safe and secure under the blood of the Lamb!

Soldiers of Christ

The second implication of being the 144,000 is that we are called to be soldiers of Christ. In verses 4-8 the census is taken from 12 tribes of Israel. In the Old Testament the purpose of the census was to organize a military force to do battle. So those numbered in verses 4-8 are the army of God. We are called to be soldiers of Christ. What does it mean to be a soldier? In 2 Timothy 2:4 Paul says, “No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier's aim is to please the enlisting officer.” So the soldiers of Christ have one aim. It is to please Christ. That’s our aim. That’s the church’s aim.

Our next question is about the manner of our fighting. How do we battle with the enemy? How do we conquer the world? The answer is “by suffering,” because that’s the way Jesus conquered the world. Christ bore our sins and purchased our forgiveness – and he did it by suffering (1 Peter 2:24). Christ defeated death – and he did it by suffering death (Heb 2:14-15). Christ disarmed Satan – and he did it by suffering (Col 2:14-15).

The Call to Suffer

Paul says to Timothy, his spiritual son, as follows, “Join me in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tm 2:3). Paul also says to the Philippian Christians, “I want to suffer with Christ, sharing in his death” (3:10).

Perhaps some of you may remember the film Braveheart. It’s based on the life of William Wallace, who led the Scots in the first independence war against England. Before the battle, William Wallace made a battle speech in front of those in fear and trembling: “Sons of Scotland, I am William Wallace… I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do with that freedom? Will you fight?... Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live – at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!!”

Friends, we are meant to be free men and women in Christ. That’s who we are. The Bible says Christ came to destroy the devil who holds the power of death and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Heb 2:14-15). And now, we are called to be soldiers of Christ and suffer with him. Then, what does it look like sharing in his sufferings? What does it mean? Though various forms are possible, in essence it means to choose Christ at any cost whenever we are called upon to choose between anything in this world and Christ. It means to treasure Christ above all things, above home, above security, above family, above comfort. By doing this, we suffer. But our Lord Jesus Christ promised that we are safe and secure by his blood forever. So let our hearts be stirred by Paul’s battle speech: “Join me in suffering like a good solider of Christ Jesus. No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier's aim is to please the enlisting officer.” Amen.

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[1] G. K. Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 149.