Seal of God
“After
this (the end of the Philadelphia Church era and the sixth seal) I saw
four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four
winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on
any tree. And I saw another angel
ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he
cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm
the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees
until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their foreheads.” Rev. 7:1-3
Before
the seventh seal is opened, something happens to the servants of God; they are
sealed on their foreheads with the seal of God.
Throughout history, an important document or letter was sealed shut with
wax and the author or sender of the document would press a stamp or a signet
ring into the wax to identify the origin and the authenticity of the
document.
In Revelation 7 we see an
angel has been sent to place God’s seal on his followers, in effect marking
them as authentic and belonging to him.
This seal will not be visible to the human eye, it is a spiritual seal:
a setting apart, or separating, of those who follow God from those who follow
the beast. But why does the Bible
specifically say the seal will be placed on the forehead? Because that is where the mind is. With our minds we make the decision to follow
God and his truth, no matter the consequences.
“He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God
is true.” John 3:33
But why
is this so important? The mark shows
which people are to be protected from the first five trumpets of God’s
judgment. We see an example of this in
Ezekiel, Chapter 9. God sent a messenger
to Jerusalem to mark those loyal to him on the forehead, and then God sent five
beings to kill everyone in the city who did not have the mark. This story will repeat itself at the end of
time. We will be marked with the seal of
God and the angels sent to execute the first five trumpets will pass us by.
“And
I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four
thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel… After these things I
looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every
nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and
before the Lamb…”
Rev. 7:4, 9
Twelve
thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel are sealed and comprise the
144,000 mentioned here in Revelation 7.
Some people believe this is a literal number of people from the literal
country of Israel who will be converted to Christianity and saved at the end of
time. Others believe this is simply a
number signifying completeness and perfection of the saints at the end of time
and is not to be taken literally. Yet
still others believe this number may or may not be literal, but it does signify
those who go through the end of time and suffer greatly. These saints all have different strengths and
weaknesses correlating to the strengths and weakness of the twelve men and/or
tribes mentioned. No matter what this number
represents, our concern is that we be counted among the great multitude that
stands before the throne and the Lamb when all this is over.
