God Knows His Own
GOD KNOWS HIS OWN
REVELATION 7:1-8
The 144,000 are not an elitist group; 14:3 interprets them as the redeemed.
Though most expositors who take this book seriously will regard this chapter as indubitably future, there are spiritual principles in it which are applicable to all times.
Daniel 7:2 explains 7:1 here. Long before Abraham, the term “the four corners of the earth” was used to imply universality. The “sea” is the lawless chaos of the nations, the “earth” is according to context either Palestine or the lands where God’s law is respected (see also 12:16), and the “trees” the rulers and leaders. The “winds” represent unrest and war. Repeatedly in Scripture we find a gap between the pronouncement of judgment and its fulfillment, between disaster as a warning and disaster as final. So it is here, but it is made clear (7:3) that the delay is less to give those who have had their warning time to repent and more to prepare those of the saints who are to pass through the intensified judgments to come. This preparation is not one of learning how to adopt a protective coloring, but the making obvious of their faith. The seal on their foreheads is where it cannot be hidden. Both seal and the sealed are apparently explained in 14:1.
In Revelation the distinction between true Israel and the victorious church is reduced to a minimum (see 4:4). So there is little point in arguing how the Israelite tribes are to be understood. We should probably interpret in the light of 14:1. Of importance is that all God’s chosen are represented, in full number, twelve, and in ample number, 12,000. The symbolic number does not suggest that each group must necessarily be equal.
Great play has sometimes been made with the fact that Dan is apparently not included. This is one of the pieces of “evidence” cited for the baseless theory that the Antichrist is to come from the tribe of Dan. In fact, it is strange that along with “Joseph” (7:8) “Manasseh” also (7:6) is mentioned and that apparently in an unnatural position. Dan and Naphtali are generally coupled together, so it is probable that in an early manuscript Dan was read as Man, which was then interpreted as an abbreviation for Manasseh.