A
long time ago, one of God’s servants declared something that has been proven
true many times in the passing centuries: “What
has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and
there is nothing new under the sun.”[1]
This is also true when we journey through the book of Revelation.
I
say this because the book of Revelation is not so much providing new
information, as a distinctive way of thinking of what has already been
revealed. It is not a whole new addition to the divine symphony, but more like
the grand finale that ties together every theme of all the previous movements.
It is a museum full of intricately beautiful scenes that remind us of thousands
of words of God-breathed doctrine.
When
we arrive at Revelation 7, and the wonderful picture of the sealing of the
144,000, we are not presented with a new concept in the divine plan. Rather, we
are given a precise and detailed picture that will help us easily remember the gamut
of Revelation previously handed down to the Church.
As
I have been searching the rest of Scripture to answer the WH5 questions,[2] a scene
from the prophecies of Ezekiel helps us understand what the sealing of the
144,000 teaches. Let’s consider what God revealed to Ezekiel then, and how it
helps us understand what he revealed to John some time later.
1 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice,
saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon
in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces
north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a
writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.[3]
In Revelation 7 we have four angels holding back the four
winds that will harm the earth, while a fifth angel comes with the seal of God
and the announcement that no harm will come until the 144,000 are sealed. Ezekiel
9 shows a similar picture with six executioners coming to carry out judgment on
the wicked, while a seventh man comes for another purpose.
I find it interesting that all seven men went in to the
temple and stood beside the bronze altar. This is not the golden altar of
incense, indicating the prayers of the saints rising up to the LORD God of
heaven. Rather, this is the bronze altar, the altar of sacrifice. This is where
the people would bring the sacrifices that would deal with their sin.
This presents us with a declaration to God’s people that
the executioners and the writer stand where every opportunity to get right with
God has been presented to the people. There is an executioner standing there,
waiting to put to death all those who will not come to God by the sacrifice he
has provided. There is a man standing there with a writing case, ready to write
the names of any who would come to this altar, who would come in confession of
sin, relying on the prescribed sacrifice as their means of standing before God.
The issue here is that, before anything else happens,
whether in justice or mercy, the men lined up at the altar, waiting. They stood
there. They did not move. They did not do anything. Something was about to
happen. There would be executions. There would be deliverance. But first it had
to be noted that the seven men stood at the altar.
Justice and mercy stand at the cross, watching to see who
will come. There is a moment of standing, of waiting, of watching. It does not
need to be long, since the hearts of the people are already settled. There are
those with the kind of heart that loves sin, and those with the kind of heart
that loves righteousness. The seven men standing at the altar will know who is
whom. So will the five angels.
3 Now the glory of the God of Israel
had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house.
And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing
case at his waist. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the
city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the
abominations that are committed in it.” (Ezekiel 9)
Now we see a change that addresses only one of the seven
men standing at the bronze altar. God speaks to the one clothed in linen, who
had the writing case at his waist, and tells him what his role is in the events
taking place. He is to pass through Jerusalem, the city of God, the people of
God, and put a mark on the foreheads of some of the people. The executioners
will have their assignment shortly, but not until this man marks some of the
people and sets them apart.
The distinguishing characteristic of the people who will be
marked is that they “sigh and groan over
all the abominations that are committed in it.” Most of the people do not
feel any trouble or heartache over the abominations committed in Jerusalem. They
are okay with the state of the nation, the worship of idols, the rejection of
Yahweh. However, there is a remnant among the people, those who sigh and groan
because they see so many abominations in their city.
It is significant that this isn’t about what was taking
place among the sinful nations, but what was taking place in Jerusalem. This
was not the final judgment coming against the nations, but the judgment of God
against his chosen ones, his chosen people. Even among those who lived in the
city of God, who had access to the temple with all its provisions for mercy, many
wanted to live in sin.
Once again, we have a picture of God marking those who are
his before bringing about the execution of the wicked. God tells his angels to
hold off releasing the winds that will harm the earth until he has sealed on
the foreheads the people who are his servants, the true sons of Israel.
At this time, there was no physical mark put on the men who
feared God and honored his name. This was not about a mark that people could
see, that would let people know there was a distinction between some people and
others. This was a mark that the executioners could see, something that would
make it so that the executioners would recognize those they were to spare.
I believe that the “mark
on the foreheads,” refers to minds clearly set apart unto God. If God has
our mind, he has our deeds. If he wins our thoughts, he leads our actions. If
people think right, they do right.
This connects to the beautiful picture of Romans 12:2, that
we are transformed through the renewal of our minds. Our minds are set on the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is not mere religious behavior, but that God marks the
minds of those who are his. He knows the minds of those who have hearts that
sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in the church, and
in the world.
5 And
to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city
after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no
pity. 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens,
little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.”[4]
There is only one thing that distinguished one group of
people from the other. It was not their nationality, because this was the one
nation chosen by God, and people in this nation were divided between sin and
righteousness. It was not their age, since old and young were included. It was
not their gender, since both sides were comprised of men and women.
There was only one thing that distinguished those who were
not to be touched by the executioners. There were some identified as those, “on whom is the mark.” That is it. There
is a mark. If you have that mark, that seal that is written down by the man
clothed in linen, you are set apart from the harm that is coming on the earth.
When Paul said that, in the church we are not distinguished
as male or female, rich or poor, slave or free, he did not mean that these
distinctions did not exist in the church, but that they were not the thing that
distinguished us before God.[5] His point was that, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”[6]
So, the seal of God is not some
special experience that is given to some of God’s children. Rather, it is that
identifying symbol that we are set apart unto God as his holy ones, that we
will be saved on the day of redemption, and no judgment will fall on the earth
prior to that time to cause any of God’s children from missing out on the
coming paradise.
The point is that there is a way to
look at the distinctions in people that must be limited to this one thing, that
those who are “in Christ”[7]
are sealed, and those who are not “in
Christ” are not sealed. There are not some people who are in Christ but not
sealed. There are not some people who will be sealed even though they are
outside of Christ. Those who have faith are sons of God, period. All the sons
of God are sealed, set apart unto God as holy.
In the twenty-first century, as in the
days of John, and as in the days of Ezekiel, the sealing, or marking, of God’s
people is a prophetic picture of the security of those who live by faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. The sealing of the 144,000 means that Jesus will gather all
his elect into the home he has prepared for us in his Father’s house. It is an
easy to remember stanza of the closing movement of God’s divine symphony. Let it
play in your heart that “the Lord knows
who are his.”[8]
When Jesus sends out his angels to
gather the elect from the four corners of the earth, the angels will have no
trouble knowing the elect because they will all be sealed, marked, identified
as the beloved of God. Knowing that we are “sealed
for the day of redemption,”[9]gives
us hope no matter what is going on in the world around us.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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