In the Bible a seal is an indication of authority and ownership, so the seal of God in the foreheads of the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses is an indication of God's authority or ownership of them. This seal is also an indication of their submission or yieldedness to God and the Lord Jesus the Messiah to preach the Gospel that the Messiah Jesus died for the sins of the world and rose again from the dead and especially once the tribulation starts will be coming back again in power and great glory shortly.
The main qualification here of the 144,000 witnesses is that they are all not only of the children of Israel but exactly 12,000 each of each of the 12 tribes of Israel. This is meant to be taken literally and doesn't allow for any of the 144,000 to be Gentiles or people of the nations not even Gentile believers in God or Jesus. The sealing of these witnesses is also specifically spoken of as applying to each of the 12 groups of 12,000 for each of the 12 tribes of Israel so it is clear God wants all 12 tribes of Israel included in this last days witness to Him and His Messiah Jesus in the Tribulation or 70th week of Daniel and that at least for these witnesses the 10 lost tribes of Israel will be found by then. They will have their witness throughout the tribulation as there is no limitation of 42 months on the period of their witnessing as there is for the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11. Gospel of Matthew 10 which in the last days sense is probably a reference to the 144,000 has these witnesses continuing their witness on earth until the second coming in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The seal of God in the foreheads of the 144,000 Messianic children of Israel witnesses as a mark of ownership or authority and their submission to God will be especially true or their will or thoughts since the forehead sometimes represents these and a seal of God there indicates there committment to Him.
As especially those who are evangelical Christians and when people become evangelical Christians will likely know or come to know, the different positions about the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7 and 14 is a significant issue. This week (second week of July 2025) I have sought to look into the origin or early church history people who held both a literal and figurative view of the 144,000 witnesses. In the early church and somewhat still now there were or are 4 views of Revelation and Bible prophecy in general. This would include Bible prophecy of the 144,000 witnesses of both Revelation 7 and 14. There was the praeterist position that Bible prophecy including Revelation was mostly fulfilled by 70 AD with the destruction by the Romans of Jerusalem and Herod's Temple there. There is the idealist/poetic view that takes most of Revelation and other references to Israel including the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation as the Church or Church Age phase of the Kingdom of God as the new or spiritual Israel. There is the historicist view that views prophecy over all the church age but that is also symbolic or allegorical and also views the Church as the new or true Israel. Unfortunately the majority view among Christians involved or promoting progress in global Christian missions is an allegorical or symbolic interpretation of the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7. They believe current Christian missionaries are the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7 (and 14) and that later in Revelation 7 the people persuaded by these witnesses to trust in Jesus are the great multitude of all nations in a time of great tribulation as in Revelation 7:9. Also there is the futurist view that mostly interprets the scripture, including Bible prophecy literally in context including the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7 (and 14). This futurist view holds that most of the events and personalities in Revelation were still future for the early Church and that actually most of Revelation and other last days prophecy in the Bible is still future now. However, probably very soon more prophecy in Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible will start to be realized a lot more in our world. I hold the futurist position as so a significant part of Christians whol hold to the Bible from a literal and in context interpretation.
The issue of how one interprets the 144,000 witnesses is of great importance at this time as the majority of the global Christian missions community among evangelical Christians, especially those who hold to Kingdom or Kingdom Now Theology. People who hold to Kingdom or Kingdom Now theology believe it is the responsibility of the true Church to not just evangelize the world. (To evangelize the world is to share the good news with people of all nations that we can be restored children of God and have all our sins forgiven if we admit we are sinners or not perfectly good all the time to God through prayer in Jesus' name and also trust in Jesus that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again to enable us to have His resurrection life.) Kingdom or Kingdom Now Theology does believe about the need to share the good news of salvation in Jesus with all people in the world, but they also beleive in the need of Christians to support Christianizing society, entertainment, politics, law, science, the arts or other social structures in this world so that they put Jesus, God, the Bible and Christians in a primary place instead of being marginalized. I and other evangelical Christians believe it is only up to the true Church or true Christians to evangelize the world. We who take the Bible more literally in context believe Christianizing the world (and giving place to restored Israel or the Jewish people) will be realized by the Lord Jesus Christ to directly Christianize (and put Israel as the head not the tail of the nations based in Jerusalem) at Jesus' (or in Hebrew Y'Shua's) Second Coming when He comes from heaven to earth to visibly rule in the world as His Kingdom on earth. We believe the earth will be a much worse place than now when Jesus comes after the 7 year tribulation or 70th week of Daniel 9 and that the tribulation hasn't quite started yet. Moreover, we believe the tribulation will feature 7 years of people left behind after the rapture of the Church under Satan's world dictator the Antichrist or Beast to rule the world in the tribulation and make the world much worse than now.
I found, in my looking into early Church history, that it was mostly in the 200s or 3rd century AD that the allegical interpretation started to gain popularity and eventually gained the upper hand in the church (including in what became the Roman Catholic Church and then the mainline Protestant Churches as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church). This was especially due to the popularity of Origen and other somewhat later church fathers who took the Bible symbolically or allegorically by combining Greek sometimes Platonic Greek philosophy with the Bible or how they interpreted the Bible. This includes how they interpreted Bible prophecy in general including how they interpreted the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7 and 14.
A quote in reference to the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7 and 14 from the book A Dictonary of Early Christian Beliefs edited by David W. Bercot and published by Hendrickson Publishers on page 567 in the section Revelation, Book of from Origen is the following:
"The number of believers who belong to Israel according to the flesh is small. One might venture to assert that they would not nearly make up the number of a hundred and forty-four thousand. It is evident, therefore that the hundred and forty-four thousand who have not defiled themselves with women must be made up of those who have come to the divine Word of the Gentile world." Around 228 AD 9.298.
I haven't yet found a specific statement by the church fathers who support a literal interpretation of the Bible consistent with a pre-millennial view that specifically states their support of the 144,000 witnesses as Jewish for Jesus in the tribulation. The witness of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses is in order to win more people of all nations or Gentiles to God through faith in Jesus in Revelation 7 and 14. I have found, however, that the majority of articles I've come across on early church history, some very clearly, state that in the first about 250 years of the Church including almost all the earliest Church fathers as well as the apostles and Jesus Himself did hold to a pre-millennial and literal view of prophecy. This pre-millennial belief in the early Church was called by the term chiliasm which is based on the Greek or Latin word for a thousand as in Revelation 20:4-6 for the thousand years of the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom on earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most likely almost all of these early Church leaders would then interpret the 144,000 witnesses of Revelation 7 and 14 as 144,000 Jewish witnesses for Jesus to the people of the nations or Gentiles in the future last days tribulation before Jesus's glorious return to earth to set His and God the Father's Kingdom on Earth.
The best two sources to support this belief that the main belief of the early Church including the early Church fathers was pre-millennial or chiliast that I have found are the article on the internet: "Bible reasons - Dispensastalism And the Earth Church Fathers at link: https://biblereasons.com/dispensastionalism-and-the-early-church-fathers/ and the section or pages The History of the Doctrine of the Second Advent/ II The doctine of the second advent in the early church in pages 373 to 381 of the book Things to Come by Dwight Pentecost and published by Zondervan Publishers. Although there is an excellent extended list of Church Fathers who supported the pre-millennial or chiliast position that wuold likely include a literal or futurist interpretation of the 144,000 witnesses for Jesus as Jewish witnesses for Jesus to the nations or Gentiles in the tribulation, I will first quote from the internet article referred above. The article Dispensationalismand the Early Church Fathers by William B. Hemsworsh on page 2 states the following:
There are many in the church who view dispensationalism as a historical, or even worse the invention of John Darby in the 19th century.
In this paper, I will show that dispensationalism was not the invention of a 19th-century Biblical scholar, but that it has roots in the earliest days of the Christian church.
In this paper Papias and his chiliastic teaching will be examined. What was one of the ways that Irenaeus battled the Gnostics? One of his weapons in Against Heresies was premillennialism and various ages that God used to bring about his plan.
Other church fathers such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Methodius will have their writings examined to show that they too have a doctrine of ages, or dispensations. Furthermore, other documents from church history will show how the idea of dispensationalism developed and that it is not a modern invention. It is not the intent of this paper to prove that dispensationalsim is true, but to prove that it has historical merit and is worthy to be included in theology debate and study."
There is a list of early church fathers and New Testament church persons who supported the pre-millennial or chiliast position on pages 373 and 374 of the book Things to Come by Dwight Pentecost as follows:
II The Doctrine of the Second Advent in the Early Church
"It is generally agreed that the view of the church for the centuries immediately following the Apostolic era was the pre-millennial of the return of Christ. ...
Whitby, generally held to be the founder of postmillennialism writes:
'The doctrine of the Millennium, or the reign of saint on earth for a thousand years, is now rejected by all Roman Catholics, and by the greatest part of Protestants; and yet it passed among the best Christians, for two hundred and fifty years, for a tradition apostolical; and, as such, is delivered by many Fathers of the second and third century, who speak of it as the tradition of our Lord and His apostles, and of all the ancients who lived before them (such as in Old Testament or pre New Testament times among the Jews or those influenced by them); who tell us the very words in which it was delivered, the Scriptures which were then so interpreted; and say that it was held by all Christians that were exactly orthodox. It was received not only in the Eastern parts of the Church, by Papias (in Phrygia), Justin (in Palestine), but by Irenaeus (in Gaul), Nepos (in Egypt), Apollinaris, Methodius (in the West and South), Cyprian, Victorinus (in Germany), by Tertullian (in Africa), Lactantius (in Italy), and Severus, and by the Council of Nice (Nicea) (about 323 AD). (Quote from G. N. H. Peters, Theocratic Kingdom, I, 482-483)
That such concessons should be made by anti-millenarians is only because history records the fact that such a premillennial belief was the universal belief of the church for two hundred and fifty years after the death of Christ. Schaff writes:
The most striking point in the eschatology of the anti-Nicene age is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers. (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, II, 614).
The reference to the sealing and qualification of the 144,000 Messianic children of Israel witnesses in Revelation 7 is as follows:
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 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 and hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. Revelation 7:1-8
Still throughout the tribulation or Daniel's 70th week are seen some of the results of the witness of the 144,000 Messianic Chilren of Israel witnesses. This reference of the great tribulation in Revelation 7 with regard to those led to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if to the first half as well as the second half of the tribulation because this reference is in Revelation 7 which is well before Revelation 11, 12 and 13 which mark the half way point of the tribulation. The mention of God's wrath in Revelation 6 which is also in the first half of the tribulation indicates that at least in some scriptures both the reference to the tribulation and the time of God's wrath refer to the 1st half as well as the second half of the tribulation and can sometimes apply to the entire seven year 70th week of Daniel. These are people who have trusted in the message of the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah who died for the sins of the world rose again from the dead to give new life ascended to heaven and will be coming back to set up God's Kingdom on Earth at the end of the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel. This multitude is pictured in heaven because they would have been killed for their profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah probably by the Antichrist or False Messiah and his accomplice the False Prophet or forces loyal to them. This is because the Antichrist will then be reigning on Earth and will not be tolerant of the message that Jesus is the Messiah and the only way to God and eternal life.
That this multitude is before the Lamb speaking of the Lord Jesus the Messiah is probably also an indication that the 144,000 Children of Israel witnesses were themselves believers in Jesus as the Messiah and the Lamb of God or Redeemer of Israel and Saviour of the world. It makes sense that the 144,000 Children of Israel witnesses believe this in order to convince other people probably both Jew and Gentile or of the nations that Jesus is the Lamb of God spoken of in the Old Testament sacrifices as well. These sacrifices will be resumed at that time. The multitude the 144,000 led to Jesus the Messiah as their Lord and Saviour having white robes represents their having God's purity and righteousness as well as physical clothes. Their having and waving palm branches is a symbol of victory over sin and the Antichrist and False Prophet and the ungodly world system.
Their is also a clear statement of faith in the Divine Trinity with worship to both God(the Father) the LORD or Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Lamb(God the Son - Jesus the Messiah the Son of God). This multitude as with Christians worship the Father and Son (and the Holy Spirit) as one God. The angels, beasts and living creatures also worship God. Verse 14 makes it quite clear this multitude is not the Church but is a multitude saved in a time of tribulation which will be the case for those who trust in and confess Jesus at the witness of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God by the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses in the 1st half of the tribulation. They make their robes white by the blood of the Lamb - the death of the Lord Jesus the Messiah on the cross of Calvary almost 2000 years ago and their trusting in Him as their personal Lord and Saviour.
For their reward they will be permitted to dwell before God and His throne and worship and serve Him there and in His temple. They will also be freed from pain, weariness or suffering they endured on Earth with promise of no more thirst, hunger or extreme heat. This multitude of all nations and tribes and languages is also promised that the Lamb (Jesus) will feed them and give them living water to drink and wipe away all tears probably including all painful memories from their eyes. From the context especially the place they are mentioned in the book of Revelation right after the ministry of the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses and the scripture passage mentioning they came out of great tribulation, this multitude is most likely the results of the witness of the 144,000 and are saved Jews and Gentiles not part of the Church that would all be in Heaven in Revelation 5 before the tribulation starts in Revelation 6. The scripture passage about the fruit or result of the ministry of the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses of the first half of the tribulation in Revelation 7 is as follows:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Revelation 7:9-17
In Revelation 14 the 144,000 are pictured at rest on Mount Sion. Since Mount Zion (Sion) is sometimes in the Heavenly Jerusalem as in Hebrews 12 and sometimes on the earthly Jerusalem as in almost all the Old Testament and perhaps some New Testament references we need some other indication to determine this matter. I think this is provided after thinking about this more and discussing it with a Christian friend that the hint is given in verse 2 of Revelation 14 where John says he heard a voice from heaven etc. I used to think the mention of God's throne and the living creatures in this passage meant this Mount Sion was the heavenly Jerusalem but now I see that John mentioning that he heard a voice from heaven after he describes the 144,000 on Mount Sion means he must have seen the 144,000 on Mount Sion on somewhere else than heaven with earth being the obvious alternative. Therefore I now think that the 144,000 on Mount Sion is a picture of the 144,000 witnesses in victory without having been killed in their mortal bodies on earthly Mount Sion (Zion) at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom (Messianic Kingdom) with the Lord Jesus Christ. This would probably be on the location of the Messianic Kingdom Temple which will be on the earthly Mount Sion (Zion) as in Isaiah 2:1-5. However I still think the immediately following verses in Revelation 14 are still set around God's throne in Heaven in the second half of the tribulation. God will protect these 144,000 witnesses from any attempted attacks on them until their mission is completed at the end tribulation when they will reign in their mortal bodies with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Messianic Kingdom. It is added that it is not just God's name that is in their foreheads then but the name of the Father of the Lamb. This perhaps indicates they have been brought to a more personal relationship with God the Father and Jesus the Lamb after they completed their witness of Jesus as the Lamb of God while they were on Earth.
There is a voice from heaven (from God) and the sound of many harpers and music that is especially in rejoicing and congratulation at the successful ministry of the then ongoing 7 year witness of the 144,000 of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Their being described as redeemed from the Earth means they were bought by Jesus and that they were set aside to God and Jesus from other people on earth to serve God but that they would still serve Him on earth. Verse 4 says they were not defiled by women for they are virgins which might also mean they won't be very vulnerable to temptation by women that could be much easier in the tribulation when the restraint of the Holy Spirit is lifted and the rule of the Antichrist, False Prophet and evil spirits encourages immorality and other sin. These 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses followed the Lamb Jesus and His will all the time they were on Earth and will continue to also follow Him physically when they enter the Messianic Kingdom to be with Jesus and God.
They were redeemed to God as His firstfruits means they were bought by Jesus' blood and were the first or among the first to be saved in the tribulation and would later cause much other fruit of people trusting in Jesus as the Lamb of God or their personal Lord and Saviour through their witness in the second as well as first half of the tribulation. People then on Earth will be encouraged to endure for God and Jesus after seeing and hearing the inspiring and wholehearted witness for Jesus as the Lamb of God by the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses throughout the tribulation. Their witness will no doubt include the assurance that the Lord Jesus who before died as the Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary for our and their sins and rose from the dead will come again at the end of the Tribulation Jesus will then conquer all the evil and the ungodly world led by Satan, evil spirits, the Antichrist and the False Prophet and other ungodly persons and set up God's Kingdom through the rule of His Son Jesus the Messiah (Christ). The 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses will probably also mention that those who trust in Jesus until the end will also be able to reign with him for 1000 years in the Messianic Age or Millenial Kingdom on Earth. This Messianic Age will start with Jesus' Second Coming in power and great glory at the end of the Tribulation of 70th week of Daniel. These 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses are also said to be without guile or deception in their speech or fault before God and His throne. The scripture reference of the 144,000 Messianic Children of Israel witnesses resting in the Heavenly Mount Sion with Jesus the Lamb of God in Revelation 14 is as follows:
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. Revelation 14:1-5.
In Joel 2 verses 30 to 32 God through His prophet Joel is describing the time before the great and notable day of the Lord or the tribulation period. Such things as the moon being turned into blood and wonders in heaven are in the New Testament associated with the tribulation period. I think calling on the name of the LORD then will mean not only getting a relationship with God and eternal life through Jesus but also being spared God's judgment at the end of the tribulation. Mount Zion here as in most of the Old Testament means physical Mount Zion or the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. That is likely also the meaning of Mount Zion in Revelation 14 as described above since it is pictured as a different place where the person speaking in heaven is located. God here in Joel 2 says it will not just be in Jerusalem and Mount Zion will be deliverance because that is where Messiah Jesus will first return to earth but also through the remnant that He will call. Although 1/3 of all Jews will get saved by the end of the tribulation and are in a sense the remnant but the term the remnant through whom will be deliverance will have a special application to the 144,000 that will probably lead many other chldren of Israel to trust in Messiah Jesus in the tribulation. The 144,000 witnesses are all children of Israel who believe in Jesus as it is unlikely God would not only mention that they are 144,000 of the children of Israel but 12,000 of each of the 12 tribes of Israel if this was to be taken figuratively. The gates of the New Jerusalem being for each of the twelve tribes of Israel should also be taken to refer to Israel not so called new Israel the Church with the expression new Israel never used in the Bible. The scripture reference of the 144,000 Messianic Jewish remnant or witnesses in the tribulation mentioned in Joel 2 is as follows:
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:30-32
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