SEALING THE TRIBES

"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 was a hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." - (REVELATION 7:1-4)

The passage opens with the expression:-

"AFTER THESE THINGS"

The things referred to must obviously be the events which have already taken place under the first Five Seals, and under the first part of the Sixth Seal. So the Sealing of the Tribes of Israel, must be against a period of judgements which are about to come upon the now Christianised Roman Empire, which we may now term Christendom. Why did such judgements come? As always because of apostasy from Apostolic Truth. The errors of baptismal regeneration, prayers for the dead, worship of the saints and their relics and the development of an unscriptural hierarchy, had all followed the supposed conversion of Constantine. All these and other false teachings too numerous to list here, were now to call forth the judgements of God, which we shall see in detail under the Seventh Seal.
There are now a number of other points from this passage which require explanation.

A) THE ACTIVITY OF THE ANGELS

We find the ministry of angels throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. They act as the messengers of Almighty God and are involved not only in personal matters but in national affairs. Let me give some examples of both.

1. An evil angel directing the affairs of the Persian Empire sought to hinder the Angelic Messenger sent to the prophet Daniel. - (DANIEL 10:13 and 20)
   

2. An Angelic Messenger brought the Seventy Weeks Prophecy to Daniel. -  (DANIEL 9:21-27)
   

3. Angelic Messengers brought the news of Christ's birth to both Joseph and Mary. - (MATTHEW 1:20-25; LUKE 1:26-33)
   

4. An Angel rescued Peter from Herod's prison. - (ACTS 12:7-10)
   

Now these Four Angels in the Sixth Seal are described as standing which indicates that they were in a state of unwearied readiness to do the bidding of God. In this instance their task was to restrain or hold back the judgements due to come upon the Roman Earth of the prophecy, until Israel had been sealed by one who is described as

B) ANOTHER ANGEL

This angel who seals the Tribes of Israel is no created angelic being. He is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel or Messenger of the New Covenant, referred to in the Old Testament Scriptures as the Angel of the Lord. This is the Angel who wrestled all night with Jacob at the Ford Jabbok on the occasion when his name was changed to Israel. This is the Angel who watched over the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land, who gave Joshua the battle-plan for the capture of Jericho, who walked with the three Hebrews in Nebuchadnezzar's Fiery Furnace, who shut the lions' mouths for Daniel: this Angel is the pre-incarnate Christ, the pre-Bethlehem manifestation of the Lord Jesus, that which theologians call a Theophany.

C) THE SEAL IDENTIFIES THE SEALER

The New Testament Scriptures clearly state that the Seal of God is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thus we read:-

"That we should be the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed (subsequent to conversion), ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." - (EPHESIANS 1:12 and 13)

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby, ye are scaled unto the day of redemption." - (EPHESIANS 4:30)

Now the Scriptures also teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Baptiser or Sealer with the Holy Spirit, for we read that John the Baptist declared concerning Jesus:-

"He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and fire." - (MATTHEW 3:11)

"He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost." - (MARK 1:8)

"I indeed baptise you with water but He (Jesus) shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and fire." - (LUKE 3:16)

"He that sent me to baptise with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, the same is He which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God." - (JOHN 1:33 and 34)

Thus the Angel who seals Israel, is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom John proclaimed to be the Holy Ghost Baptiser, and whom we believe is the same one whom we read in the Old Testament:

"And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writers ink horn by his side; and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, and set a mark (or seal) upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." - (EZEKIEL 9:4 and 5)

Having identified the Seal and the Sealer we must now ask the question:-

D) WHO IS ISRAEL?

Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to state who and what Israel is not.

1) ISRAEL DOES NOT MEAN THE JEWS

The descendants of the Patriarch Jacob/lsrael developed into a multitudinous people, consisting of Twelve Tribes, actually Thirteen if we count the priestly Tribe of Levi who received no land inheritance. Upon the death of Solomon there was a major upheaval and revolt in the Nation of Israel against the harsh rule and taxation imposed by his son Rehoboam. Ten Tribes broke away to constitute the Northern Kingdom of Israel, known in prophecy as the House of Ephraim which was initially ruled over by King Jeroboam. Two tribes Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the Throne of David, and to Solomon's son Rehoboam. They together with the priestly tribe of Levi, constituted the Southern Kingdom of Judah. We read of these events in I Kings 11: 28 - I Kings 12:24. The Lord actually stating of this division of the Kingdom:-

"This thing is from me." - (I KINGS 12:24)

Thereafter the Israel Kingdoms followed different histories and a different prophetic destiny. They are referred to hereafter in Scripture as Two Nations, Two Houses, Two Kingdoms, Two Sisters, and Two Sticks. It would therefore be no more logical to say that all British citizens were Welsh, or that all United States citizens were Virginians, than to say that all Israelites are Jews or of Judah.
We find subsequently that the Ten Tribes, together with some two hundred thousand inhabitants of the fenced cities of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, were taken into Assyrian captivity and placed in Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes (II Kings 18:11-13). These captives never returned to Canaanland. They are the Israelites who are sealed in this Revelation Vision, and they are most definitely not the Jews.

2) ISRAEL DOES NOT MEAN THE CHURCH

Many to-day follow the Spiritualising Interpretation introduced by Origen, Augustine and the so-called Fathers of the Roman Catholic system. This school of thought teaches that the Church is a new Spiritual Israel, and as such it inherits all the blessings whilst the Jews inherit all the curses. There is no basis in Scripture for such a false and deceptive theory, which can only result in the misapplication of prophecy and to total confusion regarding the plan of God. (This false teaching is refuted in detail in our book "Israel the Bride").

THE CELTO-ANGLO-SAXON AND RACIALLY ALLIED PEOPLES ARE TRUE ISRAEL

History records for us, and the evidence of Prophecy, Archaeology and Heraldry combine to confirm that the supposedly, Lost Tribes of Israel, eventually escaped from Assyrian captivity and began to migrate westwards. They travelled across Europe under many different names; Khumri, Cymri, Massagetae, Cimmerians, Scythians, Celts, Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They eventually settled in the British Isles, in Scandanavia and in pockets across North West Europe, ultimately spreading abroad into the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They became the Great Nation and Company or Commonwealth of Nations foretold in Bible Prophecy.

SEALING THE TRIBES

The Migrations of Israel from Assyrian Captivity

to the Isles North-West of Palestine

These are the Israel who were sealed in the Revelation Vision, and we must now ask:-

E) WHY WERE THEY SEALED?

There are basically four reasons given for sealing in the Scriptures. These are:-

1) FOR SECRECY

2) FOR OWNERSHIP

3) FOR PROTECTION

4) AS INSTRUMENTS FOR GOD'S USE

All four reasons apply to these Israelites in the Apocalypse.

1) SECRECY

In their captivity and subsequent Seven Times of Punishment, a period of 2,520 years (see our book "The Divine Calculator") Israel were to be blind to their own national identity, and to remain unrecognised by the surrounding nations. They had become as the inspired prophet had foretold:-

"Call his name Loammi: for you are not my people, and I will not be your God." - (HOSEA 1:9)

Thus the prophet Isaiah could say of them:-

"Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears." - (ISAIAH 43:8)

Paul the Apostle confirms this when he states:-

"blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." - (ROMANS 11:25)

It was only when the British people received the great spiritual blessings of the Protestant Reformation, that they developed into the great Christian Empire, and the revelation of their true identity as Regathered Israel began to be known.

2) OWNERSHIP

The Scriptures declare:-

"Having this Seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His." - (II TIMOTHY 2:19)

Israel belonged to God, they were His specially chosen Covenant People, and even in captivity, dispersion and migration across Europe, He has declared:-

"For lo, I will command, and I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the last grain fall upon the earth." - (AMOS 9:9)

When Paul wrote to the Ephesian Church and referred to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as a seal of ownership, the symbol would have been especially clear to them, as it was the custom of the timber merchants of Ephesus to mark or put a seal on their logs before leaving them to float in the harbour until they needed them.

3) PROTECTION

When the Seventh Seal would be opened, devastating judgements would fall upon Europe, the Roman Earth of Prophecy, as the Barbarian hordes would sweep down upon the decaying Roman Empire. It was necessary for God to seal those of His Israel people still migrating across Europe, who had not yet reached the appointed place of safety in the Isles of the West.

4) THE SERVICE OF GOD

These Israelites were sealed for service as are all the servants of God, for ultimately their seed were to develop in the earth into God's instrument for literal and spiritual blessing to all mankind; feeding the hungry, freeing the slaves, translating the Scriptures, taking the Gospel of Christ, together with law, justice, schools and hospitals to the very darkest corners of the globe; smashing in pieces tyranny and dictatorship. Truly they were sealed to fulfil the words of the prophet Isaiah.

"But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." - (ISAIAH 41:8)

"Ye are my witness saith the Lord that I am God." - (ISAIAH 43:12)

"This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." - (ISAIAH 43:21)

"Thou art my servant 0 Israel in whom I will be glorified." - (ISAIAH 49:3)

Now let us see the significance of:-

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR THOUSAND

The one hundred and forty four thousand sealed Israelites are not a literal or limited number, for the Apocalypse is a book of symbols; neither does this prophecy apply to the false sect of Jehovah's Witnesses. The number is twelve times, twelve thousand, the perfect symbol of Israel regathered, redeemed and restored, even as the prophet declares of them.

"In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." - (ISAIAH 45:25)

and as the Apostle Paul confirms:-

"And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written, There shall come out of (unto) Zion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." - (ROMANS 11:17)

How will this great work of national redemption be accomplished? By the New Covenant, which was foretold by Jeremiah and recalled in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Paul tells us just this in the next part of the verse for he says.

"For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins." - (ROMANS 11:27)

We must now proceed to examine one of the most difficult questions arising under the Sixth Seal.

WHY IS DAN OMITTED?

From verses 5-8 of Revelation 7, we are given a list of the Tribes of Israel, out of each of which a symbolic twelve thousand are sealed. The Tribes listed are as follows:-

1) JUDAH

2) REUBEN

3) GAD

4) ASHER

5) NAPHTALI

6) MANASSEH

7) SIMEON

8) LEVI

9) ISSACHAR

10) ZEBULON

11) JOSEPH

12) BENJAMIN

This presents a serious problem, for if we assume that Joseph stands for the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, while we do find Ephraim omitted from the list, surprisingly both Joseph and Manasseh are included with Dan being excluded. There are two explanations given for this.

1) A SCRIBAL ERROR

Some have suggested that the word Manasseh is an error by the copying scribe. The Speakers Commentary in a note on this passage suggests that Dan was confused with Man, an abbreviation of Manasseh.
However we believe that the Word of God is inspired and unerring and that He has providentially preserved for us a Bible, free from mistakes or errors. Paul writing to Timothy categorically states:-

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." - (II TIMOTHY 3:16).

In the original Greek text the words literally mean that:-

"All Scripture is God breathed."

We must therefore look at the second explanation.

DAN WAS NOT IN DANGER

As we have already explained, the Tribes of Israel were sealed for protection as they migrated across Europe to their appointed place of safety in the Isles, North and West of Palestine. However history records that the Tribe of Dan were the pioneers of Israel. They had already taken to the sea in ships at the time of the prophetess Deborah in the Book of judges. By the time the other tribes were receiving their protective seal, and the Roman Empire was collapsing the Tribe of Dan had already been settled for many centuries in what is now Ulster or Northern Ireland, where they were known as the Tuatha de Danaan. They therefore required no protection, their journey was over, and so quite logically they are omitted from the list.