Revelation is speaking symbolically — pointing to the fullness of God’s covenant people,
So which tribes do these come from? Are they symbolic tribes? Interesting, 144,000 Protestant demonizations? (I jest).
And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
- Revelation 7:4 KJV
And the Tribes are very specific:
Of the tribe of Juda 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 7:5-8 KJV
the fullness of God’s covenant people, not a racial remnant.
So no Messianic Hebrews, then. (Got it.)
And Revelation 7 doesn’t separate them from the Church — it connects them directly to the great multitude in the very next verse (7:9), made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
You may wish to read this passage again, because YES, there most certainly is a separation.
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;
- Revelation 7:9 KJV
Just from a surface reading, there are four angels about to destroy the Earth, ("angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea") but a pause happens until this "sealing" of the 144,000 is done....
μετα (After)
ταυτα (this)
HOWEVER... I provide a
LINK to the Slater Lexicon for G3326 μετά meta
1. prep.,
a. c. accusative
I. to, among
Slater indicates that there is an alternate rendering for
μετα ταυτα that would read... "Among these" (since
ταυτα is plural, a mistake that the KJV doesn't seem to care about).
And lo, among these I beheld 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;
- Revelation 7:9
While I did NOT spend a lot of time to validate this alternate reading, it leads to an interesting observation. If a believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit as an earnest. Then "the end" where the four angels destroy the earth is placed on pause until 144,000 Hebrews get saved (over time) and can stand
among the great multitude.
One could conclude that after the time of Acts 2, the second coming awaits the salvation of 144,000 Israelites who then stand with the unnumbered gentiles. At the salvation of the last 144,000, the four angels are released.
Just thought I'd mention this.
Rhema
Full transparency, though, Revelation is not in our canon, and the book was not written in the best of Greek.
(@Christ4Ever)
