144,000 Jews are sealed: 12,000 from 12 tribes!
We have had six seals opened but there is a pause before the seventh seal is opened. During this interval, there are those being sealed and those being saved.
John, by The Holy Spirit, poses a question at the end of chapter 6 in the Book of Revelation:
16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the great day of His (The Lamb) wrath has come, and who is able to stand?“
The Beloved Disciple continued to write in Revelation chapter 7:
1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.
2 Then 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 granted to harm the earth and the sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of Our God on their foreheads.”
The first half of chapter 7 deals with the sealed servants and all action is stopped until the 144,000 are sealed.
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:
5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
Where is the tribe of Dan? Dan is omitted because that is where idolatry entered the land. (Lev 24:10-16; Judges 18:1,2,30-31) Dan was a leader in apostasy under Jeroboam in 1st Kings 12:28-30. He is cursed in Jeremiah chapter 8:
15 “We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
16 The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones; For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it, The city and those who dwell in it.”
17 “For behold, I will send serpents among you, Vipers which cannot be charmed, And they shall bite you,” says the LORD.
THE LORD spoke concerning idolatry in Deuteronomy chapter 29:
18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;
19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the Words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’-as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
20 “The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the LORD would blot out his name from under Heaven.
21 And the LORD would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,
The tribe of Dan suffered the judgment of THE LORD due to their idolatry and apostasy. Dan is not sealed but will inherit in the Millennium according to Eze 48:1. FATHER’S great grace and mercy prevail! However, worshipping idols is a huge issue, especially today.
FATHER has not forgotten Israel and provides a means to survive the 70th week. Israel is distinct and different from the true church. There has been much written about the supposed lost tribes of Israel and those who have ascribed to this myth, assign themselves to one of those tribes. There is indisputable evidence that all twelve tribes are addressed by both Peter and Paul in their writings. Which group would you rather be in, the true church in Heaven, or among the sealed twelve tribes on earth during the 70th week?