The 144 Thousand
The Passing of the Torch
- [Part I]
From the beginning of
Biblical history God has always prepared the next generation to represent Him
and His Word on earth before the proceeding generation passed on into eternity.
Moses trained Joshua and Paul trained Timothy and the Lord trained His
disciples before they “Passed the Torch” to the next generation. This
illustrates just a few instances of God’s practice of working in the lives of
successive generations of His servants.
So it will be at the end of the age when the saints are removed from the
earth by rapture. God will prepare the next generation to carry His Word to
those who will be redeemed during the Day of the Lord. Then, He will judge Jew
and Gentile alike, and in the process purge the nation of Israel so that at the
end of the 70th Week of Daniel “all Israel shall be saved”
(Romans 11:25, 26).
Revelation chapter seven is the key section of Scripture showing “The
Passing of the Torch” as the saints are raptured bringing an innumerable
multitude to heaven (Revelation 7:9-17) after the 144 Thousand are sealed
(Revelation 7:1-8) for protection (Revelation 9:4) during their coming Day of
the Lord ministry.
The saints will be “Raptured from Wrath”, rescued from the
persecution of the Antichrist just before the Lord brings His wrath upon those
that remain on the earth, exactly as He promised,
(I Thessalonians 1:10, 5:1-10) but, He
will not leave the earth without a human witness.
This great company of Jews, the 144 Thousand, will “follow the Lamb
wherever He goes” (Revelation 14:4) indicating their full surrender and
total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be model disciples,
witnessing of the Lord’s redemption to those that do not know Him during those
days of devastating fiery judgment of the Day of the Lord’s wrath.
How will this great company of the sons of Israel be chosen? Will they
be saved before or after the rapture of the saints? Are they merely physical
descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel who are sealed, or are they already
believing sons of God before the sealing takes place?
If the Lord continues to operate the way He has throughout the ages,
these who are sealed will already be mightily prepared “servants of our God”
(Revelation 7:3) whom He has chosen and who will already have fully surrendered
their lives to the service of the Lamb their King. The Scripture clearly
indicates that they are:
“Sealed…servants of God…children
(sons) of Israel…having His (the Lamb’s) Father’s name written in their
foreheads…could learn that song…were redeemed from the earth…not defiled with
women for they are virgins…follow the Lamb wherever He goes…were redeemed from
among men, being the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb…in their mouth was
found no guile: for they are without fault before the Throne of God.”
(Revelation 7:3-8, 14:1-5)
This impeccable group of God’s faithful servants are duly called and
qualified to be the Lord’s faithful representatives during the most trying of
circumstances ever experienced by a child of God. They are a choice group of
God’s bond-servants indeed, who fully know their position and calling and
willingly give themselves to their precious Lord for His service whatever it
might be.
These are not just a
generic group of Jews mystically selected to be protected during the Day of the
Lord in order that the physical seed of Israel survives the judgment of God.
No, this is a prime group of men, chosen saints of God who have been called out
of the twelve tribes for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14.) The Lord
will bring upon all of mankind His fiery judgment of planet earth and its
inhabitants which is called “the great and dreadful Day of the Lord”
(Malachi 4:5) also described as the wrath of God (Isaiah 13:6-10; Zephaniah
1:14, 15).
This group, because of the complete description given them in Revelation
7:3-8, 14:1-5, is clearly identified as first of all “sealed’. This
indicates the protection of God in the midst of (Revelation 9:4) His Day of the Lord wrath.
The Lord in the past has removed His own people prior to His judgment as shown
during the worldwide
cataclysmic flood when He rescued the
family of Noah in the ark.
He also “delivered just Lot” and his family before the fiery
judgment fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. But, in this instance, the Lord gives the
144 Thousand His name (Revelation 7:3, 14:1) upon their foreheads to protect
them in the midst of His judgment.
In Ezekiel chapter nine a number of parallels are recorded which are
similar to what is going to happen just prior to the Day of the Lord’s wrath as
described in Revelation chapter seven. First of all it must be emphasized that
it is the Lord, the sovereign Ruler of the universe, the God of heaven and
earth, Who is bringing this wrath upon the earth and its inhabitants. The end
of Revelation chapter six confirms this to be the case:
“For the great day of His wrath
is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:17)
This statement supplies us
with the fact of Who is responsible for the impending judgment which will begin
when the first trumpet is blown in chapter eight. Ezekiel chapter eight also
verifies that the Lord is responsible for what occurs in chapter nine:
“He cried also in mine ears with a
loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even
every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold six men came from
the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a
slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen,
with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood by the brazen
altar. And the glory of God was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to
the threshold of the house of God. And He called to the man clothed with linen,
which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; And the Lord said unto him, Go
through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark
(signature) upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the
abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in
mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye
spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young both maids, and little
children: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark (signature); and
begin at My sanctuary.”
(Ezekiel 9:1-6)
Here, in Ezekiel’s vision, the Lord commands His representatives to
bring His judgment upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. But, before the judgment
falls, He supernaturally protects His own and sets His mark or signature upon their
foreheads. In the midst of His judgment He protects His own.
In the book of the
Revelation a similar event occurs:
“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, not 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 (sons) of Israel.”
(Revelation 7:1-4)
God sends His representatives to place His protective signature or mark
upon those He is going to protect. In Revelation 7:3, “the seal of the
living God” applied by His angel is later identified as “His…name
written in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).
In Ezekiel the word for “mark” could also be translated “signature”
and therefore is very similar with what will take place in Revelation chapter
seven just prior to God’s judgment, the Day of the Lord’s wrath. Here again,
the Lord supernaturally protects His own in the midst of His Day
of the Lord judgment. Another parallel is recorded in Ezekiel 9:3:
“And the glory of the God of Israel
was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house.”
This action taken by God before the protection of His own and the
judgment of those in Jerusalem is illustrated by the promise of the Lord to the
saints found in I Thessalonians 4:17:
“Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
The rapture of the saints, the blessed hope and glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior to take
His own to heaven illustrates a similar event. It took place in the vision of
Ezekiel as God removes His glory from its place, which is similar to the saints
departing earth by rapture, when His glory, the saints (John 17:22) are then
removed.
The timing of this great event is just before His wrath begins in
Revelation 8:1. He promised the saints they would be delivered from the wrath
to come (I Thessalonians 1:10, 5:1-10), and so He will rapture the saints just
before it begins. Just before He seals the 144 Thousand with His signature, the
saints will “Pass the Torch” to the 144 Thousand sons of Israel.
Five parallels or similarities to the Revelation account are seen in
Ezekiel’s vision:
1.
The Lord is responsible for the judgment (Ezekiel 9:1-6
Revelation 6:17)
2.
The Lord's representatives bring the judgment (Ezekiel 9:1-6;
Revelation 8-11, 15-18)
3.
The Lord's glory is removed before the judgment (Ezekiel 9:3;
Revelation 7:9-17)
4.
The Lord marks His own before the judgment (Ezekiel 9:4, 11;
Revelation 7:1-8)
5.
The Lord protects His own in the midst of judgment
(Ezekiel 9:4-6; Revelation 3:10, 7:1-8, 9:4)
In addition, there are two other groups who have the Lord’s name written
upon them. The over-comers of the church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:12) and
the “servants” of the Lamb in heaven (Revelation 22:3, 4).
Both of these groups are shown to be saints before they have the name of
the Lord written upon them. These two groups of saints receive these blessings
of eternal rewards for their overcoming lives and service to the Lord.
Right after the sealing of the 144 Thousand (Revelation 7:3-8), the
raptured saints are seen in heaven:
“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 sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”
(Revelation 7:9, 10)
This great multitude comes “out of
[the] great tribulation” which indicates not the actual geographic
location but the time period from whence they came. This just happens to be the
right time period at this point in the chronology of the book of the Revelation
for the saints to be raptured because we have come to the end of the Great
Tribulation according to Revelation 6:12-17 and the Lord’s parallel chronology
in Matthew 24:29-31.
We are right on schedule as the Lord indicated:
“Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken.”
(Matthew 24:29)
This is exactly where we are in the sequence of events in the book of
the Revelation, for this is the sign which occurs before the Day
of the Lord (Joel 2:30, 31), which is the wrath of God. It is about to occur
with the removing of the seventh seal thereby opening the scroll which contains
the wrath of God beginning with the first trumpet judgment.
The saints have been promised to be “delivered from wrath”
(I Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9) by the God of heaven and the timing is perfectly
exact. However, before we can move from Revelation 6 which ends with the sixth
seal and the announcement of “the great day of His wrath” (Revelation
6:17), “The Passing of the Torch” must take place.
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