Revelation 7:3-4
What is written? (ESV)
Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
What does it say?
Don’t harm the earth, sea or trees until we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads. And I [John] heard the 144,000 that were sealed from every tribe of Israel.
What is its immediate context?
In this portion of John’s vision, four angels restrain the winds and another angel instructs them not to harm the earth until God’s servants are sealed (vss 1-3). The following verses give 12,000 from each named tribe (vss 5-8), before John sees an innumerable multitude (vss 9-17). The 144,000 appear again in Revelation 14:1-5; chapter 7 does not explicitly identify them with the multitude.
How Revelation 7:3-4 is applied across Bible answers
How many are in God’s remnant – the 144,000 (Revelation 7:3-4)?
A sealed are numbered but also shown as a "great multitude" from "every nation" and "from all tribes and peoples." Furthermore, the broader context describes the same 144,000 as the "redeemed from the earth."
What is God’s seal?
The sealed are "servants of God" as well as a "great multitude" from "every nation" and "from all tribes and peoples."
Furthermore, the broader context describes the same 144,000 as the "redeemed from the earth."
