Jacob had
twelve sons after which the tribes of Israel are named: Reuben, Simeon, Levi,
Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and
Benjamin.Gen.
49:1-28 The tribe
of Joseph is divided into two half-tribes named after Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and
Manasseh, since Jacob had claimed them as his own and blessed
them.Gen.
48:5 In
Revelation, when the tribes of Israel are sealed, they are listed as such.
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 an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children
of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah 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 Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh 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.Rev.
7:2-8
There
are different suggestions of who the 144,000 are and why the particular names
are listed. Jehovah Witnesses, for example, used to claim that they were the
144,000 and, as soon as their membership reached 144,000, the world would end.
Their membership has exceeded 144,000 and the world hasn’t ended. Some say the
sealed represent the church, but the 144,000 are being sealed to identify them
for their protection: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the
grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those
men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads, Rev.
9:4
which
differentiates them from Christians who are already identified: And the evil
spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are
you?Acts
19:15
The text
identifies them as Jews by saying they are 144,000 of all the tribes of the
children of Israel, not of all the tribes of Israel into which the church is
grafted. And, they are the firstfruits of the second resurrection: being the
firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb,Rev.
14:4 As noted
before there are two resurrections restoring men from the fall of
Adam, 1Cor.
15:21-22 one for the
church elect and the other for the enemy-of-the-gospel elect:Rom.
11:27-28 And
shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment,
John
5:29 and Christ
is the firstfruits of the resurrected church: Christ the firstfruits;
afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 1Cor.
15:23
Some,
particularly those who hold the pre-tribulation position, see the 144,000 as
Jewish evangelists, but Christ and the 144,000 are Israel’s saviors on Mt. Zion in Obadiah: And
saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom
shall be the
Lord's: Obad.
1:21 their
spiritual savior and their national saviors, eliminating the squatters from His
land.
Although
Christians are often indifferent to it, the land covenant is an important part
of scripture. The theme of the promised land begins in Genesis,Gen.
12:1 and Esau,
who despised his birthright (the promise)Gen.
25:34 is the only
man that scripture says the Lord hated,Mal
1:3 References
to the promise (Is. 43:5-7, Jer.
3:14, Zech. 10:6) echo through scripture, and when the kingdom was divided, He
referred to the northern kingdom by the name of one of its tribes, Ephraim, and
the southern kingdom by the name of one of its tribes, Judah, referring to all
twelve tribes by the names of the two tribes whose scouts, Caleb and Joshua, did
not return from Canaan with an evil report.Num 13 &
14
Having
missed the promise of His first coming [Expecting Elijah (ELYH) instead of LORD
God (EL YH)] the Jews were awaiting the fulfillment of the land promise when He
came, but the promise was still for the future, and is being completed in
scripture when the 144,000 are gathered on Mt. Zion: Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. The promise to the land is not carte blanche, for the
land belongs to the Lord, and is entrusted to Israel: The land shall not be sold for ever:
for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me, Lev.
25:23
Christ, who
will fulfill the promise is a Zionist, and, if we are not, we are not in Him.
In the
sealing there are two tribes who are not listed among the sealed. Dan is
missing. Some say Dan is excluded because he is identified as a serpent
in scripture: Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that
bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for
thy salvation, O Lord. Gen
49:17-18 However,
Dan has an inheritance in the kingdom,Ezek
48:1 and the
serpent is not a symbol of evil. It is a symbol of a lowly creature. It can
symbolize one spiritually low, as with Satan, or it can symbolize worldly low as
Moses’ serpent which prophesied Christ: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.John
3:14
In the case
of Dan, when he bites the horse heels, the rider falls backward into salvation.
Dan isn’t listed because he doesn’t need to be sealed. The tribe of Dan strayed
into idolatry among the gentiles,Judg
18:30 and the
tribe of Dan comes into its kingdom inheritance among the gentiles as
Christians, who are already sealed through Christ. The name of Ephraim, one of
Joseph’s sons, is also missing from the list, but both Joseph and the half tribe
of his other son, Manasseh, are listed. Some say both Joseph and Manasseh are
listed because Joseph is allotted a double portion in the
inheritance.Gen.
48:22 The sealing, again, is for
identification, not allotting inheritance,Rev 9:4 and there is no
need for double identification. The tribes in the Holy Land when the sealing
takes place are sealed in their name. Ephraim is sealed in his father Joseph’s
name, because Joseph is in the promised landJosh
24:32 when the
sealing occurs, but Ephraim, American Jews, from which the cry against the
piece process, the Oslo
accord is not.Jer
4
