Revelation 7

Are you ready for the coming tribulation? It's already here, and it has been underway for the last two thousand years. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have already ridden out; five of the seven seals on the scroll with seven seals have already been opened, and we are just about to see the opening of the sixth seal. Take a quick look at the first seven chapters of Revelation with this  season one recap of the Apocalypse of John.

Who are the 144,000 "servants of the Lord" in the book of Revelation, and what is their role? In the exciting season finale of the Apocalypse of John, we follow the story up to the brink of the opening of the seventh seal. This teaching focuses on a discusion of the 12,000 sealed from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. (Revelation 7:4)

The fifth seal opens and John sees the souls of those martyred "under the altar." The sixth seal is opened and "the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood" (Revelation 6:12). With the sixth seal, the tribulation on the nations begins, but not before an angel marks 144,000 from Israel. Discover the meaning behind the mark with which the angel seals the 144,000.

The plagues on Egypt foreshadow a future coming time of tribulation when God will judge the whole earth, as he once judged Egypt. This time, judgment comes on all the nations, as God redeems his people from the nations. Just as the redemption from Egypt began with plagues, judgments, signs and wonders on the earth, likewise, the final redemption will be prefaced by the same types of omens, calamities, and judgments, which Christians refer to as “the tribulation” and Jews refer to as the “Birth Pains of Messiah,” leading up to the conflict of Armageddon, the great war of Gog and Magog.