MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 7
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista
The Tattoo Angel
Nathan Jones: In Revelation 7:2, God sends another angel. He ascends from the east to bring God’s message of intervention to the Wind Angels. He commands, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Revelation 7:4-8 describes these servants as a group of people called the 144,000.
Vic Batista: Who are these 144,000, all Jehovah Witnesses?
Nathan Jones: The Jehovah Witnesses think they are, but there are a lot more members in that cult than 144,000. They read that passage and believe they are the 144,000, but they are not. The reason they’re incorrect is because we read quite clearly in verse 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.”
Revelation 7:5-8 gives us a list of 12 tribes, minus the tribe of Dan. These tribes can be found in the Jewish people of today. They were there in the First Century time period when the Apostle John penned Revelation, even though the Northern Tribes remain scattered.
I believe the 144,000 very well could be this generation of Jewish people alive today who will be saved after the Rapture of the Church. God will put His seal on them. When the Bibles says that God seals someone, that means He protects them spiritually, though much of the time physically as well. Whether that’s a physical seal, such as a tattoo, or visible only to spiritual eyes, is up for debate.
We know from this, what I’ll call the Tattoo Angel, that definitely during the Tribulation God will also protect these Jews physically. He does so that these 144,000 Jewish people will be set apart as evangelists during the Tribulation. They will send forth God’s message throughout the earth. They are protected and sealed by God so that the Antichrist who rules the world at that time cannot harm them.
Nathan Jones: 144,000 #Jewish people will be set apart as evangelists during the #Tribulation. Click To TweetVic Batista: There are going to be a lot of people getting saved during the Tribulation, right?
Nathan Jones: Generally people believe in this idea that everybody living during the Tribulation are going to be evil, and exactly right after the Rapture, that will be the condition. With the Restrainer — the Holy Spirit working through the Church — being removed, the inhibitions of the people will be let loose. Mankind will play a big role in their own judgment in destroying the world.
But, God’s provision for salvation hasn’t ended with the removal of the Church. He has the 144,000 to act as His witnesses. Other evangelists will be revealed as we read through Revelation. God is going to have the Two Witnesses during the first three and a half years witnessing from Jerusalem. God is also going to a Gospel Angel who will travel the earth and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with every single person on the planet. They will also have all the Gospel materials that we have created now which will be left behind after we’re raptured. Also, all the signs, wonders, and judgments are meant to bring people to the Lord. From all these evangelistic provisions God will provide. I believe that during the Tribulation more people will get saved then ever have in the last 2,000 years of Church history.
Vic Batista: Hallelujah, that is good news! So, when the Rapture happens, it’s not like there is no hope for the world, right? There is still hope that people will be getting saved in the Tribulation?
Nathan Jones: Yes, but I don’t want to encourage people to hold off accepting Jesus as Savior and say, “Well, I’ll get to it later.” Who in the world wants to live during the Tribulation? We are talking about half of the world’s population being killed off in just the first year or two of the Tribulation. We are talking about almost the total destruction of the ecology of the world, the economies of the world, the nations of the world, and the slaughter of both Christians and Jews throughout. It will be the worst time period in all of human history. The Tribulation is like the Flood in that it’s God’s wrath. Nobody wants to live under the wrath of God. So, no, I don’t want to encourage anyone to hold off accepting Christ as Savior.
Vic Batista: Absolutely, and that is why it is so sad that some people are buying food and weapons, believing that they are going to be able to weather the storms of the Tribulation. Why go through it? Just put your faith in the Lord now!
Nathan Jones: Right, just consider as we go through reading Revelation the amount of devastation and the slaughter of most of humanity. How much food and weapons can one store to survive all of that? Maybe a month or two, if you don’t get killed by the earthquakes, or the Antichrist’s armies, or the demonic hordes that are let loose. We are talking about almost the total devastation of the earth! There is not much we can do to prepare for such a world, except spiritually, and we prepare by accepting Jesus as Savior, being part of the Church which is the Bride of Christ, and being raptured as Jesus promised before all of this happens.
Vic Batista: Hallelujah that there are going to be millions of people getting saved during the Tribulation! These 144,000 are going to be sealed and they are going to be super evangelists, traveling throughout the world preaching the Good News.
Nathan Jones: Exactly! And how interesting that the 144,000 are protected by an angel. Most of Revelation reveals a tremendous amount of angels at work. It’s like the dimensional veil has been pulled away and we can see the spirit world going on behind everything. We can see that God’s angels — His messengers and His servants — are busy behind the scenes doing God’s will while the Tribulation is raging on, including as we read in Revelation 7, controlling the weather.
Vic Batista: Yes, and even today we find that angels are at work behind the scenes. If only the Lord would pull back the veil of the spiritual realm, I think we would all pass out if we really saw the warfare being waged around us.
Nathan Jones: We know from the Bible that behind everything we see in the world there is spiritual activity controlling the levels of human activity. When we look at politics, for example, we think that a group of humans are governing, and certainly they are, but the Bible says that there is also a spiritual world that operates behind everything as God’s forces battle Satan’s forces for the souls of men. If we were to pull the veil back, you’re right, we would be incredibly surprised by just how many spiritual powers are at work behind the political events that go on in this world.
Vic Batista: That’s why it is so important that those who don’t have a relationship with God understand that there is a battle being waged right now for your soul. Our prayer is that you will open up your heart to Jesus Christ and that you will see the truth. The reality is that God loves you and God has a plan for you. The Enemy really does not want you to come to the truth about the spiritual battle being waged for your eternal life.
Vic Batista: There's a battle being waged right now for your soul. #Pray! Click To TweetNathan Jones: True, and we read later in Revelation that Satan is hurled down to the earth after his one last attempt to overthrow God’s kingdom. Satan knows his time is short. Satan has always known that his time is short, for He cannot defeat God. So, what he is going to do is try to pull as many people away from God in this life and into judgment in Hell with him as he can in the time he has left.
In the eighth segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” we’ll begin to look at the Trumpet Angels found in Revelation 8.
How would you interpret 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 fitting into this? Especially the verses below…
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
The answer lies in Exodus. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart only after Pharaoh had hardened his seven times in order to reject God’s command. So, God in Plagues 8-10 hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would face the worst of punishments – the death of his firstborn son. Through Pharaoh’s disobedience God’s power over the Egyptian gods was demonstrated and the mercy and justice of His deliverance was fulfilled for His promised people.
The Pharaoh of the Exodus was not the only person God has spiritually blinded due to their hard hearts. A blinding can be found in John 12:40 and Isaiah 6:10 and the following verses in that chapter. God prophesied through Isaiah that though the Messiah would perform miracles, many would refuse to believe. Because the Jews in Jesus’ day refused to accept Jesus as the Son of God, the Lord caused a hardening of their hearts, just as He did to Pharaoh during the Exodus. As 2 Corinthians 4 explains, Satan is often allowed by God to be the instrument of that hardening.
Likewise, just after the Rapture, those who have hardened their hearts against God will gladly accept the Delusion, but those who remain open can and will accept Christ as Savior. According to Revelation 7, there actually may be more saved during the Tribulation than during all of Church history.
Ok so why specifically is God hardening their hearts and what specifically does the second have of verse 10 refer to when it states, “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”?
Same as Pharaoh. Once a person hardens their own heart by repeatedly ignoring all of Christ’s efforts to reach them so that they will “love the truth” about His salvation, God cements the hardening so that they will face judgment. In other words, their chances are up, and especially cemented when taking the Mark of the Beast instituted mid-way through the Tribulation.
Ok so if the Rapture is the point at which God removes the saved and also cements the hardening of the hearts of those left behind who repeatedly ignored all of Christ’s efforts to reach them so that they will “love the truth” about His salvation. Wouldn’t that include everyone left behind? According to Romans Chapter 1.
There is no doubt that there will be a great harvest of souls after the Rapture (Revelation 7:9-14). Some will be convicted by the Rapture itself. Others will be converted by the preaching of either the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem (Revelation 11) or the 144,000 Jewish disciples who will proclaim the Gospel (Revelation 7). Some will repent in response to the judgments of God (Isaiah 26:9). Others will respond to an angel of God who will preach the “eternal gospel” to all the world at the end of the Tribulation, right before the final pouring out of God’s wrath (Revelation 14:6).
The controversial issue is whether or not those who have heard the Gospel before the Rapture and have rejected it will be allowed to respond and be saved after the Rapture. The reason for the controversy is a passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 which seems to indicate that such people will continue to reject the Gospel after the Rapture. Here’s the passage. Read it for yourself and draw your own conclusion:
“And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”
This passage seems to teach that people who have rejected the truth by hardening their hearts before the Rapture will continue to do so. Because of this passage, I cannot say with absolute confidence that those who have rejected the Gospel before the Rapture will have the possibility of accepting it afterwards.
But, we know God is using the Tribulation to force the world to choose sides and bring people to repentance, and so I can see millions responding to Christ’s offer of salvation because of the Rapture, so there’s hope.
For a panel of Bible prophecy teachers’ views on the subject, check out this Christ in Prophecy episode.
“144,000 Jewish evangelists will be set apart during the Tribulation.” Does this mean there is a second chance after the rapture?
See the reply to Patrick’s question…