Revelation 9:4

If we are to understand the 144,000 sealed Jews in Revelation Rev. 7:1+ to be the initial sealing of an evangelistic force and a signal of God’s redemptive focus returning upon Israel (Rom. Rom. 11:25-32), then from their initial witness, many more, both Jew and Gentile, will come to know God during the Tribulation. These are those who John saw which “came out” of the Great Tribulation (Rev. Rev. 7:14+). It would seem that these too will be protected from the demonic horde:⁴

Those who have the seal of God include not only the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Rev. Rev. 7:3-4+; Rev. 14:1+), but also the rest of the redeemed (cf. Rev. Rev. 22:4+; 2Ti. 2Ti. 2:19). This seal marks them as personally belonging to God and as such protected from the forces of hell. Jesus promised the faithful members of the Philadelphia church that “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name” (Rev. Rev. 3:12+).⁵

Notes

¹ J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981), Joel 2:7.

² William Smith, Smith’s Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997), s.v. “Locust.”

³ John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), Rev. 9:4.

⁴ Undoubtedly some will escape this demonic horde by having previously been martyred (Rev. Rev. 7:14+).

⁵ MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Rev. 9:4.