Morning Bible Study: Revelation 7:1-8

The 144,000 Sealed
7 1  Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so they did not blow on the earth or the sea, or even on any tree. 

2  And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 

3  "Wait! Don't harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants." 

4  And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God-144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel: 

5  from Judah 12,000 from Reuben 12,000 from Gad 12,000 

6  from Asher 12,000 from Naphtali 12,000 from Manasseh 12,000 

7  from Simeon 12,000 from Levi 12,000 from Issachar 12,000 

8  from Zebulun 12,000 from Joseph 12,000 from Benjamin 12,000. NLT

(the following is from www.easyenglish.bible)

"Verse 1 Now there is an interval between the sixth (6th) and the seventh (7th) seals.

John saw these four (4) angels. They stopped the winds so that the winds could not blow on the earth. No wind could stir up the sea. No wind caused the trees to move. The whole world was still. The angels controlled the winds until the servants of God had his mark on their heads.

These angels stood at the four corners of the earth. John did not think that the earth was a square. He meant that the angels stood over the whole earth. They had control of all wind.

Verses 2-3 The four angels had power to damage the earth and sea. God had given them this power. But another angel came from the east. He shouted to the four. He told them to do no damage until God’s servants received the mark of God.

This mark of God was the name of God and of the Lamb. God’s servants must have this mark on the front of their heads. The mark was there to give protection to these people. The awful events that were coming would not hurt them.

Verses 4-8 John heard that 144 000 had this mark of God. This is not an actual number. There were 12 tribes of the Jews. There are 12 times 1000 from each tribe. These numbers show that all in the groups were marked.

John records the 12 tribes by name. This means that all these 144 000 were Jews. They all believed in Jesus their Messiah. They were from all the tribes of the Jews."