Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

THE 144,000 SEALED! 9

2. THE SEALED ARE PROTECTED FROM GOD’S WRATH

Those who are sealed are to live through the day of God’s wrath, and only as they are especially protected could they ever live to see the coming of Jesus in His Second Advent. In order to appreciate God’s promise of protection through the time of trouble, we need to consider the great dangers and perils of that time. With poignant pen the prophets have painted the horrors of the day of the Lord:

“Howl you; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt” (Isaiah 13:5-7). “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joel 1:14). “For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:11).

“The great day of the Lord . . . the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath . . . trouble and distress, a day of wasting and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And 1 will bring distress upon men ... the day of the Lord’s wrath for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zephaniah’s graphic description of the terrors of the coming day of wrath concludes with a message of hope for the “meek” who will be living at the time probation is about to close. When the “decree” closing probation is proclaimed and the day of salvation goes like chaff blown with wind: “Seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zephaniah 1:14-18; 2:1-3).

The Lord who shut the door of the ark (Genesis 7:15) and protected Noah and his family in the time of the flood has promised to shelter His people during the coming day of trouble. Also through Isaiah, the gospel prophet, the Lord uttered the same comforting truth: “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over past. For, behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth” (Isaiah 26:20, 21). The Spirit of Prophecy says: “I saw a covering that God was drawing over His people to protect them in the time of trouble” (Early Writings, page 43). When God seals His remnant, when “the indelible mark of God is upon them-, the Lord will “shut them in” (Testimonies to Ministers, page 446).

The protection to be accorded God’s people in the last days was typified by the experiences of Israel in the night when the death angel passed over the land of Egypt. Urging His people to apply the blood-sprinkled sign to their houses, the Lord declared: “For 1 will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when 1 see the blood, 1 will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:12, 13, and see 1 Corinthians 10:10-11  margin). The mark of deliverance was quickly followed by the angel of death: “this night In the anti type destruction will promptly follow the application of the sign of deliverance - the seal of God.

“The Israelites placed over their doors a signature in blood, to show that they were God’s property. So the children of God in this age will bear the signature God has appointed. They will place themselves in harmony with God’s holy law. A mark is placed upon every one of God’s people just as verily as a mark was placed over the doors of the Hebrew dwellings, to preserve the people from the general ruin” (Review and Herald, Feb. 6, 1900, SDA Bible Commentary, Volume 7, page 968).

THE 144,000 SEALED! 10

Pointing to the crisis that will come to the world and to the people of God as probation’s hour is about to close, the Lord’s servant says: “The mark of deliverance will be set upon the men who keep God’s commandments, who revere His law, and who refuse the mark of the beast” (5 Testimonies, page 451).

John, on Patmos, was given a vision of the mighty events to transpire in the very last days. He saw the terror-stricken multitudes of the unsaved as they beheld with consternation the dying agonies of a world in rebellion against its Creator. Calling upon the mountains and rocks to fall upon them so that they might be hidden from the Lord’s avenging eye, they exclaim: “For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 7:14-17). The answer to this fear-motivated question is then given in Revelation 7:1-4, where a special messenger from Heaven descends with instruction to the angels to whom was given power to hurt the earth, the seas, and the things on this planet, “Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Only one thing prevents the angels of death from operating - the sealing of those whom God will protect during the day of His anger. There is no intimation that a time period must elapse during which those sealed are to proclaim the loud cry, as some assert in their teaching concerning the reception of the seal of God.

The angels are commissioned to hold back the winds of strife only until God’s servants are sealed. This prophecy clearly intimates that destruction follows immediately the saints are sealed - and thus it is with every prophecy concerning the sealing of God’s remnant people. Dr. Strong says the Greek original for “seal” signifies to stamp for security or preservation. When the Jews were anxious that our Lord’s body should be safe inside the tomb from any attempt of the disciples to take it, they requested Pilate to “command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day. Pilate said unto them go your way, make it as sure as you can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone” (Matthew 27:64-66). The Revelator pictures Satan’s incarceration in the bottomless pit during the 1,000 years: “And shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled (Revelation 20:3). The mark of the beast (which is set forth in the Bible in contrast to the seal of God) will be received by deceived, fear-ridden humanity because they think that it will give them security: “That no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark.” (Revelation 13:17).

The thought of sealing occurs about 72 times in the Bible, including 27 times in the Revelation. A seal is used in various ways in the Bible. In most of its uses seal means finality, and the prophecy concerning the sealing of God’s servant is obviously intended to convey the truth that this is the conclusion of Christ’s priestly work, His final ministry for His remnant people. This prophecy is intended to explain that God seals them for their protection during the day of His wrath. Depicting the final hours of the Lord’s ministry in the temple above, the Lord’s servant says that---Jesus gazed in pity on the remnant . . . the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that were not sealed, and commissioned the special messenger to command the angels to whom was entrusted the fearful responsibility of hurting the earth, sea and things upon this planet, to “hold, until the servants of God were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads” (Early Writings, page 38).

Our (SDA) Bible Commentary (on Revelation 7:2) says concerning Ezekiel’s prophecy: “By virtue of the mark they were to be saved from destruction (Ezekiel 9:2-6). The symbolism of sealing finds an interesting parallel in Jewish eschatological thinking. The Jews thus conceived of the mark on the righteous as keeping them from the perils of the time of the coming of the Messiah.”

We read in “A Word to the ‘Little Flock’ page 3 (Ellen G. White and Her Critics, page 563): “The saints are exhorted not to fear the plagues at that time, for God will give His angels charge over them, so that no plague shall come nigh their dwellings. The men with the slaughter-weapons in their hands have this charge, ‘come not near any man upon whom is the mark’. But the humble followers of the Lamb, have nothing to fear from the terrors of the day of His wrath. For they will be sealed before the plagues are poured out. The man ‘clothed in linen’, marks the saints before slaying commences. The ‘four angels’ are not to hurt the ‘earth, neither the sea, nor the trees’, till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads’ (Revelation 7:1-3). The marking or sealing of the saints seems to be shadowed forth by the marking of the side posts and upper door posts of the houses of all Israel, before the Lord passed through Egypt, to slay the first-born of the Egyptians. Israel was safe; for God was their Protector in that perilous night. The true Israel of God will be safely protected, when Christ rules the nations with a ‘rod of iron’, and dashes them ‘in pieces like a potter’s vessel’, for He has promised to give His angels charge over them, to keep them in all their ways. Those who do every well known duty to God, and His children will safely rest in the arms of the holy angels, while the burning wrath of God is being poured out on those who have rejected His counsel, and commandments”. ​