CHRONOLOGY and THE SEALING OF THE 144K

The Lord’s promise to the saints is that when He
returns he will gather them to himself so that they
can be with Him.

John 14:2-3  “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if
it were not so, I would tell you, because I go to
prepare a place for you.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming
again, and I will take you to Myself; so that where I
am, you may be also.”

The ARRIVAL and the TAKING are very closely linked
together.
When Christ arrives in the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory, there are TWO items on His
agenda.
The first item is to rescue His saints.
This is the focus of His teaching in Matthew 24:22.
“And unless those days are shortened, no (believing)
life would be delivered, but because of the elect
ones, those days will be shortened.”

When it is therefore time for the arrival of Jesus
according to the specific timing of the Father (1 Tim.
6:15; Romans 11:25) the tribulation will to be cut
short by His appearance in the clouds of the sky.
Thus, Jesus tells us, “But immediately after the
tribulation of those days . . . they will see the Son
of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and
great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a
great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the
other” (Mat. 24:29-31).

At 2 Thessalonians 1:7, this is the promise of
deliverance; relief and comfort, that Paul tells us
will occur in direct connection with Christ’s return,
for he writes, “and to give back relief to you who are
in tribulation (being distressed) together with us at
the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven
with His mighty angels in flaming fire.”

The priority of this FIRST item on Christ’s second
coming agenda is also seen at 1 Thes. 4:16-17 where we
read, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel, and
with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall
rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

This priority is also seen in the next chapter, at 1
Thessalonians 5:2, “For you yourselves know accurately
that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief
in the night.”
This IMAGE of the thief was first introduced to us by
the words of Jesus at Matthew 24:42-44.
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which
day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if
the head of the house had known at what time of the
night the thief was coming, he would have been on the
alert and would not have allowed his house to be
broken into.
“For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man
is coming at an hour when you do not think.”

This is taught in direct connection with the gathering
of the saints, which is described as, “Then there
shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and
one will be left.
Two women {will be} grinding at the mill; one will be
taken, and one will be left” (Matthew 24:40-41).

The second item on Christ’s agenda is to pour out
judgment on the earth dwellers. It should be obvious
that this judgment will not begin until after the
believers have been removed.
At 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, the coming of the Lord
arrives like a thief and brings sudden destruction on
the earth dwellers. The believers have already been
removed, and yet this TIME of judgment has arrived
like a thief; suddenly and unexpected.
However, the believers are in the LIGHT and that day
will not come on them like a thief for two reasons.
The functional believer, that is, the believer who is
in fellowship with God will not be caught off guard,
but instead will be excited and expectant immediately
upon seeing the signs in the sun, moon and stars.
Luke writes at 21:28, “But when these things begin to
take place, straighten up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near.”
The “these things” refers to the signs in the sun,
moon and stars mentioned in verse 25. The ORDER is,
The arrival of Jesus, the gathering of the saints, the
sudden destruction upon the earth dwellers.
But wait, there is a delay to the pouring out of
wrath. From John’s vision in Revelation 7:2-3, we
learn, “And I saw another angel ascending from the
rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God;
and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels
to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the
trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our
God on their foreheads.”

There is a chronological progression starting with
seal number one at Revelation 6:2 and going to the
beginning of God’s wrath at the first trumpet of Rev.
8:5-7.
At Revelation 6:12-17, we are shown what happens when
the 6th seal is broken. The seals are wrapped around
the SCROLL of God’s wrath and must be removed one at a
time before God’s wrath can be READ, and poured out on
the earth dwellers; a principle found at Isaiah 29:11.

The 6th seal is the second coming of Christ, at which
time the DAY OF THE LORD will be initiated. All the
passages that deal with the second coming seem to
place the gathering of the saints immediately upon the
arrival of Jesus in the clouds of the sky. There is no
GAP or DELAY for the rapture.
The order is, (1) arrival, (2) rapture, (3) judgment.
According to the other pertinent passages it is, (1)
signs in the sun, moon and stars, (2) arrival, (3)
rapture, (4) panic of the earth dwellers AT THE SAME
TIME or WHILE the rapture is occurring. Some have
suggested that there is a GAP of time between the
arrival of Jesus and the gathering, but it is more
reasonable to see a SIMULTANEOUS idea.
The Lord arrives and then there are TWO categories of
response. (1) the believers look up with expectation
and (2) the earthdwellers panic. Then immediately,
everyone sees the Lord arriving in the clouds, and
again we see two things happening. (1) the believers
are taken out, and (2) the earthdwellers, still in
panic, try to hide. It is significant that in the
gospel accounts, the panic actually occurs as a result
of the SIGNS rather than His presense (Luke 21:26-27;
Mat. 24:30). It is at Revelation 6:12-17, that we see
the panic-motivated attempt to hide occuring after
Christ’s arrival.

At Revelation 6:12-14, we see the signs in the sun,
moon and stars.
Then at verse 15, we see the PANIC of the earth
dwellers.
That means that we must place the ARRIVAL immediately
after verse 14.
That also means that we must place the RAPTURE
immediately after verse 14. Neither the ARRIVAL or the
RAPTURE are mentioned in the vision.
What we see in verses 15-17 is the AFFECT of Christ’s
arrival upon the earth dwellers.
We should then expect to see the RESULT of the rapture
as well. We do, for in chapter 7:1-8, we are shown the
RESULT on the earth, after the ARRIVAL, and at chapter
7:9-17, we are shown the RESULT in heaven. Here John
sees the raptured saints STANDING before the throne.
He does not see them ARRIVING in heaven, but ALREADY
there. The language is very clear and does not leave
room for any guesswork.
At Revelation 4:6, John sees in heaven a SEA OF GLASS
before the throne, but it is EMPTY. At verse 7:9, he
sees the saints standing before the throne, which
means they would be standing ON the sea of glass.
At Revelation 15:1-4, just before the FINAL wrath of
God is to be poured out on the earth, we see the
saints in heaven praising God. These saints are
STANDING ON THE SEA OF GLASS. This is therefore,
BEFORE THE THRONE and we are seeing AGAIN, the
raptured saints in heaven. BUT this is not the rapture
EVENT, but WHERE the raptured saints “reside” AFTER
the rapture.
It is the EXACT same idea that is seen at chapter 7:9.
In the same way that Rev. 15:2 is NOT the rapture, but
the result of the rapture, so also is Rev. 7:9 NOT the
rapture, but the result of the rapture.

The RESULT on the earth after the ARRIVAL of Jesus and
the RAPTURE, is the IMPACT on a large body of orthodox
Jews probably scattered throughout the world AND
present in Israel. These are probably well studied
Jews who could perhaps be equated to 144 thousand
little “Sauls of Tarsus.” When they witness the
arrival of Jesus AND witness the rapture of the
Christians, they will be able to “put two and two
together” and will be convicted of sin, righteousness
and judgment by the Holy Spirit using the words of the
gospel that has been communicated by the Christians
and by the two witnesses. They will express faith in
Christ as the Messiah-Savior and become children of
God AND bond servants of God to serve Him during the
remaining months of God’s dealing with the people on
the earth.
As seen above, the FIRST item on Christ’s agenda is
the gathering of the saints. The second item is the
pouring out of judgment. However, BEFORE the judgment
is to be poured out via the 7 trumpets, there is delay
in order to give TIME for these 144 thousand orthodox
Jews to trust in Christ. Whether this will take a few
hours or a few days, we do not know, but judgment is
held back until all are saved AND SEALED as the mark
of divine ownership. At 2 Timothy 2:19, we read, “the
firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The
Lord knows those who are His.”
This is not something that is VISIBLE, but something
that is an acknowledgment and CLAIM by God upon those
who have trusted in Christ.
Since 30 AD, when God sent the Holy Spirit to the
church, the SEAL of salvation and divine ownership has
been the indwelling presence of the Spirit (Eph.
1:13-14; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5). There is no reason for
that to change with converts after the rapture for the
Holy Spirit is still involved with the whole salvation
process.
At Revelation 14:1, we learn that the 144 thousand
have the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father
written on their foreheads. At Revelation 9:4, we see
that there are those who do NOT have the SEAL of God
on their foreheads. This indicates that the SEAL is a
claim of ownership that is represented in John’s
vision by the NAME of God on the forehead. Again, this
is not a VISIBLE seal, but a spiritual FACT that is
known only in a “spiritual” context and not known or
seen by humans on the earth.
God knows and the angels involved know and divine
protection will not let the demon oppressors of the
5th trumpet judgment hurt anyone who has that divine
seal.
The 144 thousand are saved AFTER the ARRIVAL and after
the RAPTURE.
It is at that time of salvation that they become
bondservants.
If they were saved before the arrival, then they would
be OF THE CHURCH and would be raptured along with all
the other saints. However, they are viewed as FIRST
FRUIT converts of the day of the Lord at Rev. 14:1-4,
and this term requires a conversion AFTER the day of
the Lord arrives.
If one wants to view the SEAL as a mark of ownership
BEFORE they are saved, this is not consistent with the
rest of Scripture.
If one wants to view their salvation as pre-rapture,
but they remain behind because of their special job,
this is neither required, needed, or supported by the
chronological flow of the vision.
The fact that the two witnesses are not raptured poses
an entirely different situation. The two witnesses are
Moses and Elijah who have been brought back for a
prophetic ministry unique and special. The 144
thousand bondservants are the FIRST FRUIT converts of
the day of the Lord and will function AS bond
servants, witnessing of the everlasting gospel with
the result that by the end of the time period in view,
there will be many Jew and Gentile believers to go
alive into Messiah’s earthly kingdom after the battle
of Armageddon.
The 144 thousand Jews are a SPECIAL BODY of believers,
who are to function as the OFFICIAL evangelistic agent
in fulfillment of God’s promise to return once again
to Israel, and does not mean that they are the ONLY
converts to immediately follow the rapture. There will
be many others of both the Jews and the Gentiles who
will PROBABLY trust in Christ immediately upon
witnessing the arrival of Jesus and the removal of
familiar and dear people who are Christians.