The One Hundred and

Forty-Four Thousand
Chapter 49 in "The Cross and It's
Shadow"
by Stephen Haskell
GENESIS is the book of beginnings, Revelation the book of
endings. The most important lines of truth given by all the Old
Testament writers meet in the Revelation. Genesis introduces us
to the twelve tribes of Israel; Revelation shows us the last
representatives of those tribes standing upon Mount Zion in the
eternal kingdom of God. (Rev. 14:1)
Artist: Clyde Provansha
The redeemed of the
Lord are an innumerable
company, which no man
can number; but among
that multitude is one
separate company, who
are numbered and are
designated by their
number,–one hundred
and forty-four thousand.
This company is
composed of twelve
different divisions, each containing twelve thousand redeemed
souls; and each division bears the name of one of the twelve
tribes of Israel. (Rev. 7:4-8) The list given in Revelation varies
somewhat from the list of the twelve sons of Jacob, (1 Chr. 2:1,2)
as Dan is omitted, and the extra division is given the name of
Manasseh, Joseph's eldest son.
This company have special privileges. They stand upon Mount
Zion with Christ, and "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth."
(Rev. 14:1,4) They have the exalted privilege of serving Christ in
the heavenly temple; (Rev. 7:15) and like all the redeemed host,
they are faultless before God, and in their mouths is no guile.
(Rev. 14:5)
 The great reaper death has laid one generation after another of
the saints of God in the silent tomb; and lest some might fear that
the grave would be the final end of the faithful, God gave the
following pledge through His prophet:"I will ransom them from the
power of the grave; I will redeem them from death." (Hosea 13:14)
The one hundred and forty-four thousand are redeemed from the
earth–from among men. (Rev. 14:3,4) They are alive upon the
earth when the Saviour comes, and will be translated, together
with the innumerable host who will come from their dusty beds,
clad in glorious immortality, when Christ comes in the clouds of
heaven. (1 Thess. 4:16,17)
The one hundred and forty-four thousand are distinguished from
all others by their having the seal of the living God in their
foreheads. All who have this seal are included in this company.
(Rev. 7:2-4) This distinguishing mark is called the "Father's
name." (Rev. 14:3) Ezekiel was evidently shown the same work,
and speaks of it as a "mark" upon the forehead. (Eze.9:4)
We are familiar with the term "seal" in connection with legal
documents. A seal contains the name of the person issuing the
document, his office or authority, and the extent of his jurisdiction.
The seal placed upon the foreheads of the one hundred and forty-
four thousand, is the seal of the living God. Seals are attached to
laws and legal documents; therefore we should look for God's
seal to be attached to His law. The prophet Isaiah, looking down
through the ages, saw a people who were expecting Christ to
come from the heavenly sanctuary to the earth, and the message
of God to them was, "Seal the law among My disciples." (Isa.
8:16)
The Bible was given through prophets, – holy men whom God
used as mouthpieces, to make His will known to His people; (2
Peter 1:20,21) but the law of God–the ten commandments–was
not given through any human agent. God the Father, Christ the
Son, and myriads of heavenly beings
came down upon Mount Sinai, (Ps.
68:17) when the ten commandments
were proclaimed to the vast multitude of
Israel– over a million people. (Duet.
4:10,13,32,33)
Artist: Robert Barren
Then, lest there might be some mistake
in writing out the law which He had
 given, God called Moses up into the mountain, and gave him two
tables of stone, upon which He any had engraved with His own
finger the same ten commandments that He had spoken in the
hearing of the multitude. (Duet. 10:1-5; Ex. 31:18; 32:15,19)
This law will be the standard by which every son and daughter of
Adam will be judged. (James 2:10-12) Has God attached His seal
to this law, whereby all may know its binding claims?
Remembering that the seal must contain, first, the tame of the one
issuing the law; second, the office or authority tested in the
lawgiver; and third, the territory over which he roles, let us look for
the seal in the law of God.
The first three commandments, and also the fifth, mention the
name of God, (Ex. 20:3-7,12) but do not distinguish Him from
other gods. (1 Cor.8:5) the last five commandments show our duty
to our fellow men, but do not contain the name of God. (Ex. 20:13-
17)
The fourth commandment contains,

• first, the name, "the Lord thy God;"

• second, the statement that the Lord thy God is the
Creator of all things, and therefore has power to issue this
law;
• third, a record of His territory, which consists of
"heaven and earth," which He created. (Ex. 20:8-11)

The fourth commandment requires all who dwell in the territory of

the Lord God the Creator, to keep holy the seventh day of the
week, which He has sanctified and blessed, (Gen. 2:2-3) as a
memorial of His creative work.
The Sabbath commandment contains the seal of the law. The
word sign is sometimes used as a synonym for "seal." (Romans
4:11) Of the Sabbath God says:"It is a sign between Me and the
children of Israel forever." (Ex. 31:13,16,17) "Moreover also I gave
them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they
might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Eze. 20:12)
God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath; (Gen. 2:2) and to the
one who will keep it holy, it is a sign, or seal, of God's power to
sanctify him. (Eze. 20:12, Isa. 58:13,14)) There is a knowledge of
God in the proper observance of the Sabbath. "Hallow My
Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye
may know that I am the Lord your God." (Eze. 20:20)
During the Dark Ages, when the word of God was hidden from the
people, the seal was taken from God's law. Sunday, the first day
of the week, a day upon which God worked, (Gen. 1:1-5; Eze
46:1) was substituted for the seventh-day Sabbath, upon which
He rested. (Gen. 2:3) The Lord revealed through Daniel the
prophet that a power would arise which should "think to change"
the law of God, (Dan. 7:25) and that the law would be given into
his hands during twelve hundred and sixty years, a period of time
mentioned by both Daniel and John. (Dan. 7:25;12:7 Rev. 11:2;
12:6; 13:5)
After that period had passed and the Bible was again in the hands
of the people, the true Sabbath of the fourth commandment was
to be restored and observed. The breach in the law would be
repaired, (Isa. 58: 12) and the law sealed among the disciples of
the Lord, who would be eagerly looking for His return. (Isa.
8:16,17)
In Rev. 7:2, this sealing message is represented as coming from
the east, or sunrising. We should understand from this that it
would begin like the sunrising, first a faint light, steadily increasing
until it lightens the whole earth.
Four angels were commissioned to hold the four winds until the
work was accomplished. Winds are a symbol of war. (Dan. 11:40)
In fulfillment of this we should expect to find that during some
period of the world's history the winds of war were miraculously
held, while the work of restoring the seal to the law of God was
going forward in the earth.
There have always been upon the earth some adherents of the
seventh-day Sabbath; but the work of restoring the breach which
had been made in the law was begun about 1845, by those who
were then watching for the second coming of the Lord. After the
time set for Him to come had passed, in the autumn of 1844, the
attention of those who had expected Christ to return to the earth
at that time was directed to the heavenly sanctuary, where by faith
they saw Christ officiating as their High Priest. As they followed
the Saviour in His work, "the temple of God was opened in
heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His
testament." (Rev. 11:19) Their attention was attracted to the law
contained in that ark, (Ex. 25:16) and some of them recognized
the binding claim of the Sabbath of the Lord, and accepted it as
the seal of the law. About 1847-48 the Sabbath began to be
preached as the seal of the law of the living God.
 In 1848 occurred one of the greatest upheavals in the national
affairs of Europe that had been for many centuries. Decided
changes were made in some of the leading nations. In a brief
period of time, many of the crowned heads of Europe submitted
themselves to the people. It looked as if universal war was
inevitable. In the midst of the turmoil and strife, came a sudden
calm. No man could assign any reason for it, but the student of
prophecy knew that the angels were holding the winds until the
servants of God could be sealed in their foreheads.
The forehead is the seat of the intellect; and when the honest in
heart see and acknowledge the binding claims of God's law, they
will keep holy the Sabbath. The seal placed in the forehead by the
angel can not be read by man, for God alone can read the heart.
Simply resting upon the seventh day from all physical work will not
place the seal upon the forehead of any one. The resting is
necessary, but with the rest must be also the holy and sanctified
life that is in harmony with the holy and sanctified day. (Isa. 58:13)
Ezekiel saw an angel placing a "mark" upon the foreheads of
those who were distressed because of the abominations practised
by the professed people of God. (Eze. 9:1-4) Those who are at
ease in Zion drifting with the current, their hearts' affections
centered on the world, will never receive the seal of the living
God.
The Sabbath reform–the sealing work of Rev. 7:1-4–arose as the
sun. For some years there were only a few that kept the Sabbath
of the fourth commandment; but as individuals here and there, in
all parts of the world, found that the entire Bible from Genesis to
Revelation teaches that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that
Christ (Luke 4:16) and the apostles (Acts 17:2; 16:13; 18:4,11)
kept it, they accepted it; (Romans 3:19) and to-day in every
division of the earth there are those who honor God as the
Creator, by keeping holy the day which He sanctified and blessed
as a memorial of His creative work.
In the Christian church there is neither Jew nor Gentile; all are
one in Christ Jesus.(Gal. 3:28) We are all grafted into the family of
Abraham. (Romans 11:17-21) The one hundred and forty-four
thousand are not necessarily literal descendants of the Jews,
(Romans 11:21-23; 9:6-9,24-26) but they are those who have
received the seal of the living God in their foreheads, whose lives
are in harmony with the holy precepts of Jehovah. (Rev. 7:3)
Artist: Frank Breadon
 In

Rev. 14:9-14 we are told of a power that is opposed to God's law,

and that has a mark which it will try to enforce upon the people by
means of the civil power. (Rev 13:13-18) Since the Sabbath of the
Lord is given by Jehovah as a sign of His power and His right to
rule, the counterfeit Sabbath, or Sunday, the first day of the week,
will be the mark of the opposing power. God's law commands all
to keep holy the seventh day of the week, God's memorial of
creation; but the laws of the land will command all to rest upon
Sunday, the first day of the week. (Rev. 13:16,17; Rev. 14:7,9,12)
When this test comes, each person will have to decide for himself.
Many, like Peter and John, when they faced the magistrates and
imprisonment, will say, "We ought to obey God rather than men."
(Acts 5:29)
This conflict will continue, says John, until the dragon, Satan, will
become so angry with the church that he will "make war with the
remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Rev. 12:17)
Out of this conflict the one hundred and forty-four thousand will be
gathered. Their experience will be similar to that of the children of
Israel coming out of Egypt. Pharaoh would not allow them to rest
on the Sabbath. He called the instruction of Moses and Aaron
"vain words;" (Ex. 5:9) or as Dr. Adam Clarke expresses it,
Pharaoh said, "Let religion alone, and mind your work." On "the
same day'' (Ex. 5:5,6) that Pharaoh complained because Moses
and Aaron were instructing the people to rest, the king gave the
command, "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make
 brick," and the burdens of the children of Israel were greatly
increased. (Ex. 5:7,8)
Satan was determined that the Israelites should not honor the
Sabbath of the Lord; but God delivered His people and destroyed
Pharaoh and all his host. (Ex. 14:19-31)
On earth the distinguishing mark of the one hundred and forty-four
thousand is the seal of God in their foreheads; in heaven it will be
the wonderful song which they will sing:"They sung as it were a
new song before the throne:. . . and no man could learn that song
but the one hundred and forty and four thousand, which were
redeemed from the earth." (Rev. 14:3) "They sing the song of
Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb." (Rev. 15:3)
It is a song of experience–wonderful melody! Not even the angel
choir can join in those marvelous strains as they echo through the
arches of heaven. Even Abraham, the friend of God, with all his
faith, cannot join in that song. What a chorus that will be! one
hundred and forty- four thousand voices all in perfect accord,
singing the "song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of
the Lamb."
As the twelve tribes, after crossing the Red Sea, all united in the
song of triumph, so the last representatives of the twelve tribes of
Israel on earth, as they stand a mighty phalanx on the sea of
glass before the throne of God in heaven, will sing the song of
Moses and the Lamb.
SUMMARY
The one hundred and forty-four thousand receive the seal of the
living God in their foreheads. Rev. 7:2-4.
They obtain the victory over the beast and his image. Rev. 15:2.
Are redeemed from among men. Rev. 14:3,4.
Stand upon Mount Zion. Rev. 14:I.
"Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Rev. 14:4.
Sing a song that no one else can sing. Rev. 14:3.
Serve Christ in the heavenly temple. Rev. 7:15.
A seal attached to a legal document must give the name, office, or
authority, of the one issuing the document, and the territory over
which he rules. God has a seal; this seal is connected with His
law. Rev. 7:3,4; Isa. 8:16.
The fourth commandment contains the seal of the law of God. It
gives His name,– Lord God; His authority,– the Creator; and His
territory,–the heaven and earth which He has made. Ex. 20:8-11.
 Sign and seal are synonymous terms. Rom. 4:11.
The Sabbath is the sign, or seal, of the law of God. Eze. 20:12,
20.
A blessing is pronounced upon the one who will keep the
Sabbath. Isa. 56:1, 2.
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