True Israel

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

TRUE ISRAEL

Rev 7:1-8

7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

NIV

Once again we are faced with understanding this revelation as to it only having meaning for Israel or for the whole of the church, the whole of Christianity. It would appear in these words here it has meaning only for Israel and it could have already applied to them with the destruction of Jerusalem around 70AD. One problem with that is through research we have noted many of the tribes did not exist as tribes in that day. The ancestry had been either lost or forgotten, at least by men, but then not by God so it is possible the number did exist from every tribe, but then why would there only be that many marked, why was it an exact number from each tribe? So we are left with another concept that being this is a representation of the whole of Christianity. First we have to understand that Jesus brought a new covenant which made the old one obsolete, therefore this revelation refers to those of the new covenant. So what is our take away? What do we expect from these four angels and the fifth one who put a mark on the people? It would seem there is a sense of peace throughout the Christian world, that God has directed his angels to hold back the forces that would bring destruction until the full number of those who would accept Jesus, being marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Eph 1:13-14

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.

NIV

This makes perfect sense, that we are the ones marked by that angel, for the day of the Lord when everything will be laid waste except we will be taken up. This would also agree with the fact that all of Israel will be saved, which the Apostle states in the letter to the Romans. But the word also states that the true Israel is not those who are circumcised in the flesh but true Israel is those how are circumcised of the heart, so this is about we who have been circumcised of the heart.

Rom 2:28-29

28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart , by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

This means we have exposed the tenderest portion, the most sensitive area of our heart to Jesus. We are the ones who have been marked. A day is coming when those four angels will be given orders to let go of the winds, and destruction will follow for those who have the mark of the beast, which we will see later, but not to those of us who have been marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. We will be taken, we will escape this great calamity which will be unleashed upon the world, upon mankind who has refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. But there is still time, the winds are being held back and it is incumbent on us to keep speaking, to keep spreading the good news, in hopes there will be others who can be sealed with the mark of the Holy Spirit, others who will become true Israel.