Life-study 21 -God's Preservation of His People

Scripture reading: 

Rev. 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree.

Rev. 7:2 And I saw another Angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom [authority] was given to harm the earth and the sea,

Rev. 7:3 Saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the slaves of our God upon their foreheads.

Rev. 7:4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel:

Rev. 7:5 Out of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;

Rev. 7:6 Out of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;

Rev. 7:7 Out of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand;

Rev. 7:8 Out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand sealed.

Rev. 7:9 After these things I saw, and behold, [there was] a great multitude which no one could number, out of every nation and [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches in their hands.

Rev. 7:10 And they cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb.

Rev. 7:11 And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God,

Rev. 7:12 Saying, Amen. The blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanks and the honor and the power and the strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

The seven seals are a response to the martyred saints' prayers, and the seals will be before the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord in the Bible meaning the great tribulation. The man child will be taken away before the sixth seal (the 1st camp of rapture, the man child, the first fruit). 

1. Rapture: the believers on earth taken alive to the presence of the Lord. It takes place before the great tribulation (principle: the reaping the mature of the crop).

2. Two things God will do to preserve His people 

a. To seal the children of Israel on their forehead (144,000 people) -God's marking out the children of Israel and preserving them in the tribulation (if those do not worship the beast). God's faithful covenant. 

b. The great multitude in white robes  with palm branches are the believers who have suffered many things - grow in life in maturity. If the believers are not mature, they will be left on the earth until they become mature. 

(The reference - revelation of chapter 14, there mentioned three reapings)