God's Own 144,000 Israelites (Rev. 7:4-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05/20/2005

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  God’s own 144,000 Israelites

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Revelations 7:4-8

 

            Message of the verse:  “4  And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:  5  From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6  from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 7  from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8  from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.”

            In verse 4 John gives the number of those who have been sealed by God, and that is 144,000, 12,000 out of twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.  Now there are some of the tribes of Israel which are missing from this list, and it may not be for the believer to understand why some of these are left out and why some of them are here.  For one thing the tribe of Levi is present and when the Lord brought His people out of Egypt to live in the Promised Land He set Levi apart to do the things concerning the Tabernacle, and also from the family of Aaron of the tribe of Levi to be the line of priests.  God then added a tribe from the sons of Joseph to bring the number back to twelve.  In these verses both the tribe of Joseph and the tribe of Manasseh, who is Joseph’s son are added, and the tribe of Dan is omitted.   Bible scholars have given their reasons for all of this, but it seems that no one knows the reason but God. 

            One thing needs to be said here and that is the all of theses 144,00 are from the  nation of Israel, and even though no one knows where these are on earth, God knows where they are and when the time comes for them to be revealed God will bring them out.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God has had a plan concerning the things that will take place on this earth from eternity past, and nothing will come between Him and His plan.  God has already taken the worst thing that has ever happened on this earth and made it the best thing that has ever happened on this earth, and so He will take care of my family and me as He has promised to do, just like when the time comes He will seal those 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel. 

 

The Word of God has brought comfort to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I trust the Lord to give me enough of His Grace and enough of His mercy to get me through this day in a way that will bring honor and glory to Him.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Ephesians 6:12-13

 

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.