III. The Sealing of the 144,000

The scene before us in Revelation 7:9-12 takes place in Heaven. The one-hundred and forty-four thousand saved and glorified Jews in Heaven have just been sealed with the Name of God, Jehovah Our Righteousness, in their foreheads. Again, this sealing is not the same as the sealing with the Holy Spirit that is true of all "born again" children of God. The word "sealed" in Revelation 7:3 is from the Greek word sphragízō (sfrag-id'-zo), meaning to stamp with a mark of identification. The Name of God (Revelation 14:1), Jehovah Our Righteousness, is the mark of identification put upon the foreheads of these one-hundred and forty-four thousand saved and glorified Jews in Heaven. This was the substance of the prophecy of Malachi 4:1-6. The Jews who knew this prophecy would understand that what John was saying about the sealing of these one-hundred and forty-four thousand saved and glorified Jews in Heaven was exactly what Malachi had prophesied.