The breaking of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17) brought John to the time of Jesus' Second Coming, when he will claim those whom he has redeemed and take them to Heaven as the fruits of the final harvest of the earth. In Revelation 7, John is transported backward from that time to see the preparations for the fall harvest.

fter 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. 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: "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." Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. (Revelation 7:1-4)

Revelation 14:14-16 speaks of the harvest of the righteous, of which the 144,000 are the firstfruits (Revelation 14:4); and Revelation 7:9-17 also describes this great multitude who are harvested from the earth. This is the fall harvest, prefigured by the Feast of Tabernacles:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (Revelation 14:14-16)

In preparation for the "spring" harvest, Jesus chose 12 apostles; and they, together with the Spirit of Truth, were to be his witnesses to the world. In John 15:26-27, Jesus says, "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." To testify is to bear witness. About six weeks later, just before he ascended to Heaven, he told his disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

In Revelation 7, Jesus chooses 144,000 servants; and they, together with the Spirit of truth, will be his witnesses to the world in preparation for the "fall" harvest.

The 144,000 servants must first be given the seal of God in their foreheads. We believe this to be the law of God written on the hearts of his people, as promised in the new covenant God makes with the house of Israel:

"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Hebrews 8:8, 10).

Desire of Ages, page 668 says, "All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses."

The 144,000 are sealed from the 12 tribes of Israel (12 x 12,000) to be God’s servants in proclaiming the gospel to the world shortly before Jesus comes. Their ministry takes place around the time of the latter rain and parallels that of the 12 apostles during the early rain.

John’s attention is next directed to a vast multitude in Heaven. Whereas the 144,000 were sealed specifically from Israel, the numberless multitude represents every tribe, language, people, and nation (Revelation 7:9). These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (Revelation 7:14).

The great tribulation is mentioned in Daniel 12 and Matthew 24 as a time of unsurpassed distress. This is a time of trouble unsurpassed in intensity by anything that has preceded it. Ellen White speaks of it as follows:

The "time of trouble, such as never was," is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God.

Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Savior be brought to yield to the power of temptation... He had kept His Father's commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble. (Great Controversy, 622-623)

This is the condition of those who have allowed God to write his law on their hearts and minds, according to his covenant with Israel (Hebrews 8:10). Those who have grown to this level in their relationship with God are assured of his protection during the tribulation (Psalm 91).

After seeing the multitude in Heaven, John is taken in vision to the end of the millennium where he sees the opening of the seventh seal on the book of life.

When he [the Lamb] opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Revelation 8:1)

Once the seventh seal has been broken, the scroll can be opened and read. The sealed scroll appears to be the book of life, mentioned elsewhere in Revelation (cf. Revelation 13:8); and it is only at the end of the millennium that this book is opened. John describes the scene as follows:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)