To be honest, I am not sure. They may be alive, or the seal could be given to them as they are killed. So, they become martyrs for their testimony of Christ and are sealed. Making them one of the 144,000
Then, once all the bondservants have the seal, that is when harm comes to the earth, sea and trees, etc.
Think it through a bit.
Why are they being sealed? For what
reason is a seal put on them?
Isn't it so that when harm is released, the sealing mark upon them indicates they should be
exempted from that harm?
"Do not harm the earth nor the sea nor the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God upon their foreheads." (7:3)
Ie. "WITHHOLD harm upon the earth until these are distinguished as to be PROTECTED."
It seems unlikely to me that God's intention was that they should NOT be harmed by natural calamity in nature,
only so that HUMAN harm MAY come to them and they be killed. Do you see what I mean?
Rather my sense is they should be protectedd from harm (at least the killing harm) either way.
This is before the opening of the Seveenth Seal. And the contents of the Seventh Seal are the Seven Trumpets.
Like Russian dolls inside each other - the opening of the Seventh Seal reveals inside are Seven Trumpets.
And inside the Seventh Trumpet, low and behold are the contents of Seven Bowls.
But I digress. The Trumpets encrease in severity, getting worse and worse. At first not touching man himself directly.
But eventually touching man himself. During this time of harm we see in chapter 12 and 14 two catagories of people who are being
persecuted - those who have the testimony of Jesus (or the faith of Jesus) and those who keep the commandments of God.
Revelation 12:17 - "And the dragon was angry with the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her seed,
who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus."
Revelation 14:12 - "Here is the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
The preserved and sealed Isrealites comprise "those who keep the commandments of God."
The Christians who believe in Jesus comprise those who
"have the testimony of Jesus" and have
"the faith of Jesus."
Both are set aside by God and therefore both are called saints.
I used to think they were Christians only who keep God's commandments and believe in Jesus.
I changed my mind one day. And I see they are ONE in that they are saints unto God, but of two components - preserved Israelites and believers in Jesus.
Eventually, preserved ISraelites and those trying to keep the law of Moses are enlightened to see Christ the Son of God.
So the following vision of the unnumbered multitude is that of the church where the middle wall of partition is broken down.
Less likely, I think, is that the 144,000 are sealed so that when the last of them is killed the four angels know that it is time to harm the earth. Even less likely than this, that the 144,000 are ALREADY dead and are being sealed in death.
Correct. Faithful servants will be rewarded, and we too are those servants. This is a parable and so we cannot be sure what the reward is, but it will be great. Maybe we do get to reign over a city. But the 144,000 will be reigning over us.
This I like.
Also, for those that have to endure, they like the martyrs, have to obey.
Today, our responsibility is to reign in divine life. To reign in life over ourselves.
(Romans 5:17)
By enjoying Christ we may learn to reign over the works of the flesh.
By calling on the Lord and being filled with the Spirit we may reign over the old man.
We may be faithful over a little - reign over our temper, our lust, our self indulgence, envy, anxiety, anger, worldliness, etc, etc,
Then at the judgment seat of Christ we may be granted to be over much, for we have been faitfhul to reign over little.
We also are TASTING the powers of the coming age
(Hebrews 6;5). These abilities will be amplified for the governance of the earth.
Proverbs says a man who fails to rule his spirit is like a city with broken down walls.
(Prov. 25:28)
So we may expect suprises. We may expect the last to be first and the first to be last.
We may expect how we treated our fellow believers to play a part. Were we strict towards ourselves yet merciful toward others?
And we may expect that many of the passages in the Bible about people being enabled by God to do mighty feats, like Samson, or Elijah,
were not simply miscellaneous oddities, but were related to the millennial kingdom co-riegning with Christ to come.
Who is rewarded is entirely in the hands of our wise God. And to what degree, is entirely in the hands of Christ.
We just should enjoy grace to reign in life through Jesus Christ over the little that He assigns us to overcome.