There is an unusual listing of the tribes of Israel in Revelation 7:3-8 . The scripture notes a special group of 144,000 out of "of all the tribes of the children of Israel". This group of the tribes of the children of Israel were "sealed" (meaning to conceal, hide, keep secret; seal for security from Satan; to authenticate and place beyond doubt; confirm or attest a thing; to prove one's testimony that he is what he professes to be). There is another reference to 144,000 in Rev.14, but those are described as being "redeemed from the earth", having their Father's name written on their foreheads, and being "the first fruits to God and to the Lamb". These two groups of 144,000 may or may not be the same, but for the purpose of this entry, I will just be looking at the 144,000 from the tribes of the children of Israel mentioned in Chapter 7.
Paul wrote that according to the promise of God, "All Israel shall be saved" (Rom. 11:25-29). He also wrote that the Gospel is to the Jew FIRST, and also the Greek, or Gentile (Rom. 1:16). Jesus said, "Salvation is of the Jews" (Jn. 4:22). Therefore, this listing of the tribes of the children of Israel that John saw in heaven shouldn't surprise us, and we rejoice in the faithfulness of God' promise. We will see that the Jews have always, and will always play an essential part in the Body of Christ.
However, the listing of the tribes of the 144,000 in Rev. 7 is done in an odd manner. It is worded in a very repetitious way, as if the Lord wanted us to pay special attention to each individual tribe. I wondered why it was done this way. As I looked at these tribes in the Greek and the Hebrew, something unusual did indeed come to light. It should also be noted that there is a tribe missing in the listing in Chapter 7, which we will look at later. Let's look at the Greek meanings of the tribes (the Hebrew meanings appear in parentheses) in the order by which they are listed in Rev. 7:
Judah- "he shall be praised". See Rev. 5:12-13
Reuben- "behold a son". See Mt. 3:17
Gad- "a troop" (Hebrew meaning includes: to overcome, to penetrate, to cut
into, to gash). See Isa. 53:5, Jn. 16:33
Asher- "blessed" (Hebrew meaning includes: to go straight, set right, upright). See
1 Cor. 1:30-31, Phil. 3:9, Rom. 3:21-22
Nephthalim/Naphtali- "wrestling" (Hebrew meaning includes: struggle, tortuous, my strife).
See Isa. 53:10, Ps. 22, Eph. 6:12-13, Lk. 22:42-44
*Manasses- "forgetting" (Hebrew: to be forgotten, allow to be forgotten, remove). See
Mic. 7:19, Jer. 31:34, Phil. 3:12-14
Simeon- "harkening"; a rock or a stone (Hebrew: to hear, obey, yield to, publish). See
Jn. 12:49-50, Mt. 16:13-19, Ps. 18:1-2
Levi- "joined" (Hebrew: cleave to, garland, crown). See Jn. 19:2, Eph. 4:15-16, Jn. 10:30,
Jn. 17:21
Issachar- "reward" (Hebrew: he brings wages, recompense, he is wages). See
Isa. 40:10, Rev. 22:12
Zabulon- "a habitation" (Hebrew: exalted, dwell exaltedly, dwell with, to exalt/honor).
Eph. 2:19-22, Phil. 2:8-9, Rev. 21:3
*Joseph- "let him add/Jehovah has added" This tribe is really the half tribe of
*Ephraim- "doubly fruitful", place of fruitfulness, cause to bear fruit. Another name
for Bethlehem. See Mic. 5:2, Jn. 15:5
Benjamin- "son of the right hand" (Hebrew: to choose the right, son of the right hand)
See Mk. 16:19, Lk. 22:69, Acts 2:32-33, Eph. 1:19-21, Eph. 2:6
*Two half-tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, whose father was Jacob's son, Joseph. Their mother was Joseph's Egyptian or Gentile wife, Asenath (Gen. 46:20). However, in the above listing, these half/Gentile tribes are treated as full tribes.
As we can see, the Gospel is clearly represented in the meanings of the names of the tribes of the children of Israel. Not only are the Gentiles included in the half-tribes, but the Gospel would be very incomplete without the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their presence is essential.
As I mentioned earlier, however, although the verses in Rev. 7 say that all the tribes of the children of Israel are sealed, there is a tribe missing in the listing of the tribes. It is the tribe of Dan. This seemed to be very odd. Why leave out this tribe? We can guess at this mystery when we look at the meaning of the name "Dan":
Dan- "a judge" (Hebrew meaning: to judge, contend, plead, execute judgment, to govern, to subdue, to subjugate, to rule, to regulate. The Hebrew root word adon means: lord, master, king, owner, Lord of the whole earth, prince, Lord of lords, "thy husband YHWY", father, priest, captain, husband, ADONAI). See Phil. 3:21, 1 Pet. 3:22, Jn. 5:22, Rev. 19:16
Dan is not missing in Spirit, but is obviously represented by Christ. Although neither Christ, nor Dan, are specifically named in the list, all of the other tribes, joined together, manifest Christ. All of the other tribes in the list, both Jews and Gentiles, are "sealed"- hidden, concealed, kept secret, authenticated, placed beyond doubt, confirmed and attested to, proven, in that larger identity of Christ.
The tribes listed in Rev. 7 promise us that the Jews are, and must be, among the sealed, but the identities of these tribes when joined together also form a picture of Christ and the complete Body of Christ, manifesting the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16), a mystery previously hidden (see "sealed" above):
"...the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col. 1:24-27
"Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest..." Rom. 16:25-26
These sealed tribes of the children of Israel preaches to us of the greatest mystery and miracle ever known.
Our Father has sealed all of the tribes of the children of Israel, both Jews and Gentiles, as the Body of His Son. Jesus, the Messiah.
