CG: I am not a deep thinking scolar. I never got the notion that the sealing was for protection or even preservation like in a canning process that I observed in my youth.
I see the seal as a mark of approval, a certification that you are genuinely accepted into that limited number.
In REv.14 the sealed 144 k are said to be on Mount ZION, the residence of the KING David & dynasty, and closely following Jesus, not only in their conduct,- as WT opines,- but into the spiritual realm.
The 12 tribes are on earth, always were, since Jacob's day, first physical , now spiritual. wt: spiritual Israel, Paul:"The Israel of God'
CG: good clarifying question 144 000 alive during Great Tribulation? not the way I read it.
since Rev 7 says they are bought "FROM the earth", their fate is sealed when they are "executed with the [symbolic] axe" that has happened since pentecost 33.
AT ANY GIVEN TIME since then there is only the worthy few that the ANGELS seal into the appropriate tribe.*
In the future, (overlapping generations away), when the last one is sealed died as a martyr for JESUS, completing the 12 K per tribe each, just prior to the final destruction of this world order,
The 12 Tribes will be devoid of the sealed firstborn (spiritually).
This led me to believe that the 12 Tribes are Christians on Earth, they are the great Crowd. but
Why would the differentiated 12 (wt speak perfectly organized) be just a pell mell GREAT CROWD? not counted wt fashion?
The Great Tribulation in its chaos would disrupt any order, and of course the angels are finished with their TRIAGE.
That is how I would write up a summary of an analysis of a plot in a story* given all the elements and peoples ideas.
* it deserves a separate topic for those to whom such matters matter.
AT ANY GIVEN TIME since then
