Recently, I was put on the spot in front of my Church to debate a pastor who will be taking over early next year. I am pre – trib, and he is post trib. Curiously, during the debate, he asserted that the Christians would be sealed and protected by God through the tribulation, based on Ephes. 1:13. I think that the seal of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Christians as a surety against our final redemption is very different from the seal of the name of the Lamb’s Father in the foreheads of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists during the tribulation.
The seal of the Holy Spirit in our hearts did not prevent millions of Christians from being slain through the ages, albeit that each of them had a soft landing. What do you think?
I agree. Aside from the fact that the 144,000 are clearly Jews from 12 tribes of Israel and Ephes. 1:13 is aimed at the Church, the seals serve entirely different purposes. Rev. 7 implies that the seals given to the 144,000 will protect them from harm during the coming judgments. If they get the same seal as the Church, they’ll have a big problem. As you pointed out, sealed believers have been persecuted and even killed all through the Church age.