WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SEALED?
It seems from clues in the Bible that followers of Jesus are sealed at two separate times, first while in their human bodies and second when they receive their glorified bodies at the rapture. I will present what leads me to expect this to be the case. We will first discuss the sealing of believers while they are on earth as humans. Paul presents this in the book of Ephesians as follows.

Eph 1:13-14 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Eph 4:30 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

This seal involves the Holy Spirit, whom believers receive within themselves at the instant they become true followers of Jesus. This seal is inside of the person. It is not visibly written on the body, but should be visibly apparent from the outward actions, the fruits of the follower of Jesus. Both of these scriptures emphasize that this seal guarantees that the believer will be protected until the day of their redemption, when Jesus returns with their promised inheritance at their rapture. This the first seal that believers receive.
Let’s pursue for a moment what it means to be redeemed. If you were living back in the 50’s -70’s you likely remember that some large grocery store chains gave shoppers “green stamps.” You would receive one green stamp for each one dollar spent. You collected the green stamps and pasted them into books that held 500 or so. You also received catalogs of merchandise items that you could obtain for collecting certain numbers of stamps. After collecting so many books of stamps you would take them back to the store and “redeem” them for the rewards that you chose. The more stamps you had collected the more expensive the prize that you would receive. It will be that way for believers in Jesus. The more labor that we do for his kingdom on earth, the more and greater will be the rewards that we receive. This is taught in 1 Cor 3:8-15. Note verse 8 in particular. However, all believers will receive what may be the two greatest rewards; eternal life and new glorified resurrected bodies. We might argue that both Jesus and Satan are collecting souls. Each will redeem their collections of souls one day. When Jesus redeems us at the rapture he will receive something much greater than what we were on earth. However, when Satan redeems those who follow him he will receive something much less that what he was collecting on earth. He will receive only a follower with a burned up and destroyed body; one that has faced the second death in the lake of fire. In fact he likely will not get any eternal companions at all. For he faces eternity in the lake of fire while his followers will spend eternity as bodyless spirits in outer darkness. Matt 25:41 tells us that the lake of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. Unbelievers will be thrown into the lake of fire after the great white throne judgment where they face the second death, the destruction of their resurrected bodies that they received while standing before God at their final judgment; see Rev 20:11-15, 21:6-8. They apparently then spend eternity in outer darkness, which seems to be taught in Matt 8:12, 22:13, 25:30 and several other places.
When Jesus returns for his bride at the rapture they will be redeemed, will receive their rewards. Again, one of these rewards will be a resurrected, glorified body. This body is immune to wrath, to pain, to sorrow, to death, to sin of any kind. The Bible tells us in several places that a permanent seal will be placed on the foreheads of those having glorified bodies. The writing may be on the glorified bodies themselves or it may actually be on the spirits living within the glorified bodies. This is the second seal that believers will receive. Again, this seems to take place at the rapture events. The scriptures that tell us what will be written on the foreheads include Isa 62:12 which mentions “The redeemed of the Lord, the holy people, the city no longer deserted.” The city is the bride of Christ, the new Jerusalem, Rev 21:9-10, Heb 12:22-24, Rev 3:12. We see in Rev 14:1 that the 144,000 had the names of Jesus and the Father written on their foreheads. Rev 3:11-12 says that the same thing is written on those who were raptured just before the beginning of the tribulation period. It implies that this is part of the believer’s reward that Jesus has with him at the time of the rapture. We can imply from this that the words will be written on the foreheads of the glorified bodies. We will now present that passage.
Rev 3:10-12 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.

HOW AND WHEN ARE THE 144,000 SEALED?
In Rev 7:1-8 a scene is depicted that apparently takes place just before the start of the tribulation. An authoritative angel suddenly appears from the east with a proclamation to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse instructing them to not let the tribulation period begin until he had time to place a seal on the foreheads of the servants of God. It turns out the servants who were sealed were 144,000 Jewish servants. We could also imply that all believers were sealed at this time since this is apparently just before the rapture that precedes the tribulation period. The 144,000 may have been sealed to protect them from harm during the first half of the tribulation; a period of three and one half years. What did a seal do in the first century time when Revelation was written? In one of its uses it was placed on a scroll to seal it shut so that what was inside could not be made known until the proper time, Rev 5:1-2, 6:1. The 144,000 were Jewish believers in Jesus. They may have been a part of the rapture that took place at the very beginning of the tribulation period, Luke 17:26-30. If so, they would have received resurrected, glorified bodies at that time. They may have been a part of those spirits that Jesus brought back to earth with him at the rapture or they may have still been living at the time of the rapture, 1 Thess 4:13-18. They may also have been a combination of the two. At the rapture they would have returned to heaven with Jesus as spirits living in glorified bodies.

JUST WHO ARE THE 144,000 AND THE TWO WITNESSES?
The following scenario is only one of about three or more that may reveal the identities of the 144,000 and the two witnesses. It does not contradict what we know from the Bible and it does explain
some otherwise difficult to understand situations that occur with them. However it is certainly speculative on my part. In this scenario Jesus may have immediately instructed the 144,000 that he had a very special mission for them on earth. He would have given them details about what was to take place in the next 3 ½ years and what he wanted them to do. They would have then returned to earth in glorified bodies to be a part of those described in Rev 11:3-13 as the two witnesses. After Jesus’ resurrection in a glorified body he still looked like a human, but his new body was drastically different. He could still eat, drink and do the things humans do but he could also disappear and reappear somewhere else. The glorified body could not be harmed. It had no blood running through it; compare Luke 24:39 with 1 Cor 15:50. It operated on an entirely different energy source. The 144,000 and the two witnesses seemed to be just like this. They looked like humans and could do things humans could do but also very much more. They could do miraculous things. Revelation 9:4 says they were sealed to keep them from harm. This seal may mean that what was inside their bodies was hidden and would not be made known until the proper time. What was inside the bodies was their spirits which had the names of Jesus and the Father written on their foreheads, Rev 14:1 . They could not be killed or harmed. Someone looking at them on earth could not tell that they were not humans, but human spirits living in glorified resurrected bodies. Something very different was hidden below the outer appearance and nobody could distinguish it. They were sealed.

We will next go to Rev chapters 7 and 14 to confirm some of our suspicions about the identity of the 144,000. We will list the important things that are revealed about them, analyze what we learn and then draw some conclusions.

1. From Rev 7:1-3 we see that God had four angels ready to begin the devastating judgments of the tribulation period. John had just finished describing the first six seal judgments, which are in reality a description of what God is planning to do during the seven judgments and the means or vehicles for accomplishing the judgments. John has told us what is going to happen in the first six judgments but the judgments have not begun to happen just yet. We learn in Rev 7:1-3 that there is something that God wants to happen before the real judgments begin. In fact, God sends another angel to tell the four angels not to begin the tribulation period until he accomplishes something else. What is that? It is the rapture of all believers to heaven. This includes Jewish believers as well as gentile believers. Since one of God’s major purposes for the tribulation is to force the Jewish people on earth to accept Jesus as their Messiah, to recognize him as their God and to acknowledge that he is the Jesus of history, he emphasizes that there are many Jewish believers who will be raptured to heaven just before the tribulation begins. God apparently has a special assignment for 144,000 of these believing Jews so he tells us some very special things about them as we will see as we continue.

2. The 144,000 Jews that Jesus picks for a special assignment consist of 12,000 from each of the original Jewish tribes.

3. God has the angels place a seal on the foreheads of the 144,000. As we saw above this is something that happens at rapture events. Rev 14:1 tells us what the seal says; it is the names of Jesus and the Father. This would be on the foreheads of either their spirits or their glorified bodies. I suspect it will be visible on both in heaven because when we receive glorified resurrected bodies we become “one.” However, it likely would not be visible on earth. This seal is not limited to the 144,000 Jews however. It is applied to all believers who are raptured to heaven, both Jew and gentile. In Rev 3:12-13 Jesus tells the church at Philadelphia that for all who overcome the world as believers in Him he will write three things; the name of the Father, his (Jesus) new name, and the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem. We know that Jesus does this when he comes for us at the rapture from Isa 62:11-12. Here it says that when Jesus, the Savior comes and has his rewards with him; that those he comes for will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord, the Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted. [as an aside we know that it is Jesus speaking in Isa 60-62 as the Savior, the Redeemer, the Lord, the Mighty One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, because Jesus claims in Luke 4:16-21 to be the fulfillment of Isa 61:1-3.] Thus we see that both Jews and gentiles are sealed at the rapture which may mean that Jesus will also send a contingent of glorified gentiles back to earth for the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation.

4. The first time we see the 144,000 specifically mentioned the scene is on earth just before the rapture of believers which occurs just before the start of the tribulation. The next time we see them specifically mentioned is in Rev 14:1-5. This time they are seen standing with Jesus, the Lamb, on the Mount Zion in heaven just before the seventh judgment, just before the Second Coming. Verse 3 says they had been redeemed from the earth. Verse 4 says they were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. The firstfruits rapture took place just before the tribulation period began.

5. The special assignment that God had in mind for the 144,000 seemed to be that he was going to send them back to earth as a part of the two witnesses. The two witnesses were apparently much more than 2 people. They had to be at least four since they are described in Rev 11:4 as two olive trees and two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. They had stood before the Lord of the earth at and after their rapture to heaven. They are described as being two in number and four in number. The two olive trees must be of Jewish origin. The powers that they have as described in Rev 11:4-6 seem to be the kinds of powers that God exhibited through Elijah and Moses. They were certainly raptured to heaven and may have been sent back to earth in their glorified bodies to be the leaders of the group of powerful prophets and evangelists known as the two witnesses. The rest of the two witnesses was made up of two lampstands. Jews were referred to as lampstands in the Old Testament and Christian churches were referred to as lampstands in Rev 1:19-20. My suspicion is that the two lampstands are two groups of people, some subset of the raptured Gentile church and the 144,000 Jewish believers.

6. A huge number of people, both Jew and gentile, were saved as a result of the work of the two witnesses.

7. There is a mid-tribulation rapture that takes place five months or more after the middle of the tribulation period. This is at the end of the fifth judgment.

8. The two witnesses are killed after the midpoint of the tribulation. Rev 11:3 says that they will prophesy for 3 ½ years. Also we are told that God allows the antichrist to attack them and kill them (we will discuss how they can be killed below). The antichrist did not come to power, did not go into the temple and declare himself to be God, until the mid-point of the tribulation. It is after this that he attacks the two witnesses and is allowed to kill them. Also we see in Rev 12:13-17 that Israel went into hiding at the middle of the tribulation, as directed by Jesus in Matt 24:15-20. We also know that this is the mid-point of the tribulation from Dan 9:24-27. It is at this same time that Satan, the dragon, is thrown down to earth from heaven and loses all future access to heaven. Rev 12:13-17 describes Satan and his evil angels who had been released from the Abyss, then going after Israel in the place that about ½ of her people had gone to hide. God did not allow this to happen and sent the evil angels back to the Abyss, verses 15-16. Satan and the antichrist were incensed and returned to make war on God’s people. God’s people were the two witnesses and those that they had won over to Jesus. This resulted in the antichrist and Satan killing the two witness and believers in Jesus. After 3 ½ days they were resurrected and taken to heaven on a cloud. This is the post mid-trib rapture of the saints of God. Since it took five months for the evil angels from the Abyss to administer the mark of the beast and at least a few additional months for the antichrist to arrange to kill the huge number of people in captivity, it would likely have been five months plus at least a few additional months after the midpoint of the tribulation before the rapture could have taken place. We know this since the evil angels were released at the mid-point of the tribulation, the beginning of the fifth judgment and they were given five months to do their work, Rev 9:1, 5, 10. We also know that the rapture took place just before the beginning of the sixth judgment from Rev 11:13. Just after the rapture of the two witnesses there is a huge earthquake. Rev 6:12 tells us that the sixth judgment starts with a huge earthquake.

9. There is also a description of a rapture of believers described in Rev 7:9-17 that seems to be taking place at the same time as that we just described in 8 above. We know it is a rapture because an uncountable number of believers from all over the world suddenly show up in heaven wearing white robes. Verse 14 tells us who these believers are; they have just come out of the great tribulation. This discussion of the rapture immediately follows the discussion of the sealing of the 144,000. This may be a clue that the 144,000 will be a part of this rapture. Again, we know that the 144,000 spend 3 ½ years as prophets for Jesus. Their prophecies end when the antichrist takes power at the mid-point of the tribulation. During a five month period shortly after mid tribulation he has all Christians on the earth who will not worship him as God rounded up, brought to Israel and placed in captivity. Sometime after this he has them all killed by beheading with the sword. Three and one half days later they are resurrected and raptured to heaven. This rapture is presented in the fifth seal judgment in Rev 6:9-11.

All of these clues seem to point to the same conclusions as we will see below.

SUMMARY OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE 144,000 AND THE TWO WITNESSES
We will now summarize what we have learned about the 144,000 and the two witnesses and we will draw some conclusions.
1. The 144,000 were sealed just before the tribulation implying that they were raptured to heaven.
2. Both Jews and gentiles are sealed and raptured to heaven.
3. The first time we see the 144,000 they are humans on earth before the rapture. The next time we see them is in heaven as firstfruits of the harvest, just before the 2nd Coming.
4. The two witnesses were very likely more than two in number. They are described as two olive trees and two lampstands. The clues tell me that the two olive trees were likely Elijah and Moses in their glorified bodies who were sent back to earth for about 4 years to be the leaders of the two lampstands, two groups of powerful prophets and evangelists, one Jewish, the 144,000 and the other a selected group of raptured gentiles.
5. A huge number of people were saved as a result of the work of the two witnesses. Humans would not be able to tell the difference between humans and glorified saints.
6. There is a rapture of tribulation saints recorded as taking place at the end of the fifth judgment, somewhat over five months after the mid-point of the seven year tribulation period.
7. The two witnesses are killed and raptured to heaven. The timeframe of the two raptures, that of the two witnesses and that of the fifth judgment, seems to be the same. Since the original two witnesses seemed to have glorified bodies they could not be killed a second time. It seems to me that there are at least three possible explanations for what happened to the two witnesses; (1) they simply returned to heaven un-noticed and those killed by the antichrist were those humans who had become believers in the first half of the tribulation period, (2) those killed by the antichrist were the new believers while those in glorified bodies simply feigned death, and (3) the two witnesses and the 144,000 were all human all along, with some manner of supernatural protection provided to them for 3 ½ years. All seem possible to me. Take your pick. I prefer numbers 1 or 2.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
We have answered our initial questions. We see that believers are sealed two separate times during their time on earth. The first is when they become a believer and the second at the time of the rapture when they receive their glorified resurrected bodies. The seal being applied in Revelation is obviously the seal given at the rapture. This is when God puts his final, permanent seal of approval on all of those who will live with him through eternity. This seal is said to be on the forehead and includes the names of Jesus, the Father and the permanent residence of the saints for eternity, the new Jerusalem. It is also likely that this is the seal that was placed on the 144,000, that they were raptured to heaven at the beginning of the tribulation and they returned to earth for the next 3 ½ years on a special mission from God.
Are there other places in the Bible where there is a record of people being sealed? Yes, Ezek 9:1-6 records a situation where God used his seal for a special purpose in Jerusalem shortly before the Babylonians destroyed the Temple and the city. God had a seal placed on the few people in Jerusalem who still worshipped him and not the prevalent idols. He then had those without the seal killed. Again, the seal was only on believers and they were protected from the coming wrath just as those who will be raptured to heaven just before the tribulation will be protected from the coming wrath. In Ezekiel those who were grieved by the idolatry and great sins of those living in Jerusalem, those still loyal to God, were sealed to protect them from death. All others including men, women and children were killed. This was done at the command of the Lord.