These Are the Ones … (Rev 7) 403 chapter 6 (41). This passage, in fact, provides the most explicit declaration of divine protection accorded to the righteous. The protection reappears in 9,4 where the locusts “were told that they should not harm the grass of the earth, nor any green plant, nor any tree, but only those who do not have the seal of God on the forehead”. b) Focus #2: Witnesses In conjunction with our second focus, the suggestion that the 144,000 function as witnesses is widely accepted among commentators, though it does not derive from any explicit indications in the text. Many who advance the suggestion that the 144,000 represent witnesses or evangelists, fail to provide any textual argumentation for this suggestion. Walvoord, for example, puts forward the suggestion that the 144,000 are ethnic Israelites who are converted in order to bear witness to the gospel during the tribulation period (42). In his commentary, however, he does not mention any exegetical evidence for this assertion. Beale, however, asserts that the presence of Christ’s name on their foreheads confirms their role as witnesses and enables them to persevere and confess his name. He concludes: “Hence, the seal empowers the 144,000 to perform the witnessing role intended for true Israel” (43). Bauckham, perhaps, argues more convincingly that the 144,000 constitute an army for the purpose of a holy war (44). In his assessment, they prove victorious not by actually waging war with arms. Instead, they are victorious in the same way that Christ was victorious. That is, Christ’s army truly “follows the Lamb wherever He goes” (14,4). Bauckham postulates that they follow Christ both “as the ‘faithful witness’ … and the sacrificial death to which this led” (45). His proposal, however, does not intend to convey the notion that chapter 7 alone suggests that the 144,000, or the great multitude, constitute witnesses. With a strong emphasis on the churches’ role as witnesses — clearly conveyed by the lampstand imagery — we may surmise that anyone who receives God’s divine protection necessarily fulfills some role of evangelism. It is difficult, however, to suggest that this is their function according to Revelation 7 alone. However, if we grant the proposal that Revelation continues to expand on earlier conceptions, then Bauckham’s and similar proposals, that later chapters clarify the function of the 144,000, merit attention. (41) It is important to note that the narrative of 7,1-3 occurs temporally prior to the unleashing of the events entailed in the six seals. For, as Beale asserts, “Vv 1-3 must be referring to a time immediately preceding the plagues of 6,1-8… If the time of 7,1-3 did not directly precede that of 6,1-8, there would be an irreconcilable contradiction between ch. 6 and 7,1-3, since it is clear in ch. 6 that the first six seals harm the earth and its inhabitants, while in the beginning of ch. 7 the earth and its inhabitants are portrayed as not yet harmed” (BEALE, Revelation, 408). Thus, we have confirmation that it is not unprecedented for the events of a later chapter to detail events temporally preceding those of a previous chapter. (42) As a pretribulational premillenialist, Walvoord believes that the church will be raptured to Heaven at the beginning of the final seven years that precede Christ’s return. Around that time, 144,000 Jews are converted in order to be witnesses during the church’s absence. See: WALVOORD, Revelation, 140. (43) BEALE, Revelation, 411. (44) BAUCKHAM, Climax, 217-237. (45) BAUCKHAM, Climax, 232.