(Steve,

I'm not able to give you a proper answer, to your question.

However, I would like to explain why my mind may have changed some, about what I had originally been taught.

I had originally been taught that the sealed Israelites were like 144,000 apostle Pauls, who evangelized and led the great multitude to Christ.)

 

Revelation 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

  14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

(Why would one of the elders ask John that? Certainly, he was not giving John a pop-quiz.

But, perhaps, he was doing that, because he knew the answer would practically knock John off his feet.

Who are these people, uncountable, and from every ethnic group from all over the world, worshipping before the throne?

What’s with all of them in white robes, and how did they all get there?

And John, not knowing the answers, admits that he believes that the elder has the answers to these perplexing questions.

The elder tells him that this multitude came out of great tribulation; apparently out of extreme trials and suffering.

John knew of what Rome did to Jerusalem in his day, and he had just seen six seals being opened, with all the horrific things associated with that.

Also, there were great wars, famines, disease, and disasters during those times, as well as during the intervening 20 centuries.

Yet, instead of giving up, or being bitter with Jesus, this multitude of people chose to trust him, and are saved for all eternity.

How could so many people repent, and believe on Jesus, when all those horrible things were happening?

Then, the elder further explains that their robes, are robes that had to be washed, which clearly were previously unwashed.

How? He said they “have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”.

They knew that they were defiled and unwashed, and they had to turn to Jesus, and by faith, be washed in his blood.

Clearly, they made the choice to be saved, while others in the world chose not to repent, and not to believe on Jesus.)

 

(How were this many people, from all those different ethnic groups, saved?

Is it possible that the people saved during the great trials and tribulations in their days, could be during the entire church age?

However, I was originally taught that since it says "great tribulation", then it must only be during the great tribulation, the final 3½  years of Daniel's vision.

This, then, has led many to think that those sealed, mentioned prior to this, were all evangelists.

That is why many have said that they are like 144,000 apostle Pauls, leading all these Gentiles to Jesus.

However, nothing in chapters 7, 9, or 15, where it speaks of the 144,000, says anything about them being the evangelists.

Also, the elder, in explaining how the multitude got there, and about washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb, didn’t mention the 144,000 bringing that about.

So, how did the gospel spread, before, during times of tribulation and persecution?)

 

Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

  4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

 

(The non-apostles, the non-clergy, i.e. every day people, were scattered abroad, and everywhere they went, they preached the word.)

 

Acts 11:19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

  20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.

  21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

  26c And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

 

(How far did the Christians bring the gospel, in those early days?)

 

Colossians 1:6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

  23a If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;

 

Romans 10:18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

 

Romans 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

 

(And if they were able to do that in the 1^st century, during persecution, without modern travel, then why not even in the tribulation?

Especially since Jesus said that it would be:)

 

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

 

(No, 144,000 apostle Pauls are not necessarily needed to reach the world, and Jesus has proved that, already.

Rather, it appears that the 144,000 were chosen special, to walk close to Jesus, and to live holy lives before the rest of Israel and Gentiles.)

.