Here's another one to seal the deal.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So the 144,000 are protected from the wrath, so they have to be Christians.
Yes. And this was already acknowledge earlier in this thread.
(We acknowledge they indeed come to faith in Christ [Yep, THEY ARE "BELIEVERS"!]--They come to faith
FOLLOWING "our Rapture" and will exist [in their "role" shown in Rev]
in / during the Tribulation Period [7-yr period].)
The "144,000" (of
ONE nation--Israel) is set in contradistinction to the "a great multitude... of ALL THE NATION
S [
plural]" vv.9,14.
The "144,000" (of ONE nation--Israel) are obviously specifically
numbered; whereas the "a great multitude... of ALL THE NATIONS" are not (it specifically says of them "which no man can number")...
,,,and it is THESE who the text goes on to show who will be "coming out of GREAT tribulation [the SECOND HALF]".
They are ALSO "saved" persons (having come to faith also WITHIN the trib yrs, FOLLOWING "our Rapture"), but these are
not said to be "OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL" as the 144,000 ARE said to be (per v.4)
[nor does it specify that these are
sealed-for-protection, as it says of the 144,000 of ISRAEL specifically]
“And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
So the wrath of God abides upon Everyone that doesn't believe in Jesus.
While that is true ^ , there is
also a specific, future,
LIMITED time-period, referred to as
"THE WRATH COMING" (1Th1:10)
which is (per context) an "
eschatological wrath" (7-yrs'-worth) which will be "judgments" unfolding upon the earth,
commonly called the tribulation period (the specific, future, limited years immediately preceding and LEADING UP TO His Second Coming TO THE EARTH Rev19).
Hope that helps.