God places His seal on the 144,000 believers in Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 7, representing all believers in the Messiah, both Jewish and gentile converts. There are three interludes in the Revelation to John, Rev 7:1-17; 10:11-11; 20:1-6, each explaining the place of the saints in the events of the Apocalypse of John. Conquering, victorious believers in Jesus Christ, are introduced in Revelation chapter 7, which continues the theme of a messianic war by depicting them as the army of the Davidic Messiah Jesus Christ.
Each message to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2-3, contained the promise of an eschatological reward to "the one who conquers." The last of these, Rev 3:21, anticipates Revelation chapter 5:5-6,
Revelation 3:21 ESV
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Revelation 5:5-6 ESV
5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
We need to pay special attention to the difference in what John hears in Rev 5:6 and what he sees in Rev 5:6. The "lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David," describes the Old Testament's militaristic, Davidic Messiah who will conquer God and Israel's enemies by military might. The "Lamb standing, as though it had been slayed," in Rev 5:6 reveals Jesus, the true Davidic Messiah, as conquering God's enemies by His sacrifical death and resurrection rather than by military might. They describe the same hoped for Davidic Messiah, though John reveals how God the Father planned that conquest to actually take place.
Revelation 7:4-9 ESV
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
A Great Multitude from Every Nation
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
Revelation chapter 7:4-14, uses the same method used in Revelation chapter 5:5-6, which contrasts what John hears in Rev 7:4-8, and what he sees in Rev 7:9.
The 12 tribes of Israel in Rev 7:4-8, contrast with the innumerable multitude from all nations in Rev 7:9, but the two images depict the same reality. They are just like the two contrasting images of Jesus the Christ, in Rev 5:5-6.
The 144,000, in Rev 7:4-8, are the Israelite believers in Jesus, the Davidic Messiah and the Lion of Judah, while the innumerable multitude are both Jewish and gentile believers in Jesus the Christ, the slaughtered and resurrected Lamb, that were ransomed from all the nations of the earth in Rev 5:9.
The expectation of a militaristic, Davidic Messiah was reinterpreted by John using the biblical image of the Passover Lamb in Rev 5:5-6.
Likewise, John reinterprets the nationalistic portrayal of a Militaristic, Davidic Messiah, drawn from Old Testament promises to the patriarchs. According to these promises, the descendants of the patriarchs would be innumerable.
John had complete faith in the fact that all the promises to the patriarchs would be delivered by God the Father, through God the Son's sacrificial birth, death and resurrection, and through those sacrifices, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
The innumerable multitude who celebrate their victory in heaven, are wearing white robes, standing before the throne. This means they are martyrs. The only way to conquer is to believe in Jesus, witness to others and faithfully endure persecution until the end.
Since Rev 7:14 refers to an action, in which believers in the Lamb are subjects, it is parallel to Rev 12:11, whereas in references to the redemption of believers by Jesus Christ's blood, they are the objects of His action, Rev 1:5; 5:9.
Revelation 12:11 ESV
11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
Revelation 1:5 ESV
5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood
Revelation 5:9 ESV
9 And they sang a new song, saying,“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Thus, just as Rev 5:5-6 depicts Jesus the Christ, the Davidic Messiah, who has won a victory, but has done so by His sacrifical death, not by military might... so Revelation chapter 7:4-14 depicts His followers as the people of the Messiah who share in His victory, but do so similaryly, by their own sacrifical death rather than by military violence.
Revelation chapter 7 depicts the victory of believers in Jesus Christ through martyrdom. Its placement in the structure of John's vision is important.
It intervenes between the opening of the sixth and seventh seal.
The opening of the sixth seal seems to anticipate the immediate arrival of the judgment when the seventh seal is opened, but this opening is delayed while the servants of God are sealed.
This act of "Sealing" refers to their being "marked out" for martyrdom.
When the fifth seal is opened, we see the christian martyrs of the past, relative to John's time, ask how long must they wait to to avenged. The answer was until the last of those future martyrs, sealed for martyrdom have been killed.
This is why their victory is depicted as an interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seal.
We should, therefor, expect to see a corresponding interlude in the next series of judgments, between the sixth and seventh trumpets.
In what sense is martyrdom a continuation of Jesus Christ's work by His followers, a working-out of the victory He achieved by His death?
Reading the Revelation to John, only up to and including chapter seven, it seems that martyrdom is only for the sake of the martyrs themselves.
Seeing the motif of Revelation as the new Exodus, it seems that God's people, redeemed from all nations to be His own people (5:9), are delivered, through martyrdom, from the evil world. Their triumph in heaven, while their enemies on earth are doomed to final judgment, seems to suggest that the final judgment has been delayed only so that they can escape that judgment through martyrdom.
But so far, in Revelation, the real secret of God's purpose for the role of His church in the establishment of God's kingdom on earth, has not yet been revealed. That occurs only in the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments, in Revelation 10:1 - 11:13.
For now, in our Bible study of Revelation, this is all that John's vision, up to and including Revelation chapter 7 can tell us.
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