“After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: ‘Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of them that were signed, an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda, were twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Aswer, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Manasses, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand signed.”
The angels, who defend the lovers of God, stand on the four corners of the earth, representing the whole earth, holding back the four winds, which in Daniel are linked with the beasts that would oppress God’s people: “I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea” (Daniel 7:2); “And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards the four winds of heaven” (Daniel 8:8). These winds are the afflictions that will disperse the things of earth down to the very foundations: “And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there shall be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come” (Jeremias 49:36). As the sun rises, so too does the beauty of the angel rise that bears the seal of the living God, which is the sign of the cross, by which the Christian is sealed. To refuse to make the sign of the cross before others is to show shame for one’s Christianity: “He that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:22), whereas to make it often and joyfully is a mark of love. Or, the winds of adversity, trial, and confusion from the devil putting forth goods that are not meant for you are all held back until you have sufficiently drunk of first love, that you may be able to bear the heavy burden with love in your heart: “And she began the song to them, saying: ‘Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea.’ And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went forth into the wilderness of Sur: and they marched three days through the wilderness, and found no water” (Exodus 15:21-22). The land is what is familiar, the sea being the means of travel and connection with others, and the trees, so necessary for ancient life, being the means of living, and going without these things without love to carry the weight is torture, therefore, the mind and heart must be strengthened by much meditation on the Scriptures and love of God before God would ask these things of His beloved: “Trust not thyself to a rugged way, lest thou set a stumblingblock to thy soul” (Ecclesiasticus 32:25). As for the seal itself, it calls from the book of Ezekiel: “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusaelm: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof” (Ezechiel 9:4), and is representative of the signing of the Holy Spirit: “In whom you also, after you had heard the word of truth, (the gospel of your salvation;) in whom also believing, you were signed with the holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13), indicative of spiritual maturity and to walk in love and truth: “My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth” (1 John 3:18). The number 144,000 is symbolic, as twelve multiplied by twelve multiplied by a thousand has multiple indications. The first is the number twelve represents the entirety of God’s people, represented by the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles, and the two multiplied by each other shows the gathering of those who walked in virtue and justice in the old covenant, and those who loved in the new. The number of a thousand then shows a great multitude, a great sign of completion, the army of those who truly loved in their lives, for 1,000 was also the largest military unit in Israel. The great multitude of Israel in the desert were gathered in formation around the ark of the covenant as a massive force, and the twelve thousand from each tribe brings this forward in a particular way, such as when the men of fighting age were counted in the book of numbers: “These are they who were numbered by Moses and Aaron, and the twelve princes of Israel, every one by the houses of their kindreds. And the whole number of the children of Israel by their houses and families, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go to war, were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men” (Numbers 1:44-45). This numbering then, is a call to warfare, to be a great soldier of love. In Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, the love-driven Lancelot hesitates to enter a dishonorable form of travel to rescue his beloved, for which she later spurns him, not being zealous for love, but letting his own dignity as a knight hinder him. As a soldier for Love Itself, then, you are called to be all the more eager and legendary, letting nothing trip you up or hold you back in your zeal for your Beloved: “If thou go out to war against thy enemies, and see horsemen and chariots, and the numbers of the enemy’s army greater than thine, thou shalt not fear them: because the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 20:1). The seal itself is to rid you of all fear, for the ease of sin is terrifying, and the thought of offending the Beloved can lead to crippling scruples, but trust, Theophila, that Jesus is keeping you safe in His arms, even when you cannot feel it: “For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalm 90:11). As for the laying out of the tribes, St. John begins with Juda, for this is the tribe from which Christ came: “The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations” (Genesis 49:10). Juda also means “confession,” for to begin on the spiritual life is to confess Christ and confess one’s sins, orienting oneself instead to love. In falling in love, there is a desire for spiritual children in the salvation of souls, and so Reuben, who means “seeing the son,” is a desire to see the manifestations of one’s love of God in spiritual children: “Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table” (Psalm 127:3). This comes through prayer and action, which are taken up by the one that desires to ascend the mountain to perfection in love: “The Lord came down upon mount Sinai, in the very top of the mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof” (Exodus 19:20). Then follows the tribe of Gad, which means “temptation,” for what is natural in the life of grace is a time of incredible interior trial, that after purification from sin: “I will clean purge away thy dross, and I will take away all thy tin” (Isaias 1:25) comes a reforming of your very nature from a lump of gold into a masterpiece. It is a time of learning to let yourself be loved and docilly transformed, which itself fights the human tendency to grasp and do things oneself: “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 80:11). All this is while the lower desires and the enemy come forward to attempt to hinder you and deceive you, but to remain faithful and emerge from this grueling trial will render one blessed, thus Asher follows, which means “blessed,” and to emerge from these trials to the mountain of God is to receive the crown of life: “Thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards” (Canticle 4:8). This period of trial then builds compassion, and love for God does not blot out love for others, but rather opens the heart to them, even in the contemplative life, and so Nephtali then follows, which means “enlargement,” for the heart is enlarged to carry the affection of God and the whole world, rather than living for oneself: “The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing” (Psalm 86:7), but simultaneously there is a forgetting of all things behind as you are drawn entirely to your Beloved: “One thing I do: forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those things that are before” (Philippians 3:13), and thus Manasseh, or “forgetting” follows. When you are entirely wrapped in love, the only thing present being the Lord, the object of your love, who walks freely in your garden without tension, agitation, request, or care, but rather like a Bridegroom walking with His bride in silent love: “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees” (Canticle 5:1), then you are truly His dwelling place, thus “Simeon,” or “the name of his habitation.” Thus your soul becomes the vineyard of God: “I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place. And he fenced it in” with the commandments of God “and picked the stones out of it,” love being a greater good than sin and therefore happily chosen, “and built a tower in the midst thereof” with heavenly teaching being a mighty tower that sees all things in their order, “and set up a winepress therein” (Isaias 5:1-2), the writings and prayers of the saints yielding a sweet wine of devotion. Next, then, is “Levi,” which means “added,” for grace upon grace is added to the soul in love, love growing more fervent the more it grows, in turn becoming more fervent exponentially. For, after having lived a time in trial and desolation: “[Now when Mardochai hade heard these things, he rent his garments, and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head: and he cried with a loud voice in the street in the midst of the city, shewing the anguish of his mind” (Esther 3:1), there is a glorious, heavenly reward of love that descends, the fruits of one labors being far greater than the service rendered, for God will not be outdone in generosity: “The man whom the king desireth to honour, ought to be clothed with the king’s apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head, and let the first of the king’s princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say: ‘Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour’” (Esther 6:7-9). This reward is the unhindered gift of the Holy Spirit, and the graces drawn by the soul animated entirely by the Holy Spirit draw all the more graces, and therefore is the name Levi applied to them. This leads to Issachar, which means “reward,” for redeemed life on earth is called to be even greater than life before the fall, with the heart aware that it is loved as if there was no one else on earth: “I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me” (Canticle 7:10), which is the sweetest of rewards. This is given to the little soul, to the one who on their own is nothing, but their heart is full of love, and by their glorious spirit, the primary player in their life being the Holy Spirit, it is shown that their weakness has been made strength, thus Zabulon, which means, “strength is made perfect in weakness,” for in being brought exceedingly low, the humble soul may know that none of the good that they do comes from them, but entirely from God: “Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17). For the person has been brought to nothing, yet Jesus is fully alive in them, thus: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20), and just as the Son brings down graces unfathomable to the human race, the soul united to Him and entirely transformed by love into Christ does the same: “And he prayed again: and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (James 5:18), thus it is called “Joseph,” which means “gifts and graces.” This is the seal of love on the one that truly loves Jesus, the one that looks at Him and calls Him “Beloved:” Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely” (Canticle 1:15) from the depths of her heart.