People in the days of the apostle John were very well aware that some of the tribes of Israel had virtually disappeared (as a result of the apostasy of the northern tribes and the destruction of Samaria). But even human sin cannot frustrate God’s redeeming work! All those chosen to life eternal (these are “the servants of our God,” Revelation 7:3) would in fact survive the winds of God’s judgment once they are unleashed upon the earth.
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: