It is after the 6^th seal is open Men hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, from the wrath of the Lamb! Knowing Rev.6:17 “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

It is at this point in the tribulation things are stepped up. The Lord begins an evangelizing campaign by these Jewish believers giving people a choice before the mark of the Beast takes place.

Rev.7:2-4 “Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

We then find 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes sealed. This takes place during the Tribulation, not before. Since we do not have records for all the tribes one would not know the tribe they are from as God is the one who has them sealed by the angel.

The number 144,000 is also used of the New Jerusalem which is “city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.” (Rev 21:16-18)