Do the 144,000 suffer privations during their ministry?
Yes. The 144,000 endure privation throughout their ministry. Scripture indicates they are sealed so no one can take their life, yet they still experience the hardships of the seven-year period. Along with other believers, they face hunger and deprivation, though the promise declares they shall hunger no more.
Les teaches that Jesus shows these 144,000 are going to suffer privation all through their ministry. Revelation 7 is used to explain their sealing: the angel says not to hurt the earth, sea, or trees until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. Like the mark God put on Cain so no one could take his life, these 144,000 are sealed so no one can take their life. Then the 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes go out and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. The Matthew 25 passage is connected to the privations that believers, as well as these 144,000, will suffer during the seven-year period, with the promise that they shall hunger no more. The mark of the beast is also contrasted, because those who receive it will never succumb to the gospel of the kingdom.