The 144,000 are sealed

(Also part of the sixth seal)

These Jews are “sealed,” which means they have the special protection of God from all of the divine judgments and from the Antichrist to perform their mission during the tribulation period (see Revelation 6:17, in which people will wonder who can stand from the wrath to come). The tribulation period is a future seven-year period of time in which God will enact divine judgment against those who reject Him and will complete His plan of salvation for the people of earth. All of this is according to God’s revelation to the prophet Daniel (Daniel 9:24–27). The 144,000 Jews are a sort of “first fruits” (Revelation 14:4 Living Bible Revelation 14:4  For they are spiritually undefiled, pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the men on the earth as a consecrated offering to God and the Lamb.) Of a redeemed Israel which has been previously prophesied (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25–27), and their mission seems to be to evangelize and proclaim the gospel during the tribulation period. As a result of their ministry, millions—“a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9)—will come to faith in Christ.

Much of the confusion regarding the 144,000 is a result of the false doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that 144,000 is limit to the number of people who will reign with Christ in heaven and spend eternity with God. The 144,000 have what the Jehovah’s Witnesses call the heavenly hope. Those who are not among the 144,000 will enjoy what they call the earthly hope—a paradise on earth ruled by Christ and the 144,000. Clearly, we can see that Jehovah’s Witness teaching sets up a caste society in the afterlife with a ruling class (the 144,000) and those who are ruled. The Bible teaches no such “dual class” doctrine. It is true that there will be people ruling in the millennium with Christ. These people will be comprised of the church (believers in Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 6:2), Old Testament saints (believers who died before Christ’s first advent, Daniel 7:27), and tribulation saints (those who accept Christ during the tribulation, Revelation 20:4). Yet the Bible places no numerical limit on this group of people. Furthermore, the millennium is different from the eternal state, which will take place at the completion of the millennial period. At that time, God will dwell with us in the New Jerusalem. He will be our God and we will be His people (Revelation 21:3). The inheritance promised to us in Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13–14) will become ours, and we will all be co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

Who Are the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14?

“Who are the 144,000 people mentioned in the book of Revelation, chapters 7 and 14?”

The book of Revelation is a highly symbolic treatise. Because of this fact, many false religionists have attempted to exploit the message of the narrative to their own theological ends. The Apocalypse has become a happy hunting ground for some religious cultists who seek biblical support for their peculiar doctrines.

Twice in this book, mention is made of a group consisting of 144,000. In chapter 7:1 John heard of 144,000 (12,000 each from twelve different Israelite tribes) servants of God who had been sealed on their foreheads. They were thus obviously redeemed people.

Also, the apostle saw a “great multitude, which no man can number” out of every nation. These too were redeemed individuals who had been made white in the Lamb’s blood (v. 14). They had victoriously triumphed over tribulation, and they served God continuously in his temple.

Some feel that these two groups are really the same people — just from different angles.

Again, in Revelation 14:1, John saw the Lamb on Mount Zion. With him were 144,000, sealed with the Father’s name upon their foreheads. This great multitude had been “purchased out of the earth,” and they were said to be the “firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb.”

The “Jehovah’s Witnesses” have almost no concept of the distinction between the literal and the figurative language in the Bible. And so, they literalize the number 144,000 in these two contexts, and ridiculously argue that only 144,000 people will gain heaven.

A Watchtower publication states that “the final number of the heavenly church will be 144,000, according to God’s decree” (Let God Be True, p. 113). The balance of saved humanity, they contend, will live on God’s glorified earth.

It should be noted that the term “thousand” is used nineteen times in the book of Revelation, but not once is it employed literally in this document.

The 144,000 in Revelation 7

There are some minor differences of opinion among reputable Bible scholars as to the identity of the 144,000 in Revelation 7.

Be that as it may, it is generally acknowledged that:

“The number is obviously symbolic. 12 (the number of the tribes) is both squared and multiplied by 1,000 — a twofold way of emphasizing completeness”.

We must emphasize the following two points:

First, one simply cannot take a symbolic section of scripture and interpret it in such a fashion as to make it contradict other clear, literal portions of the Bible.

Second, any doctrine which logically implies an absurdity is false and must be rejected. The Watchtower theory regarding the 144,000 violates both of these principles.

Consider the following points.

If 144,000 is literal, what about other descriptive terms?

If one argues that the 144,000 represents a literal number, he should similarly contend that the group of which that number consists is also literal, i.e., literal Israelites.

That would mean, according to the Watchtower scheme of interpretation, that no one would be in heaven who was not of the actual tribes listed.

This would also exclude Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — who were never of the tribes of Israel. And yet, that conflicts with Jesus’ affirmation that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be in the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 8:11).

If a consistent literal scheme of interpretation is pursued, here is the situation that would obtain:

• Only men will be in heaven, hence, Hannah, Mary, Dorcus, and women of like faith are without that hope.
• Only unmarried men who are virgins will gain heaven. This would exclude Abraham, Moses, Peter, and a host of other biblical worthies.

These conclusions are utterly ludicrous and thus without any merit whatever.

"There are only two tribes of Jews now. So what happened to the lost tribes of Israel?"

Answer: When people refer to the “lost tribes of Israel,” they usually have in mind the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom that fell to Assyria about 722 BC. These tribes are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Joseph (whose tribe was divided into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh). Most of the people of the Northern Kingdom were deported to ancient Assyria (2 Kings 17:6). Many of the Jews who remained in the land intermarried with people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim who had been sent by the Assyrian king to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2–11). Thus, the story goes, the ten northern tribes of Israel were “lost” to history and either wiped out or assimilated into other people groups. This narrative, however, is based on inference and assumption rather than on direct biblical teaching.

There are many mysteries, legends, and traditions as to what happened to the ten “lost” tribes of Israel. One legend says that the ten tribes migrated to Europe (the Danube River, they say, got its name from the tribe of Dan). Another legend says the tribes migrated all the way to England and that all Anglo-Saxons today are actually Jews—this is a teaching of the heretical British Israelism. A surprising number of groups around the world claim to have descended from the “lost” tribes: there are people in India, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and North America who all claim such ancestry. Other theories equate the Japanese or the American Indians with the ten “lost” tribes of Israel.

The idea that ten tribes of Israel were “lost” is false. God knows where all twelve tribes are, and, as the Bible itself proves, they are all accounted for. In the end times, God will call out witnesses from each of the twelve tribes (Revelation 7:4–8). So, obviously, God has been keeping track of who belongs to what tribe.

Now, dealing with the twelve tribes actually named. The Apostle Paul devoted much of his ministry to explaining the transformation occurring at salvation. He explained in Romans 2:28-29, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” In Paul’s very next writing, he poses the question in Romans 3:1, “What advantage then hath the Jew?” In summary, Paul contended that true Jews were those who had inwardly been circumcised, saved according to the gospel; not physically circumcised. This apostolic teaching removes any questions as to how any of us can be referred to as Jews.

When John named the tribes that would comprise the 144,000, he seems to have placed clues in the text to suggest that he didn’t intend these tribes to be taken as the 12 tribes of ethnic Israel.

The clues have to do with the tribes that John chose to list and order in which he lists them.

• John was a faithful Jew; he was very familiar with the list of Israel’s tribes that appear in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet, John recorded a different list than any of the list that appear in the Old Testament and in a completely different order! The order in which the tribes are listed is an important part of the Jewish political and social structure.
• His list of tribes is not the same as the list of Jacob’s sons that appear in Genesis.
• Neither does John’s list match the tribal territories mapped out in the prophecies of Ezekiel.
• In fact, this list doesn’t match any listings anywhere else in the Bible! The tribes are different, and the order is different too.

So why did God guide John to record such a distinct listing?

Many Bible scholars take this deliberate divergence from Old Testament listings to be a spirit-inspired clue. The purpose of this clue was to show readers that the ethnic nation of Israel is not the focus of this list. John met his listing of tribes to be taken as a symbol of something other than ethnic Israel.

The main focus of the 144,000 is not so much on who they are, but what their task is.Their task or purpose is to present the soul saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible during the great tribulation.

At the end of their mission (Revelation 7:9-17) appears to be the rapture. The mission of the 144,000 ends with the rapture. None of God’s people are left here on the earth when he pours out his wrath. Then the seventh seal is broken and the corresponding events take place. This makes sense because the first woe, which is God’s wrath, is the next event to take place.