WHAT ABOUT THE 144,000?


“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” Rev. 7:4

The major advocates of this special symbolic selection of individuals are known by everyone of us. Don’t we? If you are on the contrary, they are right there in your neighbourhood.

They come in pairs asking questions such as: Is there really a place called hell? Who are the 144,000? Is there life after death? Where is paradise? Does the dead have hope? They may be seen as zealous but the core of their message is selfish and baseless in its entirety. They want to try if per chance they could work their way into the number or paradise. I was once questioned by them if I could sing the song and have the seal on my forehead as that would be part of the criteria.

Some views on the text include:

# The number is exclusively a selection from the natural Jews. If this would hold true, as it possibly might due to God’s special affection towards the natural Jews, the next question would be, ‘Where is the tribe of Dan?’ Why would the tribe of Manasseh appear when the tribe came out from the tribe of Joseph?

# They were sealed as a mark of ownership. All the redeemed of the Lord bear his seal of ownership, the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until they redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of the Lord’s glory.

# They were to be sealed before harm is done to the earth. This suggests that they were not kept away from the tribulations and persecutions, but were sealed as a mark of distinction. The seal is the invisible sign of God’s protection, not from tribulations and deaths, but from God’s wrath. The church of the firstborn is kept out of the hour of the great day of God’s wrath but is present during the earlier segments of the Great tribulation mentioned by Christ in the gospels which we have thus far been witnessing.

The great day references not a single day but the entire scope of end time events, from the breaking of the seals to the final day of the Lord’s wrath.

The disciple of Christ is here encouraged to occupy till his Lord returns.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren,
You have no need that I should write to you.
For you yourselves know perfectly that the day
Of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night
For when they say, ‘Peace and Safety’!
Then suddenly destruction comes upon them
As labour pains upon a pregnant woman
And they shall not escape
But you, brethren, are not in darkness
So that this day should overtake you as a thief
You are all sons of light and sons of the day
We are not of the night or of darkness”.
1 Tessalonians 5: 1 - 5

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