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Segment
IX
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The 144,000 and the
Numberless Multitude
__________________
“Even on my servants, both men and
women, I will pour out my Spirit in those
days.” - Joel 2:29, italics
mine
Who
Are They?
Ever since John pinned
the book of revelation in A.D. 95, Bible students
have debated and discussed questions about the
144,000. Who are they? What is their purpose?
When will they appear? How will they be
recognized? Where will they appear? Why are they
numbered? Why is their Jewish lineage important?
Before we examine these and other questions,
carefully review the first eight verses of
Revelation 7:
“And after these
things I saw four angels standing on the four
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of
the earth, that the wind should not blow on the
earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And 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 given to
hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the
earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we
have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads. And the number of them which were
sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and
forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the
children of Israel:
Of the tribe of Judah
were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Rueben
were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of Gad
were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of Aser
were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of
Nephthalim were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of
Manasses were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of Simeon
were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of Levi
were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of
Issachar were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of
Zebulon were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of Joseph
were twelve thousand sealed.
Of the tribe of
Benjamin were twelve thousand sealed.
(Revelation 7:1-8, KJV)
You may notice, after
reviewing the twelve tribes listed in Revelation
7:5-8, that the tribe of Dan is missing and the
tribe of Ephraim is renamed. (The tribe of Joseph
is another name for the tribe of Ephraim.) These
nuances reflect certain developments that
occurred during the history of ancient Israel.
Israel (also known as
Jacob) and his family moved into Egypt because of
the famine in Canaan (Genesis 46). He happily
reunited with his “long lost son,”
Joseph, and he adopted Joseph’s two sons,
Manasseh and Ephraim, as his own. (Genesis 48:5)
This adoption elevated the two grandsons of
Israel to a position that was equal with their
eleven uncles. Eventually, Ephraim and Manasseh
became leaders of the tribes bearing their names.
(Joshua 14:4; Numbers 1 and 26.) This development
explains why, at the time of the Exodus, the
actual number of tribes that departed Egypt
totaled thirteen, but they were formally counted
as twelve. (Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 33)
When Moses ascended Mount
Sinai to meet with God for forty days, many
Israelites fell into idolatry while Moses was
gone by worshiping the golden calf that Aaron
built. When Moses returned to camp, he called for
volunteers to kill the defiant idolaters. The
Levites immediately stepped forward and they
killed about 3,000 of their kinfolk. When the
Lord saw the Levites were willing to kill their
kindred to honor His covenant, He exalted the
Levites above the other tribes by making them His
priests. (Exodus 32:25-29; Deuteronomy 33:8-11)
This may sound strange, but when God exalted the
Levites as priests, He eliminated their
inheritance. The Levites were not given a share
of the promised land. Instead, God gave the
Levites a portion of the bounty from the land
– tithes and offerings that would be
forthcoming. (Numbers 18:20-24)
Points
to Ponder
The tribe of Dan is not
included in the list of tribes in Revelation 7.
Evidently, this tribe was destroyed. Although the
Bible does not explain the disappearance of the
tribe of Dan, certainly, the 144,000 will come
from all the tribes of Israel. “Then
I heard the number of those who were sealed:
144,000 from all the tribes
of Israel.” (Italics mine) Since Dan is
not listed, we have to conclude that Dan became
extinct. Dan occupied the northern part of Canaan
that was the “wild frontier” in those
days. (Joshua 19:40-47) Because Dan would have
been the first to encounter hostile armies coming
down from the north, the exposure may have
contributed to the tribe’s demise. Dan’s
geographical position in the Promised Land became
a colloquialism. The northern and southern
boundaries of Israel were frequently described
with the words “from Dan to Beersheba.”
(Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 1 Kings 4:25)
The inclusion of the
tribes of Levi in Revelation 7 is significant for
two reasons. First, this is the only place in the
Bible where the Levites are numbered as one of
the twelve tribes after the death of Moses.
(Deuteronomy 33) Second, even though the tribe of
Levi was exalted above the other tribes in
ancient times, they are not exalted above the
other tribes when it comes to the sealing of the
144,000. There will be as many Benjamites as
Levites. The apostle Paul in Hebrews 7 explains
the demotion of the Levites when he explains that
God abolished the Levitical priesthood due to the
implantation of a new covenant.
One final
point in this section should be noticed.
Revelation 7:5-8 indicates that when the sealing
of the 144,000 occurs, each tribe is larger than
12,000 people are. For example, the Bible says, “Of
the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand.”
The existence of each tribe will prove to be
interesting later in this study because,
currently, no one knows the identity or
whereabouts of the twelve tribes. Fire destroyed
the genealogical records of Israel in A.D. 70
when the Roman general Titus, destroyed
Jerusalem. In light of the language used in
Revelation 7, the absence of genealogical records
is interesting because only God knows the
identity of the twelve tribes at the present
time. Of course, the twelve tribes have to exist
at the time of the end because 12,000 will be
selected and sealed from each tribe.
God’s wisdom is both
elegant and astonishing. By giving the Levites
the tithes and offerings, the Lord made the
Levites dependant on Israel’s
faithfulness to Him. If the Levites stayed close
to God and were faithful to their high calling of
teaching and nurturing His people in the way they
should go, the nation of Israel would prosper and
there would be sufficient tithes and offerings to
care for the whole tribe of Levi! On the other
hand, if the Levites failed to “nurture the
body of Christ” in word and deed, idolatry
and rebellion would follow and the end result was
that the Levites would be the first to suffer
from national apostasy. (Deuteronomy 28)
Who
Are the 144,000?
Because the book of
Daniel has been unsealed, we have four valid
rules of interpretation. Because we have the
rules, the identity, mission and timing of the
144,000 can be determined. Since Rule Two of
apocalyptic prophecy requires that all
specifications be met in order to produce a
fulfillment, please review the following
specifications concerning the 144,000. A
discussion about each specification will follow:
- John
calls the 144,000, “servants,”
“servants the prophets,” and
“servants of God” back in the
book of Revelation. (Revelation 6:11,
7:3, 10:7, 19:2)
- The
four angels do not hurt earth until the
144,000 are sealed. (Revelation 7:3)
- The
144,000 will be the first to receive the
seal of God. (Revelation 7:3) They will
be presented to God as the first
fruits of the Great Tribulation. They
will not be defiled with women and they
will travel with Jesus wherever He goes.
(Revelation 14:4)
- Unlike
the numberless multitude that will come
out of the Great Tribulation, the 144,00
will be numbered. (Revelation 7:
5-8,9, 14)
- The
144,000 will experience and endure the
sufferings of Christ. They will be
honored above the rest of the redeemed.
No one else will be able to sing their
song. (Revelation 14:1-3)
- No
lie or falsehood will be found in their
mouths of the 144,000. (Revelation 14:5)
- The
144,000 will visibly wear the names of
the Father and Son on their foreheads
throughout eternity. (Revelation 14:1;
Revelation 22:3,4)
- The
144,000 will be Jews, descendants of
Abraham. (Revelation 7:5-8)
Now that these eight
specifications have been summarized, a few
remarks about each one may prove to be helpful.
Specification
#1 – Are the 144,000 “Servants the
Prophets?”
John calls the 144,000,
“servants,” “servants the
prophets,” and “servants of God”
in the book of Revelation. (Revelation 6:11, 7:3,
10:7, 19:2) Observe John’s use of language
in the following texts (For the sake of clarity,
I have inserted a few words in these verses and
enclosed them in brackets, but especially notice
the words I have emphasized with bold print.):
- Fifth
Seal: Revelation 6:11 “Then each
of them [the martyrs] was given a white
robe, and they were told to wait a little
longer, until the number of their fellow
servants and brothers who wee to be
killed as they had been was completed.”
- The
Delay: Revelation 7:3,4 “Do not
harm the land or the sea or the trees
until we put a seal on the foreheads of
the servants of our God. Then I
heard the number of those who were
sealed: 144,000 from all the
tribes of Israel.”
- The
Seventh Trumpet: Revelation 10:7,
11:15,18 “But in the days when
the seventh angel is about to sound his
trumpet, the mystery of God will be
accomplished, just as he announced to his
servants the prophets… The
seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and
there were loud voices in Heaven, which
said: The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his
Christ, and he will reign forever and
ever…’ The nations were angry;
and your wrath has come. The time has
come for judging [avenging the blood of]
the dead [martyrs], and for rewarding
your servants the prophets and
your saints and those who
reverence your name, both small and great
– and for destroying those who
destroy the Earth.”
- The
Third Bowl: Revelation 16:4-6 ‘The
third angel poured out his bowl on the
rivers and springs of water, and they
became blood. Then I heard the angel in
charge of the waters say: “You are
just in these judgments, you who are and
who were, the Holy One, because you have
so judged; for they have shed the blood
of your saints and prophets [the
martyrs], and you have given them blood
to drink as they deserve.’”
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