Segment IX
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The 144,000 and the
Numberless Multitude
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“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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