Segment XI
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Additional Notes on
Segment 11
Through the years, I
have been asked various questions
about the 144,000 that you may want
to consider.
What is the
significance of selecting 144,000
people from the twelve tribes?
God made some amazing
promises to Abraham because God loved
this man of faith. For example, God
promised Abraham that through him,
all the nations of Earth would be
blessed. Jesus came through
Abraham’s lineage and that
blessing is beyond calculation!
(Galatians 3:16) On another occasion,
God changed Abram’s name to
Abraham because God ordained that a
childless Abram should be called,
“the father of many
nations.” “No
longer will you be called Abram; your
name will be Abraham, for I have made
you a father of many nations.” (Genesis
17:5) Abraham will see the
fulfillment of his name when the
numberless multitude in Revelation 7
gathers around the throne of Jesus. I
look forward to the day when Jesus
will call Abraham to His throne so
that with his own eyes, the patriarch
can see that indeed, he is the father
of many nations! John said, “After
this I looked and there before me was
a great multitude that no one could
count, from every nation, tribe,
people and language, standing before
the throne and in front of the
Lamb…” (Revelation
7:9, italics mine)
God told the
biological descendants of Abraham
that they were to be trustees of the
gospel and a nation of priests.
(Exodus 19) The apostle Paul and
every Pharisee knew this. Paul said, “For
this is what the Lord has commanded
us: ‘I have made you a light for
the Gentiles, that you may bring
salvation to the ends of the
Earth.’” (Acts 13:47)
When Israel failed to live up to the
terms and conditions of the covenant,
God abandoned the biological family
of Abraham for a family of people who
believed in Messiah. This may sound
harsh, but this was not the first
time God did this. God destroyed the
first generation that came out of
Egypt by keeping them in the
wilderness for forty years so that
another group of people could enter
the Promised Land. God destroyed the
city of Jerusalem through
Nebuchadnezzar so that He could raise
another group of people. Later on,
God destroyed Jerusalem again through
Titus in A.D. 70 so that He could
raise another group of people. The
point is that God keeps destroying
the rebellious and raising up another
group of people to accomplish His
promises. God raised up the Christian
church and it rebelled just like
Israel. God raised up Protestants,
and they have rebelled just like
Israel. This is why God will select
and empower 12,000 individuals from
each tribe at the end. He will use a
group of people that have nothing in
common but their heart of faith. By
incorporating the twelve tribes into
Revelation 7, God indicates that He
is honoring the original promises He
made to Abraham! The identity of the
twelve tribes is unknown and unseen
today. This is not a problem because
God knows who His children are. Jesus
said, “I am the good
shepherd; I know my sheep and my
sheep know me – just as the
Father knows me and I know the Father
– and I lay down my life for the
sheep. I have other sheep that are
not of this sheep pen. I must also
bring them also. They too will listen
to my voice, and there will be one
flock and one shepherd.”
(John 10:14-16)
Psychologists say
there are four basic personality
traits: sanguine, melancholy,
choleric and phlegmatic. Each person
has a dominant trait and recessive
traits. The combinations of traits
are said to produce twelve
personality groups. Perhaps the
redeemed will be grouped according to
personality type because each of
Jacob’s sons had unique
personality characteristics and Jacob
blessed his sons accordingly. (See
Genesis 49 and 1 Chronicles 4:21,23.)
If the twelve tribes reflect
personality types, then God can use
all twelve-personality types to reach
the diverse people of Earth because
no one personality type is acceptable
to everyone.
The Bible says the
Holy City, New Jerusalem, has twelve
gates and twelve foundations. Each
gate bears the name of the tribe and
each foundation bears the name of an
apostle. (Revelation 21:12,14) These
features are quite revealing. The
twelve foundations of the Holy City
bear the names of the twelve apostles
because the gospel of Christ was
built on the Rock of Ages by the
apostles! The twelve gates into the
city are portals named after the
twelve tribes because each gate could
be an entry point of each personality
type. Twelve different groups of
firstfruits, 12,000 servants from
each tribe, will lead their kinsman
through their respective gate to the
throne! Our family structure in
Heaven will be our tribe. Everyone
will belong to a tribe! Everyone will
belong to a wonderful family!
Why does God choose
144,000 people and ignore the
religious systems of the world?
This is a good
question. Why does God
“leapfrog” over the great
religious organizations that exist
during the end time to use a diverse
group of 144,000 people to preach the
gospel? If we consider the vast
resources that some religious
organizations have, it would seem
foolish to ignore these agencies
during the end time! However, here
are six reasons why God cannot use
them:
- The glory of
doing the impossible,
proclaiming the gospel to the
whole world in 1,260 days
belongs to God, not man.
- The seven
religious systems of the
world are corrupt. They
cannot and do not speak for
God. They can neither
correctly explain the
everlasting gospel, nor can
they properly explain the
plans and purposes of God for
the Great Tribulation.
- Most people
agree that God does not save
people because of church
affiliation. Salvation is not
gained through membership in
an organization. In fact, if
God were going to use a
religious organization to
proclaim the everlasting
gospel during the end time,
church affiliation would
prove to be insurmountable
problem. Consider the human
trait called prejudice. You
and I both know that some
people would rather die and
go to hell than join another
church or even worse, join
the church of someone who has
offended them. For example,
let us suppose that God
looked down on Earth and
declared a particular sect
within the Moslem faith to
have the truth for the end
time. How many Catholics,
Jews and Protestants do you
think would join with Moslems
in order to be saved? Now
turn the table around and ask
yourself, how many Catholics,
Jews, Protestants and Moslems
would join your church?
- God will not
save a person because his
biological great-grandfather
was Abraham, Job or Daniel.
The Lord has made it very
clear in the book of Ezekiel
that a person’s ancestry
has nothing to do with their
salvation! (Ezekiel 14:18;
18:4-28; Matthew 3:9) God has
no grandchildren. Every child
of God has to be born again.
- A major
obstacle that prevents God
from using established
religions during the end time
is that one man cannot prove
the superiority of his
religion over that of
another. If history proves
anything, this point is
proven true beyond question.
Do you think that Elijah
could have proven that his
God was greater than the god
of Baal if God had not sent
fire from Heaven? Because
religion is inherently
arrogant and egocentric, one
religious group cannot prove
its superiority over another
religious group.
- God knows that
religion has far more to do
with social structure than
with a personal love for
truth. (It is said that 95%
of the people remain loyal to
the religious system into
which they were born and
raised – even if they do
not practice the religion.)
Because the properties
of religion are very strong within
the human race, because social
relationships can be more important
than commitment to truth, and because
there is a distinction between
serving God and serving the church,
God will destroy the great religions
of the world and test mankind to see
if we love Him and His truth above
everything else.
The test will be
simple and be applied without
partiality. God will require everyone
to leave or her church for the sake
of truth! The object of our deepest
affection will then be revealed. At
that time, some people will discover
they loved their church more than
they loved God! When a contest exists
between “Gods truth” and
“God’s church,” then,
and only then, can humans detect the
distinction that exists between
serving God and serving the church.
Until this test of loyalty is
applied, most people cannot
understand the problem. Remember, in
Jesus’ day the Pharisees could
not figure out how they could be as
blind as Jesus claimed! The same is
true today. A time is coming when
God’s truth will conflict with
the teachings of every church, and
everyone will have to make some tough
choices. We will see that many people
cannot separate themselves from their
church, even when presented with the
plainest evidences of truth.
To help make up our
minds, God will allow the devil to
appear on Earth. The devil (the
Antichrist) will dissolve all the
religions of the world and forcibly
create a new global church. This
event in itself will help motivate
those people who could not leave
their church for truth’s sake.
On the other hand, people who are
cowardly will prostitute their faith
and join the newly created church
because the devil will establish
stringent laws so that everyone who
refuses to join his church will be
put to death. It is interesting to
note in this context that God
considers cowardice as great a sin as
murder and sexual immorality. “But
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the
vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic
arts, the idolaters and all liars
– their place will be in the
fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is
the second death.” (Revelation
21:8)
Before leaving this
question, one more comment should be
made. Why does God use such a tiny
number of people to proclaim the
everlasting gospel during the end
time? Given the fact that nearly six
billion people now live on Earth, it
seems that the work would be much
easier if He chose one million or ten
million people to accomplish his
task. In human terms, the 144,000,
like Gideon’s army, are too few
to accomplish the task. By choosing
such a tiny number, God will again
demonstrate that He is not dependant
on flesh to accomplish His purposes. “…’Not
by might nor by power, but by my
Spirit,’ says the Lord
Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Even the stones could cry out if
necessary. (Luke 19:40)
Do you think the
twelve stars in the woman’s
crown represents the twelve tribes?
Yes! In Revelation 12,
the story of the true church
(represented by a righteous women who
is pregnant) and a great red dragon
is told. The woman wears a crown of
twelve stars on her head. From the
Greek language, we learn that these
stars are set in a stephanos, that
is, a crown of victory. According
to Revelation 1:20, stars can
symbolize messengers or angels and by
applying the words of Daniel 12:3 to
the woman’s crown of twelve
stars we find a very beautiful fit. “Those
who are wise (or teachers) will shine
like the brightness of the heavens,
and those who lead many to
righteousness like the stars for ever
and ever.” In other words,
the woman wears a crown of victory.
The crown is set with twelve stars.
The twelve stars represent the
144,000 – firstfruits of the
twelve tribes – who will be
victorious over the Antichrist.
How will the 144,000
be notified?
I presume the 144,000
will be notified just like all of the
prophets in the Bible were notified.
About the only thing the 144,000 have
in common is their encounter with
Jesus! Consider the parallel. In
Revelation 10, John was given an open
book and was told to eat it. The book
was sweet in his mouth and bitter in
his stomach. Then, John was told to
prophesy again before kings, nation,
etc. Within the context of Revelation
10, John’s experience represents
that of the 144,000. The book
represents God’s words that He
will give the 144,000 to proclaim
throughout the Earth. He will give
the 144,000 words to speak;
otherwise, they would not know what
to say. (Matthew 10:19) The final
proclamation of the gospel will not
be a matter of human ability. God
will give the words that He wants
spoken to the 144,000 and the Holy
Spirit will provide the power.
(Matthew 10:19)
Consider Ezekiel
2:8-3:4. Like John, God gave Ezekiel
a book to eat that was sweet in his
mouth and bitter in his stomach. The
book Ezekiel received contained the
words that God wanted spoken. Ezekiel
was told to speak these words to his
people, whether they listen or not.
This is the bitter part in the
stomach. Ezekiel had to speak the
word of God and this created a lot of
ridicule and offense. (This explains
why the life span of prophets is
usually short.) Of course, the
enabling power within Ezekiel was the
Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit
enabled Ezekiel to say (and do)
things that were beyond mere human
capability. Ezekiel and John were
both called to be prophets and they
were given words to speak. This will
be the experience of the 144,000.
How will the 144,000
be recognized?
The 144,000 will be
recognized by three means: First,
their message will be Bible based.
The 144,000 will proclaim the
everlasting gospel from the Bible,
and as a result, they will find
themselves standing in opposition to
religious leaders of their day.
Second, their humility, simplicity
and authority will recognize the
144,000. Remember John the Baptist
and the humble way he was dressed?
(Luke 7:25) People went out to the
Jordan River to hear John the Baptist
because he spoke with power and
authority that came from Heaven!
(Luke 7:24-26) People marveled at
Jesus because of the authority with
which He spoke. (Mark 1:22) Last, the
144,000 will be recognized as
“prophets” because they
will have the ability to perform
signs and miracles. Of course, the
servants of the devil will be doing
miracles, too. (Exodus 8:18; Matthew
7:20-22)
During the Great
Tribulation, many people will put
their faith in counterfeit
“miracles” because they do
not want to submit to the “faith
testing” terms and conditions of
salvation. If a false prophet can
perform a counterfeit miracle on
demand (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12), many
people will use the “sigh”
to justify rebellion against God.
(Matthew 16:4) On the other hand, if
the Holy Spirit knows that a miracle
will help an honest person make a
decision for truth, and then a
miracle will be given. Many miracles
will occur and they will force people
to take sides. This, of course, is
how the sheep are separated from the
goats.
How soon do you expect
to see the 144,000?
I believe the great
earthquake and the empowerment of the
144,000 could occur any day now. The
144,000 will not show up on TV. They
will not receive a round of applause
or some glittering reward. However,
when they show up you will know that
Jesus has taken control of Earth and
the final 1,3335 days (of Earth) have
begun. The 144,000 will not ride in
limousines or have world fame. Paul
wrote, “But God chose the
foolish things of the world to shame
the wise; God chose the weak things
of the world to shame the
strong.” (1 Corinthians
1:27)
Will the 144,000 come
from one church group?
No. God has people in
every religious body whose hearts are
right, but whose heads are wrong.
(John 10:16; Romans 2:14-16) When
Jesus knocked Saul off his donkey in
Acts 9, Jesus knew that Saul had a
good heart, but his head was terribly
messed up by his religion. Consider
the fact that Saul was persecuting
the saints when Jesus called him to
take the gospel to the Gentiles. My
point is, like Saul, the 144,000 will
come from all religions. Many people
have good hearts toward God, and
after they encounter Jesus and
receive the words that He wants them
to speak, they will be transformed,
just as Saul became Paul!
The net effect is
simple; God wants to save as many
people as possible. Therefore, God
will have Moslem believers talking to
their Moslem brothers; Catholic
believers will be talking to their
Catholic brothers; Hindu believers
will be talking with their Hindu
brothers, etc. Who is better at
proclaiming the gospel of Christ than
those who know and understand the
obstacles that face their brothers?
Do you really think a Moslem would
listen to a Protestant? Do you really
think a Jew would listen to a
Baptist? Of course not! The 144,000
will come from every nation,
religion, language and tribe and
after their encounter with Jesus;
they will receive the script and
speak His words to their brothers,
just like Saul did! This will
ultimately produce what Jesus wants,
a numberless multitude of saints who
come from every nation, kindred,
tongue and people!
Will the 144,000 know
each other?
Probably not. The
important thing is that no one will
be able to say that their message was
contrived by man. In other words,
what is the possibility of a mere
144,000 people who are spread out
over the face of Earth, speaking
different languages, belonging to
antagonistic religions, and not
knowing one another; preach the same
message with amazing authority? The
chance is zero! This miracle will
provide profound proof that their
work and calling is divinely
ordained. This simple miracle will
also confound and offend the
religious leaders on Earth.
