THE 144,000 SAINTS

PROCLAMATION

“And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand (144,000) of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”  Revelation 7:4 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of prophecy which were revealed to, and written by, the Apostle John, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this seventh chapter of The Bible Book of Revelation, while he was still in the spirit (Revelation 4:2), John was shown a vision. (Revelation 5:1 and 6:1-17)  After his vision of The Lamb opening the seals, John saw four angels holding back the four winds to prevent them from harming the earth. (Revelation 7:1)  Then another angel appeared and told the four angels not to release the winds until seals had been placed on the foreheads of the servants of God. (Revelation 7:2-3)  These servants are the 144,000 male servants of God who were sealed and preserved during the Tribulation. (Revelation 7:4-8)  After this John saw a great multitude of believers, too many to count, from every nation and tribe and language wearing white robes and carrying palms in their hands and standing before the throne.  These are the Gentile believers, the elect of God, the saints who were saved during the Great Tribulation. (Revelation 7:9-10)

 

APPLICATION

The 144,000 saints are virgin men (Revelation 14:4) who are the remnants of Israel who are sealed to preserve them as they witness for Christ during the Great Tribulation.  There are 12,000 from twelve of the thirteen tribes of Israel.  The tribes of Dan and Ephraim were omitted from the list.  These are not the only Jews in heaven.  The Old Testament saints will be there as well as the martyrs who died prior to the Tribulation, the souls that John saw under the alter. (Revelation 6:9-11)  The church, believers from all walks of life, (Revelation 7:9) will have been raptured before the wrath of God is unleased on the earth.  There are some Bible scholars who believe that these 144,000 saints will translated without dying because they were sealed and protected during the Great Tribulation.  We will not be in that 144,000, we will be the raptured church. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)  That is, only those of us that are in the number with their name recorded in The Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation 20:12 and 20:15)