Revelation 7:1-8 One hundred forty-four thousand

Core verses:

"Don't harm the earth or the sea or any tree! Wait until I have marked the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard how many people had been marked on the forehead. There were one hundred forty-four thousand, and they came from every tribe of Israel. (Revelation 7:4 CEV)

The core verses of this post are Revelation 7:3-4. This is an obscure verse. In fact it is so obscure that there are different understandings of the 144000. Some churches and Christians define their religions differently if they read this verse. How should we understand the verse? And are you or I, on Gods list to be saved? And who can make it on Gods list?

Basically there are two (2) ways to understand the 144000. The first is literally and the second is figuratively or symbolic! I am briefly going to attempt to explain these viewpoints:

1.       The literal way states that the writer actually heard this number and that God is only going to save 144000 people during the apocalypse. But the Bible is not saying when God is going to save the 144000! In other words there is no timeframe connected to the number. Perhaps the writer ment during life on Earth. In other words 144000 people in total is going to be saved by grace and going heaven.

2.       The figurative way states that if only 144000 people are going to be saved Jesus Christ would have told the disciples while He was on Earth. Jesus said nothing of the sort, not specifying any number in any timeframe. Therefore the figurative way states that there is a deeper meaning connected to the number 144000. Can we unlock the secret behind this number?

In the bigger picture (Rev 7:1-8) the writer states two other numbers. That is the number of Israelite tribes- which is 12; and the number that is going to be saved of each tribe- which is 12000. Multiply that and you get 144000 (12*12000). Thus the Bible states that only Jewish tribal people can be saved right- wrong! The apostle Paul wrote: “No matter if that person is a Jew or a Gentile. There is only one Lord, and he is generous to everyone who asks for his help”. (Romans 10:12 CEV). The purpose of the 144000 could not be connected to the tribes. It must then be a metaphor- this is the secret to unlock this number.

The numbers 12 and 1000 is both complete numbers in the Bible! The number 144000 can then be seen as a symbol which contains a series of complete numbers and representing the fullness of God. Thus the figurative way states that all the servants of God are going to be saved, not limited to 144000.

It is up to you to decide what to believe. If you take the 144000 literally- well I hope you have a printout of that list, otherwise, how are you going to know if you are going to heaven for example? Please join our discussion and give your opinion.

Till next time!