Who Are the 144,000?

Theology
1

The identity of the 144,000 of Revelation 7 has been so twisted up by men’s doctrines that I can’t blame so many brethren being deceived about it because of all the ‘hirelings’ crept into Christ’s Church today that don’t really know their Bible beyond the basic principles of The Gospel.

We are told the 144,000 are 12,000 out of each tribe of Israel listed there. Not all the tribes of Israel are listed, as Ephraim and Dan are missing.

As per the way the Old Testament prophets is laid out, it sometimes points to the seed of Israel as one body, and the Gentiles as another body. Revelation 7 does this also regarding Christ’s Church, but not according to Darby’s Dispensationalist theories. The 144,000 are as much a part of Christ’s Church as believing Gentiles are.

But in Rev.7 they are separately described. The 144,000 represents only the ‘seed’ of Israel belonging to Christ’s Church. The “great multitude” of Rev.7:9 forward out of every nation and tongue represents the believing Gentiles in Christ’s Church.

Furthermore, and this is important, not all of the 12 tribes represent JEWS. The Jews per Bible history represent only those of the southern “kingdom of Judah”, which was made up of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, and only a small remnant of the northern ten tribes that left the north and went to Jerusalem because of Jeroboam’s calf idols in the north (See 2 Chronicles 11). The northern ten tribes were taken captive out of the holy land first, and became lost. But those of the southern kingdom of Judah remained in the land, and did not lose their heritage as part of Israel.

This is one of the main errors in not understanding the identity of who those 144,000 are, i.e., not understanding how God split old Israel into two separate peoples and kingdoms in Solomon’s days (See 1 Kings 11 thru 2 Kings 17).

Ultimately, this means that ONLY the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi in that 144,000 list represent believing Jews today. The rest of that 144,000 are made up of all the other tribes listed, and are not… Jews. The Jewish historian Josephus (100 A.D.) said that the title of JEW was used by those of Israel that returned to Jerusalem from the Babylon captivity. The ten northern tribe didn’t go captive in the Babylon captivity by king Nebuchadnezzar. The ten northern tribes instead were removed about 120 years prior by the kings of Assyria. So the ten tribes weren’t even there in the holy land when Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple, and took those of the “house of Judah” captive to Babylon. Many brethren don’t study their Old Testament histories, so they don’t know about all this.

2

I hold to the view that the 144,000 is symbolic of the entirety of God’s faithful through all time. It’s all of God’s people, including the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints. The number is entirely symbolic: 12 x 12 x 1000; 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles, multiplied by 1,000 to indicate a very great number. In the same way that the Revelation speaks of a thousand years, but this shouldn’t be taken literally either; or the way in the Psalms it says God owns the cattle on a thousand hills–it’s not literally a thousand hills. God owns ALL the cattle on ALL the hills, because He’s God.

So the number is symbolic. It is framed within a 12 tribe context because in the New Testament the concept of Israel-ness remains, but is expanded in Jesus to include all who believe in Him, both Jew and Gentile. That’s why the Church and Israel share the same identity. (Replacement Theology is a misnomer as nothing replaced anything, and creating a wedge between Israel and the Church as Dispensationalism does undermines the fullness of the Gospel).

The point is that all of God’s people are sealed, marked by God. We are marked by the Gospel, as Paul says in Ephesians, having been sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism as the property of Jesus Christ. Hence why the “Great Multitude” of every tribe, tongue, and nation is sealed with God’s mark.

It’s not about Jews and Gentiles. It’s about Jesus. All in Jesus are one new man. There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. The old divisions that separated us are eroded under the the Cross.

3

The “great multitude” is where Rev.7 starts pointing to the believing Gentiles that are ‘sealed’ with God’s Seal.

Rev.9 reveals that the locust army can only ‘sting’ those who do NOT HAVE God’s seal. Thus the Rev.7 Chapter is about the sealing by God of His servants in prep for the tribulation.

The 144,000 is a literal number, and only applies to the ‘seed’ of Israel, the tribes mentioned there. And they all are part of Christ’s Church, CHRISTIANS, and not unbelieving Jews like you are wrongly thinking.

And once Bible history about God’s split of old Israel into two separate kingdoms, and who made up the Jews, understanding who these 144,000 represent becomes easy.

But the Rev.7:9 verse starts speaking of believing Gentiles that will be sealed for the end too, as they also will come out of great tribulation it says. The four winds blowing means the last… day of this present world, the “day of the Lord”. Those winds are held back until all those in Christ are sealed with God’s Seal in prep for the “great tribulation”.

4

This sounds like “10 lost tribes” conspiracy stuff.

5

Well that’s a new one, the lost ten tribes of Israel is now a conspiracy! That idea definitely has to come from the Leftist-Communists who always twist the Truth.

Someone who doesn’t know about God’s split of old Israel starting at 1 Kings 11 only show their Biblical illiteracy.

6

Has anyone here ever even read… 1 Kings 11?

7

Calling someone you don’t agree with a “Leftist-Communist” doesn’t engender you to being taken particularly seriously.

But, no, I don’t believe in a “lost ten tribes”. Especially if the intended purpose, here, is to claim that white Europeans are Israelites. Which, I have a suspicion that this is where it’s heading.

If that’s the case, then I’ll happily take the “Leftist-Communist” designation if it means avoiding association with white supremacist stupidity.

8

I have to agree with this inquiry. Not the “Leftist-Communists” part, but what? If you read Revelation like a literal roadmap of the future, they are literal Israelites (including the recovered “lost” tribes). If God goes to the trouble of naming twelve specific tribes and assigning 12,000 people to each, He means literal descendants of Jacob.

However, there is a fascinating nuance here regarding the "Ten Lost Tribes."Historically, the ten northern tribes of Israel were fractured and scattered by the Assyrian Empire in 722 B.C., losing their distinct cultural and genealogical records over the centuries. While these tribes may be “lost” to human history and modern genealogy, they are not lost to God. In the end times, God will precisely identify and seal 12,000 literal, biological descendants from each lineage to serve as unique witnesses.

Curious, if you say:

How do you see the 144,000?
Peter

9

There does exist archaeological proof of the migrations of the ten northern tribes of Israel westward from Assyria. Professor Leroy Waterman in 1930 translated Assyrian cuneiform tablets written by the Royal Assyrian Empire, and translated the names by which the Assyrians called those of the ten tribes. He linked them to the Cimmerian tribes that migrated westward into Asia Minor and Europe. The Scottish nobles in their Declaration of Arbroath around 1300 A.D. mentioned how they had migrated from the land of Israel in ancient times, and came there in the Isles.

When Lord Jesus said He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He was speaking about the ten scattered tribes of Israel.

This evidence of course is hidden by those who control the fields of modern archaeology and anthropology. So the actual ‘conspiracy’ is with those who try to hide that history of their migrations.

There’s two branches of Jewish scholars that have opposing opinions about the ten tribes. Some of them claim the ten tribes are forever lost and will never be joined back with the “house of Judah” (Jews). Other Jewish scholars do see them returning.

So the scholars who are against the ten tribes returning push the propaganda with false claims like the ten tribes were already assimulated back to the holy land when God’s Word and history does not show that. And their excuse to claim the ten tribes are forever lost is for the same purpose that the “synagogue of Satan” who are not born of Israel, make keep claiming that they only, represent the children of Israel, and thus hide behind the name Jew which name originated from the sole tribe of Judah (per Jewish historian Josephus).

Many of my Christian brethren simply have yet to recognize the propaganda by the ‘false’ Jews who only claim… to be Jews, but are not, and are the “synagogue of Satan”. They began creeping in among the Jews of the southern “kingdom of Judah” long ago, and God’s Word points to them in several places.

So for someone claiming to be a Christian starts trying to pin me as a Jewish Pharisee, and claim the lost ten tribes subject is a conspiracy, then that tells me they have been listening to those ‘false’ Jews of the “synagogue of Satan” that Lord Jesus pointed to in Revelation 2 & 3.