Last Updated:
05/31/2008 04:14
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Who are the 144,000 from Bible
prophecy? In answering this question, I believe we can gain a little
further insight to some of the great plans God has in store for
Israel.
Revelation 7:1-8
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 I heard 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 Juda were
sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve
thousand.
Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
What this passage shows us regarding prophetic timing is that we
are at the transition time to God's wrath. The previous chapter
ended at the sixth seal when the kings and great men are hiding in
mountains and caves for fear of the wrath of God coming. Even with
their assumed lack of understanding of God's wrath, the Bible
connects the sixth seal to the beginning of the day of the Lord.
Isaiah 2:12-21
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every
one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted
up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of
Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of
Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills
that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every
fenced wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all
pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD
alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall
utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the
rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD,
and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake
terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his
idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one
for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To
go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged
rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his
majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
Revelation 6:12-17
And
I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and,
lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars
of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth
her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the
heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and
every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And
the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and
the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of
the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of
his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Isaiah 13:6-13
Howl ye; for the
day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore
shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And
they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be
amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold,
the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce
anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the
sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall
be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her
light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and
the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of
the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a
man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the
heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the
wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
The angels are holding back the winds to wait for the seal of God
to be placed on the forehead of the 144,000. These four angels are
given to hurt the earth and sea. This means the destruction of the
day of the Lord is being held back until the 144,000 are sealed. The
following passage reveals that the protection from this fifth angel
sounding the trumpet is to have that seal of God.
Revelation 9:1-6
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven
unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless
pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke
out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and
the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And
there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto
them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of
the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only
those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And
to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that
they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as
the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those
days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall
desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Regarding the identity of the 144,000, Revelation 7 tells us that
the they are all from the 12 tribes of Israel. It also tells us then
names of what tribes God considers to be the 12. In addition to
stating such, these 12 tribes are symbolized prophetically as the 12
stars on the woman in
Revelation 12:1. We know
this woman represents Israel because of Joseph's dream and what the
same symbols represented there when Jacob (Israel) interpreted the
dream.
Genesis 37:9-11
This "wonder" or sign in the heavens is displayed from
Jerusalem every two to three years. It happened on
Rosh
Hashanah in 2005. But the identity of the 144,000 is defined
beyond their heritage. They are also described as...
Revelation 14:1-5
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,
and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having
his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I
heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song
before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders:
and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are
virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the
firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was
found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of
God.
I know of only one type of people who fit this description, young
men. They are virgins, male because they aren't defiled with women,
their mouth has no guile and they are without fault before the
throne of God. In Jewish tradition, a
Bar
Mitzvah is held at the age of 13. The term means "son of the
commandment." It is at this age that Jewish children are obligated
to observe the commandments. This would be the age of
accountability. I believe these will be 144,000 Jewish boys who
understand and love the Lord their God with all their hearts and
minds. I believe God will use them as a witness among their parents
in the wilderness to bring them to understand after the
blindness of
Israel has been lifted. At the triumphal entry in 32 AD, Yeshua
prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and Israel's blindness from
that point on.
Luke 19:41-44
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept
over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in
this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now
they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come
upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,
and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And
shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within
thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another;
because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
I really recommend reading all of
Romans 11 several times to
really understand the God - Israel - Gentile relationship better,
but I'm just going to post a couple relevant passages regarding
Israel's blindness.
Romans 11:7-12
What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he
seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest
were blinded. (According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not
see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And
David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a
stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be
darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall?
God forbid: but rather through their fall
salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them
to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches
of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the
Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Romans 11:25
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
So somehow the Gentiles both provoke Israel to jealousy and at
the fullness of the Gentiles, the blindness is lifted from Israel.
To me, this sounds like Israel will recognize the
harpazo of
the bride of Christ and be provoked to jealousy because of
the refining through the fire they go through when the bride is
taken.
Zechariah 13:8,9
And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD,
two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall
be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the
fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try
them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I
will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say,
The LORD is my God.
Matthew 23:37-39
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not
see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord.
This ties us into the timing revealed in the
HIStory, Our Future Bible studies
regarding Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av. I believe this will be the point
in time when Israel recognizes Yeshua as the Messiah in the
wilderness. Their reason being that they will know the armies of the
world are converging on Jerusalem once again on the 9th of Av once
again. They will have been refined through the fire of God's wrath,
which is coming upon all them that dwell on the whole earth.
Luke 21:34-36
They're acceptance of Christ will prompt His return in glory
to destroy the armies gathered at Armageddon and cast the beast and
false prophet into the lake of fire, ending the
great
tribulation.
Revelation 19:20
