Who are the one hundred and forty four thousand people revealed in Revelation chapters 7 and 11 and 14?

Answer 1

The 144,000 refers to the men who will be chosen to be evangelists to the Hebrew nation during the tribulation period. Revelation 14:4 states that they will be the first-fruits which implies in context that there will be others to follow.

Answer 2

Revelation chapter 14 tells us that they were those who were redeemed from the earth. This seems to imply that only this number were redeemed, but it could perhaps be read otherwise. If only one hundred and forty four thousand would ever be redeemed, of the many millions of Jews and Christians who have ever lived, then most will have worshipped in vain. Of course, this was not a concern to the early Christians, since 144,000 seemed a much larger number than the total of all Christians up to that time.

Revelation 14 also tells us that the one hundred and forty four thousand were virgins who had never been defiled with women. Thus the multitude who were redeemed were all men and all virgins. The early Church was divided on matters of sexuality, but the common notion appears to have been to suppress sexual desires.

Revelation 7 says that the one hundred and forty four thousand were from the tribes of Israel, and proceeds to give the breakdown of numbers for each tribe. This seems to rule out the possibility that Christians and others were to be included. revelation was likely to have been written over an extended period,by multiple authors, and this may reflect an older, Judaic, layer within Revelation.

Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that the one hundred and forty four thousand represent Witnesses who will enter heaven, while the great majority of Christians will not.

Answer 3

The 144,000 people described in Revelation chapters 7 and 14 are symbolic of a specific group chosen by God to represent the faithful followers of Jesus. They are often interpreted as a symbolic number representing completeness and perfection, rather than a literal count of individuals. The selection of this group represents those who are sealed and protected by God during times of trial and tribulation.