Revelation 7:4 –
And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:
There are a few theories about this verse and what it means to Christians. First in reading it in whole, it looks to me that 12000 from each of the 12 tribes will avoid the great tribulation. It’s not explicitly stated but of the 144,000 it pulls 12,000 from each tribe and holds off the winds until they receive the seal of God on their foreheads. It’s unclear if that spares them from the tribulation or if they will be lifted up before the tribulation in the rapture.
Interestingly the word “rapture” is never mentioned in the Bible, and I did a quick search of NLS, NIV, ESV and the KJV. The only place I found it was in Psalms 6:11-12 in the Message. But it was only talking metaphorically about one’s heart being led astray. It appears the term “rapture”, was introduced in 17th century writings of Philip Doddridge and John Gill. It is a French word which stems from the Latin word, rapiemur, which means “carry off.” As we continue I will look for more verses which relate to this idea.
Anyway back to the 144,000 who have seals on their head. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that these 144,000 are witnesses that will only go to heaven, all other Christians will remain on earth. Good news is in verse 9 John talks about “a vast crowd” that represents the rest of the people who in verse 14 “died in the great tribulation.” First comment I need to make is the idea the 1440,000 is anything other than a select group of Messianic Jews is not reading scripture correctly.
Second, it talks about the “great tribulation” as it was past tense. Does that mean the tribulation was the first 6 seals being broken? Then I wonder if it’s going on now? Or if this is more describing the “human condition” and is meant to reflect all time, not just a short time period? This is where the imagery of John’s writings and vision become very difficult to interpret. Everyone wants to pinpoint the exact time so they can say “see I told you!” Often I wonder if it’s not just to show their glory and not God’s hence why I wonder if it will never come since there will always be ones who say it is “near!” If it’s happening tomorrow, next week, next decade or never one thing is for sure, we will die and need to reconcile with Christ beforehand, because we do not know when our end will come either!