144 000 ИСКУПЛЕННЫХ

These people, presented twice in the Book of Revelation, and their weird number called the attention and enlivens the imagination of many people, but the Word of God does not tell us much about them or who they are exactly.¹ This is one of the unrevealed cases in the Bible which will surely know best by those who live in the last moment of the history of this world.² So, without going into definitive conclusions, we examine only the data we are given.

The number must be symbolic, since it seems unlikely to be exactly and only 12000 Jews from each of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel.³ On the other hand, just when John, the Revelation writer, was given this information he turned back and saw a large crowd dressed in white robes, which he said it was “impossible to know the number”.⁴ They profess to be children of God and are presented following the Lamb wherever he goes.⁵ But all who follow the Lamb in heaven have followed him before on earth, with a trusting, loving and willing obedience. They followed him nor in a complacent and capricious way, but with confidence and loyalty, as the flock follows its shepherd.⁶ One of the notable features in the presentation of the 144000 is that “in their mouth was found no lie”.⁷ The Lord said: “Blessed is the man… in whose spirit there is not deceit”⁸ because God rejects lies and liars will not enter in heaven.⁹ This special group is presented as “the first redeemed fruits for God and the Lamb”.¹⁰ They stand on Mount Zion, girt for the holy service wearing white linen mantles, which is the righteousness of saints.¹¹

They were also presented before the throne of God, on the sea of glass or crystal¹² singing “a new song”, a song which no man can learn, only them. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb, a song of liberation.¹³ It is the song of their experience, an experience that no other group has ever known. “These are the ones which came out of great tribulation”¹⁴; They have gone through times of trouble such as never were since there was a nation; They have felt the anguish of time of Jacob’s trouble; they have stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring of God’s judgments and have survived because they have been sealed. They did not abandon the Lamb following contrary heresies to God’s law. They stood firm, faithful and pure in the last great test of this world. So it is said, symbolically, “they never had contact with women, for they are virgins”.¹⁵ Their souls are pure, represented by their clothes. They have honoured Christ and the sacrifice he made for them.¹⁶ They will be finally sealed in their foreheads by God, as a symbol of protection and belonging, just before the final destruction of this world.¹⁷ Finally, they do not suffer any more and will be forever enjoying the promise of “water of life”.¹⁸

Biblical References:

1. Revelation 7: 4, 13, 14; 14: 1
2. Revelation 1: 3, 19; 22: 6; Ephesians 3: 5
3. Revelation 7: 5-8
4. Revelation 7: 9
5. Revelation 7: 17; 14: 1-5; 15: 2
6. John 10: 14-16
7. Revelation 14: 5
8. Psalms 32: 2
9. John 8: 44; Titus 1: 2; Ezekiel 13: 9; Revelation 21: 8
10. Revelation 14: 4
11. Revelation 19: 8
12. Revelation 4: 6; 15: 2
13. Revelation 14: 3; 7: 10; 15: 2-4
14. Revelation 7: 14
15. Revelation 14: 4; 17: 15; 19: 2
16. Hebrews 9: 14; 1 Peter 1: 2; 1 John 1: 7
17. Revelation 7: 1-4; 14: 1
18. Revelation 7: 17; 21: 6; 22: 1; John 14: 4