The Misused, Misunderstood, Misapplied and Mishandled “144,000” (Revelation 7:4-8)

In verse 4 [“And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed….”], we see that there is a number. John hears a number, and this number is associated with those who are to be sealed. That number is 144,000. This has been described as one of most abused, one of the most misunderstood, misapplied, mishandled verses—no, not just in the book of Revelation, but in ALL of the Bible. It us utterly amazing how many go astray here, how many twist the Scriptures, rather than handling them aright. There have been, through the ages, so many beliefs and so many doctrines which have come from a mishandling of this section of Scripture.

The basis upon which we start as we attempt to explore this matter of these 144,000 is “Who are they? What are they doing?” et cetera. The first point is this: It’s obvious! It cannot be mistaken! The 144,000 are servants of God. The second point is: There is somehow, some way, some kind of a linkage between the 144,000 and the 12 tribes if Israel mentioned in verses 4 through 8.

As I said, this is a very, VERY misunderstood and mishandled and misapplied section of Scripture. Let me briefly give you a flavor—a taste—of some of this mishandling.

Some of Those Who Mishandle Revelation 7:4-8:

First of all, those who call themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses” believe and make it their doctrine, based on this passage and a couple of other passages, that only 144,000 PEOPLE will be I heaven. Now, there is a caveat [let the buyer beware!] there. It’s not that ONLY 144,000 people will find God’s favor, but only 144,000 will be in heaven. The rest of the people “who have been redeemed,” as they call it, will be living throughout eternity on something of a renovated earth.

There are those who call themselves “Pre-millennial Dispensationalists.” They say, that after some mysterious “rapture,”—they are among a number of groups who believe in this thing called “a rapture.” According to their teaching, that “rapture” is when certain people will be suddenly and secretly removed from the earth and caught up into heaven.. Maybe you’ve read some of the books that have been out on that subject. Some of these groups have even produced full-length movies on the matter. I’ve not seen the movies—I have no interest in seeing them. But, I’ve seen some of the advertisement for it where, you know, a man comes home from work and his wife and children are gone. The one I wonder about is the pilot of the 747 airplane who is flying along, and he is suddenly gone. (Hopefully, the co-pilot won’t be part of the “rapture”!) And then, during the period of “tribulation,” after this mysterious rapture, 144,000 literal Jews are going to come along. From where? They don’t say. But, these 144,000 Jews will be here on the earth, and they will be involved in preaching and teaching…NO, not the Law of Moses, but the Gospel of Christ. And they will be working to convert those “infidels,” those sinners who are left here on the earth. I don’t know whether any of you ever read Hal Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, but in that book he describes these 144,000 as being “144,000 Billy Grahams”—JEWISH Billy Grahams. One fella that I read said about this, “God help us all!”

Others say that the 144,000 are the saved Jews of the Old Testament only. Others say that the 144,000 are, perhaps, those who we read about at the opening of the fifth seal, the martyrs who are under the altar in that heavenly scene, crying out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” There are many others who mishandle this section of the Scriptures. We will spend a little bit more time to expose some of these misapplied and mishandled uses of this text. I do not do this for the sake of being mean-spirited or ridiculing people’s beliefs, but simply because they are such common beliefs. I think it’s important for us to understand and to see the faults that these beliefs hold to.