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Segment
XI
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Segment
XI
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Additional
Notes on Segment 11
Through the years, I have
been asked various questions about the 144,000
that you may want to consider.
What
is the significance of selecting 144,000 people
from the twelve tribes?
God made some amazing
promises to Abraham because God loved this man of
faith. For example, God promised Abraham that
through him, all the nations of Earth would be
blessed. Jesus came through Abraham’s
lineage and that blessing is beyond calculation!
(Galatians 3:16) On another occasion, God changed
Abram’s name to Abraham because God ordained
that a childless Abram should be called,
“the father of many nations.” “No
longer will you be called Abram; your name will
be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many
nations.” (Genesis 17:5) Abraham will
see the fulfillment of his name when the
numberless multitude in Revelation 7 gathers
around the throne of Jesus. I look forward to the
day when Jesus will call Abraham to His throne so
that with his own eyes, the patriarch can see
that indeed, he is the father of many nations!
John said, “After this I looked and there
before me was a great multitude that no one could
count, from every nation, tribe, people and
language, standing before the throne and in front
of the Lamb…” (Revelation
7:9, italics mine)
God told the biological
descendants of Abraham that they were to be
trustees of the gospel and a nation of priests.
(Exodus 19) The apostle Paul and every Pharisee
knew this. Paul said, “For this is what
the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you
a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring
salvation to the ends of the Earth.’” (Acts
13:47) When Israel failed to live up to the terms
and conditions of the covenant, God abandoned the
biological family of Abraham for a family of
people who believed in Messiah. This may sound
harsh, but this was not the first time God did
this. God destroyed the first generation that
came out of Egypt by keeping them in the
wilderness for forty years so that another group
of people could enter the Promised Land. God
destroyed the city of Jerusalem through
Nebuchadnezzar so that He could raise another
group of people. Later on, God destroyed
Jerusalem again through Titus in A.D. 70 so that
He could raise another group of people. The point
is that God keeps destroying the rebellious and
raising up another group of people to accomplish
His promises. God raised up the Christian church
and it rebelled just like Israel. God raised up
Protestants, and they have rebelled just like
Israel. This is why God will select and empower
12,000 individuals from each tribe at the end. He
will use a group of people that have nothing in
common but their heart of faith. By incorporating
the twelve tribes into Revelation 7, God
indicates that He is honoring the original
promises He made to Abraham! The identity of the
twelve tribes is unknown and unseen today. This
is not a problem because God knows who His
children are. Jesus said, “I am the good
shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me
– just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father – and I lay down my life for the
sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this
sheep pen. I must also bring them also. They too
will listen to my voice, and there will be one
flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)
Psychologists say there
are four basic personality traits: sanguine,
melancholy, choleric and phlegmatic. Each person
has a dominant trait and recessive traits. The
combinations of traits are said to produce twelve
personality groups. Perhaps the redeemed will be
grouped according to personality type because
each of Jacob’s sons had unique personality
characteristics and Jacob blessed his sons
accordingly. (See Genesis 49 and 1 Chronicles
4:21,23.) If the twelve tribes reflect
personality types, then God can use all
twelve-personality types to reach the diverse
people of Earth because no one personality type
is acceptable to everyone.
The Bible says the Holy
City, New Jerusalem, has twelve gates and twelve
foundations. Each gate bears the name of the
tribe and each foundation bears the name of an
apostle. (Revelation 21:12,14) These features are
quite revealing. The twelve foundations of the
Holy City bear the names of the twelve apostles
because the gospel of Christ was built on the
Rock of Ages by the apostles! The twelve gates
into the city are portals named after the twelve
tribes because each gate could be an entry point
of each personality type. Twelve different groups
of firstfruits, 12,000 servants from each tribe,
will lead their kinsman through their respective
gate to the throne! Our family structure in
Heaven will be our tribe. Everyone will belong to
a tribe! Everyone will belong to a wonderful
family!
Why
does God choose 144,000 people and ignore the
religious systems of the world?
This is a good question.
Why does God “leapfrog” over the great
religious organizations that exist during the end
time to use a diverse group of 144,000 people to
preach the gospel? If we consider the vast
resources that some religious organizations have,
it would seem foolish to ignore these agencies
during the end time! However, here are six
reasons why God cannot use them:
- The
glory of doing the impossible,
proclaiming the gospel to the whole world
in 1,260 days belongs to God, not man.
- The
seven religious systems of the world are
corrupt. They cannot and do not speak for
God. They can neither correctly explain
the everlasting gospel, nor can they
properly explain the plans and purposes
of God for the Great Tribulation.
- Most
people agree that God does not save
people because of church affiliation.
Salvation is not gained through
membership in an organization. In fact,
if God were going to use a religious
organization to proclaim the everlasting
gospel during the end time, church
affiliation would prove to be
insurmountable problem. Consider the
human trait called prejudice. You and I
both know that some people would rather
die and go to hell than join another
church or even worse, join the church of
someone who has offended them. For
example, let us suppose that God looked
down on Earth and declared a particular
sect within the Moslem faith to have the
truth for the end time. How many
Catholics, Jews and Protestants do you
think would join with Moslems in order to
be saved? Now turn the table around and
ask yourself, how many Catholics, Jews,
Protestants and Moslems would join your
church?
- God
will not save a person because his
biological great-grandfather was Abraham,
Job or Daniel. The Lord has made it very
clear in the book of Ezekiel that a
person’s ancestry has nothing to do
with their salvation! (Ezekiel 14:18;
18:4-28; Matthew 3:9) God has no
grandchildren. Every child of God has to
be born again.
- A
major obstacle that prevents God from
using established religions during the
end time is that one man cannot prove the
superiority of his religion over that of
another. If history proves anything, this
point is proven true beyond question. Do
you think that Elijah could have proven
that his God was greater than the god of
Baal if God had not sent fire from
Heaven? Because religion is inherently
arrogant and egocentric, one religious
group cannot prove its superiority over
another religious group.
- God
knows that religion has far more to do
with social structure than with a
personal love for truth. (It is said that
95% of the people remain loyal to the
religious system into which they were
born and raised – even if they do
not practice the religion.)
Because the properties of
religion are very strong within the human race,
because social relationships can be more
important than commitment to truth, and because
there is a distinction between serving God and
serving the church, God will destroy the great
religions of the world and test mankind to see if
we love Him and His truth above everything else.
The test will be simple
and be applied without partiality. God will
require everyone to leave or her church for the
sake of truth! The object of our deepest
affection will then be revealed. At that time,
some people will discover they loved their church
more than they loved God! When a contest exists
between “Gods truth” and
“God’s church,” then, and only
then, can humans detect the distinction that
exists between serving God and serving the
church. Until this test of loyalty is applied,
most people cannot understand the problem.
Remember, in Jesus’ day the Pharisees could
not figure out how they could be as blind as
Jesus claimed! The same is true today. A time is
coming when God’s truth will conflict with
the teachings of every church, and everyone will
have to make some tough choices. We will see that
many people cannot separate themselves from their
church, even when presented with the plainest
evidences of truth.
To help make up our
minds, God will allow the devil to appear on
Earth. The devil (the Antichrist) will dissolve
all the religions of the world and forcibly
create a new global church. This event in itself
will help motivate those people who could not
leave their church for truth’s sake. On the
other hand, people who are cowardly will
prostitute their faith and join the newly created
church because the devil will establish stringent
laws so that everyone who refuses to join his
church will be put to death. It is interesting to
note in this context that God considers cowardice
as great a sin as murder and sexual immorality. “But
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who
practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars
– their place will be in the fiery lake of
burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation
21:8)
Before leaving this
question, one more comment should be made. Why
does God use such a tiny number of people to
proclaim the everlasting gospel during the end
time? Given the fact that nearly six billion
people now live on Earth, it seems that the work
would be much easier if He chose one million or
ten million people to accomplish his task. In
human terms, the 144,000, like Gideon’s
army, are too few to accomplish the task. By
choosing such a tiny number, God will again
demonstrate that He is not dependant on flesh to
accomplish His purposes. “…’Not
by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’
says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Even the stones could cry out if necessary. (Luke
19:40)
Do
you think the twelve stars in the woman’s
crown represents the twelve tribes?
Yes! In Revelation 12,
the story of the true church (represented by a
righteous women who is pregnant) and a great red
dragon is told. The woman wears a crown of twelve
stars on her head. From the Greek language, we
learn that these stars are set in a stephanos,
that is, a crown of victory. According to
Revelation 1:20, stars can symbolize messengers
or angels and by applying the words of Daniel
12:3 to the woman’s crown of twelve stars we
find a very beautiful fit. “Those who are
wise (or teachers) will shine like the brightness
of the heavens, and those who lead many to
righteousness like the stars for ever and
ever.” In other words, the woman wears a
crown of victory. The crown is set with twelve
stars. The twelve stars represent the 144,000
– firstfruits of the twelve tribes –
who will be victorious over the Antichrist.
How
will the 144,000 be notified?
I presume the 144,000
will be notified just like all of the prophets in
the Bible were notified. About the only thing the
144,000 have in common is their encounter with
Jesus! Consider the parallel. In Revelation 10,
John was given an open book and was told to eat
it. The book was sweet in his mouth and bitter in
his stomach. Then, John was told to prophesy
again before kings, nation, etc. Within the
context of Revelation 10, John’s experience
represents that of the 144,000. The book
represents God’s words that He will give the
144,000 to proclaim throughout the Earth. He will
give the 144,000 words to speak; otherwise, they
would not know what to say. (Matthew 10:19) The
final proclamation of the gospel will not be a
matter of human ability. God will give the words
that He wants spoken to the 144,000 and the Holy
Spirit will provide the power. (Matthew 10:19)
Consider Ezekiel 2:8-3:4.
Like John, God gave Ezekiel a book to eat that
was sweet in his mouth and bitter in his stomach.
The book Ezekiel received contained the words
that God wanted spoken. Ezekiel was told to speak
these words to his people, whether they listen or
not. This is the bitter part in the stomach.
Ezekiel had to speak the word of God and this
created a lot of ridicule and offense. (This
explains why the life span of prophets is usually
short.) Of course, the enabling power within
Ezekiel was the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit
enabled Ezekiel to say (and do) things that were
beyond mere human capability. Ezekiel and John
were both called to be prophets and they were
given words to speak. This will be the experience
of the 144,000.
How
will the 144,000 be recognized?
The 144,000 will be
recognized by three means: First, their message
will be Bible based. The 144,000 will proclaim
the everlasting gospel from the Bible, and as a
result, they will find themselves standing in
opposition to religious leaders of their day.
Second, their humility, simplicity and authority
will recognize the 144,000. Remember John the
Baptist and the humble way he was dressed? (Luke
7:25) People went out to the Jordan River to hear
John the Baptist because he spoke with power and
authority that came from Heaven! (Luke 7:24-26)
People marveled at Jesus because of the authority
with which He spoke. (Mark 1:22) Last, the
144,000 will be recognized as
“prophets” because they will have the
ability to perform signs and miracles. Of course,
the servants of the devil will be doing miracles,
too. (Exodus 8:18; Matthew 7:20-22)
During the Great
Tribulation, many people will put their faith in
counterfeit “miracles” because they do
not want to submit to the “faith
testing” terms and conditions of salvation.
If a false prophet can perform a counterfeit
miracle on demand (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12), many
people will use the “sigh” to justify
rebellion against God. (Matthew 16:4) On the
other hand, if the Holy Spirit knows that a
miracle will help an honest person make a
decision for truth, and then a miracle will be
given. Many miracles will occur and they will
force people to take sides. This, of course, is
how the sheep are separated from the goats.
How
soon do you expect to see the 144,000?
I believe the great
earthquake and the empowerment of the 144,000
could occur any day now. The 144,000 will not
show up on TV. They will not receive a round of
applause or some glittering reward. However, when
they show up you will know that Jesus has taken
control of Earth and the final 1,3335 days (of
Earth) have begun. The 144,000 will not ride in
limousines or have world fame. Paul wrote, “But
God chose the foolish things of the world to
shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the
world to shame the strong.” (1
Corinthians 1:27)
Will
the 144,000 come from one church group?
No. God has people in
every religious body whose hearts are right, but
whose heads are wrong. (John 10:16; Romans
2:14-16) When Jesus knocked Saul off his donkey
in Acts 9, Jesus knew that Saul had a good heart,
but his head was terribly messed up by his
religion. Consider the fact that Saul was
persecuting the saints when Jesus called him to
take the gospel to the Gentiles. My point is,
like Saul, the 144,000 will come from all
religions. Many people have good hearts toward
God, and after they encounter Jesus and receive
the words that He wants them to speak, they will
be transformed, just as Saul became Paul!
The net effect is simple;
God wants to save as many people as possible.
Therefore, God will have Moslem believers talking
to their Moslem brothers; Catholic believers will
be talking to their Catholic brothers; Hindu
believers will be talking with their Hindu
brothers, etc. Who is better at proclaiming the
gospel of Christ than those who know and
understand the obstacles that face their
brothers? Do you really think a Moslem would
listen to a Protestant? Do you really think a Jew
would listen to a Baptist? Of course not! The
144,000 will come from every nation, religion,
language and tribe and after their encounter with
Jesus; they will receive the script and speak His
words to their brothers, just like Saul did! This
will ultimately produce what Jesus wants, a
numberless multitude of saints who come from
every nation, kindred, tongue and people!
Will
the 144,000 know each other?
Probably not. The
important thing is that no one will be able to
say that their message was contrived by man. In
other words, what is the possibility of a mere
144,000 people who are spread out over the face
of Earth, speaking different languages, belonging
to antagonistic religions, and not knowing one
another; preach the same message with amazing
authority? The chance is zero! This miracle will
provide profound proof that their work and
calling is divinely ordained. This simple miracle
will also confound and offend the religious
leaders on Earth.
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