I was told by some religious group that only 140000 will go to heaven when I was growing up..
till today I still hear that doctrine so I want it to be examined. There are over 6billion people today plus the countless billions that are dead from 6000 years ago. How can one conclude that out of the billions of people only 144000 will go to heaven. Is that what the bible really teach?

benalvino:

I was told by some religious group that only 140000 will go to heaven when I was growing up..
till today I still hear that doctrine so I want it to be examined. There are over 6billion people today plus the countless billions that are dead from 6000 years ago. How can one conclude that out of the billions of people only 144000 will go to heaven. Is that what the bible really teach?

Did you mean to say 144,000?

hmmn..subscribing..i really need to hear our friends views here.

OLAADEGBU:

Did you mean to say 144,000?

Yes 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel

benalvino:

Yes 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel

These are not the JW's who have been "born again" as claimed by the JW's. The 144,000 are from the tribes of Israel as you have rightly stated above. Verse 9 also tells of a great multitude which no man can number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues that stood before the throne of the Lamb in heaven. (Revelation 7:4-9).

OLAADEGBU:

These are not the JW's who have been "born again" as claimed by the JW's. The 144,000 are from the tribes of Israel as you have rightly stated above. Verse 9 also tells of a great multitude which no man can number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues that stood before the throne of the Lamb in heaven. (Revelation 7:4-9).

Thank you... So what are their job the 144,000? Are they special force of God that he will use to drag people to the truth in the last days?

benalvino:

Thank you... So what are their job the 144,000? Are they special force of God that he will use to drag people to the truth in the last days?

Yes. They are to carry out the ministry of evangelism and teaching during the remaining stages of tribulation and possibly the millennial reign of Christ. The two witnesses, I believe will win these first fruits of Israelite, who will in turn be sealed and protected to carry out their ministry of witness and teachings during those tribulation years (Revelation 7:2-4; 14:6).

benalvino: I was told by some religious group that only 140000 will go to heaven when I was growing up..
till today I still hear that doctrine so I want it to be examined. There are over 6billion people today plus the countless billions that are dead from 6000 years ago. How can one conclude that out of the billions of people only 144000 will go to heaven. Is that what the bible really teach?

When you have centered your mind that Bible is just a book then every verse in the Bible will continue to seem fake.

Let's look at the very verse critically Rev 7:4 "And I heard the number of those who were sealed.[full stop not comma] One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:"

@bold notice the puntuation mark "full stop not comma".

The first line is a complete phrase "And I heard(see) the number of those who were sealed."

Then the writer continue to explain only number of people revealed to him in his on tribe "One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:"

And then he completed the sentence verse 4 first line in verse 9 "After these things(that is, after the angel has sealed everyone) I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,......."

If you look at the names mention in verse 9 they are all in plural form.

God will help us to understand His word.

[quote
author=Emusan]

When you have centered your mind that Bible is just a book then every
verse in the Bible will continue to seem fake.

Let's look at the very verse critically Rev 7:4 "And I
heard the number of those who were sealed.[full stop not comma] One
hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of
Israel were sealed:"

@bold notice the puntuation mark "full stop not comma".

The first line is a complete phrase "And I heard(see) the number of
those who were sealed."

Then the writer continue to explain only number of people revealed to
him in his on tribe "One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the
tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:"

And then he completed the sentence verse 4 first line in verse 9
"After these things(that is, after the angel has sealed
everyone) I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could
number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before
the throne and before the Lamb,......."

If you look at the names mention in verse 9 they are all in plural form.

God will help us to understand His word.[/quote]

Where are the great multitude? I really dont get the point you were trying to make though.

Emusan:

When you have centered your mind that Bible is just a book then every verse in the Bible will continue to seem fake.

Let's look at the very verse critically Rev 7:4 "And I heard the number of those who were sealed.[full stop not comma] One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:"

@bold notice the puntuation mark "full stop not comma".

The first line is a complete phrase "And I heard(see) the number of those who were sealed."

Then the writer continue to explain only number of people revealed to him in his on tribe "One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:"

And then he completed the sentence verse 4 first line in verse 9 "After these things(that is, after the angel has sealed everyone) I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,......."

If you look at the names mention in verse 9 they are all in plural form.

God will help us to understand His word.

Good job. I haven't forgotten you oh. I will PM you in due time.

benalvino:

Where are the great multitude? I really dont get the point you were trying to make though.

The great multitudes are the total number of 144,000 tribes of Israel and the rest of people in the whole world. Remember the author said "..which no one could number".

Emusan:

The great multitudes are the total number of 144,000 tribes of Israel and the rest of people in the whole world. Remember the author said "..which no one could number".

So why all the noise that only 144,000 will go to heaven. na wao

benalvino:

So why all the noise that only 144,000 will go to heaven. na wao

It depends on who you ask. Examples are here on NL you can see different interpretations in Bible that's why I usually advise christians to read Bible on their own with the help of the HolySpirit. Thanks

Revelation 7:1 begins with: And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth. This indicates that the events described herein took place right here on earth where 144,000 Jews were "sealed" for heaven. The multitudes referred to would be here on earth.

This is further complicated or contradicted by Revelation Chapter 14 which had the events on mount Zion.:14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.

If you look at this Chapter 14 viz a viz chapter 7, you would either see the distinction of these events taking place one on earth and one in heaven or you would see the contradiction between the two chapters. However, one thing is clear, only 144,000 people are going to heaven and for those who are not virgins, I am sorry for you. You are wasting your time as your fate has been "sealed."

Few Christians take the 144,000 number seriously, of course. But the Jehovah's Witnesses do. Boy do they ever! They believe that there are two distinct classes of believers: the 144,000 "Anointed" that are going to heaven and the "Great Crowd" that will remain here on earth. The WatchTower teaches that heaven closed in 1935, and that everyone else will either be killed at Armageddon (if they are not JWs) or live forever on earth.

Here are the names of the tribes listed for the 144,000, in the order in which Revelation 7 lists them, and their corresponding Hebrew meanings as found in Scripture:


1. Judah means “I will praise the Lord”
2. Ruben means “He has looked on me”
3. Gad means “Given good fortune”
4. Asher means “Happy am I”
5. Naphtali means “My wrestling”
6. Manasseh means “Making me to forget”
7. Simeon means “God hears me”
8. Levi means “Joined to me”
9. Issachar means “Purchased Me”
10. Zebulun means “Dwelling”
11. Joseph means “Will add to me”
12. Benjamin means “Son of His right hand”

lining up the names together

“I will praise the Lord for he has looked on me and granted good fortune. I am happy because my wrestling, God is making me to forget. God hears me and is joined to me. He has purchased me a dwelling and will add to me, the Son of His right hand.”

a song

Read Revelation Chapter 7 you will see glaring discrepancies: "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth." The earth is flat and square-shaped-this is contrary to what we now know which is that the earth is spherical.

Revelation (7:2-3)
God tells his murderous angels to "hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of your God on their foreheads."

The last part makes it clear that it was the angel's God-given job to "hurt the earth and the sea" just as soon as they finished their forehead marking job.

(7:2) "I saw another angel ... and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,"

(7:3) "Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."

The number ... sealed ... were ... an hundred and forty and four thousand of ... the children of Israel." 144,000 Jews will be going to heaven; everyone else is going to hell.
According to this chapter.

Now (7:14) says:
"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Those that survive the great tribulation will get to wash their clothes in the blood of the lamb. How many of you have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb?

The conditions here are stringent.

It is very important not to give a text a meaning it doesn't have by reading in what you want or hope to see (eisegesis), or taking for proof verses which are taken out of context. Both tactics are dangerous and give false results, but easily used on ambiguous texts.

Compare Chapter 7 with Revelation Chapter 14:


(14:1) "A Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads."

(14:3) "They sung ... a new song ... and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth."

(14:4) "These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins."

Women do not even have any chance of making heaven according to Revelation Chapter 14. By virtue of their gender they are disqualified. Furthermore, women can stop men from making heaven by "defiling" men. By copulating with men, women could cost a pious man a chance at heaven.