Who Are the 144,000?

When I first read about the group of people called the 144,000, I had the impression that they were warriors on parade. They were all solemnly dressed, cleanly shaven, with serious faces, marching in even squares. These were people with nerves of steel, purposeful, who almost from birth knew their destiny and firmly went towards this calling. And this image existed in my head for a very long time until I began to investigate this question more deeply. And this group existed in my imagination somehow separately from the whole world and was very distant and incomprehensible to me. At times, when I studied the book of Revelation, I understood that the 144,000 were God's people of the last time, but the created image prevented me from delving deeper into the essence of this number.

I always understood that 144,000 is a symbolic name for a group of people, because its components are also symbolic, and the number 12 itself means completeness. A thousand in the light of the Bible is a unit of measurement that rounds up a multitude of something to this number and does not always mean exactly one thousand units. Any biblical number exceeding this value is usually rounded to this ending and is counted in tens and hundreds. And Chiliarchs in the biblical narrative are the highest ruling class after the king or leader.

The events of recent days prompted me to consider this mysterious number in more detail, and in the light of training in our school, we have closely approached the inner content of this group. Studying the spirituality of people, prophetic recommendations and God's actions before the Second Coming, we finally got to the 144,000. And now we can safely say that these are wise virgins with burning lamps. These are wise builders who build on the Rock from Eternal materials. These are the sheep of God's flock. These are the inhabitants of the Laodicean period who came out of the lukewarm state, acquiring Heavenly goods from the Faithful Witness, and who opened the doors to Jesus for personal relationships. These are the people who will receive God's seal on their foreheads. These are those who will experience the outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit. These are the believers who tenderly love each other and keep all God's commandments. These are those who will stand at the Second Coming of Christ and will joyfully meet their Lord among the living righteous. These are the people with whom the Eternal Covenant will be made for all endless Eternity. These are the living representatives of God and His authority in our time.

The number 144,000 will include different age categories of believing people. These will be representatives of different nations, men and women, who responded to God's call to repentance and change in their lives and approached the issue of their salvation very seriously. This group will not include curious people who superficially were interested in the depth of God's revelations, but did not allocate time for a deeper study of the truth and dedication of themselves to service.

Although I cannot choose myself into this group, I am able to show genuine interest and devote my time to studying important truths and personal knowledge of my Savior. There is a clear boundary between filling the mind with information of useful content and a conscious choice of what is not only beneficial for my soul, but also transforms me spiritually, opening new perspectives for growth and improvement. I grow in Christ. I have a personal relationship with my Heavenly Friend. My ear is tuned to hearing God's voice speaking to me through the Bible, through the testimonies of God-inspired people, through personal revelations.

God's Spirit actively works for my salvation, for my growth in godliness, for my complete cleansing, and it is He who performs all the great transformations in me that I choose for myself. The Lord is the Initiator of my salvation and my Spiritual Mentor in the learning process. I can comprehend all kinds of sciences and truths with my mind, but if they are not revealed to me by the Holy Spirit and are not inscribed in my heart and in my thoughts, then these will be simple knowledge that will replenish my erudition, but will not bring any benefit.

Once, when we were gathering in a home church to study the Bible, a brother came to us who had previously been a member of our denomination, but, having tied his life to an unbelieving woman, left the ranks of the church. When we began to communicate with this person, he claimed to know this and that to all our reflections. And as a result, we realized that his knowledge exceeded ours, but we are in the church, and we are learning, and he left our midst, and lives on his own.

The church of the last time can be compared to Noah's ark. It is slowly being built, subject to various criticisms and attacks, but it is based on biblical truth, God's construction plan and God's purpose: to save all who will believe and respond.

God advises taking certain steps and acquiring something very important in this last time. And who will be to blame if I ignore His offer? Myself.

The 144,000 are us, those who study in Christ's school, wanting to see great and inaccessible things that we did not know before. Although we have not yet entered this number, but with our interest in truth and desire for growth in Jesus, we show Heaven that we are God's children and are ready to learn everything He will reveal. There are mistakes, there are misunderstandings. But Christ's army has a wise Commander who does not lose and prepares winners. The 144,000 are God's children who thirsted for the power of the Holy Spirit, prayed for it and received Him at the time determined by God. We are not able to produce cardinal changes in ourselves and become perfect without this Power from Above. We will still be learning for 100 years and understanding how far we are from perfection. But the Holy Spirit will very quickly translate all our knowledge into the reality of life, which He is already doing with many now, and then all our messages will acquire special power and will sound very convincingly throughout the world.

One should not separate oneself from this group and consider oneself unworthy. In our days, this number is formed from those who are set for change and thirst for greater knowledge of Christ.

Agape love plays an important role in my transformation. It prepares a place for God's seal in my consciousness so that I can joyfully accept what my soul craves. And sealing will make this love so perfect that no forces of evil will be able to shake us, although all the redeemed will have to go through the fire of trials. This is God's Church, which will withstand any onslaught and will not change its convictions under any temptations.

If all these God's people were gathered in one place, it would be a great multitude, but until the very Second Coming they will be scattered all over the world, will be in exile and hated by people, and at the very end they will be sentenced to death, but God will intervene and end this sad story, coming personally for His beloved ones.

If I say "yes" to the Lord for all His offers and live according to this choice, then He will bring me into His joy and in a special way mark my desire to be with Him, to belong to Him, to love and be His chosen vessel. He will reveal His secrets to us at the right time and tell us the timing. And He will come for us.

Questions for reflection on this chapter:

1. Please read Matthew 22:1-14; Revelation 6:17; 12:11; 14:1-5; 19:10; Daniel 12:1-4,9-10; Job 34:2-3; 37:23-24; Proverbs 1:5-7; Matthew 25:4; Ephesians 5:15-17 in light of this chapter.

2. What did you understand from this chapter?

3. Do you have any additions to the description of the group of 144,000? Please share.

4. Do you see yourself in this number?

5. Do these prophecies about the 144,000 have any relation to our time?

6. Why is it so important to have love and faith in the last time?

7. What relation does the Holy Spirit have to all these people who entered the number 144,000?

8. Why will the Lord Himself be engaged in choosing people for the number 144,000?

9. If I have a desire to be among the 144,000, but I do nothing to understand who these people are and what qualities they possess, how great is the probability that I will enter this number?

10. Will God invite everyone indiscriminately to Himself to replenish the ranks of the saved?

11. Can one earn a place in the group of 144,000 by good deeds?

12. Is it important to know and understand what will happen in the last time, and how to prepare for these events?

13. Why did the Lord prepare fire for those whom He Himself chose and gave special status? 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Peter 1:6-8.

14. Are you afraid?

15. Do you want to be perfect in love? How do you think, will such people attract God's attention when recruiting the group of 144,000?