Only a 144,000 are going to heaven out of billions ?

Question

that's difficult for me to believe...and you ?

Answer 1

Yeah I used to wonder about that until I decided it must be the passenger limit on the mother ship.

Answer 2

Why do people ignore the the bibles promise of an earthly paradise with a "great crowd" surviving on the earth to live forever upon it? Do you feel that you are too good to be one of this class that remains on the earth? Isn't that God's purpose for mankind. Didn't he make the earth inhabitable for man? Those who go to heaven are to rule with Jesus over the earth. Who will they rule over if everyone is in heaven or hell?

Please consider the following scriptures: Ecc 1:4; Is 11:6-9; Is 55:11; Is 65: 21-25; Is 45:18; Is 35: 5-7; Is 33: 24; Ps 72: 16; Ps 104:5; Ps 37: 10 & 11 & 29; Rev. 7: 9; Rev. 11:18 Rev. 21: 3 & 4; Dan 2: 44;

With regard to the 144,000 being natural Jews. Rev. 7:4-8.
The tribes listed are not the usual tribal listing (Numbers 1: 17 & 47) The listing here is not for the purpose of identifying fleshly Jews by their tribes but to show a similar organiztional structure for spiritual Israel. This is balanced. There is to be exactly 144,000 members of this new nation. 12,000 from each of 12 tribes. No tribe in this Israel of God is exclusively royal or priestly. The whole nation is to rule as kings, and the whole nation is to rule as priests. Galations 6:16 & Rev. 20: 4, 6

Natural Jews still reject Jesus as the Messiah, why would they be deemed worthy, when accepting Jesus is a requirement for life everlasting?

Although the natural Jews were given the first opportunity to be chosen for spiritual Israel, only a minority of that nation responded. The way was then extended to the Gentiles. (John 1: 10 - 13, Acts 2: 4, 7: 11; Ro. 11: 7; Rev. 5: 9 & 10)
The early Christian congregations replaced natural Israel as God's nation, it becomes a new Israel that is "really Israel"
(Ro. 9: 6-8; Matt 21: 43) That is why Jesus half brother James address his letter "to the twelve tribes that are scattered about" that is, to the worldwide congregation of anointed Christians that would in time number 144,000. James 1: 1

Answer 3

God's original plan was for man to live on paradise earth forever and multiply. Going to Heaven was never part of the deal.

The 144,000, along with Jesus, are going to form the government that rules the meek ones that will inherit the earth.

If everyone went to be a co-ruler in Heaven, who would be left to rule over? Does it not seem similar that we only have 50 senators ruling over all the people of the USA.

Answer 4

There you have it, this question generates multiple answers, there are believers and non believers, I am not a believer, I think that all that stuff of the 144,000 is pure crap, I don't believe there is a heaven or a hell, we happen to live in this planet by chance, there's no creation or anything of that sort, cosmic dust is responsible for our being, we live yes, but once we die, it's all over for good, there's no tomorrow, no beyond, no nothing else but people have the tendency to believe all them things because they refuse to accept death as a fact of life..☺

Answer 5

144,000 are s'posed 2 rule with Jesus as kings and priests over the billions who are s'posed 2 live on Earth. They'll oversee our being restored 2 perfection over a period of 1000 years. Is it really hard to believe that the righteous will live here on Earth, especially considering that here is where God placed Adam and Eve???

Natural Jews? Naw, check the tribal listing. It's not the same as the listing you find in the OT, and nobody these days would really know what tribe they belonged to anyway.

Answer 6

Those 144,000 are 12 thousand male virgins from the 12 tribes of Israel, it has nothing to do with the Jehovah's Witnesses interpretation of the Revelation of John. [ Revelation 14: 1 - 5, Revelation 7: 4 - 8 ]

Answer 7

No, that's 144,000 jews, 12,000 out of each tribe of Israel who there was no lie found in their mouth and they were all virgins. These 144,000 were in reference to individuals who live a exceptional life which brought honor and glory to God. They received a special reward from God. John goes on to write that these individuals would followed God in heaven where ever He went. John went on to write that he saw a multitude in heaven which could not be numbered. And the angel asked John do you know who these are? John replied, that he did not know. The angel told John these are they who came out of the great tribulation. So, it is not only the 144,000.

Answer 8

First, study the history of the book of Revelation. It was written to persecuted Chirstians in Rome druing a period of intense and deadly persecutions. Also, it was written at a time when many of the early Christians believed that Christ was coming back to Earth at any moment. So, they felt they were LIVING the end times.

In this way, Revelations is more an explanation of what was going on then, and NOT a prophesy of things to come thousands of years later.

Also, it is full of symbolism and imagery. Most of which is foreign to a modern reader who tries to read the book in the context of modern times. Read it and put yourself in the place of a Christian in AD 65 or so. Someone who cold be killed at any minute just for being Christian. Much like a Jew in WW2. Taken away in the middle of the night.

This book was written to give those people hope. Not to scare us about the end of times.

My guess is that 144,000, at that time, was roughly the size of the Christian church in the Roman Empire. Even if a guesstimate, which it surely was, it would fit in nicely with the numerical symbology so prevelant at the time.

Answer 9

144,000 is 12,000 each from the 12 tribes of Israel.

They are sealed so harm comes to them.

"These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths, they are blameless,"
Revelation 14:4,5

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." Rev. 7:9

These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Answer 10

The apostle John wrote: “I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand.” (Revelation 7:4) In the Bible, the phrase “those who were sealed” refers to a group of individuals who are chosen from among mankind to rule with Christ in heaven over the coming Paradise earth. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; Revelation 5:9, 10; 20:6) Their number, 144,000, is understood literally for several reasons. One is found in the immediate context of Revelation 7:4.

After the apostle John was told in vision about this group of 144,000 individuals, he was shown another group. John describes this second group as “a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” This great crowd refers to those who will survive the coming “great tribulation,” which will destroy the present wicked world.—Revelation 7:9, 14.

Note, however, the contrast that John draws between verses 4 and 9 of Revelation chapter 7. He states that the first group, “those who were sealed,” has a definite number. However, the second group, “a great crowd,” is without a definite number. With that in mind, it is logical to take the number 144,000 to be literal. If the number 144,000 were symbolic and referred to a group that is actually numberless, the force of the contrast between those two verses would be lost. Thus, the context strongly indicates that the number 144,000 must be taken literally.

Various Bible scholars, past and present, reached the same conclusion—that is, the number is literal. For instance, in commenting on Revelation 7:4, 9, British lexicographer Dr. Ethelbert W. Bullinger observed some 100 years ago: “It is the simple statement of fact: a definite number in contrast with the indefinite number in this very chapter.” (The Apocalypse or “The Day of the Lord,” page 282) More recently, Robert L. Thomas, Jr., professor of New Testament at The Master’s Seminary in the United States, wrote: “The case for symbolism is exegetically weak.” He added: “It is a definite number [at 7:4] in contrast with the indefinite number of 7:9. If it is taken symbolically, no number in the book can be taken literally.”—Revelation: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 1, page 474.

Some argue that since Revelation contains highly symbolic language, all numbers found in this book, including the number 144,000, must be symbolic. (Revelation 1:1, 4; 2:10) That conclusion, though, is clearly not correct. Granted, Revelation contains numerous symbolic numbers, but it also includes literal numbers. For instance, John speaks of “the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:14) Clearly, the number 12 mentioned in this verse is literal, not symbolic. Further, the apostle John writes about “the thousand years” of Christ’s reign. That number is also to be taken literally, as a careful consideration of the Bible shows. (Revelation 20:3, 5-7) Hence, whether a number in Revelation is to be taken literally or symbolically depends on its background and setting.

The conclusion that the number 144,000 is literal and refers to a limited number of individuals, a relatively small group when compared with the “great crowd,” also harmonizes with other Bible passages. For instance, later in the vision that the apostle John receives, the 144,000 are described as those who “were bought from among mankind as firstfruits.” (Revelation 14:1, 4) The expression “firstfruits” refers to a small representative selection. Also, while Jesus was on earth, he spoke about those who will rule with him in his heavenly Kingdom and called them a “little flock.” (Luke 12:32; 22:29) Indeed, those from among mankind who will rule in heaven are few in comparison with those of mankind who will inhabit the coming Paradise earth.

Hence, the context of Revelation 7:4 and related statements found elsewhere in the Bible bear out that the number 144,000 is to be taken literally. It refers to those who will rule in heaven with Christ over a paradise earth, which will be filled with a large and undetermined number of happy people who worship Jehovah God.—Psalm 37:29.


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Answer 11

well thats apparently what the JW's believe, but I'm not so sure, and apparently that 144,000 has already been chosen, so what about the other however-many-JW's-there-are? do they have to miss out even though they were in what they believed to be the right religion, while all the "Chosen" people get to live with Heavenly Father again??? thats just unfair, and God is not unfair....