What will the 144,000 do for seven years?

Are the two groups of 144,000 different?

In my previous two blogs, “The secret message of the 144,000 Israelites” and “144,000 singers of chapter 14” I discussed whether the two groups are referring to the same group of men.  I explained that the 12,000 servants of each tribe sealed in chapter 7 were Israelites listed in an unusual order and that this order has a special meta-narrative (bigger story) message whilst the 144,000 men in chapter 14 were singers.  Furthermore, the two groups are separated by seven years with the first group of 144,000 being sealed at the beginning of the 70th week and the second group appearing with the Lamb on Mt. Zion singing a special song at the end.  The the two groups are more than likely the same group with different information even though the only link between the two groups is the actual number, 144,000.  There are many differences between the two but because the 144,000 appear at the beginning and the end of the seven years, I think they are there for the entire period.  God has never left himself without a witness or testimony in the past and there is no reason to think that it will be any different in the future tribulation period either.¹  You can read all about the identity of these two groups in the previous blogs as linked above.

The 144,000 sealed Israelites minister for seven years

The purpose of this article however is to discuss the possible role of the 144,000 Israelite servants are sealed.  It appears there they will have a special role role to play during the tribulation beginning as soon as they are sealed before the four horses of Revelation 6.  They will not fulfill their role until the end of the seventh year.  It’s fairly clear from my first article that these 144,000 Israelite servants are listed in an unusual order to describe partially who they are.  The order of the names contains a special meta-narrative message and I concluded that it is from the perspective of a woman or a bride waiting for her husband.  I believe these 144,000 Israelites will encourage the church to make safe passage to Israel and then Jordan in Bozrah (the sheepfold) or Petra nearby in southern Jordan. 

Many think that the woman of Revelation 12 is purely believing Israel.  However, I described in my blog “Who is the woman of Revelation 12” how I believe that the woman is a mixed multitude.  At times in Revelation 12:1-17, the woman appears to be Rachel,² the mother of the Israelite tribes, and at times Mary,³ the mother of Jesus, and at times persecuted Israel itself⁴ and yet towards the end of the chapter it seems to imply the church as well.⁵  My conclusion in that article is that the woman is a metaphor of all those who believe–they are the five faithful virgins of the ten virgins in the end times described in the parable in Matt. 25:1-13.  Some will become ready and will flee to safety in the wilderness at the halfway point and some will be martyred however many will fall away because they will take the mark of the beast.

72,000 teams of two by two

Having established that point, it has come to me that this special group of 144,000 sealed Israelites will initially, in the first 1260 day period, seek out those who are willing to flee.  They will be empowered to fulfill this role because they will be sealed and given authority to go out into the whole world.  The prototype is in Luke 10:1-19 when Jesus appointed 72 disciples to go ahead of Him with the message that the “Kingdom of God is near you now.”  In other words, the 144,000 go out ahead of the second coming of Jesus with the same message:  “Prepare because the Kingdom of God is close at hand.”  What a perfect message for that first half–a warning to be ready to go.  Amazingly, if I am correct, the mathematics is extraordinary because if there are 144,000 sealed servants going worldwide with a similar message in that first 1260 days that means 72,000 groups of two by two.  In other words, if the servants go in groups of two it means that there will be 72,000 teams which is a multiple of what occurred in Jesus’ time only now the harvest field is the world and not just Israel.

Once that role has finished and the beast rises from the abyss, the role of the 144,000 in the second 1290 days will morph into preaching the gospel and encouraging the remaining Christians to remain steadfast to the end and to be martyred if necessary.  It is better to lose a hand, a foot, or an eye than to have two of these and be thrown into hell.⁶

Mixed multitude

The comparison to the woman fleeing to the wilderness in Revelation 12 and when the Israelites fled from Egypt is proven by Rev. 12:14 when the woman is said to be given the two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert.  This exact metaphor is used to describe when Israel escaped into the Midian wilderness in Exo. 19:4.  Furthermore, an obscure verse in Exo. 12:38 NKJV describes that it wasn’t only the Israelites who escaped the Pharaoh after the last plague.  It says that many people went with them, “a mixed multitude.”  That means the Egyptians who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob went along too.  Similarly, this gives weight to the woman being a mixed multitude.

Commentators who believe that the identity of the woman is only believing Israel in Judea are incorrect in my opinion.  They have missed an important point that has escaped me until recently that believing Israel will be accompanied by a mixed multitude.  In other words, Gentile believers (Christians) who are scattered all over the world and who believe and take seriously the message when two sealed servants come to their door that the Kingdom of God is close will be a part of that mixed multitude if they are willing.  Of course, they will have to make sure that they make the journey to the stepping stone of Israel first before they make the final leg of the journey from Judea to the southern Jordanian mountains (including Petra) as instructed in Matt. 24:16.  It will take faith, obedience, and a great deal of courage to make the initial journey to Israel.  The key and thing to watch out for will be when two witnesses from the 144,000 (not the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11) will come knocking on your door and tell you to be ready.

How do we identify the two servants when they come to our door?

A question might arise as to how you can be sure that these guys aren’t just Mormons or J.W.s or some other cult.  The identification will be easy because they will have the seal of God on their foreheads.  What is the seal like?  Revelation commentator David E. Aune thinks the seal of the servants in Rev. 7:3-8 is the name of the Lamb and of His Father mentioned in Rev. 14:1.⁷  The Father’s abbreviated name could be יהוה (YHWH-tetragrammaton) and the Lamb’s name Χς (Chi,sigma-Christos).  Can’t be sure but what we need to do is to just be ready when they do come and look for their seal or the names.  

Possibly also, they will identify themselves by saying, “Shalom Aleikhem”⁸ or “Peace to this house,” as did Jesus’ disciples when they went door to door.⁹  If two sealed servants come to your house make sure that you welcome them with the response “Aleikhem shalom”¹⁰ and welcome them into your house and provide food and lodging.  They will not be hindered in their task because we see that they will have authority over snakes and scorpions (a metaphor for demons).¹¹

A sobering warning that Jesus gave to His 12 disciples when He sent them out¹² in order to drive out evil spirits and to heal diseases was that if they weren’t welcomed at a particular place or if the people of that place did not listen to their words then they were to shake off the dust from their feet when they leave.  In other words not everyone is going to listen and you just have to move on to the next place.¹³

When will they come to your door?

The period of ministry for the 144,000 will be for the entire 70th week (1260 days in the first half and 1290 days in the second half) because they are sealed before the first white horse seal judgment.  After helping and urging the mixed multitude to flee to the safe place in the wilderness of Jordan just as Moses and the Israelites led the mixed multitude to Mt. Sinai and eventually Kadesh Barnea¹⁴ 3,500 years ago, their ministry will change in the second 1290 day half.  They will be preaching the gospel and urging people not to take the mark.  

So any time during the first 1260-day period will be a possibility of when you might see them come knocking at your door.  How those willing to get from our homes to Israel is harder to answer but maybe we are given a clue in Heb. 1:14 when the author tells the purpose of angels.  He says that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.  This has eschatological implications indicating that angels might be the ones who help us get there.  We will need that help because there will likely be many obstacles.

After seven years (1260+1290 days) of ministry, these 144,000 will have one more final ministry of singing a new song at Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.  The purpose is to announce the coming kingdom and they are the first-fruits after Christ.¹⁵