Who Are the 144,000?

In Revelation chapter 7, an angel comes from the east having the seal of God. “And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’ And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.” Rev. 7:2–4.

What follows is a list of 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, beginning with Judah. Are the 144,000 literal Jews who will be saved, as some teach?

There are several reasons why the 144,000 are symbolic and not literal Jews. First, the 12 tribes of Israel are not in existence today. During the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes were taken into captivity (2 Kings 17:6–23), where they soon became amalgamated with other nations and disappeared. With the destruction of Jerusalem in ad 70, the two remaining tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. As a result, the Judaism of today is not composed of the original 12 tribes. It would be impossible to identify today 12,000 literal Jews from each tribe of Israel.

Second, the list of the 12 tribes in Revelation 7 is like no other found in Scripture. Compare with Genesis 49; Numbers 1:5–15; Ezekiel 48:1–29. For example, Judah is listed as the first tribe instead of Reuben, and the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are missing, while Joseph and Levi are included instead. The obvious reason for the exclusion of Dan and Ephraim is that these tribes were associated with idolatry. Dan was the first tribe to turn to idolatry (Judg. 18:27–32), and later in Israel’s history, it became such an influential center of idolatrous worship that it competed with the temple worship in Jerusalem. 1 Kings 12:28–31. Ephraim refused King Hezekiah’s invitation to the Passover (2 Chron. 30:1–10), and this tribe became so associated with idolatry that God sadly said, “Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone.” Hosea 4:17.

The fact that the list of tribes in Revelation 7 is somewhat different from those in the Old Testament reveals that this is not the historical Israel, but a new spiritual Israel. These 12 tribes represent God’s church today. The apostles understood this, as is reflected in their writings: “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.” James 1:1. And the apostle Paul refers to the Christian church as the “Israel of God.” Gal. 6:16; compare with Rom. 11:26. See also Rom. 2:28, 29; Gal. 3:7–9, 29.

The 144,000 are God’s purified church in the last days. They are sealed because they are faithful. Revelation 7 is a call to you and me to be faithful to Christ so we can be part of spiritual Israel and be sealed in the last days.¹

All verses quoted are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Adapted from the Andrews Bible Commentary, New Testament volume, p. 1959.