Revelation A to Z - Part O - 144 000 servants
Who are they and why from 12 tribes?

As in school we have learned simple things first and gradually were progressing to more difficult, so it is with spiritual things, particularly with understanding God’s end time plans and purposes. For your own benefit, it is imperative that all “From A to Z - Revelation Made Plain” topics or posts would be read and studied in their chronological order, starting with “Part A” and progressing in alphabetical order. This way, your understanding of Revelation prophecies will progress from simple to more complex. Every week new part will be posted till complete understanding of Revelation is obtained.
This presentation is not affiliated with any church denomination or any Ministries.



As the churches just before Jesus’ return (Laodicean church) remain lukewarm, the three essential requirements for salvation (genuine faith, righteousness and the presence of the Holy Spirit) are lacking. (see previous post). Because the last church is not willing to repent and turn solely and only to God and His word in all matters of faith and trust, the work which they could have done - eating the scroll and prophesying among the nations;
Rev.10:11: Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
This work is given to God’s servants. They will become the leaders of the remnant.(Rev.12:17 KJV).
Rev.12:17: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Notice that the remnant is not the last Laodicean church, it is rather only the residue or something that is left over from them.

Part O:
It is very important for each believer to recognize, that in the time of the end, it will not be the last (Laodicean) church, nor any other established churches, who will lead people to God and who will be warning the world (who will be prophesying among the nations). Bible names only 144,000 God’s servants as His coworkers. The approaching end time events will cause the shaking in all established churches. Those who will be left standing on God’s side, will follow the 144,000 and will become the remnant.
In this study we will be investigating only the 144,000 God’s servants. Who are they? Where did they come from? Are there truly only 12,000 of them from each tribe of Israel, totaling 144,000; or are those numbers only symbolic? Are they all of Jewish descent? Are they composed only of males? Does the Bible suggests that they had no sexual relationship with women? These questions and more will be addressed in this post and hopefully with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit made all clear to you.

Rev.7:3-8: "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

The Bible is giving us here very important information: God’s servants must be sealed before the harming of the land, the sea and the trees begins! In other words, before the partial destruction starts, 144 000 God’s servants will be sealed.
How and with what are they sealed? Is it some visible identification?
Eph.1:13: ... Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
Eph.4:30: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

God’s servants are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Exactly how are they sealed with the Spirit?
Jn.16:13: But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Having a seal on the forehead means being settled into understanding of what is coming. Having all truth does not mean that they possess it all and there is no more truth available, but rather all what they teach and proclaim among the nations, languages and kings (rev.10:11) is truth without lies mixed with it. This is the marked difference between them and the churches. Each church has some portion of the truth, but every church has it mixed with lies and deceptions. This is not the case with God’s servants.
Rev.14:5: No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
God’s servants are sealed on their foreheads. It is not any mark or some visible identification! They are sealed by the Holy Spirit, who settles them into understanding of God’s end time plans and purposes, before these end time events start transpiring. They become actively involved with Him, in them.
That way, they can be used as His servants and coworkers announcing coming of Christ’s thousand years kingdom and proclaiming warning of impending judgments. They ate the scroll and will be prophesying:
Rev.10:9-11: So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."


Today, nearly everyone is convinced that when the Bible speaks in Revelation about sealing 144000 God’s servants from all the tribes of Israel, it must be only from the nation of Israel - in other words, from Jews. They fail to comprehend these two important things:

1) After Israel rejected their Messiah (Jesus Christ), God expanded invitation to all inhabitants of the earth, to become His chosen people. All people who accepted Jesus as their savior became the true Israel - spiritual Israel.
Rom 9:6: It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Symbolically Bible portrays Israel as an olive tree.
Jer 11:16: The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form.
Notice who is grafted on this olive tree, in other words, who become part of Israel:
Rom 11:24: After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
In this verse the Bible is telling us that if we as Gentile believers are able to become part of Israel, the natural Israelites can become part of the true Israel also (upon acceptance of Christ).
Every Gentile Christian should realize:
From the beginning of the time of the Gentiles till present day, every believer, Jew or the Gentile becomes spiritual Israel and belongs to one of the 12 tribes of Israel. For the last 2000 years every Gentile believer who accepted Jesus as his/her savior was in God’s eyes considered more of a true Israelite than the naturally born Israelite who rejected Christ.

2) The book of Revelation is not written for the Jews or for the nation of Israel, but is addressed to the Gentile believers. It is addressed to seven churches in the land of Gentiles. This by itself should already indicate to a believer that the 144000 God’s servants from the 12 tribes of Israel must be viewed from God’s point of view, who the true (spiritual) Israel today is, and not from our narrow minded opinion. We all, who have accepted Jesus are part of Israel and each of us belongs symbolically to one of the 12 tribes.

One important question:
Why then is even today the true (spiritual) Israel which is now composed of few believing Jews and the vast majority of the Gentiles still divided into, what would seem already obsolete 12 tribes? Why not have just one homogeneous Israel? Why still the 12 tribes?
When God selected 12 sons of Jacob to become His chosen people who eventually became 12 tribes of Israel, God symbolically demonstrated by His choice of 12 tribes to all inhabitants of the earth something so important and so profound, that the devil made great effort to distort it in hope, that it would escape our notice. And he was more or less successful till this day.

In the last two centuries a vast amount of knowledge has been discovered. Awesome advances have been achieved in the field of science and technology. Great strides have been accomplished also in the field of psychology and brain research. In the last couple hundred years or so, researchers discovered that all humankind characteristic traits of their disposition can be divided into four major blocks:

a) sanguine - overall optimistic
melancholic - easily depressed
c) choleric - easily moved to anger
d) phlegmatic - unemotional

However, none of us have 100% of only one trait. Each person exhibits at least two of the above characteristics. One of the traits will be a dominant, the other will be secondary. Each person exhibits one characteristic as major and at least one another as minor. Therefore, all people living on this planet in the past, present or future, whether they be white, black, red or yellow, are due to their traits of disposition, divided into twelve major characteristic groups.

Sanguine block:

1) Sanguine - melancholic; 2) Sanguine - choleric; 3) Sanguine - phlegmatic

Melancholic block:

4) Melancholic - sanguine; 5) Melancholic - choleric; 6) Melancholic - phlegmatic

Choleric block:

7) Choleric - sanguine; 8) Choleric - melancholic; 9) Choleric - phlegmatic

Phlegmatic block:

10) Phlegmatic - sanguine; 11) Phlegmatic - melancholic; 12) Phlegmatic - choleric

Whether we like it or not, each and every one of us belongs to one of these 12 groups. Since the Lord created us, He knows our distinguishing features and characteristic traits far better then we do. For that reason, as a group of different individuals with these various traits, God has chosen Jacob’s sons to symbolically represent all these twelve different temperaments. All of them became God’s chosen people, later known as the twelve tribes of Israel. The tribe of Levi was later excluded and set aside for priestly service. To maintain the correct number of the characteristic groups, Jacob therefore adopts two sons of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) as his own, to make the number twelve again complete. (Levi was set aside).
Notice that these twelve tribes, when they were marching in the desert or when they camped around the tabernacle, were grouped into four different blocks also. (Read Nu.ch.2&10).
First group: Judah was the leading tribe of the first group that included also tribe of Issachar and Zebulun.
Second group: Reuben was the leading tribe of the second group that included also tribe of Simeon and Gad.
Third group: Ephraim was the leading tribe of the third group that included also tribe of Manasseh and Benjamin.
Fourth group: Finally Dan was the leading tribe of the fourth group that included also tribe of Asher and Nephtali.
We cannot precisely assign to each tribe the specific characteristic trait of the twelve, because each tribe encompassed all of them. That could possibly be only done to the twelve sons of Jacob. We cannot even identify precisely which dominant trait each group of tribes (each block of three tribes) represented. When Jacob blessed his sons, he revealed only on a couple of his sons their characteristic traits.
Gen.49:3-4: Reuben ... .... Turbulent as water
Gen.49:5-7: Simeon ... ... Cursed be their anger, so fierce
It is obvious that Reuben’s group of tribes represented the choleric trait as dominant. The other groups of tribes are not possible to identify precisely, because the characteristic traits of their fathers were not revealed. We should also realize that these twelve characteristic traits belonged only to Jacob’s sons when God chose all twelve of them as founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. As tribes grew each contained mix of all traits of disposition since every individual has different characteristic traits. Each of the twelve characteristic traits could possibly be established only with Jacob’s sons.

God uses Israel as a symbolic representation of all His people. Twelve different characteristic traits of their disposition are symbolically represented by twelve tribes of Israel. After Jesus’ activity on this earth, every believer who accepted Jesus as his/her savior becomes member of the true Israel - spiritual Israel. As the physical Israel was divided into twelve groups according to their birth, so the spiritual Israel is divided into twelve groups according to their temperament.

Some people may excuse themselves from turning to God, by claiming that because they are mainly of hot temperament (choleric) they may not be seen favorably by God. Others of melancholic temperament may claim something similar and accuse those who are predominantly sanguine to have unfair advantage. By choosing 12000 servants from each tribe, God is demonstrating to us, that everyone is equally accepted by Him.

The number twelve plays in the Bible very important role. As number seven or seventy denotes fullness or completeness, so the number twelve is connected with God’s people. It represents inclusiveness of all God’s people and signifies that God is embracing all of His people with all temperament traits. No one is excluded and no one is preferred above the other.
There are twelve sons of Jacob, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve stones on the Ephod, twelve disciples or apostles. The New Jerusalem has twelve gates, twelve foundations, twelve pearls, twelve precious stones. The city was 12 000 stadia long, wide and high. The walls were 144 (12x12) cubits thick. The tree of life is bearing twelve crops of fruit. In other words, God prepared this city for all the redeemed. There are 24 elders acting as a jury and also as a witnesses (two for each group or tribe - one extrovert and one introvert) when court sits in judgment and is in session (Rev.4:4). We could go on and on.

It becomes clear that twelve is the number which encompasses all God’s people with all their characteristic traits of various temperaments.

When non-Jew (Gentile) turns to Jesus Christ and is counted as believer he/she becomes in spiritual sense Israelite. He or she is symbolically added to one of the twelve tribes of Israel depending on the person’s characteristic trait. Every non-Jew believer is likened to a wild offshoot and is grafted on the original olive tree root and remains there as long as his/her faith endures. Therefore every one of God’s true believers become Israelite inwardly. (Rom. ch. 11).

We should also keep in mind, that Satan counterfeits everything that God does. As God’s people are divided into twelve different groups of individuals (symbolically portrayed by 12 tribes of Israel) depending on the characteristic traits of their temperament or disposition, the enemy of God - Satan divides people into twelve different groups as well. He divides people by the zodiac, depending on, when the person is born. Today our world is flooded with horoscopes. Are not to people, born under each constellation, given various characteristic traits? Why would Satan lead people to do it, unless God’s original does something similar.

While many Christian believers are rejecting God’s true division of His people into twelve groups depending on our temperament, these same believers are eagerly accepting devil’s counterfeit division of them by the Zodiac as the truth.

We can sum up so far the following:
The 144 000 servants of God consist of all believers, whether Jews or non-Jews, black or white, red or yellow, whom the Lord has chosen to serve Him and cooperate with Him in the closing events, when God through Jesus Christ is taking over the reign of the earth. He has chosen the same amount of servants from each of the twelve characteristic groups, because God is fair and is not a respecter of persons. He does not favor any group more then the other. For that reason Bible states that He has chosen 12,000 servants from each tribe of Israel.
It does not matter that the original tribe of Dan is missing and the tribe of Levi is mentioned instead, or that instead of Ephraim’s tribe, Joseph is replacing him. (Compare with Eze.ch.48 - the true Israel tribes during the millennium). The main point in Rev.7:5-8 carries symbolic meaning - all twelve groups of God’s people are equally represented and serve God in the closing end-time events.
When John heard the number of sealed, we can be certain on the accuracy of that statement. There are no liars in heaven, nor is there anyone who would exaggerate. Therefore the number is real. If you are looking for symbolism of that number, you will find only that it represents 12 (encompassing all of God’s people) twelve thousand times. It represents inclusiveness of all God’s people and their equality.

Rev.14:1-5: Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 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 first fruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
In Revelation chapter seven the 144,000 are sealed with the Holy Spirit on their foreheads - they are settled into the understanding of God’s end time plans. In fourteenth chapter of Revelation, their work is finished. Everything what had to be done by them, was accomplished. They prepared the inhabitants of the earth for the harvest. By proclaiming to them the eternal gospel portrayed (in condensed form) by three angels (Rev.14:6-11), they forced everyone to a decision. With the last angel’s warning the time to choose the side for everyone is closing, each person choose his/her own destiny.
Rev.22:11-12: Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy." "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
Only the wrath of God (seven last plagues) remains to be poured out on the remaining inhabitants of the earth.

Rev 14:1: Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
The 144,000 servants finished their warning messages and the Holy Spirit, which was in them, accomplished the transformation necessary to reflect fully the character of God and Jesus Christ in them. In God’s eyes ‘name’ represents a character of that person. When 144,000 have Jesus’ and His Father’s name written on their forehead, they are not literally carrying God’s name printed above their eyes, rather all of them became in character like our heavenly Father and His Son; each with his/her own characteristic traits of their temperament, depending to which group they belonged.

Rev 14:3: And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
This verse is providing us with information on two important points.

1) 144 000 sing a new song which no one can learn except them
2) The 144 000 are those who are redeemed from the earth.

Re 1: They are singing a song of their experience. No one else can learn it, because no one else will be able to experience it. It is also a new song simply because their experience will be new and unique. These 144000 servants of God will witness and go through the final wrath of God (seven last plagues) without being harmed.
Psa 91:5-8: You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

Re 2: Bible claims that the 144 000 are those who are redeemed from the earth. While every believer is redeemed by the blood of Jesus from the second death, the 144 000 are in addition to that redeemed also from the earth.
Rev 14:4: .... They were purchased from among men .....
Only the 144 000 will be those who will be changed (without experiencing death) in the blink of an eye when Jesus returns and they will stand with Him on the mount Zion. This experience will be unique and will apply only to them. Since the Bible specifies that only the 144 000 are redeemed from the earth or purchased from among men, it is only them who are translated without seeing death and no one else. All the rest are redeemed or purchased only from the second death. It means that everyone else will experience sooner or later the first natural death.
Correct understanding of these five verses (Rev.14:1-5) provide sufficient evidence, that there is no such a thing as rapture or snatching away of the church.

Majority supporters of rapture, whether they be pre or post-tribulation proponents, are either ignorant or totally disregard one very important fact:
Gen 5:24: Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
For anyone to be raptured, snatched away or changed in the blink of an eye into their immortal bodies without experiencing death, that person or persons must prior to their transformation (symbolically put) walk with God, which means they must reflect fully the character of God and Jesus Christ in their lives.
To put it in a different way, they must be absolutely holy, or in other words they must have Father’s name and Jesus’ name written on their foreheads. Only in that condition they can be transformed without experiencing death and not be destroyed by the brightness and presence of holy God. Bible claims that only the 144 000 reach this state of holiness.

The rest of us sinful folks (but believers) must go first through the death, where all our deficiencies and shortcomings can be left behind. When we are raised from death in our appointed time, these flaws in our character and conduct remain in grave and the Holy Spirit supplies Christ holiness and righteousness to all of us where we have lacked. Only then all of us will be holy and will be able to remain in the presence of holy God without being destroyed. But this transformation of us by God into a full state of holiness would be a subject for a different study.
Understanding of this fundamental prerequisite of complete holiness of every believer for ability to stay in the presence of God in heavenly realm or on the new earth, makes the theory of churches rapture plain and obvious counterfeit of devil. Satan is just taking advantage of your ignorance and lack of understanding of God’s plans and principles. But let’s return back to studied subject:

They are also the first fruits offered to God and to the Lamb.
Rev.14:4: ...They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
Another biblical evidence that the rapture of the churches does not take place. How can the 144 000 servants be the first fruits, if the churches are snatched from this earth to Christ before them? Bible should call them then the last fruits. Here we have another Bible evidence that all God’s people will have to go through the end time events. Not one single church will be raptured or snatched away. God’s 144 000 servants will be the first who will meet their Lord. That is why they are called the first fruits. All the remaining believers will meet the Lord sometime after, but certainly not before!

Woman specifically the Daughter of Zion in Bible symbolism in the Old Testament represented Jerusalem.
Jer.6:1-2: "Flee for safety, ... Flee from Jerusalem! ... I will destroy the Daughter of Zion, so beautiful and delicate.
In the New Testament, a woman still symbolizes the city.
Rev.17:18: The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."
The New Jerusalem which comes down from heaven is also described as bride of the Lamb.
Rev.21:9-10: ..."Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
The second symbolic meaning of the word “woman” in Revelation represents church. (Read Rev.ch.12).
Rev 12:1-2: A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
Prostituted woman is then church which turned away and against God. (Read Rev.ch.17).

Rev.14:4: These (144,000) are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure.
This passage does not speak about their lack of sexual relationship with women. The servants of God did not defile themselves with any churches (plural)! They kept their understanding pure. During their calling they did not belong to any church group or denomination. Each church has certain amount of truth. However, every church has this truth mixed with errors and deceptions. If God’s servants would belong to any of them, they would be defiled with their erroneous (deceptive) teachings and lies would be found in them.
Rev.14:5: No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
They are blameless, because they kept themselves pure - free from error, deceptions and lies by not joining with women - churches.. Instead of belonging to some church or denomination, they belong solely to God and to the Lamb.

Summing up:
The 144,000 servants are selected by God from twelve different groups of God’s people, each displaying different characteristic traits of their disposition or temperament. 12000 servants are selected from each tribe of Israel - from each of the twelve groups of God’s people. The number is literal. There are no more of them and no less. They are all sealed by the Holy Spirit into the truth and into understanding of God’s plans. They are composed of all different God’s people on the earth, any nationality and any color, whether they be Jews or non-Jews (Gentiles). They will not belong to any church, sect or any other religious organization. They belong directly and only to God. Their teaching and understanding of the Bible and of God’s plans (prophecies) of what is yet to come is pure and without lies. Finally, I am convinced that, they are composed of both sexes - men and women alike.

The 144,000 God’s servants, during the time of trouble will gather multitude of true believers from all churches and denominations to God.
Rev.7:9: After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, ...
These gathered believers from other churches are the remnant, something that is left over from all these churches and denominations. Thanks to the work of 144,000 servants of God, many new believers from all nations will join them also.
Rev.7:13-14: .. "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?" .... "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.
They will be persecuted and Satan will make war against them and will be killing them.
Rev.12:17: Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring (remnant)--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Rev 13:7: He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.
Rev 13:15: He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
The fifth seal speaks also about the fate of these believers, during the persecution sometime after the partial destruction of the earth and its inhabitants.
Rev 6:9-11: When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
In the time of the end the dragon will make an extermination attempt on all God’s people and to a large degree he will be successful.
By understanding the subject of 144 000 servants of God, the Scriptures are exposing another counterfeit of Satan intended to lead Christians astray. While the Bible is claiming that a great number of believers in the time of the end will have to give up their lives for the faith they profess, the devil is offering to immature believers the rapture theory of the churches, as the easier and more convenient alternative.
We can witness again that correct understanding of Revelation provides believer with the fullness of God’s blessing (Revelation’s seven blessings) by protecting him/her from all end time deceptions and lies.

* * * * * * *

How the 144 000 servants of God will differ in the beginning time of the end from other Christian church believers?
A) While all Christian churches and all Christian Ministries are teaching part truth but mixed with errors and deceptions, the 144 000 will proclaim and teach only the truth, without deceptions mixed with it. They will prophecy among the nations, languages and kings by proclaiming the eternal gospel summed up by the three angels in Rev. Ch.14.

They will have the genuine faith expressed by teaching, practicing and following all three facets of God mentioned in the previous posts:

1) God’s principles summed up in God’s commandments.
2) God’s character expressed in the person of Jesus Christ.
3) God’s end-time plans and purposes revealed in Bible prophecies and mainly in the Revelation.

Rev.6:9: I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.; ....
Rev.12:17 Then the dragon.. .. went off to make war against.. .those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.; ....
The 144 000 servants of God will be sealed with God’s Spirit into all three of them.

Seal of God is knowing and following God! It is knowing and following His character, His principles and His plans! All three facets are essential!

Your friend in Jesus
HH