The subject of the 144,000 has raised questions among Christians, especially among Seventh-day Adventists. Many Seventh-day Adventists seem to believe that it is a symbolic number or has some application to the past with the 12 tribes.
I will share some key references from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy on the 144,000 in this article. According to Inspiration, this vital subject places the 144,000 as literal, and Jesus chooses them because they faithfully keep pace with the truth as the scroll unrolls.
Where do the 144,000 come from, and how do they come about?
Revelation 3:14-18 says that the last of the seven churches is Laodicean. To understand the connection between Laodicea and the 144,000, we need to know what the word Laodicea means.
According to Strong’s Concordance, Laodicea is a compound of two Greek words: “laos means people; dike means justice, judgment, punishment, and vengeance.”
The meaning of the name Laodicea describes only one denomination that meets this description, and that denomination is a people who proclaim the judgment messages.
Since 1844, it is a historical fact that the Seventh-day Adventists Denomination has proclaimed the Three Angels Messages of Revelation 14, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” Rev. 14:7.
The last church of Revelation three, Laodicea, speaks about the Seventh-day Adventists Denomination.
Though the Seventh-day Adventists Denomination teaches the messages of Revelation 14, yet the angel of the church is condemned because they have not heeded and kept pace with the light (truth), which causes the unfaithful to be spued out.
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (15) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:14-19.
The Bible says that the angel of Laodicea comes under condemnation because of their lukewarm condition. They are neither “cold nor hot.” Therefore, God has a controversy with the angel, and because they will not listen, God will spue them out.
Then, who is this angel of Revelation 3:14?
“The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” Rev 1:20.
The Bible says that the “seven stars are the angels.”
What are the stars?
“He walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Thus is symbolized the relation of Christ to his churches, and the stars are used to represent his ministers. He is represented as walking up and down among the golden candlesticks. He is in communion with his people. He knows their true state. He observes their order, their vigilance, their piety, and their devotion; and he takes pleasure in them if he sees these fruits manifest. Although Christ is mediator in the heavenly Sanctuary, yet he walks up and down in the midst of the churches on earth. He goes about from church to church, from congregation to congregation, from soul to soul. He observes their true condition,–that which is neglected, that which is in disorder, and that which needs to be done. He is represented as walking, which signifies unrest, wakefulness, and unremitting vigilance. He is observing whether the light of any of his sentinels, or candlesticks, is burning dim or going out. These under-shepherds may sleep, but He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. If these candlesticks were left to the charge of human powers, the flickering flame would languish and die. But He is the true watchman of the home, the sleepless warden of the temple courts. The continual watch-care and presence and sustaining grace of Christ are the source of all light and life. (par. 5)” The Review and Herald, May 31, 1887.
The Seventh-day Adventists are the people who declare the investigative judgment, and the seven stars are the angels, which represent the ministers. Inspiration says that God has a controversy with the Seventh-day Adventists, primarily the leadership because they will not listen to Inspiration’s warnings.
“It was Christ who bade the apostle record that which was to be opened before him. ‘What thou seest, write in a book,’ He commanded, ‘and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.’ ‘I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. . . . Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.’ Revelation 1:11, 18-20. (par.2) The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian Era. The number 7 indicates completeness, and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of time, while the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world. (par.3)” The Acts of Apostles p. 585.
These seven churches of Revelation chapters two and three are “symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian Era…and the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world.”
The seventh church, Laodicea, the Seventh-day Adventists, is neither “cold nor hot” but lukewarm because they have failed to take the additional warning messages. They fail to understand the end-time events, which will be fulfilled differently from what the church teaches. Unless they do just as it says in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
“The Lord has seen our backslidings, and he has a controversy with his people. Their pride, their selfishness, their opening of the mind to doubt and unbelief, are manifest in his sight, and grieve his heart of love. Many gather darkness about their souls as a garment, and virtually say, ‘We want not a knowledge of thy way, O God; we choose our own way.’ These are the things that separate the soul from God. There is in the soul of man an obstacle which he holds there with stubborn persistency, and which interposes between his soul and God. It is unbelief. God gives sufficient evidence, but man, with his unsanctified will, refuses to receive evidence unless it comes in his own way, to favor his own ideas. With a spirit of bravado he cries, ‘Proof, proof, is what we want,’ and turns away from the evidence that God gives. He talks doubt, unbelief, sowing the seeds of evil which will spring up and yield their harvest. He is separating his soul farther and farther from God. (par.1) Is it proof that such men need? Is it evidence that is wanting?–No; the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is given to help all such souls who are turning away from positive evidence, and crying, ‘Proof’! The rich man asked that one might be sent from the dead to warn his brethren, lest they come to the place of torment. ‘Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.’ (par.2) Why is it that men do not believe upon sufficient evidence?–Because they do not want to be convinced. They have no disposition to give up their own will for God’s will. They are unwilling to acknowledge that they have cherished sinful unbelief in resisting the light that God has given them. They have been hunting for doubts, for pegs upon which to hang their unbelief. They have been ready to accept testimony which is weak and insufficient, testimony which God has not given them in his word, but which pleases them because it agrees with their ideas, and is in harmony with their disposition and will. These souls are in great peril. If they will bow their proud will, and put it on God’s side of the question; if they will with humble, contrite hearts seek for the light, believing that there is light for them, then they will see light, because the eye is single to discern the light which comes from God. They will acknowledge the evidence of divine authority. Spiritual truths will shine forth from the divine page. But the heart must be open for the reception of light, for Satan is ever ready to obscure the precious truth which would make them wise unto salvation. If any do not receive it, it will forever remain a mystery of mysteries to them. (par. 3)… The end is near! We have not a moment to lose! Light is to shine forth from God’s people in clear, distinct rays, bringing Jesus before the churches and before the world. Our work is not to be restricted to those who already know the truth; our field is the world. The instrumentalities to be used are those souls who gladly receive the light of truth which God communicates to them. These are God’s agencies for communicating the knowledge of truth to the world. If through the grace of Christ his people will become new bottles, he will fill them with the new wine. God will give additional light, and old truths will be recovered, and replaced in the frame-work of truth; and wherever the laborers go, they will triumph. As Christ’s ambassadors, they are to search the Scriptures, to seek for the truths that have been hidden beneath the rubbish of error. And every ray of light received is to be communicated to others. One interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other,–Christ our righteousness. (par. 19) The Review and Herald, December 23, 1890.
“The condition of many of those who claim to be the children of God is exactly represented by the message to the Laodicean church. There is opened before those who serve God, truths of inestimable value, which, brought into practical life, show the difference between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. (par.9) The earth itself is not more richly interlaced with veins of golden ore than is the field of revelation with veins of precious truth. The Bible is the storehouse of the unsearchable riches of God. But those who have a knowledge of the truth do not understand it as fully as they might. They do not bring the love of Christ into the heart and life. (par. 1) The student of the Word finds himself bending over a fountain of living water. The church needs to drink deeply of the spirituality of the Word. Their service to God needs to be very different from the tame, lifeless, emotionless religious experience that makes many believers but little different from those who believe not, very similar in spirit to the unconverted (MS 117, 1902). (par. 2)” E.G. White, 7A Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, pp. 963, 964.
Inspiration says, “their pride, their selfishness, their opening of the mind to doubt and unbelief” has caused the Seventh-day Adventists to fall into a state of lukewarmness and even darkness.
“I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual backsliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders. The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt, and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from His word and from the testimonies, and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among us.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 217.
“The message to the church of the Laodiceans is a startling denunciation, and is applicable to the people of God at the present time. (par. 1)…The Lord here shows us that the message to be borne to his people by ministers whom he has called to warn the people, is not a peace-and-safety message. It is not merely theoretical, but practical in every particular. The people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans in a position of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves in an exalted condition of spiritual attainments. (par. 3)… What greater deception can come upon human minds than a confidence that they are right, when they are all wrong? The message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that deception. They know not that their condition is deplorable in the sight of God. While those addressed are flattering themselves that they are in an exalted spiritual condition, the message of the True Witness breaks their security by the startling denunciation of their true situation of spiritual blindness, poverty, and wretchedness. The testimony, so cutting and severe, cannot be a mistake; for it is the True Witness who speaks, and his testimony must be correct. (par. 5) It is difficult for those who feel secure in their attainments, who are believing themselves to be rich in spiritual knowledge, to receive the message which declares that they are deceived and in need of every spiritual grace. The unsanctified heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. (par. 6) God leads his people on, step by step. The Christian life is a constant battle, and a march. There is no rest from the warfare. It is by constant, unceasing effort that we maintain the victory over the temptations of Satan. We are, as a people, triumphing in the clearness and strength of the truth. We are fully sustained in our positions by an overwhelming amount of plain scriptural testimony. But we are very much wanting in Bible humility, patience, faith, love, self-denial, watchfulness, and a spirit of sacrifice. We need to cultivate Bible holiness. Sin prevails among the people of God. The plain message of rebuke to the Laodiceans is not received. Many cling to their doubts and their darling sins, while they are in so great a deception as to talk and feel that they are in need of nothing. They think the testimony of the Spirit of God in reproof is uncalled for, or that it does not mean them. Such are in the greatest need of the grace of God and spiritual discernment, that they may discover their deficiency in spiritual knowledge. They lack almost every essential qualification necessary to perfect Christian character. They have not a practical knowledge of Bible truth, which leads to lowliness of life, and a conformity of their will to the will of Christ. They are not living in obedience to all God’s requirements. (par. 7) It is not enough to merely profess to believe the truth. All the soldiers of the cross of Christ virtually obligate themselves to enter a crusade against the adversary of souls, to condemn wrong, and sustain righteousness. But the message of the True Witness reveals the fact that a terrible deception is upon our people, which makes it necessary to come to them with warnings, to break their spiritual slumber, and arouse them to decided action. (par. 8) This message of the True Witness has not accomplished the design of God. The people slumber on in their sins. They continue to declare themselves ‘rich, and having need of nothing.’ Many inquire, Why are all these reproofs given? Why do the testimonies continually charge us with backsliding and grievous sins? We love the truth. We are prospering. We are in no need of these testimonies of warning and reproof. But let these murmurers see their hearts, and compare their lives with the practical teachings of the Bible; let them humble their souls before God; let the grace of God illuminate the darkness, and the scales will fall from their eyes, and they will sense their true spiritual poverty and wretchedness. They will feel the necessity of buying gold, which is pure faith and love; white raiment, which is a spotless character, made pure in the blood of their dear Redeemer, and eye-salve, which is the grace of God, and will give clear discernment of spiritual things, and detect sin. These attainments are more precious than the gold of Ophir. (par. 9) I am very sure that the greatest reason why the people of God are now found in this state of spiritual blindness, is because they will not receive correction. Many have despised the reproofs and warnings given them. The True Witness condemns the lukewarm condition of the people of God, which gives Satan great power over them in this waiting, watching time. The selfish, and proud, and lovers of sin, are ever assailed with doubts. Satan has ability to suggest doubts and devise objections to the pointed testimony that God sends, and many think it a virtue and mark of intelligence in them to be unbelieving and questioning, and quibbling. Those who desire to doubt will have plenty of room. God does not propose to remove all occasion for unbelief. He gives evidence, which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and teachable spirit. All should decide from the weight of evidence. (par. 10)… The word of the Lord spoken through his servants, is received by many with questionings and fears. And many will defer their obedience to the warnings and reproofs given, waiting till every shadow of uncertainty is removed from their minds. The unbelief that demands perfect knowledge will never yield to the evidence God is pleased to give. God requires of his people faith that rests upon the weight of evidence, not perfect knowledge. The followers of Jesus Christ, those who accept of the light God sends them, must obey the voice of God speaking to them, when there are many other voices crying out against it. It requires discernment to distinguish the voice of God. (par. 21). Those who will not act when the Lord calls upon them, waiting for more certain evidence, and more favorable opportunities, will walk in darkness, for the light will be withdrawn. The evidence given one day, if rejected, may never be repeated. (par. 22)” The Review and Herald, September 16, 1873.
God has sent warning messages to awaken the Seventh-day Adventist people. The time is at hand that Jesus will remove the tares from the Seventh-day Adventists’ Denomination and deliver (Dan. 12:1) the 144,000, the firstfruits, God’s new leadership.
The question asked at the beginning of this article is, where does the 144,000 come from, and how does the 144,000 come about?
Inspiration identifies Laodicea as the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination and that God has a controversy with His people.
Soon, Christ will spew out the lukewarm who continue to reject the light (truth) that Jesus has sent.
The spewing out of the unconverted is the purification of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination, the removal of the tares by the angels of God. The angels are commissioned to cut down and remove those who reject the truths and warnings.
“The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed and He will have a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain. . . .” Selected Messages, Vol. 3, p. 385.
God sends forth His angels to destroy the tares in the Seventh-day Adventists Denomination, leaving the 144,000. They will receive the latter rain power to finish the work of the Loud Cry to gather the great multitude (second fruits) out of Babylon.
That is what Inspiration says: “Weed out those whom God has not appointed,” and the tares will be destroyed forever!
“Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:30. (See Matthew 13:24-30, the tares and the wheat) “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; (39) The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” Matthew 13:38, 39.
This warning is part of the sealing message, the judgment of the living that Jesus sent after 1844 to test and remove those God has not appointed.
“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. (2) And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, (3) Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. (4) And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Revelation 7:1-4.
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. (2) And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: (3) And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. (4) These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (5) And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:1-5.
Those who say the number is symbolic are going against the Word of God because Jesus instructed John on these prophecies.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: (2) Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” Revelation 1:1, 2.
The Bible says that John heard (Rev. 7:4) the number sealed and looked (Rev. 14:1). In other words, he saw the 144,000 stand on Mount Sion with Jesus, the Lamb. With both his eyes and ears, John witnessed this prophecy to be fulfilled. The Bible goes to great lengths to express that John heard and saw the 144,000, the firstfruits who are redeemed from among men, who are, in fact, literal.
“Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spoke the time, He poured upon us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’ did when he came down from Mount Sinai. (par. 1) The 144,000 were all sealed, and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, ‘God, New Jerusalem,’ and a glorious star containing Jesus’ new name. At our happy, holy state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay hands on us to thrust us into prison, when we would stretch forth the hand in the name of the Lord, and they would fall helpless to the ground. Then it was that the synagogue of Satan knew that God had loved us who could wash one another’s feet, and salute the brethren with a holy kiss, and they worshiped at our feet. (par. 2)” Christian Experience and Teaching, p. 58.
Inspiration says, “the living saints, 144,000 in number,” and the wicked will try to hurt them violently. That is plain and straightforward language that the 144,000 are literal, “in number,” and will be threatened by the wicked, but the power of God protects them because they have the seal of God.
“We are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Prophecy is fast fulfilling. The Lord is at the door. There is soon to open before us a period of overwhelming interest to all living. The controversies of the past are to be revived; new controversies will arise. The scenes to be enacted in our world are not yet even dreamed of. Satan is at work through human agencies. Those who are making an effort to change the Constitution and secure a law enforcing Sunday observance little realize what will be the result. A crisis is just upon us. (par. 2) But God’s servants are not to trust to themselves in this great emergency. In the visions given to Isaiah, to Ezekiel, and to John we see how closely heaven is connected with the events taking place upon the earth and how great is the care of God for those who are loyal to Him. The world is not without a ruler. The program of coming events is in the hands of the Lord. The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the concerns of His church, in His own charge. (par. 3)” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 753.
All events are in the Hands of God, and “He has charge over the concerns of His church.” Since Jesus is here on earth, walking up and down in the midst of the churches, Inspiration is revealing how Jesus will remove the tares from the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination.
“Although Christ is mediator in the heavenly Sanctuary, yet he walks up and down in the midst of the churches on earth…. (par. 5)” The Review and Herald, May 31, 1887.
This sealing or marking is what both John the Revelator and Ezekiel saw in a vision concerning God’s church. The presence of Christ is here because Inspiration says, “And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” Ezek. 9:3, 4.
Inspiration says the presence of Jesus is at the threshold of His house (Ezek. 9:3), the church. He commands (Ezek. 9:4, 11) the angel to place a mark or seal on the foreheads of the faithful because it is the unfaithful, the tares that are removed, that do not have the seal of God.
“I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.’” Early Writings, p. 118.
“Those that overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, will be the favored ones who shall receive the seal of the living God. Those whose hands are not clean, whose hearts are not pure, will not have the seal of the living God. Those who are planning sin and acting it will be passed by. Only those who, in their attitude before God, are filling the position of those who are repenting and confessing their sins in the great anti-typical day of atonement, will be recognized and marked as worthy of God’s protection. The names of those who are steadfastly looking and waiting and watching for the appearing of their Saviour–more earnestly and wishfully than they who wait for the morning–will be numbered with those who are sealed. Those who, while having all the light of truth flashing upon their souls, should have works corresponding to their avowed faith, but are allured by sin, setting up idols in their hearts, corrupting their souls before God, and polluting those who unite with them in sin, will have their names blotted out of the book of life, and be left in midnight darkness, having no oil in their vessels with their lamps. ‘Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings.’ (par. 1) This sealing of the servants of God is the same that was shown to Ezekiel in vision. John also had been a witness of this most startling revelation. He saw the sea and the waves roaring, and men’s hearts failing them for fear. He beheld the earth moved, and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea (which is literally taking place), the water thereof roaring and troubled, and the mountains shaking with the swelling thereof. He was shown plagues, pestilence, famine, and death performing their terrible mission. (par. 2)” Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445.
John the Revelator calls it a seal, while Ezekiel calls it a mark, but both the seal and mark are the same, and Ezekiel also saw the wicked slain in the church.
“Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel. These words will be literally fulfilled; yet the time is passing, and the people are asleep. They refuse to humble their souls and to be converted. Not a great while longer will the Lord bear with the people who have such great and important truths revealed to them, but who refuse to bring these truths into their individual experience. The time is short. God is calling; will you hear? Will you receive His message? Will you be converted before it is too late? Soon, very soon, every case will be decided for eternity. Letter 106, 1909, pp. 2, 3, 5, 7. (To ‘The churches in Oakland and Berkeley,’ September 26, 1909.)” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 1, p. 260.
“The Lord reads the heart as an open book. The men who are not connected with God have done many things after the imagination of their own evil hearts. The Lord declares concerning them, ‘They have turned unto Me their back, and not the face, though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them; yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.’ We are amid the perils of the last days, the time will soon come when the prophecy of Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled; that prophecy should be carefully studied, for it will be fulfilled to the very letter. Study also the tenth chapter which represents the hand of God as at work to bring perfect method and harmonious working into all the operations of his prepared instrumentalities. The eleventh and twelfth chapters also should receive critical, thoughtful attention. Let these prophecies be studied on your knees before God; unless you take up the stumbling blocks which by your own perverse spirit you have laid in the way of many who have been connected with you, God will turn His face utterly from you and your associates. (par. 1)” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1303.
Inspiration says that Ezekiel nine is literal, and since both Ezekiel and John saw the same vision, it is understood that the 144,000 are literal as well.
“The mark of deliverance has been set upon those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done.’ Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel’s vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is given: ‘Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.’ Says the prophet, ‘They began at the ancient men which were before the house.’ [Ezekiel 9:1-6.] The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children perish together.” The Great Controversy 1888 ed., p. 656.
“The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God. The Lord commissions His messengers, the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands: ‘Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.’ (par.1) Here we see that the church–the Lord’s sanctuary–was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God’s power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus ‘Peace and safety’ is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God’s people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together. (par.2) The abominations for which the faithful ones were sighing and crying were all that could be discerned by finite eyes, but by far the worst sins, those which provoked the jealousy of the pure and holy God, were unrevealed. The great Searcher of hearts knoweth every sin committed in secret by the workers of iniquity. These persons come to feel secure in their deceptions and, because of His long-suffering, say that the Lord seeth not, and then act as though He had forsaken the earth. But He will detect their hypocrisy and will open before others those sins which they were so careful to hide. (par. 3) Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 211.
“In the ninth chapter of Ezekiel is portrayed the fate of the men of responsibility who have not glorified God by faithfulness and integrity. Read this chapter. Notice especially verses four to six: [quoted]. At the appointed time, the Lord God of Israel will do His work most thoroughly.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 18, p. 183.
According to Inspiration, the 144,000 are the faithful who are delivered when the tares are removed from the church because the 144,000 do not doubt or disbelieve the testimonies of the Spirit of God. They keep pace with the light and are proven worthy to receive the seal of God and are saved into the kingdom of God.
“Strive to Be Among the 144,000.–[Revelation 7:9-17 quoted.] Those whom the Lamb shall lead by the fountains of living waters, and from whose eyes He shall wipe away all tears, will be those now receiving the knowledge and understanding revealed in the Bible, the Word of God. . . . We are to copy no human being. There is no human being wise enough to be our criterion. We are to look to the man Christ Jesus, who is complete in the perfection of righteousness and holiness. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the pattern man. His experience is the measure of the experience that we are to gain. His character is our model. Let us, then, take our minds off the perplexities and the difficulties of this life, and fix them on Him, that by beholding we may be changed into His likeness. We may behold Christ to good purpose. We may safely look to Him; for He is all-wise. As we look to Him and think of Him, He will be formed within, the hope of glory. Let us strive with all the power that God has given us to be among the hundred and forty-four thousand (RH March 9, 1905). E. G. White, S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 970.
For further study of the 144,000 and Ezekiel nine, please request our free booklet number two, A Door of Hope for Laodicea.
