12. The 144,000 – Paul M. Williams

Bethesda Shalom

Part 12

Anyone who has had any interaction with a Jehovah’s Witness will know that it doesn’t take long for the topic of the 144,000 to arise. There is almost an obsession with this number. In sharing personal testimony with the Witness at the door of how one came to be a child of God by grace through faith – the adoption as children, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly calling and the heavenly hope, one will discover upon the face of the Witness a look of pity. “Oh, they say, you’re talking about the 144,000, not the great crowd It’s the 140,000 who have the heavenly hope, the great crowd have only an earthly hope! Only 144,000 have been adopted as children. Theirs is the seal of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly calling, to them alone belongs the heavenly hope!” If one has never heard these sentiments expressed, one may be taken aback! “The great crowd? 144,000? I remember reading somewhere in Revelation about a great crowd that no man could number in Revelation Chapter 7. But if my memory serves me right, they were standing before the throne of God in heaven? If they have an earthly hope as you say, what are they doing in heaven? Regarding the 144,000; Revelation 7, says that they are literal Israelites and Revelation 14 that they are virgins. Are these the 144,000 that you refer to with the heavenly hope? I’m confused!!” In this teaching, all shall be revealed and brought into the light of God’s Word.

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