Doves,

 

Often posters on the Doves site proclaim that the 144,000 Jews from chapter 7 and 14 of Revelation will be evangelists who will preach the gospel during the tribulation period. I strongly disagree......nowhere in scripture (that I have found) is there any indication that these Jews will be evangelists but will be “servants” to Jesus (7:3)......His personal entourage (if you will) that will accompany Him wherever He goes (14:4). No where does it say Jesus will be preaching the gospel during the tribulation period and if these “first fruit” Jews are His entourage why do so many think that they are tribulation evangelists??????

 

Below is a post I wrote in 2013 concerning this topic line and much more about these 144,000 as to where they come from and also what their fellow resurrected Jews are tasked to do by God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gail,        http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/july2013/gail72-1.htm

 

 

You and Mr. Perkins may be 100% correct as to who the Jewish 144,000 first fruits will be (as per your post) but that's not the way I see it and I believe you have made your selection group for these 144,000 way too narrow.

 

Let me explain.......

 

In Matthew 24 Jesus is talking to Jews concerning the outcome of Jews in the end times. Jesus uses terminology to speak to His disciples at that time that they would understand......"buzz words" if you will.

 

In verse 31 Jesus said....."And He will send His angels with a great sound of the trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other."

 

When Jesus made this statement the Jews of that day would have picked up on the term "four winds" and related it back to the prophecy of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37. They.....the Jews of that day...would have known that Jesus was talking about the huge resurrection of the Jews from the "whole house of Israel" spoken of in Ezekiel 37 that God had promised would happen........... now Jesus is telling them that this will happen at the end of the age.

 

Remember Jesus in Matthew 24 is focused only on the Jews. He is talking to Jews about the fate of Jews.......the Christian Church was not even established yet so there was no need to include them in the discussion of Matthew 24. The focus was completely on the "whole house of Israel (Jacob).

 

We learn from Ezekiel 37, Joel 2 and Rev.9 that this huge resurrection consists of hundreds of millions of resurrected Jews who lived from the time of Jacob all the way until this present time.

 

And I believe that it is these hundreds of millions of Jews plus the present time livings Jews (of which you spoke) that will make up the "selection pool" from which God will select His first fruits or "the cream of the crop" of His Jewish creation......the 144,000.

 

Out of these hundreds of millions of people that span multiple centuries God will choose 12,000 from all the 12 tribes......the pick of the litter.

 

I see no place in scripture that indicates that these 144,000 are evangelists that go around the whole proclaiming the gospel.

 

What I do see from Rev.14 is that they are the first fruits to God and the Lamb and are the personal entourage to Jesus and follow Him where ever He goes. If they follow Jesus where ever He goes, how can they be all over the planet evangelizing?

 

There will be God's two end time witnesses (Rev.11) who preach the gospel for 42 months around the planet and an angel who flies over earth preaching the everlasting gospel to those who dwell on planet earth. Rev.14:6

 

It appears to me that at the opening of the sixth seal (immediately prior to God's great wrath starting in those same verses) that there will be a huge combined resurrection. Who is in this great resurrection?

1) The whole house of Israel (Jacob), untold millions of Jews from over the centuries

2) The dead in Christ....all those who have chosen Christ and His message as their savior from over the centuries

3) The alive in Christ....Jew and Gentile alike that have accepted Jesus and His gospel

 

The first thing that happens at this combined resurrection is God and the Lamb's selection of the first fruits...... the honor society of the graduating class of God's chosen elect........the 144,000 of all the tribes from the whole house of Israel. To honor them God puts His personal seal on their foreheads denoting the status they have achieved. Rev.7:3

 

The second thing that happens (in the next verses of Rev.7) is that we the alive and dead in Christ with great fanfare show up in heaven.

 

The third thing that happens is a delayed happening. As per Ezek.37, Rev.7, Joel 2 and Rev.9 God chooses an exceeding great "end times" army (Ezek.37:10) for Himself out of this huge Jewish resurrection. I say delayed happening because God delays the "four winds"(Ezek.37:9-10) from blowing life back into this huge army until the hour day month and year is correct (Rev.9:15). Then as per Rev.7, Rev.9:15 God instructs His four angels who have been holding back the four winds to release these four winds breathing life back into an army of two hundred million resurrected spirit beings who become God's end time army and are tasked to kill one third of the planet with fire, smoke and brimstone.

 

Anyone interested in the "end time" exploits or the ride (horses) of this army can read Joel 2:1-11 and Rev.9:15-19. Note verse 11 in Joel 2 where it is specifically stated that this is God's army.......His resurrected army of spirit beings who can't be killed and dispense His wrath on and kill 2+ billion people. This will happen during the period of what is called God's great wrath starting when the sixth seal is opened and lasting for an unknown period of time. Some speculate using certain scripture verses that God's portion of the end time tribulation, His personal wrath, will last one year but that the total tribulation will last 1260 days.

 

I guess I got a little off the 144,000 but I needed to give you the whole picture of what I believe will happen within the next few years.

 

Blessings........John B