The woman in the wilderness and the 144.000 - part 1
THE WOMAN IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE 144,000 : PART 1
Last Updated: 12/18/98
Theories Concerning The 144,000, Coming War, The Diaspora, Narrow Is The Way, Spirit Of Exclusivity, The Fiery Furnace, A Little Help, Joseph's Dream, Joseph And Mary Flee, Dragons In The Sea, Israel Of Faith, The Arab Seed, The Right Hand Of God, Woman In The Wilderness, Mount Up With Eagle's Wings
As you may know, within Christian circles, there is quite a controversy brewing regarding the correct identity of the 144,000 sealed servants of the Lord mentioned in the seventh chapter of the Book of Revelation. The key verses from this chapter which discuss this topic are the following:
"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, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 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 7:2-4)
As I mention in my series 'The Great Tribulation And The Rapture', it is my personal belief that these people will be Christianized Jews who will be wise enough to escape out of Jerusalem just prior to its soon-coming invasion by Muslim forces. At this current time, it is almost as if the entire world is watching with abated breath as the final diplomatic dominoes fall; which will ultimately result in the start of this terrible war. On both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the fence, since a long time ago, final positions have been taken regarding the fate of Jerusalem. Even if progress is made which will resolve the current bottleneck revolving around the full implementation of the Wye Memorandum, an all-out war still appears to be inevitable, based upon the Scriptures. Consider the following verses once again:
"For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city."
(Zechariah 14:2)
"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."
(Luke 21:20)
Another view suggests that the 144,000 are not just Jews who currently live in the state of Israel, but rather that they are comprised of the descendants of the ancient tribes of Israel who now live all around the world. As I point out in other articles, the current dispersion, or Diaspora, of the Jews, is a result of their sins against the Lord since over two thousand five hundred years ago. Consider the following Scriptures found in the book of the Prophet Jeremiah:
"Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them."
(Jeremiah 9:15-16)
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood."
(Jeremiah 13:23-25)
"Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity."
(Jeremiah 18:15-17)
Based upon an estimated worldwide Jewish population of fourteen million, a bit of mathematical computation reveals that 144,000 would only be about one per cent of the entire worldwide Jewish population; and that is truly an extremely small remnant indeed! If we accept this view as being true, then there may be many people in the world today who are of Jewish origin who don't even know it. They might even be professing Christians!
A final school of thought proposes that the 144,000 servants of the Lord are not comprised of physical Jews whatsoever; but rather they represent the true spiritual Israel; that is, the born-again Believers in Christ, who are spread out all over the world. While I concur that we Christians are the true spiritual Israel of faith, as I explain in the article 'Is God A Racist?', to suggest that only 144,000 Christians will be sealed by the Lord does not seem to make very much sense to me. There are literally millions of Christians in the world at this current time. While the Lord did indeed say that many are called, and few chosen; and that strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads to Eternal Life, I have no doubt whatsoever that God's full Plan of Salvation involves more than 144,000 saved souls:
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
(Matthew 7:13-14)
"For many are called, but few are chosen."
( Matthew 22:14)
Not only that, but such a thought is earmarked by the same spirit of exclusivity I have seen in times past. I know that many years ago, an organization then known as the Children of God claimed to be the 144,000 servants of the Lord. They even had a self-righteous song in which they boasted of this very thing. While I do not agree with all of their current views, I must give them credit for the fact that, as they have matured as a movement, they have been wise enough to put aside some of their narrowminded doctrines of the past. Sadly, it appears that the Jehovah's Witnesses continue to make this very same claim of being the 144,000; and I don't doubt that there are other organizations that teach this same erroneous doctrine.
The main point to consider here is that the 144,000 will be sealed by the Lord, because they are going to go through the Great Tribulation; and not because they will be rescued from it prematurely as Pre-Tribulation Rapture theorists believe. If you accept, as I do, that these may be flesh Jews in the nation of Israel, who are going to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour in the final hour, or perhaps who have already done so, then it is possible that they will remain untouched by the wrath of the demonic Beast and his Muslim hordes; just as Daniel's three companions came out of the Babylonian furnace without even the smell of smoke on their clothes. In fact, it appears that Jesus may have been right there with them, protecting them from the flames!
Consider these verses found in the Book of Daniel:
"He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them."
(Daniel 3:25-27)
What I find interesting regarding this possibility, is that in the following verse, also found in the Book of Daniel, we are told that the Lord's children, possibly meaning Jews in Israel, will be 'holpen with a little help' during this time of great persecution; when a small portion of them flee from the invading forces of the Islamic Beast:
"Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries."
(Daniel 11:34)
If we add one and one together, it seems quite possible that these Jews who flee from Jerusalem, might be symbolized by the woman we see fleeing into the wilderness in Revelation chapter twelve. It is a very obvious connection in my mind. To fully understand this, let's go back thousands of years to the time of Joseph and his brethren. As you may recall, one of the dreams which Joseph had was the following:
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying."
(Genesis 37:9-11)
In this dream, Joseph's eleven brethren are represented by eleven stars; therefore, it is obvious that Joseph must be the twelfth star. In like manner, the sun represents Jacob, Joseph's father; and the moon must represent his mother; according to Jacob's own words. In short, this is a symbolic picture of the nation of Israel. Let us move up now several thousand years into the future to the time of the Revelation of the Apostle John. In describing the mysterious Woman in the Wilderness, John wrote the following:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne."
(Revelation 12:1-5)
As you will quickly notice, this woman is represented by the very same three symbols as we saw in Joseph's dream; that is, the sun, the moon, and twelve stars; as such, by simply comparing Scripture with Scripture, I believe that we can safely assume that, even though their accounts were written literally thousands of years apart, the Patriarch Joseph and the Apostle John were both describing the very same thing. If we apply John's vision to the time in which it was given, we could say that the woman represents Mary, the mother of Jesus; and this would indeed be a fitting interpretation. As we all know, Joseph and Mary were in fact persecuted by evil King Herod when Jesus was about two years old. It may have been at that time, that they put the expensive gifts of the three magi to good use by fleeing into Egypt until Herod was dead:
"And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son...But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life."
(Matthew 2:13-15, 19-20)
It is also interesting to note that, just as we see this woman being persecuted by the Red Dragon, in His Word, the Lord does refer to worldly leaders as dragons in the rivers and seas of people. This is because they are merely puppets of the great Red Dragon himself; that is, Satan, the Prince of the Power of the Air, and the god of this world, who has blinded the eyes of them that believe not. Thus, Herod was indeed a dragon in Israel who persecuted the seed of the Lord's fledgling Church. Consider the following verses:
"Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself."
(Ezekiel 29:3)
"And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
(Revelation 17:15)
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
(Revelation 12:9)
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,"
(Revelation 20:2)
"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"
(Ephesians 2:2)
"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
(2 Corinthians 4:4)
While the previous interpretation is valid, in an Endtime prophetic sense, I believe that it is more in agreement with Joseph's dream to suggest that the woman in John's vision represents the spiritual nation of Israel; that is to say, the Israel of faith, which was born of the seed of Isaac. This is the Israel which brought forth the Saviour; of which Mary was indeed a member. As we have already seen, if we consider that most Endtime events focus upon the land of Israel, this seed of faith is probably best represented in Israel by the 144,000; that is, the flesh Jews who already have, or who will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour in the coming days; and thus be persecuted by the Beast. These are the true Jews of the Spirit, who I also discuss in 'Is God A Racist?' and 'Once Upon A Time: A True Story'. Remember, as the Apostle Paul stated quite clearly, not all Israel is the true Israel, but only those who are of the seed of faith; those who trust in the name of Jesus:
"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
(Romans 9:6-8)
There is a very startling truth concealed in the previous verses which I had never noticed before. Like myself, some of you are no doubt familiar with Old Testament history; and are thus aware of the stories of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Keturah. It is from the offspring of these three women, that the nation of Israel and some of the Arab nations came into being. Israel came forth from Sarah's son, Isaac; twelve of the Arab nations came forth from Ishmael who was the son of Hagar, and other Arab nations came forth from the six sons of Keturah.
Consider the following verses:
"Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah."
(Genesis 25:1-4)
"Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham: And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations. And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren."
(Genesis 25:12-18)
While the Arabs claim that they are the true children of God who submit themselves to the will of God, which is exactly what 'Muslim' means, the previous verses from Paul's Epistle to the Romans are a clear New Testament indication of the depth of deception into which they have fallen. What Paul states not only applies to the flesh Jews who reject Jesus Christ, but it also applies to all of Abraham's other flesh descendants through his wives Hagar and Keturah as well. In other words, the Arabs are no more the children of God, than are the flesh Jews who reject Christ, because they are all the children of the flesh, that is, of Abraham's flesh, and not the children of promise, by faith, through Isaac. This is why in his old age, Abraham sent away his concubines and all of their children. Isaac was the seed of promise; and he was the one who would be taught to place his faith in the God of his father, as well as inherit the bulk of Abraham's possessions:
"And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country."
(Genesis 25:5-6)
Returning to the opening verses of the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, it should be obvious that the man child who was born to the woman, and who 'was caught up unto God, and to His Throne', can be none other than Jesus Christ Himself, who now sits at the Right Hand of His Father. This is made perfectly clear by the following verses taken from the writings of the Apostles Peter and Paul:
"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
(Romans 8:34)
"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,"
(Ephesians 1:20)
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."
(Colossians 3:1)
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;...But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?"
(Hebrews 1:3, 13)
"Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;"
(Hebrews 8:1)
"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;"
(Hebrews 10:12)
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
(Hebrews 12:2)
"Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."
(1 Peter 3:22)
It is at this point that we find an interesting link between the words of the Prophet Daniel, who said that the Saints would be 'holpen with a little help', and John's description of the 144,000 sealed servants of the Lord. You will recall that I stated that it is possible that these servants will remain untouched by the wrath of the demonic Beast and his Muslim hordes; just as Daniel's three companions came out of the Babylonian furnace without even the smell of smoke on their clothes. Consider now the following verses:
"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days...And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth."
(Revelation 12:6, 14-16)
Notice that in describing the flight of the woman into the wilderness, John specifically states that 'she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her...'; and then a few verses later he says that she will fly 'into her place'. In His Divine Wisdom, the Lord knew that these Christianized Jews would be saved in the final hour; so in His mercy, He has prepared a special place for their protection. This may be directly related to Daniel's 'holpen with a little help'. It is interesting to note that throughout the Bible, wings are associated with God's protection. Some of my favorite verses on this topic are found in Psalm Ninety-One:
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone."
(Psalms 91:1-12)
Notice how the Psalmist writes 'He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust'; and then we are told a few verses later that His Angels 'shall bear thee up in their hands'. What a wonderful promise of God's Divine Protection! In a modern sense, we can speculate that the 'two wings of a great eagle' might symbolize being airlifted to an undisclosed remote location, or wilderness, where the woman will be protected for three and a half years from the wrath of the Islamic Beast. I was also just reminded of the following prophetic verse which I share in the series 'The Great Tribulation And The Rapture'; which shows how some day soon, we too shall be born up as on eagle's, or Angel's, wings, in order to be delivered from the Great Slaughter of the Great Tribulation:
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
(Isaiah 40:31)
The previous verse is directly related to the following verses found in Jesus's Endtime sermon in Matthew chapter twenty-four. Collectively, these verses show us that, when all appears lost for God's children, the Lord's Elect will be miraculously rescued from this world, and thus from the persecution by the same, at the time of the coming Rapture; when the Lord, our Prince of Peace, returns in the clouds of Heaven for His faithful Bride-To-Be.
We shall truly mount up with wings as eagles!:
"For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together...And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
(Matthew 24:27-28, 30-31)
Personally, I am convinced that in these verses, the Lord is referring to Himself as the Carcase which was hung on the Cross, and to ourselves, His dearly beloved children, as the rising eagles who will be gathered unto Him in the clouds of Heaven. This is because we have symbolically fed upon His Flesh, and drank His Blood, through our belief in His name; precisely as He commanded us to do in the following verses found in John chapter six and Matthew chapter twenty-six:
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."
(John 6:53)
"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
(Matthew 26:26-28)
One important point which I feel I must clarify for you, is that the woman being given 'two wings of a great eagle', so that she can fly safely into the wilderness, and the Endtime Saints mounting 'up with wings as eagles' at the time of the Lord's Coming, are not one and the same event. It is very important that you understand this difference. In short, the woman will flee into the wilderness at the beginning of the three and a half years of Great Tribulation; and it is three and a half years later, at the time of the Rapture, that all of the Saints will 'mount up with wings as eagles' to meet the Lord in the air, in our new transformed bodies. This will of course include the 144,000 saved Christianized Jews who have fled to their place of refuge prepared for them by the Lord.
If this woman does represent 144,000 sealed Christian Jews who will flee from the wrath of the invading Muslim armies, as I believe it does, then this hidden location might be a place in Israel itself, somewhere outside of Jerusalem. It might also be a reference to the United States of America, where there are currently quite a number of Christians who support the state of Israel. However, there is yet another very interesting possibility which was first suggested to me some twenty-eight years ago. In part two of this series, I will be discussing Jacob, Esau and the Edomites, Lot and the Moabites and the Ammonites, the pagansim of the Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites, the backslidden Jews, origins of the Jewish-Arab conflict, forsaking the God of their fathers and the false religion of Islam, the three horns, the question about Libya, Jordan's King Hussein and the Middle East War, the mystery of Petra, and the prophetic destruction at noonday. I trust that you will join me.
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