Michael Rich wrote:
Rev. 7:3-8 and Rev. 14:1-5....i still don't find where the number exceeds 144, 000.
"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands” “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9,13,14).
The great multitude is the group who is saved through the ministry of the 144,000.
The 144,000 are 12 times 12,000 special anointed people that evangelize the world. At the day of Pentecost, 120 believers in the Upper Room, including the 12 apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit in the form of the “early rain” and a great multitude of 3,000 souls believed and were saved to the Lord, as Peter told them what they were seeing, and its meaning.
The prophet Joel 2:23 prophesied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the end of time saying, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month,” which is interpreted by the Apostle Peter, in Acts 2:16-40, as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The 12 times 12,000 saints are commissioned to evangelize the entire world, for God never leaves Himself without a witness... a great multitude will be converted as they proclaim the gospel.
The “latter rain” is always greater than the “former rain.” This end time outpouring of the Holy Spirit will take place just before the second coming of Jesus Christ, when He returns to earth accompanied by His raptured saints and the hosts of heaven.
Jesus came 2,000 years ago to REDEEM His own.
He will appear in the sky to RAPTURE His own.
Jesus is returning to Earth 7 years later at the Second Coming WITH His own.
Rev. 7:4-8 says that the 144,000 are from the tribes of the sons of Israel, a.k.a., 144,000 converted/believing Jews, and NOT people from every nation of the world.
In Rev. 7:9-17, there is a great multitude, beyond numbering, serving God in heaven (martyrs out of the tribulation) who have come from every nation, people, and tongue (Rev. 4:1-2; 8:1).
"A great multitude which no one could number."
They represent all of the nations and tribes and the peoples and the languages from all over the earth. They are the harvest reaped during the Tribulation through the great revival of the 144,000 Jewish evangelist witnesses to the Lord.