Today I was in my quiet time, and the Lord spoke to me. It had been one of those odd nights, where I didn't sleep much and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. Should I pray? Journal? Or keep rolling back and forth in a vain attempt to sleep?
Finally, at around 6 this morning, I pressed through, and God said He had something for me. He called it "Revelation about the book of Revelation."
He encouraged me to begin reading. And since lately I've been thinking a lot about the 144,000 from Revelation 7, I began reading there. Here are two of my questions:
- I had a question about the tribes of people making up the 144,000. Because it's not a simple listing of the 12 sons of Israel, and it's also not the same list as the tribes who got land in the Old Testament. (i.e. Joseph is listed. So is Manasseh. But not Ephraim, and not Dan.) What gives?
- The second question was about the huge group of people with white robes in Revelation 7:14.
So here is what Jesus said:
1. Why isn't Dan listed in Revelation 7?
Jesus said: This is an anomaly indicating to you that this is not talking about the physical tribes of Israel. If it were, I would, of course, have included Dan. Dan is not “lesser” or more sinful. I just didn’t list all the tribes in the normal way because I wanted you to know that the 144,000 are not composed of the normal, physical bloodline of Israel. Rather, it’s the new covenant Jews, that is, those who are Jews not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Here is why you can know that the 144,000 are not necessarily physical, bloodlines Jews:
1) Paul says there IS NO MORE JEW AND GREEK. And I’m not about to revive that distinction now, let alone in eternity. So this type of thinking is fundamentally, deeply wrong.
2) This anomaly in the listing of the tribes is not a mistake. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the tribe of Dan that they should not be listed. Rather, I put in the anomaly in the Bible so that you’d notice something different about this list of tribes. And what is different is that it is referring to new testament tribes. And new testament tribes, as we learned in Ezekiel [For more information, please see: The Prophetic Word Made Even More Sure are actually not determined by physical descent at all, but by spiritual gifting. And although I had not revealed that fact until recently, I left room for this interpretation in My word by listing the tribes differently in Revelation 7.
2. Who is Revelation 7:14 referring to?
The great multitude of people wearing white robes is referring to believers who come out of the tribulation, however they come. [i.e. not only the martyrs] Many believers will die from the plagues (of the seals, for example) but they won’t deny My name. Many will die this way. But they won’t have gotten the mark, so they’ll enter paradise and be with Me much sooner than, say, the 144K who will be serving Me but they won't be at rest yet, as these will.
You see? The 144K will endure much more trouble for much longer than the less faithful do. It’s not “fair” in a sense. The most lazy of My servants will get to rest and be at peace much sooner, while the 144K will have to work hard for much, much longer. [i.e., the whole Tribulation period.]
But this is how it is in My kingdom. Its a “get to” kingdom more than a “have to” way of looking at things. Your perspective must change. You have the potential for a great honor ahead of you to GET TO work for me during the Tribulation, and not flake off and die early and be with Me where there is nothing to do but wait and enjoy your rest. Those who enter the pearly gates early will be supremely happy. But they will not have as much distinction in heaven as the 144K who work for Me all throughout the Tribulation and enter somewhat later into their rest.
Rest is wonderful, don’t get Me wrong. But much better is to have the honor to serve Me. And that is what the 144K get.
There are others who are also not listening to Me, but I am keeping them alive in order to bring them to a greater place of repentance and humility. They will have to live through more of the horrors of the tribulation, perhaps even into the later trumpets. These would be My hardest headed servants who think they understand certain things when they really do not, such as some teachers who have led many of My people astray.
They had good intentions, but they were very, very wrong. Those will have to endure much more suffering for perhaps a couple of years longer than those more faithful but rather lazy servants who died earlier on in the seal period. But these more hard headed people, who had to endure the tribulation much much longer, will have even less distinction in heaven, because the only reason they have to endure more of the Tribulation is because they were so stubborn and wrong. So wrong.
I don’t reward all of My children the same. I save all who truly call on My name. I save them from hell. But I don’t reward them all the same.
- The most faithful get to be martyrs in the fifth seal, and they get to rest under the altar until the Tribulation is over.
- The most faithful of those martyrs get to serve Me on earth during the Tribulation as the 144K.
- Then there are the rather run-of-the-mill believers. There are many grades of these, and I will reward all according to their works, just as I say in My word. But they are the people who know Me, and who do not deny My name, but they don’t serve Me with their whole hearts. They may die from plagues or various other reasons during the Tribulation.