Are only 144,000 people going to be saved? Some people have drawn that conclusion from this passage. Others, noticing John’s mention of the tribes of the children of Israel, contend that this only refers to Jewish believers, in contrast to the Gentile believers mentioned in verses nine and following.

But it is much more likely that this passage has a much deeper, fuller meaning. Remember: in apocalyptic literature, numbers are used in the same way as images – as symbols. Take for example the mention of the seven spirits of God (1:4, 3:1). Now, we know there is only one Holy Spirit. But we also know that the number seven conveys a sense of completeness. To speak of the seven spirits of God is thus a way of saying that the Spirit of God is completely present everywhere, seeing and knowing and controlling everything.

The number twelve carries a similar meaning of completeness, especially where it comes to the people of God. After all, God’s Old Testament people were divided into 12 tribes according to their birth. And in the days of Joshua, God also divided the Promised Land into 12 distinct parts. But since the tribe of Levi received certain cities scattered throughout the whole area, Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, each received a separate portion of land. This way, there would still be 12 parts of the Promised Land, just as there were 12 tribes. Either way, the number was complete.

But that’s also why it’s impossible to take John’s list of tribes in verses 5 through 8 literally. For if it’s referring to the places where people lived, why are both Joseph and Manasseh listed? And if it’s referring to the Israelites by birth, why are Dan and Ephraim omitted?

No, it is much more likely that the number of people that John heard had been sealed is a symbolic expression of completeness: twelve times twelve times ten times ten. It is thus also likely that the number John heard in verses 4 through 8 refers to the same great multitude John saw in verses 9 and 10, those who are called the servants of God in verse 3 and who are said to serve Him day and night in verse 15, those who have been saved out of the great tribulation (v. 14).

For that is undoubtedly the meaning of God’s instructions to the angel in verse 3. Just as in the days of Ezekiel, God promises to bring judgment on all those who have been unfaithful to Him. But at the same time, God promises to protect every one of His people, identifying and sealing each one of them so that they will not be destroyed in the coming devastation (Ezekiel 9:6).

So, far from trying to say that the number of God’s people is somehow limited in scope, this passage reassures us that every single one of God’s people will in fact be saved – no matter what judgments may come on the unbelieving world around us. So isn’t the Lord worthy of “blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might” (v. 12)?

Ezekiel 9:3-7 (ESV)

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist.
4 And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”
5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.
6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.
7 Then he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city.

Revelation 7:1-8 (ESV)

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.
2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.