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godislove85
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the 144,000: Christians zealous for God; pray hard to be one of them
the 144,000 who are sealed in Revelation 7 are "spiritual Israel," not ethnic Jews, who are said by Jesus to be of the "synagogue of Satan" (Rev. 2,3):
-"The real Jew" is the person who is "circumcized in the heart" (Romans 2:28)
-Christians are children of "the heavenly Jerusalem" (Galatians 4), which represents the "city" (association) of true Christians.
Israel means "has prevailed with God" [in gaining the "blessing" of eternal life which Jacob/Israel strove with Jesus "the angel of the LORD" for in Genesis 32]
The 144,000 correspond to members of the Church of Philadelphia & Smyrna, the only two of the seven churches (which represents all people professing to be Christians today, throughout history, and in John's day) not rebuked by Jesus in Revelation 2-3 and threatened to be "cast" into terrible "Tribulation".
If you are not one of these 144,000 people because you are "lukewarm" for God & fellow humans (Rev. 3:15), you will have to suffer the immense pains described in Revelation & the rest of the Bible (ex. the plagues of Exodus) as a taste of Hell, so that you will depart from sin since "the fear of the LORD causes a man to depart from evil." God says "those whom I love, I discipline." (Rev. 3, Hebrews 12)
"Pray at all times that you will be worthy to escape these things" (Luke 21) which "are about to come upon the whole habitable Earth" (Rev. 3:10) during the Great Tribulation.
"The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6) We often have to interpret the Bible metaphorically (not by "the letter"), and can only do so correctly by praying for the Holy Spirit's enlightenment.
the 144,000 who are sealed in Revelation 7 are "spiritual Israel," not ethnic Jews, who are said by Jesus to be of the "synagogue of Satan" (Rev. 2,3):
-"The real Jew" is the person who is "circumcized in the heart" (Romans 2:28)
-Christians are children of "the heavenly Jerusalem" (Galatians 4), which represents the "city" (association) of true Christians.
Israel means "has prevailed with God" [in gaining the "blessing" of eternal life which Jacob/Israel strove with Jesus "the angel of the LORD" for in Genesis 32]
The 144,000 correspond to members of the Church of Philadelphia & Smyrna, the only two of the seven churches (which represents all people professing to be Christians today, throughout history, and in John's day) not rebuked by Jesus in Revelation 2-3 and threatened to be "cast" into terrible "Tribulation".
If you are not one of these 144,000 people because you are "lukewarm" for God & fellow humans (Rev. 3:15), you will have to suffer the immense pains described in Revelation & the rest of the Bible (ex. the plagues of Exodus) as a taste of Hell, so that you will depart from sin since "the fear of the LORD causes a man to depart from evil." God says "those whom I love, I discipline." (Rev. 3, Hebrews 12)
"Pray at all times that you will be worthy to escape these things" (Luke 21) which "are about to come upon the whole habitable Earth" (Rev. 3:10) during the Great Tribulation.
"The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6) We often have to interpret the Bible metaphorically (not by "the letter"), and can only do so correctly by praying for the Holy Spirit's enlightenment.