144000 (number)

144000 is a natural number. It has significance in several religious movements. In the Mayan calendar, a baktun is a period of 144,000 days.

Religion

Christianity

Tribes of Israel
The Tribes
Reuben Simeon Levi Judah Dan Naphtali Gad Asher Issachar Zebulun Joseph Manasseh Ephraim Benjamin
Related topics
Israelites Ten Lost Tribes

The number 144,000 has religious significance for Christians because of its use in the Book of Revelation, where it appears three times:

• Revelation 7:3–8 (ESV)

saying: "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until after we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

• Revelation 14:1 (ESV)

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

• Revelation 14:3–5 (ESV)

And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. For it is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

Page from an illuminated manuscript painted by an unknown artist, depicting the 144,000 from Revelation 7, from a copy of the Commentary on the Apocalypse by Saint Beatus of Liébana.

The numbers 12,000 and 144,000 are variously interpreted in traditional Christianity. Some, taking the numbers in Revelation to be symbolic,^[1] believe it represents all of God's people throughout history in the heavenly Church.^[2] One suggestion is that the number comes from 12, a symbol for totality, which is squared and multiplied by one thousand for more emphasis. Others insist the numbers 12,000 and 144,000 are literal numbers and representing either descendants of Jacob (also called Israel in the Bible) or others to whom God has given a superior destiny with a distinct role at the time of the end of the world.^[3] One understanding is that the 144,000 are recently converted Jewish evangelists sent out to bring sinners to Jesus Christ during the seven year tribulation period.^[4] Preterists believe they are Jewish Christians, sealed for deliverance from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Dispensationalist Tim LaHaye, in his commentary Revelation: Illustrated and Made Plain (Zondervan, 1975), considers the 144,000 in Revelation 7 to refer to Jews and those in Revelation 14 to refer to Christians.^[5]

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that exactly 144,000 faithful Christian men and women from Pentecost of 33 CE until the present day will be resurrected to heaven as immortal spirit beings to spend eternity with God and Christ. They believe that these people are "anointed" by God to become part of the spiritual "Israel of God".^[6][7] They believe the 144,000 (which they consider to be synonymous with the "little flock" of Luke 12:32) will serve with Christ as king-priests for a thousand years, while all other people accepted by God (the "other sheep" of John 10:16, composed of "the great crowd" of Revelation 7:9,14 and the resurrected "righteous and the unrighteous" ones of Acts 24:15), will be given an opportunity to live forever in a restored paradise on earth. According to the Witnesses, the first of the 144,000 were resurrected in 1918 and others who die thereafter are immediately resurrected to heaven.^[8][9]

Individual Witnesses indicate their claim of being "anointed" by partaking of the bread and wine at the annual Memorial of Christ's death. Nearly 12,000 Witnesses worldwide—an increase of more than 3,000 since 1995^[10]—claim to be of the anointed "remnant" of the 144,000.^[11] The members of the Governing Body who exercise teaching authority over Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide claim to be among the anointed 144,000, and also consider themselves as a group to be the faithful and discreet slave of Matthew 24:45 and Luke 12:42.^[12][13][14]

Skoptzists

The Christian Skoptsy sect in Russia believed that the Messiah would come when there were 144,000 Skoptsy believers, based on their reading of the Book of Revelation.^[15][16]

Unification Church

The Christian-based church founded by Reverend Sun Myung Moon believes the 144,000 represents the total number of saints whom Christ must find "who can restore through indemnity the missions of all the past saints who, despite their best efforts to do God's Will, fell prey to Satan when they failed in their responsibilities. He must find these people during his lifetime and lay the foundation of victory over Satan's world" according to the Exposition of the Divine Principle, page 144.

Islam

144,000 is alleged to have been the number of Sahaba of Muhammad, though other totals have been given.^[17] The number is also given as the total number of prophets in Islam,^[18] although this has also been reported as 124,000 or 244,000. The actual number of prophets or Sahaba (Companions) is not known, however, 25 prophets are mentioned by name in the Qur'an.

New Age movements

The number 144,000 is also significant in various New Age religious movements.

• The Church Universal and Triumphant teaches that Sanat Kumara and the Lords of the Flame also brought 144,000 souls with them from Venus.
• The new age religion called Raëlism also states that there are 144,000 chosen people to continue humanity in case of an upcoming disaster.^[19]
• The satirical Church of the Subgenius believes that somewhere between 144 and 144,000 people will be taken with the Xists aboard the pleasure saucers.

In popular culture

Literature

• In author John DeChancie's comic fantasy Castle series, 144,000 doors (or "aspects") of the Castle each lead to another parallel universe.
• In author Bernard Werber's Le Papillon des étoiles, 144,000 leave from Earth to exoplanet.
• In author Scott Bakker's The Second Apocalypse series, the objective of the Consult, an evil magic society, is to reduce the number of souls in the world below 144,000, in order to avoid the eternal damnation of their souls.

Music

• 144,000 voices is the maximum contrapuntal expansion of Baroque music theorist Pier Francesco Valentini's 96-voice composition Canone nel modo Salomonis (1631)
• "144,000" is the title of:
  • a song written and performed by California-based neo-psychedelic rock band Silver Sunshine
  • the eighth track of Tribal Seeds' 2009 album The Harvest
• "144,000 Gone" is a song by Agent Steel from the 1985 album Skeptics Apocalypse
• "144,000 Were There" is a song by the Brown's Ferry Four from the album Grandpa Jones & The Brown's Ferry Four 16 Sacred Gospel Songs, King Records

• Songs mentioning 144,000 in the lyrics include, in chronological order:
  • “Peculiar Number” by The Abyssinians from the 1993 reissue of the 1976 album Satta Massagana ("144,000, these are they that were sealed/with the seal of the living God.")
  • "De Automatic" ("I'm building a following of a hundred and forty-four thousand/Chosen few heads up in project housing.") and "Free Mumia" ("That's my solution, there will be no sequels/I'm audi hundred forty four thousand with my people.") by KRS-One from his 1995 eponymous album
  • "4th Chamber" by GZA from the 1995 album Liquid Swords ("Rolling with the Lamb/Twelve tribes, one hundred and forty four thousand chosen/Protons, electrons always cause explosions.")
  • "G.O.D. (Gaining One's Definition)" by Common from the 1997 album One Day It'll All Make Sense ("Cuz when the trumpets blowin', 24 elders surround the throne/Only 144,000 gon' get home.")
  • "Share This" by Soul Position from the 2003 album 8 Million Stories ("I saw the stairway to heaven/And counted one-hundred and forty-four thousand steps.")
  • "It's Your World/Pop's Reprise" by Common from the 2005 album Be ("Be that last one of 144,000, be the resident of that twelfth house/Be eternal.")
  • "Growing Apart (To Get Closer)" by Kendrick Lamar on his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated ("Only a hundred and forty-four can go/Seven billion people on planet earth today/Is there something that I don't know?)
  • "Fire in the Sky" by Beast 1333 ("Atrocities approaching and 144,000 of us will be chosen.")

Television

• The population of the eponymous town in the 2013 Fox TV series Sleepy Hollow is 144,000. The actual town of that name has under 10,000 residents.

Other uses

• A Baktun is 20 Katun cycles of the ancient Maya Long Count calendar, which contains 144,000 days.

References