The numbers in the Book of Revelation of the 144,000—12,000 from each tribe—reflect the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew scriptures. ‘Numbers’ is a book which people trying to read a Bible from front to back often just skip, or maybe use as a reason to just quit the reading of the Bible altogether, since it is a repetitive and seemingly meaningless list of tribes and families and their numbers of members. Yet to Jesus, whose way of learning from scripture enlightens all, the concept of a such painstaking numbering is about care in heaven for everyone on earth. This he taught when he said every hair of your head is numbered: It means you are cared for—from heaven. So God showed care for each and every family of each and every tribe of the Israelites, in numbering them and recording their numbers in a holy scripture record. So too with the 144,000. By listing the 144,000 Jesus again shows care is prioritised in heaven for the equivalent of the Israelites today and in the near future as the end of all things approaches. Each one is cared for and accounted for in heaven. Seals are prepared for protection of those chosen to survive the start of the coming wrath. Yet God does not only show care in this. He shows sovereign power to predetermine those numbers. They are all exact numbers. God foreknows, but He also predestines. It is a mysterious interplay of observation of the future and determination of the future. It would baffle the philosophers and scientists. Yet it is true. So next time you think lists of numbers in Revelation and in the other scriptures seem boring, reflect on why they are there in scripture to tell us how much care there is in heaven for individuals and how much power God has to determine future outcomes. God will bring things to perfection for those He chooses.
