144,000 Will Be Saved

In the historic liturgy, the Divine Service, the gathered congregation enters the presence of God by remembering the cleansing power of Holy Baptism. The worshippers make upon themselves the sign of the cross (†), remembering that this sign was made upon their heads and hearts during their baptism to mark them as those redeemed by Christ's death and washed clean in His blood.

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin 

And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;

There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,

Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

The Lamb pauses before opening the seventh seal of the scroll to unleash the terrifying judgments of God upon mankind. He pauses in order to comfort and strengthen the saints and to assure them that He will not forget them during the forthcoming terrors and tribulation. They will be rescued to stand before the throne of God to serve Him and He will shelter them with his presence forever.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." - Rev 7:16-17 ESV

Ghent Altarpiece - Adoration of the Lamb of God

Who are these sealed servants and how many are they? They are . . .

. . .  a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" - Rev 7:9-10 ESV

God's mercy reaches out to a great multitude that no one could number! Cleansed of their sins and wearing the white robes of Christ's righteousness (Rev. 6:11), they wave their palm branches as did those who welcomed Jesus on the first Palm Sunday (John 12:12-13). He has heard their Hosanna pleas for salvation and rescue and answered them.  In joyful response they lift up their voices to cry, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!"

In turn they are joined by the angels, elders and the four living creatures to worship God, saying,

"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." - Rev 7:12 ESV

 These are those sealed by the seal of the living God. The reference to a seal was well known to the Apostles and early Christians. Just as the Children of Israel received the sign or seal of circumcision to mark them as God's children (Rom 4:11), so God's New Testament children are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit as the guarantee that they will inherit the resurrection from the dead and life eternal with their heavenly Father (Eph 1:13-14; 2 Cor 1:22). They are the true Israel of God (Rom 9:6-16; Gal 6:15-16), saved from the foundation of the earth (1 Pet 1:17-21).

To emphasize and confirm God's eternal plan the Revelation uses the great symbol of the 144,000. This number symbolizes the totality of all believers in both the Old and New Testament times, all those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb

Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood - Rev 1:5 ESV  

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, - Rev 5:9 ESV  

I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. - Rev 7:14 ESV

It would be a great mistake to literalize this number, contrary to the way numbers are used throughout the Revelation. The number 12 is used to name the 12 tribes of Israel. In turn Jesus chose 12 Apostles (Luke 6:12-16) to lead the new Israel. However note that in naming the 12 tribes of Israel here there are several peculiarities.

1. Judah is listed first rather than Reuben, the eldest of Jacob's sons. This is because the Messiah, the Christ, came from the tribe of Judah as foretold (Gen. 49:10; Heb 7:14). The Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5), the King of all kings and the Ruler of His people.  
2. The tribe of Dan is absent. This tribe turned to idolatry (Judges 17:1-18:31) and was eliminated. 
3. In order to complete the symbolical number 12, Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn (Gen. 41:50-51) is substituted.
4. Then, rather than Ephraim, Joseph's second son, the tribe of Joseph is listed (Rev 7:8).

Then the tribes multiply to become 144,000. That number stands for the perfect and complete number of God's people, the square of 12 (both OT and NT believers) multiplied by the cube of 10 (12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10). 

Thus believers in the Lamb throughout the 1,000 years of the Lamb's reign are comforted. More on that later (Rev. 20:2-7).