Who are the 144,000?

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ambition, aspiration, desires, discerning the spirits, dying to self, emotions, encouragement, entering his rest, experience, eyes of the heart, following Jesus, God's love, joy, light, love, mind, Mount Zion, peace, soul, suffering, T.A. Sparks, the 144.000, the Lamb, the mind of Christ, the will, walking by the spirit

Several Christians over the last centuries have had thoughts and ideas about who these particular people mentioned in the Book of Revelation might be. Even a cult (Jehovah’s Witnesses) claimed this whole group of believers for their own purposes. But can it be that easy?  🙄 Is there a single Christian denomination or a ‘Christian’ cult that would be able to comprise those 144,000 who seem to occupy a very special position, maybe, even the best position possible as to their closeness to God?  🙄

I saw in my last post where I mainly published longer excerpts from T. Austin Sparks that it does not make much sense to go on doing so. It seems I should offer some explanations combined with my own experiences or insights regarding all topics so that the whole article gets more vivid. Actually, I know myself how tedious the simple reading of facts without enlightening examples can be.  😉 So I decided to include only short excerpts by TAS where I thought it might be helpful and to also offer my own ideas as for the following Scriptures. As for these 144,000, the apostle John describes what he saw in the Book of Revelation.

“Redeeming Love.” by Patrick Maina

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adultery, being led by the Holy Spirit, discerning the spirits, experience, family, following Jesus, forgiveness, friends, God's guidance, God's love, grace, Patrick Maina, Reblog, sin

I really enjoyed reading Patrick Maina’s compassionate blog on how a friend of him became a tool to extend God’s love and grace to his wife. It is always encouraging for me to read about Christians who truly listen to Jesus’ voice!  🙂

Life beyond the walls

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13)

The moment I saw Josh walk through the gate, I knew there was something terribly wrong. It did not take him more than five steps before breaking down in tears , proving my suspicion right. I had to run to support him from his staggering walk. As awkward as it felt at first, I found myself providing a shoulder for him to cry on.

African men are not supposed to cry, but Josh was no typical man. He had his stack of stories for his atypical life. Even then, it was the first time to see him cry and I could only try and fill up for myself what could have happened – he just kept mumbling words in the line of, “ndugu yangu, kwa nini haya? (my brother, why these?)”

With…

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Misconceptions of God

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commandments, cults, discerning the spirits, encouragement, exhortation, experience, faith, false spirits, God's love, Holiness, image of God, Jesus Christ, obedience, prayer, Righteousness, Seeking God, sin, the Bible, the fear of God, the Word of God

More than 20 years ago after having left the Christian cult we were in, I felt that God was not half as judgmental as it had been suggested there in that missionary congregation. My own experiences with God and Jesus made me think that HE was quite the opposite of what I had heard back then. It would seem to me that God’s grace revealed in Christ did not judge anyone at all. From hence, for quite some time I was convinced that God was love, and only love. However, what about all this evil in the world and what about evil people? No judgment? No condemnation? Only forgiveness for everyone without any consequences? So many questions which I, sooner or later, could not ignore any longer…

Two Kinds of Rest

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bondage, burden, discerning the spirits, duties, encouragement, entering his rest, freedom, relief, rest, the new self, the old self

To be honest with you, sometimes I would rather write theoretically about any topic I have only heard of than always sharing what I have just experienced with God. If I could talk about another great revelation of sorts, okay, everybody would like to share or read such stories. But another lesson learned through worries, doubts, fears, stress and suffering? Therefore, what I ask myself often is this, ‘Who really wants to read my testimonies about the latter anyway?’… Only those who can relate, I guess.

What Really Counts in Life

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aging, blessings, books, commandments, death, disaster, discerning the spirits, exhortation, experience, following Jesus, God's love, hurry, Judgment, mind, obedience, rest, restlessness, the fear of God, the Kingdom of God, the new self, the old self, this world, thought life, waiting, wisdom, youth

If someone nurtures soaring hopes and plans, we might tell them to stay more grounded or earthed instead. But have you ever heard someone suggest to you to get more ‘heavened’? 🙄 If you, like me, often times wonder about the seeming hopelessness of our existence as we cannot sense the presence of God while (sometimes ridiculous) everyday troubles keep preying on our minds, you might have also observed non-Christians who can seemingly live their lives confronted with less problems and difficulties than we can. Yet, in the long run, that is not the truth. The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us some sobering facts.

The Connection Between the Fear of God and Justification

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experience, forgiveness, God's love, grace, Jesus Christ, joy, justification, peace, repentance, righteousness by faith, sin, sinner, suffering, the fear of God, The Fear of the Lord, the new self, the old self, true faith

Garden in Weihenstephan (Upper Bavaria)

The following is an excerpt of a (not published) book I wrote about seven years ago. I just translated a text of my journal which should clarify that the experience of the fear of God and being justified by Him usually go hand in hand.

To separate awe from God from an everyday, natural fear is not easy. For it is real fear as other languages ​​also make clear:

Gottesfurcht (German)

crainte de Dieu (French)

timore di Dio (Italian)

temor de Dios (Spanish)

The fear of God is, above all, the fear of displeasing God by transgressing His commandments. I believe a further difference compared with other fears is that our natural anxieties cause narrowness inside our mind and make us think of running away from a frightening situation. “Cut and run!” the thief might think when suddenly confronted with the policeman. He, too, is, or at least should be frightened when he must face governmental authority. Nevertheless, it might happen that the thief, instead, goes over to attacking the authority figure when he realizes that his getaway route has been cut off.

Enjoying Life by Obeying God or… The Choice of Life and Death

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death, decisions, discerning the spirits, dying to self, eternal life, exhortation, experience, family, freedom, friends, grace, idolatry, joy, life, loved ones, new creation, old creation, pain, peace, suffering, T.A. Sparks, unbelief, walking by the spirit

Some Wildflowers on the Balcony
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)

God spoke to me a few minutes ago through the following Scriptures. He made them alive particularly by emphasizing the word TODAY. You can read this word five times in these verses. As many might know, five is the number that stands for GRACE. Just to give you a few hints as for the context in which God spoke to me, I can tell you that I had a struggle regarding a decision on how to react (or not) to someone’s misbehavior that put them in more or less big trouble. If you love someone, you might know how difficult it is to not intervene when you see things go downhill. So, my heart was very troubled about this trial as God pointed out to me that NOW it was my choice to turn to Him and to obey Him instead of trying to ‘save’ someone I love. If I obeyed Him, all things would turn out well, He said. Below you can read the Bible verses that reached my heart and comforted me immediately.