144.000... AND BEYOND
«From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of the heavens is the goal toward which men press, and those pressing forward are seizing it» - Matthew 11:12 The words of the Lord recorded in Matthew 11:12 suggest that the number of those who would have grasped "the kingdom of heaven" would have been a limited number and closed regardless of efforts or who would have been rewarded those who would have "pushed ahead" , ie strive to do so? Some might say that since the 144,000 number appears in the Bible this demonstrates beyond any doubt that all the elect fall into this number but before closing our mental faculties to any contrary argument we must examine Scripture carefully - Acts 17: 11 We know that the vision of Revelation is fulfilled "on the day of the Lord" (compare Revelation 1:10) and understanding the period of time of vision allows us to re-discuss some of the seemingly more solid beliefs, such as total number of the el