i think a good case can be made that the 144k are one and the same with 'the great multitude no man can number'
Rev 7:9
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
KJV
I don't see how that works. The 144k are supposed to come from the tribes of Israel.
Rev 7:9
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
KJV
I don't see how that works. The 144k are supposed to come from the tribes of Israel.
briefly,
because John heard the number "sealed from all the tribes of Israel" -- and then a very strange and wholly unique list of tribes is given -- and immediately afterward John saw the great multitude, who are described as having been made clean ((vis a vis "sealed")) by the blood of the Lamb.
a similar structure is in chapter 21, where John hears that he is going to be shown the Bride of the Lamb, and then sees the heavenly Jerusalem -- making the conclusion obvious that the city is the Bride, being revealed in symbolic vision.