The 144,000: Purity and Significance in Revelation

This episode continues our discussion of Revelation 7 and the 144,000. The discussion includes Revelation 14, a second passage referencing the 144,000. This latter passage adds an interesting descriptive detail, one that leads some scholars to wonder if the 144,000 have some relationship to the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch), a work that elaborates on the fall of the sons of God of Gen 6:1-4. This question leads our episode, but we also discuss the early church tradition about the omission of the tribe of Dan from the tribes from which the 144,000 derive. Is the omission an indication that the Antichrist comes from Dan? Lastly, we consider the reference in Rev 7:13-14 to the “great tribulation”; what is the Old Testament context for this phrase?