It seems pretty solid to me. Naming off the tribes is being specific, as if to make a point that it is a real number.
God did not create the human race so that 144,000 could be saved.
Hmmmm . . how do I put this diplomatically? No, that is not the total number out of all humanity "since the beginning". Those are the ones left in the last days after the judgements on earth. The survivors of the seal judgements and the wars and the plagues.
“petros” vs. “petra”
Everything else is noise to distract from this very basic misunderstanding.
Everyone should go look up those words and do some soul searching. Please don’t bother replying.
on the entire planet Earth...the population of 1 small city in Iowa will be left????? O.K., if that's what you want to cling to....I think that 144,000 is representative of a large number, not a definite number, just a large one. ....I've told you a million times that you shouldn't do that!!!
I think you might want to go back and reread Revelation, because not a single one of the 144,000 is a “survivor”. They are specifically martyrs, killed for their witnessing of the Lamb. They are the firstfruits of the resurrection, in a way (Christ was technically THE first fruit), and it is enlightening to compare them to the OT practice of firstfruits.
In the OT, the firstfruits were the best, most flawless part of the crop, which was given (offered, or sacrificed) to God before the rest was harvested. In Revelation, the 144,000 are the most blameless of mankind, who are martyred (sacrificed, and literally given to God) before the God reaps the rest of humanity.