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启示录中的异象充满象征性的意义，所以我们不应该照字面意思来分析十四万四千这个数字。假如这个数字是“神爱……甚至将祂的独生子赐给他们”（参约 3:16）的人数总和，就实在显得太少了。而约翰很快便看见“……许多的人，没有人能数过来……”（启 7:9）——这许多的人当然远远超过十四万四千人。

这里说，神仆人的数目是十四万四千人，是意味深长的，因为在神的国中，使用十二和一千代表完整和丰盛。

在这个场景中，神对所有信靠他的人所说的，是以三个基本原则为根基的。作为相信耶稣基督的人，我们受益于以色列十二支派传承下来的人生经历，他们的故事（记载在旧约圣经）是我们在耶稣里信心的基础。我们的信心也是以基督十二个使徒的生活和他们传讲的故事（记载在新约圣经）为根基的。我们亦知道十二乘十二等于一百四十四，而在约翰那个年代，一千通常是用来代表很大的数量单位的，一百四十四乘以这个数字所得的答案，可以帮助读者去想象，神建立和塑造我们成为他的仆人所要带来的深远影响力。这个场景显明神倾倒的恩典是如此深广，远远超过我们所能测度。

我们既然拥有这个身份，而且又人数众多，想象一下，神会怎样大大使用我们、与世人分享祂的福音和爱呢！

The visions in Revelation are filled with symbolism, so we should not read the number 144,000 literally. If that were the total of all whom "God so loved…that he gave his one and only Son" (John 3:16), it would be too few. John also soon sees "a great multitude that no one could count" (Rev. 7:9)—and that, of course, is far more than 144,000 people.

There is poetic beauty in the numbering of 144,000 servants of God here. The use of 12’s and 1,000’s is symbolic of completion and fullness in God’s kingdom.

In this scene God builds on three fundamental givens for all who put their faith in him. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are indebted to the story told and lived by the 12 tribes of Israel. Their story (in the Old Testament part of the Bible) is foundational to our faith in Jesus. We also stand on the story lived and told by the 12 apostles of Christ (in the New Testament part of the Bible). We also know that 12 x 12 = 144. Then this is multiplied by the most common unit of numbering large quantities in John’s day, 1,000, to invite readers to imagine the vast impact that God is creating by shaping us as his servants. This is a picture of God’s grace flowing wider and deeper than we can fathom.

Since this is who we are and how many we are, imagine how God can use us to share his good news and love with the world!