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The command to mark this company so that they fall not under the slaughter weapons by the figure of the five men, reads as follows: “And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Ezekiel 9:4.)

Because the Word says: “Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men,” therefore some have held the position that the entire company is made up of men only.  The second reason given for this erroneous idea is that they are to be kings and priests and therefore they must be men.  The idea carried by these passages cannot be sustained by other portions of Scripture.  Thus we are compelled to study deeper into the subject.

While Ezekiel calls them “men,” John says they are “virgins.” (Rev. 14:4.)  Now, if we should take the position that Ezekiel means men only, then we can as well say, John means women only.  Can it be possible that one writer should contradict the other?  No indeed.  We conclude by the following Scriptures that the 144,000 are of both sexes: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe.” (John 1:7.)  “All men,” must include both men and women, otherwise salvation would be for men only.  “

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32.)  If the word all men in this text does not include both sexes, then the women are lost.  “And the time of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” (The Acts 17:30.)  Again, if “all men” include not both male and female, then women are not commanded to repent.  It is evident that the noun, men, is a collective Biblical term of both men and women.

The same is true by creation, for, God made the woman of the man.  Therefore, she is a wo-man.  Again in Gal. 3:28, we read: “There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Since there is no difference between either sex in Christ, then we see that women as well as men can be kings and priests.  The same thought can be carried out by the experience of the Jewish nation: “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time…. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.” (Judges 4:4, 5.)

This woman held a man’s position, being a judge of God’s people, which is equivalent to a king.  Not only a king, but she was a prophetess as well.  Again we read in Luke 2:36,37, “And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.”

Also the wife of Shallum being a prophetess taught Israel and controlled the college. (See 2 Kings 22:14-16.)  Phillip the evangelist had four daughters who also did prophesy.  (See The Acts 21:8, 9.)

From Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:12, “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” you will note the meaning here is, that the woman is to be in subjection to the man as God had ordained, and not that she is forbidden to hold the office of a teacher.

Again we quote, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.” (1 Cor. 14:34.)  Read the chapter and you will see that Paul wishes to establish order in the churches, for there was great confusion by speaking in unknown tongues.  Therefore, to silence the confusion, he says: “Let your women keep silence in the churches.”

He is not forbidding them to speak if they have a duty to perform.  If this lesson was heeded in this age there would be a great change for the better in the house of God.

In the beginning God created both the man and the woman equal, as king and queen.  “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:28.)  Note that the dominion was given to them both.

However, after they sinned a change was made: “Unto the woman He said,… thy desire shall be to thy husband, and He shall rule over thee.” (Gen. 3:16.)  So, after the woman sinned she fell under the government of man.  But that which Eve lost by deception, shall be restored by redemption.  Thus again the equality of both shall be established as kings and queens.

Therefore, “There is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus.”  Christ himself confirms the idea in the following expression: “For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven.”

Thus the noun “men” used by Ezekiel, and the noun “virgins” by John is a collective Biblical term comprehending both.  Furthermore, the denomination numbers a little over 300,000 at present time.  Only about a third of them are men.  If every man was sealed and numbered as one of the 144,000, we still would be far short of reaching the total.  Again we note at the time of the passover in Egypt the blood on the door-post was a type of the marking or sealing. (“The Shepherd’s Rod,” Vol. 1, pp. 96-98.)

In that night wherever the blood appeared on the door-post, the first born whether male or female, perished not, just so now, those who receive the seal, have applied the blood on the door-post (forehead), and as the first born of both classes, those who died and those who did not, were a type of the present priesthood (ministry), evidently, the type points forward to a ministry in the anti-type made up of both sexes — the first born who died represent the class that shall fall under the slaughter weapons of the five men, and the first born who escaped from death, represent the class that shall receive the mark of the man with the writer’s inkhorn and pass from death to life.

Thus the first born who lived and passed through the red sea, are a type of the 144,000.  The first fruits of the harvest, are the servants of God in the time of the “loud cry” of the Third Angel’s Message.

The above was taken from Shepherd’s Rod volume 2, p.167-168.

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As the holy angels are now going about marking those who accept and obey the last message of the Lord, the Elijah message, we know that women as well as men will comprise the 144,000. Certainly children as well. Let us get ready as time is quickly coming to an end. The pieces are getting set-up with tension in the Mideast soon to erupt.

Our prophetess gave us the Lord’s command–“Let us strive with all power God has given us, to be among the one hundred and forty four thousand. And let us do all we can to help others to gain heaven.” (Review and Herald, March 9, 1905)

This entry was posted on September 13, 2014 at 3:52 am and is filed under The 144, Who are the 144K?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.