Revelation 7 · a question people ask
"I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand" (7:4), and then, "behold, a great multitude which no man could count" (7:9). Who are they?
Here is what the chapter says of each. Those who were sealed are "one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel" (7:4), and 7:5-8 names each tribe with its twelve thousand. The great multitude is "out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes" (7:9). Of those "arrayed in the white robes" (7:13), one of the elders says, "These are those who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood." (7:14). Beyond these words, the chapter doesn't say who they are, and these notes don't either.
The verses
“One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?” I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.”