Revelation 9:20-21 “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. (21) And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
So why will the Lord Jesus leave the one hundred and forty-four thousand on the earth during that time? Scripture does give us some insight as to the reason why, for they will be our Lord’s witnesses to the unbelievers on the earth. Their message will be that all that is happening to those dwelling on the earth is as a result of God’s wrath being poured out on them because of their refusal to repent of their wicked ways. And so in order for us to have a clearer understanding of what will be taking place on the earth at that time, we need to go back to the last time that God our Father poured out His wrath (in a measure) on the earth. Think about the plagues that God brought upon Pharaoh and Egypt. Every time God was about to bring a new plague upon Egypt, He would send Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to announce God’s impending judgement that was about to fall. Nevertheless, every time Pharaoh was warned he refused to repent and continued to harden his heart. In the same manner, the one hundred and forty-four thousand will go through the earth at that time to warn the inhabitants of the earth of God’s impending judgement. For all of that however, the earth will refuse to repent, and the above passage of scripture confirms to us the response given by the unbelievers, to the witness of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. And so God will be fully justified in pouring out His full judgement on the earth’s inhabitants at that time.
Michael E.B. Maher
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