It seems that multitudes became Christians in the first century.
(Acts 2:41) 41 So
those who gladly accepted his word were baptized, and on
that day about 3,000 people were added.
(Acts 2:47)
47 praising God and finding favor with all the people. At the same
time
Jehovah continued to add to them daily those
being saved.
And
Acts 4:4 says, “many
of those who had listened to the speech believed,
and the number of the men became about
5,000”.
(Acts 5:14)
14 More
than that, believers
in the Lord kept
on being added, great
numbers both
of men and of women.
(Acts 6:7)
7 Consequently, the word of God continued to spread, and the
number of the disciples kept multiplying very much in Jerusalem;
and a large crowd of priests began to be obedient to the faith.
Acts 9:42 This
(healing) became known throughout all Jopʹpa, and many
became believers in the Lord
(Acts 11:21)
Furthermore, the hand of Jehovah was with them, and a
great number became
believers and turned to the Lord.
(Acts 11:24,26)
24 for he was a good man and full of holy spirit and faith. And a
considerable crowd was added to the Lord. 26
So
for a whole year they assembled with them in the congregation and
taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples
were by divine providence called Christians
Acts
13:48 When
those of the nations heard this, they began to rejoice and to glorify
the word of Jehovah,* and
all those who were rightly disposed for everlasting life became
believers.
Acts
14:1 Now
in I·coʹni·um they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews
and spoke in such a manner that
a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks became believers.
Acts 18:8-10 And
many of the Corinthians who heard began to believe and be
baptized.9 Moreover,
the Lord said to Paul in a vision by night: “Do not be afraid, but
keep on speaking and do not keep silent, 10
for I am with you+ and
no man will assault you to harm you; for I
have many people in this city.”
David
Chilton, in his excellent commentary on Revelation entitled, "Days
of Vengeance" page 206 says
“The
number 144,000 is obviously symbolic: twelve (the number of Israel)
squared, then multiplied by 1000 (ten and its multiples symbolizing
many; cf. Deut. 1:11; Ps.50:10; 68:17; 84:10; 90:4). St. John
pictures for us the ideal Israel, Israel as it was meant to be, in
all its perfection, symmetry, and completeness."
There
is biblical support that the 144,000 and the Great Multitude
are identical, that they really are the same group being described
from two different perspectives, divine
and human.
John heard the (perfect) number; then he saw the actual group. This
"hearing" then "seeing" sequencing is a literary
device that THE APOSTLE John uses frequently in Revelation to display
his images from different viewpoints. David Chilton demonstrates
this pattern of hearing and seeing on page 213 of:”Days of
Vengeance:”
“For
example, in 1:10-13, St. John hears a Voice, then turns
to
see the Lord; in 5:5-6, he hears the Lion of Judah, then
sees
the Lamb; in 6:1-8, he hears a living creature say "Come!"
-
then sees the object of the creatures command. The same
pattern
appears in this chapter: St. John tells us, I heard the
number
of those who were sealed (v.4); then, after these things
-
after hearing the number of the redeemed - I looked, and behold
a
Great Multitude (v.9).
There
is one church indivisible; the Great crowd is not a piddly 8.5 million
which we can all number; and the number of those sealed by the Spirit
of God is a perfect number, representing a perfect innumerable body
of believers. As promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
