In Scripture, the number 144,000 represents the resurrected saints in Revelation. The number 144 is the numerical value of Lazarus, the friend of Jesus from Bethany who was raised from the dead (“Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”). Both numbers speak of a resurrected state where death has no sting. Resurrection from the dead can happen on multiple levels: physical death, spiritual death, and death of the ego. There are other aspects of resurrection that are beyond our understanding but the important fact is that death is not final nor eternal. Lazarus’ body was already in the midst of decay when Jesus arrived to resurrect his body. Love has command over death even when it appears to have advanced.
In September of 1995, the principality of death tried to attach itself to me at a funeral. I felt the life being sucked out of me. My wife looked at me and saw it happening. I was turning grey. I pleaded with the LORD and proclaimed I would not die in the middle of this funeral service. We prayed for about 20 minutes and the principality of death departed. In the next month I traveled to Minneapolis on business. There I met the prophet Martin. He was known for his prophetic ministry. Our Heavenly Father had given him three visions about me and he wanted to share them at dinner. After he shared the visions, I started to relay the story of the incident at the funeral. Before I could however, he too had gone to a funeral in September. The exact same thing had happened to him as well. The Angel of The LORD spoke to him at that funeral and said “Martin, you shall live and not die.” Then, the Angel of The LORD arrived at the restaurant immediately after he shared his story and said “Bob shall live and not die.” Clearly I was thrilled at that Word. However in November I attended another funeral in the early afternoon, an event I was not thrilled about based on the previous experience. Once again the principality of death tried to attach itself to me. This time I proclaimed the Word of The LORD to me and immediately the principality departed. That was extremely good news! Over the years I attended other funerals without incident… thankfully.
Fast forward to this year. On May 9th, I was once again subject to imminent death. While riding my bike, I was hit and should have been taken out by a full-size van based upon the laws of physics. Instead, my angel pulled me away from the path of the van. The third attempt by the principality of death to take my life failed. I had not considered the brevity of the event until last week. It was then that Our Heavenly Father told me that the three events were connected. Am I special? No more than the next guy. What IS special is the revelation of Love coming forth. This revelation is what the principality of death is desperate to prevent from coming forth. Think about it. Love sent Jesus to the cross and death could not reign over Him.
We are short-term thinking by nature. I did not consider the connection of the events 16 years apart. I was not aware that Our Heavenly Father would have me pursue this revelation of Love back then but it apparently was known in the Heavenlies. Only when HE told me to connect the three events did I consider the brevity of my pursuit of the revelation of Love. Our Heavenly Father told me to determine the elapsed time between the last two attempts on my life. It turns out that there were 6,006 days between the two events. Moreover there were 144,144 hours. This sign in undeniable. I am grateful to be alive to do my part in bringing forth what I believe to be the greatest revelation yet: the revelation of Love.