Are there only 144,000 inhabitants in the heaven?
Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj, was one of the greatest scholars of the modern Hinduism. Satyarth Prakash (The Light of Truth) is probably his most important work and one of the earliest works on comparative religions by a Hindu scholar. This book critiques the Puranic Hinduism, Christianity and Islam while arguing for the veracity of his understanding of the Vedic religion. Chapter 13, An examination of the doctrines of Christianity contains the critique of the Biblical faith in the form of questions from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation. Jerry Thomas answers those questions one by one and demonstrates the veracity of the Holy Bible- the Word of the Only True God. Those which are colored in orange are Maharishi’s words and those which are colored in black are Jerry Thomas’s response.
"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand having his Father's name written on their foreheads." (14:1.)
C. ~ Now, reader mark! God lives on the mount Son and so does Jesus Christ, His son, with his Father. How were 4,000 men counted? Are there only 144,000 inhabitants of the heavens: what about millions of the Christians who had not God's seal on their foreheads? Have they all gone to hell? The Christians ought to go to the mount Sion and see if Christ's Father and His army are there? If they be there, what is written in the Bible regarding them is true, otherwise it is all false.<> If they came there from some other place, one should like to know why they came. If it be said that they all came down form heaven, were they birds that flew up and down? If God does go up and down, He is more like a magistrate who has very often to go on tour. He cannot, in that case, be one, two or (at the most) three. His number ought to be innumerable, since there ought to be at least one God for one such planet as our earth; one, two or three Gods would not suffice to administer justice to the inmates of the innumerable (solar systems) or be able to be present in all places at the same time.
Answer: Maharishi’s inability to remember and connect things is becoming evident in this question. The Holy Bible has already given details of these people and answered Maharishi’s question.
Revelation 7: 4-10 “And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand [were] sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand [were] sealed. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation [belongs] to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
