Revelation 7:4 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And I heard the number of them which were sealed:— "And hereupon, I heard a declaration of the number of those who were thus sealed by the Holy Ghost: and they who were thus perfectly known to Christ, and sealed by his Spirit, were figuratively expressed by one hundred and forty-four thousand, a large determinate being put for an indeterminate number, as multiplied by twelve, a square root, and then by a thousand, to be an emblem of all the Jews of that age, who were converted to Christianity in its life and power, and built upon Christ, the foundation which was laid in the doctrine of the twelve apostles, and who would make a brave and bold profession of the pure gospel in the Christian church, and who now formed the truly spiritual Israel sprung from Jacob, who, on his having power with God, was called Israel (Genesis 32:28.). From him sprung the heads of the twelve tribes, whose posterity formed the visible churchaccording to God's covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:7-9.) till the commencement of the Christian dispensation." Perhaps this may also represent the beauty and stability of the Christian church keeping to the apostolical purity of faith and worship.