Let me say this about the 144,000. Right this minute, and going back all the way to the Garden of Eden, there have been two dimensions of life, man on earth and the angels in the spirit world, dimension. Mankind accepted that for thousands of years and never questioned it. Cherubs were placed at the garden of Eden to seal out man from it and to protect the tree of life. Anyone, for 1,600 years could walk right up to them. That angels existed was never challenged it was simply accepted. That man existed, was never challenged, it was simply accepted, that men were in reality, real actual beings, and that angels were real actual beings. That continues to this very day, there are two classes of beings, spirit beings and fleshly, blood and bones, beings, and there always will be. Psalms 37:29 tells us this,” The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it.” The earth was made for man, and man will live forever upon the earth. The spirit world is where God lives, and his attendants, the angels, because flesh and blood cannot survive in the direct presence of God, that is why Christ said, no man has seen God at any time, and no man can see God and yet live. God, in his infinite wisdom, came to understand, and sent his Son to experience also, the trials and tribulations, the struggles and difficulties of daily life in a barred desolate physical plane, a life and existence outside of the original home God had planned for man, the Garden of Eden. It was necessary to have that experience, to compassionately rule over man as mankind’s King, a person needed to know what it was actually like to be a man, and live in that world. There is a big difference between living at the right hand of God your entire life, and living in a world, where food, shelter are hard to come by, where the earth produced thorns and thistles, and where you are surrounded by beings, both physical and spiritual, who want nothing more that to kill you, from the day you were born. Christ said, the son of man has no where to rest his head. God did not know that Christ would remain faithful, even Christ himself asked of God, while he was on that stake, some call it a cross, lets not quibble over that, “If it is possible, remove this cup from me, but never the less, let your will take place” He had a moment of weakness, my gawd, who wouldn’t. Christ remained faithful all the way to death, proving himself to God, that no matter what, he would never turn his back on God, like Adam, Eve, and Satan did. All of the angels in heaven watched this event unfold, the very same angels who also watched the events at the Garden of Eden unfold. Christ received the opportunity from God, to live along side of God in the heavens, and then have that spiritual life transformed, and experience the complete life of a human, from birth to death. Living a complete life on this earth, in the physical dimension is absolutely necessary to have an understanding of it Because of his faithfulness Christ received the honor and position of a Kingdom ruling from the heavens out of reach of the corruption of man. He also was given others to help him in the administration of this heavenly government , ruling from the heavens , toward mankind. Christ said, in a prayer to God at John 17 this, “Jesus spoke these things, and raising his eyes to heaven, he said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you,and just as you have given him authority over all flesh, so that he may give everlasting life to all those whom you have given to him. This means everlasting life, their coming to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. So now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was. “I have made your name manifest* to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have observed your word. Now they have come to know that all the things you gave me are from you; because I have given them the sayings that you gave me, and they have accepted them and have certainly come to know that I came as your representative, and they have believed that you sent me. I make request concerning them; I make request, not concerning the world, but concerning those whom you have given me, because they are yours; and all my things are yours and yours are mine, and I have been glorified among them. “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them on account of your own name, which you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them, I used to watch over them on account of your own name, which you have given me; and I have protected them, and not one of them is destroyed except the son of destruction, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world. “I do not request that you take them out of the world, but that you watch over them because of the wicked one. They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world. Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And I am sanctifying myself in their behalf, so that they also may be sanctified by means of truth. “I make request, not concerning these only, but also concerning those putting faith in me through their word, so that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in union with me and I am in union with you, that they also may be in union with us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. I have given them the glory that you have given me, in order that they may be one just as we are one. I in union with them and you in union with me, in order that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that you sent me and that you loved them just as you loved me. Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am, in order that they may look upon my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the founding of the world. Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you, but I know you, and these have come to know that you sent me. I have made your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.” This scripture at John 17 also harmonizes perfectly with the scripture found at Matthew 20:23 which says this'”He said to them: “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit down at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” It is God himself who assigns and authorized positions in the heavens to assist Jesus in the administrations of the Kingdom over mankind. Jesus does not assign positions in Heaven, Jehovah does. If Jesus does not have the authority to assign seating in the heavens, what on earth do any of us have the right to even think that we do. I hear all the time, when I die, I am going to heaven. Jesus did not even have the right to send his apostles there, and rest assured, they were most likely more righteous than any of us are right now. None of us have the right to demand of God Almighty, where we are to live. But as for life in the heaves along side of him, ruling over man as kings and priest for one thousand years, is certainly a position requiring qualifications that must be earned in the hardest of ways, that is to say, remaining faithful all the way to death. Now you might have been taught by your preacher, that your little Jenny with heart failure is now in heaven ruling with Christ over the earth, but that would be an extreme form of presumptuousness. Even Christ himself could not promise that, what makes you think your preacher can. Over the eons Jehovah himself picks people whom he has vetted for that role, and children, have not had that opportunity to prove themselves loyal to God. Neither has most all of the rest of mankind. The scriptures are clear, there are two classes of persons in the Kingdom of God, Angels, and man. Those assigned to life in Heaven by God, can be numbered, and limited by him, and him alone. But the scriptures remind us of a great number of people, which no man is able to number, that come out of the great tribulation, which is just ahead of us, at Revelation 7 “In response one of the elders said to me: “These who are dressed in the white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” So right away I said to him: “My lord, you are the one who knows.” And he said to me: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are before the throne of God, and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread his tent over them. They will hunger no more nor thirst anymore, neither will the sun beat down on them nor any scorching heat, because the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them and will guide them to springs of waters of life. And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.” In addition to those who survive the great tribulation, the bible holds a promise of a resurrection back to life for those who have fallen asleep in death. At John 5 it says ” Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, and those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment. I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I seek, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” And again at Acts 24:15 ” And I have hope toward God, which hope these men also look forward to, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” If everyone went to heaven when they died, there would be no one in the graves left to resurrect. Unrighteous men cannot be brought into the heavens to rule as Kings and Priest over man, only people whom God has declared righteous would be chosen for that position, and that would require proof. If Christ had to prove himself faithful and righteous, and to learn obedience toward God, to hold that title, then we can trust, that those who sit with Christ must also, display righteousness toward God, and be obedient to him, and that does not happen at birth. Hebrews 5:8 tells us “During his life on earth, Christ offered up supplications and also petitions, with strong outcries and tears, to the One who was able to save him out of death, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. And after he had been made perfect, he became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him, because he has been designated by God a high priest in the manner of Melchizedek.” Notice the wording, salvation to all those obeying him, that takes time to demonstrate, obedience cannot be demonstrated at birth. So in summery, there are two dimensions of life, spirit, and physical, and it is up to Jehovah, the ultimate giver of all life, given that he is also the one who gave and sustains the life in Christ himself, to decide which dimension we live in. Those taken to heaven bring with them the experience of living in the physical life on earth, in an evil world ruled over by Satan , and all it’s trappings. Angels that have always lived in Heaven from their creation, are not chosen for this role to rule over man, because they did not have the experience of life on earth, that is exactly why Jehovah sent Christ to earth, so that he could experience first hand the evils of this world, and the torture of suffering and death, There is a two class system in the Kingdom of God, and it is a privilege to live in either one of them. A kingdom must have subjects, if everyone went to heaven when they die, there would be no kingdom for Christ and the 144,00 to rule over.