The 144,000 are not the chosen few as some cults claim or any others except the sealed Israelites, 12,000 from each tribe, as listed in Revelation 7:4-8. The seal placed in their foreheads, here revealed to have been simply the name of the heavenly Father, will indeed preserve them safe through all the judgments and persecutions of the tribulation period as they carry out their ministry of witness and teaching during those terrible years.

Source:

KJV Defenders Study Bible, by Dr. Henry Morris, Ph.D.
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Language: English
DEF 10 ISBN 0-529-10444-x
DEF 10-1 ISBN 0-529-10445-8