Dan and the 144,000

Here is a question I was asked recently and my follow up answer.  Hope you find this of interest.

" My question is about the 144,000.
In rev.7 Manasseh is mentioned in verse 6 but Ephraim is not. in verse 8 joseph is mentioned. Should we assume that this is Ephraim since that is Joseph's other son? I don't like to assume things which is why I am asking.
also
why does Dan have to wait for his salvation and does that mean he will be in the second resurrection".

Revelation 7:4: “And I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel. From the tribe of Judah…” (vs 4-5).
 “…twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand were sealed…” (v 5)—Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin. 


My answer:

your Question was:
Manasseh is mentioned in verse 6 but Ephraim is not. In verse 8 Joseph is mentioned.  Should we assume that this is Ephriam. 

my Answer:  Yes. 

The bible sometimes will mention one name that will include the rest of the family. 

• Israel can be just Jacob,
• the twelve tribes
• or when it says the house of Israel it can mean the northern nation of Israel and the southern nation of Judah.  (Eze 14:6)
• Ephraim, being the leading tribe of the house of Joseph, sometimes bore the name "Joseph. (Eze_37:16 )
• there are many examples of this in the bible

your Question:
Why does Dan have to wait for his salvation?

My answer:

• The tribe of Dan as a whole was guilty of gross idolatry—even to the point of stealing the idols they used to practice their religion (Judges 18:14-31).  
• Theirs was the first organized idolatry in ancient Israel, and the longest in duration. It continued "until the day of the captivity of the land," nearly 500 years later (Judges 18:30). Jewish tradition says that Dan was the first tribe to follow Jeroboam into his sin of idolatry, and in their literature, the term "Dan" is often used to represent idolatry
• Dan thoroughly rejected God's true religion for thousands of years, substituting a continuous tradition of idolatry.
• The end-time descendants of Dan say, "I have waited for your salvation, O LORD" (Gen 49:1, 18).
• The vast majority of Danites must wait for salvation until after the sealing of the 144,000.

From this summarized history of the tribe, it becomes obvious why Dan would not be among the 144,000 "servants of our God, as they are called in Rev 7:3.Dan and all the other tribes of ancient Israel will be saved. In fact, Dan is mentioned first in the apportioning of land in the soon-coming Millennium (Ezekiel 48:1).  
The apostle Paul states, "All Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26). 
 The 144,000 are only a very small portion of the people of all nations who will eventually be saved.  I Tim 2:4


Thanks for the question