Does this imply that when the 144,000 are gathered there would be a mass conversion of natural jews?
I wouldn't call it a mass conversion, but Israel will definitely see a time of trouble and it will be then that a remnant will finally come to see the error of their ways, meaning that Jesus was their messiah, "and they shall see him whom they pierced." The rest of mankind will learn the truth during the millennial reihn of Christ and his Church.
The 144,000 that John wrote about did not have anything to do with the first century Christians. By the time that John wrote this, these Christians were a full blown group. And you can not limit them to something less than 144,000 individuals.
Paul said that there would be a dulling of the sensibilities of Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles came in. This would mean that these people would not be reasonable about the messiah and what he came to do. The record of the Bible book of Acts show this to be true. As you read that information, you cannot help but ask, 'what was wrong with those people? Paul couldn't go anywhere that the Jews wouldn't hunt him down and try to kill him. They were very unreasonable. But, if it can be proven that, since the year 70, there have been Jews that have accepted Christ, then you cannot say that their sensibilities are still dulled to this day. And I know for a fact that there are many 'messianic Jews' today. So, I cannot agree with you that the Jews still have their sensibilities dulled.
Running the risk of talking to myself here, I thought I'd check the big old dictionary on the definitions of "remnant". One of several is "last of a group" a "trace" or "sign".
Can one person be a "sign of God", or the "remnant" thereof?
