It is all symbolism (off course). The Babylonians used the 6/12 based number systems and the Jews took that over. 666 and 144 variants show up over and over in both old and New Testament.
144 is simply the prophesied replacement of 666, which we now know is to mean emperor Nero:
6+6+6= 18, 1+8= 9; 1+4+4 = 9.
Since Revelation was largely an anti-Nero pamphlet, we should read it in the sense that the Jews (144000) would be in the place of the Beast (Nero or 666). The writer puts in the warning that the reading is a puzzle and to be shrewd and clever.
- The word “Light” in Jewish gematria = 144
- Plato and Aristotle taught that the cycle of change is 12x12 or 144 years
- Holy Innocents massacred = 144,000 in the Coptic Christian tradition, referenced from Matthew
- The length/breadth/height of New Jerusalem is 12,000 Furlongs (12,000 X 12 Tribes) or 144 cubits and the number repeatedly shows up in early Christian architecture.
- 144,000 variants per genome.
- 144,000 total lotus petals of the 7 main chakras in Hindu/Eastern religious/spiritual systems.
- There are 1,440 minutes in a day.
- The 6 days of creation (144 hours).