From the spiritual perspective, the mention of the 144 000 in the bible might be symbolic, or it might be a specific number. The mentioning of that number in the ancient texts is related to how many souls will be saved in the end times, culminating in the event  known as the so-called rapture. 

We mention “so-called” rapture because that term doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the bible. We’ve covered that topic in more detail elsewhere on this site, so we won’t go into it further here. From the spiritual perspective, or any perspective, 144 000 is not a lot of people, considering the billions of people currently alive on the Earth today. So, is this a symbolic number or an actual finite number? 

Maybe the quote from Thessalonians 4:17 will give us a clue, where it says “then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds…” (WEB). The emphasis here is “then we who are alive, who are left” - is this perhaps an ominous indicator of what’s to come in those times?

A fuller explanation from the spiritual perspective of the 144 000 in the bible  is covered in the controversial book Ancient Prophecy, Future Visions.