Zayit said:
If the two witnesses are two groups of people then what is the meaning of the 12,000 from each tribe? Aren't they witnesses too?
There was the twelve...and then there is everyone else. Does that mean there are only 12 witnesses in Messiah's time? Same answer then as there is today, we are all witnesses for the Messiah.
As to the special significance of the 144,000....I beleive it has to do with perfection.
They will be the answer to Yeshua's prayer, as indicated by the hidden manna and the knowing His name.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that
they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be
made perfect in one; and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
When you read Romans chapter 8 you will find that what everything is waiting for is us to be perfect in Messiah.
Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Hebrews 13:19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Yeshua, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Yeshua Messiah; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
This is what God is waiting for....the perfect...the ones in whose mouth is no guile.