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June 30, 2013 |
| 144,000 | ||
The number 144,000 only appears in the book of Revelation in two places. But it has caused an immense amount of trouble for being no more than a bit player. There are many interpretations about those passages and there is even a subgroup of Christianity (Jehovah's Witnesses) that are founded on it.
The number refers to a group of people who are identified separately from others. Despite the clarity of the text it isn't clear who they are or the significance of being identified separately.
In this lesson we will look at these 144,000 to try to determine who they are, their significance and at the same time we'll learn how to look for and understand clues in Revelation.
Revelation chapter 7 begins just before the last of the seven seals is opened and that seal is opened immediately in chapter 8. If you don't remember the sequence of major events in Revelation it is this:
1 And after this, I saw four Angels standing over the four corners of The Earth and holding the four winds, that the winds would not blow on The Earth, neither on the Sea, neither on any tree.
2 And I saw another Angel ascending from the dawning of the Sun and having the seal of THE LIVING GOD, and he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels to whom it was given to harm The Earth and the Sea, 3 And he said, "Do not harm the land, neither the Sea, nor the trees, until we seal the Servants of God on their foreheads."
4 And I heard the number who were sealed - 144,000, from all the tribes of Israel:
5 From the tribe of Yehudah, 12,000; from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000; from the tribe of Gad, 12,000;
6 From the tribe of Asher, 12,000; from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000; from the tribe of Menashe, 12,000;
7 From the tribe of Shimeon, 12,000; from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000; from the tribe of Levi, 12,000;
8 From the tribe of Zebulon, 12,000; from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000; from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 sealed.
9 After this I saw many multitudes which were impossible to count, which were of all people, generations, nations and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, and wearing white garments and with palms in their hands.
10 And they shouted with a great voice, and they were saying, "Salvation to our God, and to him Who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!"
11 And all of the Angels were standing around the throne and The Elders and The Four Beasts, and they fell before the throne on their faces, 12 Saying, "Amen! Glory and blessing and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God for the eternity of eternities! Amen!
13 And one of The Elders responded and he said to me, "Who are these wearing white garments and from where have they come?"
14 And I said to him, "My Lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are those who came from great suffering and they have purified their garments and whitened them in the blood of The Lamb." 15 "Because of this, they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in the Temple and he who sits on the throne will dwell with them." 16 "They will not hunger, neither will they thirst, and the Sun will not assail them, neither any heat." 17 Because The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and will lead them unto Life and beside fountains of water, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
First we'll look at verses 4 through 8. This is where the number 144,000 comes from but there will be other clues about who they are throughout the chapter. In these verses we are presented with the idea that the 144,000 are made up from 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes. But looking closely this list of the 12 tribes is unlike any other – the order is wrong, one or two are missing and two are listed who are never included together.
In the illustration below the two lists on the right are the usual lists from elsewhere in the Bible. In these lists birth order is followed. Sometimes Levi is included in which case Joseph is included or his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim are listed as half-tribes. When Levi is not included Manasseh and Ephraim are listed as full tribes. In all cases the total number of tribes is 12.
The list on the left is the list presented in this chapter in the order presented. The lines connecting the names between the two lists show that the order is certainly not birth order. Also notice that Dan is not included but Manasseh is and if Manasseh is included you would expect that Ephraim would be included, but he isn't. Instead Joseph is included but he wouldn't normally appear with Manasseh. This is one messed up list.
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Yehudah |
Reuben |
Reuben |
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Reuben |
Simeon |
Simeon |
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Gad |
Levi |
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Asher |
Judah |
Judah |
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Naphtali |
Dan |
Dan |
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Menashe |
Naphtali |
Naphtali |
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Shimeon |
Gad |
Gad |
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Issachar |
Asher |
Asher |
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Levi |
Issachar |
Issachar |
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Zebulon |
Zebulun |
Zebulun |
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Joseph |
Joseph |
Manasseh |
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Ephraim |
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Benjamin |
Benjamin |
Benjamin |
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12 |
12 |
12 |
But there has to be a message in this for us. The general consensus is that the order used in this text is faithfulness to God. This would explain why Judah would move to the top of the list and why Dan and Ephraim would be dropped from the list. It doesn't explain why Benjamin would be at the bottom of the list. Benjamin generally sided with Judah against the others.
From the time that Jacob blessed his sons (Genesis 49) it was known that Dan was going to be a problem.
16 "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward. 18 For Your salvation I wait, O Lord.
Ultimately Dan and Ephraim1 would lead the 10 lost tribes into idolatry. They also created their own priesthood and worship centers while claiming to serve the true God. This would cause Israel to split into Northern and Southern kingdoms with the Northern kingdom being in the area called Samaria in Jesus' time. This comes up in the discussion between Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:7)
Some interpreters try to spiritualize this list from Revelation. Spiritualization is what people do when they don't believe that a passage of scripture is intended to be interpreted physically. This often happens when limited humans can't imagine any way that the prophetic events could be physical events. For example, only one hundred years ago interpreters believed that Ezekiel's description of Israel coming to life from bones shouldn't be understood literally and physically, but now we have seen it happen.
In this case the truth is that most of the people in Israel are not certain which tribe they are from. Therefore how would anyone know which 12,000 was theirs. This also goes along with a false teaching that tries to substitute the Christian church as a replacement for Israel2. This thinking results in a spiritualization of these verses that throws away their value.
One doesn't need to worry about who belongs to which tribe or about whether the Israel described is a spiritual Israel. The verses make it clear. After describing the 144,000 and counting their number in verse 4 through 8, verse 9 says that many multitudes were seen "which were impossible to count" as the others had been counted. Of these the verse says they "were of all people, generations, nations and languages". So we've gone from counting those that were called Israel and then describing the remainder as uncountable and from all peoples. Therefore it seems very likely that the 144,000 come from literal physical Israel.
Some interpreters say that verse 14 and 15, which say "[they] came from great suffering" and "they are before the throne of God" shows that they are dead and in Heaven. This is particularly true of Jehovah's Witnesses. But verse 15 continues by saying "he who sits on the throne will dwell with them". The future tense here and throughout verse 16 indicates that he is not yet with them. This is especially notable when verse 16 says "[he] will lead them unto Life", by which is meant everlasting life.
Therefore they must be physically alive, which is consistent with verses 1 through 3 which describe them as being on earth at the time of the seventh seal and being marked on their foreheads. Therefore we understand them as having "purified their garments" as we do as we reject our sinful natures and learn to live a more Christ-like life. And they have "whitened them in the blood of The Lamb" as we have by accepting Jesus as our savior. And "they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in the Temple" as we do as a priestly order3.
The 144,000 return again in chapter 14. At this point the Messiah has returned and will return. More on this later.
1 And I saw and behold, The Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who have his name upon them and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a sound from Heaven as the sound of many waters and as the sound of a great thunder; the sound which I heard was like a harpist playing on his harp.
3 And they were singing as a new hymn of praise before the throne and before The Four Beasts and before the Elders, and no one was able to learn the hymn but the 144,000 redeemed from The Earth.
4 These are those who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins who cleave to the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
5 And there is no falsehood found in their mouths as they are without fault.
Here we learn some more things about the 144,000. They have the name of the Lamb "upon them" and they have the name of the Father "written on their foreheads". We need to understand two things here. First, the word "name" is commonly used in the Bible in the sense of "reputation", in the way that we might say "A gunslinger made quite a name for himself." Secondly "written on the forehead" in other places in the Bible means "memorized 'by heart'"4. Therefore this phrase can be understood as "they were the embodiment of the Lamb and they knew everything about the Father by heart."
The 144,000 have been redeemed from the Earth (v.3) and redeemed from men (v.4). It is not clear exactly what this means. It doesn't appear to mean Sheol because Revelation uses the word Sheol elsewhere, so this should mean something different. But they are redeemed which means a price has been paid for them.
They are able to learn a song that no other man is able to learn. This is unclear also. Singing "a new song" appears elsewhere in the Bible and especially in Psalms where it is likely a prophetic reference to the event described here. But songs always seem to be tied to praise. Therefore the intent is likely to show that the 144,000 have a new way to praise him or something new to praise him for.
The 144,000 are perfect or perhaps perfected. They are spiritual virgins – they have never worshiped another God. I don't think there is any reason to think that physical virgins are intended here. If it was, the use of "defiled" here would require a difficult reconciliation with God created marriage.
They are called first fruits to God and to the Lamb. I believe it is correct to say that Jesus' resurrection made him the first fruits to God only – the first fruits of the old covenant. The 144,000 are then the first fruits of the new covenant, which makes them Christian.
We know from other scripture that his return will be to the Mount of Olives but we see him here on Mount Zion appearing to be physically alive and with the 144,000 who also appear to be physically alive. We also need to understand how the second coming event described in detail in 1 and 2 Thessalonians differs from the Mount of Olives return and how the sheepfold (Bozrah, Petra) fit into this.
Revelation is a difficult book to read and make sense of and no man understands it completely or correctly. But in the text above some methods have been used to get the most from it. Generally descriptions in Revelation are not given directly. Instead a large number of hints are given in the surrounding text that help to understand what is being described. It is up to the reader to put all of these pieces together. These pieces are:
1 Judges 17 and Hosea 7
2 Replacement Theology
3 1 Peter 2:5, Hebrews 4:14 (priests have a high priest), Revelation 1:6
4 Deuteronomy 6:6-8, Deuteronomy 11:18