Between the sixth and seventh seals
Revelation presents a group of 144,000 Israelites comprised of 12,000 males
from each of the twelve tribes (Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5). Is this a
description of an actual group of male descendants from the tribes of Israel,
or is it a symbolical picture of the church or churches?
To this point in Revelation, the only
explicit mentions of Israelites are two references to “them who say they are
Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” Revelation links them to Satan
because they level false accusations against the churches (2:9; 3:9).
The image of 144,000 follows the same pattern
as that of the “lion from the tribe of Judah.” What John sees interprets what
he hears; he hears the number, 144,000 (7:4), but sees an innumerable multitude
(7:9-17). The latter explains the former.
(Revelation 7:1-4) - “After this I saw four
angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the
earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or on the sea, or upon any tree.
And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living
God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to
hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor
the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And
I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred
and forty and four thousand from all the tribes of the children of Israel.”
John sees an angel command four other angels
holding back the “four winds of the earth” to do so until “the servants of our God” are
sealed in their foreheads. “Servants” translates the Greek noun doulos that
was applied earlier to the recipients of Revelation, the churches of Asia ,
“God’s servants” (1:1).
This term “servants” is applied to members of
the church at Thyatira (2:20), the “prophets” including John (10:7; 11:18),
Moses (15:3), God’s “servants” killed by the Great Whore (19:2-5),
the inhabitants of New Jerusalem (22:3), and once more the churches of Asia ,
the recipients of Revelation (22:6). While “servant” can be applied to a
physical descendant of Abraham (15:3), more often it is used for
Christians. It is not a synonym for Jews or Israelites.
Context
In his vision of the Throne, John saw a
Sealed Scroll in the right hand of the one on the Throne (5:1-5). The
only creature found worthy to open the sealed Scroll was the “lion from the tribe of Judah
John “heard” this declared by one of the
twenty-four elders, but when he looked he saw “a Lamb as having been slain.” What
he sees interprets what he hears. The messianic
Lion of Judah conquered in his role as the slain Lamb. He was worthy to
take and to open the Scroll because by his blood he redeemed men and women from
every nation (5:8-12).
The first act of the Lamb was to break open
its seals. The first four seals released four horsemen. Each was authorized to
inflict harm on the earth but only within limitations allowed by the Lamb (6:1-8).
The fifth seal revealed the souls of martyrs beneath the altar who were told to
rest until their full number was assembled (6:9-11).
The sixth seal opening produced the Day of
the Lord, a time of terrestrial and celestial upheaval, the day of the wrath of
the Lamb (6:12-17). All men cowered in fear and attempted to hide in
caves and under rocks, for on that day “who is able to stand” before the Lamb
and the Throne (Greek, histémi)?
Chapter 7 begins “after this.” This indicates
the order in which John received the vision, not the chronological sequence. He
sees four angels holding back “the four winds of the earth that no wind
might blow upon the land or upon the sea or upon any tree.” This echoes the
four horsemen that were given authority over “a fourth of the earth.” God
must seal His servants so that they can “stand” before the Throne and the Lamb
(7:1-3).
Their Number
John next “hears” the “number”
of the sealed servants of God: 144,000 “from all the tribes of the
sons of Israel
Judah is listed first because it is the tribe
from which the Lamb sprang, “the lion from the tribe of Judah
Under the Mosaic system, a census was taken
of Israel to determine the number of males available for military service (Numbers
1:3; 1:18-20; 26:2-4). The company of 144,000 is an
army arrayed for battle, which is also why Revelation 14:1-4 describes
them as male virgins.
Israelite men assembled for war had to
maintain ceremonial purity during military campaigns. This included abstaining
from sexual contact with women. The numbering of the twelve tribes in this
passage draws on a passage from Numbers when Moses was commanded to number the
children of Israel for war:
“Take the sum of all the congregation of the children
of Israel, by their tribes, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of
the names, every male,
by their polls; from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth
to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their hosts” (Numbers
1:1-3; Deuteronomy 23:9-10; 1 Samuel 21:5; 2
Samuel 11:8-11).
Innumerable Multitude
A transition occurs (7:9). John heard the
“number” of the sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel .
However, he when he looks he sees an “innumerable multitude” of men and
women from every nation, tribe, people and tongue redeemed by the Lamb.
This picture follows the interpretive pattern
applied to Jesus in Revelation 5:5-6. What John hears (“lion
from the tribe of Judah Israel
“Number” in verse 4 translates the
Greek noun arithmos (“I heard their number”).
In verse 9 John sees a multitude that “no one can number,” here using the related
Greek verb arithmeō. The 144,000 sealed servants of God are in fact
the “multitude that no one can number…from every nation and tribe and
people and tongue” (7:9-17). This last phrase is the same
description applied to the redeemed purchased by the Lamb’s blood (Revelation
5:9).
The first image of 144,000 Israelite males is
fitting. The original promise of innumerable descendants from every nation made
by Yahweh to Abraham is behind the image. The innumerable company from
every nation fulfills that covenant promise. National Israel was
always the first-fruits of the promises harvest, an interim stage in God’s
greater redemptive plan to redeem the Creation. Note the following
promises given to Abraham:
(Genesis 13:16) - “I will make your descendants
as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted.”
(Genesis 12:2) - “I will bless those who bless
you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.”
(Genesis 15:5) - “And he brought him outside
and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he
said to him, so shall your descendants be.”
(Genesis 18:18) - “Seeing that Abraham shall
become a great and mighty nation, and all
the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him?”
The innumerable multitude now
“stands” (histémi) before the Throne and the Lamb; just as Jesus
overcame and stood (histémi) in the midst of the Throne, so saints
“stand” (histémi) before the Throne and the Lamb, having washed their
robes in his blood. This passage answers the question from the sixth seal, “who
is able to stand” (histémi); only those who are washed by the Lamb
are enabled to do so.
One of the “elders” asks John “who are
these arrayed in white robes and whence came they?” John does not know. The
elder responds, “These are they who are coming out
of the great tribulation.” The “Great Tribulation” is named but not
delimited; the passage does not specify its duration.
Noteworthy is the use of a Greek present
rather than the expected future tense. John sees this company already in the
process of “coming out
of the Great Tribulation.” This group represents not a “final generation”
of believers just prior to the end of the age, but all those redeemed by the
Lamb including the churches of Asia .
Previously John described himself as a “fellow participant in the
tribulation” with the churches of Asia .
144,000 on Mount Zion
The 144,000 appear again in Revelation
14:1-5, now standing on “Mount Zion
In contrast, those who follow the Lamb have
the Father’s name written on their foreheads. This is
equivalent to the “seal of God” described in Revelation 7:3. Jesus
previously promised to write the name of God upon the one who overcomes in his
letter to the church at Philadelphians (3:12).
This second vision of the 144,000
follows chapter 13 in literary sequence to set this group in contrast
to men that take the mark of the Beast. When they do so they bow the knee
to its master, the Dragon. Note, for example, that the Dragon was last
seen standing on the sand by the sea, whereas the Lamb stands on Mount Zion
The 144,000 sing a “new song” no one
can learn, save the ones who follow the Lamb. Previously the four living
creatures and twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb and sang a “new
song” (5:8-9). “New song” is spelled precisely the same in
Greek in both passages. The song in 5:9 is a hymn of praise to
the Lamb, because “he was slain and purchased for God with his
blood men from every tribe and
tongue and people and nation,” the same description applied to
the innumerable multitude in Revelation 7:14. The wording in 5:9 is
close to that of 14:4 (“these were purchased from the earth”),
indicating the same group is in view.
Twice the passage states the 144,000 saints
were “purchased out of the earth,” both times using the Greek verb agrogazō
(14:3-4). This parallels the description of the men from every
nation, tongue, people, and tribe “purchased” (agrogazō) by the blood of
the Lamb, who sing the new song and reign with the Lamb as “kings, priests”
(5:9-10).
The 144,000 “follow” the Lamb wherever “he
goes,” that is, the slain Lamb not the militaristic Lion of Judah. Christ’s “army”
follows the same path he did. This “army” is sent into battle in response to
the question from chapter 13, “who can make war with the beast?” The
Lamb and all who have the Father’s name, follow the Lamb, sing his “new song”
and do not “render homage” to the Beast are well-able to war with the Beast.
Like the Lamb, his followers overcome the
Dragon and his minions in a paradoxical manner, not with physical violence,
economic might or political power, but through faithful witness and even
martyrdom. Just as Jesus overcame through suffering and faithful witness, so
also they that follow him overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word
of their testimony, and because they love not their lives even unto death (12:11).
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