By Rev Anthony Lee (2020)

Rev Anthony Lee has been a TRAC Pastor since 2009 and is currently appointed to serve as Pastor-in charge at Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church. Pastor Anthony loves wrestling with God in the pages of Scripture, with the help of other saints of course.

The views expressed in this article are personal and may not reflect the official position of The Methodist Church in Singapore.

Abstract

The Book Revelation mentions 144,000 saints who are sealed by God and bear God’s Name (see Rev 7:4; 14:1). How are we to interpret this number? Do we take them literally?

The short answer is “No.” The first reason is that 144,000 must be read in its immediate context and from that point of view, it is clear none of us Gentiles will ever be included in that number because those 144,000 come strictly from the twelve tribes of Israel. However, I am not propounding this view only because I hope to see us included in that number. No, the main reason is that the genre of the Revelation is apocalyptic literature, and the chief characteristic of apocalyptic literature is symbolism. For example, a crown symbolizes a king or ruler; the crown itself does not rule the country. Likewise, because Revelation is full of symbols, the images and numbers are not meant to be read literally. If all the images and numbers in Revelation are taken literally, we will end up with a severely limited – even hilarious – new creation. After all, the New Jerusalem is shaped as a cube (see Rev 21:16) and it will be rather impossible to squeeze an innumerable multitude of saints (see Rev 7:9) into that space. 144,000 symbolizes the full number of saints, from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Introduction

Covid-19, for all its menace, has serendipitously uncovered the presence of South Korean cult Shincheonji in Singapore¹ Shincheonji proclaims its founder Lee Man-hee has donned the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the day of judgement. Rather unfortunately and ironically, there came a point in time when there were more church members than available places in heaven. As a result, Shincheonji’s members are made to compete for these 144,000 slots and pursue converts to earn their rightful place²

Alas, if only Shincheonji’s members knew the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation is not to be taken literally and that being counted as part of the 144,000 is not the main purpose of John’s Revelation.

Revelation 7:4³  

Let’s look carefully at Rev 7:4 and its immediate context, beginning at v.1 and see why we cannot read the numbers in Revelation literally.

¹After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. ²Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, ³saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

⁴And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

Verses 5-8 then list 12,000 from each of these 12 tribes to number 144,000:

Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.

First of all, if the passage is to be taken literally, may I humbly enquire where the four corners of the earth are located? Sure, I acknowledge the scientific

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¹ Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/shincheonji-south-korea-singapore-covid19-investigate-mha-12480918 on 16 April 2020.
² Retrieved from https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/02/27/shincheonji-the-secretive-sect-in-south-korean-virus-outbreak.html on 16 April 2020.  
³ All biblical quotations are from the English Standard Version, unless otherwise stated.

discovery that the earth was a sphere took place long after God’s revelation to John but surely a God who knows the future could well have revealed a different reality to John right? Rather, this is how I believe God works in inspiring biblical authors – I believe God chose to work with John’s understanding of a flat earth and those four corners were never meant to be understood literally. (Space does not permit me to address the four winds or stopping of the winds, but the same reasoning of non-literal reading applies. The stopping of the winds does not mean we should stop harvesting wind energy in our world today.)

Secondly, if taken literally, the 12 tribes only include the sons of Israel. That means, you and I here in Singapore, are clearly NOT included. And neither are the adherents of Shincheonji church.

But our hope to be included as the redeemed people of God is not the driving force behind why we cannot read the 144,000 literally. Let’s look at another parallel passage which mentions the 144,000 before learning how to read the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 14

The 144,000 are mentioned again in chapter 14.

¹Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 
²And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, ³ and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, ⁵ and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

Putting aside the scholarly dispute whether the 144,000 here are the same as the 144,000 listed earlier in 7:4, we must not miss the difficulty presented here. If the 144,000 are to be taken literally, only men who are virgins are included!

Oops, a thousand apologies to the women, married men, and Shincheonji adherents! Going by this literal standard, we Methodist pastors will not be with you in heaven since all of us are either women or married men.

(Before we consider the literary genre of Revelation, it is important to clarify that while Rev 7:4 is offensive to modern readers, the notion of women as sources of impurity is rather common in antiquity.⁴ Please note, I do not endorse this view that women are impure. Neither do the scholars. However, we need to give credence to their research. We will return to a proper interpretation of Rev 7:4 and Rev 14:1 later.)

Genre of Revelation – Apocalyptic Literature

On that note, because rightly interpreting Scripture is of utmost importance, every believer needs to understand that sound biblical interpretation begins with identifying and respecting the genre of the book.

According to renowned New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham, there are three genres of literature – apocalypse, prophecy and letter – in the Book of Revelation.⁵

Since the verses that mention 144,000 occur in what scholars regard to be the apocalyptic sections of Revelation, we will concern ourselves primarily with a better grasp of apocalyptic literature. This is a genre most of us are unfamiliar with, and as mentioned earlier, symbolic language is the chief characteristic of this genre of literature.

The Use of Symbols

One helpful way to understand how symbols are important and point towards a larger reality is to imagine yourself transported to a foreign country where you have absolutely no way to communicate to the locals except by signs and symbols. How would you communicate to the people you needed to eat, for instance? Most of us would put our fingers together and bring it to our mouths, right? That simple hand-to-mouth action symbolizes our desire to eat. In a similar – but far more complex way because God is completely otherworldly – God communicates His intentions and desires to us using human symbols we are familiar with. (The unfortunate part, to some extent, is that while those symbols are familiar to John and his original readers, they are largely lost to us modern readers. This huge gap of time, culture, and context is why reading Revelation is so difficult for many of us!)

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⁴ David E. Aune, Apocalyptism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity (Baker Academic, Grand Rapids: MI, 2008), 69.
⁵ Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation, New Testament Theology, Ed. D. G. Dunn (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: UK, 1993), 2.

Another helpful way to understand the reason for apocalyptic literature is to imagine yourself in a war context. How would you communicate to your own troops without revealing your entire game plan to your enemies? I recall I had learnt several hand signals during my National Service days. To raise my hand in a closed fist position, for example, meant stopping in our tracks and dropping down to one knee in preparation to engage enemy fire.

Revelation has both these dimensions of pointing towards a larger reality without being too explicit. For example, in chapter 17, John’s readers share his vision of a woman. At first glance, she might seem to be the goddess in Rome, in all her glory, a stunning personification of the civilization of Rome, as she was worshipped in many a temple in the cities of Asia. But as John sees her from God’s point of view, she is a Roman prostitute, a seductive whore and a scheming witch. For good measure there are biblical overtones of the harlot queen Jezebel to reinforce the impression. In this way, John’s readers are able to perceive something of Rome’s true character – her moral corruption behind the enticing propagandist illusions of Rome which they constantly encountered in their cities.⁶ Yet, the word “Rome” is never used in the entire Book of Revelation.

Returning to Rev 7:4 and 14:1

How then should we interpret the symbolic figure of 144,000?

While some have tried to resolve the literal problem by seeing the 144,000 as a special class of God’s people, I believe the proposal of 144,000 to mean the combination of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples is the far likelier interpretation, a number which encompasses both OT and NT believers. After all, 12 x 12 = 144. The number 1000 signifies a large number of completeness.⁷ This is confirmed by Rev 7:9–10 which describes a great multitude that no one could number, (not only 144,000) from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,

The 144,000, then, point towards the fullness of God’s people – after all, we are all the sons (and daughters) of God as the spiritual and eternal Israel.

Symbols Demand A Response

 

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⁶ Ibid., 17-18. 
⁷ Aune, 72.

What I wish to emphasize from 7:4 and 14:1–5, however, is not the 144,000 but the descriptions of these believers. Knowing a symbol does not mean one would naturally obey the symbol. I can see my platoon sergeant raise a closed-fist but I may choose to keep walking on (to my own detriment of course). The true test of one’s correct understanding of a symbol is an appropriate response.

In the case of 144,000, as Rev 14:4 reveals, these believers are described as those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Question: Where did the Lamb go?

Answer: The Lamb of God went to the cross.

Consequently, to “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” marks (pun intended) a Christian’s willingness to suffer and die as a consequence of faithfulness to God and the Lamb. Christians who have given their allegiance to God and are consequently symbolically and indelibly marked with the name of God and of the Lamb on their foreheads. Just as Jesus was “blameless” and yet crucified, so too being “blameless” really means the sacrificial death of all faithful followers of the Lamb.⁸

Seen in that light, the virginity of the 144,000 is a symbolic metaphor for absolute faithfulness to God; it does not mean literal sexual asceticism, but points towards purity of heart to be willing to die for Jesus our Lord.

John is inviting his readers to be numbered amongst the 144,000 who represent all God’s faithful people – past and present – who respond rightly through sacrificial obedience – even death on a cross (cf. Phil 2:8), completely single-minded and unafraid because they are confident of a far greater reality as seen from God’s point of view.

Conclusion

As Richard Bauckham rightly asserts, Revelation offers not so much an esoteric and encoded forecast of historical events but rather a theocentric vision of the coming of God’s universal kingdom, contextualized in the late first-century world dominated by Roman power and ideology. The 144,000 symbolically refers to all faithful believers, past and present, who accept God’s call to

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⁸ Ibid., 77.

 

confront the political idolatries of the time and to participate in God’s purpose of gathering all the nations into his kingdom by being completely resolute.⁹

 

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⁹ Bauckham, 2.