144,000 and 666 - Revelations
I first heard of the number 144,000 from a couple of Jehovah Witness (JW) guys who dropped in and try to convinced me of their teaching. The JW community were to work very hard for their group, so that they would be counted worthy to be saved, worthy to be among the 144,000 on that Judgement Day of God on the world. Today, I find this to be a lot of nonsense due to the wrong interpretation of the bible with NO regards to Context, Audience Relevance and Historical Timeline. Well, if the JW was correct, they would have missed it already, because Revelations was written before AD70, and for the last 2000 years, it is common sense that the number of faithfuls would be much much more than this.
From then on, I have heard this number 144,000 many times, and they are all very confusing. It was much later, when I began to realize the importance of understanding this within the Context of the passage and its Audience Relevance, that I comprehended the full meaning of it.
It may surprise you that the number 144,000 also appears in many other religious organisations in the world.
See the write up on this:
The number 144,000 appears only in the book of Revelations and it appears 3 times in Rev 7:3-8, 14:1, 14:3-5.
To understand the context of 144,000 in Revelations, you need to determine the date the book of Revelations is written by John, because Revelations is related to the prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24, and the prophecy of Daniel. When you understand the chronological order of the unfolding of events, you will begin to learn how to put them in its Historical Timeline and within its proper perspective.
Some churches believe that Revelations was written around AD95-AD96. However we do not have any written or oral evidence on this date. What we have is only a 2nd Century church writer called Irenaeus who said that apostle John came to visit them in AD96, and because of that some have dated the book of Revelations as AD96 or later.
Well, a person who visited you and the person who wrote the book are two different issues. Church scholars have later found that Irenaeus had been wrong and was prone to certain errors. (For example, he wrote that Jesus lived to 50 years old. See: https://orthodoxchristiantheology.com/2016/08/25/more-proof-irenaeus-thought-jesus-lived-to-50-years-old/ . This is major error in itself.)
Besides Irenaeus, there is no other proofs that Revelations was dated AD95 or more. Some believers of Irenaeus took it literally, and that means John would have been a very very old man, and close to death, to write this book. Further it was recorded that John was persecuted for a long time and had been imprisoned on the island of Patmos for quite a while. When he was released in his old age and left for Ephesus, he was feeble and died shortly.
To date Revelations, the best observation would be to look within the book and find its corresponding timeline to determine the date.
Q: What are the existing evidences within Revelations that we can understand clearly?
A: The 1st evidence we find was that this book was a direct revelation from Jesus to John about things that are shortly going to happen to the 7 churches in Asia.
Rev 1:1 A Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to declare to His servants things which must shortly come to pass. And He signified it by sending His angel to His servant John,..
Rev 1:4 John to the seven existing churches that were in Asia.
Namely the churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. John was in the island of Patmos, and if you look at the map, the 7 churches are located along a single postal circular route and were very close to Patmos. John could have written the book or letter to these churches and it was meant to be read and circulated among them along a particular route in the countryside. (They didn't have email then.) John said that the time was very short, and close at hand. This indicates that the events written in Revelations happened within their timeframe. What were the events? They are the events recorded by Mat 24; Mark 13; Luke 21 called the Olivet Discourse. Christian and non-Christian historians tell us that there were no such apocalypse as described in Revelations, happening shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70.
Another evidence is that John was told by God to measure the dimensions of the Temple in Rev 11. That means the Temple was still standing when John wrote Revelations! John was aware that it was still existing and in full view of everyone. The Temple was still standing until AD70 when Titus and the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. If John had written Revelations in the distant future or in AD95 or AD96, then the Temple was no longer standing or existing. So the book of Revelation would be invalid.
Maybe you might think that the Temple was rebuilt after AD70 but it was never such occurrence recorded in Church, Jewish or Roman historical records. No history talks about the rebuilding of the Temple after AD70. If some say that John had written Revelations in AD95, how can they rebuild such a magnificent Temple so quickly while still under the oppression of the Roman Empire.
Another evidence is about the mark of the beast called 666. This has been abused and misused by preachers so many many times, for centuries, that I am ashamed to be called a Christian if I am to be numbered among them. There is widespread disagreement over the identification and meaning of the number 666.
View what was researched by National Geographic about 666:
Rev 13:17 even that not any might buy or sell except those having the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of its name.
Rev 13:18 Here is the wisdom. Let him having reason count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. And its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Q: What does v17 and v18 says?
A: It is the number of a man. It is the number of the mans's name. In Hebrew tradition and culture, all their Hebrew words are written in grammar and in numbers. And the number 666 is the Hebrew grammatical and numerical equivalent of "Caesar Nero" who reigned as emperor of the Roman Empire from AD37 - AD68. That means Revelations was written BEFORE AD68.
Once you accept these evidences found within the book of Revelations as written before AD70, it becomes easy to understand the New Testament. Historians and scholars also agreed that the book of John was written AFTER AD70 (if arranged chronologically, it would be the last book of the New Testament. John was also the last apostle to die of natural causes. Ten of the apostles were martyred. Judas committed suicide). Book of John did not have any account of Jesus warnings, the coming great tribulation in AD70 or the wordings in the Olivet Discourse. John did not write about the End of the Age at all, because the End of the Age (Old Covenant Age) had already come and gone after AD70.
Also, the book of Revelations (or Apocalypse as some called it) was the revelation or unveiling of Jesus Christ to his servant John. He was revealing about events that are SHORTLY to happen, and not 2000 years in the future. It was specific instructions to the 7 churches in Asia. Jesus revealed to John that he must not seal the visions that He is showing him, because it is going to happen SOON (Rev 22:10).
Taking consideration of these evidences and the timeline, then we can rejoice with John, because the book of Revelations is about the triumph and victory of the gospel of Jesus Christ over all of His enemies. It is about Jesus and His conquest over every enemy and tribulation.
Mat 24:13 says, AFTER you see all these signs of Jesus Coming and the End of the Age, you will be SAVED.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
This is not a spiritual salvation. This is a physical salvation from the destruction that is coming onto Jerusalem, the nation of Israel and the Old Covenant. By fleeing to the mountains, but obeying His warnings, they will escape the great tribulation and will be saved.
After setting the Historical Timeline and the dating of the book of Revelations to before AD70, we can then better understand the number 144,000.
Rev 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
This is the number 144,000 of the Jews that is set apart by God. They will not be hurt but saved. Saved from the great tribulation coming upon Jerusalem and its Temple caused by the Roman armies.
This is NOT talking about sometime in future where God is removing the church, and then saving 144,000 Jews to evangelize and save the world! This has been a made up "super Jews" story.
See what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus:
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption.
The Ephesian church was one of the 7 churches that John wrote in Revelations. Paul told them that they were sealed for a particular and specific "day of redemption". The Holy Spirit has sealed them for this day. This is the Context of Ephesians 4:30.
In Rev 7:3, we see the confirmation of what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus in Eph 4:30. God wants to seal salvation upon His people so that they will be saved.
In Rev 14:1-4, we read of another passage with the 144,000.
Rev 14:1 And I looked, and lo, the Lamb stood on Mount Zion. And with Him were a hundred and forty-four thousands, having His Father's name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from Heaven, like the voice of many waters and like the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.
Rev 14:3 And they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousands who were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4 These are those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, as a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb.
The 144,000 were the Christians who were redeemed and standing with Jesus Christ.
V4 says they were redeemed among other men as a firstfruit to God.
The term "firstfruit" is a Jewish phrase meaning that the Jews giving their first fruit offering to God. this was their first harvest and the best of their harvest, where they gave to God.
In Rev 14:4 it speaks about the Christians as the firstfruit, meaning they were the first to be redeemed, and first to be saved.
Q: Who were these first to be redeemed, first to be saved? Were they Jehovah Witnesses as they claimed?
A: No. They refer to those who were saved from the Old Covenant Age and are now in the New Covenant Age ushered in by the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
In Acts 2, we read of Peter preaching the good news in Jerusalem, and 3,000 Jews were saved on that day when they came to the city to celebrate the feast of Pentecost.
They were not Gentiles, but Jews who were scattered all over the region, and once a year they will come back to Jerusalem and the Temple to offer sacrifices and celebrate the feast. These 3,000 who were saved and received Christ were part of the firstfruit of the Jews.
In Acts 8, we read of the gospel going outside of Jerusalem and to other parts of the land after the stoning of Stephen. More and more of the firstfruits were gathered before the great tribulation in AD70. In the beginning when they were scattered all over, they reached out to the Jews only.
The number 144,000 comes from the 12 tribes of 12,000 Jews (Rev 7:4). 12 is the biblical number of fullness. 12 apostles, 12 tribes, 12 foundations in New Jerusalem, 12 baskets of fragments left over after feeding the 5000. 12 represents fullness. So 144,000 = 12 x 12 x 1000. It is a number of fullness and symbolically stands for the fullness of the number of Christians who were Jews. That means when the full number of Jewish Christians were redeemed, then the great tribulation began in Jerusalem.
It doesn't mean there must be mathematically exactly 144,000 and cannot be 143,999 or 144,001. It is a symbolic representation of the fullness of believers that were saved.
Q: What about the virgins?
In Rev 14:4 it says that these 144,000 were those who were not defiled with women for they are virgins. The phrase "virgins" is also a Jewish term that they can understand very well. Remember, we are reading the book of Revelations through the Jewish eyes, because it was written TO THEM, and not to us.
Let us see how the term "virgins" is used in other passages by Paul and Jesus.
In 2 Cor 11:2 Paul calls the Christians "chaste virgins"
2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
In Matthew 25, we have the story of the 5 foolish virgins and the 5 wise virgins.
Matthew 24 is the Olivet Discourse, and talks about the End Times and End of the Age.
Immediately, in Mat 25, we read Jesus tells them this story of the wise and foolish virgins. It is interesting to note that this parable is not found in other parallel passages like Mark, Luke or John, because Matthew was primarily written to the Jews, and not in general. Matthew recorded about events that were going to happen within their community.
Q: What does this parable of the wise and foolish virgins tells us?
A: It tells us that there will be Jews who were unprepared (when the End of the Age happens) for the marriage, and there will be Jews who were prepared because they had oil (symbol of the Holy Spirit) with their lamps. Those who had oil were the Christian Jews who believed in Jesus Christ, had the Holy Spirit, and were saved.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was for the believers of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant.
The 5 foolish virgins were the Jews who had their form of religion Judaism but without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
So the phrase "virgins" in Rev 14:4 refers to Jews who were part of the 144,000.
Summary:
The 144,000 were the firstfruit Jews who were Christians, and God had sealed them and said that many of them will make it through that day of redemption kept for them. For the rest of the Jews, there will be a day of wrath of God, or the wrath of the Lamb as called in Revelations.
Sub-study:
Q: What is this wrath of God in Revelations?
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
This wrath is similar to the wrath of God found in Mat 24, and Luke 21:23
The wrath will be so great that they wish that the rocks of the mountains will fall on them and kill them instead.
Look at what Jesus said in a similar pattern while on the way to the Cross, and the people were crying and lamenting for Him in Luke 23:28-30
Luk 23:28 But turning to them, Jesus said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Luk 23:29 For behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts which did not suckle.
Luk 23:30 And they shall begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us! And to the hills, Cover us!
This is exactly what John wrote in Rev 6:16. It cannot be so co-incidental!
Q: When is this event going to happen? The event of weeping for themselves, and calling to rocks to kill them?
A: It is going to happen in their timeline of them and their children (v28).
Look at what Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 The 2:13-16 "wrath has come upon them.."
This is God's anger in its severest form. It is going to happen to them. What wrath? the Wrath of God on that day called the "Day of Vengeance" for them, the Jews who killed Jesus Christ, and "day of redemption" for the believers.
Historians like Josephus tells us that when that Day of Judgement or Day of Vengeance or Day of Wrath of God came, the Roman armies led by general Titus surrounded Jerusalem and destroyed the city and its Temple in AD70, BUT not one of the Christians were in the city. The Christians took the warnings of Jesus seriously.
So when the 144,000 Jews were saved, then they saw the great tribulation in Mat 24:21, a disaster so great that it has never happened before.
