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Authors: Bible Difficulties
But it is in Revelation that the "seven spirits" appear as separate individuals, not only in Revelation 1:4, but in 3:1: "He who has the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this: Ì know your deeds'" (NASB); in 4:5: "And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God" (NASB); and in 5:6: "And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth" (NASB).
There appears to be a definite connection between the sevenfold Spirit of Isaiah 11:2
and the seven-faceted Spirit of Revelation, who represents Himself in the external guise of seven distinct spirits, appropriate to God's perfect enablement and providential care--
the central theme of the Apocalypse. The entire book is full of symbolism; so it should not be considered too surprising that seven should represent one in this striking and impressive way. After all, we have already seen how Christ Himself, who was first represented in His resurrection glory as the white-haired, flaming-eyed Son of Man, 440
wearing a long robe reaching to His burnished-brass feet (Rev.1:14-15), is set forth in 5:6
as a Lamb, standing as if it had been slain, having both seven horns and seven eyes. Here again seven represents one, though in this case it is God the Son rather than the Holy Spirit.
Similarly Satan is represented as a red, fire-breathing dragon with seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 12:3), similar to his viceroy and representative on earth, the Beast with ten horns, ten diadems, and seven heads, resembling a leopard in his overall appearance, but with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion (Rev. 13:2). (In the case of Satan and the final world dictator, the number seven represents a false claim to possessing the perfect power of God.) So also the apostate world church is symbolized as a harlot wearing purple and scarlet and sitting on the scarlet beast (Rev. 17:3-4). These symbols thus present, not the person or cosmic power in actual appearance, but a symbolic form that is intended to teach the human observer (John on the island of Patmos) something about the qualities and characteristics of the Third Person of the Trinity.
A dove represented the Holy Spirit at the time of Christ's baptism (Matt. 3:16), and multiple tongues of fire represented Him at Pentecost, as He empowered and gave utterance to the witnesses of Christ (Acts 2:3). Probably there were 120 such flames, if all 120 disciples from the Upper Room were present at that feast (Acts 1:13, 15). Thus we see that the Holy Spirit also is symbolized in many different ways throughout Scripture, always in a guise appropriate to the occasion.
Who are the 144,000 of Revelation 7:3-8 and Revelation 14:1?
In Revelation 7:3 a divine command is issued to the four angels who control the winds of destruction on earth, that they should hold back from inflicting havoc until the
"servants of God" have been sealed as God's own, with His mark on their foreheads.
They constitute a company of 144,000 (vv. 5-8), consisting of 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. (Notice that the tribe of Dan is omitted altogether--perhaps because some members of that tribe willfully chose a land allotment of their own up to the north of the territory of Asher. Moreover they did so as an act of unprovoked aggression, according to Judges 18:27, and brought with them an idolatrous ephod, which they had taken by force from an Ephraimite (Judg. 18:18-26.) Another interesting feature is that Levi is mentioned as one of the Twelve Tribes, rather than maintaining a special status as a priestly tribe under the old, pre-Crucifixion religious establishment of the Mosaic Law. Ephraim must be equated with "Joseph" in this listing; Manasseh is mentioned separately. Since Ephraim remained on the West Bank entirely whereas Manasseh settled a "half-tribe" on the East Bank, it was reasonable to give to Ephraim the honor of his father's name.
As to the ethnic makeup of these 144,000 saints, it is difficult to suppose that an identical number of converts to Christ would be won during the first half of the final seven years before Armageddon from each of the Twelve Tribes, especially in view of the fact that nearly all modern Jews regard themselves as descended from Judah, except perhaps for the Levines and the Cohens, who claim to be from Levi. It would be 441
reasonable to suppose that even if descendants could somehow be traced back to the other ten tribes, the great preponderance of converts would be from Judah. Even in the first century A.D., this same situation tended to prevail, as a result of the Assyrian deportations of the Ten Tribes in 721 B.C. and thereafter.
As for the twelve groups of 12,000, all Bible scholars recognize its special association with the Old Testament people of God, made up of twelve tribes, and with the New Testament people of God, under the leadership of the twelve apostles. Both divisions seem to be represented by the twenty-four elders who figure so prominently in the scenes of heaven presented in Revelation (Rev. 4:4; 5:8; 11:16; 19:4). If, then, these two sets of twelve were to multiply each other rather than being added to each other, they would come out to 144 rather than 24. As for the multiplication by 1000, compare Numbers 31:4-6 for the first record of a specially designated army of believers sent out to wage war against the enemies of the Lord. A similar procedure was followed in selecting an army to punish the ungodly tribe of Benjamin back in the days of the Judges (Judg.
20:10). The normal size of a regiment in the armies of Moses' and David's time was 1000.
Putting all these factors together could add up to the result that during the final week (of Daniel's seventy weeks in Daniel 9:25) Gentile believers and Jewish believers will work together with such effectiveness and vigor that they will reach that generation for Christ with a tremendously fruitful missionary outreach. Perhaps 144,000 will be the actual number of missionaries involved, and they will constitute regiments of dedicated workers under twelve regional authorities. At any rate, according to Revelation 7:9, they will be amazingly successful; for by their united efforts they will have won to the Lord "a great multitude which no man could number" out of every race and tribe all over the earth. The first three and one-half years of the Seventieth Week will be a time of unprecedented evangelism before the church has been raptured. (This interpretation assumes, of course, that the Rapture will take place in the middle of the Week. But this view is open to debate and falls short of complete proof.)
As for the 144,000 who appear in Revelation 14:1-5, the identity in number suggests (though it does not necessarily prove) an identity in constituency. In other words, it looks as if these represent the raptured church up in heaven, rejoicing in its personal fellowship with Christ up there. This requires interpreting "Mount Zion" as referring to a heavenly counterpart rather than the earthly citadel of historic Jerusalem. But there certainly was a heavenly Jerusalem (as well as the earthly one) according to Galatians 4:26: "The Jerusalem above is free, she who is your mother." And Hebrews 12:22 speaks of both a Zion, city of the living God, and a "heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels, etc."
There is therefore abundant precedent for interpreting this Mount Zion in Revelation 14:1
as a designation of the court of heaven in the presence of the harp-playing angels and the glorified saints.
In this passage special emphasis is laid on the faithfulness and personal purity of these 144,000. They have the name of God inscribed on their brow, having resolutely refused to take the mark of the Beast demanded of them while they were down on earth.
Secondly, they are said to be "virgins" (
parthenoi
) because they have not "defiled 442
themselves with women." (This cannot refer to sex relations within the marriage bond, for this would be no defilement at all but rather an honorable act, according to Heb. 13:4.
Therefore it must refer to fornication and adultery, such as will run rampant in the corrupt society of the last days.) But the term
parthenos
here undoubtedly extends beyond sexual chastity to an attitude of complete faithfulness and chaste devotion toward the heavenly Bridegroom, whose imminent return they await, for the glad occasion of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).
Evangelical commentaries tend to fall into two distinct camps so far as identifying the 144,000 is concerned. In general, J.B. Payne (
Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy
, p. 597), Bengel, Alford, Lenski, and Milligan identify them completely with the Christian church, both in chapter 7 and in chapter 14. They have little to say about the specifically named twelve tribes of Israel but simply suggest that the number itself is merely symbolic, reflecting the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles. Yet Bengel does make this comment: "Since the Levitical ceremonies have been abandoned, Levi is again found on an equal footing with his brethren" (
Gnomon of the New Testament
) [London: Nutt, Williams & Norgate, 1962], ad loc.).
We must, however, take stock of Christ's promise to His disciples in Matthew 19:28:
"You also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (NASB). This certainly suggests that in the final judgment, the Twelve Tribes will still be around for the purpose of judgment. (Yet, of course, one might construe this to mean that in the Judgment Day the long-deceased members of the Twelve Tribes who actually died back in Old Testament times will be coming before the heavenly tribunal for final adjudication to their eternal retribution or reward.) The division of the territory of the Holy Land during the Millennium will certainly recognize the continuing identity of the Twelve Tribes (at least for the purpose of giving appropriate, historical names to each of the twelve regions.) According to Ezekiel 48 there are going to be seven east-west parallel tracts for seven tribes (Dan [
sic!
], Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim [not Joseph!], Reuben, and Judah). To the south of the city will be the following five tribes: Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad. (There will no longer be any tribes on the other side of the Jordan.)
Dispensational scholars construe the 144,000 of Revelation 7 as exclusively Jewish because of the tribe-by-tribe enumeration contained in vv. 5-8. Fausset comments: "But of these tribes a believing remnant will be preserved from the judgments that shall destroy all of the anti-Christian Confederacy" (Jamieson-Fausett-Brown,
Commentary
, ad loc.). Harold Lindsell (ed.,
Harper Study Bible
[New York: Harper & Row, 1964], p.
1871) takes a mediating view: "The
hundred and forty-four thousand
is hardly to be thought of as an exact number of converted Jews; some have taken it to imply that it represents the complete number of Jews who are the children of Abraham by faith, foreknown and chosen by God, who will turn to Christ during the closing days of the present age" (italics his).
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