It's the End of the World As We Know It: The 144,000

Then I looked and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads.  And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder.  The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.  And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders.  No one could learn the song except for the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.  These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure.  They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.  They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.  No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless (14:1-5).

This is one of the more enigmatic passages of the Scriptures.  I love the Bible, don't get me wrong, but every so often there's a passage that frustrates me, and this is one of them.  Why? Oh, let us count the ways. . . .

All joking aside, this is a fairly bizarre interlude, mostly because it has no place in any of the narratives - the 144,000 haven't shown up prior (we'll look at that in a moment), and they do not appear to show up again; they are simply here, and with no explanation at all.

Now, having said that, there are many who say that this group of people is the same group of 144,000 Messianic Jews who show up in Chapter 7 (vs. 1-8), but other than the number, there is no reason to believe that.  There is nothing in the text of Chapter 7 that indicates that the Jews who accept Jesus during this time were sexually pure and completely honest.  Nothing.  And there is nothing in this text to indicate that these men are Jews.  Again, nothing.  So there is very, very little foundation for making this assumption.

Now let's talk about their characters.  We're not told much, but what we're told is pretty loaded.  The first thing we're told is that they had not defiled themselves with women.  I'm not sure whether this means they were celibate (though sex in a Godly marriage-covenant is certainly not defiling), or that they had somehow managed to avoid all forms of sexual immorality.  My Bible commentary says that it's "symbolic," and means they had not defiled themselves with the idolatrous world system of the Beast.  The thing with that, of course, is that if this is symbolic, then "they follow the Lamb wherever He goes" would also be symbolic.  So would, "purchased from among men," and "offered as firstfruits."  They also would not actually be found without lies, and would not be considered blameless, which renders this entire description of them a moot point, because none of it would actually be descriptive; undefined and unexplained symbols are completely useless.  The easiest explanation, therefore, is that John wrote what he meant, and he meant what he wrote.  These were clearly men who were absolutely, one hundred percent devoted to God during their lives.

Now, we see that they are on Mount Zion, with Jesus.  I don't know if it's physical - at which point we're looking at a point in time after Christ has returned, or if John is seeing something in the spiritual realm, at which point this could be at any time.  It is also interesting that we are told that they sing their new song "before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders" (3).  This would indicate that they were also present in the throne room of God (see Chapter 4).  My guess - and that's all this is - is that these are 144,000 specific, very special people who have lived and died over the many centuries, and, having returned with Christ when He sets up His kingdom (or been resurrected at the final judgment), they stand on Mount Zion, singing their unique song in praise of Jesus.

On a side note, I'm a big Rich Mullins fan, so when I hear that this is a "new song" that roars like "rushing waters" or a "loud peal of thunder," and sounds "like that of harpists playing their harps," I sort of hope this is a new Mullins song, being sung to a rock ensemble of hammered dulcimers.  Wishful thinking, no doubt, but still a cool idea.

I know this is short, and relatively unhelpful, in terms of interpretation, but the fact is that I cannot interpret the Scriptures beyond what they say.  I can offer a guess, certainly, and I can form a reasonable guess based on what little information we have, but that's all I can do.  If any of you have insight into this passage, maybe some other parts of Scripture that I have overlooked, please feel free to share that insight in the comments below!

Okay, next time, we'll take a look at the Bowls of God's Wrath.