Revelation 14:1-5: Edit history

Context

In Revelation 13, two beasts, one rising from the sea and the other from the earth, persecute the saints and cause people to receive "the mark of the beast" in their right hand or in their foreheads (Revelation 13:1-10; Revelation 13:16-17). Chapter 14 opens with a contrasting scene. In a vision, John sees the Lamb, that is, Christ, standing on Mount Zion. With him stand the 144,000, who bear the name of the Lamb and of his Father on their foreheads. Many interpreters identify this company with the 144,000 who were "sealed" in chapter 7 (Revelation 7:3). Sealing denotes marking with a seal to signify ownership and protection. The passage is followed by the proclamations of three angels, a warning to those who worship the beast (Revelation 14:9-11), and a vision of the harvest of the earth.

Interpretation

• Symbolic reading: Many interpreters, including those in the Reformed tradition, take 144,000 as 12 × 12 × 1,000, a number of completeness representing the whole people of God, encompassing both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church. On this reading, the 144,000 whose number John "heard" and the great multitude, which no man could number, that he "saw" in chapter 7 (Revelation 7:9-17) are two aspects of the same reality.
• Dispensationalist reading: Dispensationalist interpreters, appealing to the list of tribes in chapter 7, often regard the 144,000 as ethnic Israelites who are saved during the end-time Great Tribulation.
• Special-group reading: Other interpreters hold that the 144,000 are martyrs within the church who remained faithful to the end, or especially faithful saints.

The phrase "These are they which were not defiled with women" (Revelation 14:4) is usually read figuratively. The Old Testament likens idolatry to fornication, and Paul compares the church to a chaste virgin to be presented to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). On this basis, the phrase is taken to signify a faithfulness that refused to compromise with the beast and with idols. An interpretation that takes it literally as a reference to celibacy has also existed since the early church. The expression "the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb" is likewise read in two ways: one view understands it as a people wholly set apart and offered to God, while the other sees it as the beginning of a greater harvest still to come.

Controversies and Issues

• The number 144,000: Jehovah's Witnesses regard the 144,000 as a limited group who will reign with Christ in heaven, and they teach that the rest of believers make up a "great crowd" who will live forever on earth. Shincheonji, a Korean religious movement, reportedly claims that the gathering of 144,000 "sealed" members into the twelve tribes of its own organization is central to the fulfillment of the end times. Both groups maintain that their interpretations correctly explain Revelation. The general assemblies of several Korean denominations have declared both groups heretical (heresy declarations).
• Manuscript variants: The words "the name of the Lamb and" in verse 1 are absent from some later manuscripts and from the King James Version, which follows them. The phrase "before the throne of God" at the end of verse 5 likewise appears only in some manuscripts.
• Translation: In verse 2, the Korean Revised Version renders the instrument (KJV "harps") with the name of a traditional Korean zither, the geomungo. The word in the original text, however, refers to an ancient stringed instrument distinct from the Korean one.

In Korean Churches

Because some groups teach that the 144,000 is a literal and limited number, this passage is frequently addressed in Korean Protestant churches in counseling for those involved in heretical groups and in church programs aimed at preventing heresy.

Related Passages

• Revelation 7:3-8
• Revelation 7:9-17
• Revelation 13:16-17
• Revelation 5:9
• Ezekiel 9:4