Who and Where are the 144,000?

 

Last time we saw that only 144,000 have a heavenly hope. Where does that leave the rest of the millions of faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses, the great crowd?

“The key to the identification of the ‘great crowd’ is found within the description of them in Revelation chapter 7 .The vision there presented is concerning persons not in heaven, from where the 'New Jerusalem comes down,' but on earth, among mankind .If the ‘great crowd’ are persons who gain salvation and remain on earth, how could they be said to be 'standing before God's throne and before the Lamb?' (Re 7:9) The position of 'standing' is sometimes used in the Bible to indicate the holding of a favored or approved position in the eyes of the one in whose presence the individual or group stands .It thus appears that the "great crowd" is formed of those persons who have been preserved during that time of wrath and who have been able to "stand" as approved by God and the Lamb.” - Insight on the Scriptures, Vol.1, WBTS, 1998, pp.996/7

According to Watch Tower Teaching:

Those described in John 10:16, who are on earth, are called 'other sheep.'

Included here are, according to Revelation 7:9-17, are a great crowd, survivors of God's battle of Armageddon.

According to John 5:28,29, when the earth is a paradise, the members of the great crowd will be joined by those who died without a heavenly hope but are worthy of a resurrection to earth again.

The books that Revelation 20:12 shows are opened then do not contain judgements of past activities but new instructions of how to live during the millennium on earth. Everyone will be judged on their obedience to these instructions, and either continue to live on earth forever or be annihilated.

Bible Teaching

It is worth consulting for yourself any good reference Bible and, beginning at John 10:16, seeing if any connection is made between that and the other three texts. Then to ask, what connections are made? Context is everything here.

John 10:16 - Jesus was speaking here to the Jews. They were told there were other sheep brought into ‘one flock with one shepherd.’

Ephesians 2:11-16 - Here the ‘other sheep’ are already identified as Gentiles, who would become one body with Jews through Jesus.

Revelation 19:1 – It is important to see, before you come to Revelation 20, that the great crowd is in heaven not on the earth.

Revelation 7:15 - The great crowd are shown here to be 'in His temple,' serving Him day and night with what can only be a priestly ministry. This is not those on the earth away from the Lord but those who are in His Divine habitation in heaven. The Greek word used here is naos. W. E. Vine tells us this is a priestly ministry, which the Watchtower Society insists is only for the 144,000.

“NAOS ...a shrine or sanctuary ...into which only the priests could lawfully enter, e.g., Luke 1:9,21,22; Christ, as being of the tribe of Judah, and thus not being a priest while upon earth ...did not enter the naos.” - Vine's Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol.4, p.115.

The Scriptures shows the great crowd is in the sanctuary of God not on earth. Also, the shows clearly who is who:

Revelation 7:9 - Great crowd ‘from, every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.’

Revelation 5:9 - Kings & priests, ‘from tribe and language and people and nation.’

Revelation 7:4 - The 144,000 ‘from every tribe of the sons of Israel.’

The great crowd are the heavenly kings and priests not the 144,000.

A Problem With the Mediator

In the story of salvation Jesus is our mediator, the one who stands between sinful man and a holy God but that is not so for all Jehovah Witnesses.

‘So in this strict Biblical sense, Jesus is the mediator for only anointed Christians (the 144, 000). The new covenant will terminate with the glorification of the remnant who are today in that covenant mediated by Christ. The 'great crowd' of 'other sheep,' that is forming today, are not in that new covenant.’ - The Watchtower, 1 April 1979, p.31.

‘What then is Christ's role in this program of salvation? Paul proceeds to say: ‘There is one God and one mediator between God and men, (not all men) a man, Christ ‘Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all."Evidently the new covenant is nearing the end of its operation for the purpose of producing 144,000 spiritual Israelites ...When the last of these approved spiritual Israelites cease to be 'men' because of earthly death and a resurrection to share in the heavenly kingdom, then the mediatorship of Jesus Christ will cease also.’ - The Watchtower, 15 November 1979, p.26-27.

Jesus is only the mediator of the 144.000, the only ones in the New Covenant and not the mediator for the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses 'great crowd of other sheep.' The Society even adds to Scripture with ‘(not all men)’. 1 Timothy 2:5

If the other sheep are not in the New Covenant which one are they in? They cannot be in the Old because that has ended. So, where are they? And how, when the New Covenant ends, can sins be forgiven? When the mediatorship of Jesus ceases there will be no further opportunity to know release from sin. This puts the great crowd in a dilemma. The Society says:

‘Your attitude towards the wheatlike anointed 'brothers' of Christ and the treatment you accord them will be the determining factor as to whether you go into 'everlasting cutting-off' or receive 'everlasting life'.’ - The Watchtower, 1 August 1981, p.26. (Emphasis added)

‘This pastoral King tells us how a person may be considered fit to be separated to the side of divine favor in contrast to the goatlike people. It is by doing good to those yet remaining on earth of the spiritual 'brothers' of the reigning King.’ - The Watchtower, 1 January 1983, p.13. (Emphasis added)

According to the Watchtower Society the mediator of the great crowd is the 144,000!

A Numerical Problem

Another problem that the Watchtower has over the great crowd is whether they can actually be more in number than the other sheep?

Galatians 4:22-31 mentions how Abraham had two sons, one by Hagar the bondwoman and another by Sarah the free woman; Ishmael and Isaac respectively.

Verse 24 in the NWT, reads that these two women, ‘stand as symbolic drama, for these women mean two covenants.’

Verses 24 & 25 tell us that Hagar symbolises the Old Law Covenant from Sinai.

Verses 26 & 27 that Sarah stands for the New Covenant and the Jerusalem above our [the Christian's] mother.

Then in verse 27 Paul quotes from Isaiah 54:1 where Jehovah God is married to the nation of Israel via the Law Covenant. Compare also Jeremiah 3:14, 31:33.

Thus the barren or desolate woman which represents the New Covenant, has 'many more children' (NKJV) or 'more numerous' (NWT) than the woman who has the husband. The latter represents the Old Law Covenant between Israel and Jehovah.

It is therefore very clear that if this Old Law Covenant brought forth millions of children from the time of Moses to John the Baptist - Matthew 11:13 - the New Covenant would bring forth many more than this; they would be more numerous. Scripture shows that the New Covenant has millions of persons, and not just 144,000 as taught by the Watchtower.

Final Destination?

The Society's teaching is that the great crowd is on earth, separated from the 144,000 in heaven. Yet in The Watchtower, 1 November 1974, pp.666-67 they use Noah's ark as a Biblical picture. Noah represents Jesus; Noah's wife, the 144,000; and Noah's sons and wives represent the great crowd. In this picture, they are all in the same place; they all pass through the same judgement; and they all have the same destination!

There is only one way to the eternal kingdom as the NWT shows:

“Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom.”